Imprisoned Colombian paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso fingered the nation’s vice president, defense minister and two of it’s top conglomerates as collaborators in an explosive judicial hearing. He also said the paramilitaries, branded “foreign terrorist organizations” by Washington in 2001, were… Read moreColombia: para warlord fingers vice president
Sonora state police killed 15 in a fierce gunbattle just south of the Arizona border May 16 after tracking into the hills a group of heavily-armed gunmen who earlier that day killed five municipal police in Cananea. Three Cananea residents… Read moreMexican drug gangs escalate war on security forces; torture in Michoacán
From the Zochrot (Remembering), a group of Israeli citizens working to raise awareness of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948: International Nakba Day, May 15, 2007 The Nakba is the story of the Palestinian tragedy: the destruction of communities,… Read moreStatement on the Nakba and Right of Return
A Pakistani man held at Guantanamo Bay denied belonging to al-Qaeda and accused US authorities of torturing him, according to a document released by the Pentagon May 15. Majid Khan, who lived in the US for several years, was arrested… Read moreGitmo hearings reveal torture claim
A statement by supposed al-Qaeda affiliate in Europe, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, pledged to launch attacks in Paris in response to the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president. “As you have chosen the crusader and Zionist Sarkozy as a… Read moreFrance in al-Qaeda crosshairs?
Algerian troops killed 13 Islamist fighters east of Algiers May 14, local media reported. Special forces backed by helicopters killed 11 militants said to belong to the “al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb” in an offensive on rebel hideouts in… Read moreAlgeria: more clashes with al-Qaeda
An African Union convoy was struck by a road-side bomb in the Somali capital of Mogadishu [May 16], killing an unknown number of Ugandan peacekeepers. [AlJazeera, May 16] A pair of aid workers—a Kenyan and a Briton—remain in the custody… Read moreSomalia: resistance, piracy continue
A chlorine bomb has exploded in a village [Abu Sayda] in the religiously-mixed province of Diyala, killing 32 people [May 16]. Iraqi insurgents have been increasingly accused of using chlorine—which causes severe burns—in their attacks. [BBC, May 16] Lieutenant-General Douglas… Read moreIraq: more chlorine terror; Bush gets “war czar”
From the International Crisis Group, May 10: Colombia’s New Armed Groups The disbanding of the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) between 2003 and 2006 is seen by the administration of President Alvaro Uribe as a vital step toward… Read moreColombia: new armed groups proliferate —despite para “demobilization”
As a campaign of nonviolent protests mount in Okinawa over construction of a new off-shore US military heliport at Henoko, an e-mail alert from the local anti-militarism group “Project Disagree” informs us that the the Japanese government has dispatched the… Read moreJapan dispatches warship to Okinawa as anti-base protests mount
John Holmes, the United Nations (UN) emergency humanitarian co-ordinator, has said that the UN will investigate accusations that human rights were violated during recent fighting in Mogadishu. Somalia has agreed to the inquiry. [AlJazeera, May 14] Aid workers are said… Read moreUN to investigate Somali rights abuses
The European Union (EU) has lifted a visa ban on several top Uzbek officials, despite a failure to make substantive advances on human rights in the country [according to international monitors]. [The four formerly on the list who are now… Read moreEU relaxes Uzbekistan restrictions; rights groups protest
