North Africa
Algeria: protests commemorate ‘Berber Spring’
Algeria's Berber community took to the streets to commemorate the 1980 "Berber Spring" uprising and demand greater cultural rights—or actual independence.
Tag: autonomy
The Caucasus
Nagorno-Karabakh in Russo-Turkish game
As the worst fighting since a 1994 truce breaks out in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey’s President Erdogan asserts himself as protector of Azerbaijan, pledging to back Baku “to the end.” (Map: Wikipedia)
Africa
Niger Delta pipeline blast signals renewed insurgency
A deadly blast on a pipeline in Nigeria's restive Delta region has raised fears that militants—pacified with an amnesty and pipeline protection contracts—are returning to arms.
Greater Middle East
Syria: CIA-armed rebels vs. Pentagon-armed rebels?
Is the Kurdish-Arab fighting in northern Syria pitting the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces against FSA-aligned Islamist factions armed by the CIA?
The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.
Planet Watch
Canada high court to hear prior consultation case
Canada's Supreme Court announced that it will review two decisions of the National Energy Board related to oil development and aboriginal consultation.
Greater Middle East
Syrian Kurds declare autonomy —at what price?
Kurds officially declared their own "Federation of Northern Syria"—to be swiftly denounced by the Assad regime, the opposition and regional powers alike.
Central America
Belize: villagers on trial for protecting Maya site
Thirteen Maya villagers are to stand trial in Belize over their expulsion of a settler they said had illegally encroached upon the grounds of an archeological site.
Planet Watch
Mohawks threaten to block Energy East pipeline
The Mohawk nation is threatening to do everything legally in its power to block TransCanada's Energy East pipeline project, calling it a threat to their way of life.
Greater Middle East
Obama-Putin deal for partition of Syria?
The announced Russian military withdrawal from Syria has raised suspicions of a quiet deal between Putin and Obama for the partitiion of country into "spheres of influence."
North Africa
UN pressed on North Africa’s colonized peoples
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, on a tour of North Africa, met with Sahrawi leaders seeking independence from Morocco—but not Berbers seeking independence from Algeria.
The Andes
Colombia: ‘consulta’ on mineral project approved
The city council of Ibagué, capital of Colombia's Tolima department, voted to a approve a popular "consulta" on a proposed mineral project for the municipality.