Tag: paramilitaries

The Andes

Colombian coca production in record jump

In unsettling news for the country's peace process with the FARC guerillas, Colombia registered a record-shattering 50% increase in coca-leaf cultivation last year, according to the latest report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The figures, released by UNODC's Integrated Illicit Crops Monitoring System, show 146.000 hectares under coca cultivation in 2016, compared to 96.000 in 2015—actually a 52% jump.

Africa

DRC militia leader turns himself in to UN forces

Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, a wanted militia leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, turned himself in to UN peacekeeping forces after six years on the run. He will be transferred to DRC authorities to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Sheka is a former commander of the Mai-Mai, a paramilitary network established by the DRC government to fight Rwanda's proxy forces in the 1990s.

Mexico

Nightmarish narco-violence in Chihuahua

An armed clash at a mountain village in Mexico's border state of Chihuahua left at least 25 dead—the latest indication that narco-gangs are stronger than the government across much of the country's drug-producing sierras. The shoot-out erupted in the pueblo of Las Varas, in the foothills of the Sierra Tarahumara—Mexico's prime cannabis and opium cultivation area.

The Andes

Colombia pressured to release FARC prisoners

The United Nations charged that Colombia's government is undermining the country's peace process by failing to release imprisoned FARC members and protect disarmed guerillas as promised in the peace deal. Although mores of the 3,400 imprisoned FARC adherents have been officially amnestied, only 837 have been released. More than 1,400 imprisoned FARC members have gone on hunger strike to demand their release. Meanwhile, even released FARC veterans are being targeted for deadly reprisal attacks by right-wing paramilitaries.

Southeast Asia

Philippine strongman’s bloody drug war: year one

One year after Rodrigo Duterte took office on a pledge to expunge the  "virulent social disease" of drug abuse, the civilian death toll in his crackdown may be as high as 8,000. Among the upwards of 80,000 arrested under Duterte's rule are some, including opposition politicians, who have been clearly framed for speaking out against him. And in the restive southern island of Mindanao, he has made good on his threats to instate martial law.

Iraq

Iraq: will fall of Mosul widen war?

The full liberation of Mosul from ISIS has been declared, but at a terrible cost in human lives—and multiple contradictions among the alliance assembled to take the city could open a new war in Iraq's north.

Central America

Honduras: Berta Cáceres daughter survives attack

The daughter of assassinated Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres survived an armed attack, weeks after being named leader of the indigenous alliance formerly led by her mother.

Africa

CAR armed groups still committing ‘war crimes’

Armed groups continue to commit war crimes with impunity in the Central African Republic, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch, calling for international efforts to bring perpetrators to justice.

Iraq

Syria: will fall of Raqqa widen war?

With the Syrian Kurds now facing open war from both Turkey and the Assad regime, the imminent taking of Raqqa portends a multi-sided scramble for former ISIS territory.

Greater Middle East

Kurdish guerillas behind Turkey’s hashish trade?

Turkish government claims that Kurdish rebels in the country's east are profiting from the hashish trade point to an integrated counter-insurgency and drug enforcement campaign.

The Andes

Colombia: paramilitaries behind Bogotá terror?

Both the FARC and ELN guerillas denied responsibility for the deadly terror attack in Bogotá, but National Police had warned of an imminent provocation by right-wing paramilitaries.