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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Libya tense after tribal warfare


The United Nations says the situation in a remote southern part of Libya where more than 100 people were killed in tribal warfare this month remains tense although a cease-fire brokered by local officials is still holding. Monday's statement by the U.N. Support Mission in Libya said that as much as half of the population of Kufra has fled and that around 200 foreign migrants are still waiting to be moved out of the area. The clashes that broke out Feb 11 underscore the struggle facing Libya s new leaders to enforce security, disarm people and unify multiple militias that took part in an eight-month civil war that ended with the capture and killing of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi in October. Dozens were killed this month by rockets, mortars and gunfire that rocked residential areas in the desert town, which is some 500 miles (800 kilometers) away from the more populated coastal city of Derna. The U.N. said it provided people there with food, medicine, mattresses, blankets and hygiene kits to vulnerable communities whose basic services have been interrupted by fighting. The injured packed the city s three-room hospital for days during the clashes. Many had no beds to sleep on. There was one doctor and 15 nurses using empty bottles of water as blood bags. Patients had to share one ventilator. For days, rescuers were unable to get to the bodies of victims who were left on the street. An Associated Press reporter who was in Kufra during the clashes saw at least 160 houses demolished by rockets in one neighborhood. Families gathered inside a school seeking shelter, but even that came under shelling. Shops were closed for days, and no one could walk in the street. If one tribe took over one square, the other tribe opened fire and drove it out. During that time the powerful Arab tribe of al-Zwia clashed with the African Tabu tribe near Kufra, a border area where Libya, Chad and Sudan meet. The region is a hub for the smuggling of African migrants, goods and drugs. The two groups are old rivals and speak different languages. The Tabu have long complained of discrimination under Gadhafi. Abdel-Majed, once an opposition leader who founded a group calling for an autonomous state for the Tabu people, said Gadhafi s regime would expel Tabu students from schools, take their passports and deprive families of bank loans. Gadhafi also tried to change the demography of the city by offering incentives to al-Zwia tribe members to move to Kufra in order to outnumber the Tabu. The clashes, erupted after an al-Zwia smuggler shot and killed six Tabu tribesmen guarding a border crossing, lifting the lid on a long suppressed ethnic conflict. In another sign that the government is struggling to reign in the country s numerous armed factions, the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch called on a Mistrata-based militia Monday to immediately release two British journalists and three Libyans traveling with them. The rights group said that the Saraya Swehli militia detained the British citizens nearly a week ago. They work as freelance journalists for Iran s Press TV. The Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement that militias must stop detaining people and called on the Libyan government to take charge of militia detention facilities. The rights group says the militia has denied them access to the journalists.

India has rejected every request over Kashmir


India has been blocking prosecution of Indian soldiers in civilian court in Kashmir for alleged rights abuses including murder and rape, according to documents given Tuesday to the Associated Press. The revelation is likely to spark an outcry by Kashmiri activists who for years have accused Indian troops of abusing wide-ranging powers to search, seize and even shoot suspects. Those powers were given in 1990 when India faced unrest in the Himalayan territory. Under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Kashmir needs federal approval for prosecuting paramilitary or army soldiers in civilian courts. Kashmir has sough permission in 50 such cases in the last two decades, but India has refused every one, the territory s Home Ministry said in a response this week to a Right to Information request filed by The Coalition of Civil Society, a local rights group. The Kashmiri government would not say what other options it could or would follow in seeking justice. "We re taking legal recourse," Home Department Secretary B.R. Sharma said Tuesday, without specifying what that might be. The rights group said the information vindicated what Kashmiri activists have been arguing for years. "It implies there is 100 percent legal impunity for Indian troops operating in Jammu and Kashmir," said Khurram Parvez of the Coalition. Kashmir s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah proposed eliminating the special powers last year, but was rebuffed by the federal government after the army objected. India has long relied on military might to retain control over Kashmir and has fought two territorial wars with Pakistan. The 1990s uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown killed 68,000 people. Nevertheless, the region remains heavily militarized, with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops stationed and maintaining checkpoints throughout Indian-controlled territory. Pakistan and China also control portions of the region. Human rights workers have accused Indian troops of illegally detaining, torturing and killing suspects, sometimes even staging gunbattles as pretexts to kill.

Are you excited about Wikileaks revealed?


WikiLeaks claimed to have 5 million Stratfor emails that it would publishe in collaboration with media outlets. However only 200 were released in the first lot. One of the e-mails included the suggestion that Hugo Chavez, Venezuela s president, may have less than a year to live after his cancer spread to the colon and bone marrow. Russian doctors who had been brought in to "clean up the mess" resulting from Cuban treatments for the Venezuelan leader had given a grim prognosis for his recovery, the e-mails said. Other revelations were statements that Israel had last year carried out a successful covert attack on Iran s secret nuclear facilities.