Lebanon: Resurging violence in Beirut

Burma and R2P: Will barriers break down?

For more background on Burma, see previous post. For background on the Responsibility to Protect ("R2P"), click here.

As has been widely discussed in the press, Burma has experienced an unexpected tragedy that led the military regime to slightly alter its isolationist foreign policy. Up to 100,000 people have died and masses of people have become homeless and are suffering as a result of a catastrophic cyclone that hit Burma's coasts. Countries around the world, including the US, have taken the necessary steps to initiate relief efforts and have expressed they are anxious to help. However, the Burmese regime continues to disallow foreigners to enter its borders and has been delaying the granting of visas to UN relief agencies and aid workers. The victims that are perhaps suffering the most are those whose villages have been wiped out in the remote areas of ethnic states, where the Burmese regime has been conducting military campaigns of repression and committing mass atrocities for over a decade.

Amidst the widespread global response to this crisis, the NY Times caught something that is of particular interest to this blog -- the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner invoked the Responsibility to Protect ("R2P") doctrine and argued that it should be used as the rationale for a UN resolution to have invade Burmese sovereignty to deliver international aid to Burmese civilians that have been affected by the disaster.

The R2P doctrine was born out of a report commissioned by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan challenging policymakers to address the various obstacles that exist regarding military interventions into sovereign states at times of crises (ie: humanitarian intervention). R2P findings suggest that if a state is unwilling or unable to halt measures that are causing serious harm to its citizens, "the principle of non-intervention yields to the international responsibility to protect." In other words, it is up to the international community to uphold what would be the state's responsibility to protect its citizens from harm.

Usually, activists and policymakers invoke R2P in cases where armed peacekeepers need to be sent into sovereign countries when the states, themselves, are committing mass atrocities. For example, UN Resolution 1769, which authorized the deployment of the UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur, cited R2P as a rationale to protect the citizens that were suffering by the hands of the Sudanese government's genocidal campaigns.

This is most likely the first time that a state official has cited R2P as a basis for humanitarian aid to be delivered. Though Kouchner's statement does spark widespread controversy, this may be a step towards establishing that the concept of R2P is slowly becoming accepted as an international norm. Coalitions of NGOs and advocacy groups have been working hard to raise awareness of what R2P means and the Stimson Center has published a comprehensive volume on how to operationalize the concept.

To do justice to the other end of this debate, the Heritage Foundation just published a controversial report that advocates for how the US should keep to protecting its national interests and reject the R2P doctrine. This argument encapsulates the cause of perennial debate over whether evolving international norms of protecting human rights around the world can overcome states' national interests at times of crisis - a debate that is a constant headache for decision-making bodies such as the UN Security Council.

If R2P is invoked in a UN Security Council resolution for the current situation in Burma (even if it is just to send in relief efforts), it may lead to the barriers of the isolationist regime breaking down to finally allow some progress towards investigating, stopping, and bringing to justice the military regime in committing mass atrocities against innocent civilians. Thus far, the UN has been able to do very little in combating the stubborn policies of the Burmese government.

ICTR: Kalimanzira's trial begins

For background on the Rwandan genocide, click here.

The trial of former Acting Minister of the Interior Callixte Kalimanzira began at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR) on May 5th. In respect to coordinating the massacres of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis in 1994, Kalimanzira is charged of genocide, complicity in genocide and with direct and public incitement of genocide. Of course, the defendant is pleading not guilty to all charges. According to the chief prosecutor, Kalimanzira played a "key role" as victims of genocide will be directly testifying in court.

In other news, Kenya has frozen the assets of a Felicien Kabuga, a wealthy Hutu business man and the currently most wanted suspect tied to the Rwandan genocide. The US has a $5 million bounty on his head, according to Reuters. Testimony in the ICTR has found that his transactions have been "substantially interfering" with prosecution witnesses at the court.

The ICTR has thus far convicted twenty-eight former-Rwandan government ministers, members of parliament and military officers for various degrees of complicity during the 1994 genocide.

Currently, there is tension between the UN Security Council and international criminal tribunals regarding the mandate of the ICTR. The Security Council has directed all first instance trials to close by the end of the year and all appeals to be concluded by 2010. As some lawyers point to the fact that steps have been taken to facilitate a transition of jurisdiction to Rwandan courts, closing the court prematurely will be a detrimental move in promoting impunity.

Darfur: More attacks on villages

As the Sudanese government's genocidal campaign in Darfur entered its fifth year, a continuous series of aerial bombardments has been terrorizing civilians in northern Darfur for the past two weeks.

On April 29th, leaders of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the main rebel groups in Darfur, said at least 12 bombs had fallen in the last week under areas of their control, leading to civilian casualties. The rebels alleged that bombings had been continuing for about a week. Despite the Sudanese government denying these charges per usual, a UN statement confirmed these statements saying that "repeated aerial attacks" have indeed been occurring.

After these reports, to the dismay of many, rebels and local organizations announced a few days later that bombings continued to specifically target civilians once again. According to JEM's London-based spokesman: "they killed 11 civilians and injured three women and two children when they bombed the market in Shugag Karo, near Deir Maza, on market day. There were a lot of people concentrated in one place....there was not any single armed element from the (rebel) movements in the area." (emphasis added). Local NGOs have said: "according to information gathered by the villagers of Shegeg Karo, the Antonov hovered for a long time and then bombed repeatedly." Some sources say that 35 children have been wounded from the bombing of the school. Top humanitarian officials are urgently seeking access to the victims.

The UN peacekeeping force failed to prevent these atrocities from occurring. Understandable, considering the majority of the force has not even deployed yet, months after its authorization. UNAMID officials excitedly say the first steps of deployment will finally be taken with a mere two battalions arriving in June and hope that 80% of the force will be deployed by the end of the year.

After all the energy (at least three major international peace conferences), effort (tedious debates over the deployment of UN peacekeepers), and fundraising (multiple large donor conferences) that has been poured into resolving this crisis from all over the world, can the international community really bear to see these grim circumstances as the current state of affairs? Lately, activists and policymakers have been celebrating every inch of progress as a huge accomplishment, overcoming the barriers of Sudanese obstruction. But does this "progress" at a snail's pace really merit its praise?

It's time to become practical and realistic in addressing this conflict that the Sudanese government has been masterfully manipulating. Two battalions in June will largely mean nothing. 80% of the peacekeeping force by the end of the year is not enough and is far too late. We dragged Somalia on in the 1990s, abandoned it as a lost cause, and look where it is now. Fortunately, Darfur is not a lost cause yet, primarily because ordinary citizens around the world continue to proactively express how they still care. Subsequently, it is about time that the policymakers that have the influence to create real progress start becoming proactive as well.

Zimbabwe: China's role

For some background on the crisis in Zimbabwe, see previous posts.

The post-election crisis has yet to end as the violence continues. The opposition party, the MDC, continues to debate whether or not they will enter a run-off election. MDC leader Robert Tsvangirai says he will not commit to anything until the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has set a concrete date for the run-offs. Though both sides urge their supporters to suppress violence if the run-offs occur, tensions throughout the country remain high enough for these calls to have any impact most likely. And, unfortunately, even if violence does quell during this anticipated event, the run-offs will most likely once again spur large-scale controversy unless electoral reforms are made to hold free and fair elections, according to Human Rights Watch.

For more analysis, check out Mussolini's Falacy, a blog that has been monitoring this crisis more closely.

Violence and the elections has not been the only thing that has been catching the world's attention in Zimbabwe. A few weeks ago, southern African ports blocked a shipment of arms from China that were to be delivered to Zimbabwe. The large shipment allegedly included three million rounds of AK47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3,000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes....not exactly your average handguns. As we know, China has already been under international pressure for its investments financing the genocidal Sudanese regime.

The East African Law Society and the South African Development Community said they would be filing suit at the International Criminal Court to seek legal action against the Chinese government for the controversial shipment and, potentially for the court to investigate human rights abuses by the Zimbabwean government. Of course, China claims: "the shipment [was] a purely commercial transaction that broke no laws" and accused critics of wanting to "create conflict between China and African countries."

Not only does the ICC need to take this filing seriously, but the United Nations also must heed various world leaders' call (namely, Britain and the US) for an arms embargo. This will undoubtedly involve working with China so that the UN Security Council can take effective action as soon as possible to prevent further casualties to arise from this spiraling crisis.

Charles Taylor: The Liberian billionaire's trial continues

Charles Taylor, the former dictator of Liberia, has been in detention at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and faces 11 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. To prevent the incitement of violence in the west African state, the trial is currently being tried in the Hague (note: not the ICC).

Since the trial began in June 2007, gruesome details of the atrocities that have been committed against civilians in Liberia during the 1991-2001 civil war are being uncovered. Eye-opening evidence includes testimony by former death squad leader, Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah, who said Taylor instructed fighters to eat UN peacekeepers: "Even the UN white people - he said we could use them as pork...to set an example for the people to be afraid."

The casual tone of his testimony almost makes the cannibalism that occurred sound normal: "[We] throw your head away, your intestines, we take it and put it in a pot and cook it and eat it." Marzah, becoming a key witness, adamant in saying that he was just following orders, further said "We executed everybody — babies, women, old men. There were so many executions. I can't remember them all."

As witness testimonies continue, the prosecution and defense are debating over issues such as the structure and leadership of the rebel forces that committed the atrocities to ascertain what aspects Taylor is liable for.

Meanwhile, the prosecution said today that Charles Taylor had about $5 billion in two US banks during his presidency, according to the BBC. It is assumed that the money came from profits of hauling blood diamonds. Chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp said there will be a UN freeze on the accounts and, hopefully, the money can eventually be shared between the Liberian state and the victims of the civil war.

For comprehensive coverage on Charles Taylor's trial, click here.

Burma: An upcoming referendum for '50% democracy'

Human Rights Watch released a report that details how the upcoming national referendum for Burma's new constitution will be taking place in "an environment of severe restrictions on access to information, repressive media restrictions, an almost total ban on freedom of expression, assembly, and association, and the continuing widespread detention of political activists." Since the announcement of the referendum in February, the government has stepped up its military repression to beat and detain those opposed to the draft constitution.

Thailand's prime minister joked yesterday how Burma's draft constitution offers a "50% democracy," ridiculing how the provisions keep key political opposition leaders from running for office, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. On April 25th, the US Senate passed a bill to honor Suu Kyi for her persistence for human rights and democracy, which rewards her with the Congressional Gold Medal.

This came after the US had circulated a draft statement around the UN Security Council to further "scold" Burma for ignoring UN demands for the military regime to release Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. Unfortunately, even if passed unanimously, this is yet another non-binding statement that will be issued lacking any substantive teeth. Burmese activists and citizens have been expressing great disappointment regarding the lack of progress of the UN and its envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

As representatives of the US Campaign for Burma say: "The Burmese military regime has destroyed twice as many villages as have been destroyed in Darfur [where the UN Security Council has authorized up to 30,000 peacekeepers]. Yet Gambari never says this...He has simply not stated the facts that would drive international action, and when he has said the right thing, he hasn't done it often enough."

The military regime continues its massive military campaigns in ethnic states around the country, razing villages and committing mass atrocities against innocent civilians to drive out non-Burman ethnic minorities. For more background, click here. As well over 3,000 villages have been burned and countless victims displaced, substantive international action has yet to be taken to prevent further mass atrocities to continue with impunity. In the Karenni state (one of seven ethnic states) alone, a quarter of its population (approx. 81,000) has already been displaced. Rape and forced labor, as well as structural violence against children have been rampant, particularly in the Karen state, according to Burmese activists who are known to have vast networks of information gathering to document human rights abuses.

Before the constitution that will continue to keep the military regime in power is approved, the international community must take measures with more teeth, further strengthen sanctions against the military leaders, refer the situation of mass atrocities in ethnic states to the International Criminal Court for investigations to commence, and work more with regional parties such as ASEAN. It is about time that we go beyond non-binding Security Council statements and economic sanctions with only marginal effects to apply direct pressure.

Somalia: World pays attention to pirates again

The United States, Britain, France and Panama introduced a draft resolution, urging maritime powers to fight off pirates on the Somali coast that have been endangering cargo and fishing boats. UN officials said it is time for action to be taken, arguing that the government of Somalia is not in a position to deal with the escalating piracy on its own. (Side note to pirate fans: Piracy definitely still exists in the modern world...and not just along the coasts of Somalia. Check out this "2008 piracy attack map," created by the International Maritime Bureau.)

The latest on the crisis
For background on the crisis in Somalia, click here.

On Jan. 30, UN officials said the situation in Somalia is "the world's worst humanitarian crisis," even worse than the ongoing genocide in Darfur that has now lasted over four years. On April 25, the UN reported how renewed violence has driven 7,000 more people from Mogadishu. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 700,000 people have been driven from the capital in 2007 alone. The transitional government's army; intervening Ethiopian troops; as well as dozens of clan-based militias, anti-Ethiopian groups, and Islamic militants have been clashing violently since Jan. 2007 to devastate the nation's capital and its surroundings. Rarely does the word "chaos" characterize the circumstances of a city so perfectly as it does today in Mogadishu. Refugees International also calls Somalia the "world's most neglected crisis," as the violence has been significantly hampering international relief efforts.

The UN envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is trying to bring together the pertinent actors for a low profile meeting in Djibouti on May 10 to restart a dialogue so the various actors can come to a "minimal political understanding." Though Somalia has been requesting the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force, Ould-Abdallah says that the force would probably not have much effect until there has been internal political progress. This is a wise statement, given the poor history of humanitarian intervention in Somalia (shadows of Black Hawk Down) and the almost undecipherable state of affairs Mogadishu.

After both the transitional government and some opposition groups began circulating peace proposals in March, the ENOUGH Project , released a report on April 24th that argues how a rare window of opportunity for peace may be emerging. Prendergast, authoring the report, rightly says how securing a ceasefire will entail addressing the opposition's basic demand of Ethiopian troops withdrawing. The core of initial negotiations need to center around the terms of the withdrawal, taking into account any consequences this may impose upon the political process and the lives of civilians. As the transitional government's mandate is running out, the challenges that lie ahead include complex negotiations of all parties to form a power-sharing agreement and a transnational unity government for Somalia to be able to function as a state. UN envoy Ould-Abdallah will need significant international support as this process hopefully moves forward.

The report further recommends that the UN Security Council undergo the following to create international leverage:
• Impose targeted sanctions against any Somali leader clearly fomenting further violence and the small percentage of the Somali diaspora that is financing the fighting
• Establish a commission of inquiry to investigate violations of international law
• Refer the case of Somalia to the International Criminal Court for investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Until the cycle of impunity is ended, there will be no hope for peace in Somalia.

Iraq: Tariq Aziz's trial begins

Yesterday, the Iraqi Special Tribunal opened the trial of Tariq Aziz, a former Iraqi deputy prime minister and one of Saddam Hussein's most prominent lieutenants, who is charged of genocide for approving the execution of scores of business people while Iraq faced economic sanctions. Aziz's team of lawyers includes our favorite, Jacques Verges, who has a history of defending some of the most evil men of contemporary history. (Read more about Verges from this previous post).

The court quickly adjourned yesterday, however, due to the fact that a co-defendant, Ali Hassan al-Majid (a.k.a. "Chemical Ali"), was too ill to attend. Chemical Ali is already on death row and was sentenced to hang. In June 2007, he was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Kurds during the "Anfal" campaigns. For background on the genocidal "Anfal" campaigns in Iraq of 1988, click here.

It is also important to note that the procedures of trials in the Iraqi Special Tribunal have come under some scrutiny from human rights groups. Human Rights Watch has extensively written on flaws of the tribunal, especially regarding Saddam Hussein's trial, which found him guilty of committing crimes against humanity in Dujail. Below are some of the flaws that have been highlighted in their reports.

Regarding the trial:
• regular failure to disclose key evidence, including exculpatory evidence, to the defense in advance;
• violations of the defendants’ basic fair trial right to confront witnesses against them;
• lapses of judicial demeanor that undermined the apparent impartiality of the presiding judge; and
• important gaps in evidence that undermine the persuasiveness of the prosecution case, and put in doubt whether all the elements of the crimes charged were established.

Regarding the judgment:
• Relying solely on the defendants’ government positions to establish that they had knowledge and intent to commit the crimes;
• Failing to show the actual lines of command and control needed to establish the responsibility of leaders for the acts of their subordinates;
• For lower-level defendants, relying on their status as Ba`th party members to show that they had the intent to commit the crimes without pointing to evidence of the nature of the Ba`th regime and instead relying on “common knowledge” to determine the defendant’s individual criminal intent; and,
• Failure to address numerous instances of same-day or late disclosure of prosecution evidence to the defense that was used at trial.

DRC: The mess continues and the world needs to care

A messy confluence of multiple armed conflicts has been endangering civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for decades. The background and the roots of violence are simply too complex to synthesize in a blog post. Click here to learn about the conflict in the Kivu regions of the country that this post discusses.

Just a bit of background on recent developments in the Kivus for some context -- starting in August 2007, General Laurent Nkunda's militias began to launch major campaigns of indiscriminate attacks against pro-government camps and villages, committing massive human rights violations against thousands of civilians. Meanwhile, the Congolese army has also been summarily executing civilians and has been using excessive force to combat Nkunda's armies. As the violence almost led the country into yet another major civil war, regional and international pressure allowed for a peace agreement to be signed on Jan. 23 in Goma, with the parties agreeing to an alleged ceasefire.

Although the violence did calm down for a few months, the Goma agreement largely failed as civilians are still being killed and raped on a regular basis by multiple actors. Bound to happen, a new wave of renewed violence begun last week, forcing hundreds to flee the Kivu regions once again (some report thousands), adding to the approximately 1.5 million people who are displaced in the DRC. This time the violence mainly involved clashes between the government and former Rwandan militias known as the Forces Démocratiques de la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR). Since the Rwandan genocide, the FDLR has also been a major player in the Kivu conflict along with the Congolese army and Nkunda's troops. Clashes between rival militant groups also have been continuing to the plight of civilians, as eight people died yesterday according to MONUC (the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC).

Other routine atrocities in the region are continuing as well. UNICEF expressed concerns of heightened levels of recruitment of child soldiers in March. Landmines continue to haunt the daily lives of the millions of displaced people in the country.

Given its complex nature, the deeply-rooted conflict in the Kivus is one of several ongoing in the world where there really seems to be no end without: (1) focused, robust diplomatic pressure from the international community; and (2) a significant boost in funding for the region's UN peacekeeping force. Unfortunately, as it does not look as if though either will happen in the near future given everything else that is going on in the world, expert human rights groups are trying to take it one step at a time. On April 22nd, 63 leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged the United Nations and officials who helped negotiate the Goma agreement to appoint a high-level special adviser to look into the human rights violations in the eastern DRC.

On the judicial end, warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo's trial will be beginning in June at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Lubanga has been charged for conscription and enlistment of children under the age of 15, and the use of children for active participation in hostilities. In addition, the ICC just today controversially issued a warrant for Laurent Nkunda's military chief Bosco Ntaganda, also known as "The Terminator," also for the recruitment of child soldiers. Critics argue the warrant was untimely and did not consider the sensitivities of the peace process, similar to the case of Joseph Kony in Uganda (see previous post).

Though these marginal steps are being taken and negotiations between regional governments continue, there is still a lot of ground to cover...literally. The DRC is huge. The country is approximately the size of western Europe. It is so big, in fact, that there are regions that have not even been mapped yet! Therefore, despite the fact that MONUC is one of the largest UN peacekeeping missions deployed, the force is more than overstretched. Keep in mind the situation in the Kivus is only one of a number of conflicts that is devastating the country. Just imagine 16,000 peacekeepers having to protect endangered civilians and 1.5 million displaced people in all of western Europe with serious eruptions of violence happening all over the place. It's impossible. And, to make matters worse, the peacekeeping force itself is committing human rights violations, according to Human Rights Watch!

Depressing, eh? Is there even a solution to this? Check out the International Crisis Group's recommendations here. As they indicate, this will never end unless the root-causes of the crisis are addressed. Though there are short-term steps that need to be taken to implement the Goma agreement, in reality, a long-term peace plan needs to be laid out for all parties in multiple conflicts to come to terms with the government. In future posts, I'd like to address what this entails in more detail.

Why focus on this? In the long term, the DRC will be one of a number of conflict-ridden countries in Africa that will become important in the global economy. The beginnings of this are already starting to surface. On April 21st, banks, businesses, and representatives of African nations met in London to discuss building what would become the world's largest dam. The $80 billion Grand Inga dam would dwarf China's Three Gorges dam in size. We also see Belgium, the DRC's former colonial ruler, pressuring the government to expedite economic reforms to attract foreign investors, especially in the region's gargantuan mining industry. China Railway recently said it would invest $2.9 billion in a copper and cobalt mining project in the DRC. The potential for economic profits from the vast amounts of hidden resources amidst the jungles and the gunfire of this country are largely unknown to the world. To prevent corruption and mass atrocities to destroy the country's future, the UN needs to come up with an effective long-term strategy to solve the problems in this country asap. And, of course, the millions of civilians who have survived decades of violent chaos really deserve some peace in their lives sometime in the near future.