1. Global Terrorism Monitor
2. Political Risk Monitor
3. AML/CFT Monitor
4. Emerging Threat Monitor
5. Critical Infrastructure Monitor
6. Disaster Reduction Monitor
7. Recommended Reading
8. Asset Management Network News
1. Global Terrorism Monitor
The Global Terrorism Monitor is a monthly 16-page print publication. News highlights from the past week are provided in this free email update, but detailed analysis, background information and source documents are only available to subscribers. For subscription information, emailinfo@tamni.com.
GTM Africa
Chad has accused the Sudan-government-sponsored Janjaweed militias of further cross-border raids in the east, in violation of the 8 February peace accord meant to end these attacks. Continued refugee movements lend credence to the claim.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) says the Nigerian navy attacked them while MEND patrolled the Escravos River. The army says that several hundred heavily armed militants were attempting to steal fuel. MEND claims to have killed 13 soldiers in the fierce fighting. Attacks in the oil-rich Delta have caused a 20 percent drop in Nigeria's oil exports. MEND announced 16 new conditions for release of the three hostages remaining in its custody. Among these are prisoner releases, withdrawal of foreign oil exploitation, and demilitarization. One of the demands, for removal of Brigadier General Elias Zamani, has been met, but the army said his transfer was routine.
Sudan's government-backed militias, rebel groups and bandits have contributed to a deteriorating security situation that has forced a dramatic reduction in humanitarian operations. This is illustrated in a budget reduction in which a $33 million appeal has been slashed to $18.5 million. Talks regarding measures bolster the African Union force, possibly by replacing it with a UN operation, were strongly opposed by the Sudanese government, which is implicated in much of the violence. The AU has agreed in principle to have the UN take over in Darfur, but they will wait until September at the earliest, to give the UN time to prepare and Sudan time to become reconciled to the change.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=44104e7c4
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2hi/africa/4790822.stm
GTM Americas
The National Parole Board of Canada ordered Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man convicted in the 1985 Air India bombing, to remain in prison another two years. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced initial measures to pave the way for a full judicial inquiry into the incident.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=21f712ab-0b6a-4b48-9f3e-6adb4d85f87c&k=91314
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1049
https://terrorismcentral.com/Newsletters/2005/040305.html#FeatureArticle
https://terrorismcentral.com/Newsletters/2005/112705.html#FeatureArticle
Colombia's rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are blamed for a 6 March explosion that killed three civilians, including a 76-year-old woman and an 8-year-old child, and injured seven.
The paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) completed the last big demobilization of the peace process as another 2,000 have laid down arms, joining about 24,000 previously disarmed.
The US Congress approved renewal of the Patriot Act by two votes. The counterterrorism legislation introduced in haste in October 2001 was changed only superficially, and makes permanent several measures that reduce civil liberties as well as measures that expand the scope of the Act to crimes not related to terrorism. Note the Department of Justice Inspector General's semiannual report to Congress on the Patriot Act. Among the issues it addressed are military detention facilities, treatment of antiwar protestors, more than 100 possible intelligence oversight violations, and a range of other issues related to US counterterrorism operations.
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0603/index.htm
The US National Academy of Engineering, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, has prepared four fact sheets on biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological terrorist attacks.
http://www.nae.edu/nae/pubundcom.nsf/weblinks/CGOZ-642P3W?OpenDocument
GTM Asia Pacific
Australia is considering undertaking a program, first proposed by the federal police, to "persuade extremists and terrorists who have been held in prison to change their point of view and to understand that its not the Islamic way to kill".
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/how-to-treat-terrorists-like-addicts/2006/03/08/1141701580076.html
http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/transcripts/2006/060309_ds.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/good-cop-bad-terrorist-good-citizen--but-some-see-peril/2006/03/09/1141701634166.html
Indonesia has ratified the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombing and the 1999 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
In Sulawesi on Thursday the government announced it would extend security operations for another three months. On Friday, a bomb exploded at a Hindu temple in the central town of Poso, the scene of much sectarian violence in the past. One man was injured.
Malaysia's police inspector general reported that four pirate gangs in the Malacca Straits have been intercepted. Police escorts on request by ships using the strait have also contributed to reducing piracy attacks.
http://www.bernama.com/
Philippines New People's Army (NPA) rebels are suspected in an ambush in the south that killed two soldiers and injured four. In a separate incident, one NPA rebel was killed.
Thailand's capital, Bangkok, was the scene of a small explosion near the home of a royal advisor. The incident is connected with increased political tensions. One tourist was injured. There were multiple attacks in the southern provinces of Yala and Pattani, including armed assaults that killed 6 and two arson attacks.
GTM Europe
Brendon McFarlane will go to trial in Ireland for the 1983 kidnapping of Don Tidey. McFarlane was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and one of the 38 prisoners who escaped from the infamous Maze prison in 1983. He was recaptured in Amsterdam in 1998 and extradited to Northern Ireland, where his trial collapsed when some of the evidence was lost. Now Dublin's Supreme Court has ruled that sufficient evidence was preserved to support going to trial. Three roadside and one car bombs killed at least seven people.
Italy's reform minister Roberto Calderoli was forced to resign after he wore a T-shirt decorated with satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. He is a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party and his continued utterance of provocative anti-Islam rhetoric has led to a series of terrorist threats against him, including a web posting from al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri.
A court in the Netherlands has convicted nine Muslims of belonging to a terrorist group - the Hofstad group - and planning attacks against Dutch politicians. Group leader Mohammed Bouyeri is already serving a life term in prison for murdering filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Two other members were sentenced to 15 and 13 years for using a hand grenade, and the others were sentenced to between one and five years on charges not related to terrorism. Five more were acquitted.
Romania and Israel have signed a 5-year cooperation agreement to counter terrorism and support other military operations.
In Russia's Chechen province, the new Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov has assumed office. He claims that all militant groups have been eliminated, except for a few notorious figures they are targeting, and that more than 7,000 had voluntarily disarmed and returned to their families.
Spain's Basque separatist group ETA took responsibility for four roadside bombs. Two were defused and two exploded. There were no casualties. Following the incident, a general strike called by the banned Batasuna party, associated with ETA, was called. It had limited participation and a few incidents including burning barricades at some road and rail lines.
Spain has marked the second anniversary of the 11 March train bombings, in which 191 people were killed. Press reports suggest that the attacks were home grown, not carried out at the behest of al Qaeda, but investigations are ongoing and reports have not yet been released.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/europe/2004/madrid_train_attacks/default.stm
http://www.mir.es/DGRIS/Notas_Prensa/Ultimos_comunicados/np030902.htm (in Spanish)
In Turkey, two explosions near the governor's office in the southeast city of Van have killed three and injured 12. The incident, in a Kurdish-dominated area, may be associated with separatist rebels such as the Kongra-Gel, formerly the Turkish Workers' Party (PKK), which has been responsible for similar attacks.
Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit has been accused of setting up rogue units in Kurdish areas to provoke clashes and help derail efforts to join the EU.
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=30708
In a BBC Panorama report Peter Taylor investigates the UK police's "shoot to kill" policy towards potential suicide bombers that led to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. The young Brazilian was shot dead last July, shortly after the bombings in London. Mr. Taylor investigates how the program went so wrong and traces the family search for justice from Brazil to London. Here are links to the program, available in streaming video and as a text transcript, and to the UK Police response to the threat posed by suicide terrorism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4782718.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4779602.stm
http://www.globalterrorismmonitor.com/2006/03/GTM1201.shtml
http://www.acpo.police.uk
Two 18-year-old students have been remanded in custody in British court under section 58 of the Terrorism Act. Awaab Iqbal was charged with possessing information and Irfan Raja with recording information that could be useful to a terrorist. A hearing is set for 6 April.
"Revealed: How suicide bomber used to work for the Government" described Mohammad Sidique Khan's transition from law-abiding citizen to the terrorist raging hatred for the West in a video justifying the 7 July attacks on London.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article350613.ece
Northern Ireland's Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reports that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) no longer poses a terrorist threat since it decided to engage in political action and told its members to eschew public disorder. IMC warned of a continued threat from dissident republican paramilitaries and loyalist connections to organized crime.
http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/publications.cfm?id=34
Reflecting this threat from organized crime, a joint Irish/UK operation on both sides of the border targeted organized crime, reportedly targeting alleged former IRA chief of staff Thomas "Slab" Murphy's property and five others. Cigarettes, fuel, and monies were seized, and three people arrested.
Note Matthew Teague's article in the April issue of The Atlantic, "Double Blind: The untold story of how British intelligence infiltrated and undermined the IRA".
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200604/ira-spy
GTM Middle East
In Gaza, an Israeli air strike on the car of Islamic Jihad members Munir Sukar and Ashraf Shalluf killed the two militants.
Multinational Forces' 9 March operational briefing reported 555 attacks in Iraq last week.
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/Transcripts/060309.htm
Among these attacks:
Iraqi Major General Mibdir Hatim al-Dulaimi was shot dead by a sniper in Baghdad on Monday. On Wednesday, the bodies of 20 men were found discarded in Baghdad in what appears to be sectarian executions or reprisal killings. Gunmen dressed as police raided the al-Rawafed security company and kidnapped its director and as many as 50 employees, using what appeared to be police vehicles. The police and interior ministry have denied all knowledge of the incident. Roadside and car bombs killed at least 8 people and injured more than 20 on Thursday. Truck and car bombs on Friday killed 12 people. Three US peace activists kidnapped last November were shown on a video released last week. The body of the fourth hostage, Tom Fox, was found on Thursday, showing signs that he was beaten before being shot dead. Today, three car bombs in Baghdad killed 35 people and injured 92. A fourth bomb was defused.
Thirteen people accused of participating in the insurgency were hanged.
The US role in Iraq's sectarian violence is the topic of new analysis from Foreign Policy in Focus:
http://fpif.org/fpiftxt/3139
Last year in Jerusalem there were no large suicide attacks. District police commander Major General Ilan Franco said that six attempts were foiled
A Jordanian military court has convicted eleven militants of arranging a covert network to finance, recruit and smuggle fighters to Iraq via Syria. Six of the suspects had been arrested in July 2005 and were sentenced to prison terms of between 20 months and four years. Five were sentenced in absentia to 15 years hard labor. Four other men were acquitted for want of evidence. Salem bin Suweid and Yasser Freihat, convicted of the 2002 murder of US diplomat Laurence Foley, have been hanged. Of the eight other defendants, six were sentenced to death in absentia, and two were sentenced to prison terms: Mohammed Damas to 15 years and Mohammed Amin to six.
The body of Michel Seurat has been returned to France. He was kidnapped in May 1985 by Lebanese Islamic Jihad, which says they killed him to revenge France's extradition to Baghdad of two pro-Iranian Iraqi dissidents. His story was told by his wife, Marie Seurat, in the international bestseller "Les Corbeaux d'Alep" ("The Crows of Aleppo", published in the UK as "Birds of Ill Omen") (Gallimard/Quartet). The researcher's body had been found last October during excavation work in Beirut.
GTM South Asia
In Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, a suspected Taleban hideout came under assault by Afghan and US forces, reported killing one militant and a woman. In Kandahar, four Albanians and their guards have been kidnapped by suspected Taleban. Former president and current senate chair, Sibghatullah Mojadidi, survived an attack that killed the two suicide bombers and two civilians. An improvised roadside bomb, probably from the Taleban killed four US marines.
Haji Nadir was arrested in Kunar Province. The Pakistani is suspected of being an al Qaeda operative contributing to increased numbers of roadside bombings. He is being questioned by US forces at Bagram air base.
Bangladesh police have arrested Siddiqul Islam ("Bangla Bhai") of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). He is a senior member of JMB, previously known for his leadership of Jagrata Muslim Janata, which terrorized areas in the north in 2004.
Maoist rebels in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh launched two attacks on Sunday night against suspected police informers. Six people were killed, 33 injured, and five kidnapped.
In Uttar Pradesh, the city of Varanasi, a major pilgrimage center and the religious center of Hinduism, was the scene of three explosions that killed at least 14 and injured more than 60. The first explosion occurred Tuesday evening, a holy day, at the Sankot Mochan temple, then two more went off at the main rail station, and two bombs were defused. The attack was claimed by an unknown Kashmiri militant group calling itself Lashkar-e-Kahar. There are also reports that Lashkar-e-Toiba operative Salar ("Salim") was in the area at the time of the rail explosions, but he has since been killed in an encounter with police. Sketches of two suspects have been released and two men fitting the description were detained, but subsequently released. There have been protests in public and in parliament against the attacks. High security has been in place. Police in Bombay report they defused a bomb at a railway station found there.
Jagit Singh Chohan has been arrested on charges of sedition after he hoisted a flag supporting a separate Sikh homeland. He considers himself the president-in-exile of the Sikh nation of Khalistan.
Nepal's Maoist rebels attacked government offices in the eastern hill town of Ilam Bazar. They destroyed an electricity station and freed more than 100 prisoners. Seven rebels, three security personnel, and two civilians were killed in the fighting, and 20 policemen are missing. Another attack on Thursday morning killed three soldiers, and injured five police and one civilian. Seven security men were killed in fighting on Friday, and rebel bombs injured ten civilians and two police. About 1,500 civilians were kidnapped, one person from each household in Rukum district, to help build roads.
Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Sallahduddin and seven colleagues were arrested in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during an anti-Musharraf demonstration.
Brother physicians Akmal and Arshad Waheed were convicted of fundraising and sheltering militants a year ago. A Pakistan court has now ordered their release, suspending the 7-year sentence laid down by the anti-terrorist court.
In Pakistan's Balochistan province, two landmines have killed one and injured seven passersby. On Friday, a vehicle hit a landmine planted by tribal rebels. At least 28 people were killed as they traveled to a wedding party.
In North Waziristan, Pakistani forces attacked tribal areas. They report killing up to 30 foreign militants and their local supporters. President Musharraf has offered special development aid for border areas if foreign militants are expelled.
2. Political Risk Monitor
The Political Risk Monitor is a monthly 16-page print publication. News highlights from the past week are provided in this free email update, but detailed analysis, background information and source documents are only available to subscribers. For subscription information, email info@tamni.com.
PRM Africa
Benin awaits the results of last week's presidential election. Preliminary results indicate the vote will need to move on to a second round. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) observers found it free, fair, and democratic, and although there were deficiencies they would not change the results. However, outgoing President Mathieu Kerekou, in power for 28 of the past 33 years, said the vote was not transparent, some candidates pointed to irregularities, and the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) has denied losing 1.3 million votes (in an electorate of four million.) In addition, the two top executives of the Benin Radio and Television Office were dismissed. Information on the four leading candidates can be found here:
http://www.politicalriskmonitor.com/2006/01/PRM1201.shtml
Burundi President Nkurunziza said a coup plot had been uncovered, but an army spokesman said they know nothing about the plot they supposedly uncovered.
Democratic Republic of Congo has set 18 June for their first ever general election.
In Kenya, thousands of demonstrators across the country have been demonstrating against last week's police raid on the Standard media group and in favor of a free press. They are demanding the removal of the ministers responsible for internal security and communications. The Standard has complained to the human rights commission and gone to court seeking damages against the government.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=37504
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=68529
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4770784.stm
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's efforts to change the constitution to allow a third term has generated significant controversy. A committee of both houses of parliament approved the amendment, which would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority. A High Court has ordered the National Assembly to stop their subjudicial review, while some Senators said the constitutional court couldn't interfere and they did not need to accept the stay of action. Many other leading politicians and state officials have risen to oppose additional amendments to extend terms of other officials as well.
South Africa plans to open an embassy in Iraq.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says that while opposition leader Kizza Besigye faces High Court charges, he will not also face a military trial. He did not address whether charges of treason would be dropped. A Canadian reporter, Blake Lambert, who had been covering the case, was expelled because the government was unhappy with his "unbalanced" reporting.
Zimbabwe's inflation rate has hit 782 percent.
PRM Americas
Bolivian President Evo Morales has signed into law a referendum on greater regional autonomy, which will be held 2 July, as well as a law to convene a special constitutional assembly tasked with increasing indigenous rights in a new constitution that would also be approved by referendum.
Chile's first female president, Michelle Bachelet, has been inaugurated into office.
Colombians are voting in parliamentary elections.
Mexican authorities have fined the Maria Isabel Sheraton hotel in Mexico City $15,000 for discrimination in connection with having expelled 16 Cuban officials from its premises in February. The hotel is owned by the US company Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, which said the US Treasury asked them to remove the Cubans to comply with a US embargo against Cuba. Mexico says the US law cannot be applied in a third country, and federal authorities may impose further sanctions in addition to those imposed locally. The hotel has been accused of other irregularities in the past.
Mexico and the US have agreed to an "Action Plan" to combat border violence and crime.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/press_release/press_release_0874.xml
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, defended US counterterrorism policies and continued use of Guantanamo Bay.
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2006/ag_speech_060307.html
Reviews of the content of Pentagon transcripts from Guantanamo, released last week, can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4773396.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8040551/
http://search.csmonitor.com/2006/0308/p01s01-usju.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article349546.ece (subscription)
The transcripts are online at:
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/index.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2006/20060303_4387.html
A series of arson attacks targeting churches in Alabama have been traced to three college students in what was characterized as a joke that spun out of control but was not a hate crime.
PRM Asia Pacific
Australia is extending the Cole inquiry into Iraq's oil-for-food program.
China will allow death penalty cases to be heard in open court from 1 July, a measure that could reduce the number of executions.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/12/content_533133.htm
Four years after independence, East Timor is the poorest and least developed country in all of South East Asia, and it is getting poorer. The UN Development Program's "The Path out of Poverty: Integrated Rural Development" is a new report that finds half of East Timor's population lacks safe drinking water, 60 of 1,000 infants born alive die before their first birthday, and there are few job opportunities. Despite the grim reality of a population in which 40 percent lives below the poverty line, there are positive prospects for the future following the January oil-sharing agreement with Australia. The report emphasizes the need to use these gas and oil revenues to target rural development and skills improvement.
http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/march-2006/timor-leste-hdr20060309.en?g11n.enc=ISO-8859-1
High tension in the Indonesian province of Maluku has followed several incidents in the town of Ambon, where police and soldiers have clashed, leaving one police officer, one soldier, and one civilian dead.
Kazakhstan has extradited Kyrgyz opposition leader and asylum seeker Kadyrov Dastan Kurmanbekovic, despite a written communication from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The forced return was carried out in violation of the principle of non-refoulment to protect returning a refugee or asylum seeker to a place where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
Malaysia has implemented Islamic family law across the country. Marina Mahathir, daughter of the former Prime Minister, has sparked angry reaction with this comparison: "In our country, there is an insidious growing form of apartheid among Malaysian women, that between Muslim and non-Muslim women.... only in Malaysia are Muslim women regressing; in every other Muslim country in the world, women have been gaining rights, not losing them".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4795808.stm
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=40597
Thailand's major opposition parties are boycotting the 2 April snap elections called by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a situation which could lead to a House without the minimum 500 members required. Thaksin's son Phantongtae Shinawatra has been fined more than $150,000 for securities violations connected with the sale of shares in Shin Corp. Profits from Shinawatra family sales of this stock (nearly $2 billion) precipitated the current political crisis. In addition, Singapore has been asked to launch a separate investigation into the transaction, which put the Thai company under Singapore ownership. A boycott of Singapore products in Thailand has been threatened.
An Uzbekistan court has sentenced opposition leader Sanjar Umarov, head of the Sunshine Uzbekistan Opposition Alliance, to 8 years in prison following his conviction on money laundering, tax evasion, and other economic crime charges, which most observers believe are politically motivated.
PRM Europe
Bosnian Serb intelligence officer Momir Nikolic will serve 20 years in prison after his 27-year sentence was reduced on appeal. The appeals judges said that the first Bosnian Serb to plead guilty in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre should have been given more credit for cooperating with the prosecution.
http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2006/p1047-e.htm
Corsica's right-wing parliamentarian and casino boss Robert Feliciaggi was shot in the head several times by an armed attacker. The motive for his death is not known at this time.
Milan Babic, the former Croatian Serb leader, has committed suicide in his prison cell in The Hague, where he has been serving a 13-year term for crimes against humanity. The sentence was reduced because he testified against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Milan Martic, his successor as Croatian Serb leader. The announcement and an obituary can be read at:
http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2006/p1046-e.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4779362.stm
Cyprus's stalemate is the subject of International Crisis Group Analysis that asks "What Next?":
"The failure of the Annan Plan to reunify Cyprus - accepted by Turkish Cypriots by a large majority but rejected by Greek Cypriots in the 2004 referendum - has left the island's peace process locked in stagnation. Given that no settlement process is in sight, and that attempts to negotiate interim confidence building measures seem likely to be an unproductive diversion, the only way forward is a series of unilateral efforts by the relevant domestic and international actors aimed at sustaining the pro-solution momentum in the north, inducing political change in the south, and advancing inter-communal reconciliation. External players should exert pressure upon the political elites of both communities for immediate recommencement of negotiations. The key to unblocking the situation is for the Greek Cypriot leadership to re-engage with the process in a meaningful way."
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4003&l=1
Denmark hosted a conference to discuss how to repair relations damaged by the crisis over satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=22883
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/Navariednews.asp?dismode=article&artid=226700772
Disaffected youths in France protested at the Sorbonne university against new labor laws that make it easier to dismiss employees under 26 years of age. Police used tear gas and batons to clear the demonstration, injuring two. Protests across the country during the week involved more than 100,000 people in 35 cities, causing serious disruption to airports and public services.
The International Crisis Group comments on "France and its Muslims: Riots, Jihadism and Depoliticisation". The new report finds:
" The riots of October-November 2005 and the jihadist militancy in its Muslim population are the product of not only discrimination and exclusion but also the absence of political representation and a resulting sentiment of abandonment, all of which France must urgently address. With the neutralisation of Muslim youth organisations and political Islamism, and the failure of the secular political parties to engage properly with the Muslim population, there is a growing tendency to resort to violence. Security and socio-economic measures are a priority, as is decreasing the state's coercive presence in suburban areas and reducing social discrimination. But equally critical is a political solution that aims to reform the means of representation for the Muslim populations, invigorate community associations and revitalise political participation in marginalised suburbs."
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4014
Germany's three main opposition parties have demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the country's role in the US-led war on terror and invasion of Iraq.
Just ahead of election in Italy, prosecutors in Milan have ordered Prime Minister Berlusconi and British lawyer David Mills, who is married to a UK government minister, to go on trial for corruption. The government's plans for re-election were further threatened by the resignation of health minister Francesco Storace after 16 people were arrested on suspicion of spying on his political opponents.
Kosovo's new Prime Minister Agim Ceku has been sworn in. Responding to a Serbian statement that an independent Kosovo was unacceptable, he said that he expects full independence.
Britain's Law Lords unanimously found that police use of anti-terror laws to stop and search peaceful demonstrators at an arms fair was valid, not disproportionate.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd060308/gillan-1.htm
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/
Mohammed Ajmal Khan has admitted in British court to supplying Lashkar-e-Toiba training camps in Pakistan, and will be sentenced later. Khan had used bank accounts, credit and debit cards of his friend Palvinder Singh, who therefore was accused of conspiring also of supplying LeT. Sing was acquitted of these charges.
In the Channel Islands, the Island of Sark held an Extraordinary Meeting of the Chief Pleas to consider constitutional changes. The island has voted against abolishing landowners role in Europe's last feudal government. Instead, the number of seats in the Chief Please has been reduced to 28, with half the seats reserved for publicly selected landowners and half elected. The changes are being made to comply with European human rights laws.
http://www.sark.gov.gg/
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his prison cell at The Hague, apparently from natural causes connected with his heart condition. Post mortem results will follow once the analysis is completed.
http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2006/speech/poc-060312e.htm
http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2006/speech/cdp-060312e.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/12/milosovic/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/international/europe/12milosevic.html
PRM Middle East
The first working session of the new Palestinian parliament, led by Hamas, opened on Monday. Fatah has been unable to reach agreement with Hamas to join a national coalition. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to delay formation of a cabinet until 28 March.
The World Bank has approved $42 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority to help prevent the caretaker government from collapse and avoiding loss of basic services. The EU provided funding but warned that if Hamas fails to renounce violence against Israel such aid would be cut. Hamas is also seeking financial backing from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.
http://www.worldbank.org/we
Opening of Iraq's parliament has been postponed by a week, to 19 March, amid deadlock over the posts of prime minister, president, and speaker.
Iraq's justice minister says they will use Abu Ghraib prison for storage, not detention, once the US returns the notorious jail to Iraqi authorities. The change is not imminent.
Iraqi detainees report detention without charge or trial for more than two years, lack of judicial oversight and legal representation, and cases of torture. The allegations are described in a new report from Amnesty International that focused on those held by the US-led Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde140012006
The need for an emergency plan to forestall Iraq becoming a failed state is addressed in this article, which summarized recent studies from highly respected Iraq experts:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,405306,00.html
Also note this 11 March 1917 article "The British are welcomed in Baghdad", from The Guardian archives:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1728735,00.html
Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced plans to unilaterally set its own borders, including most of the West Bank through construction of a fence. This step was criticized in Israel and was called a declaration of war by Hamas.
Israel partially reopened the Karni crossing into Gaza, to allow delivery of food and water. It has been closed for more than two weeks, making basic commodities unavailable to the Palestinians, for whom it is the main way to bring in goods. So far this year the crossing has been closed 60 percent of the time, compared to an average of 18 percent last year, or 19 percent in 2004.
http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/
Israel's state comptroller's report on last year's withdrawal from Gaza found serious failures that caused unnecessary damage and suffering to the evacuees.
http://www.mevaker.gov.il/ (in Hebrew)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3225148,00.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395557407&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
PRM South Asia
Afghanistan and Pakistan have exchanged blame over militant activities, each accusing the other of outdated or inaccurate information
Bangladesh police charged opposition protesters in Dhaka with batons and tear gas, leaving at least 50 people injured.
India's Supreme Court has convicted Zahira Sheikh of perjury after she recanted her testimony in the Best Bakery case, leading to an acquittal of those accused in case that sparked the 2002 religious riots in Gujarat, which killed more than a thousand, mostly Muslims. She has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined 50,000 rupees ($1,000). At sentencing, her whereabouts were unknown, but she turned herself in and asked to remain with police in Maharashtra rather than be returned to Gujarat.
Pakistan's Supreme Court rejected Indian national Manjit Singh's death sentence appeal following his 1991 conviction for spying and carrying out four bombings.
Kite flying in the Punjab has been banned following a number of deaths caused by glass- or metal-coated kite strings. Kite flying is part of the traditional spring festival of Basant.