The week that was, July 8-14

Sudan

• According to a report by the joint AU/UNAMID peacekeeping force over two hundred people were killed as a result of armed conflict and criminality this June.
• JEM rebels claimed victory in clashes on Tuesday with government forces near Kuma, North Darfur. Meanwhile at least seven were killed and eleven captured as prisoners during clashes between Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) forces in the oil-rich Upper Nile state.
• The International Criminal Court this week charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with three counts of genocide, marking the first time a sitting head of state has been charged with the crime. This comes on top of warrants for al-Bashir’s arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• In a boost to the Darfur peace process Abelwahid Nur, the exiled leader of the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) has decided to join the peace talks in Qatar. Nur had previously dismissed the process as “ceremonial.”
• According to a new report by a number of humanitarian and human rights organizations, Sudan is ‘alarmingly unprepared’ for the upcoming referendum on southern Sudan’s independence.
• Northern and southern Sudanese leaders announced Saturday they would consider creating a common market or confederation if the south chooses to secede this January.
• The Japanese government recently announced it will not contribute helicopter units to the UN peacekeeping force in Sudan  as planned. The units would have helped transport ballot boxes during the referendum this January.
• UNAMID’s Civil Affairs unit and representatives of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority met Monday in West Darfur to discuss a strategy aimed at promoting the peace agreement signed by the Rizeigat and Misseriya tribes this June, which ended three months of fighting.

Burma

• Thousands of members Burma’s ethnic minority groups are fleeing the country in light of a crackdown on dissent ahead of elections scheduled for sometime this fall. The EU has initiated long-term plans for the refugee crisis as the organization does not expect conditions to be secure enough for minority groups to return immediately after the election.
• According to military sources the Burmese military junta has worked with North Korean suppliers to form a strategic missile force to guard against external threats.  
• The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) filed a law suit against the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP) party for violating a municipal law that forbids asking for donations in public markets without permission from the YCDC. The UNFNP say they were abiding by a national law, and claim authorities are trying to restrict the activities of opposition parties.
• At least 500 Burmese were put in intensive care after a wave of dengue fever and cholera hit a refugee camp on the Burmese-Thai border. So far this year two children and three adults have died in the camp.
• The Burmese army is reportedly targeting dispirited youth for its armed forces. Among the many child soldiers forcibly recruited this week was a mentally-handicapped 17-year-old boy.

Democratic Republic of Congo

• Fighting around Benin in northeastern DR Congo has displaced about 20,000 people this week. Also this week around 70,000 people were reportedly forced from their homes in North Kivu.
• Rape in the eastern DR Congo appears on the rise say UN officials, and an increasingly larger percentage of the perpetrators are believed to be civilians.

Afghanistan

• According to Afghan Rights Monitor 1,074 civilians were killed between January and June this year, a slight increase compared with the same period in 2009. However due to changes in rules of engagement the number of people killed in NATO air strikes has dropped by 50%.
• The U.S. government is considering labeling the Pakistan-based Haqqani militants as ‘terrorists,’ citing the group as the greatest external threat to Afghanistan. Opponents claim the move could seriously hamper any political settlement in Afghanistan.
• A suicide attack on the volatile Afghan/Pakistan border killed 102 people on Friday, including five children. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility.
• Around 40 foreign ministers will attend a one-day conference in Kabul aimed at creating a unified strategy to restore Afghan sovereignty and restructuring the way international aid is supplied to national programs.

Iraq

• Despite strict security measures by the Iraqi government, more than 50 people were killed and dozens wounded last week during an annual Shiite pilgrimage.
• The U.S. military has increased security at its bases after threats that Kataib Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group trained and funded by the Iranian government, was planning attacks.
• Increased attacks from members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in northern Iraq have prompted the Turkish government to consider a cross-border military raid in the near future.

Pakistan

• A girls’ school was blown up in the Sheikh Baba area on Tuesday, bringing the number of destroyed schools in the region to 91. Meanwhile a suicide attack this week in the volatile Pashtun region killed at least 65 people and wounded around 112.
• An ongoing UN survey demonstrates that the main reason internally displaced persons in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas do not want to return home are insecurity, damaged assets, and a lack of employment opportunities.

Somalia

• Al-Shabab militants claimed responsibility for twin bombing attacks in Uganda that killed 74 soccer fans watching the World Cup final. This is al-Shabab’s first attack outside Somalia and heightens fears that Somalia’s conflict could spill over into the region.
• According to the UN conditions for the thousands of internally displaced persons in and around Mogadishu are worsening each day, with access to food, health care and shelter posing the largest challenges.