The Week That Was - June 24 to 30, 2010

Sudan

• Rival Misseriya and Rizeigat tribes signed a peace deal in West Darfur this Monday, hopefully putting an end to violence, which has killed over 200 people since March.
• The Government of Sudan denied trying to import arms on a ship intercepted in Cyprus, claiming the explosives on board were ordered by a mining company.
• The bodies of five people kidnapped by the LRA were found in the Sudan’s Western Equatoria State, prompting residents in the area to flee for fear of more attacks. South Sudan has intensified its military operations to remove the rebels from the region.
• North and South Sudan will begin formal negotiations on July 5 to specify what arrangements will follow the January referendum on South Sudan’s independence; including the distribution of the south’s oil wealth should the region decide to secede.
• As part of an effort to prevent JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim from returning to Darfur, Sudan announced it will close its border with Libya. The Sudanese government had previously asked Libya to expel Ibrahim, who has threatened attacks on Khartoum and refuses to participate in the peace process.
• The Independent European Union Election Observation Mission to Sudan (EU EOM) released its final report on Sudan’s April elections, highlighting deficiencies against international standards and difficulties experienced.
• In a recently released report Refugees International warns that 1.5 million to 2 million southern Sudanese now living in the north could face persecution if the south votes to secede this January.

Burma

• Chinese weapons manufacturer Norinco, the subject of previous non-proliferation sanctions, signed a copper mining contract and a number of cooperation agreements with the Burmese government.
• Starting next month new censorship rules will further restrict election coverage in the nation. Though the regime previously had allowed some leeway, under the new rules political parties will not be allowed to publish or say anything that criticizes military, government, or civil service personnel.
• Amnesty International launched a fundraising campaign to buy and distribute radios throughout Burma in order to combat the regime's media censorship and aid Burmese voters in accessing independent information.
• The Burmese government on Wednesday rejected an application to form a “Burma National Labor Union,” telling labor organizers that they could be prosecuted if they formed a union.

Democratic Republic of Congo

• 16 civilians were killed after the long-dormant Ugandan rebel group the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked the Congolese town of Mutwanga.
• On Friday Congress passed a financial reform package with an amendment requiring accountability for electronics produced with minerals obtained from the eastern DR Congo, which are a factor in the ongoing conflict in the DR Congo.
• The trial of former DRC vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba for three counts of war crimes and two counts of crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in the Central African Republic between October 2002 and March 2003, will be postponed until July 14.

Afghanistan

• Eight insurgents were killed Wednesday in a failed attempt by militants to bomb a NATO air base in eastern Afghanistan with a suicide car bomb and rocket-propelled grenades. This is the third such attack in the past 5 weeks, and comes just after General David Petraeus warned that fighting could intensify in the coming months.
• The Obama administration has awarded $220m in new contracts to Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, to provide security in Afghanistan. The announcement comes in spite of accusations of corruption and human rights violations in Iraq, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

Iraq

• Insurgents killed 8 police officers in a series of shootings in Baghdad on Wednesday. This followed a series of other attacks on Tuesday, which are believed to have been aimed at exploiting the country’s ongoing political crisis. 

Pakistan

• Negotiations brokered by Pakistan between the Afghan government and the Haqqani group, an associate of the Afghan Taliban, are at a standstill over the group’s ongoing relationship with Al-Qaeda. It is unlikely a deal will be reached if the group does not break this two-decade old link.
• Over U.S. and India’s objections China is seeking to financially support the building of two new atomic energy reactors in Pakistan. 

Somalia

• 8 journalists were wounded Tuesday in an attack at a police school in northern Mogadishu.
• East African defense chiefs have asked the UN to lift a regulation banning Somalia’s neighbors from sending peacekeepers to the volatile nation. Somalis are concerned that intervention from neighboring states could trigger further unrest.
• According to international observers a recent election in Somalia’s northern autonomous region of Somaliland was free and fair. Results will be announced sometime next week.