A brief world news roundup for 31 March 2009.

United States & the Americas

• CBS – A second U.S. soldier was convicted Monday of murder in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees in 2007 and sentenced to 35 years in prison after he pleaded guilty at his court-martial.
• Washington Independent – Iran seems kind of tepid so far on the Obama administration’s outreach, but some on the Hill are undeterred. On Thursday, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) will introduce a sense-of-Congress resolution urging the State Department and the Navy to negotiate an “Incidents at Sea” treaty with the Iranians. The idea, on the surface, is to establish a navy-to-navy communications protocol so near-miss confrontations like last year’s incident in the Strait of Hormuz can be avoided.
• canada.com – Russia does not want to bully Canada in the Arctic and has no military ambitions there, Russia’s ambassador to Canada said Monday. Georgiy Mamedov said Russia is not making a “power grab” in the Arctic. On Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Ottawa would not be “bullied” in the Arctic by the Kremlin, a message he said he planned to deliver in person to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
• National Post - Canada’s federal government on Monday said two satellite surveillance stations will be set up to monitor activities in the Arctic, with one on the West Coast, the other on the East Coast.
• Miami Herald – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez says his government isn’t considering restoring diplomatic ties with Israel. Chávez told the pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera that he would only reconsider if Israel’s leaders stop being a “genocidal elite subordinated to the United States.’”
• IRIB – Venezuela announced its support to China’s proposal on replacement of Dollar with another currency in international trades. According to the IRIB report from Caracas, Venezuelan Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said his country would support substitution of the weakening currency with an stronger currency as the world’s monetary reserve unit.
• McClatchy – Guatemalan human rights authorities recently opened a vast archive of police records that could contain information about Bustamante’s brother, Emil, and thousands of other victims of state repression during the country’s 36-year civil war.
• LAHT – The Colombian police captured 25 suspected members of the ELN rebel group in the northeastern province of Santander, authorities said on Monday. The 25 people are said to be members of the Capitan Parmenio Front of the National Liberation Army, the provincial police commander, Col. Omar Gonzalez Aguilar, told Efe. He said that the operation had been underway for about a year and ended on Sunday with arrests in the towns of El Socorro, Simacota, Chima and El Hato.
• MercoPress – Arab League and South American countries will open Tuesday their second summit with the purpose of boosting trade and cooperation. Although geographically very distant the two regions have long historic links in such areas as oil production (Venezuela and Saudi Arabia were five of the founding members of OPEC) and even migration: there’s a strong component of Arab descendents in South America. Sao Paulo for example is considered the second Syrian city of the world behind Damascus.
• Washington Times – Vice President Joe Biden on Monday told Central American leaders pushing the United States to slow its record pace of deportations to be patient since it will not change in the short-term amid the U.S. economic downturn.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• RIA Novosti – Around 20,000 troops from Russia’s Interior Ministry forces will be withdrawn from Chechnya if the antiterrorism operation ends in the North Caucasus republic, the ministry said on Monday.
• Russia MoD – Dmitry Medvedev visited the Kubinka airbase of the Russian Armed Forces; The President got to know the weapons and military equipment of the air defences of the Russian Armed Forces. After a brief inspection that included anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 and S-400, the head of state went to the airfield where various aviation technology was on display.
• Military.com - When Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet for the first time on April 1, a big part of “pressing the reset button” will be to rescue the two countries’ dying arms control treaty and prevent a return to Cold War nuclear rivalry.
• World Bank – The World Bank’s Moscow office has released its Russian Economic Report No. 18 at the press launch in Moscow, on Monday, March 30…  Russia’s outlook for 2009 suggests that real GDP is likely to contract in 2009 by 4.5 percent, a massive growth deceleration compared with the positive 5.6 percent growth in 2008.
• Moscow Times – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin showered AvtoVAZ with promises of cash, guarantees and loans worth more than $1 billion Monday as he met with Tolyatti plant workers on a visit aimed at boosting morale. Putin also said the government would hand out 13.6 billion rubles in state guarantees on loans to other carmakers, including 4.6 billion rubles to KamAZ, 5 billion rubles to Sollers to build a plant in the Far East and 4 billion rubles to GAZ.
• Asia Times – Hopes that domestic demand would lift Russia’s steel industry have reversed, with the China market now looking a better prospect for sales. Protectionist measures by the Kremlin against steel imports from China look short-sighted at best.
• SRI – Kazakhstan’s biggest bank BTA is on the ropes and maybe going down for the count. Criminal charges have been brought against its top managers and the former CEO is on the run from the law, after skipping the country last week.
• RFERL – On March 30, 2007, Oralghaisha Omarshanova, a journalist with the Astana-based weekly newspaper “Zakon i pravosudie,” disappeared shortly after publishing an article focusing on a violent clash two weeks earlier between Chechens and Kazakhs in two villages in southern Kazakhstan. Most media coverage of the incident focused primarily on the ethnic nature of the violence. Omarshanova was the first journalist to ask a different set of questions.
• Xinhua – Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with visiting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Marat Tazhin on Monday, vowing to further strengthen the Sino-Kazakh strategic partnership. Yang called on the two sides to deepen bilateral cooperation in the sectors including economy and trade, energy, non-resources and ports, maintain close coordination under the multilateral framework such as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and jointly combat the “three evil forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
• Civil Georgia – Two Abkhaz servicemen and one local resident were injured as a result of an explosion in the village of Achguara of the Ochamchire district on March 29, the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported. The breakaway region’s law enforcement agencies said that a remote control explosive device went off and suggested that the Georgian special services could have been behind “the terrorist act.” Tbilisi has denied the allegation and the Georgian television stations reported that the blast was a result of infighting between the Abkhaz gangs.

Middle East

• ABC – The U.S. military sought to reassure its Sunni allies Monday that it would support them despite fears that the Shiite-led government plans a purge of their ranks after a weekend crackdown in Baghdad.
• Voices of Iraq – British forces tomorrow will handover their base at Basra International Airport to U.S. forces, according to a high-ranking official from the airport.
• Stars and Stripes – Iraqi troops have begun training on American-provided M1A1 Abrams tanks, firing live rounds at a training center in Besmaya, Iraq. Earlier this month, American officials announced the Iraqi army would acquire 140 of the advanced battle tanks over the next 18 months. The deal was a break from previous U.S. policy not to provide the Iraqis with advanced, heavy weaponry.
• Al Sumaria – A bomb planted in a car in Al Ghadir District wounded four civilians. In Basra, six people were killed and seven others were wounded in a bomb explosion targeting an oil facility protection patrol. A police officer in Basra reported that five civilians were killed in addition to one member of the patrol while wounded include four civilians and three members of the patrol.
  In a separate incident, a bomb explosion in Mosul wounded 15 people and caused major damages. Moreover, police said that 8 policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near a patrol in central Kirkuk.
• LA Times – Say the words “interior ministry” in almost any Middle Eastern country and you’re certain to evoke fear and resentment. In the name of protecting the homeland, internal security forces in just about every Arab country limit civil liberties, intrude on private lives and abuse human rights. Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani bills himself as an independent-minded democrat and civil servant who wants to secure his country without resorting to heavy-handed tactics that might undermine what he describes as his nation’s democratic progress.
• BNET Government – The fledgling Iraqi Air Force is slowly being outfitted with a combination of Russian and U.S. equipment. So far it has purchased UH-1 and Mi-17 helicopters as well as some small fixed wing assets. Military & Aerospace Electronics reports that the U.S. Army awarded ARINC a contract to oversee the purchase and delivery of 22 Mi-17 aircraft to Iraq as well as avionics systems.
• Haaretz – Netanyahu on Monday began naming ministers for his incoming government – a line-up so long that Knesset officials have requested a larger table for cabinet meetings. The new coalition will comprise 30 ministers and seven deputy ministers.
• NOW Lebanon – An explosion took place Monday at 1:00 a.m. in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in front of Fatah member Salah Joumaa’s house, causing material damage only. Joumaa was one of the bodyguards of Fatah official Khalil Ward in the camp. The news comes a week after a Fatah official was killed by a bomb at the entry to the Miyeh Miyeh camp in southern Lebanon.
• Daily Star – Hizbullah vowed on Monday that it would deter any possible Israeli aggression but would not carry out any military operation outside the country. “We will not carry out any operation outside our Lebanese territories, but we will not accept after today that the Israeli enemy stages any assault against our land,” head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad said at a funeral in the southern town Sujod.
• Al Jazeera – Arab leaders meeting in Doha, the Qatari capital, have rejected an international arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president accused of war crimes in Darfur. In a final communique issued at the end of the first day of the 21st Arab League summit on Monday, the leaders expressed soldarity with al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
• Al Arabiya – During summit proceedings, Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi stole the show when he verbally attacked Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and proclaimed himself the “king of kings of Africa,” before storming out to visit a museum. Sound on the televised transmission of the session was interrupted as Gadaffi began his tirade in which he proclaimed himself to be “the leader of the Arab leaders, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of the Muslims.”
• Asharq Al Awsat – At a time of continued uncertainty surrounding the details of the attacks which targeted an arms-smuggled operation – described as Iranian – to the Palestinian Hamas movement via Sudan, credible sources have revealed new information to Asharq Al-Awsat regarding this attack. The sources revealed that the Sudanese government received a warning from the US prior to the attack; the warning stated that a third-party was monitoring the operation which aimed at smuggling weapons from Sudan to the Gaza Strip through the Sinai Desert, and warned the Sudanese authorities to cease any such operations.
• MEMRI – According to Yemenite President ‘Abdallah Saleh, the Houthi (Shi’ite) rebels in Yemen receive assistance from the Lebanese Hizbullah, which has taught them how to manufacture bombs, grenades and other types of ammunition, and has tranined Houthi operatives in Lebanon.

Iran

• Fars – The Arab League secretary general has announced that he will push for Arab-Iranian dialogue, the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Monday.
• Mehr -  Qatar has invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take part in the Arab-Latin American summit which opens on Tuesday in Doha, the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.
• IRNA – Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected a news published by an English language publication on Iran-US talks in Moscow. An informed Foreign Ministry official told IRNA on Monday that the news appeared on the weekly ‘Sunday Times’ is baseless.
• Fars – Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie here on Sunday underlined the need to promote Tehran-Baghdad security cooperation and boost control along the common borders. In the meeting, the two sides discussed pilgrimage and tourism related subjects, reaching consensus on the need for more facilities for Iranian pilgrims.
• Iran Focus – Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari will head out to Damascus later tonight to meet senior Syrian officials throughout the week. Nozari will hold talks with his Syrian counterpart, Sufian al-Alao, during his week-long trip. The official state news agency IRNA reported that the discussions will focus on joint cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, gas supply to Syria and establishing joint refineries with Venezuela and Malaysia.
• Mehr – An Iranian Oil Ministry official said on Monday that Pakistan’s Economic Cooperation Committee has accepted Tehran’s formula for pricing gas. The formula falls within the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project which envisages transporting Iranian gas to Pakistan and then on to India.
• IRNA – Iranian state owned daily ‘Khorshid’ (The Sun), affiliated to Social Welfare Organization (SWO), ceased publication in line with Supreme Leader’s nomination of new Iranian year as Year of Reforms in Consumption Pattern. [me: The daily was started by an Ahmadinejad aide. Hmm.]
• NCRI – The clerical regime officially tasked the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Bassij paramilitary force to control the cities as popular uprisings spread. Previously, the State Security Force (SSF) – mullahs’ suppressive police – was in charge of security in the cities. Brig. Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moqadam, Chief of the SSF, emphasized on the role of the IRGC and the Bassij force in the domestic security.
• Payvand – Photos: Norooz Days of Karun

An Afghan national army soldier from the 6th Kandak looks out over a remote river valley from an Afghan national police outpost in Konar province, Afghanistan, March 19. Alliance forces have been mentoring ANA and ANP members on military and civil operations to help quell violent extremists in the region. (photo by Sgt. Matthew Moeller)

South Asia

• AFPS – Forces killed six of the enemy fighters in a nighttime raid to degrade terrorist networks in the Nahr Surk district of northern Helmand province. Afghan and coalition forces targeted a compound that housed known insurgents. When the assault force arrived at the targeted location, militants positioned south of the compound immediately began attacking the force using small-arms fire. The forces returned fire and called for supporting fire. Four of the insurgents were killed. Earlier in the day in Oruzgan province, Afghan National Army soldiers, assisted by coalition forces, killed five armed militants and destroyed three homemade bombs.
• Gulf News – A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up inside a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing nine people and wounding eight, an official said. Five officers and four civilians died in the attack in Dund district, about 10 miles (15 kilometers) south of Kandahar city, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
• Bakhtar – Three Afghan army commandos have been killed when a roadside bomb tore through their vehicle as they searched for militants in eastern Afghanistan.The United States and Afghan military officials say the soldiers, part of a newly-trained elite army unit, were on a reconnaissance patrol when their vehicle struck a crudely made bomb in Paktia province.
• UK MoD – A 105mm L118 Light Gun is being used by British Gunners to such devastating effect against the Taliban that they have dubbed it the “Dragon”. The gun fired its first round in anger from a rocky outcrop above Musa Qaleh in January 2009 and has been busy ever since protecting coalition and Afghan forces and maintaining security in the area.
• NATO – In response to a request by Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak at the meeting of NATO defence ministers in Budapest, October 2008, Allies agreed to broaden the existing Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund to include support for the ANA’s long-term sustainment.
• Asia Times – Heavily armed militants on Monday stormed a police training school in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least 30 people. The audacious raid follows directly on US President Barack Obama’s warning that Pakistan is the new theater in the Afghan war. The incident highlights that an emerging nexus of militants will make it extremely difficult for Islamabad to give Washington the cooperation it wants in taming al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
• Dawn – Punjab Police has once again failed to effectively act on the intelligence provided by the interior ministry regarding presence of terrorists in the province. According to the reliable sources, the interior ministry had categorically informed Punjab police about the presence of terrorists in the province and their potential targets.
• Geo – Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik has said that the terrorist arrested from Manawan is an Afghan national and hails from Paktika province of Afghanistan. Speaking to newsmen here at the Rangers Headquarter, he said that today’s attack on Manawan Police Academy was planned in South Waziristan. He said that investigations were underway to find more information in this connection.
• The News – Three police officials, including District Police Officer (DPO) Lower Dir, a former acting district Nazim and his nephew, were killed in clashes with suspected militants in Shah Bandai and Lajbok areas of the district on Sunday. DPO Khurshid Khan, hailing from Swat Valley, was spearheading a police party to fight the militants who had earlier kidnapped a bank manager and killed former acting district Nazim Alamzeb Khan. In a gunfight at Shah Bandai area of Lower Dir district, the militants killed the DPO and his two guards Muhammad Islam and Muhammad Ajmeer, while his driver suffered serious injuries.
• Geo – The death toll in a terrorist attack on security forces convoy in Bannu has increased to seven, sources said Monday. According to details, the incident took place on Bannu-Miranshah road when a roadside bomb ripped through the security forces convoy near Mirzail check-post, killing at least seven security personnel.
• MEMRI – Syed Salahuddin, the head of Pakistan-based militant organizations’ network Muttahida Jihad Council, has said that the enemies of Pakistan and Islam must be stopped in Kashmir and Kabul if the war for Pakistan is to be avoided in Karachi and Islamabad, according to a Pakistani daily.
• Frontier Post – The political administration of Khyber agency while holding neighboring country responsible for the Jamrud suicide blast and other terrorist activities have said that foreign countries were providing financial and logistic support to local militants. Addressing a press conference at Frontier Corps Forte at Jamrud on Monday, Political Agent Khyber Agency Tariq Hayat Khan and Brigadier Fayaz briefed mediapersons about the Jamrud operation and the current situation in the area. On this occasion, the heavy and small arms recovered from the militants, light artillery, mortar guns, huge cache of hashish and explosive material with an Indian Insignia was put on display.
• SAAG – Indian Intelligence is frequently in the news, often for the wrong reasons. It is a favourite kicking target for a large number of those who compulsively articulate, like the media, political leaders, academics etc. Why should it be so when its stellar contributions to national security have quite often been praised by different Prime Ministers at different times in India’s history? A public acknowledgement of the services rendered is also indicated by the Padma awards, bestowed on Intelligence personnel from time to time.
• Sri Lanka MoD – During two fierce gun battles that erupted in the seas off Chalai and Mullaithivu, Sri Lanka Navy destroyed four Sea Tiger boats killing twenty- six Sea Tigers on board, around midnight on the 29th and at dawn on the 30th March 2009. The units of the Navy’s elite Boat Squadrons, the SBS and the RABS, based at Chilawatte and Chundikulum, intercepted and engaged two clusters of sea tiger boats with heavy Naval gunfire on two separate occasions. Three sea tiger boats were destroyed in the seas off Chalai around 29th midnight and the other sea tiger boat was destroyed in the seas off Mullaithivu.

Far East & Pacific

• Chosun Ilbo – North Korea has threatened dire consequences if the international community sanctions it over a rocket launch it has announced for between Apr. 4 and 8. The official Rodong Shinmun newspaper on Sunday said once the rocket issue is “raised at the UN Security Council for discussion, the six-party nuclear talks will come to a complete rupture.” It warned the North will “take a stronger measure.”
• NPR - North Korea’s state-run news agency says two American reporters detained earlier this month will be tried for illegal entry and hostile acts. The Korean Central News Agency said in a report early Tuesday that an initial investigation confirms the two entered the country illegally.
• James Schoff – Realigning Priorities: The U.S.-Japan Alliance and the Future of Extended Deterrence; North Korea’s pending missile/rocket launch over Japan and recent U.S.-China maritime skirmishes in the South China Sea remind us that the nature of deterrence and extended deterrence in East Asia is changing.
• Taipei Times – Australia’s deputy prime minister defended the government against suggestions it is too close to Beijing, calling the opposition’s attacks “absurd.” Last week, Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon admitted that he had failed to declare two trips to China that were paid for by businesswoman Helen Liu, a ­Chinese-Australian property developer who is also a long-standing friend, as he is required to do under parliamentary rules.
• news.com.au – The Chinese businesswoman at the centre of a supposed spy scandal has declared she is a loyal Australian and “broken-hearted” by the events. In her first public comments, Helen Liu told The Daily Telegraph she was astounded by claims she was a threat to national security and said she was a good citizen and businesswoman.
• The Australian – The wealthy Chinese businesswoman who befriended Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and showered him with gifts is a leading member of an organisation with strong ties to the Chinese military. Helen Liu, who was born in the northeastern Chinese province of Shandong and is now an Australian citizen, is a member of the editorial committee of Shandong Ming Jia. The organisation, which translates as Shandong Celebrities Family, promotes the work of leading people from Shandong. It has extensive membership within the China’s military, the Peoples Liberation Army, especially its logistics division.
• Arthur Waldron – For a year now Taiwan’s president Ma Yingjeou has been implementing what might be called a “sunshine policy” toward China. He and his colleagues have high hopes that these policies will elicit Chinese reciprocation, bring a reduction of tension between the two countries, leading eventually to a reduction in the military confrontation over the Taiwan Strait. For a Taiwanese leader, however, this is uncharted diplomatic territory, filled with risks and land mines. The question is: will Ma succeed?
• Bangkok Post – Rallies supporting former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra were held in more than 10 provinces on Monday, ratcheting up pressure on the government to resign. The government paid little heed to the demonstrations to avoid any confrontation with the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, which has surrounded Government House since Thursday.
• Straits Times – Islamic militants holding three Red Cross workers say they will behead one hostage on Tuesday afternoon if the Philippine military does not cede control of an entire island, a government official said.
• BBC – Japan’s manufacturing output has fallen for the fifth straight month in February, official figures show. Industrial production fell 9.4% annually, but rebounded from January’s record 10.2% plunge, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Separate industry data showed that car production in Japan dropped 56.2% last month from a year ago.

Europe

• VOA – European naval forces have detained seven suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia. The German Defense Ministry says pirates fired on one of its supply ships, the FSG Spessart, in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday. It says the German ship returned fire and then chased down the pirates with the help of other vessels in the European Union’s anti-piracy mission.
• Russia Today – There are fears that after becoming independent, Bosnia-Herzegovina is becoming a breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalism. Many of the biggest terrorist attacks of recent years have links to the country.
• BBC – Slovenia has at the last minute cleared the way for its neighbour Croatia to join Nato later this week. Croatia’s accession had been threatened by a Slovene nationalist group, angry over a continuing border dispute.
• euobserver – The Czech EU presidency has indicated that the European Union and China are to hold a summit on 20 May in Prague, six months after the previous meeting was cancelled because of a diplomatic spat over Tibet. When asked in Prague whether the rumoured date was accurate, Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg said: “Yes, there hasn’t been any change,” reports the French Press Agency.
• Czech News – The Czech Republic will probably refuse to accept prisoners from the U.S. Guantanamo prison, Mirek Topolanek, outgoing Czech Prime Minister and chairman of the senior ruling Civic Democrats (ODS), told the Impuls Radio today.
• euronews – Hungary’s next prime minister has promised bold steps to drag the country out of its deepest recession in decades. Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai has said Hungary has to take drastic action if it is to avert bigger trouble. After lengthy negotiations between Hungary’s ruling socialists and their liberal allies, the non-aligned politician is expected to replace outgoing premier Ferenc Gyurcsany in mid-April.
• The Local – Three men and two women were formally charged on Monday for human smuggling on suspicions they helped transport 24 Iraqis into Sweden in return for large sums of money. A 49-year-old man, his ex-wife and their son are the main suspects in the case at Attunda district court, while another man and woman are thought to have played a less prominent role.
• Kathimerini – Hooded youths smashed store facades in central Thessaloniki at lunchtime on Saturday in a vandalism spree similar to a rampage by self-styled anarchists in the upmarket Athens district of Kolonaki earlier this month. The 15 or so youths, who used sledgehammers and bats to cause widespread damage but no injuries, eluded arrest. Earlier that day arsonists broke into a Thessaloniki branch of Millennium Bank and torched it with petrol bombs. There was unrest in Athens, too. Late last night arsonists caused damage to the offices of ruling New Democracy in the district of Zografou. Early on Saturday hooded youths assaulted a group of municipal police officers in the historic center, leaving one with head injuries.

Africa

• Garowe – At least 11 people were killed Monday in southern Somalia as separate battles erupted in Mogadishu and near Baidoa, Radio Garowe reports. Fighting erupted in the capital Mogadishu among government soldiers, lasting for nearly one hour and wounding at least five people, including civilians. Witnesses said the battle was between Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers and Islamic Courts fighters loyal to President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
• HRW – Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya face abuse by corrupt and violent police and a rapidly growing humanitarian emergency in the world’s largest refugee settlement, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Kenya should immediately rein in abusive police and grant new land for additional camps.
• Daily Observer – The vice president and secretary of state for Women’s Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, last Saturday evening, received at State House the Iranian Foreign Affairs minister, Manouchehr Mottaki. Foreign Affairs Minister Mottaki was in Banjul with a delegation that comprised experts in wide ranging fields of investment.
• France24 – SADC (Southern African Development Community) leaders meeting in Swaziland on Monday condemned the recent military takeover in Madagascar and are expected to suspend the Indian Ocean island from the bloc.
• Monitor – Residents of Gulu have launched a global campaign against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony to release all the children living in his captivity. Estimates by the United Nation Child Agency indicate that over 3,000 children are still being held captive by the LRA.
• afrol – The former political neighbouring rivals, Congo and Rwanda, have agreed to continue legal discussions in April concerning the extradition of the former Congolese rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda. General Nkunda, former president of the National Congress for People’s Defense (CNDP), is being sought in Kinshasa following his arrest on the Rwandan territory in January.
• AFRICOM – Senior warrant officers of the South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF) hosted a delegation of the U.S. military counterparts in Pretoria March 16-20, 2009. The purpose of the visit was to discuss SANDF warrant officer and non-commissioned officer (NCO) development, build relationships, and to establish a permanent warrant officer/ NCO Cooperation sub-working group to the SANDF — US Military Relations Working Group in preparation for the July 2009 Defense Committee discussions.

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and naval vessels from the Republic of Korea transit in formation the end of Exercise Foal Eagle 2009 a defense-oriented annual training exercise with the Republic of Korea demonstrating U.S. commitment to regional peace and stability. John C. Stennis as part of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group and is on a scheduled six-month deployment to the western Pacific Ocean. (photo by Seaman Josue Escobosa)

The Global War

• Andrew Nagorski – Obama’s 50-50 Russia Strategy; Successful arms-control talks between Russia and the U.S. could also help matters in Iran and Afghanistan.
• ICSR – In the third paper of this series, intelligence analyst Jeff Cozens looks at the culture of global jihad and why it presents Western Governments with a unique strategic and operational challenge.  Some Western counter-terrorism approaches, he argues, appear particularly vulnerable, and might inadvertantly exacerbate the threat. Left unaddressed, these challenges will increase in complexity, scope, and possibly, severity.
• US Navy -  Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines USS Helena (SSN 725) and USS Annapolis (SSN 760) are conducting various weapons and tactics training in the Arctic environment. During ICEX, Helena and Annapolis are conducting a torpedo exercise to test the capabilities of different warfare tactics and of the weapons themselves.
• Dr. Geoffrey Demarest, Small Wars Journal – 19th Century Strategy and its Applicability to Insurgent Warfare

Sights & Sounds

Africa Today – Arab League leaders reject the ICC’s arrest warrant against President al-Bashir of Sudan. Southern Africa’s regional body SADC begins meeting on Madagascar. And an outspoken Zambian priest is once again at loggerheads with the Banda government.

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BBC – Mark Urban asks if Barack Obama’s presidency will see substantial reform at the Pentagon.

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The Economist – A dispute over names has damaged Macedonia’s relations with Greece, says the editor of Balkan Insight

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Sky News – AF-Pak on the Rack

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