Martial law in Peru's restive south, Andrew Legon

Andrew Legon — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:00:49 +0000

Southern Peru was placed under martial law today. Prime Minister Yehude Simon declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Tacna, Jorge Basadre, Candarave and Tarata after reports that three people were killed and dozens injured in recent protests. Violent demonstrations started last Thursday when 4,000 demonstrators clashed with police and set fire to a government building. Protests were sparked by new legislation which cuts the amount of mining tax revenues Tacna receives in favour of the neighbouring region of Moquegua.

The toD verdict: The controversial law and subsequent protests stem from the geographical and economic cleavages dividing the country. Peru's mining sector has been capitalising on high metals prices, with GDP growth for 2008 expected to reach 9%. However, the profits largely benefit the main coastal cities. Many in the Andean and Amazon interior still live in acute poverty. According to analysts, successive governments have grappled with the difficulty of ensuring an equitable distribution of growth amongst societal sectors and geographical regions. Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.

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Such socio-regional polarization, which has been building for some time, has resulted in a revived culture of protest. President García's recent cabinet reshuffle was in part a response to a number of different demonstration campaigns at the beginning of October 2008.

Experts suggest that it is necessary for the government to engage seriously with the protesters. The potential for further hostilities is ever-present; according to the ombudsman's office in Peru, the lack of channels for political communication means that social mobilisation can quickly turn violent. However, Prime Minister Simon has said he will not negotiate with authorities in the southern Tacna region while protests continue. Until now Peruvian governments have often sought to extinguish social unrest without tackling its root cause. In the longer term, therefore, the government must enact social policies which address Peru's regional and economic inequalities.

Aid workers kidnapped in Somalia

Gunmen raided an airstrip in central Somalia on Wednesday, kidnapping six members of the French aid group Action Against Hunger. Four European aid workers and two Kenyan pilots were taken from the airstrip in the town of Dhusa-Mareb, near the Ethiopian border. The town, jointly run by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and the Shebab group, remains an Islamist stronghold. Large parts of the country were taken over by the ICU in 2006 before being ousted by government forces backed by Ethiopian troops. Wracked by conflict since 1991, Somalia now faces an Islamist and nationalist insurgency.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting. More than half the population (some 3 million people) require food or medical help. Aid agencies have been increasingly targeted in recent months, making their operations virtually impossible to sustain.

Four killed in twin Baghdad bombs

Further bomb attacks struck both sides of the sectarian divide in Baghdad on Thursday morning. Four people were killed in twin bomb attacks in a Sunni area of the capital. Reports indicate that at least two of those killed were members of an Awakening Council. Such groups, formed by insurgents who have switched sides, now oppose al-Qaeda in Iraq. Elsewhere in the capital a roadside bomb exploded in the Shia stronghold of Sadr City. Nine people were injured. Another roadside bomb detonated in central Bab al-Sheikh neighbourhood. One person was killed and four others injured.

Violence in the capital has increased markedly this week. More than thirty people have been killed, and more than eighty wounded in a series of daily bomb attacks. But US officials say that attacks in Baghdad, averaging about four a day, are down by nearly 90 per cent from levels in late 2006 before America's surge and the emergence of Awakening Councils.

Pipeline explosion in Turkey

An explosion tore through the Turkish section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline late Wednesday. Turkey's state-owned pipeline company Botas turned off the valves, cutting the transport of oil following the explosion, which left a four-metre wide crater in the ground. Although the cause of the blast is, as yet, unknown, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for an explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in August.

US airstrike kills militant and civilians in Afghanistan

Fifteen Taliban militants and seven civilians were reported killed on Thursday after an airstrike in northwest Afghanistan. The incident occurred in Ghormach district of Badghis province, after a long clash between militants and government/foreign forces.

The attack comes just one day after President Hamid Karzai, in a speech to congratulate President-elect Obama, demanded a halt to civilian casualties in US operations. Earlier this week a coalition airstrike in the south of Afghanistan killed 37 people, mostly women and children, who had gathered for a wedding. US and NATO forces have killed at least 275 civilians this year.

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Martial law in Peru's restive south, Andrew Legon