Mismanagement in Iraq: “a second insurgency”
Economic mismanagement and corruption are equivalent to “a second insurgency” in Iraq, the United States agency overseeing reconstruction in the country has told the BBC. Meanwhile, a report by Oxfam and national NGOs has said that the government in Iraq is failing to provide basic amenities such as water, food, sanitation and shelter, for as many as eight million people.
A combination of Republican division and Democratic calculation guarantee no early end to United States involvement in Iraq, says Bob Burnett on openDemocracy. To receive our daily security briefings, click here.
On the Alive in Baghdad blog, Hayder Fahad speaks with several Iraqi children living in Syria about their experiences in Syria and Iraq and their expectations for the future.
NATO re-tune tactics to reduce civilian deaths
In a bid to “reduce collateral damage”, NATO forces in Afghanistan are to reduce the size of bombs used by planes and increasingly leave house-to-house searches to the Afghan army, alliance head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said.
Second Korean hostage found dead
The body of a second Korean hostage has been found in Afghanistan. The victim, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min was one of 23 South Korean Christian aid workers – 18 of them women – seized on 19 July. The group’s leader was found murdered last Wednesday.
While much criticism has been levelled against the Korean captives for embarking on their “foolhardy mission”, responsibility for the fiasco, critiques The Marmot’s Hole blog, “should also rest on the shoulders of the church elders, who may have taken part in the planning and recruiting of ‘volunteers’ for this ill-fated mission”.
Final status issues discussed in secret talks
London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayyat has reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are engaged in secret talks on final status issues (e.g. refugees, Jerusalem and final borders). The talks are said yet to have produced a breakthrough, however.
Israeli ambassadors have been told that they may resume contact with Palestinian representatives abroad in the wake of the “new situation” in Palestine.
“Flame of Peace” ceremony in Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo has travelled to the northern city of Bouake, the former headquarters of the opposition forces, for a “Flame of Peace” ceremony, involving burning weapons from the civil war (2002-2003) and celebrating the country’s reunification. The ceremony is intended as a symbolic act to initiate a process of disarmament, the details of which are yet to be ironed out.
United Nations officials in Côte d’Ivoire welcomed the “determination of the Ivorian authorities” to the peace process, which it is hoped will “lead to the holding of credible elections”.
Somali fighters attack Ethiopian base
At least four people have been killed after some 40 heavily armed fighters laid siege to an Ethiopian base close to the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Three of those killed are thought to be civilians, including a four-year-old child.
A Pakistani construction worker has been abducted by gunmen in Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta.
Ceasefire talks over “Greater Nagaland”
Indian security officials have begun discussions with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah), or NSCN (I-M), on extending their ceasefire. Ethnic Naga peoples have been calling for the establishment of a “Greater Nagaland” for over 50 years. The NSCN demand concrete proposals to resolve the Naga problem if they are to extend the current ceasefire, which expires on Tuesday.
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday, for the possession of weapons given to him by associates of gangster Dawood Ibrahim. He is said to have acquired the arms in order to “protect” his family during the sectarian violence which followed the demolition of the Babri mosque in late 1992.
Two tourists from Bihar have been killed in the Kashmir Valley after an explosion in a tourist bus on Tuesday. Seven tourists from Gujarat were killed on Sunday in similar circumstances. Explosive experts are currently investigating the cases, which have left them perplexed as to the substances used.
Islamists on trial for UK envoy attack
Four members of outlawed Islamist group Harkatul jihad went on trial on Tuesday for conspiring to kill the British envoy to Bangladesh. High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury was injured in a grenade attack on 21 May 2004, which left three dead and a further 50, including Choudhury, injured.
Shahzaman Mozumder discusses the increasing reach of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh in Bangladeshi politics and society, and how, when one considers the party’s manifesto, they threaten democratic principles in Bangladesh. In order to tackle this threat, the “aging and corrupt political structures” under scrutiny by the Caretaker Government today, must be replaced “with more potent and honest ones” tomorrow, Shahzaman contends.
Narco-guerrilla infiltration in armed forces
Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos has conceded that drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas have infiltrated the senior echelons of the armed forces, bribing officials for information and to evade capture, thereby seriously compromising the institution’s integrity.
