Refugee headache for Somalia
More than 10,000 people fled the Somali capital of Mogadishu last week, in the wake of heightened violence during the National Reconciliation Conference. 21,000 people have fled the capital since early June, when government troops started securing the city; only 20,000 returned during this period.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched an appeal on Monday for a US$48m fund to help assist both internally displaced persons and refugees in Somalia.
The Americans for Informed Democracy blog notes that the migratory pattern of those fleeing Mogadishu has served to create another headache for Somalia, with neighbouring cities ill-able to meet the burden of a swollen citizenry facing the brunt of these movements.
To receive our daily security briefings, click here.Niger insurgents kill 10 govt soldiers
Niger insurgents have reportedly killed some 10 government soldiers after attacking an army truck with an RPG-7 rocket launcher in the in the northern uranium-mining region near the Saharan caravan town of Agadez. The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ), who made the announcement on their French-language blog, are a Tuareg-led group fighting for greater autonomy for the region. The report has not been independently confirmed.
Guns, gangs and drugs help fuel growing violence in the Delta, alertnet reports.
Pro-Taliban forces clash with army in N. Waziristan
At least 35 militants and two soldiers have been killed amid violent clashes between government and pro-Taliban militant forces in the North Waziristan Agency, which borders Afghanistan. Militants have warned Pakistani forces to quit fighting or face the “gift of death” e.g. suicide attacks. On Tuesday, former Guantanamo Bay inmate and pro-Taliban tribesman Abdullah Mehsud blew himself up with a hand grenade in Baluchistan province, after he was surrounded by Pakistani forces.
The White House yesterday assured Islamabad that it had no intention of launching an invasion of the territory, as some speculated, though said that the United States reserves the right to attack “actionable targets” inside Pakistan.
In a game of “geo-political chicken, sacrificing wisdom for expediency”, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying explores how US support has long incubated extremism in Pakistan.
3 Mumbai bombers receive death penalty
Three more people have been sentenced to death and another to life in prison for their role in the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993, when they threw grenades at the Fishermen Colony in the centre of the city. The trio are said to have been actively involved in the conspiracy for a long time and also attended weapons training in Pakistan.
Maoist threatens to walk out of Nepal coalition
Nepalese Information and Communications Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a former Maoist ‘rebel’, has threatened to pull out of the coalition government, after the guards at his residence were replaced with those of an elite ‘ranger force’ of the Nepali Army, originally created to fight the Maoists.
Tamil Tigers kill 14 govt personnel
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have killed 14 security force personnel. Ten soldiers were killed on Tuesday when a Claymore mine exploded under an army bus carrying troops from Mannar to Vavuniya in the north of Sri Lanka, while earlier in the day the Tamil Tigers killed four village policemen at a security post in the town of Vavuniya.
On 4 July, the LTTE forces celebrated Black Tiger day, which commemorates the lives of ‘martyred’ Tamil Tiger suicide bombers. Since the first suicide attack by the group 20 years ago, some 300 Black Tigers have been killed in incidents throughout Sri Lanka. Al Jazeera reports on this important weapon in the LTTE arsenal.
Australian police under fire for Haneef case
Police in Australia have been criticised over their handling of the case involving the Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef. Allegations that Haneef provided his cousin Kafeel Amhed with a SIM card purportedly found in the burning jeep at Glasgow airport on 30 June, have seen been refuted. Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out holding an inquiry into the police investigation, however.
Daryl Dean describes the prosecution’s case as “getting weaker by the second”, with the Australian government seemingly “absolutely hell-bent on getting someone for something”.
US-Iran talks .2 in Baghdad
US and Iranian officials have begun the second round of talks in Baghdad concerning the future of Iraqi security, the follow-up to a meeting held in the capital on 28 May. The fate of four American-Iranians detained by Tehran or the five Iranian diplomats in US custody in Iraq are not on the agenda.
The US ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday that Iranian support for militias trying to destabilise the country has escalated in the wake of the May talks.
