The Russian battle against Chechen nationalists ended last Thursday with the announcement by the government in Moscow that they were making efforts to "normalise" the situation, a move that could lead to the removal of thousands of troops from the area.
The toD verdict: The decade-long "counter-terrorism operation" was terminated by Dmitry Medvedev's government after they asserted that they had defeated militant and terrorist groups and brought peace to Chechnya, which initially declared independence from Russia in 1991. Conflict in the federal region broke out three years after, resulting in over 100,000 deaths and laying waste to many areas, particularly the southern regions bordering Georgia. In 1999, Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, set up the operation to target illegal armed groups.
The pro-Russian Ramzan Kadyrov, current president of Chechnya, is frequently condemned by human rights groups for alleged abuses perpetrated by his government, including torture, executions and "disappearings". Despite Russian claims that Chechnya has stabilised, dissent continues to be ruthlessly squashed. A visit last week to a Chechen prison by the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, revealed the use of systematic torture.
Despite the removal of Russian troops from Chechnya, police and special forces will remain in the territory. But from now on, 16 April will be celebrated as a public holiday.
Obama may be misplacing emphasis on Afghanistan
In a recent article in Foreign Affairs, John Mueller points to the "dubious arguments" used by the United States government in their justifications for intensifying the war in Afghanistan. US officials believe that a Taliban victory in Afghanistan could provide al-Qaeda with a safety zone in which the terrorist group could renew anti-American strikes. However, the author points out that the Taliban's cooperation with al-Qaeda has been threadbare at best. The humanitarian motives of the war, urgent and compelling, are increasingly emerging as the only viable explanation. It remains to be seen whether these are pressing enough to encourage the US to ramp up its military operations in the country and to justify the many deaths these will no doubt involve.
Abuses committed by Hamas "Under Cover of War"
A report released on Monday by Human Rights Watch, entitled "Under Cover of War: Hamas Political Violence in Gaza", has condemned Hamas for their use of political coercion, including summary executions, which resulted in over 32 deaths since the recent Israeli invasion of Gaza. The report is based on research provided by human rights organisations in Palestine, and documents extra-judicial killings, torture and executions, maimings and arbitrary detention all carried out by masked gunman or Hamas security forces. In reply to the report's allegations, Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas representative, said that many of the alleged abuses were impossible to control during the Israeli operation in Gaza because of the chaos introduced into the region.
However, his claims are undermined by evidence that killings continued well into the ceasefire period. The victims of these charges included members of Fatah, which itself has been responsible for the persecution of Hamas members in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Human Rights Watch has called for an end to these violations of human rights and for the perpetrators, who remain largely unpunished, to be held accountable.
Arrest of third ETA leader in six months could pave the way for peace
The Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has claimed that Saturday's arrest of Jurdan Martitegi, assumed to be the principal military director of the Basque separatist organisation ETA, had scuppered a planned operation by the rebels. Martitegi, the third high ranking ETA official to have been detained in six months, was arrested in south west France along with two other members of the organisation. The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was optimistic on Sunday that the fight against terrorism in the Basque Country was one that his government could win. ETA are reported to be considering the reopening of peace negotiations, suspended since a temporary ceasefire was called off in 2007. Recent regional elections in the Basque country resulted in a victory for the Socialist party against the Basque nationalists, who have exercised control over the region for almost 30 years.
Women and children main victims of US strikes in Iraq
A study released by Iraq Body Count has revealed that women and children are the main victims of air strikes carried out in the country by the US army, with 85 percent of identifiable bodies in this demographic. The study drew upon a sample of over 60,000 deaths since the country's invasion in 2003, just two-thirds of the estimated total of civilian casualties caused by violence in Iraq.
In other news, a suicide bomb detonated last Thursday at the Anbar military base wounded scores of people, resulting in an unconfirmed total of 16 deaths.
