The peace deal in the Swat valley between Taliban and other Islamist fighters and the Pakistani government announced over a week ago, which was to last ten days, is on shaky ground as new developments show mistrust and suspicion between both sides. The deal was to permit the use of Sharia law in certain parts of the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas as a concession to religious extremists.
The toD verdict: Just hours after the announcement on Saturday that a permanent peace settlement had been reached, Maulana Fazlullah, the most influential Taliban leader in the Swat valley, said in fact that the deal was just another ten-day extension. On Sunday, Taliban militants seized a senior Pakistan government official in the region, along with his entourage. His capture was said to be in retaliation for the arrest of three Taliban fighters in Peshawar. The kidnapped administrator, Khushal Khan, was released shortly after.
However, despite this happy ending it remains to be seen how calm the Swat valley will remain, with the Pakistani government expected to deliver 30,000 guns into the hands of "peaceful" groups of villagers to combat the threat of the Taliban and to give them a means of self-defence from the Islamists. The Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Major General Athar Abbas, has affirmed that the government has not ruled out the possibility of military action if peace deals fail.
A suicide bomb attack on Friday also showed the fragility of peace deals and the danger of not only conflicts between the government and the Taliban, but also of inter-religious conflict in the form of Sunni-Shia violence. No blame has yet been attributed for the explosion which occurred 270 km from the capital Islamabad.
Monday saw the start of talks between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan to work out a common strategy for combating terrorism in the increasingly fraught region.
Bomb strikes tourist hotspot in Cairo
A homemade bomb went off in a crowded area of eastern Cairo near the popular Khan el-Khalili bazaar on Sunday, killing a French tourist and injuring at least 20 people including French, Egyptian, Saudi and German nationals. The last attack on this market was in April 2005, and resulted in the death of three tourists. Though suspects who are thought to have carried out the latest bombing have been identified by the Egyptian police, nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. Speculation continues as to whether there is a link between this attack, the only one to have targeted tourists in the last three years, and Egypt's continuing closures of its border crossings into the Gaza strip.
Religious hardliners continue to oppose government in Somalia
Hopes that the involvement of Islamist elements in Somalia's government would lead to a new and more peaceful political climate in the country were dashed at least temporarily on Sunday when Islamist militants attacked a compound of troops on Sunday. Depending on the source, it is thought that either mortar bombs were detonated or suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of the compound, situated in the capital Mogadishu, resulting in the death of 11 Burundi soldiers who were part of the 3,500-strong African Union peacekeeping force stationed in Somalia. Fifteen others were seriously wounded. This attack follows the recent formation of a new government in Somalia under the moderate Islamist president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed; some opposition al-Shabab fighters have stated their support for the new president, but hardliners continue their call for the expulsion of foreign troops from the country.
Ongoing unrest in Nigeria
Just under thirty people were wounded in violence which erupted in Bauchi in Nigeria, on Saturday. The town is not far from Jos, where riots between Christians and Muslims over a disputed election killed hundreds last year.
Fears of domestic terrorism in Greece on the rise
Since the death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos at the hands of the police last year, violence and riots have shaken the Greek capital of Athens. Last Wednesday, what has been called the "new urban guerrilla movement" made an attempt to set off an explosive devise outside a bank in the city, a move which could potentially have killed hundreds, given the size of the bomb. The increasing threat from these city-based terrorist groups culminated, on Saturday, in a warning issued by militants to journalists; the former say that press are yet another symbol of the corrupt institutions against whom they are fighting.
Rocket attacks and retaliation amidst call for an arms embargo
A rocket shot from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday wounded three people when it landed near the town of Maalot, leading to immediate Israeli retaliation in the form of the shelling of parts of southern Lebanon. These actions took place despite calls by the UN forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for a cessation of military action. The militant Shia Muslim group Hizbollah, who form part of the Lebanese government and against whom Israeli waged war in 2006, denied responsibility for the rocket strikes. These acts of aggression come as Amnesty International called, on Monday, for an international arms embargo on Israel. A report released by the human rights organisation accuses both Ehud Olmert's government and the Hamas militia of war crimes, saying that their respective uses of white phosphorous and rocket attacks on civilians were violations of the Geneva Conventions. Both Hamas and the Israeli government reject the document as biased in favour of the other side.
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