Child Soldiers in DRC

Child Soldiers in DRC

KINSHASA, Congo – According to the United Nations, children in Kinshasa, Congo, are being recruited as child soldiers in violation of international law. In the past week, militants under former army general, Laurent Nkunda, have raided four primary schools and ten secondary schools to round up children to join his battle.

UNICEF has reported that 54 children have been recruited in northeast Kivu. Moreover, there are reports that in the west, there has been “forced recruitment of all males over the age of 15.”  The United Nations believes that more than 1,000 children have been recruited into the militia.

Female children are usually recruited to serve as sex slaves. In this capacity, young girls are often raped, tortured, mutilated or murdered by militants. The male children primarily serve as fighters. Males are taught from an early age to murder, maim, and rape. Recruitment also puts young children at risk of measles and cholera because they are living with spontaneous groups of people in poor living conditions without parental authority. Children who try to escape from the militant gangs are ultimately recruited by rival forces in the eastern part of Congo.

More than 80,000 children have been separated from the militia. Many of these children end up participating in petty crime or fall prey to other gangs.  Moreover, children become alienated from their former communities. Furthermore, since these children lack educational skills, they often lack the proper skills to reintegrate into civilian life. Presently, 5,500 children face the threat of re integration into militia groups.

UNICEF is currently trying to provide sanitary conditions for children living in camps and makeshift shelters. The agency is presently providing vaccination, nutritional supplements, and purified water to victims of the violence.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo news – Congo warlord recruiting children – 19 September 2007

AllAfrica – Congo-Kinshasa: Fighting Exposes Children to Forced Recruitment, Exploitation – UN – 19 September 2007

Christian Science Monitor – Ranks of Child Soldiers Swell Again in Congo – 19 September 2007

Lebanese MP killed in car bombing

Antoine Ghanim, a anti-Syrian Lebanese MP was killed in a car bomb attack.  Ghanim and at least three others died when his car exploded in Sin al Fil, a mainly Christian suburb of Beirut.  Ghanim is the seventh anti-Syrian figure to be killed since 2005.  Ghanim’s death occurs six days prior to when the Lebanese parliament is scheduled to elect a new president.

For more information please see:
BBC- Lebanese MP ‘killed in bombing’– 19 September 2007

The Daily Star- MP Antoine Ghanem killed in Lebanon car bombing– 19 September 2007

Syria on Nuclear Watch List

On September 14, 2007, Andrew Semmel, the acting deputy assisting secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, confirmed that Syria is on the US’s Nuclear Watch List.  This announcement follows an Israeli air strike against Syria on September 6.  Since Israel has issued a blanket restriction on the media from reporting on the raid, the target or purpose of the strike remains unknown.  However, it is speculated that the target was a nuclear plant.  Semmel stated that there were indications that North Korean engineers are helping Syria to develop nuclear weapons.

The US government has confirmed that the North Koreans supplied Syria with missile technology and that North Korean technicians are currently in Syria.  But, Semmel also stated it is thought that Syria would not make serious attempts to develop nuclear weapons.  This thought rests on the belief that the country lacked the money and technical expertise to develop nuclear weapons.

In addition to the theory that Israel targeted a possible nuclear plant, there are two other suggested reasons for the raid.  First, that Israel targeted a shipment of weapons from Iran passing through Syria on their way to Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Second, that the raid was test run should Israel ever want to attack Iran.

Israel and Syria technically remain in a state of war and the two countries oscillated between peace talks and possible acts of war this summer.  Thus Syria’s reaction to this incident may push the two countries closer to engaging in military combat.  On September 12, Syria filed a formal complaint to the UN over Israel’s raid.  But thus far, this is Syria’s only response to the raid.

For more information please see:
AFP – Speculation heats up over what Israel hit in Syria – 16 September 2007

London Times – Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’ – 16 Sept 2007

Washington Post – N. Korea denies nuclear ties to Syria: report – 16 September 2007

New York Times – U.S. official says that Syria may have nuclear ties – 15 September 2007

Guardian – U.S.: Syria on Nuclear Watch List – 14 September 2007

ABC News – U.S.: Syria on Nuclear Watch List – 14 September 2007

Economist – Mysterious Happenings – 13 September 2007

BBC – Syria complains to UN over Israel – 12 September 2007

BBC – New twist to Syria-Israel tension – 6 September 2007

Egypt’s fading right to freedom of expression

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Egypt continues to imprison those who exercise their right to freedom of expression. The latest victims are four newspaper editors who published stories critical of high officials of the Egyptian government.  One editor is also accused of harming the Egyptian economy by publishing the article saying the health of 79-year-old President Hosni Mubarak is in decline. Prosecutors said investors consequently took out $350 million out of Egypt.

On September 13, 2007, a Cairo misdemeanor court sentenced the four editors to a maximum one year in prison and a 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,540) each. The four are Adil Hamouda, editor of the weekly Al-Fagr, Wael al-Ibrashi, of the weekly Sawt al-Umma, Abd al-Halim Qandil, former editor of the weekly Al-Karama, and Ibrahim Issa, editor of the daily Al-Dustur.

The ruling is yet another blow against Egypt’s freedom of expression. On May 2, 2007, a Cairo criminal court imprisoned Al-Jazeera journalist Huwaida Taha Mitwalli for her documentary about torture in Egypt. On March 12, 2007, another Cairo court for the first time sentenced a blogger who criticized Islam and President Mubarak. On October 31, 2006, a Cairo military court ordered a former parliament member Tal`at al-Sadat to one year in prison for “insulting the military and the republican guard.”  On June 26, 2006, a court near Cairo sent a journalist for Al-Dustur to one year in prison for “insulting the president.”

For more information please see:

BBC News – Editor charged over Mubarak story – 13 September 2007

Al-Jazeera – Egypt sentences newspaper editors – 13 September 2007

Human Rights Watch – Four editors get prison terms, fines – 15 September 2007

Human Rights Watch – Government detains Al-Jazeera journalist – 17 January 2007

Human Rights Watch – Blogger’s imprisonment sets chilling precedent – 22 February 2007

Human Rights Watch – MP jailed in lastest attack on free expression – 4 November 2006

Human Rights Watch – Jailing journalists strikes at press freedom – 28 June 2006

Iraq: Kirkuk becomes center of Ethnic Violence

The oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is 250 km north of Baghdad, has become a center of ethnic violence.  The violence between the Kurds and the Arabs has recently escalated because of the December referendum, which determines whether the Kirkuk becomes part of the Iraqi Kurdistan region or remain part of Iraq.  The referendum has given the Kurds incentive to drive out the Arabs from Kirkuk who migrated to the city during Saddam Hussein’s “Arabisation” policy of the early 1980’s, because the Kurds do not significantly outnumber the Arabs.  (IRIN)  Arabisation was created to displace those from the city who were not loyal to Saddam Hussein, and replace them with his loyal subjects.  Hussein’s desire was to disperse those who were not loyal to him, since it lessens a unified revolt against his authority.  Hussein’s policy created resentment amongst the Kurds towards the southern Iraqis forced to inhabit the Kurdish city of Kirkuk, which was displayed during the Kurds return to Kirkuk with the American invasion in 2003.  Following the invasion,  some Kurds attacked Arabs, because the Arabs inhabited what was the Kurds’ former property.
The Kurds’ resentment from being removed from their land has motivated them to use any means necessary ensure that Kirkuk becomes part of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.  Thus the IRIN has reported that the Kurds have used military intimidation to continually force the Arabs out of the city.  According to the spokesman of the Kirkuk’s Arabs Association, “The number of [Arab] families fleeing the city has increased by 20 percent on previous years.  Their flight will seriously affect the upcoming referendum in which the Kurds will have a majority not because of their numbers but because, with guns in their hands, they will have forced all Arabs to flee the city. It is absolutely unfair,” he said.  (IRIN)

For more information, please see:

Newsweek-  What They Are Missing- 24 September 2007 Edition

IRIN-   IRAQ: Ethnic violence forces more Arabs to flee Kirkuk- 16 September 2007

Kurdish Aspect-  Working Against the Clock- 15 September 2007