Nicaragua Faces Widespread Hunger Due to Drought

Nicaragua Faces Widespread Hunger Due to Drought

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – The drought zones of Mozonte and Macuelizo have at least fifty percent of their population without basic drinking water needs met. They must travel over eight kilometers to find usable water.

There are expectations for worse conditions to come. Monseñor Bernardo Hombach, Bishops of the Diócesis de Granada, is concerned with widespread hunger due to the drought. Hombach said many people had not picked their harvest. He stated “at the moment the impact is not felt because some people have small reserves.” The zone of Chinandega is starting to see the hunger issue.

The mayor of Mozonte called the World Food Program to obtain food for 520 families in the affected zone. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is implementing a program of food for work for about 652 families affected. In March, the families are to work in conservation and reforesting.

Government officials say there are doing the best they can to alleviate problems.

For more information, please see:

La Prensa – Poblados sin agua ni comida – 23 February 2010

La Prensa – Se agudiza la hambruna en el Norte – 22 February 2010

Niger Under New Rule

By Kylie M Tsudama

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NIAMEY, Niger – Supreme Council for Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) leader Major Salou Djibo has been named as the head of state and government during the country’s transitional period.

“The highest authority designing and directing national policy is headed by a president who exercises the functions of the head of state and government,” said a statement made by the CSRD.

The junta staged a coup last week.  The transitional president has unveiled plans to draw up a new constitution that will be put to a referendum.  Authorities have also promised to create a body to draft new electoral laws.

Last week’s coup ousted President Mamadou Tandja.  The CSRD announcement came as the United States called for a peaceful and early transition in from military to civilian rule in the West African country.

“The United States continues to call (for) Niger’s speedy return to democracy and the rule of law, as well as prompt, fair and transparent elections,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.  “We will obviously work closely with our international partners and do everything we can to see democracy returned to Niger as rapidly as possible.”

Over the weekend, junta leaders met with United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) envoys.  The CSRD convinced the UN, AU, and ECOWAS envoys of their plan to give power over to civilian rulers as soon as a new constitution is agreed upon.

No timeframe, however, has been given.

Tensions mounted as Tandja tried to maintain his presidency longer than the constitution allows.  He has been in office since December 1999.

“The political party is very keen to return power to civilians and transition to an all-inclusive democracy,” said UN Special Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit.  “This transition began with the occurrence of the coup and the expiration of the constitution and implementation of a new constitution.”

Representatives from the AU, ECOWAS, and CSRD met Sunday to push for a quick resolution to the conflict.

“The mission of this meeting is to assure this coup is the last,” said Djinnit.  “No coup can be tolerated.”

A “constitutional committee” and a court will be set up to replace the dissolved constitutional and supreme courts.

Meanwhile, Tandja and his prime minister are being held under house arrest at a villa attached to the presidential palace.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Niger Junta Names Interim President, Plans New Constitution – 22 February 2010

CNN – U.S. Urges Speedy Return to Democracy in Niger – 22 February 2010

Reuters – Niger’s Junta Wins Popularity, Says Little Yet – 22 February 2010

VOA – Former Ruling Party Condemns Niger Coup – 22 February 2010

UN Pressures Albania to Allow Independent Inquiry Into Organ Harvesting

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

TIRANA, Albania – A United Nations special expert has accused Albania of stalling an investigation into illicit organ harvesting of ethnic Serbs. The allegations of exploitation of Serbs stem from events in Kosovo during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War. As such, the UN and other international bodies are pressuring the country to comply with a full investigation.

UN Special Rapporetuer, Philip Alston, after a personal seven day trip to Tirana, has accused the government of stifling an investigation into the abduction, killing, and organ harvesting of some 300 ethnic Serbs during the War.

Mr. Alston said that Albanian officials believe that outside investigation of these allegations are “politically motivated and absolutely without any foundation.” As a result independent inquiries have not resulted in “meaningful co-operation [by] the government of Albania.”

Serbia initially launched an investigation in March 2008 after Carla del Ponte, the former UN War Crimes Chief Prosecutor, published a book called The Hunt.

In the book Ms. del Ponte alleged that hundreds of Serbs were kidnapped, taken to the notorious “yellow house” in the town of Burrel in northern Albania, where the victims had their organs extracted by Kosovo Albanian militants. The organs were then sold to foreign traffickers and clinics.

In writing the book, del Ponte was summarizinga search of the “yellow house” by UN investigators, which turned up  “pieces of gauze, a used syringe and two plastic IV bags encrusted with mud and empty bottles of medicine, some of which was of a muscle relaxant often used in surgical operations.”

Despite new pressures from the UN, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has summarily dismissed the allegations as “fictitious”. Mr. Berisha also insists that the matter has already been properly investigated by Albania after Serbia and the European Union launched investigations in 2008.

If Albania continues to refuse to cooperate, Mr. Alston said the United Nations will take further action. In the mean time, the Council of Europe, EULEX, and Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor are all currently investigating the allegations.

For more information, please see:

BBC – UN says Albania ‘stalling’ Serb human organs inquiry – 23 February 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – U.N. Sleuth Calls on Albania to Allow Organ Inquiry – 23 February 2010

RADIO SRBIJA – UN: Tirana should be open to independent investigation – 23 February 2010

Afghan Tribal Leader Killed By Blast

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KABUL, Aghanistan– A suicide bomber has killed an influential Afghan tribal chief in eastern Nangarhar province, officials say.  In addition 14 other people were killed.

During the Afghan civil war in the 1990s, Mohammad Haji Zaman was a powerful mujahideen warlord.  He led tribal forces in the Tora Bora region during the 2001 US-led Afghan invasion but is suspected of allowing al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden to flee.  No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.  Mohammad Haji Zaman, also known as Haji Zaman Gamsurek, was addressing a gathering of refugees in the Khogyani district of Nangarhar when the blast went off.

Police official Col Abdul Ghafour told the AFP news agency the suicide bomber set off his explosives after approaching a group of tribal elders at the gathering.  The attack in the eastern province of Nangargar occurred when provincial authorities were distributing land titles to poor people in the Dashte Chimtala area.  General Ayoub Salangi, the provincial police chief, said  “The attack killed 15 people and around 15 others were injured.”

Mohammad Haji Zaman has been living in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, only recently returning to Afghanistan.

The wounded in Monday’s attack included Abdul Rahman Shams, the chief of the refugee department in the province.  It was not known who was the prime target of the attack.  Taliban spokesman were not immediately available for comment.  Also in the eastern region, NATO said Monday that their forces killed four insurgents and injured five others after the militants attacked their joint patrol with Afghan forces in Taqab district of north-eastern province of Kapisa.

There were no casualties among the combined forces on Monday;s firefight, the alliance said in a statement.

Chris Morris of the BBC says that Nangarhar is a province that, under the guidance of local tribal leaders, had become more peaceful in recent months.  But it is on the border with Pakistan, an important target for militants wishing to smuggle arms.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Suicide Blast Kills Afghan Tribal Chief in Nangarhar– 22 February 2010

M&C News- Suicide Attack Kills 15 Afghans including Tribal Leader-22 February 2010

ABC News- Tribal Elders Killed In Suicide Blast-23 February 2010


Children Killed in Yemen War

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANAA, Yemen – According to a report issued by UNICEF and the Yemen children’s rights organization SEYAJ, 187 children have been killed in the war in Northern Yemen since August.

Monday’s report placed the blame for the children’s deaths on government-backed militias fighting the Shia Huthis in northern Yemen.  The report also suggested that the Yemeni Shiite rebels and the pro-government militia were using child soldiers in the conflict.

According to the report, of the 187 who have died, seventy-one percent have been killed in the fighting while the remaining casualties resulted from lack of food or medical services.

The most recent conflict in what has been an ongoing six-year battle began on August 11 when the rebel Huthis and government forces began fighting.  At the time, government forces launched an all-out offensive aimed at crushing the uprising.  On November 4, Saudi Arabia joined the fighting after rebel forces were accused of killing a border guard and said to have been occupying two villages inside Saudi territory.

The UNICEF report also noted that there was child soldiers on both sides of the conflict.  Estimates suggest that there were approximately 400 child soldiers fighting alongside the Huthis, while the pro-government militia had just fewer than 300 children fighting on their side.

In addition to the children that have died, the report also stated that over 70,000 children have been displaced in the northern cities of Sadaa and Amran.  Furthermore, it is believed that over ninety percent of children in the conflict zone were unable to receive basic education services due to the fighting. Of the 701 schools in Saada Governorate, seventeen were destroyed in the fighting and another sixteen had been taken over by one or other of the warring parties. Most of the remaining schools are now deserted.

Despite a ceasefire that was reached on February 11, reports of sporadic clashes have been commonplace.

For more information, please see:

Reuters- YEMEN: Children Hit Hardest by Northern Conflict– 23 February 2010

Gulf News- 187 Children Killed in Yemen’s War with Rebels– 22 February 2010

News 24- 187 Children Killed in Yemen– 22 February 2010