Saudi Arabia Sends 1000 Troops to Bahrain to Quell Unrest

Saudi Arabia Sends 1000 Troops to Bahrain to Quell Unrest

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia announced Monday a decision to send 1000 troops to Bahrain to assist local forces in stabilizing the country amid protests.  For weeks, Bahrain has been the site of large anti-government demonstrations.  Bahraini security forces have taken aggressive action to end protests, resulting in the death of a number of civilians and injury of dozens more.  The inability of police forces to end opposition rallies prompted Bahraini officials to request troops from neighboring countries.  The Saudi troops are only part of a deployment by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), a six member regional group comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to stabilize Bahrain.  An additional 500 troops have been sent by the UAE.

Saudi Forces Move into Bahrain to Support Bahraini Security Forces (Photo Courtesy of the New York Times)
Saudi Forces Move into Bahrain to Support Bahraini Security Forces (Photo Courtesy of the New York Times)

The move represents an attempt by Saudi Arabia to strengthen and project its power in the region.  One analyst contends that the Kingdom’s decision to send troops may have been influenced by its desire to contain Iran.  Saudi Arabia has increasingly asserted its influence in the region, offering foreign assistance to Yemen, Lebanon and Syria in recent years.

Shia leaders within Bahrain have criticized Saudi Arabia’s decision saying that foreign intervention amounts to a declaration of war.  Both governments contend that troops have been sent to help protect government facilities from attack and “to look at ways to help [to] defuse the tension in Bahrain.”  Sheik Abdullah, foreign minister of the UAE told reporters “There are other Gulf countries which are going to participate to support the Bahrain government, and to get calm and order in Bahrain.”  Saudi Arabia has also set up a $20 billion fund to finance new incentives promised to citizens by the government in Bahrain.

Officials in Saudi Arabia have linked the maintenance of stability in Bahrain with its own security, fearing that the success of protests in Bahrain could spark similar rallies at home.  The Saudi government has warned its citizens not to protest and has taken measures to neutralize opposition.  Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, the country’s interior minister and half-brother of the King, welcomed the decision to send troops saying that “Some evil people wanted to spread chaos in the kingdom and called for demonstrations that have dishonorable goals.”

The Saudi government’s decision has put the United States in a precarious position as the U.S. walks a fine line between supporting freedom, democracy and social reform on the one hand, and the interests of its regional allies on the other.  White House spokesperson Jay Carney urged the government of Bahrain to exercise constraint but noted that Saudi Arabia’s intervention is not an invasion.  Protesters in Bahrain continue to hold the capital’s main square despite clashes with security forces.  Dialogue between the government and opposition forces however, remains absent. 

For more information, please see:

BBC Middle East – Gulf States Send Forces to Bahrain Following Protests – Mar. 14, 2011

Financial Times – Saudi intervention Raises Gulf Stakes – Mar. 14, 2011

Guardian – Saudi Arabia Polices the Region as Trouble Stirs at Home – Mar. 14, 2011

New York Times – Saudi Troops Enter Bahrain to Help Put Down Unrest – Mar. 14, 2011

Montenegro Arrests Man Suspected Of War Crimes

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PODGORICA, Montenegro — Police in Montenegro recently arrested a man suspected of committing war crimes during the 1991-1992 armed conflict in in the Balkans. The Montenegrin police arrested Ivo Menzalin at the airport in Podgorica after he flew in from Belgrade. He agreed to surrender himself voluntarily.

Menzalin is suspected of torturing Croat prisoners in a detention camp in Morinj, a village on the coast in Montenegro, during the conflict that resulted when Croatia split from Serb-led Yugoslavia. About 300 civilians and prisoners of war from the Dubrovnik region were held in the Morinj camp.

In May 2010, the High Court in Podgorica sentenced six low-ranking soldiers of the Yugoslav People’s Army for war crimes, including Menzalin. Along with the five others convicted, Menzalin was convicted of torturing, inhumane treatment of, and infliction of bodily harm on 169 prisoners of war and civilians in the Morinj camp.

Menzalin, a cook at the Morinj camp, was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison. The court ordered his arrest. Menzalin’s defense attorney appealed, and the conviction was recently overturned by a higher court. A new trial has been ordered to begin in March, in which Menzalin, now in custody, will be tried again for war crimes, including torture and inhumane treatment of Croatian civilians and prisoners of war.

For more information, please see:

AP — Montenegro war crimes supect arrested — 3 March 2011

B92 — The arrest for war crimes — 3 March 2011

SOUTHEAST EUROPE TIMES — Montenegrin police arrest war crimes suspect — 2 March 2011

BALKAN INSIGHT — Montenegro Sentences Six for War Crimes — 17 May 2010

REUTERS — Montenegro sentences soldiers for Dubrovnik torture — 15 May 2010

Charles Taylor trial closes

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands – The three-year long trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was indicted while in office in 2003 for large-scale atrocities committed in Sierra Leone, came to an end this week.

In closing arguments, the defense argued that Taylor had been a victim of politically motivated selective prosecution and that rebel groups were solely responsible for committing the atrocities.  The prosecution contends that Taylor used the rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF), among others, as proxy groups to gain control over Sierra Leone to exploit its mineral resources, giving the rebel groups weapons in exchange for “blood diamonds.”

The RUF engaged in a ten-year spree of terror in Sierra Leone, using rape and murder as weapons to terrorize the population. The group became notorious for slicing off human limbs.

Taylor has denied the charges against him, including murder, rape and using child soldiers during Sierra Leone’s civil war.

The prosecution painted Taylor as a charismatic figure apt to fool those around him into thinking he was a peacemaker, rather than a leader responsible for terrorizing a nation. In response to defense counsel’s contention that documentary evidence failed to establish Taylor’s guilt, the prosecution indicated that the documents merely showed Taylor’s public denial of his involvement with RUF. In private, the prosecution stated, Taylor engaged in arms deals to gain access to diamonds.

The defense focused its rebuttal on denying the existence of joint criminal enterprises between Taylor and the various rebel groups.

At the conclusion of trial on Friday, the judges had received testimony from one hundred and fifteen witness and one thousand ninety-seven exhibits. It is expected to be months before a verdict is rendered.

If convicted, Taylor would serve his sentence in the United Kingdom.

For more information, please see:

Philadelphia Inquirer – After 3-year trial, Liberian awaits war-crimes verdict – 12 March 2011

BBC – Charles Taylor’s Sierra Leone war crimes trial closes – 11 March 2011

Radio Netherlands – Charles Taylor trial concluded – 11 March 2011

Charles Taylor Trial – Defense Concludes Closing Arguments, Attacks Credibility of Prosecution Witnesses – 10 March 2011

Stateless Demonstrators Detained in Kuwait

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Human rights groups have called for the immediate release of stateless persons arrested during anti-government protests in Kuwait on Friday.  Roughly 100,000 stateless Arabs, known locally as “bedoons” or ”bidoons,” live in Kuwait and are deprived of many civil rights available to Kuwaiti nationals. In particular, bedoons are not afforded basic rights to health care, education and employment. In 2000, the government launched a large scale security crackdown against bedoons and continues to suppress bedoon dissidents who seek rights and recognition.  Although some officials have drafted bills designed to secure civil rights for the stateless population, the Parliament has continuously blocked attempts to debate such legislation. 

Riot Police Retaliate Against Stateless Protesters
(Riot Police Retaliate Against Stateless Protesters - Photo Courtesy of Kuwait Times)

Friday’s peaceful protests in the country’s capital were met with a violent response from riot police who used teargas and water cannons to disperse protestors.  Despite the participation of Kuwaiti citizens in the rallies, bedoons were singled out for arrest and detention.  The independent Human Rights Association has demand the “release of all those arrested during the events on March 11 without delay and without pressing charges against them.”  Fueled by successful oustings in North Africa and the mass mobilization of Arabs throughout the Middle East, bedoons have been increasingly vocal about their desire for civil rights in recent weeks. 

Bedoons have been stateless for over fifty years and demands for equality have historically fallen on deaf ears.  Today, the government continues to justify the suppression of stateless persons as a means to secure Kuwait from “illegal residents.”  As non-citizens, bedoons are also prohibited from possessing a driver’s license, receiving birth and death certificates and having marriage contracts attested by representatives of the State.  Despite warnings by the government to not engage in anti-government protests, hundreds of Kuwaiti’s continue to take to the streets of Kuwait City, Sulabiya and oil-rich Al-Ahmadi. 

For more information please see:

Ahram Online – Kuwait Urged to Free Stateless Detainees – Mar. 12, 2011

Kuwait Times – Bedoons State Protest for Citizenship – Mar. 12, 2011

Agence France Presse – Kuwaiti Stateless Protest for Citizenship – Mar. 11, 2011

Los Angeles Times – Kuwait: Riot Police Break Up Protests by Stateless Arabs – Mar. 11, 2011

Reuters Africa – Riot Police Fire Tear Gas to Disperse Kuwait Rally – Mar. 11, 2011

UNHCR: Nearly 500,000 Refugees Flee Violence in Ivory Coast

By Daniel M. Austin 
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Ivorians fleeing to eastern Liberia. (Photo courtesy of PressTV).
Ivorians fleeing to eastern Liberia. (Photo courtesy of PressTV).

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) claims nearly half a million people from Ivory Coast have been displaced by violence surrounding the November 2010 presidential election. The UNHCR figure reflects those individuals who are displaced within Ivory Coast as well as citizens who have fled the country. The UNHRC continues to press the international community for financial assistance to deal with this on-going crisis.

According to figures released by UNHCR, the number of refugees has increased to over 450,000 people. It is estimated that 88,000 people have crossed the border from Ivory Coast into neighboring Liberia, with half of them making the journey within the past two weeks.  In addition to those citizens who fled the country, another 200,000 to 300,000 people are displaced around the capital of Abidjan, while another 70,000 are displaced in the western part of the country. According to UNHCR spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, the Council has identified over 20 sites around the capital, Abidjan where displace people are gathering. The UNHRC continues to monitor these sites and is assessing their needs. It is already clear refugees in these camps are in desperate need of food and other humanitarian supplies, such as medicine.

The UNHCR is concerned with the international community’s lack of response to the deteriorating security situation in Ivory Coast as well as the widening humanitarian crisis. Reports from Ivory Coast claim the number of refugees as well as violence between the two political factions is increasing. The UNHRC claims that international attention has been diverted from the events in West Africa to the political upheaval occurring in North Africa.

According to Ms. Fleming, the response from donor nations to help finance the humanitarian effort in Ivory Coast is failing. The UNHRC established a goal of $46 million but has only received $5 million in donations. As violent conflict between supporters of the sitting President, Mr. Laurent Gbabgo and the President-elect Mr. Ouattara continues to intensify, the UNHRC is contemplating another push for donations. Ms. Fleming has urged donor nations to be more reactive to the humanitarian crisis taking place in Ivory Coast.

For more information, please see:

Albuquerque Express — Ivory Coast descending into chaos as 450,000 flee violence – 12 March 2011

BBC Africa — Ivory Coast crisis: ‘Nearly 450,000 refugees’ – 11 March 2011

Times Live – 75, 000 refugees have fled Ivory Coast – 12 March 2011

Voice of America — UN: Nearly Half-Million People Displaced in Ivory Coast – 11 March 2011