By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter,  Africa

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar -On November 17, 2010, a group of senior leaders from the Madagascar military attempted to overthrow the sitting government. Initial reports indicated 20 of the top-level military leaders had banded together to overthrow the current leader, Andry Rajoelina. Ironically, Mr. Rajoelina himself came to power after a successful coup attempt in March 2009. The coup attempt happened on the same day the country voted on a new national constitution.

On Wednesday, Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina told a news outlet, his group of rebels would be taking over the presidential palace as well as the country’s main international airport. Although the physical taking of power had not yet occurred, it was the rebel group’s intention to follow through with their promise to overthrow the current government. He claims that after the current administration is removed, a military counsel will be set up to run the day to day operation of the government. His comments took place at a military installation near the country’s main airport. The Colonel and several other high-level military leaders participating in this coup attempt were also participants in the successful coup that brought the sitting president to power in 2009.

Aside from the comments made by Col. Andrianasoavina, reporters in Madagascar are unsure of the rebel group’s power and whether they will be able to follow through with their promise to overthrow the current regime. Recent reports out of the country describe little, if any, changes on the ground. There has not been a significant troop build up or deployment, and the country’s television and radio broadcasts have continued as normal.

This most recent coup comes as Madagascar is holding a referendum on a new constitution. One of the main tenets of the new constitution is that Mr. Rajoelina will remain in control of the nation until elections can take place. Analysts believe that this provision in the constitution will allow him to remain in power indefinitely. When Mr. Rajoelina came to power in 2009, he scrapped the old constitution.

Madagascar is a small island nation off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It has been plagued with instability for a number of years. This most recent coup attempt is just another in a long line of coup attempts that have plagued the island nation.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera –Madagascar officers ‘make coup bid’ – 17 November 2010

BBC Africa —Madagascar officers in coup claim – 17 November 2010

New York Times – Coup Attempt Reported in Madagascar – 17 November 2010

Reuters Africa – Rebel Madagascar officer says to shut airport – 17 November 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CONAKRY, Guinea – Ten people have been killed and more than two hundred injured in the violent aftermath of a contentious presidential election in Guinea.

Authorities declared a state of emergency after three days of street violence and imposed an overnight curfew until disputes over the election results are resolved.

The National Independent Electoral Commission reported late Monday that Alpha Conde had won Guinea’s presidential election, receiving 52.5 percent of the 2.89 million ballots cast in a runoff.  Cellou Dalein Diallo, his opponent, received 47.5 percent.

Mr. Diallo alleged massive voter fraud and has challenged Mr. Conde’s win in the Supreme Court.

A police officer said that the state of emergency would remain in place until the election results were officially confirmed by the Supreme Court. The Court has eight days to rule on the preliminary results from the time they are published.

Despite Mr. Diallo’s calls for calm, his supporters took to the streets, fighting with security forces and even destroying homes of many members of the Malinke ethnic group, to which Mr. Conde belongs. Mr. Diallo’s supporters are primarily from the Peul ethnic group.

Violence erupted in the neighborhoods of Hamdallaya, Bambeto, Cosa, and Simbaya, all of which are primarily Peul communities. “Shooting and targeted arrests are continuing,” a resident of Koloma told Reuters.

On Tuesday, interim Prime Minister Jean More Dore blamed Mr. Diallo’s supporters for the violence and described them as hooligans. Mr. Diallo blamed the security forces for inflicting “savage brutality” upon his supporters.

The United Sates also denounced the post-election violence. “The United States condemns the violent clashes between rival political supporters in Guinea following the Nov. 15 announcement of the provisional presidential election results,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. “Such incidents have no place in the democratic society that Guinea aspires to become.”

The election marked an end to fifty-two years of authoritarian rule – the country’s first democratic election since independence from France in 1958.

But violence and delay have overshadowed the process since the first round of elections in June.

“The situation is very tense in Guinea,” West African analyst Adam Gaye said. “You have really a legacy of military rule and of violence that will be very difficult to fix . . . Conde has appealed to the defeated side to announce that it’s necessary to build a national reconciliation government.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Guinean military declares emergency – 17 November 2010

BBC – Guinea declares state of emergency after poll clashes – 17 November 2010

New York Times – Guinea: Presidential Winner is Declared – 15 November 2010

Reuters – Guinea government declares state of emergency – 17 November 2010

Wall Street Journal – US Denounces Post-Election Violence in Guinea – 17 November 2010

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
DADAAB, Kenya- As heavy rains flood the refugee camps in Dadaab groups are calling upon Kenya to reach an agreement with the UN and Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to provide more assistance. The refugee camp, originally built for 90,000, now houses over 300,000 residents, most of them from neighboring Somalia where constant violence has pushed people into the Kenya camps for the past 20 years. Each month, thousands more make the trip across the Kenya border. Resources like fuel, food and shelter are not meeting the demands of this growing population. Joke Van Peteghem, MSF’s mission director in Kenya stated earlier this week, “We are at a dead end. [. . .] We call on the Kenyan authorities and aid actors to immediately facilitate their [the refugees] relocation to suitable accommodation.”

Many see Kenya’s reluctance to accommodate this refugee population as a contributing factor to its deteriorating condition. The camp has been in existence for twenty years and some of its residents are third generation camp inhabitants whose grandparents came to Kenya in the early 1990’s. “There is a tendency to see refugee camps as warehouses for storing unused people; we need to treat them as normal people. There are children living here whose parents have never seen Somalia. Can we really say these people are foreigners?” said Richard Acland, a senior coordinator for the United Nations in Dadaab. Many in the camp do not have the necessary papers to travel past the camps into Kenya proper, leaving them in a sort of limbo without the protection or resources of any government.

Other problems plague the camps resulting from the drawn out conflict in Somalia. Human Rights Watch has documented the recruitment of child soldiers in the camps. Somali groups, like the insurgent force Shabab, enter the camps promising high pay and UN support. In 2009, Kenyan officials were accused with helping these recruitment efforts and in the last two weeks, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Kenya is forcing refugees back into Somalia in violation of international law. The latest incident includes a group of over 8,000 Somalis, mostly women, children and the elderly, who had already crossed the border into Kenya. As the rains continue to flood new portions of the camp and more refugees arrive, many question how to provide even the most basic of resources to Dadaab’s inhabitants.

For more information, please see;

CNN– At Least 700 Families Living Outside Kenya Refugee Camp Face Peril– 12, Nov. 2010

MSF- Kenya: Assistance Urgently Needed for Vulnerable Somali Refugees– 12, Nov. 2010

NYT- Somalia’s Wars Swell Refugee Camp in Kenya– 11, Nov. 2010

Reuters Africa- Kenya Illegally Forcing Refugees Back to Somalia: UNCHR– 3, Nov. 2010

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter,  Africa

 RABAT, Morocco – Violence erupted this past Monday, November 8th when Moroccan security forces raided an opposition group’s protest camp in Western Sahara.  The camp called Gadaym Izik was home to more than 12,000 Polisario Front protesters before the attack. The Polisario Front consists of Saharawis, a nomadic native people that have resisted the Moroccan government for several decades.

There are conflicting reports on the number of people injured and killed in the attack. According to the Polisario Front, 19 people were killed in the fighting, 723 were wounded, and 159 people are still unaccounted for. Alternatively, the Moroccan government claims eight members of its security force were killed but not a single civilian was harmed in the fighting.

The Gadaym Izik camp was established about a month ago to protest both a lack of jobs and discrimination of the Saharawis at the hands of the Moroccan government. The Polisario Front established this protest camp on the outskirts of Laayoune, the capital city in Western Sahara. In response, Moroccan security officials swept in and forcefully shut down the camp. The security forces are accused of using live ammunition, tear gas, and water cannons.

This most recent clash comes at a time when the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front are meeting in New York City to negotiate a peace deal. The third round of United Nations (U.N.) backed talks continued despite the violence. After the talks concluded on Tuesday, U.N. special envoy Christopher Ross explained the two sides had rejected each other’s proposal on how the negotiations process should continue. However, both sides did agree to continue peace plan discussions in December or early next year.

The Moroccan government has outlined a proposal that would keep the territory under its control but grant the region autonomy, thus allowing  the Polisario Front to control administration of  the local government. On the other hand, the Polisario Front is seeking full independence. Specifically, the Polisario Front has offered a proposal for a popular referendum to take place that will determine if Western Sahara should become an independent state or remain under the government’s control. The Polisario Front has been seeking independence from the Moroccan government since the 1970s.

 For more information, please see:

BBC Africa – Morocco ‘raided Western Sahara camp to sabotage talks’—11 November  2010 

Canadian Press – Calm returning to Western Sahara after 2 days of unrest – 11 November 2010

CNN International — Deadly clashes reported in disputed Western Sahara – 10 November 2010  

UPI – Western-Sahara-erupts-into-violence – 10 November 2010

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter,  Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Pirates off the coast of Somalia are in the process of freeing two ships in exchange for a record ransom. Specifically, a ransom of over $9 million (U.S. dollars) was paid for the release of the Samho Dream, and $7 million (U.S. dollars) was paid for the return of the Golden Blessing. The ransom for the Samho Dream is the largest ransom paid for a single ship since pirates began attacking international vessels off the coast of Somalia.

The Samho Dream, a South Korean oil supertanker, with its five Korean and nineteen Filipino crew members has been under control of Somali pirates since April 2010. The Samho Dream was estimated to have 2 million barrels of oil onboard, worth approximately $160 million dollars (U.S.), when it was captured. This ship was seized in the Indian Ocean as it was traveling from Iraq to the United States.

The initial price for the Samho Dream began at $20 million (U.S. dollars) but through negotiations that figure was whittled down to over $9 million. Once ransom the amount was agreed upon, the cash was ferried by helicopter to the ship and then dropped onto its deck. As of Saturday, a pirate name Hussein told Reuters, “We are counting our cash, and soon we shall get down from the ship.” A South Korean foreign minister expects that once the crew is safe, the South Korean crew members will be sent to a third country for medical evaluations before coming home.

The Golden Blessing, a Singaporean ship, with a nineteen member Chinese crew was captured on June 28. The Golden Blessing was transporting chemicals from Saudi Arabia to India when it was attacked. According to European Union Naval forces, the Golden Blessing was released Saturday after a ransom was paid. The Golden Blessing is now being escorted by Chinese naval vessels to safe waters.

According to a report released by the International Maritime Bureau, the first nine months of 2010 have been the busiest time for ship hijackings in the past five years. The report points outs that Somali pirates are responsible for a substantial number of theses seizures. This is due in large part to the absence of a functioning central government in Mogadishu. Ship hijackings have continued to occur even as European Union, NATO and other nations have stepped up naval patrols in the waters off Somalia.

For more information, please see:

Voice of America – Somali Pirates Release Two Tanker Ships – 6 November 2010

BBC Africa – Somali pirates receive record ransom for ship release – 6 November 2010

Associated Press – Report: Somali pirates release SKorean ship – 6 November 2010

Arirang – Somali Pirates Free Hijacked Korean Ship – 6 November 2010