U.S. Authorities Fail to Question Chief Sri Lankan General

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO,Sri Lanka – General Sarath Foneseka, one of the recognized masterminds behind the Sri Lankan government’s final, victorious campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, left Oklahoma city today on a civilian visit to his daughters.  Upon hearing of the general’s arrival into the country, authorities in the United States Department of Homeland Security formulated plans to interview the general.  The discussion had the purpose of trying to substantiate allegations of war crimes the Sri Lankan military and government committed throughout the quarter-century civil war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency.  However, the General left Oklahoma City without any disturbance by U.S. authorities.  

General Fonseka played an integral role in the Sri Lankan government’s spring defeat of the Tamil Tigers.  Although the ultimate attack on the insurgency purportedly aimed cease the bloody violence reigning over Sri Lanka for over twenty-five years, reports of crimes against humanity arose in reports submitted to the U.S. congress.  The reports concentrated on heinous acts perpetrated in the final months of fighting ultimately leading to the Tamil Tigers’ defeat in May. 

The report actually asserted that both separatists and Sri Lankan government forces committed atrocities against human rights.  The Sri Lankan government, however, was accused of confining droves of citizens in schools, hospitals, and other large public structures located in designated no-fire zones.  Furthermore, human rights groups alleged that the Sri Lankan government engaged in indiscriminate bombing over Tamil territories, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilian nationals. 

Between the inhumane acts of the government and separatists, it has been calculated that between 7,000 and 20,000 civilians had been killed over the final months of fighting. Despite the severity of the allegations and the imperative information General Fonseka could divulge concerning heinous practices in war, the Sri Lankan government swiftly pronounced its disfavor towards the idea of an interview.

 The Sri Lankan government seemed particularly leery of the possibility that U.S. authorities would inquire about Sri Lankan Secretary of Defense Gotabaya Rajapaksa.  The brother of the Sri Lankan president and a U.S. citizen himself, Rajapaksa is acknowledged as another significant figure in the Sri Lankan military’s defeat over the Tamil Tigers.  The Sri Lankan government also denies the merits of the allegations of human rights offenses. 

Without any words from the Sri Lankan government, the only corroborated information on Sri Lanka’s war practices is the lofty, tragic death toll for the bloody civil war.
For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – U.S. to ‘question’ S Lanka army chief – 04 November 2009

Guardian – U.S. to question Sri Lanka army chief war crimes allegations – 02 Novermber 2009

Lanka Journal – Sri Lanka’s top general leaves U.S. unquestioned – 04 November 2009

U.N. Support Suspended to Peacekeeping Unit For Ironic Civilian Killings

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DRC – The U.N. has suspended logistical and operational support for the Congolese army’s 213th Brigade which was confirmed to have killed at least 62 civilians during a peacekeeper-backed offensive against the rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

For months, human rights groups have exposed the fact that Congolese armed forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have brutally killed hundreds of civilians and committed widespread rape, while they received more than $6 million worth of U.N. military and logistical backing for its Kimiya operation.

The UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, is a partner with the Congolese army in operation Kimia II, which began on March 2. The aim of the peacekeeping mission is to disarm by force the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu militia group, some of whose leaders participated in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. MONUC provides substantial operational and logistics support to the soldiers, including military firepower, transport, rations, and fuel.

Humanitarian agencies and rights groups have decried the civilian toll of the offensive, which has disarmed around 1,300 FDLR fighters at the cost of more than 7,000 women and girls raped and more than 900,000 people forced to flee their homes.

Human Rights Watch conducted 21 fact-finding missions in North and South Kivu from January to October 2009, and found that Congolese army soldiers had deliberately killed at least 505 civilians from the start of operation Kimia II in March through September. Most of the victims were women, children, and the elderly. Some were decapitated. Others were chopped to death by machete, beaten to death with clubs, or shot as they tried to flee.

“Some Congolese army soldiers are committing war crimes by viciously targeting the very people they should be protecting,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “MONUC’s continued willingness to provide support for such abusive military operations implicates them in violations of the laws of war.”

“We welcome the steps that the U.N. has taken to suspend operations to this one brigade. But I am afraid we are documenting these kinds of atrocities, not just in this one area but in many other areas as well,” said Van Woudenberg. “And we think the U.N. now needs to immediately suspend all of its support to this military operation until abusive commanders are removed and safeguards are in place in protect civilians.”

Head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, Alain Le Roy, said despite confirmation of soldiers in the Congolese army’s 213th Brigade participated in the massacre of at least 62 people between May and September, the U.N. has no intention of withdrawing broader support for the offensive.

“(The U.N.) will continue its engagement on the side of the Congolese army in the operation, which is very important in order to neutralize the FDLR.” Said Le Roy. “We have a case [where] clearly some units have behaved badly and some civilians have been killed in quite an important number. But we are not suspending our support to the Kimiya operation, not at all,”

The U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Congo and the deputy head of MONUC, Ross Mountain, said that withdrawing the mission’s support for the operations would limit its ability to protect civilians. While admitting that there had been abuses by almost 50,000 government soldiers involved in the operations, Mountain denied claims made by HRW that MONUC had been aware as early as May of the widespread crimes carried out by the army.

The operation, in Congo’s volatile eastern border provinces of North and South Kivu, was part of an agreement aimed at improving relations between Congo and Rwanda, enemies during a 1998-2003 war. The presence in eastern Congo of the FDLR is considered to be a root cause of over a decade of conflict and a humanitarian crisis that has killed an estimated 5.4 million people. Despite suspending some Congolese unites, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously last month to continue supporting the Congolese army.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – U.N. Defends Congo Role Despite Army Killings – 3 Nov 2009

VOA news – Rights Group Demands U.N. Aid Cut-Off to Congolese Army – 03 November 2009

The Huffington Post – Human Rights Watch Damns MONUC in Congo: Leaked UN Internal Memo Supports the Accusations – 2 November 2009

Amnesty International – Surge in Army Atrocities – U.N. Peacekeeping Force Knowingly Supports Abusive Military Operations – 2 November 2009

Iranian Vessel Seized by Yemen

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – The Yemeni coast guard seized a boat they say illegally entered the country’s territorial waters, near the island of Midi under the suspicion that it was smuggling arms to Shiite rebels battling government troops in the Northern Yemen province of Sa’na.

The ship’s cargo, consisting mostly of anti tank shells, was seized and her crew of five Iranians were detained under a suspicion that they were “instructors” planning the delivery of weapons and the evacuation of wounded Iranians.

Al-Alam TV, an Iranian state broadcaster, reported the incident as a mere “fabrication of the media.”  While, no comment has been issued by the Yemeni central government they have long accused Iran of supporting Shiite rebels.  Last week, Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh issued a statement alleging that Iranian dignitaries were the source of funding for previously captured rebel troops.

On Tuesday, a court in Sa’na sentenced four al-Houthi rebels to death.  This is the third trial stemming from a series of rebel clashes with government forces – twelve others have been sentenced to death in earlier trials relating to the fighting.

Clashes between al-Huthi rebels and government forces have continued sporadically for the past five-years.  The Rebels accuse authorities of neglecting their needs and of allying with hard-line Sunni fundamentalists. The fighting has intensified since August, killing hundreds in the region and displacing thousands more.  A humanitarian crisis continues to loom due to the inability of aid workers accessing the region.

For more information please see:

BBC – Yemenis Intercept ‘Iranian Ship’ – October 27 2009

Associated Press – Yemen Seizes Boat off Coast, Arrests 5 Iranians – October 27 2009

Reuters – Yemen Seizes Weapons Vessel with Iranian Crew – October 26 2009

British Mercenary Pardoned by Equatorial Guinea President

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

DAKAR, Senegal-Today the government of Equatorial Guinea announced it had pardoned Simon Mann and four other South Africans who had been imprisoned for a failed attempt to overthrow the country’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. In March 2004, a plane from South Africa was impounded by Zimbabwean police. Simon Mann, along with over seventy other mercenaries, was aboard the plane with the intent to pick up weapons and proceed to Equatorial Guinea in order to carry out a coup.

Upon the plane landing the police suspected the mercenaries intentions and instead arrested everyone on board the plane. Mann served four years in a Zimbabwean jail before his extradition to Equatorial Guinea where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 34 years in prison for being the author of a plot to carry out a coup.  Simon strongly contended that he was only an accomplice and not the leader of the plot.

On Tuesday, an advisor to Equatorial Guinea President Obiang, Miguel Mifuno said Mann was released on humanitarian grounds. He also said, “Simon Mann conducted himself in an exemplary fashion during his trial and his incarceration in Equatorial Guinea. He has had some health problems. And was operated on. He is now in good health but the President thinks he should now be allowed to live in peace with his family.”

Simon Mann is an alumnus of Britain’s prominent educational institution, Eton College, and comes from a wealthy family of brewers. His involvement in the conspiracy included other Britons including Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Sir Mark Thatcher had been fined and given a suspended sentence in South Africa in 2005 for unknowingly helping to finance the plot.

Upon Mann’s release, he said he was “delighted” that he would be reunited with his family and that was thrilled at the news.

For more information please see:

All Africa – Government Frees Mercenaries – 3 November 2009
BBC – Pardoned Briton Due For UK Return – 3 November 2009
NY Times – Equatorial Guinea Frees British Mercenary – 3 November 2009
VOA – British Coup Leader Pardoned In West Africa – 3 November 2009

Iran Delivers Response to UN Nuclear Draft Deal

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On October 29 Iran responded to a draft deal proposed the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the nuclear arm of the United Nations. Iran reportedly is insisting that significant changes be made to the original agreed upon document. However, reports indicate that Iranian leaders have agreed to the basic framework of the deal.

The deal was agreed upon on October 21 in Vienna, Austria at a meeting organized by the United Nations.  It was agreed to by representatives of the Untied States, Russia, France. The Iranian negotiators did not have the ultimate authority to agree to the deal at the time.

The draft deal was forwarded to the Iranian leaders in order to get an official response. The initial deadline for Iran to respond to the deal was October 23. The deadline passed without response allegedly because of conflicting views from senior Iranian officials.

The goal is that the deal would reduce the amount of nuclear material that Iran would have to make a nuclear weapon. The United States has long feared that Iran’s goal with its nuclear program is a bomb, but Iranian leaders deny this. The original draft deal would have Iran sending its low enriched uranium abroad. It would then be sent back to Iran as material for use in medical research and treatment at a reactor located in Tehran.

Sources close to Iranian officials suggest that the country is looking to have two changes made to the draft deal. They first want to give up their stock of low enriched uranium gradually in several batches as opposed to seventy five percent at once. Iran currently has fifteen hundred kilograms of low enriched uranium, developed in defiance of three UN resolutions.

Secondly, Iran wants to receive highly enriched uranium fuel at the same time as they give up low enriched uranium. The amount would be determined by a formula calculated by the IAEA based on the needs of their reactor. A senior European official characterized the Iranian response as “basically a refusal.”

Despite the requested changes, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad insists that Iran is ready for nuclear cooperation. Ahmedinejad reiterated that Iran welcomes “the exchange of fuel, technical cooperation and construction of power plants and reactors and we are prepared to cooperate (in those areas).”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iran to Propose Two Amendments to IAEA Deal: Report – 29 October 2009

Al Jazeera – Iran ‘Seeks Change to Nuclear Deal’ – 29 October 2009

BBC – UN Hopes For Iran Nuclear Accord – 29 October 2009

CNN – Iran Responds to Nuclear Proposal – 29 October 2009

New York Times – Iran Said to Reject Key Element of Nuclear Deal – 29 October 2009