MEND Leaders Lay Down Arms in Exchange for Amnesty

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DUTCH ISLAND, Nigeria – On Saturday, three top Nigerian militant leaders gave up their weapons along with thousands of fighters under the promise of government amnesty.

Together the senior commanders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), one of the main militant groups in the area, along with the field commanders in the Rivers state, accepted the presidential offer of amnesty to militants who lay down their weapons.

The militant leaders took the offer of amnesty on the eve of the offer’s expiration, as today is the deadline.  Until now, groups such as MEND have refused to take advantage of this offer.  In June Yar’Adua announced the amnesty offer to over 10,000 militant leaders.  Just before the offer was due to expire, the group agreed to take advantage of the unconditional pardon in a bid to end the unrest in the oil producing region.

“We are surrendering all weapons under direct control,” said I Farah Dagogo, MEND’s overall field commander.

Another well known militant leader, Ateke Tom, “the godfather”, along with 5,000 fighters, laid out heavy machine guns, automatic rifles, pump-action shotguns, mortars, grenades and ammunition at “Tourist Beach” on Saturday.   A third top militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, also know as “Tompolo”, accepted the amnesty offer during a meeting with the president, Umaru Yar’Adua late on Saturday.

The overwhelming need to end the military violence has stemmed from the sliding of Africa’s main oil exporter’s daily productions sliding to 1.7 million barrels per day from 2.6 million in January 2006.

MEND leader, Henry Okah, made a point to say that the violence and unrest in the region is likely to continue even after the amnesty deadline has expired because the root cause of the violence has not yet been addressed.  Other leaders have backed up this statement saying that the fighters will resume if authorities fail to make good on their pledge to develop the region.

Some militant fighters who have laid down their arms are wearing white T-shirts saying, “Thank you for the amnesty, but remember your pledge.  You can take the arms but the struggle continues.”
For more information, please see:

BBC – More Nigeria Oil Militants Disarm – 4 October 2009

Vanguard – Amnesty Deadline: Militants in Last Minute Rush to Surrender – 4 October 2009

AFP – Top Nigerian Militant Leaders Disarm Under Amnesty – 3 October 2009

Reuters – Nigeria Rebel Leader Emerges to Surrender Arms – 3 October 2009

Update: China’s Xinjiang Ethnic Riots


By Megan E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

XINJIANG, China– In July, Chinese police detained more than 1,500 people after violence between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese left 200 dead.

The riots broke out on 5 July after an initially peaceful protest by Uighur youths, apparently prompted by an earlier riot in a factory in southern China. In the outbreak of violence, shops were smashed and vehicles set alight and passers-by set upon  rioters.

The Chinese government says 197 people died and more than 1,700 were injured. It maintains that most of the dead were Han Chinese, but the exile activist group, the World Uighur Congress, claims many Uighurs were also killed. The government has insisted the violence which followed was engineered by Uighurs in exile, chiefly World Uighur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer. The far west autonomous region borders Russia, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Many Uighurs in this area want more autonomy and respect for their culture and religion, Islam, than China’s strict centrist rule permits.

This incident is described as one of the most serious incidents of ethnic unrest in the country’s recent  history. To much of the world’s surprise, China remained open about the events and was willing to allow reporters media access. Zhou Bing, a political commentator in Hong Kong, said this represents a loosening of the controls the foreign media might have expected in such circumstances. According to Bing, “They wanted the rest of the world to understand that this was a clash between two ethnic groups, rather than a separatist movement, to frame it as people fighting over local issues, not independence.” However, as tension mounted, China wanted to ensure that, within its own borders, its coverage did not further inflame ethnic tensions, and as such, media restrictions were thereby imposed.

The China Daily said that most of the arrests were made in Urumqi and Kashgar, a southern Xinjiang city with a heavy concentration of Uighur people. Charges include vandalizing public property and transport, organizing crowds to cause bodily harm to others, robbery, murder and arson. The state newspaper did not give a breakdown on how many Uighurs and how many Han would go on trial, but it said more than 170 Uighurs and 20 Han lawyers had been assigned to the suspects.  

Four months later, China and the rest of the world await to hear the final outcome. The city’s procuratorate said it has instituted public prosecutions in the Intermediate People’s Court of Urumqi against 21 suspects. A woman from the political department of the Urumqi Intermediate Court confirmed that charges had been issued, but would not her name or any details. The report did not say what the penalty those charged would face if convicted, but just after the riots, Urumqi’s Community Party, Secrtary Li Zhi, said that the death penalty would be sought in some of the serious cases.

For more information, please see:

China View: Xinhua News Agency – 21 suspects involved in Urumqi riot prosecuted  – September 25, 2009

China Daily – Top Xinjiang official stresses development to ensure stability – September 29, 2009 

BBC – China ‘to charge 83 over riots’ – August 4, 2009 

The Associated Press – China charges 21 with murder in July riots – September 25, 2009

Conflicting Reports Arise After Yemeni Fighter Plane Crash

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’DA, YEMEN – Conflicting reports come out of the Sa’da region of Yemen after a government MIG 21 aircraft crashed into a mountain peak. Al-Huthi rebels issued a statement claiming they had shot down the aircraft “while it was bombing civilians in villages and markets.” Yemeni government officials dispute this claim, stating that “the MIG 21 fell because of a technical problem an in an area where there is no combat.” The pilot was identified as Mohammad Abdo Mufleh.  Reports did not verify whether he survived the crash.

The Sunni dominated Yemeni government launched Operation Scorched Earth on August 11 to finally put down Shi’ite rebels in the North. The conflict has seen thousands killed and many more displaced. The United Nations has issued a conservative estimate that fifty-five thousand people have fled their homes because of the conflict. Journalists are not allowed to enter the region and aid workers have trouble reaching those in need as a result of the heavy fighting.  As such, there have been no reliable counts of casualties.

Government forces continue the intense offensive against the Shi’ite al-Huthi rebels. A military source claimed that another fifty-two rebels had been killed in clashes with government forces between September 31 and October 1.  The government accuses the rebels of seeking to restore the Zaidi imamate that was overthrown in a 1962 coup. They further claim that the rebels are backed by Shi’ite Iran. The rebels deny both claims and accuse the government of aggression, marginalization and bringing in Saudi warplanes to support the ground operation.

For more information please see:

AFP – Yemeni Rebels Claim Government Warplane Shot Down – October 3 2009

Forexhound – Shiite Rebels: Military Jet Shot Down in Northern Yemen – October 2 2009

Reuters – Fighter Plane Crashes in Yemen Fighting – Govt – October 2 2009

Two Mass Graves Found in Colombia

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Two mass graves were discovered last week containing over thirty peasants and rebel fighters.  Seventeen peasants were found in a grave on a ranch owned by the now dead, far-right militia leader Carlos Castano in Northwestern Colombia. Meanwhile, sixteen FARC rebels, thought to have been killed in combat, were found in La Uribe, in the southern jungles.

The peasants found in the ranch grave were dismembered and showed signs of torture.  Colombian prosecutors reported that the peasants were killed ten to twelve years ago by men commanded by Jesus Ignacio Roldan, known as “Monoleche.”

Castano, the owner of the ranch, was reportedly killed because he disagreed with the anti-guerrilla movement’s use of drug-trafficking mafias and because the paramilitaries were frightened that Castano would report them to U.S. drug agents.

The FARC fighters were killed in July and the bodies include the nephew of senior FARC Commander Jorge Bricero.  La Uribe, where the grave was found, has traditionally been a stronghold for the FARC.

Over 2,570 victims of right-wing paramilitaries have been unearthed in Colombia since the militias began demobilizing in 2005 pursuant to a peace agreement with the Colombian government.  The AUC was formed in 1997 as an umbrella group for the numerous paramilitary organizations created to protect drug lords’ territory and operations from attacks by leftists groups, such as the FARC.  The AUC is reportedly responsible for most of the drug related deaths in Colombia.

Both the FARC and the AUC have been designated terrorist groups.  While the AUC is no longer a formal organization, most of its past members have joined other criminal organizations.

Militias such as those that formally comprised the AUC often worked with members of the Colombian military in a “dirty war” killing and torturing people suspected to be leftist rebels or sympathizers. Prosecutors report that demobilized paramilitaries have confessed to over 25,000 murders.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Colombian Mass Graves Discovered – 26 September 2009

RTT News – Thirty-three Bodies Unearthed in Two Colombian Mass Graves – 26 September 2009

South America Policy Examiner – COLOMBIA: Two Mass Graves Discovered, Bodies Include Nephew of FARC Leader – 26 September 2009

AP – Colombia Finds 2 Mass Graves of Peasants, Rebels

Somali Militants Release Three Aid Workers

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Three aid workers from Action Against Hunger (ACF), a french aid group, were released Saturday.  The three men were from Pakistan, the United States, and Zimbabwe.

They were being held in Somalia since July, according to humanitarian agents and Somali sources.  The men will be reunited with friends and family once they have received medical checks, although they are said to be in good health.

The three men who were captured were headed to Nairobi via the southern town of Luq.  They were kidnapped on July 17 boarding a plane in Mandera, Kenya and taken into nearby Somalia.  It is reported that ten gunmen facilitated the kidnapping.

Rebel Islamist movement Hezb al-Islam official Sheikh Ali Hussein said that the organization facilitated the aid workers’ return but had nothing to do with their kidnapping.

“A small plane flew the hostages out of the airport at Luq after they were freed by their kidnappers,” he said.

Somalia’s radical Shebab movement also denies having a hand in the kidnappings.

According to Hussein, a ransom was paid for the workers.  A local elder has reported that the aid workers were returned for a sum of 2.5 million dollars.

The kidnapping of foreigners in Somalia is rampant and cross-border raids are common in the area.  Because the Kenyan security forces are so poorly funded there is little that they can do to police the vast area.

Kidnappings for ransom have risen in the past few years.  Journalists and aid workers are most often targeted as they are the most vulnerable.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Three Foreign Aid Workers Held in Somalia Since July Freed – 03 October 2009

AP – Militant: 3 Aid Workers Freed in Somalia – 03 October 2009

BBC – Aid Workers Released in Somalia – 03 October 2009

Reuters – Somali Gunmen Release 3 Foreign Aid Workers – 03 October 2009

Xinhua – Aid Workers Released in Somalia: Islamist Faction – 03 October 2009