BRIEF: Papuans Raise Illegal Flag, Six Remain Under Arrest

TIMIKA, Papua – On December 1st, several Papuans raised the Morning Star flag.  The flag and the date mark the anniversary of the West Papuan Declaration of Independence from Dutch rule in 1961.  Indonesia currently controls West Papua, and has declared the flag illegal.  [Indonesia won control of Papua from the Dutch in 1969 in a referendum that is now widely seen as a sham.]

On 01 December 2004, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage were arrested for organizing a peaceful commemoration of the date and are currently serving fifteen year and ten year sentences in prison.

This year, twenty to thirty people were initially arrested, but most were released the following day.  Three of the remaining prisoners are members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) and are charged with raising the Morning Star flag.  Two or three of the others are alleged to be held on weapons charges, depending on the report.

Indonesian police confiscated the flag and the tree trunk that was used as a flag pole.

For more information, please see:

AHN – Indonesia Bans Hoisting Separatist Flag in Papua – 28 November 2007

Scoop (Indonesia Human Rights Committee) – West Papua flag to mark Independence Day – 29 November 2007

Antara – Morning Star flag raised in Timika, Papua – 01 December 2007

Antara – 25 Papuans grilled over hoisting of ‘Morning Star’ flag – 02 December 2007

The Jakarta Post – 25 Papuans questioned over independence flag – 02 December 2007

Radio Australia – Arrests in Indonesia’s Papua as flag is raised – 02 December 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Arrests in Indonesian province of Papua after raising of independence flag – 02 December 2007

AFP – Police free 14 in Papua after independence event – 03 December 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Six Papuan flag-raisers still under arrest in Mimika District – 05 December 2007

Call for Cease-fire in Sudan

By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – The international community is increasing its demand for a cease-fire in Sudan.  A United Nations human rights expert announced on Tuesday that Sudanese forces have killed several hundred Sudanese civilians in ground attacks and aerial bombardments on villages in Darfur in the past six months.  Bystanders have also been caught up in clashes between the rebel groups and have been tortured and raped. 

Also on Tuesday, former US President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for an immediate cease-fire in Darfur and for the international community to honor its pledge to send in peacekeepers.  Carter and Tutu are two members of a group known as The Elders, a group launched on former South African President Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday in July and dedicated to finding new ways to foster peace and resolve global crises.

The Elders chose Darfur as their first mission because it is “a blight on the conscience of humanity.”  Tutu told reporters on Tuesday that “[w]e felt we had a moral imperative to join and contribute to the efforts made by may people and organizations to stop the atrocities.”   The group issued a report and action plan detailing the problem in Sudan and called for immediate action.  The report also details recommendations for peace.

Key among the recommendations is the deployment of a joint AU-UN peacekeeping force.  The 26,000-member peacekeeping force is expected to take over for the current AU force of 7,000 and start deploying next year.  However, U.N. officials have accused the Sudanese government of stalling and creating barriers to an on-time deployment. 

Since the conflict began in 2003, over 200,000 people have died and more than 2.5 million have been displaced.  UN investigators have issued reports stating Sudan’s government has failed to protect civilians in Darfur from rape, torture, and violence.   Sudanese lawyer Salih Mahmoud Osman, the winner of a European Union human rights prize, announced on Tuesday that despite UN Security Council resolutions the number of dead in Darfur has risen to 500,000 and that rape is still being used as a weapon of war. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters Africa – Sudan forces killed 100s of civilians in Darfur – 5 December 2007

USA Today – Carter, Tutu call for Darfur cease-fire – 4 December 2007

AllAfrica.com – Sudan: The Elders Urge Immediate Action on Darfur – 4 December 2007

Reuters Africa – EU rights champion urges Europe to act on Darfur – 5 December 2007

AP – Sudan Told to Stop Blocking Peacekeepers – 4 December 2007

For more information on the Sudan situation, please see the following Impunity Watch reports:Peacekeeping Force in Sudan Possibly Delayed; Threat of War in Sudan; Continued Delays in Deployment of Sudan Hybrid Force;  Sudan Talks Falter; Upcoming Peace Talks in Sudan in Jeopardy; New Atrocities in Darfur; Ceasefire Ends in Sudan; African Union Peacekeepers Attacked in Darfur; Ongoing Conflict in Sudan; ICC Prosecutor Demands Arrests in Sudan; Secretary General Urges Sudan President to Commit to Ceasefire; Peace Talks on Darfur Scheduled for October 

Bahrain: Family Members of the Dhow Tragedy Cry Out regarding Sentence Reduction

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain- On March 30, 2006, 58 passengers died of the coast of Bahrain when the Al Dana boat sank.  The passengers were partying following the completion of the first level of the Bahrain World trade centers.

Allegedly, the owner and captain of the boat knew about the instability, because the boat rocked so much previous to the launch that day that some wine glasses had tipped.Some of the passengers disembarked before the launch.  The boat capsized an hour and a half later.  Some of the 150 passengers were saved.  It was also alleged that the crew when determining who to save typically chose the foreigners over the Bahrainis.

The captain and owner of the ship were initially charged with manslaughter regarding the deaths of the 50 people.  However, the defendants appealed the ruling that was supposed to come out on December 3, 2007.   The captain of the ship was given three years in prison for manslaughter and the owner was given 10 years of manslaughter.  The owner has claimed that he was made the scapegoat of the action when he appealed.  The court was responsive to his claim and reduced to five years.

The victims’ families complained, citing their confusion that the man held for manslaughter of 58 people could have his sentence reduced from ten years down to five years.  The owner has offered 20,000 dirhams ($2,582.52) to compensate the families.

The victims view on whether they will accept the money is varied.  A woman reported as being desperately waiting to receive the money because her husband who had provided her income had died on the tragedy.  A young woman orphaned by the tragedy had said that by accepting money she would be stating that she was acquiescing with the death of her parents.

Although, the families have differed whether they will accept the money, the family members agree that the amount of money that is being offered as a compensation for the death of their relative is insulting.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Many die in Bahrain boat disaster- 31 March 2006

BBC News- Bahrain boat death was ‘unsteady’- 26 October 2006

Gulf Daily News- Victims relatives shocked- 4 December 2007

Gulf Daily News- I am a scapegoat says dhow owner- 5 December 2007

Gulf Daily News- Al Dana appeal ruling denied- 22 November 2007

Gulf Daily News- BD 1.5m insult!- 28 November 2007

Heated Arguments Between Solomons MPs Take Off

By Sarah C. LaBelle
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

The opposition in the Solomon Islands has alleged that they have the numbers to rule for the past three weeks.  Meanwhile, the government claims that this is untrue.  The Governor General has stepped in and set December 13th as the date for parliament to meet to settle the issue. Currently, the sides appear to be tied at 24 members each. For more background information, please see theImpunity Watch posts on the early stages of the numbers dispute here andhere.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands — As December 13th approaches, heated arguments are springing up between MPs and a variety of lawsuits have been filed related to the dispute over who has the numbers to lead.

Julian Moti, the controversial attorney general of the Solomon Islands, filed a suit against Governor General Sir Nathaniel Waena and others, challenging the constitutionality of his intervention in the political mess.  Moti said that there wasn’t anything unusual about naming the governor general as defendant in a suit, and said that there is a history in the Solomons of prime ministers suing governor generals.  He also named Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Independent Members as defendants, stating that since they had a stake in the outcome of the case, they deserved to be heard.

Criminal charges of misconduct in office and conspiracy were dropped against opposition leader Fred Fono today in magistrate court.  The charges were dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution abused the court process by attempting to incorrectly get the case referred to the High Court rather than the Leadership Code Commission.

The opposition group, now calling itself the “Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement” (CNURA), recently dropped a claim against current Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of misconduct, which turns out to have been based on fraudulent information.  An unnamed government spokesman said that the accusation was a deliberate attempt to discredit the government, and called it a “smear campaign”.

MP Sam Iduri, one of the nine original defectors, has been called on by his community leaders to rejoin the government because they feel that his defection may lead to development projects being canceled in their community.

East Honiara MP Charles Dausabea accused RAMSI of wanting to topple Sogavare’s government, based on information from “reliable sources”, and said that RAMSI needs to stay out of politics.  Fono denied that his group is supported by RAMSI, and told the Solomon Star that “Dausabea needs to justify where he gets his statements from … RAMSI is totally neutral and I don’t know where Dausabea gets his facts from but he needs to check again.”

CNURA has said the the Grand Coalition for Change (GCC), the current government, has not successfully implemented its “Bottom-Up Approach” (BUA) development policy.  CNURA claims that Sogavare spent money that should have gone to BUA on defending and protecting Moti, and stated that CNURA is committed to making the development policy work.  Sogavare responded to these claims by saying that they demonstrated CNURA’s desperation and claims that the policy would take a long time to implement successfully.  He also said that the programme should not be discontinued even if a future government does not like it; the hypothetical future government should realign the programmes instead.

CNURA also criticized government attempts to stop the printing of the gazette on the proclamation of the date the governor general declared for parliament to meet.  These attempts failed because by the time members of the prime minister’s office arrived at the printers’ office, the gazette had already been delivered to Government House and distributed among the MPs.  Of the attempts, Fono said, “They are sure signs of a desperate group that wants to cling onto power despite losing its majority support in parliament.”

Fono also alleges that opposition MPs are being threatened and that government officials are behind the threats.  An unnamed government official spoke with the Solomon Star and categorically denied the allegation.  Fono claims that the MPs are being harassed by groups of people showing up at the Honiara Hotel, where the defected ministers are staying since their government housing has been revoked.  Government caucus chairman Nelson Ne’e said that the opposition members were “locked away like prisoners” in the hotel, a claim Fono disputes.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand International – Solomons govt caucus whip accuses opposition of keeping MPs prisoner – 29 November 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Calls for MP in Solomon Islands to rejoin government – 03 December 2007

Solomon Times – Opposition Group Vows New Beginning for Nation – 03 December 2007

Solomon Times – New Government to Enhance Solomons Security, Law and Order: Huni’ehu – 03 December 2007

Solomon Times – Opposition’s CNURA Pledges to Make BUA Work – 04 December 2007

Solomon Times – BUA – The Way Forward for SI: Prime Minister Sogavare – 04 December 2007

Solomon Times – CNURA Pledge to Address Economic Recovery and Financial Management – 04 December 2007

Solomon Star – Opposition blasts government – 04 December 2007

Solomon Star – Moti explains law suit – 04 December 2007

Solomon Star – Opposition drops claim about PM – 04 December 2007

Solomon Star – Opposition MPs being threatened, says Fono – 04 December 2007

Solomon Star – RAMSI stay out of politics: Dausabea – 04 December 2007

Islands Business – Opposition parties formalise coalition – 04 December 2007

Islands Business – Court dismisses charges against Opposition leader – 04 December 2007

Radio Australia – Solomon Is. Opposition releases policy details – 05 December 2007

UN Peacekeepers Urge Rebels in DRC to Cease Fighting

By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter, Western and Central Africa

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Democratic of Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda began an offensive attack on the nation’s army by retaking several rebel controlled villages in the east. Two days ago, the rebels attacked Government positions in Nyanzale, a northern section of the province. Presently, there has been heavy fighting in Mushake, a rebel town located 40 kilometers from Goma. In response, the United Nations has promised to join on with the DRC army to provide fire support against the militant rebels.

U.N. Monuc spokesman, Kamal Saiki that the UN will now “provide fire support, including artillery and close air support” as a last resort.

Presently, there are 15,000 UN soldiers in DR Congo that are tasked with peace securing missions. The new UN orders would mean that these peacekeepers would have legal authority to fire at rebel forces. To avoid further armed conflict, the peacekeepers are urging illegal fighters to put down their arms and to cease fire.

Currently, The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to suspend the delivery of food aid to as many as 300,000 vulnerable people because of the militant take-over of villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Fore more information, please see:

BBC – UN to join attack on Congo rebels – 4 December 2007

IRIN- DRC: Fighting interrupts food aid to 300,000 in the east – 4 December 2007 

All Africa.com  Congo-Kinshasa: UN Mission Calls On Illegal Fighters to Lay Down Their Arms  – 4 December 2007