BRIEF: Chinese Peacekeepers Not Wanted in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Chinese engineers arrived on Saturday in Sudan as part of the UN peacekeepers to work alongside the African Union peacekeepers to continue security in Darfur.  The 135 engineers are supposed to implement building bridges and roads, as well as digging wells.  However, the rebel group, Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), wants the Chinese to leave Sudan and have accused the Chinese of being a culprit of the Darfur conflict.  According to Reuters, Jem leader Khalil Ibrahim stated that “we oppose them coming because China is not interested in human rights.  It is just interested in Sudan’s resources.  We are calling on them to quit Sudan, especially the petroleum areas.”  When asked about whether Jem would target the engineers, Ibrahim stated, “I am not saying I will attack them.  I will not say I will not attack them, what I am saying is that they are taking our oil for blood.”  The rebel group has stated that they will accept peacekeepers from any other country except for China.  The President of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has stated otherwise.  The President announced that China and Pakistan were the only non-African countries he would accept.  According to the BBC, one month ago Jem attacked the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, a Chinese-controlled consortium in Sudan’s oilfields.  At that time, Jem stated that the Chinese company had one week to leave Sudan.  This conflict continues to add to the struggles in Sudan, and according to AFP “since February 2003, more than 200,000 people have died from the combined effects of the war, famine, and disease in western Sudan’s Darfur region, while 2.2 million others have been left homeless.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – China peacekeepers arrive in Darfur – 24 November 2007

BBC – Darfur rebels spurn Chinese force – 24 November 2007

Reuters – Darfur rebels reject new Chinese peacekeepers – 24 November 2007

Turkey: Trial for Murder of Christians Begins

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MALATYA, Turkey- The trial began for the five men who allegedly killed three Christians.  On April 18, 2007, the Christians were killed in their publishing house during a Bible study.  Two Turkish converts and German missionary were in a Bible study when their attackers arrived.  The prosecutor has stated that he will seek the death penalty for the men accused of the crime.

“Their attackers tied the men to their chairs, targeting Tilmann Geske, a German father of three, before turning to Pastor Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel. By the time police arrived, the Turkish converts had been virtually decapitated, with their buttocks, testicles, stomachs and backs repeatedly stabbed, their fingers sliced and throats slashed from ear-to-ear. The accused, all between 19 and 20, allegedly filmed clips on their mobile phones.”  (Guardian Unlimited)

The trial is important because the Turkish judicial system must show that it is committed to protecting the minorities in the community.  The Christians have always faced a strong anti-Christian sentiment in Turkey despite only 350 official conversions to Christianity in the past 15 years.  (The Independent)

In the past, Christians were seen as rebels seeking to overthrow the existing government.  However, Turkey’s recent desire to enter the European Union has caused the Turkish government to relax its regulations and protect the country’s Christians.  Yet, as anti-Western sentiment has recently grown, the Christians have suffered more attacks from churches being burned and a priest was recently shot and killed.

The court must take a strong stance on protecting the country’s minorities, especially since it has begun air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq.  The PKK is a Kurdish militia seeking independence for the Kurdish people.  The Turkish government must show that it is committed to protect the minorities, since the violence against minorities, especially Turkey’s 15 million Kurds, may increase because of the PKK’s recent attacks.  If the Turkish government allows the minorities to be marginalized then it could allow independent militias like the PKK to gain support.

For more information, please see:

Guardian Unlimited- Turks accused of killing Christians go on trial- 24 November 2007

Independent Online- Five on trial in Turkey for missionary murders- 24 November 2007

Today’s Zaman- Court adjourns Bible publisher murder case- 24 November 2007

BosNewsLife- Turkish Prosecutor Seeks Life Sentences For Killers Of Christian Missionaries- 23 November 2007

Notable Progress between Mugabe and the MDC

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Eastern and Southern Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – After speaking to President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe’s leading opposition group, South African President Thabo Mbeki claims that significant progress has been made concerning the political crisis within the country. Mbeki has been actively mediating a solution between Mugabe and the MDC after several claims of political oppression and abuse by security forces and supporters of Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party.

Last month, several members of the MDC were allegedly assaulted. Three MDC officials were abducted from their homes in Chipinge South. George Makuyaya, the MDC’s parliamentary candidate for next year’s elections was one of the three men allegedly kidnapped in the middle of the day. In another incident, Tobias Gundavakura, the MDC ward chairman for Mutare was attacked by a machete. Furthermore, the MDC claims most of its meetings have been banned without reason.

Along with concerns of political violence and sanctions, the MDC has accuse Mugabe and his government of rigging past elections. As part of the negotiations, the MDC is demanding the passage of democratic reforms for the upcoming 2008 election.

Although the negotiation talks have stalled due to missed deadlines in several months, the parties have agreed to four of the five points on the agenda. The first four agenda items were constitution, electoral laws, security legislation, and media laws. The last point which deals with the political climate, along with demilitarization of state institutions, the role of traditional chiefs, use of food aid for political benefit and foreign broadcasts into Zimbabwe, may prove to be a more “sticky” subject. However, both sides are confident the agenda will be addressed before the upcoming election.

The rise in political oppression coincides with the economic depression which has ranked the country’s inflation rate at over 8,000 percent, the highest in the world. Many critics have blamed the crisis on government mismanagement but Mugabe continues to accuse the West of conspiring against him.

For more information please see:

Reuters: Africa- Mbeki Confident of Solution to Zimbabwe crisis – 23 November 2007

BBC- Mbeki Upbeat after Zimbabwe Talk – 23 November 2007

AllAfrica.com- Zimbabwe: Mbeki Pressure Mugabe – 23 November 2007

Impunity Watch- Political Oppression and Violence – 25 October 2007

Egyptian Woman Jailed For Father’s Conversion 45 Years Ago

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – An Egyptian Christian woman is going to jail for three years because her father’s brief stint as an Islam 45 years ago made her a Muslim, not a Christian as her official papers say.

Shadia Nagui Ibrahim on Thursday was charged with fraud for stating her religion as Christianity on her marriage certificate. She was unaware that her father, who left when she was two, had once converted to Islam in 1962. Her father’s conversion automatically made her a Muslim because children in Egypt must take their father’s religion. Even though he came back three years later and re-converted to Christianity, her status as a Muslim stood the same.

Christians in Egypt face many hardships solely because of their religious affiliation. While Egyptians typically have little difficulty changing religion from Christianity to Islam, changing from Islam to another religion such as Christianity is socially risky and considered apostasy.

Compounding the hardship is the state’s reluctance to allow citizens to put their religion of choice on identification cards. In Egypt, all citizens are required to carry identification cards once they reach the age of 16. Because the citizens have only three choices to choose from, this policy forces members of minority faiths to obtain forged documents that can result in criminal prosecution.

When Ibrahim’s father reconverted to Christianity, he forged his document to say he was a Christian. The authorities eventually caught him and told his daughter that she was still a Muslim and charged her with “providing false information on official documents” for stating that she was a Christian when she got married in 1982. She got sentenced for three years after a brief court session.

Also under Egyptian law, Muslim woman are not allowed to marry a Christian man.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Egypt Copt jailed 45 years after father’s conversion – 22 November 2007

Reuters – Egypt denies ID papers to Baha’is, converts – 12 November 2007

BBC News – Egypt ‘denies minority beliefs’ – 12 November 2007

BRIEF: Nauru Minister Accused in Passport Scandal

YAREN, Nauru – Nauru’s Finance and Foreign Minister David Adeang has been accused by a group of MPs of associating with businessmen in Thailand who are selling and distributing Nauruan passports.  The group also alleges that he received gifts, travel funding, and other benefits in conjunction with this venture, which he failed to declare under Nauru’s public accountability laws.

Adeang dismissed these claims, saying that the MPs are playing for control of the government and that the accusations are false.  He further stated that the businessmen in question had become Nauruan citizens when former president Rene Harris had been running his own passport scheme.  Adeang dubbed the allegations “spurious” and criticized the group for not building a case to prove the allegations.

The breakaway MPs are moving for a no confidence motion against Nauru president Ludwig Scotty if he does not deal with the issue, and are pressuring him to reconvene parliament to deal with the misconduct allegations against Adeang.

For more information, please see:

Islands Business – President may face no confidence vote over Adeang – 12 November 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Rebel MPs in Nauru claim to be building support for no confidence vote – 22 November 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Nauru’s Adeang dismisses claims that Asian colleagues involved in passport sales – 22 November 2007

Islands Business – Rebel MPs claim to be building support for no confidence vote– 22 November 2007