Homemade Bomb Kills Six in Juliaca, Peru

A bomb made of dynamite and nails concealed in a backpack exploded in a market in Juliaca, Peru on Friday, May 18th. The blast occurred around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. local time, officials say. The blast killed 6 and wounded 48 attending a 40 year anniversary celebration. Juliaca is just over 500 miles south of Lima, Peru’s capital, near the Bolivian border.

Officials have made contradictory statements: one claimed it was merely fireworks for the celebration, but local police have stated that they have not ruled out a terrorist attack.

The influence of Peru’s rebel group, Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) has decreased in recent years. Sendero Luminoso was responsible for massacres, bombings, and assassinations in the 1980s and 1990s. Their leader, Abimael Guzman is serving a life sentence after being captured in 1992. It is worth noting, however, that this terrorist group made their first armed attack almost to the day over 27 years ago, when it burned ballot boxes before a presidential election on May 17th, 1980.

“Homemade Bomb Kills 6, Wounds 48 in Peru” New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Peru-Bombing.html. 19 May 2007.

“Homemade Bomb Kills 6 during celebration in Peru” CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/19/peru.bomb.ap/index.html. 19 May 2007.

“Blast kills 6 in southern Peru” BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6673669.stm. 20 May 2007.

Zimbabwe: Poor Role Model for Progress

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch, Africa

The United Nations announced Zimbabwe’s appointment to the body’s Commission on Sustainable Development, despite disapproval from the United States, European nations and human rights organizations. The commission is charged with promoting economic progress and environmental protection. Given the state of the country, opponents argue Zimbabwe is not suitable to represent the theme of the commission.

Once the “breadbasket of Africa”, Zimbabwe can’t now feed itself. The nation’s annual inflation has soared to 3,714 percent. Zimbabwe is experiencing the world’s fastest-shrinking economy. Fueled by numerous business shut downs, unemployment has reached 80 percent.

Many charge Zimbabwe’s current president for the countries poor state. Mugabe has been criticized by the West and domestic opponents for oppression and corruption. Suspicious of western influence, Mugabe’s main opposition, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), claims many of their members have been killed, tortured and harassed by Mugabe and his party.

Since 1980 President Mugabe and his political party, Zanu-PF has dominated Zimbabwe’s politics. Considered anti-western and suspicious of capitalism, Mugabe played a key role in ending white rule in Rhodesia. In 2000 he implemented a land redistribution plan in Zimbabwe which disrupted the agriculture-based economy. White-owned commercial farms were violently seized and handed to poor blacks.

Zimbabwe is suffering from massive food and fuel shortages. According to the Central Statistical Office, prices increased by 100.7 percent, the highest on record. While the nation’s consumers are forced to carry bags of currency to purchase scarce resources, President Mugabe is building a $4 million museum to display the many gifts he received during his 27 year presidency.

Mugabe’s critics argue that Zimbabwe’s appointment to such a key body in the U.N. will call into question the credibility of the organization. Despite disapproval, the commission traditionally rotates among regions of the world. This year Africa was up for the position.

For more information please see:

Washington Times – Zimbabwe president extravagant amid poor – 20 May 2007

Yahoo – Inflation in Zimbabwe hits 3,714 percent – 17 May 2007

CNN – Zimbabwe to head key U.N. body – 12 May 2007

BBC – Country Profile: Zimbabwe – 04 May 2007

China to Send Military Engineers to Darfur

China will send about three hundred military engineers for a U.N. peacekeeping force to Sudan’s Darfur region. The arrangement would further the “Annan” peace plan, an effort to place U.N. forces alongside the African Union forces already in Darfur who have failed to stop the violence. The continued bloodshed in the ethnically-mixed region was initiated when rebel groups accused the government of neglect and took up arms in 2003. The violence has since killed approximately 200,000 people and displaced another 2.5 million.

China, a primary buyer of Sudan’s oil and a member of the U.N. Security Council, has faced criticism and pressure for its Sudan policies. Although China has resisted plans to send U.N. peacekeepers without
Sudan’s consent, in an effort to balance pressures over the region China has also used its influence to urge Sudan to accept peacekeepers. In April, an envoy was sent to inspect refugee camps there.

Some critics of China’s policies have urged a boycott of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

For more information please see:

Yahoo News – China confirms will send engineers to Darfur – 08 May 2007

Update: Troops Surround Monasteries in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar- In attempts to prevent further pro-democracy protesting against its reign, the Myanmar junta government has sent truckloads of troops to guard a number of monasteries.  Security personnel have been placed in a park near the Sule Pagoda, the site of some of the biggest recent protests.  The government is now waiting to see if the monks and other protesters will continue their demonstrations in defiance of government directives.

During the night two well-known dissidents, U Win Naing, a veteran independent politician and Zanagar, a popular Myanmar film comedian, were arrested by the junta for supporting the marches.  Over the weekend they had prepared a meal for the monks in a show of support.

The first dusk-to-dawn curfew ended this morning, and the ban on five or more people assembling remains.  Officials state that these measures will remain in place for at least 60 days.

BBC correspondent Jonathan Head says the current scene in Yangon is similar to 1988, when the junta repressed pro-democracy protests and opened fire on unarmed demonstrators.

The young monks heading the protests have vowed to keep up the demonstrations; according to BBC News, that vow is certain to put them on a collision course with the army.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Burma troops surround monasteries – 26 September 2007

Reuters – Myanmar troops guard activist Yangon monasteries – 26 September 2007

Grenade Kills Children in Ivory Coast

By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter, Western and Central Africa

BONDOUKOU, Ivory Coast – Seven children aged four to fifteen, have died after playing with a hand grenade that they found on the ground near their Koranic school. Seven more children were injured in the blast. Two of the children are in critical condition at a hospital in Bondoukou.

The boys picked up the grenades. The first grenade went off when the child removed the pin and resulted in the numerous deaths. After the accident, parents of another child turned the second grenade over to the police as part of Ivory Coast’s disarmament process.

The scene had been described as “just devastating,” by an investigator on Wednesay. He also stated that “One of the children had a severed head.”

Bondoukou is 460 kilometers from the economic capital Abidjan in the south. Moreover, it is the site of a former front line of the five year conflict that ended in March 2007. In March, Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Ivory Coat reached a peace agreement with rebel leader, Guillaume Soro. The rebels released control of northern Ivory Coast.

Today, Mr. Soro is a prime minister in the power-sharing government. Since December, the government has been employing a disarmament process.

Richard Secre, chairman of Bondoukou’s local council, stated “We’re in a zone which isn’t far from the front line. With the war, weapons were moved around but we don’t know how these grenades got here.”

For more information, please see:

BBC- Grenade kills W African children – 2 January 2007

Reuters- Grenade blast kills 7 children in Ivory Coast – 2 January 2007

IC Publications- Seven children die in Ivorian grenade accident: police  – 2 January 2007