Venezuela freezes relations after weapons controversy. On July 28, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez froze diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia in protest against claims that Venezuela had provided weapons to the Colombian guerrilla group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The day before, Colombia announced it had seized from a FARC camp weapons initially sold to Venezuela by Sweden. On July 27, Sweden confirmed it had sold the weapons to Venezuela in the 1980s and demanded an explanation from Venezuela as to how the arms, heavy-duty anti-tank launchers, had ended up in the FARC’s possession. Sweden has yet to receive a response. Chavez, in the meantime, has recalled Venezuela’s ambassador from Colombia and cut off diplomatic relations with its neighbor. The leftist president also threatened to cut off trade and to expropriate Colombian-owned businesses in Venezuela, as well as shut down a natural gas pipeline running between the countries. Colombia has not responded to the announcements. Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, Tareck El Aissami, denied any connection between Venezuela and the FARC, while Venezuela’s foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro, labeled the most recent accusation by Colombia against Venezuela an attempt “to justify the presence of United States bases” in Colombia. Maduro was referring to a series of talks between the United States and Colombia with a goal of setting up U.S. military bases in Colombia to aid the war on drugs. Chavez stands in staunch opposition to the proposed deal, saying it is a plot to undermine his bolivarian vision and that the bases would be used to attack Venezuela. Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have long been strained, with tensions fundamentally stemming from disparate ideologies and alliances. Colombian and U.S. officials have accused Venezuela of giving the FARC refuge and ignoring the rebels smuggling cocaine through Venezuela, while President Chavez claims the two countries seek to destabilize his government along with those of other leftist leaders in the region. Chavez has cut relations with Colombia before and has previously threatened to expropriate Colombian businesses invested in Venezuela, though he has never done so. (AP, July 28; CNN, July 29; NYT July 27, 2009)

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Relations with Rwanda continue to improve. This month, DRC and Rwanda have each approved the other country’s appointment of an ambassador. In early July, DRC welcomed the appointment of Amandin Rugira as Rwanda’s envoy to DRC, and a July 21 cabinet meeting led to Rwanda’s approval of Norbert Nkulu Kilombo Mitumba as DRC’s envoy to Rwanda. Over the course of the past decade, the two countries’ relationship has been strained due in large part to each backing rebel groups in the other’s country. However, the past year has resulted in improved diplomatic relations between the historically non-cooperative neighbors. One of the most important indicators of the shift in DRC and Rwanda’s regional politics was the month-long joint “Operation Umoja Wetu” launched in January against the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) – the ethnic Hutu militia group responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The goal of the joint operation was to repatriate FDLR rebels out of eastern DRC and back to Rwanda; however, there is still international debate over the success of the operation. Rwandan President Paul Kagame recently reiterated his willingness to continue collaborating with DRC, stating that Rwanda is prepared to take part in further joint military operations in DRC against the FDLR. A unique aspect of the improving relationship between DRC and Rwanda is that there has been no third party or mediator involved. Nevertheless, tensions between DRC and Rwanda regarding Rwanda’s arrest of Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda are still present. According to Enough, Nkunda was the head of the ethnic Tutsi National Congress for Defense of the People (CNDP) and “led a rebellion against the government that extended the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II.” He was captured by Rwanda January 22, but has not been turned over to Congolese officials. (Enough, January 23; New Times, July 7, 22; Reuters, July 27, 2009)

GUATEMALA

Commission against impunity declares that clandestine groups continue to operate. On July 27, Carlos Castresana, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), announced that illegal clandestine groups in Guatemala have been identified, though names of bodies and persons implicated have not been released. Castresana said in an interview with Prensa Libre that CICIG has identified networks which “remain intact inside institutions; they were created inside some [and are] 20 or 30 years old, and were born in the context of armed conflict,” while others have developed more recently. He stated that many sectors were involved, including “administrations of Justice, Government, Congress, Judicial, and also businesses, media, and law offices.” The biggest problem presented, however, is that all of these groups now work together and “families who have for many years trafficked drugs or people etc., now coordinate well with foreign families or gangs.” Castresana explained that the peace accords of 1996 were supposed to dismantle these illegal groups of organized crime, but that the government has failed to make progress in the last 12 years and has even allowed more networks to form. The groups, which have infiltrated all sectors of the government, are responsible for kidnappings, narcotrafficking, large scale robberies, assassinations, and attacks against human rights defenders and journalists. What remains to be done now, according to Castresana, is to secure evidence against the people responsible for the crimes and try them in court. He claims, however, that Guatemala lacks the appropriate justice tools to address organized crime. The priority, as told to Prensa Libre, should be to renovate the Supreme Court of Justice and the Court of Appeals, as well as create laws strong enough to charge the suspects for the crimes committed. CICIG was established by the UN in 2007 to investigate post-conflict illegal groups in Guatemala, assemble evidence and propose legislation to prosecute crime, though it has no power to prosecute. On July 16, the mandate of CICIG was extended for another two years. (Guatemala Times July 17; Prensa Libre July 23, 2009)

LIBERIA

162 years of independence celebrated. Liberia celebrated its Independence Day, July 26, with festivities both at home and abroad. In Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spoke at the main festivities in Gbarnga, the capital of Bong County. During the opening ceremony in Gbarnga, Sirleaf encouraged Liberians to stand together during the country’s rebuilding process. The President of Equatorial Guinea, Theodore Mbasogo, who visited Liberia for the first time, also participated in the ceremony. Sirleaf announced that Mbasogo’s visit contributed to strengthening the bond of friendship between the people of Equatorial Guinea and Liberia. Mbasogo said that his visit to Liberia was an opportunity for him to learn more about the country, and he underlined the need for peace in Liberia in order for the country to rebuild. “Peace is a precious ingredient which we must all uphold,” said Mbasogo. In a video message to Liberians outside the country Sirleaf said, “In the past, we have all sinned and suffered. Yet we can use this celebration as a new beginning for peace and reconciliation to promote sustained development. We can use this as a basis for healing and renewal.” Liberians living in the United States celebrated their country’s Independence Day at the Liberian Embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1990, during the civil war, thousands of Liberians fled to the United States where they were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS). During the celebration the ambassador to United States said that his embassy is working with Liberians in the United States to lobby the U.S. Congress for permanent resident status for Liberians. The final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), released at the beginning of July, was also discussed during this event. The controversial determinations and recommendations made by TRC in its final report have been widely debated and have drawn much attention in Liberia as well as among Liberians living outside the country. The theme of the Liberian Independence Day celebration at the Liberian embassy in the United States was unity and diversity; Representatives from all of Liberia’s 15 counties participated by showing the rich diversity of their country in terms of food, music, cultural performances and national clothing and artifacts. Milton Nathanial Barnes, Liberia’s Ambassador in United States said that he was pleased with the success of the event. (VOA, 26 July; AllAfrica, 23, 26, 27 July, 2009)

NEPAL

Vice President Jha’s oath declared unconstitutional. On July 25, a year-long legal battle culminated in the Supreme Court of Nepal’s decision that the oath of office and secrecy taken by Vice President Parmananda Jha at his swearing-in last summer was “unconstitutional.” As the new parliament and government officers were being inducted last July, Jha translated the standard oath of office from Nepali and recited it in Hindi while wearing a dhoti, a traditional garment from the Terai region of southern Nepal. This act ignited week-long protests calling for Jha’s resignation and resulted in the lawsuit which just concluded. According to the Supreme Court’s decision, “The oath in Hindi stands annulled as it is against the legal provisions… Since he is responsible for upholding law, the vice-president must take his oath of office and secrecy in Nepali.” Constitutional lawyer Madhav Basnet explained, “The verdict has pushed him back to the position of a vice president-elect awaiting the oath-taking ceremony.” However, Jha, a representative of the Madhesi People’s Right Forum (MPRF), has thus far refused to retake the oath in Nepali, saying “I might rather take it in English.” MPRF chairman Upendra Yadav has asked Jha to resign instead of retaking the oath. Yadav called the verdict “anti-Madhes” and “biased against the Madhesi people.” While some Madhesi officials have sided with Yadav, several leaders reportedly telephoned Jha, warning him against making a hasty decision. Terai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) Chairman Mahanta Thakur met with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal July 25, expressing his party’s concern over the court’s decision and warning that it could ignite “serious consequences.” Jha was not the first to take an official oath in Hindi, though his doing so has recently received the most controversy. According to the Times of India, all Terai ministers in the cabinet and MPs in parliament also took their oaths in Hindi, and several other MPs from indigenous communities took oaths in their mother tongues as well, all without incident. At this time, Jha is abstaining from action, as he awaits a formal letter from the President’s Office. (Hindu, July 25; República, July 26, 28; Times of India, July 24, 2009)

SIERRA LEONE

War-Torn communities in post war countries receive $15 million from NGO. Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), one of the largest non-profit and anti-poverty organizations in the world, has announced a $15 million development initiative to help rebuild war-torn communities in Sierra Leone and Liberia. BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 and has helped over 110 million people, primarily in Asia and Africa, through its different programs to address poverty. Programs include micro loans, education, health care services, self employment opportunities and human rights education. BRAC’s development initiative in Sierra Leone and Liberia is a two-year pilot program during which the organization expects to build a long term sustainable strategy for integrated development in the two countries. Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC’s founder and chair, emphasizes the desperate need for people in Sierra Leone and Liberia to earn a living. Abed believes that Sierra Leone and Liberia are uniquely positioned to become models for successful development in West Africa despite the number of postwar challenges that the two countries face. BRAC is providing microfinance, health, and agricultural support to Sierra Leone and Liberia in order to support families and prevent renewed conflict. BRAC anticipates more than 500,000 people to benefit from the program. In the two countries BRAC will prepare 400 health care volunteers based in the community to provide ongoing essential healthcare and help fight deadly diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and cholera. BRAC has already opened 20 new microfinance branches in Sierra Leone and Liberia since March and is planning to open an additional 20 by the end of the year. The project’s first loan was made in June. Over the next two years BRAC expects to provide financial services to thousands of women in the two countries, and to provide small crop and livestock farmers with agricultural supplies and training. The group supporting and founding this program in cooperation with BRAC comprises four development organizations: the Soros Economic Development Fund, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Omidyar Network and Humanity United. BRAC’s development initiative in Sierra Leone and Liberia is being funded through a combination of grants and equity. In order to finance the loan portfolio, additional debt capital is being negotiated. Stewart Paperin, the president of the SEDF said, “This investment in the people of West Africa comes at a critical time…With their countries emerging from devastating civil wars, this support gives people the tools to rebuild.” Matt Bannick, the managing partner of Omidyar Network, said, “In the face of overwhelming need, BRAC’s work has real potential to create opportunities for hundreds of thousands of families to stabilize their lives and build for the future. Our investment will help catalyze this economic and social impact.”(AllAfrica, 24 July; ON, 22 July, 2009)

SOMALIA

Federal troops push insurgents out of strategic town. The Somali government, which has been under siege by Islamist militant groups Hizb al-Shabab and Hizb al-Islam, allegedly succeeded July 26 in peacefully taking control of the town of Beledweyne, the capital of the Hiran province in central Somalia. Government forces assumed control of the town after pushing out Hizb al-Islam troops positioned there. According to VOA News, government troops exchanged fire with the militants, who quickly withdrew, leading some to believe that Somali forces simply took over the area once the militants had already left. Government officials, however, have rejected these claims. One Somali parliament member stated that militants had been pursued out of the town by troops who were “detached to capture them so they can be put on trial,” leaving the residents to enjoy “real peace.” In contrast to government claims, however, the provincial leader of Hizb al-Islam, Mohamed Abdullahi Hussein, stated July 27, “We are still in Beledweyne […] what happened was only military tactics.” He has maintained that Hizb al-Islam troops made a tactical retreat due to high estimates of civilian casualties. The town of Beledweyne, considered strategically valuable because it acts as a bridge between the capital of Mogadishu and the central regions, has for months been split between government control in the east and insurgent control in the west. Government spokesman Abdi Kadir Walayo has indicated that this victory may be due in part to increased security training and an influx of new recruits, and could indicate that the Islamist insurgents are losing influence in the region. The Somali government has recently increased efforts to push insurgents out of other parts of the country as well, launching a new Joint Security Commission (JSC) July 26, which includes the African Union peacekeeping Mission in Somalia, the UN Political Office for Somalia, and the transitional government led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The JSC stated that its mission is to “jointly coordinate efforts in support of the Somali security institutions,” and hopes to bring peace to a Somalia that has not had a stable government since 1991. (Bloomberg, July 27; VOA, July 26, 27; Xinhua, July 25, 26, 2009)

SRI LANKA

IMF, U.S., and Asian Development Bank increase funding. Offering over $600 million more than originally requested, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved a $2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka, citing the importance of economic recovery in this time of post-war rebuilding and global economic crisis. The loan went through despite opposition from the United States, Germany, France and Britain, which all abstained from voting in the July 24 decision. U.S. support was not essential for approval by the executive board, which only requires 51 percent of votes to pass. The US holds 17 percent of the votes, and even with the combined support of three other abstaining countries (Britain holds 5 percent, Germany 6 percent, and France 5 percent), the total count was not enough to block the loan. Though historically the IMF does not factor in humanitarian concerns when making economic decisions, this recent loan approval has received criticism from human rights organizations. Brad Adams, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), called the loan “a reward for bad behavior, not an incentive to improve.” In addition to the IMF loan, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United States have increased their funding to Sri Lanka as well. The ADB will up its annual lending by 50 percent in 2010, funding road, power, water and sanitation projects in the north and east of the country. On July 27, Eric P. Schwartz, the U.S assistant secretary of state for refugees, announced that the U.S. would contribute $8 million to Sri Lanka to expedite the resettlement and recovery process of IDPs. In reference to the IMF loan, HRW’s Washington-based advocacy director Tom Malinowski said, “It is a simple matter of the government thumbing its nose at the international community and then coming to the international community for relief.” Indeed, Western countries have been financially supporting most of the aid efforts targeting internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, which house approximately 300,000 civilians uprooted by the civil war. This aid continues despite inaction by the Sri Lankan government to resettle the IDPs, though government officials claim 80 percent of camp residents will be relocated by the end of the year. The Sri Lankan government ended a 26-year long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last May in an aggressive military campaign that left thousands dead and the international community concerned over human rights violations. (Al-Jazeera, July 25; AP, July 27; NYT, Xinhua, July 26; TimesOnline, July 24, 2009)

SUDAN

Abyei ruling is accepted, but possible dispute over oilfields looms. In the wake of the July 22 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on the contested Abyei region in central Sudan, tensions remain high. The Court, which ruled that the borders of the region set by a previous boundary commission in 2006 were illegitimate, chose to redraw the eastern and western boundaries, placing the Heglig and Bamboo oil fields, as well as a major oil pipeline, under northern control, and the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka tribal lands under southern jurisdiction. This decision was meant to please both the northern National Congress Party (NCP), which worried that it would lose all of its oil resources should the South choose to secede in the upcoming 2011 referendum on secession; as well as the Southern People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which hoped to be able to include the Ngok Dinka, who have traditionally been loyal to the south, in the referendum. Hardly a week after the Court announced the results of the ruling, both the NCP and the SPLM have taken issue with the implications of the decision, mainly on the matter of oil. According to Reuters, the NCP has stated that as a result of the ruling, it is no longer obligated to pay a proportion of Heglig’s oil revenues to the South. In response, the governor of the south's Unity State, Taban Deng Gai, stated that Khartoum’s claim over the Heglig oil field was premature, “because the drill site was still up for grabs under a separate border dispute.” The SPLM has further indicated that it may be willing to return to The Hague over the matter. In a separate dispute, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir angered southerners by stating that the nomadic Arab Misseriya, who historically have been loyal to the north, would be eligible to vote in the 2011 referendum. Despite these issues however, many are hopeful that the fragile ruling will revitalize the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and see the resolution of the Abyei dispute as the removal of one of the greatest obstacles to the implementation of the CPA. Even as the current dispute over the Heglig oil field continues, Egbert Wesselink, from the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, has argued that northern control of the oil fields and pipeline could actually reduce a “potential cause for Khartoum aggression in the future.” Nonetheless, with national elections, disputed census results, and a referendum for southern secession looming around the corner, many believe that the outcome of the Abyei ruling has the potential to create a “spirit of cooperation,” which will aid in further implementation of the CPA. (Al-Jazeera, July 22; Enough, July 28; Financial Times, Xinhua, July 23; Reuters, Sudan Tribune, July 27, 2009)

UGANDA

Uganda faces drought and famine. According to Kassiano Wadri, a member of the parliamentary committee on agriculture, “There is severe hunger in many parts of… [Uganda] and the situation remains very grave.” People who have recently left internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in northern Uganda to return to their abandoned homes and villages have been particularly affected, The New Vision reports, due in part to drought and crop failures. In some areas of the Acholi and Teso sub-regions of Uganda, such as in Gulu, crop yields are at less than 40 percent of the normal season’s harvest. The New Vision reveals that the current drought and famine is unique, as normally, “a season’s crop failure should not lead to an emergency… [since] if crops fail, farmers should turn to what [food] they have in storage… [and] if the stores are exhausted they [should] turn to their cash savings.” In addition to the dry spell, however, the famine is also a result of low food stocks, high market prices, food aid dependency, and low acreage of cultivated land. In other words, since so many of the individuals and families who are currently trying to grow and produce crops have been in IDP camps, all of their typical emergency resources are depleted. Therefore, Wadri stated, aid in the form of relief food alone is not enough to address the problem. Uganda’s Food Security and Agriculture Livelihoods (FSAL) cluster, which is one of 10 humanitarian clusters in Uganda and was created “to support, stabilize and improve the food security and livelihoods of households affected by and recovering from conflicts and natural disasters,” agrees with Wadri. FSAL recommends not only immediate provision of food aid, but also the supplying of seeds and farm tools, money transfers, and an international campaign to encourage communities to grow drought-resistant crops and establish food banks. As a result of the worsening situation in Uganda, and particularly in the north, at least 40 famine-related deaths have been reported in the affected regions since May 2009, and there has been an increase in the number of house robberies by thieves looking for food; domestic violence incidents; prostitution; and instances of young girls being married off for “bride money.” Furthermore, there has been a drop in school attendance, and the number of children being treated for acute malnutrition is on the rise. One school has been closed “indefinitely” as a result of a student strike relating to “poor feeding” that turned violent July 24 and resulted in the shooting of two students who suffered major injuries. (Daily Nation, New Vision, July 27; ReliefWeb, July 28, 2009; Ugandaclusters.ug, 2008-2009)

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