Publications
Peace and Justice Update - May 1, 2012 - Volume 30, Number X
Middle East and North Africa
The Peace and Justice Update is published by the interns at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice. The views expressed in the Update are not necessarily those of the IPJ or of USD. To subscribe, send an email to updates@sandiego.edu with "Subscribe" in the subject line. Click here for source information.
Wave of attacks kills dozens
An April 19 series of blasts around Baghdad injured 100 and kill dozens, the first major attacks in nearly a month.
In all, in less than two hours extremists carried out 12 attacks in the Iraqi capital and in the cities of Kirkuk, Samarra, Baqouba, Dibis, and Taji, mostly in Shiite neighborhoods. About half of the bomb were aimed at security forces and government officials.
The violence has raised fears that the insurgents are trying to undermine confidence in the Shiite-dominated government. Baghdad military command spokesman Col. Dhia Wakeel explained, “They want to send a message that they can target the stability that has been achieved recently.” However, Wakeel insisted, “This will not discourage our security forces."
Violence levels recently decreased in the weeks leading up to the Arab League summit held in Baghdad at the end of March, but bombings and shootings are still common across much of Iraq.
After weeks of relative calm, the attacks served as a reminder that an active insurgency remained.
Almost four months after the withdrawal of the American military, the security situation in Iraq has not deteriorated as many predicted it would.
Vice President Hashemi, who has been operating from outside the capitol since December 2011 due to allegations he denies of his complicity in political murders, cited these attacks as evidence that Prime Minister Maliki pursued policies that were causing “sectarian polarization” and violence. Hashemi accused Maliki of wanting to “divert the political process into some sort of autocratic regime.”
Hashemi, recognizing that the country is at a critical crossroads, insisted that urgent action has to be taken now to prevent Iraq from breaking up.
Sources: BBC, New York Times, Apr. 19; LA Times, Apr. 29, 2012.
By Alexandra Copper. Send comments to acopper@sandiego.edu.
Ceasefire Arrangement Remains Shaky as International Pressure Mounts for Military Intervention
While a ceasefire agreement between the Syrian government and rebel opposition forces was negotiated and finally implemented on April 12, the arrangement has proved tenuous at best as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime have continually violated the terms of the peace negotiations.
The conditions of the ceasefire stipulated the adherence by both the Syrian government and the opposition to a six-point agreement, as brokered by United Nations-Arab League Special Envoy Kofi Annan, as well as the deployment of approximately 300 UN ceasefire monitors to observe the nation’s progress.
Fundamentals of Annan’s Six-Point Peace Plan
|
Despite the clearly defined provisions for peace, testimonies continue to amass of methodical violence and rampant human rights violations by Syrian government troops. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a bus was attacked by state security forces on April 25 in the province of Idlib, killing at least four people. The same day, violent conflict erupted in the towns of Bosra al-Sham and Tafas, in the southern province of Daraa, where at least six people were killed, and in Harasta and Douma, suburbs of Damascus, where approximately eight people were killed only hours after UN monitors had visited the area.
A macabre pattern of behavior by the al-Assad regime has begun to emerge, with government forces largely focusing their attacks on areas where UN officials had just visited. The Syrian government has also been accused of systematically arresting or even killing those civilians who interact with international monitors.
As Ahman Fawzi, the spokesman for Kofi Annan, explained, “we have credible reports that when they [the UN monitors] leave, the exchanges start again, that these people who approach the observers may be approached by the Syrian security forces or the Syrian Army or even worse, perhaps killed, and this is totally unacceptable.”
To date, only eleven monitors are on the ground in Syria and while Annan and many in the international community, including French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, have called for the expedited deployment of observers, UN peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous has said that it will take at least a month to deploy the first 100 monitors.
The limited effectiveness and delayed arrival of UN monitors has roused the indignation of Syrian citizens. “It takes them a month to arrive? Are they coming on horses?” asked one resident of Homs. Additionally, the violent reprisals due to a UN presence have tainted the peacekeeping experience and expectations among many civilians.
An activist in Hama named Manhal offered this critique: “The observers were received in a very different way today. Anger and sorrow surrounds Hama, and they are the reason behind the killing. People know if they meet them they will either be killed or arrested. I have lost faith in these visits… UN monitors brought death with them.”
As al-Assad and his regime continue to violate the terms of the ceasefire agreement, international pressure for more concrete action has mounted. Both Juppé and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have called for the invocation of a UN Chapter 7 Security Council resolution, which would authorize a military intervention in Syria.
As Clinton advocated, “I think we have to do more to take tougher actions against the Assad regime. We need to start moving very vigorously in the Security Council for a Chapter 7 sanctions resolution, including travel, financial sanctions, an arms embargo and the pressure that will give us on the regime to push for compliance with Kofi Annan’s six-point plan.” Her sentiments were echoed by Juppé, who insisted, “We cannot allow the [Damascus] regime to defy us.”
The viability of a Chapter 7 Security Council resolution remains uncertain however, as Russia and China are expected to veto the measure.
Sources: New York Times, Apr. 19; Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, BBC, New York Times, Apr. 25, 2012.By Alexandra Copper. Send comments to acopper@sandiego.edu
Return to Peace & Justice Update front page.
