Sudan: oil companies linked with counterinsurgency

Nairobi, Oct. 19— International oil companies operating in Sudan are “knowingly or unknowingly” involved in a government counterinsurgency strategy in the country, according to the report of an independent fact-finding mission released this week.

The investigation, commissioned by a number of British and Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), said the Canadian oil company Talisman had failed in constructive engagement in Sudan and had proved unable to exert a positive influence on the Sudanese government.

Talisman has committed itself to a set of ethical operating principles in Sudan, including a program to monitor and investigate human rights concerns arising from its oil operations, promotion of human rights concerns with the government of Sudan, and measures to ensure that oil field infrastructure is not used for offensive military purposes.

The company defended its involvement in Sudan. In a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs in England, Talisman President Jim Buckee said his company’s policy of “corporate social responsibility” in Sudan was better than leaving the country with sanctions, the Canadian Press agency (CP) reported.

“Although there is a civil war, and oil field revenues go to the government of Sudan, it is our view that walking away from Sudan is not a proper response,” Buckee said in his speech.

Buckee said Talisman’s presence was having a positive effect by drawing international attention to Africa’s largest country, and because the company was building infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and water wells.

The report released on Tuesday of an investigation by Georgette Gagnon (an international human rights lawyer and member of the Canadian government’s investigation of Canadian linkages to oil-related human rights abuses in Sudan) and John Ryle (a London-based Africa specialist) found that the government of Sudan had intensified a terror campaign of armed attacks against civilians living in oil areas in 2000-01, a press release on the report’s findings stated on Tuesday.

The government has “used oil infrastructure to support military action, and has increased its military spending as its oil revenues have increased,” it added.

“Talisman and other oil companies are knowingly or unknowingly involved in a government counterinsurgency strategy that involves the forced displacement of local people from rural areas of the oil concession of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operation Company [GNPOC] consortium,” according to the statement.

Foreign commercial enterprises should only remain in Sudan if they supported a regime of independent human rights monitoring in the oil areas, the report said.

Tuesday’s report referred to “coordinated attacks” on civilians by the government and government-backed militias, the “forcible recruitment” of young teenagers into the Sudanese armed forces to “attack their own people” in the oil areas, and an increase in government military expenditure “correlating with an increase in its oil revenue.”

It also pointed to an “absence of independently verified evidence that economic or other benefits of oil development accrue to indigenous communities in the oil areas.”

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley has ignored calls from critics that Talisman be placed under sanctions for allegedly fueling Sudan’s civil war, CP reported on Tuesday.

Rumors continued to persist that Talisman, which has seen its share price come under pressure, at least partly because of its Sudan operations, was looking to ditch its 25 percent holding in the GNPOC in Sudan.

The Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group, which includes a variety of Canadian development, peace and human rights organizations that work with counterparts in Sudan, has previously alleged that Canadian financial interests have been given priority over the security and human rights of people in Sudan.

It has criticized what it calls “scant evidence” of positive results from the Canadian government and Talisman’s policy of “constructive engagement” with Khartoum, and called for a change in policy direction in support of the civilian population of Sudan.

Talisman says it remains committed to constructive engagement in Sudan, “striving to demonstrate that development and Talisman’s presence can be a catalyst for progress... and peace, in Sudan.”

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: www.irinnews.org

Activists say attorney’s murder likely to go unpunished

By Diego Cevallos

Mexico City, Mexico, Oct. 22 (IPS)— The murder of human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa in Mexico will go unpunished if it is investigated by the federal attorney-general’s office, activists who have received death threats for years warned Monday.

“We have no confidence in the attorney-general’s office, because in the past they have pigeonholed our reports of harassment and threats,” said Catholic priest Edgar Cortés, director of the Jesuit-affiliated Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez human rights center, where Ochoa used to work.

The 37-year-old lawyer, who had defended individuals accused of “subversion” and had reported torture cases, was shot to death in her Mexico City office.

Next to her body, which was found on Friday night, the killers left a written death threat warning those working with the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez center, referred to as “Pro’s sons-of-bitches,” to stop their activity.

Emilio Alvarez, the chairman of the Mexico City Human Rights Commission, a government body, said the killing was “an affront to the struggle for the defense of human rights.

“There are signs that Digna (Ochoa’s) murder came from the army. Members of the military were implicated in many of the cases she was handling,” said Alvarez.

The investigation was undertaken by the Mexico City prosecutor’s office. The capital is governed by leftist Mayor Andrés Manuel López.

However, the federal attorney-general’s office announced that it might take over the case.

The Agustín Pro Juárez center said it was outraged by the murder, and called for an impartial investigation, as well as a public condemnation by President Vicente Fox.

Cortés said the group began to receive anonymous death threats in 1995, over the telephone or in the mail, in which members were warned to stop denouncing alleged human rights abuses.

After the last threat was received in January last year, the human rights group again called on the attorney-general’s office to investigate the threats. However, in May, the office said it had filed the reports away due to lack of evidence.

After Ochoa was kidnapped in November 1999, she said that for nine hours she was interrogated by two unidentified individuals about her supposed ties to guerrilla organizations.

After that incident, she decided to travel to the United States to work on an academic project. She returned to Mexico in April to work independently from the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez center.

Hundreds of people attended her funeral Sunday, chanting “Justice! Justice!”

The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned Ochoa’s murder and called on the Fox administration to launch a speedy investigation.

This killing could have been avoided if Mexican authorities had fulfilled their duty to investigate the threats and attacks against Ochoa and the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez center, said the rights group.

Ochoa was the first human rights activist killed during Fox’s term, which began in December 2000.

Her murder cast a shadow on the government’s pledge to guarantee respect for human rights, said Cortés. He added, however, that Ochoa’s death “will not halt or intimidate our struggle to defend human rights in Mexico.”

Anti- Terrorist legislation pending in several countries

Compiled by Sachie Godwin

Oct. 24-- Several national governments worldwide have followed the lead of the United States, using the Sept. 11 attacks as justification for “anti-terrorist” legislation that expands police powers and restricts civil liberties.

The Canadian government is pressing ahead with plans to enact a sweeping new anti-terrorism law by the end of November.

Critics maintain the complex legislation would suspend several civil liberties, including protection against self-incrimination and arrest without charges, and would give the government too much power, not only to strip legal protection from anyone suspected of terrorism, but to define who terrorists are.

The law “will end up being used against peaceful protests and demonstrations,’’ says Toronto civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby. “It will wind up being used to suppress political opposition.’’

Justice Minister Anne McLellan says the law is needed to give the police powers to stop terrorist acts, break up conspiracies, and prevent fundraising.

The legislation allows for suspects to be brought before a judge in secret for interrogation. Questions from the judge must be answered or the suspect could be jailed indefinitely for contempt of court. The law also allows the government to increase the size of the Federal Court of Canada by one-third to deal with these interrogations and with applications for warrants exclusively.

The bill defines acts of terrorism as those threatening Canadian lives or property, that instill fear in society, damage the economy, or that are targeted against political institutions and the general welfare of the country.

The new measures would also grant police wide powers of arrest without warrants.

The Colombian government presented a legislative bill Monday intended to reinforce the state’s means for fighting the country’s leftist guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries.

The bill includes military, judicial, economic, and intelligence measures for fighting what the document defines as ‘’terrorism.”

In the bill, the Andrés Pastrana government states that the insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), and the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) are “terrorist’’ organizations.

According to the Pastrana administration, so far this year, the FARC, ELN, and the AUC combined have claimed the lives of 1,534 civilians.

The executive branch is requesting special powers for the military so that the government forces can detain anyone -- without first obtaining a judicial order -- who is suspected of terrorist actions.

Ligia Galvis, an investigative journalist with the National University’s radio station, said that Colombia anti-terrorist laws “have never achieved the objective for which they were created,’’ but rather have turned into “smoke screens’’ for taking action against political dissidents.

This week, India’s government has resurrected anti-terrorist legislation rejected by Parliament six years ago, because it was too restrictive of civil liberties.

When the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act (TADA) lapsed in 1995, the change was welcomed by human rights organizations because of the law’s misuse in areas hit by separatist insurgency such as western Punjab, Kashmir and the north-eastern states.

But on Oct. 16, the government suddenly promulgated the similarly worded Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance 2001 by official fiat, drawing sharp criticism from human rights activists, who say that it is more restrictive of civil liberties than the old law.

“Those who talk of human rights should assess the situation …where the existing legal system has failed to combat terrorism,’’ said N.N. Vohra, former home secretary.

According to Rajindar Sachar, former judge and civil liberties activist, a detainee held under the new law will find her/himself at the mercy of executive officers and the police rather than a judicial body, as required by international human rights standards.

Under the new law, bail cannot be granted unless a court is satisfied that grounds exist that an accused is not guilty. Sachar said this clearly violates Article 9 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a UN charter to which India is a signatory.

“It is precisely in this crisis that the nation must not lose its faith in the basic value of freedom and democracy,’’ said Sachar.

In Jamaica, some 900 people have been killed so far this year in political violence that pre-dates last month’s terrorist attacks in the United States, but the events of Sept. 11 have fueled support for new “anti-terrorism’’ legislation.

The proposed legislation -- which includes increased patrols, roadblocks, curfews, spot searches, and would make wiretaps legal in specific circumstances -- is due for review Nov. 9.

Terrorism is defined in the bill as “any act involving the use of violence by a person, which, by reason of its nature and extent, is calculated to create a state of fear in the public or any section of the public.”

Human rights activists have warned against giving the police and soldiers more “ammunition to abuse people.”

Sources: IPS articles by Mark Bourrie, Ranjit Devraj, Yadira Ferrer, and Zadie Neufville

Peasants call for ‘food sovereignty’ in Mexico

By Diego Cevallos

Mexico City, Mexico, Oct 16. (IPS)— Organizations of peasant farmers in Mexico urged the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Tuesday to replace the concept of food security with that of “food sovereignty,’’ in recognition of the right of countries to make decisions regarding the what, how and who of food production.

The request was set forth on World Food Day, commemorated this year by FAO under the theme “Fight Hunger to Reduce Poverty."

The date triggered debates in several countries of Latin America on poverty and its consequences, which took into account the fact that hunger has worsened over the past year in Guatemala and other parts of Central America.

As part of Tuesday’s events, 24 peasant associations and social groups in Mexico discussed the impact of transgenic corn that is being introduced surreptitiously into the country, and called for controls aimed at defending native varieties of corn and measures to bolster their production and distribution.

In Bolivia, a national food fair was organized to mark the occasion, while a fund-raising lottery was held in Ecuador.

On World Food Day this year, we advocate “food sovereignty,” by contrast to food security, because “it is not just a question of having enough food, but of the right of peasant farmers to feed’’ the population, said the Mexican groups.

In its documents, FAO speaks of food security, a term that addresses the need to guarantee a basic diet for everyone and to promote efforts against malnutrition.

In its report “The State of Food and Agriculture 2001,” FAO says food and livestock production in Latin America grew 5.4 and 5.7 percent, respectively, in 1999, up from 1998 growth rates of just 1.8 and 0.7 percent.

Alberto Gómez, with the National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations, said that in Mexico “there is no lack of food in the world. What there is, is poor distribution and attempts by transnationals’’ to impose their food products.

The Mexican groups complained that with the complicity of government officials, transnational corporations were introducing genetically modified corn into Mexico, which they said was a violation of “the country’s food sovereignty.’’

Mexico, the birthplace of corn, imports six million tons of the crop every year. An unknown quantity of those imports contain transgenic elements.

Testing of maize varieties from 22 communities in the state of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guanajuato, Mexico, revealed genetic contamination in 15 of them.

“The world is at risk of losing unique diversity of maize to genetic pollution. Mexico is the steward of the global maize diversity,” said Raul Benet, executive director of Greenpeace Mexico.

Greenpeace, supported by the National Farmer Trade Association (ANEC), stressed that there is no need to continue US maize imports to Mexico as the country already has a 630 thousand metric tons of home grown GE free maize stored in warehouses. About the same amount of maize is still due to be imported from the United States by the end of the year.

“Peasant farmers are capable of producing all of the corn that the population needs, and without the dangers posed by transgenics,’’ said Víctor Suárez with the National Association of Marketing Companies.

Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, Aventis and Dow, leaders in the production of genetically engineered seeds and crops, which also have a strong presence in the agrochemical and pharmaceutical markets, say their scientific contributions in the area of transgenics provide answers to hunger in the world.

“The Mexican government’s policy is insane both environmentally and economically. We already have large amounts of maize rotting away in storage but 783 thousand tons are still scheduled to come in from the US by the end of this year without any guarantees that it is GE free,” said Benet. “These imports risk further polluting 300 cultivated and indigenous maize varieties existing in Mexico. This would not only be a loss for Mexican environment and culture but this area is essential to maintain food security globally.”

Argentina, Canada, and the United States grow 98 percent of the transgenic crops sold throughout the world. But the seed giants are pushing to expand the cultivation of genetically modified crops in other countries, especially in the developing South.

World Food Day presents an opportunity to defend “food sovereignty’’ and urge developing countries not to allow themselves to become the “booty’’ of a handful of companies, said the Mexican groups.

Mugabe declares end of free market

By Angus Shaw

Harare, Zimbabwe, Oct. 16— President Robert Mugabe announced yesterday that Zimbabwe was abandoning the free market and returning to a socialist-style command economy -- and businesses objecting could “pack up and go."

Mugabe said a price freeze on basic foods imposed on Friday would be strictly enforced, despite protests that it was unsustainable and could put firms out of business. The president warned that the government would seize firms that shut down, withheld their goods or engaged in illegal profiteering. “Let no one on this front expect mercy ... The state will take over any businesses that are closed. We will reorganize them with workers and at last that socialism we wanted can start again,” Mugabe told mourners at a state funeral outside Harare.

Mugabe, who has led the former Rhodesia since independence from Britain in 1980, adopted western-backed economic reforms in the early 1990s after flirting with socialism for a decade.

In recent years, Zimbabwe has suffered a worsening economic crisis, with inflation and unemployment out of control and a crushing shortage of hard currency.

Analysts say the crisis began with the country’s expensive military involvement in the Congo war and worsened when, backed by the ruling ZANU-PF party, militants calling themselves war veterans began occupying white-owned commercial farms, which generate much of the hard currency in the agriculture-based economy.

Economists said Mugabe’s threats to nationalize private businesses would further rattle confidence already shaken by his land seizure program. “A single speech like that could cost us billions of dollars in investment. It is destructive in the extreme,” said John Robertson, an economic consultant.

The Mugabe government has accused businesses of increasing prices in retaliation against his controversial drive to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. Yesterday he showed his impatience with the business community. “Those tired of doing business here can pack up and go,” the president said.

Speaking at the funeral of a veteran black nationalist politician, Clement Muchachi, Mugabe described arguments that market-driven economic laws should not be tampered with as absolute nonsense. “The government was extremely concerned by pricing mayhem in industry and commerce. We are not saying no profit but they [producers] cannot operate at profiteering levels. Let them also not operate enterprises with political motives,” he said.

Friday’s price cuts came as the government tried to control record inflation ahead of hotly contested presidential elections early next year. The dearth of hard currency also has led to fuel shortages.

Manufacturers and food producers have been forced to buy imported materials, spare parts and machinery at the unofficial hard currency rate -- nearly six times the official rate -- forcing up the prices of their goods.

Foreign investment has dried up and the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other western financial institutions have frozen loans to Zimbabwe in protest against land confiscations by the state and claims of gross mismanagement of the economy.

On Friday, the government ordered price cuts of between 5 and 20 percent on corn meal, bread, meat, vegetable and cooking oil, milk, salt and soap. Bread, cooking oil and margarine were unobtainable at food stores across the country over the weekend. In Harare yesterday, reduced deliveries of bread led to shortages and panic buying.

A main bakery chain in Harare said the set prices did not take into account transport, power and other costs, and 200 of its workers were put on shorter working hours as production was cut.

Source: The Scotsman

Broadcasting stations bombed in Kabul

Oct. 23— On Oct. 8, the second day of US bombing in Afghanistan, Radio Shariat, formerly Radio Kabul, was obliterated by coalition bombs. The action was similar to the bombing of Serb state TV and radio (RTS) in April 1999, during the US-led campaign. Until then, radio and TV stations seemed to be protected under the Geneva convention and were not attacked. Now, by defining broadcasting as a legitimate target, Britain and the US may have put at risk BBC offices and staff in London and elsewhere.

Radio Shariat broadcasts religious programs and official decrees and announcements of the Taliban. It was the foreign media’s main source of information from the Taliban authorities. When questioned about the strikes on a radio station and the possible obvious threats to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, the US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, replied, “Naturally, they cannot be considered to be free media outlets. They are mouthpieces of the Taliban and those harboring terrorists.’’

Sources in Kabul said that an area known as TV Mountain, containing radio and TV masts, was hit. Radio Netherlands reports that its station is back on the air.

US psychological operations (psyops) is now broadcasting anti-Taliban, pro-American programming, featuring traditional Afghan music and announcements in Dari and Pashto.

In response, Media Workers Against the War (MWAW) called a picket of the BBC Broadcasting House in London on Tuesday, Oct. 23.

“The destruction of the national radio station, and the staff working there, was presented as an attack on a military target,” said Jonathan Neale of MWAR.

“On Tuesday we want to make it very clear that journalists and other media workers in this country do not accept that radio stations, like Radio Shariat in Kabul and Broadcasting House in London, are legitimate targets in any war. There can be no freedom of the press where journalists are killed for broadcasting their views,” Neale said.

Source: Media Workers Against the War

150 arrested at anti-nuclear demonstration

Oct. 22— One hundred and fifty protesters were arrested as anti-nuclear activists attempted to blockade Britain’s largest trident submarine port.

The leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, Tommy Sheridan, was among the first to be led away outside the Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde. Lloyd Quinan, Irish Green Patricia McKenna, and two Church of Scotland ministers were also led away by police.

As he was arrested, Sheridan said: “Nuclear weapons have no place in the 21st century. We should be channeling resources towards pensioners, the homeless, and fighting the war against poverty, which are a scar on Scottish society.”

The protest’s organizers said their cause had been given “additional sharpness” by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and the bombing of Afghanistan.

Brian Quail, joint secretary of Scotland, said: “We could be on the brink of a civil war in Pakistan, and who knows what’s going to happen in Afghanistan? So really, this demonstration has come at a very poignant time.

“No matter what happens, we will continue to vehemently oppose these barbaric and inhumane weapons of mass destruction.”

Source: The Scotsman