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US Special Forces discreetly enter Colombia
to train troops
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UN troops accused of ‘systematic’
rape in Sierra Leone
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BRIEFS
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Violence continues in Afghanistan, resumption
of US bombing likely
Compiled by Nicholas Holt
Jan. 22 (AGR)— A new round of carpet bombing and reinforcements
of US troops is likely for Afghanistan as the writ of the administration
of President Hamid Karzai is under threat from a fierce guerilla war that
is intensifying in the mountainous terrain of the cities and towns located
in the east of the country near the Pakistani border.
Given the pace of guerilla activities, as the snow starts to melt towards
the end of March the capital Kabul can expect to come under rocket and
missile attack.
Last week, six US soldiers were injured by attacks in Afghanistan, and
rocket attacks on US military bases continue.
One soldier was shot while patrolling on horseback in western Afghanistan,
while others were injured by explosive devices in the eastern part of
the country. In southern Afghanistan, one soldier was shot and two injured
by a grenade blast.
Also last week, in separate incidents, US Special Forces troops exchanged
fire with gunmen near two US bases in eastern Afghanistan.
Some 8,000 US troops are still based in the area. The international security
force in Kabul, with some 4,500 soldiers from 20 countries, is separate
from the US force. Their presence is generally welcome and there have
been relatively few recent attacks against them.
As the last remnants of the Taliban retreated in early 2002 in the face
of advancing US-led forces and the Northern Alliance, US authorities concluded
that they had broken the back of the Taliban and al-Qaida network in Afghanistan.
However, a strong showdown in the middle of last year between US forces
and the joint forces of the Taliban and al-Qaida under the command of
Saifullah Mansoor made it clear to the US command that the enemy, while
down, was certainly not out.
The return of former Afghan premier and famed mujahideen warlord Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar from exile in Iran into the fray has impacted the situation
dramatically. By November of last year, a significant number of rocket
attacks all over Afghanistan sent a resounding message that the country
was in for continued strife.
Hekmatyar was the strongest force in Afghanistan during the years of Soviet
occupation and the main beneficiary of money channeled towards the mujahadeen
by the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan’s Inter Services
Intelligence agency. He was also accused of having ties with the Soviet
KGB. Hekmatyar’s bombardment of Kabul in 1994 was said to have killed
more than 25,000 civilians.
Last month, he announced an alliance with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
“Arms and ammunition are not a problem in this kind of war,”
a Wazir tribesman in close contact with Taliban militia told the Asia
Times. “The basic thing is public support, which the present movement
has through the distribution of pamphlets, audio tape cassettes, and radio
broadcasts. The Taliban and other anti-US elements have retained this
support.
“As far as heavy ammunition is concerned, the mujahideen fought a
guerrilla war against the Russian army in the 1980s. Most of the heavy
weapons they acquired were the ones that they grabbed from the Russian
army. The same weapons were then used against the Russian soldiers. The
same strategy has been devised in the present guerrilla warfare against
the US — the mujahideen will grab US weapons and use them against
the US forces,” the tribesman said.
Afghan intelligence officials have warned that Hekmatyar’s Hizb-I
Islami party may be collecting recruits from families who have been killed
during the US led war in Afghanistan to create suicide squads modeled
on Palestinian suicide bombers.
By December of 2001, as many as 2,500 Afghan civilians were killed by
US bombing.
As the new year begins, the indications are that the sporadic attacks
will in time turn into a full-fledged war.
Sources: Asia Times, Associated Press, BBC,
Christian Science Monitor, RAWA, Znet
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US Special Forces discreetly
enter Colombia to train troops
Uribe asks Washington for Iraq-style military
intervention
Compiled by Eamon Martin
Jan. 21 (AGR)— Some 60 US Special Forces soldiers have quietly flown
into a conflicted Colombian region to train local troops to protect a
key oil pipeline from Marxist rebels, US and Colombian officials said
on Friday, Jan. 17. Guarded by Green Berets toting assault rifles and
a grenade launcher in a machine-gun-mounted Humvee, Ambassador Anne Patterson
had come to Aruaca to meet with US commanders and talk with reporters.
Just days before, during the inaugural ceremony of Ecuadorian President
Lucio Gutierrez in Quito, Colombia’s president, Alvaro Uribe, addressed
an open invitation to Washington to launch a military operation to end
the country’s long running internal conflict.
“Drug traffic and terrorism are potentially a larger threat than
Iraq and should be challenged through a similar military deploy [sic]
than the one in the Persian Gulf,” Uribe said to the international
press in Quito.
“Why not to think [sic] of a similar force to put an end to this
problem, which may have serious consequences,” said the Colombian
head of state.
The Colombian civil war has claimed thousands of lives a year and has
pitted insurrectionist rebels against right-wing paramilitary outlaws
and Colombian state security forces. The arrival of the US soldiers, who
join 10 other American Special Forces already on the ground in the eastern,
oil-rich province since early December, marks a deeper involvement for
Washington in the South American nation’s four-decade-old guerrilla
war.
Analysts are saying that with a possible war in Iraq looming, and political
unrest in Venezuela, Colombia’s oil has become strategically important.
Colombia is the United States’ tenth largest supplier of oil. The
principal US aim is to ensure that the oil, which lies in such abundance
under its plains, be exported northward by the American multinational
Occidental Petroleum.
The US personnel will train a Colombian army brigade in counter-insurgency
and intelligence gathering techniques to defend the Cano Limon pipeline.
Marxist rebels bombed the pipeline, which serves an oilfield operated
by Occidental, 40 times in 2002 and a record 170 times the year before.
The 490-mile pipeline has been a favorite target of both the 17,000-strong
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — Latin America’s oldest
guerrilla army, known as the FARC — and the smaller Cuban-inspired
National Liberation Army, or ELN.
Massive US military aid was long restricted to the fight against Colombia’s
massive cocaine industry, but, following the Sept. 11 attacks, the United
States authorized Bogota to use American assistance against the armed
groups it had now renamed “terrorist.”
The training, which is scheduled to begin in two weeks, is part of a proposed
$98 million aid package.
“The plan is to start training in two weeks. The US Special Forces
will require a lot of equipment so there will be a lot of flights coming
to Arauca in the next days,” a US official told Reuters on condition
of anonymity. The supplies include surveillance and monitoring hardware
as well as materials to deactivate explosives.
Under US law, the Special Forces themselves are not allowed to engage
in combat. But the personnel, who belong to the US Special Forces 7th
Group based in Fort Bragg, NC, will train 6,500 Colombian troops in the
“detection and interdiction of potential damage to infrastructure.”
As part of the $2 billion US “Plan Colombia,” US Special Forces
trained three Colombian battalions in the south in 2001.
On Monday, Bolivar state Gov. Gustavo Lecompte said rebels ambushed a
pickup truck carrying policemen in northern Colombia killing six officers
and their civilian driver in a hail of gunfire and grenades. The governor
said that 30 FARC rebels were responsible.
It was the second ambush on police in as many weeks in Colombia. On Jan.
7, FARC rebels ambushed a police convoy east of the capital Bogota, killing
eight policemen and wounding five.
Monday’s attack was near the village of Zambrano, 340 miles north
of Bogota.
Meanwhile, about 60 miles further north, army and police forces searched
that day for at least 10 civilians who were among dozens kidnapped on
a rural road by FARC rebels the day before.
Government security forces rescued 49 of the hostages on Sunday, hours
after the rebels put up a roadblock near the village of Jagua del Pilar,
400 miles north of Bogota, and forced travelers from their vehicles.
Last week, FARC rebels reportedly set off three car bombs in Arauca province,
killing 5 civilians and wounding 15.
Sources: Associated Press, BBC News, Pravda,
Reuters
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World recoils as White
House pushes ‘last phase’ before war on Iraq
Compiled by Eamon Martin
Jan. 22 (AGR)— On Sunday, Jan. 19, USA Today reported that as the
Bush administration moves into what officials are calling “the last
phase” of an invasion ultimatum thrust on Iraq, the United States
is undertaking a vigorous military and intelligence effort to track, and
possibly kill, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The effort involves, among other things, small teams of US Special Operations
Forces and CIA paramilitary units inside and around Iraq, satellite imagery,
radio intercepts and airborne reconnaissance, US intelligence officials
were quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, in a series of interviews this week Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld confused reporters with often dramatically contradictory messages.
On Jan. 15 Rumsfeld told reporters that Hussein’s departure as president
of Iraq would not necessarily avert an attack by US-led forces. A few
days later, on Jan. 19, the defense secretary declared he would support
exile for Hussein and his family as a way to avoid war. The next day,
the more aggressive and familiar Rumsfeld was back, warning in stark terms
that all options — except the use of force — were nearly exhausted.
He dismissed the concerns of those who are demanding incontrovertible
proof of Iraq’s alleged arsenal of chemical or biological weapons,
saying that Washington would know “in a matter of weeks, not in months
or years” whether Iraq was “cooperating fully with the inspectors.”
His comment contrasted with remarks by Mohammed el-Baradei, head of the
United Nations International Atomic Energy Authority, who said that monitors
needed “a few more months.”
Senior US and Arab intelligence officials said this week that nearly 100
US special operations forces and more than 60 CIA operatives have been
conducting reconnaissance missions in Iraq’s deserts and outside
its major cities since September. The missions include monitoring troop
movements at army bases used by Iraqi Republican Guard, Hussein’s
most loyal defenders. The US forces are also scouting landing strips for
US and coalition aircraft, and training opposition Kurdish and Shiite
leaders to fight against Hussein.
Nearly 35,000 feet above Iraq, a converted Boeing 707 is flying 10 hours
a day, every day, recording conversations of top Iraqi officials and pinpointing
the location of those calls.
Two spy satellites, code-named Micron and Trumpet, are intercepting calls
and walkie-talkie transmissions from Iraqi military sites, Hussein’s
motorcade, his palaces and other areas.
Last year, Bush directed the CIA to undertake a covert program to overthrow
the leader. The presidential order directed the CIA to work with US Special
Operations Forces, which include Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and other
specialized military units.
Despite Rumsfeld’s unusual comment about exile, few US officials
believe that Hussein will flee Iraq or seek asylum. A US diplomat in the
Middle East said the goal is to overthrow the Iraqi leader and, under
Bush’s directive to the CIA, US forces can kill the Iraqi leader
if they believe their lives are in danger.
The likelihood of Hussein leaving voluntarily was immediately dismissed
by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and others.
“I just think that it is unlikely that this man is going to come
down in any other way than to be forced,” Rice said, as the confrontation
enters what she referred to as “the start of a last phase.”
A special envoy from Hussein on Friday dismissed as “a psychological
war technique” reports he was negotiating possible exile in a sympathetic
state. Other Arab officials have said there was no such proposal for Hussein
to go into exile to avert a war.
On Tuesday, Jan. 21, president George W. Bush brushed aside appeals for
UN inspectors to have more time in Iraq.
“[Hussein has] been given ample time to disarm. We’ve had ample
time now to see that he is employing the tricks of the past today,”
Bush said. “This looks like a re-run of a bad movie, and I’m
not interested in watching it.”
Faced with resistance from key allies to attacking Iraq, the visibly impatient
US leader sharply dismissed appeals from the world to give UN disarmament
inspectors more time to ensure that Baghdad has abandoned weapons of mass
destruction.
Bush expressed frustration with allies reluctant to wage war against Iraq
and was responding to suggestions from leading nations that they would
wage a major diplomatic fight to prevent the UN Security Council from
passing a war resolution against Iraq.
France told the Security Council that so far “nothing justifies military
intervention” in Iraq and hinted that it might veto any resolution
authorizing that. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters
that UN arms inspectors should be given more time to complete their work
and called military intervention the “worst possible solution”
to the crisis. French President, Jacques Chirac, said any unilateral action
against Iraq would break international law.
German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, said that his country rejected
war with Iraq because it could destabilize the region and spur new terrorist
attacks. “Our position is very clear. We will not be part of any
military action,” he said. Chancellor Gerhard Schroder hinted over
the weekend that Berlin might vote no as well or abstain if the Security
Council votes on military action against Iraq.
“Iraq has complied fully with all relevant resolutions and cooperated
very closely with the UN team on the ground,” Fischer said. “We
think things are moving in the right direction, based on the efforts of
the inspection team, and [they] should have all the time which is needed.”
China’s foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan insisted that the inspectors
should be given more time to search for weapons before any decision is
taken on military action.
Russia said last week it saw no reason to consider war.
In unusually blunt language, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer
reminded reporters Tuesday that Bush has said he will confront Hussein
without the United Nations, if necessary, to disarm Iraq.
Meanwhile, the Army is sending its most modern “Iron Horse”
combat division to the Persian Gulf region and the Navy is dispatching
two aircraft carriers to join two others already within striking distance
of Iraq, officials said Tuesday. The Pentagon is rapidly building up its
forces to ensure it has a full invasion force of 200,000 troops in place
by the end of February.
On Monday, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon announced the deployment
of a much larger than expected 26,000–strong land force of British
troops for potential military action against Iraq.
While Hoon spoke, over at the UN, de Villepin warned that, “if war
is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end.”
“Since we can disarm Iraq through peaceful means, we should not take
the risk to endanger the lives of innocent civilians or soldiers, to jeopardize
the stability of the region, and further widen the gap between our people
and our cultures. We should not take the risk to fuel terrorism,”
he said.
The inspectors are due to report Jan. 27 on 60 days of searches for the
alleged weapons of mass destruction. This week chief weapons inspector
Hans Blix rejected the suggestion that the report should be decisive.
But he suggested that the United States might view the report that way.
“It is an update,” he told several reporters in an interview.
“It is you guys who have made it into the end of history. And maybe
some member states will make it the end of history. But for us, it’s
an update.”
The Bush administration considers the date a crucial milestone as the
president tries to brace the public for war that could begin within weeks.
Bush, making plans for his State of the Union address to be given the
very next day, hopes to justify potential war with Iraq while describing
a domestic agenda geared toward re-election. The core of Bush’s argument
is already outlined in the early draft: Hussein is hiding weapons of mass
destruction, has ties to terrorist groups and is an imminent threat to
the United States. However, senior US officials have repeatedly insisted
in recent days that, no matter what next week’s report says, Iraq
is not cooperating fully with inspectors, lending weight to the theory
that a US attack is imminent.
On Monday, Jan. 20, US Central Command, which runs US military operations
in the Gulf region, continued its low-grade air war against Iraq. Jets
struck communication cables feeding into Iraq’s network of air defense
radars, batteries and command centers. US and British warplanes have bombed
more than 80 targets in southern Iraq over the past five months.
Blix warned against over-dramatizing the discovery last Thursday of 12
warheads, saying none had produced “any evidence” of containing
traces of lethal chemicals. The inspections chief downplayed the find
as “not a big deal” and urged the world “not to be worried.”
But the Bush administration is seeking to derail plans by Blix to issue
another report on Iraqi disarmament to the Security Council in late March,
fearing it could delay US plans to force an early confrontation. US Secretary
of State Colin Powell said he was convinced the inspectors will unearth
concrete proof by the end of January that Hussein is flouting the demands
of the Security Council. Powell further raised temperatures by also warning
that the US was prepared to defy the international community by taking
military action against Hussein without a second UN resolution.
“We believe a persuasive case will be there at the end of the month
that Iraq is not cooperating,” he said. “But we have always
made clear that the US will act without a second resolution.”
Powell’s comments sparked US crude oil futures to jump to a fresh
two-year high of $34 a barrel at the close of trading on Friday.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, Associated
Press, Daily Telegraph (UK), Guardian (UK), Independent (UK), International
Herald Tribune, Inter Press Service, Miami Herald, New York Times, Observer
(UK), Radio Free Europe, Reuters, The Scotsman, Sydney Morning Herald,
USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times
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UN troops accused of ‘systematic’
rape in Sierra Leone
By Tim Butcher
Jan. 17— Rebels, government troops and United Nations peacekeepers
were all guilty of raping women on a systematic scale throughout Sierra
Leone’s brutal civil war, a leading international human rights group
reported yesterday.
The mutilation of civilians was a trademark feature of the 10-year civil
war, but Human Rights Watch (HRW) said sexual abuse was much more common
in the unstable West African nation.
“The war in Sierra Leone became infamous for the amputation of hands
and arms” Peter Takirambudde, the head of HRW’s Africa division,
said. “Rape may not be visible in the same way, but it is every bit
as devastating.”
The 75-page report, “We’ll Kill You If You Cry,” makes
harrowing reading, with accounts of children being forced to rape grandmothers,
fathers made to watch daughters being raped and other instances of serious
sexual assault.
After surveying victims from all areas of Sierra Leone it concluded that
sexual crimes were used to try to destroy family links, making soldiers
less reluctant to take part in military operations.
It said most of the crimes were committed by rebels from the Revolutionary
United Front and smaller splinter groups.
But it found evidence of sexual atrocities being committed by troops from
the regional intervention force, Ecomog, and the UN peacekeeping mission.
Women were used by all sides as chattels, kidnapped from their homes often
in rural areas and forced to act as sex slaves for the troops as well
as domestic maids responsible for cooking and household chores.
“To date there has been no accountability for the thousands of crimes
of sexual violence or other appalling human rights abuses committed during
the war in Sierra Leone,” the report said.
A UN war crimes tribunal set up to investigate such allegations has been
slow to start work and not many in Sierra Leone hold out much hope that
it will bring more than a few perpetrators to justice.
In another damning assessment of the African crisis, a UN report on the
fighting in the north east of the Congo has found evidence of cannibalism,
torture and mutilation, with indigenous pygmies suffering badly.
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
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BRIEFS
Big parties pick former military rulers to run Nigeria
Former military rulers, who are blamed for much of Nigeria’s woes,
are running as civilians in the April presidential election. Money, influence,
and power appear to be behind the nominations of the generals in primaries
earlier this month. The bitterness is mainly felt among pro-democracy
activists, who fought the juntas dominating Nigeria’s political life
since independence in 1960 -- to ensure that Africa’s most populated
country embraced democratic ideals. There is little hope that one of the
ex-military rulers will not win the election.
(IPS)
Harsh words and cow dung color Indonesian protest
Despite the government decision to review hikes in utility and fuel prices,
anti-government demonstrations continue to escalate and are beginning
to focus on Pres. Sukarnoputri as the personification of power. Well-organized
student and political groups are becoming increasingly successful in their
efforts to discredit the administration, even hurling cow dung at state
officials at a ceremony the president refused to attend.
“According to intelligence findings, there might be efforts to sacrifice
students or other segments of the demonstrators to become martyrs in the
demonstrations rejecting the fuel, electricity, and telephone price hikes.
This is a worrying situation,” said the Minister for Political and
Security Affairs. Joining the protests and encouraging martyrdom are former
government and military officials in an opportunistic move to try and
oust the president and take over the nation in a coup. (www.Laksamana.net)
Bolivian cocaleros and military clash
The Bolivian military launched tear gas, rubber bullets, and eventually
real bullets on protesters last week after the country’s main highway
was blocked by farmers protesting the eradication of their coca crops.
Regional farmers are pushing for 16 demands, including the abolition of
a state law that coca leaves (in their natural form—a traditional
remedy for many ailments) are considered a drug, and an end to US-funded
coca eradication programs which have destroyed more than 63,000 hectares
of coca crops -- in addition to food crops -- and have caused a number
of health problems among farmers. Protesters also want the government
to reconsider Bolivia’s involvement in the Free Trade Area of the
Americas. Governmental overtures to begin talks on selected demands have
been rejected by peasant leaders who want all their demands along with
petitions by affiliated groups to be discussed. (Oread
Daily)
US unfazed by concern for French nationals at Guantanamo
While most of the hundreds of prisoners taken to the US naval base at
Gunatanamo Bay, Cuba are Afghans and Arabs, they also include British
and French nationals. More than a year after their transfer, the lawyers
of the six Frenchmen are demanding that the US clarify their status, say
they plan to file a suit against the US, and say that establishing direct
contact with the suspects is impossible. Because the US refuses to recognize
the “illegal combatants” as prisoners of war, they have no rights
under international law. (Radio Netherlands
Wereldomroep)
Groups back call for international inquiry in Guatemala
Prominent US human rights groups have lined up in strong support of the
creation of an international commission proposed by Guatemala’s Human
Rights Ombudsman to investigate the rising tide of violence and violations
of human rights, especially indigenous Mayans, human rights workers, and
clergy. A statement jointly issued by Amnesty International USA, Human
Rights Watch, the Washington Office on Latin America, and the Lawyers
Committee for Human Rights said the deteriorating situation in Guatemala
warranted urgent attention by the international community due to the corruption
of the Guatemalan government and army and their inability to cope with
the nation’s violence. (IPS)
Nestlé breaking code on baby milk for Third World
Western companies including Nestlé and Danon are accused of breaching
an internationally accepted code on the promotion of baby milk in the
developing world. Every 30 seconds, campaigners say, a baby dies from
unsafe bottle feeding due to contaminated water used to make the baby
formula and unsterilized equipment. Despite the marketing code and an
international boycott of the companies involved over more than 20 years,
the trade continues. The code was drawn up to ensure that any woman who
wished to breastfeed, often seen as backward in developing countries,
would not be dissuaded by promotions undermining the message that “breast
is best.” (Independent UK)
Anti-poverty activists decry skewed priorities post-9/11
In remarks Jan. 16 to the Global Development Network Conference in Cairo,
the London-based ActionAid charged that the post-Sept. 11, 2001 anti-terrorist
campaign was sharpening competition for increasingly scarce resources
and that poor populations were losing out, especially those ravaged by
AIDS. Despite empty promises of aid, the “war on terrorism”
is diverting badly-needed funds from aid packages to developing countries
to a build-up of arms in Western nations. The current crisis is worsened
by “tied aid” which requires poor countries to buy goods and
services from the donor country which are often subsidized in the donor
countries, thus destroying poor countries’ ability to compete in
their home market. (www.OneWorld.net)
Canadian teens see police as threat
A survey of 1,200 teenagers in Toronto’s poorest neighborhoods has
found that they are more afraid of the police than of most other threats,
such as guns or gangs. The study asked people between the ages of 14 and
19 to rate nine factors that could “negatively affect a person’s
sense of personal safety.” The biggest concern was “drug activity,”
followed very closely by “police treatment of youth.” While
the police conduct several youth-outreach programs in the city, the chairman
of the Toronto Youth Cabinet said the police “really need to look
at the problems and address them.” (Toronto
Globe and Mail)
Canadian anti-poverty activists on trial for rioting
The trail of three anti-poverty activists facing criminal charges, brought
against them under some of the most arcane and anti-democratic sections
of the Ontario Criminal Code, arising from a June, 2000 protest at the
Ontario legislature, began last week. They are charged with counseling
to riot and various other offenses, including participating in the “riot”
that followed a 1,500-strong militant protest against the Tory government’s
cuts to social programs. This is the first time these charges, which could
be applied to anyone advocating or even helping a political demonstration
that comes under police attack, have been used since the 1960’s.
The court battle promises to be fierce, with the government labeling the
“rioters” as terrorists. The defendants say it was the police
who precipitated the “riot.” (Oread
Daily)
Hundreds of unemployed Argentines protest
Beating drums and waving flags, hundreds of jobless Argentines protested
last week outside a Buenos Aires hotel housing a delegation from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), saying the Washington-based lender is partly to blame
for the country’s economic crisis. The protest came on the second
day of a visit by an IMF team to the capital to discuss a possible short-term
loan program the country needs to avoid defaulting on its IMF obligations.
(AP)
Police unleash dogs on anti-nukes protesters
On Jan. 17, protesters at the Narangba Food Irradiation Plant, in Brisbane,
Australia, were attacked by police who arrived at the protest camp late
that night and without warning set police dogs on the protesters at the
camp. Protesters were badly injured by the police and dogs. The camp has
been in existence since June 2002 to demonstrate opposition to the construction
of a nuclear food irradiation plant by the company Steritech. It has been
a major point for community organizing. (www.FoodIrradiationInfo.net)
EU introduces computerized fingerprinting for all asylum
seekers
A new centralized fingerprinting database for all asylum seekers in the
European Union will enable closer monitoring of refugee applications and
prevent abuses of the system, the EU said Tuesday. The so-called Eurodac
system came into operation Wednesday to ensure the yearly 400,000 asylum
seekers will be fingerprinted in the first point of entry into the 15-member
EU. The new system is supposed to streamline and coordinate the application
process between member states. The EU has increasingly cracked down on
illegal immigration, and human rights organizations fear this may come
at the expense of genuine asylum seekers.
(Santa Fe New Mexican)
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