Reporting on Conflict | News and events on conflict transformation and peacebuilding

• News source:
• 3 July 2008
• VOA
• By Brian Wagner

A day after being freed from Colombian rebels, Ingrid Betancourt is calling for new efforts to win the release of other hostages in rebel hands. VOA’s Brian Wagner reports Betancourt was one of 15 people freed by Colombian forces on Wednesday.

Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt is celebrating with her family, after being freed from more than six years in captivity.

But she stressed dozens of other people remain in jungle camps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Betancourt said the leftist rebels are at a weak point, and Colombia’s government should work to negotiate an end to the more than 44-year-old rebel conflict.

Betancourt said mediators should ask rebel leaders to use their influence to encourage militants to end terrorist activities and seek a path of reconciliation and peace.

• News source:
• originally posted 23 June 2008
• AfricaNews
• By Dominique Bela, VoicesofAfrica mobile reporter in Douala, Cameroon

Douala inhabitants have adapted their daily lives to the pollution caused by Sic Cocoa, a chocolate factory, but keep calling on authorities to find a solution as the issue is endagering human lives… video

• News source:
• 3 July 2008
• AfricaNews
• By Lameck Nyagudi, AfricaNews photo reporter in Nairobi, Kenya

It’s wrong to think that old tyres can no longer serve for anything. A great number of Kenyans are wearing sandals made from those tyres known as Akala…. photos

• News source:
• 3 July 2008
• AfricaNews
• By Conrad Dube Mwanawashe, Africanews reporter in Harare, Zimbabwe

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said the conditions prevailing were not conducive to negotiations although his party remained committed to talks with ZANU PF.

Tsvangirai said his party was concerned with the African Union (AU) resolution which only endorsed the concept of a government of national unity but did not recognize the illegitimacy of the June 27 run off election despite the fact that most African leaders refused to recognize Mugabe as head of state.

“If dialogue is to be initiated, it is essential that ZANU PF stops the violence, halts the persecution of MDC leaders and supporters, releases all political prisoners, disbands militia bases and torture camps and that the security services halt their partisan operations,” said Tsvangirai.

• News source:
• June 2008
• USIPeace Briefing
• By Hesham Sallam

What is the future of democracy in Egypt? What are the prospects for cooperation between the country’s Islamist and non-Islamist political opposition groups? How can such cooperation be strengthened?

These questions were at the forefront of discussions at the Second Annual Wasat Generation Dialogue, held in Cairo Egypt May 27-29, 2008 and hosted by USIP, the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, and Georgetown University’s Center for Democracy and Civil Society. An outgrowth of USIP’s Arab Political Oppositions Project (APOP), this not-for-attribution dialogue brought together a select group of Egyptian political leaders, American academics and U.S. democracy-promoters.

• News source:
• 4 July 2008
• Ekklesia

Echoing remarks made early this year by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers has said that there is no conflict between Sharia principles for conflict resolution and common law in England and Wales…

Both men have pointed out that it is possible for individuals to voluntarily conduct their lives obeying Sharia principles, or other religious or ethical principles, without this being in conflict with rights guaranteed by the civil law.

• News source:
• 3 July 2008
• Pambazuka News
• By Bill Saidi

It may be too early to speak of a positive response to calls for a government of national unity. It would be most encouraging to conclude that both parties are agreed on the essence of a GNU. But this would not be an accurate or even remotely hopeful analysis of the scenario. First, there is the violence in which unarmed citizens have been victims of mayhem. Secondly, there is the unresolved question of who should head this GNU - Tsvangirai or Mugabe. If this were going to turn out to be a defining moment for Zimbabwe, you could argue, with good reason, that both men would lower their own personal expectations in favour of their country’s and their people’s. But would that be realistic? asks Bill Saidi.

• News source:
• 1 July 2008
• mongabay.com

Louisiana has signed into law legislation to develop an advanced biofuel industry that excludes corn as a feedstock, reports Biopact.

The Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative will promote high yielding non-corn crops that can be grown without excessive irrigation or application of fertilizers.

The legislation will provide funding for a network of small advanced biofuel manufacturing facilities that “[do] not burden local water supplies and [provide] for a more broad-based economic development.”

• News source:
• 29 June 2008
• New York Times
• By ROBERT F. WORTH

JIBLA, Yemen — One morning last month, Arwa Abdu Muhammad Ali walked out of her husband’s house here and ran to a local hospital, where she complained that he had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months…

That alone would be surprising in Yemen, a deeply conservative Arab society where family disputes tend to be solved privately. What made it even more unusual was that Arwa was 9 years old.

Within days, Arwa — a tiny, delicate-featured girl — had become a celebrity in Yemen, where child marriage is common but has rarely been exposed in public. She was the second child bride to come forward in less than a month; in April, a 10-year-old named Nujood Ali had gone by herself to a courthouse to demand a divorce, generating a landmark legal case.

Together, the two girls’ stories have helped spur a movement to put an end to child marriage, which is increasingly seen as a crucial part of the cycle of poverty in Yemen and other third world countries.

• News source:
• 3 July 2008
• Mediation Channel
• By Diane Levin

Polemicist and controversial author Christopher Hitchens wrote an article for Slate.com that distinguished “extreme interrogation” from torture, arguing that waterboarding falls into the first category but not the second. His critics challenged him to undergo waterboarding first-hand and judge for himself — a challenge he gamely took up.

Hitchens describes the discoveries he made during his experience and concludes, “Believe Me, It’s Torture”, in an article appearing in the August 2008 Vanity Fair.

• News source:
• July 2008
• Peace Brigades International

PBI, through its work accompanying human rights defenders and as international observers, is witnessing, with concern, an ongoing pattern in Colombia of harassment of human rights defenders evidenced by spurious criminal charges based on unfounded accusations. This practice has a detrimental effect on their security and fundamental rights, and hinders their valuable work. PBI believes there is a need for this issue to receive further attention by all individuals and institutions involved in the protection of human rights defenders.

• News source:
• 30 June 2008
• PNN

The Wall remains a ghost in Aida Refugee Camp, frightening, looming, surrounding it from three sides: obscuring what was once beautiful, the fields of olive trees. Ten families are now separated by this Wall and nearby are the sniper tower and Israeli military base which has been the jumping off point for numerous invasions and open shootings into his northern Bethlehem camp. But what the Aida Youth Center did is project the broadcast the final football match of the Euro Cup on that gigantic monster.

It brought together European volunteers who are currently in town on summer programs, allowed them to see the reality of life here, and to enjoy their game. It was also another move by the Palestinian people to say “no” once again to this illegal blight on their land.

• News source:
• 2 July 2008
• abstract on Human Security Gateway
• By Chatham House

The question of Palestinian refugees has long been one of the most difficult issues in dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. With the onset of renewed peace talks following the Annapolis summit of November 2007, it is once again an issue that the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators must address.

• News source:
• 3 July 2008
• Daily Star (Lebanon)

BEIRUT - Special songs and traditional dances broke down barriers and built friendships between Lebanese and Palestinian children at a special event organized by the humanitarian organization World Vision over the weekend to commemorate World Refugee Day. Approximately 300 children and youth from many Lebanese regions and several Palestinian refugee camps learned about one another’s unique cultures during the celebration, Jiran bala Jidran (Neighbors Without Borders) at the UNESCO Palace.