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This monthly newsletter facilitates monitoring and understanding of the international situation. It is published at the beginning of the month and organised in four parts: The first part classifies some of the most important news items in terms of armed conflicts and peace building in three sections (deterioration, alert and progress).
The second part summarises a subject for analysis based on three news items which may not have received enough coverage in the media. The third part presents some of the articles, reports and press releases produced by Programme on Conflict and Peacebuilding. Finally, the fourth part includes a short calendar with some of the events that will be taking place over the next month.
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Programme on Conflict and Peacebuilding
Monthly NEWSLETTER
Nº 28, June 2008
To read the full document click here.
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DJIBOUTI-ERITREA: Clashes between the armed forces of both countries take place in relation to the dispute over a border region, causing a regional and international condemnation of the Eritrean aggression. |
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EGYPT: The Parliament extends the emergency state in the country after 27 years in force. |
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GEORGIA (ABKHAZIA) – RUSSIA: The deployment of Russian railway troops to Abkhazia increases even more the tension, while 12 people are wounded in four explosions in the region. |
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MALI – NIGER: The Governments of both countries intensify the military reactions against Tuareg armed groups of both territories, moving away from dialogue. |
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MONGOLIA: Five people die and more than 300 are wounded in the capital during the protests over the results in the legislative elections. |
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MOROCCO – WESTERN SAHARA: POLISARIO Front negotiator accuses UN mediator of provoking the failure of the process, and states that it will not be possible to hold a fifth round of talks. |
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MYANMAR: The Military Junta extends the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi after five consecutive years of house arrest. |
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PAKISTAN (NORTHWEST): A new military operation against the Taliban insurgency in the northwest of the country provokes a rise of violence. |
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SOMALIA: The cessation of hostilities between the moderate sector of the opposition coalition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia and the Transitional Federal Government is rejected by the radical branch of the coalition, worsening a conflict that has already caused more than 2.100 deaths since the start of the year. |
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SRI LANKA (NORTHEAST): The Government rejects the request of the Norwegian Executive to visit the area controlled by the armed group LTTE. |
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BELARUS: A bomb during a concert commemorating independence and attended by the president left 40 people wounded, in an unprecedented incident in the country. |
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BOLIVIA: Polarization increases following the ‘yes’ victory in the autonomy referendum and the victory of the indigenous opposition leader Savina Cuellar in Chuquisaca. |
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CHAD: The opposition coalition Chadian National Alliance expresses its will to negotiate with the Government to solve the problems affecting the country following the military build-up in the east between the Executive and the coalition. |
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GUINEA: A military mutiny in Conakry results in the death of two civilians and threatens again the stability of the country one week after the consensus prime minister was dismissed. |
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ISRAEL – PALESTINA: After the signature of a truce between Israel and Hamas, UN sources state that the agreement has been repeatedly violated. |
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KOSOVO: UN secretary general outlines its plan of adjustment of UNMIK to adapt it to the new context, which will pose UE’s EULEX mission under a UN umbrella. |
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MYANMAR: Several women’s organisations ask the UN to bring the Military Junta before the International Criminal Court for its systematic use of sexual violence against civilians in the armed conflict. |
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PAKISTAN (NORTHWEST): The Government holds negotiations with the Taliban in several tribal areas of the country. |
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PHILIPPINES (MINDANAO-MILF): The Government presents to the MILF its proposal on Moro people’s ancestral land after four months of impasse in the negotiations and amid a context of increased armed hostilities between the sides. |
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SOMALIA: UN Security Council gives green light to international military interventions in Somali territorial waters to prevent attacks to navies circulating near its coast. |
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THAILAND: Thousands of people demonstrate during several consecutive weeks against the new Government, to whom they accuse of being at the service of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and of wanting to modify the Constitution. |
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TURKEY: Domestic tension increase following the arrest of 23 people, including some former military commanders, linked to a criminal ultranationalist network that allegedly planned to overthrow AKP Government. |
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UGANDA (NORTH): LRA leader, Joseph Kony, expresses its will to continue negotiations despite the lack of contacts between the sides since his absence in the signing of the final peace agreement in April. |
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YEMEN: Members of the Parliament urge the Government and al-Houthi’s Shia rebel group to stop the clashes in the north of the country in view a worsening humanitarian situation. |
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ZIMBABWE: The AU asks president Robert Mugabe to establish a national unity government following his election in a poll marked by violence. |
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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: The Government and the APRD and UFDR armed groups sign on the 21st of June in Libreville the Global Peace Agreement, which gives green light to the inclusive dialogue in July. |
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CYPRUS: The leaders of both communities hold a new meeting in which they agree on the single sovereignty and common citizenship for the possible future federation for the island. |
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DR CONGO: Belgium arrests and hands over to the ICC the senator and opposition leader in exile Jean-Pierre Bemba, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Central African Republic. |
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ISRAEL – LEBANON: Israeli Government approves an exchange of prisoners with Hezbollah, whichs confirms it will take place before mid-July. |
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NEPAL: The Constituent Assembly starts its work declaring the country a federal republic. |
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NIGERIA (NIGER DELTA): The MEND declares a unilateral ceasefire to allow the UN representative Ibrahim Gambari to open a dialogue process following a serious wave of attacks against oil companies. |
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PALESTINE: In an agreement reached in Dakar Hamas and Fatah state that they have re-established an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. |
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SUDAN: The national Executive and the Government of the south of Sudan agree on an international arbitration for the demarcation of the border that separates the north and the south of the country in the Abyei oil region. |
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UN resolution on sexual violence, advance or backward step in the commitments? |
At the suggestion of the US Government, the UN Security Council debated and passed resolution 1820 on sexual violence in armed conflict, whose use has been documented in virtually all ongoing conflicts. Resolution 1820 acknowledges that the civil population is the main victim of armed conflicts, and that women and girls are specially affected by sexual violence, which can become a war tactic and remain even after the cessation of hostilities. Furthermore, it states that the use of sexual violence can contribute to exacerbate armed conflicts and, therefore, it demands all parties confronted to immediately put an end to its use and to adopt measures aimed at the protection of women and girls. The resolution also demands this violence to be excluded from amnesty disposals in peace processes. It also makes a call to the states taking part in peacekeeping missions to increase the training standards for its contingents in order to give an answer to this violence.
In spite of the fact that this initiative can imply an advance in the struggle against this violence affecting hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide, a reference should be made to some of the criticism that well-known activists have levelled at the resolution. These criticisms should be taken into account for the implementation to be as fruitful as possible. Some voices argue that the resolution hides the intention of undermining the political profile of the issue, and to dilute the commitments that member states reached when they passed UN Security
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Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Some of the critiques state that the text passed at the suggestion of the US implies a move backwards on important achievements, such as the acknowledgement of sexual violence as a war crime by the international criminal courts of Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. The resolution states that sexual violence “can” constitute a war crime or a crime against humanity, lowering previous recognition by international courts. The resolution on sexual violence states also that whenever possible women must be invited to participate in the discussions aimed at the management of conflicts, downgrading the demand of resolution 1325 that urged for the inclusion of women in the prevention, settlement and reconstruction phases, as well as in the implementation of peace agreements.
All in all, under the appearance of an advance aimed at addressing one of the impacts of armed conflicts from a gender perspective, the resolution on sexual violence can mean a backward step in relation with previous commitments by member states. On the other hand, resolution 1325 meant the adoption of a global framework that implied that the work on the issue of women, peace and security addressed in parallel all dimensions instead of working in a fragmented way in all relevant issues. The adoption of this new resolution could entail undermining the international community commitments of 2000. The revision and cutback of these commitments to women’s rights is nothing new. During Beijing+10 process, which revised the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action 10 years after its endorsement, several states, among them the US, also tried to introduce restrictive amendments to the recognition of the sexual and reproductive rights. |
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Fifth round of the Composite Dialogue process between India and Pakistan |
21st and 22nd of July |
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Start of the inclusive dialogue between the political and social actors in Central African Republic |
23rd of July |
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Legislative elections in Cambodia |
27th of July |
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ACTUALIZADA 07.07.08
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