Tingplik Express

Newmai News Network

Imphal, Jun 29: Even as the United Naga Council (UNC) is all set to hold its general assembly at Senapati headquarters on July 2, the Zeliangrong Union, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland (ZU-AMN) has raised strong objection against the UNC saying that the latter has been ignoring the Zeliangrong body in many ways.

The ZU-AMN also accused the Acting President of UNC as responsible for the current state of affairs.

The ZU-AMN was irked when the UNC has been inviting the Zeliangrong Boudi (ZB) to various occasions of the UNC while ignoring the ZU-AMN.

"ZU-AMN had made a complain on February 26 this year to the UNC for not inviting the ZU (AMN) in the UNC functions and meetings. The 83 years old ZU (AMN) has been an original component unit of UNC since its inception in 23rd April 1981. The UNC has not given any reply to the said complain so far," said the statement of ZU-AMN.

The statement said that the ZU-AMN had raised an objection against UNC`s invitation to an "unrecognised body called Zeliangrong Boudi" which was formed only in November 15 2007 by Ningtangpou, who had been "impeached from ZU Office". The Zeliangrong Boudi is not a component unit of the UNC under the UNC constitution, said the statement.

The Zeliangrong body then stated that the above matter had been put up in the UNC meeting of June 27, 2008 by a team of ZU consisting ZU ex-president D Athuibo (ex-MLA), ZU ex president Dm Nganthonang (Ex Chairman, Tamenglong District Council and ex-vice president Naga Hoho), ZU ex-president D Dikambui (ex-Chairman, Tamenglong District Council), ZU vice presidents and secretaries, chairmen of its constituent units and vice chairman and general secretary of Zeliangrong Cultural Council attended the special meeting of the UNC.

The ZU team also has pointed out that under the UNC constitution, the ZU which is the original component unit of the UNC has the right to nominate representatives to participate in the ensuing election of UNC. "And the persons nominated by ZU should only be allowed to contest or vote in the UNC election. The Zeliangrong Boudi which is a new private body organised by some unauthorised persons cannot be allow to participate in the UNC election under the UNC constitution," pointed the ZU-AMN.

The ZU team also pointed out that UNC present `Acting President` Samson Remmei is not a representative of Zeliangrong people because he has not been deputed by the ZU to the UNC.

"This is also a violation of UNC constitution. In fact, Mr. Samson is a person black-listed by the ZU in its Union Assembly resolution of dated 14th December 1991. Therefore, he cannot be nominated to represent the Zeliangrong people until and unless he made an apology for his mistake to the ZU. So far, he had not tender any apology. The present problem was created by the Acting President of UNC, who accompanied the removed president of ZU K Ningtangpou and his gang to pressure upon the GPRN set up to recognise the Zeliangrong Boudi as an apex organisation of the Zeliangrong people but failed. The indulgence of the acting president of UNC is nothing but to get rid of the remark earned by him for his anti Union activities," alleged the strong worded statement of the ZU-AMN.

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GAUHATI, India (AP) - At least seven people were killed in fighting between rival rebel factions in India's remote northeast, police said Friday.
A group of Naga rebels attacked a rival group's camp with automatic weapons near Dimapur, Nagaland state's commercial hub, on Thursday, superintendent of police Leiremo Lotha said.
Fighting between Naga rebel groups has
left at least 40 people dead in Nagaland state in the past six weeks, Lotha said.
Five of the seven victims have been identified as members of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Unification) faction, he said.
The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland claimed responsibility for the attack.
«Our cadres set fire to all the vehicles at the NSCN (U) camp» as well as the huts there, spokesman Vikiye Sumi said in a statement. Police did not immediately confirm that the camp had been set on fire.
The rebel groups are fighting for an independent Naga homeland comprised of areas inhabited by Naga tribespeople in India's northeast, but there have been clashes between the various factions as each tries to gain local supremacy.

The clashes intensified after some fighters broke away from the Isak-Muivah faction last November.
The Isak-Muivah faction and another faction headed by S.S. Khaplang have reached cease-fire agreements with the Indian government.
About 2 million Nagas live in northeastern India, a region of myriad ethnic groups that has been plagued by dozens of insurgencies.

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New Delhi, June 24 (Agencies): The Naga Lawyers’ Guild, Delhi, has served a legal notice to the management of a lounge bar in GK-1 for allegedly refusing entry to a Naga woman photographer because she did not have the “right profile”. The notice has categorised this incident as a “willful and deliberate discrimination on the basis of caste, sex, creed and region”. The notice also says the management of the bar — Urban Pind — asked the woman to reveal her nationality. “When told she was an Indian from the North-East, she was bluntly refused entry,” the notice reads.
Bar owner Kashif Farooq, however, said he was yet to receive any legal notice. He denied the charges against the management saying, “Profiling is based on dress and behaviour and not region”. He said on Thursdays — the incident took place last Thursday — are ‘expat nights’, evenings for foreigners working in India. Farooq said, “Over 200 people were turned away because of this last week.” He added: “We have six employees from the North-East.”
The photographer was to meet two friends — a South Indian publisher and a German employee of a development bank — at Urban Pind. “I was stopped at the gate because I did not have a good profile,” she said. Her advocate, K Enatoli Sema of the Naga Lawyers’ Guild, said the manager, Tahil, turned her away after being “told that she was from the North-East”. The photographer added she was stopped at the gate, while others — not all foreigners — were let in.
The photographer also said she was dressed sensibly in trousers, a top and scarf. She added, “It was deeply embarrassing, since the place was crowded. Finally, my publisher friend called up another friend who happened to know the owner and I was allowed in. But by then, I had been humiliated enough and decided to leave.”
The legal notice reads: “She was told by the manager that it was ‘policy’ not to allow entry to people who weren’t of the ‘right profile’. Asked why other women, including Oriental women of other nationalities, were being allowed entry... the manager said... it was the ‘policy’ laid down by the general manager.” Sema alleges there has been another instance of a Naga man being denied entry to the same lounge bar.
The photographer, who has lived in Delhi for 10 years, said: “When such discrimination happens, and it happens very often, we are forced to step back from the mainstream.” Stephen Yanthan, president of the Naga Lawyers’ Guild, has said they will take legal steps unless the lounge bar apologises.

‘Such discrimination cannot be tolerated’


Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 24
The lawyer representing the discriminated Naga photographer, Advocate Enatoli today asserted that such kind of blatant discrimination against innocent persons cannot be tolerated since everyone is entitled to basic Human Rights and dignity. Besides, discrimination infringes on the Fundamental Rights of a human being to live with dignity as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
Speaking with The Morung Express from Delhi this evening, Advocate Enatoli said that the Naga Lawyers Guild has specified a one-week time to the lounge bar to tender an unconditional apology and publish it in the Media. It must also declare that the lounge will not have such a ‘policy’ she said.
However, Enatoli disclosed that the management of the bar have told journalists in Delhi that it will not tender an apology since nothing ‘wrong’ was committed. Enatoli said if the bar refuses to tender an apology then the matter will be fought in the court and even take up the matter with the National human Rights Commission and the National Minorities Commission.
Enatoli also disclosed that the national news channel, NDTV is doing a story on the matter which will be telecast on Wednesday on its regular feature, ‘Verdict’ in which the opinions of some concerned Naga people in Delhi are to be featured.
The Naga Lawyers Guild is a group formed by a group of advocates with the objective of representing the people of northeast and the Nagas in particular and also the public during times of need, Enatoli informed.
An editor of a publishing house, who is a south Indian lady was with the victim on that night. Requesting not to be named, she categorically termed the whole incident as “the worst kind of discrimination” and said to have been devastated that such an incident would happen in a nation that claims to be the world’s largest democracy.
Confessing that she has a lot of friend from the northeast region, the Editor said that she was angry Thursday night when her friend was not allowed into the lounge bar because she did not have the “right profile”. The Editor lamented that when the northeast is being tried to be integrated into the country, such kind of incident would alienate them more.
Advocate Enatoli Sema, representing the victim, disclosed that the Editor was the one who took a lot of initiative in motivating Naga Lawyers Guild to take up the matter, and at the same time acknowledged the role played by the Editor of the publishing house in rendering support to the people of northeast in the capital.
It may be noted, that discrimination of people from remote northeaster region in mainland India, especially Delhi has been a regular feature for the past many years.




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Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network

Dimapur, June 21: The NSCN-IM also hurled another allegation that UNLF talked of common enemy but feigned ignorance of the Kukis once used by the common enemy to fight against the Nagas which eventually set off the ethnic war.

"In the same fashion, the UNLF is finding pleasure to rake up the Naga-Kuki ethnic clash when it talked of common struggle.

This is derogatory of UNLF's stand.

Is this an example of revolutionary sincerity? What is common goal or common struggle when there is no revolutionary credibility and honesty? Pretension is not the trait of honest revolutionary movement.

A risky affair it will turn out to be when blindly taking the plunge," cautions the NSCN-IM statement.

"All said and done, NSCN never believes in force union or force marriage.

For obvious reasons the alienation of the Naga people from such theoretical concept is unquestionable.

Under the present scheme of things, to indulge in such idealism is the remote option for the Nagas.

The UNLF should think of some basic changeover of its socio-political outlook before it comes out with such overtures to the NSCN on the issue of common struggle," concluded the NSCN-IM statement.






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Nirendra Dev

NEW DELHI, June 14: Amid sporadic turf war among various Naga militant factions claiming several lives, the Centre has sought reports from the state governments in Nagaland and Manipur and directed them to take corrective steps.
A letter was sent to the chief ministers, Mr Neiphiu Rio and Mr O Ibobi Singh, late last month seeking detailed reports on the growing number of group clashes. In the latest round of factional fighting, two people, including one home guard personnel, were killed near Kohima super market area yesterday.
The Centre now intends to undertake a joint crackdown on militant groups along with Myanmar.
The Indian government recently sent to Myanmar a list of Indian militant groups ostensibly operating in that country. Besides the Naga groups, the list includes Manipur-based groups and the ULFA as well. Sources said the government is still awaiting a response from the eastern neighbour.
The newly elected Congress leader of the Opposition in the Nagaland assembly, Mr Chingwang Konyak told The Statesman over phone from Kohima that law and order situation in Nagaland is deteriorating fast. “The state government is just directionless,” he alleged.
The Centre fears that the group clashes in Nagaland could erupt into a major ethnic feud. In two separate rounds of gun battles, on 16 May and 3 June, at least 24 militants, mostly from a particular Naga tribe, were killed by NSCN (IM) activists near Chumukedima in close proximity to the state’s commercial hub of Dimapur.
Central agencies are meanwhile keeping fingers crossed as the NSCN (IM) chairman Mr Isak Chishi Swu recently had a telephonic conversation with his estranged compatriot in the undivided NSCN and now chairman of the rival group, Mr S S Khaplang. The development, said to be aimed at seeking “unification” of factions, northeast watchers suggest, could change the various intricacies of Naga militancy as well as the state politics riddled with tribalism.
As the Tangkhul Nagas are pre-dominantly present in the hilly region of Manipur, the Centre also does not want to leave anything to chance on whether these could have repercussions in Manipur.
The Union home minister Mr Shivraj Patil is personally taking keen interest in the implemention of tri-partite talks between the Centre, Kuki militants and the Manipur government.
The fear is that the factional violence in Nagaland could leave its impact in Manipur as Tangkhul Nagas and Kukis are infamous for their “love-hate relationship”.




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Donors Should Act to Stop Crimes Against Humanity
(Nairobi, June 12, 2008) – In its battle against rebels in eastern Ethiopia’s Somali Region, Ethiopia's army has subjected civilians to executions, torture, and rape, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The widespread violence, part of a vicious counterinsurgency campaign that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has contributed to a looming humanitarian crisis, threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads.

The 130-page report "Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in the Ogaden Area of Ethiopia's Somali Regional State," documents a dramatic rise in unchecked violence against civilians since June 2007, when the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign against rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil installation. The Human Rights Watch report provides the first in-depth look at the patterns of abuse in a conflict that remains virtually unknown because of severe restrictions imposed by the Ethiopian government.

"The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia’s major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."

Human Rights Watch researchers located and interviewed more than 100 victims and eyewitnesses to abuses, as well as traders, business leaders, and regional government officials located in neighboring Kenya, the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland in northern Somalia and in Ethiopia. The research, largely carried out between September and December 2007, was further supplemented with satellite imagery that confirmed the burning of some villages. In chilling accounts, witnesses and victims described to Human Rights Watch nightly beatings with the barrel of a gun, public executions, and the burning of entire villages.
The report describes the army's response to the April 2007 attack by the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) on a Chinese-run oil installation in Obole that killed more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians. During the peak of the army’s counterinsurgency campaign from June to September 2007, witnesses described how Ethiopian troops forcibly displaced entire rural communities and destroyed dozens of rural villages; executed at least 150 civilians, sometimes in demonstration killings to terrorize those communities suspected of supporting the ONLF; and arbitrarily detained hundreds of civilians in military barracks where they experienced beatings, torture, and widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence. Thousands of civilians fled the conflict-affected areas for neighboring countries. Some of the patterns of violence are ongoing, and Human Rights Watch believes its findings represent only a fraction of the actual abuses.

Ethiopian authorities also stepped up their forced recruitment of local militia forces, many of whom are sent to fight against the ONLF without military training, resulting in large casualty rates.

The rebel ONLF has also been responsible for serious violations of the laws of war, including the summary executions of Chinese and Ethiopian civilians during the April 2007 attack on the Obole oil installation and killing suspected government collaborators, which are considered war crimes.

Many civilians living in the conflict zone are nomads who must move to fresh grazing areas and regional markets to sell their livestock. Since mid-2007, Ethiopian forces have imposed a series of measures aimed at cutting off economic support to the ONLF, including a trade blockade on the war-affected region, restricted access to water, food and grazing areas, confiscation of livestock and trade goods, and obstruction of humanitarian assistance. In combination with the drought produced by successive poor rains, this “economic war” is threatening the lives of thousands of civilians, yet many of them lack access to food aid due to government manipulation of food distribution.

"The government's attacks on civilians, its trade blockade, and restrictions on aid amount to the illegal collective punishment of tens of thousands of people," said Gagnon. “Unless humanitarian agencies get immediate access to independently assess the needs and monitor food distribution, more lives will be lost."

The Ethiopian government did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s requests for access to the conflict-affected area, and has tried to stem the flow of information from the region. Some foreign journalists who have attempted to conduct independent investigations have been arrested and residents and witnesses have been threatened and detained in order to prevent them from speaking out. In July 2007, the government expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross from Somali Region, although it has since permitted some UN and nongovernmental humanitarian organizations to operate, albeit under tight controls.

The report also analyzes the Ethiopian government and international community’s responses to the continuing abuses. Ethiopia continues to deny the allegations but has yet to investigate them or hold anyone accountable. Human Rights Watch says that donor governments are failing to demand human rights accountability, despite the substantial economic aid to Ethiopia and its partnership in regional counterterrorism efforts.

Western governments and institutions alone, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, give at least US$2 billion in aid to Ethiopia annually, but have remained silent on the widespread abuses being committed in the Ogaden area. The US government, which views Ethiopia as a key partner in regional counterterrorism efforts, has failed to use its significant leverage, including military aid, to press for an end to the crimes.

Human Rights Watch called on major donors to press Ethiopia to end the violence and recommended that:



The US government should investigate reports of abuses by Ethiopian forces, identify the specific units involved, and ensure that they receive no assistance or training from the United States until the Ethiopian government takes effective measures to bring those responsible to justice, as required under the "Leahy law," which prohibits US military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.


The UK government and the European Union should condemn the abuses, publicly call on the Ethiopian government to investigate the crimes in Somali Region, demand that civilian and military officials are held accountable, and monitor development funding to ensure it is not being used for security operations.


"Influential states use many excuses – such as lack of information and strategic priorities – to downplay the grave human rights concerns in Somali Region," said Gagnon. "But crimes against humanity can't be swept under the carpet. Donor governments should reconsider their policies on Ethiopia until these abuses end and those responsible are brought to justice."

Witness accounts from the report:

"The soldiers came to Aleen, after they burned down Lahelow. Then they burned Aleen. We were there at the time. The soldiers arrived and ordered the people out of their homes. They gathered all of the people together. Then the commander ordered the village burned. The commander told us, ‘I have told you already to leave these small villages,’ and then they forced us out. Then they burned down all the homes. The houses are just huts, so it is easy to burn them."
– Villager, September 23, 2007

"I was taken away with two men, Hassan Abdi Abdullahi and Ahmed Gani Guled. First, they pulled ropes around the necks of the two men and pulled in opposite directions, and both fell down. They put me in a ditch while they were strangling the other two. One soldier tried to strangle me with the metal stick used for cleaning the gun [by pushing it down on my throat], but I twisted his finger until he released me. Then two other soldiers came and they put a rope around my neck and started pulling. That is the last thing I remember, until I woke up, still in the ditch. A naked body was on top of me, it was Ahmed Gani Guled, who was dead. I couldn't move out of the ditch until I was found by some women who came to the waterhole."
– Ridwan Hassan-rage Sahid, October 30, 2007

"They started beating me with the backs of their AK-47 guns. They hit me once with the gun in my face, and then started beating me. They also hit me with the gun barrel in my teeth, and broke one of my teeth. Then they started beating me with a fan belt on my back and my feet. It lasted for more than one hour. Then they tied both my legs and lifted me upside down to the ceiling with a rope, and kept beating me more, saying I had to confess. For two months, we underwent this same ordeal, being taken from our rooms at night and being beaten and tortured."
– Thirty-one-year-old shopkeeper, September 20, 2007

"They wanted to intimidate the rest of us, so they brought the two girls who they said were the strongest ONLF supporters. They made the rest of us watch while they killed the two girls. First they tried to get them to confess, saying they would kill them otherwise. Then they shot both of them with their guns. Their names were Faduma Hassan, 17, and Samsam Yusuf, 18. Both were students."
– Student, September 23, 2007

"We have a well in Qoriley which is surrounded by wire. The army has prohibited us from using it, so you have to sneak in at night. All these things have been imposed on us this year. At nighttime, we will try and get some water to store in our houses. But if the soldiers see you are fetching water, they can kill you."
– Villager, September 22, 2007

"If [the federal government] followed the law, it would be good, but even the law they’ve created is not being followed."
– Former regional court judge, December 5, 2007





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Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 06: The United Naga Council (UNC) and State's Naga Tribe Hoho along with sister organisations have reaffirmed support to the collective leadership of the NSCN (IM) in sustaining the ongoing peace process for an honourable settlement of the Indo-Naga political issue.

Representatives of the UNC, Hoho and 14 constituent bodies on May 31 attended an emergency consultative meeting at Senapati district headquarters wherein it was unanimously resolved to 'fully back' the collective leadership in taking forward the ongoing negotiation for solution of the decades old issue.

According to a joint statement of these units released today, the meeting 'once again reaffirmed full support to the collective leadership on the ongoing peace process with the Government of India for the final political solution based on the uniqueness of Naga history and situation that will be acceptable and honourable to the Nagas'.

"While honouring the motto of the Naga Hoho, Nagas are one, we are committed to peace and unity through reconciliation amongst the Naga family", it said while adding 'as such we once again reaffirm to uphold the Naga peoples' Convention resolution 8 and 9 of August 2001'. The NPC resolution concerns integration of all naga areas under one administration and iterates desire of the Naga people to live together without any compromise on the cherished goal.

In the backdrop of clashes between rival groups of the NSCN in Dimapur area that had claimed over 50 people including Tangkhul civilians and damage of properties, the bodies also appealed to all concerned to stop factional killings in Naga areas.

Moreover, people of the Naga community in general and students in particular pursuing different courses outside 'Nagalim' have been urged to remain calm and be free from tensions.

Nevertheless, the bodies cautioned the naga people to be wary of sinister designs by divisive forces and stay alert from false propaganda or rumours that is being spread in the aftermath of the Dimapur turmoil.

All differences within the family should be sorted out peacefully, it stressed.





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We live in a time where insanity has become the ruling norm. Though there is an air of complacency, indifference and fear, it will be fair to say that people are tired and quite fed up with the direction that Naga society is headed. The rich get richer while the poor, poorer; and there is lack of democratic accountability, complete absence of self-governance and the vicious cycle of factional violence is taking a serious toll on people.
Then there are the every day headaches of having to face corruption at every level of society and the tragic consequences on human life caused by the political chasm which has so affected the patterns of relationship and understanding thereby reinforcing existing suspicion and ‘isms.’ We seem to be living in multiple realities. One is the reality on the ground, the other is the imagined reality based on what we yearn for; and then of course there is the reality which we invent based on our perception and understanding of life. And the lack of comprehension and failure to appreciate and put into perspective these competing realities is preventing the creation of a public opinion that will surge in facilitating a common consensus
Hence, where do we go? Or to be more precise, where are we going? These are questions that keep burdening the heart, a heart that yearns to see Nagas live together in dignity, exercising their independence with confidence and respect for others. The heart is anxious because Nagas seem to be in a vicious cycle in which the principalities of what constitutes evil is causing the breakdown of society. By principalities of evil, it implies the everyday acts of suspicion, distrust, hate, jealousy, disrespect, prejudice, tribalism and so on. In a time where majority of the people are just so caught up with survival issues, while those leading seem to only care for themselves, we must seriously ponder, where are we going as a people?
Naga history is embedded with a rich legacy and yet a rich history in itself is not sufficient for the building of the future. It does provide a foundation and yet it needs wisdom and statesmanship to do so in a way that will build an understanding, an understanding that is rooted in values of equality and justice. The Naga history is filled with stories of many ordinary men and women who strived for the well being of the people in extra-ordinary ways; and yet today, we do not see men and women respond to this pressing crisis that calls out for change. Where are they? And where are we going?
The present generation of Nagas needs to start assessing and taking initiatives that involves a commitment to truth. It is time that we renounce the course of negativity and embrace the earnest and practice commitment of straight honest dialogue. This process must keep at its center the greater public good and interest, which means ending the influence of narrow interest representing the powers that be.
The dialogue should lead to the articulation of Naga values with an emphasis on a return to ethical values and willingness to question right from wrong and to act unselfishly by giving up constricting self-interest. It implies transcending parochial institutions and civil religion with the view of getting truthful about the issues that affect our lives. Self-realization calls for a conscious move away from the adversarial and conceited politics that needs to be replaced with a commitment for statesmanship, which at its core has the will to listen and act upon the issues and aspirations of the people.
If present Nagas are to have a future of hope, the responsibility lies on us not to just live quietly, but to actively pursue the values that will make us live!


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Nagaland, a predominantly tribal north-eastern state, has witnessed militancy and lawlessness for almost four decades and the situation is getting from bad to worse. In a startling exposure, TIMES NOW lens captured exclusive visuals of fighting in Nagaland between rival militant factions -- Isaac Muivaah and Khaplang -- on the streets of Dimapur.

The visuals show the dominant Isaac Muivaah faction of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) readying to fight it out with the rival Khaplang faction. A soldier of the Khaplang faction was seen tied up as the rebels moved towards the village near Dimapur.

The exclusive visuals captured by TIMES NOW on Wednesday (June 4) depicted pictures of militant factions being involved in a bloody gunfight in the Seithikima area, about 17 km off Nagaland's commercial town of Dimapur. Fourteen people, who were killed in the gunfight and their bodies were buried by grieving family members, was also captured by TIMES NOW. Nearly fifty people, including civilians, have been killed in and around Dimapur in the stepped-up violence by rival NSCN groups in the past three months. Even the funeral proceedings were disrupted as rival NSCN groups took up fighting positions against each other.

The NSCN factions also ransacked the office of the Ceasfire Authority of Seithikima near Dimapur. Most of the NSCN factions possessed country made guns and were seen using AK-47's.

For the people of Dimapur, the renewed violence is a cause of concern. Shortly after the gunfights, protests broke out with villagers venting their ire on the local police. Both the government and the police have warned both the factions against venturing into Dimapur or nearby villages and have asked them to return to designated camps.

The fighting has been going on for nearly three months, however, the Indian government hasn't taken adequate measures to curtail the growing menace and to stop the lawlessness in Nagaland.

The Naga factions have been reportedly been fighting for independence under the banner -- Naga National Council (NNC). Subsequently, the NNC split into different factions and its breakaway faction, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) also broke into two factions; those factions were the Isak-Muivah faction (NSCN-IM) and the Khaplang faction (NSCN-K). WATCH VIDEO

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New Delhi, June 4: Adding another dramatic twist to factional clashes, confrontation and reconciliation in Ngaland, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isac-Muivah) General Secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah has not ruled out a one to one interaction with the Khaplang faction for the greater cause of "Naga unity".
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Muivah ,who has been in New Delhi for the last one month in connection with Naga peace talks, acceptedhe recent reports of the NSCN(IM) Chairman Isac Chisi Swu's telephonic interaction with the NSCN(K) Chairman S S Khaplang sometime ago.

For the first time in the last twenty years the two rival factions have established any sort of communication.

When asked by ANI whether this interaction is a sign of the two groups coming to some sort of understanding in future,Muivah said there is no harm in hoping for "something positive."

"It is hard to say but there is no wrong for one to expect something positive. But the point is, if we can come to that very point that we have to stand for the right of the Nagas then only it is possible", said Muivah.

When asked whether he is thinking of establishing one to one contact with Khaplang with whom he fell out in 1988, the General Secretary of the NSCN said "that can't be ruled out". The talks between two bitter rivals come in the backdrop of the recent escalation of the factional clashes in Nagaland which has claimed more than fifty lives in the last two months.

The recent clashes started after November 23 last year when a section of Naga insurgents led by Azheto Chophy of the NSCN(IM) and and C. Singson of the NSCN (K) signed a 'Joint Declaration' at Niuland near Dimapur, which claimed that the two warring factions are being united.

The new group, reportedly stationed at Vihokhu near Dimapur town, seeks to unite all Naga insurgent groups for the common cause. In its view, Muivah has been an obstacle to the unification of Nagas.

According to Muivah the contact with NSCN(K) faction came to be established only when "Mr.Khaplang has made his position clear that the so called unification is not for the unification" and both of us agree that "we don't have any thing do with the unification".

Muivah, however, added that "they (IM and K group) have understood each other to some extent. But the telephonic conversation say for one time, is not sufficient to bring out the correct understanding between them".

NSCN (IM) leader termed the Azheto Chophy led Unification group as "traitor and traitors traders can't influence the cause of history; it is the people who will decide their destiny everywhere".

The NSCN(K)was formed on April 30, 1988, consequent to an assassination attempt on the General Secretary of what emerged as the rival outfit - NSCN (IM) - Thuingaleng Muivah. Clannish divisions among the Nagas (Konyaks and Tangkhuls) were the primary reason behind the split of the NSCN in 1988.

The Konyaks formed the NSCN-K under the leadership of Khole Konyak and S S Khaplang. The Tangkhul faction, the NSCN-IM (Isak-Muivah), was led by Isak Chisi Swu and T. Muivah. By Sanjay Kumar


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BEIJING, Jun 4 (IPS) - Unprecedented food scarcity is beginning to dictate the rules of a new political order where individual countries are scrambling to secure their own food supplies with little concern for the rest of the world, says the founder of the Earth Policy Institute.

Recent manifestations of national food insecurity like export restrictions imposed by some grain-producing countries are the troublesome portents of an "entirely new chapter in the book of food security," Lester Brown told foreign correspondents in Beijing on Tuesday.

"We are in the midst of the most severe food crisis in the world’s history," Brown said. "This is not your mother’s food shortage... but a chronically tight food situation, a serious and long-term problem.’’

Politicians have been meeting in Rome to find global solutions to soaring food prices and civil unrest caused by food shortages, but in reality many countries are already acting unilaterally to secure supplies for the future.

From Africa to Asia, countries are scrambling to buy or lease land overseas to grow crops and feed their people. China, which has to feed the world’s largest population, has taken the lead by contracting land in Tanzania, Laos, Kazakhstan, Brazil and others.

India has set its eyes on Uruguay and Paraguay, while South Korea is looking for farming deals in Sudan and Siberia. Libya and Egypt for their part have been negotiating deals to lease land in Ukraine.

The worry here, according to Brown, is that "the more influential countries would be able to secure food supplies, leaving a number of low-income, less influential countries with no food to import".

"This could create a lot of desperate countries," he says. The United Nations says soaring prices of basic foods such as rice and other cereals could affect around 100 million of the world’s poorest people. In Asia, rice prices have almost tripled this year alone, leading many governments to fear the consequences if the poor cannot afford to buy their staple food.

To protect their domestic consumers, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and China have all taken steps to restrict exports. This year has seen China’s first grain trade deficit in decades. It has scrapped export rebates for wheat, rice, paddy, maize and soybeans, and it will start imposing export duties of five to 25 percent.

As the current food crisis unfolded, China’s role as the world’s largest grain producer and consumer has come in for increasing scrutiny. Politicians around the globe are looking at China, which has to feed 1.3 billion people, with apprehension, worrying that any change in the country’s long-held policy of self-sufficiency could have a tremendous effect on the global grain markets.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said China’s main priority is to feed its own population and that this would be the country’s "biggest contribution to the world". Beijing contends it has large grain reserves to weather the current food crisis. However, the size of the country’s state and private reserves is uncertain.

"It is mostly rice," says Zhao Jinhou, a grain analyst with Shenyin Securities. Chinese planners subsidise grain production and this has led to discrepancies between international and domestic prices of rice. While global prices of rice have soared, China’s domestic prices have remained stable. "There has been no incentive to sell the rice stocks," Zhao says.

In 2007, China produced more than 501.5 million tonnes of grain, almost level with the nation’s annual consumption of 510 million tonnes, according to official statistics. Chinese officials have vowed to keep the nation’s grain output stable and above 500 million tonnes to cope with rising global grain prices. But analysts say even a stable grain output in China could do little to slow down global price surges as the country is already a net grain importer.

Last year, China imported 31 million tonnes of grain, or 22 million tonnes more than what it exported. The bulk of the total imports were soybeans.

"They (the Chinese) have sacrificed their self-sufficiency in soybeans in order to preserve land and water for other crops," says Brown, predicting it is only a matter of time before Beijing moves to the world markets for grain as it has done with soybeans.

"China only needs to import ten percent of its grain consumption to influence markets greatly," he reckons.

The devastation caused by the grade-8 Sichuan earthquake on May 12 has also heightened speculations that Beijing may take further steps to restrict its exports to rein in inflation and ensure domestic supplies.

"More restrictions on grain exports would hurt China’s ability to assume its leading role of a big country in the current crisis," cautions Mei Xinyu, researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, under the ministry of commerce. "The side effects of further tightening of exports would be significant and there will be more harm than benefit". The impact of Asia’s export curbs has already provoked riots in Africa and Haiti, places that depend on cheap food imports. The U.S. department of agriculture predicts that high prices and export restrictions will cut the volume of rice traded internationally by nine percent in 2008, which will drive prices even higher.

At the ongoing food summit in Rome U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon pressed nations around the world to ease a wide range of export bans and import tariffs to help millions of poor cope with the highest food prices in 30 years.










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WASHINGTON (TEN) - Travelers from England, France, Germany, Japan and about two dozen other "Visa Waiver" countries will be required to register electronically before boarding a plane or boat to the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
DHS will begin accepting applications via a secure Internet site on August 1, and will require visitors to use the Internet system beginning January 12, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. The move will help U.S. authorities vet foreign visitors, he said.
The requirement does not apply to U.S. citizens traveling overseas.
The announcement is the latest change to the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 27 countries -- most of them European countries that are strong U.S. allies -- to travel to the U.S. without a visa. Currently, citizens from VWP countries complete a written form providing basic biographical, travel and eligibility information while en route to the U.S. and submit the forms to border officials on arrival.
Under the new program, known as Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, travelers will complete an electronic version of the form before traveling. DHS recommends that travelers fill out the form not less than three days before traveling, and authorizations will be valid for up to two years or until the applicant's passport expires, whichever comes first.
Initially, there will be no fee to apply for travel authorization, although one may be imposed later.
Visitors will still be required to have valid passports, but after January 12, travelers with valid ESTA clearance will not be required to complete the written form.
Chertoff said the system will make it easier for U.S. officials to check travelers against terror watch lists, and will help travelers by allowing them to deal with possible problems before they get to U.S. borders.
Chertoff said ESTA is "a 21st century solution" to the problem of keeping terrorists out of the United States.
Critics, however, say the system does nothing to prevent "clean skin" terrorists -- those like shoe bomber Richard Reid who were not on terror watch lists -- from entering the United States. They say the plan removes the emphasis on face-to-face questioning by U.S. officials as travelers apply for visas or cross U.S. borders.
But Chertoff on Tuesday said the relationships the U.S. has built with the Visa Waiver Program is leading to increased information sharing, making the U.S. more secure. An additional eight countries are working to join the program.




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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In what he called a "defining moment for our nation," Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party.

"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another -- a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," he said.

"Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States." Watch Obama say he'll be the nominee »

Obama's rally was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota -- the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September.

Speaking in New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, congratulated Obama for his campaign, but she did not concede the race nor discuss the possibility of running as vice president.

"This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," she said. Watch Clinton congratulate Obama »

There were reports earlier in the day that she would concede, but her campaign said she was "absolutely not" prepared to do so.

Two New York lawmakers also told CNN on Tuesday that during a conference call Clinton expressed willingness to serve as Obama's running mate in November. Watch the latest on a possible joint ticket »'

One source told CNN that Clinton told those on the call that if asked by Obama, she would be interested in serving as his running mate. One of the lawmakers said Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been pushing the idea privately for several weeks.

The Clinton campaign maintains the New York senator merely said she would do whatever is in the party's best interest, and that her comments Tuesday are no different than what she has been saying for weeks.

Clinton said she would meet with supporters and party leaders in the coming days to determine her next steps. She also asked people to go to her Web site to "share your thoughts with me and help in any way that you can." Watch what could be in store in Clinton's future »

CNN has projected that Clinton will win the primary in South Dakota and Obama will take Montana. Those states marked the final contests in the primary season.

Obama praised Clinton's campaign. He has been speaking favorably of the New York senator as his focus has turned toward the general election and his battle against John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

"Sen. Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight," he said.

Diving into general election mode, Obama turned his attacks to McCain, saying it's "time to turn the page on the policies of the past."

"While John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign," he said.

"It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year." Earlier Tuesday night, McCain portrayed himself as the candidate of "right change.""No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward," he said in Kenner, Louisiana.

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GUWAHATI, India (TEN) — At least 12 separatist rebels were killed and one injured Wednesday in a shoot-out between rival groups in India's insurgency-hit northeastern state of Nagaland, police said.

The two armed factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) clashed near Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub, in a dispute over territory, local police chief Liremo Lotha told AFP.

"We are not in a position to say immediately which group the dead militants belong to," Lotha said, adding security personnel were combing through the area.

The fratricidal war between the two factions -- the NSCN-U and the NSCN-IM -- has left at least 50 dead in the past three months.

Both groups are fighting for an independent Naga homeland, although the NSCN-IM is currently holding a ceasefire with government troops.

The insurgency in Nagaland has left more than 25,000 people dead since India's independence in 1947.




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Dimapur | June 2 : In a significant new development since the stalled People’s consultative Forum effort, the Political Affairs Committee of the DAN government has reportedly met with top leaders of the NSCN (IM) and “NSCN/GPRN” while similar meetings with the NNC and FGN have been set to schedule. The PAC informed to have met with leaders of both the aforementioned groups only last month, May.
Mention may be made here that in April, the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government had assured to chart what was stated to be this time a “tangible” plan of action to address and complement reconciliation of the warring Naga resistance groups. Discussions to this affect were engaged April 4 during the joint meeting of the Political Affairs Committee and the state Cabinet, in Kohima.
Considered a ‘preliminary’ step to bring the warring factions to dialogue and ‘reconciliation,’ the PAC also informed to have scheduled a meeting with the Naga National Council (NNC) on June 3, Tuesday. These meetings are the ‘first step’ forming a part of the DAN committee’s plan of action as resolved during the April 4 PAC meeting. This initial phase of meeting with the resistance groups also complements meeting with Naga civil society. It was informed that the Naga Hoho has been met with by the PAC recently.
Naga civil society shall be met with soon, to complement the consultative process as envisaged earlier in the PAC’s plan of action. The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), the Naga Mothers’ Association and the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, the Nagaland GBs’ and DBs’ joint forum, the Eastern Naga Peoples’ Organization and Sumi Hoho were some of the organizations that the PAC said would be meeting in the latter phase. Consultations in phases shall be had with all sections of the Naga civil society, it was informed.
Chairman of the PAC, Dr. TM Lotha said the committee had been in constant touch with all the Naga frontals, in concern, as well as the Naga factions. He said the government is ‘trying’ to ‘contact’ frontal civil organizations while the NSCN (IM) and the “NSCN/GPRN” have been met with, separately. Dr. Lotha refused to divulge matters of consultative interest and discussions that the PAC had with the factions’ leaders. He, however, implied that the meetings were only preliminary in nature without any specific points for deliberations. More such consultations are expected. The former Health Minister said the current engagement with civil society and the factions were “just to get their opinion,” implying it to be groundwork to facilitate further consultative, and more concrete discourses toward the envisaged ‘reconciliation’ of the warring Naga resistance groups.
Dr. Lotha also said that the Naga people need to step forward for dialogue. This imperative is not only for the Naga groups but for the entire Naga spectrum, as a people and society to hammer out issues at the table and not through antagonism and hostile one-upmanship. Additional sources also said that the disturbing issue of factional clashes and civilian casualties were discussed with the factions’ leaders. However, specifics of these reported meetings, by and large, could not be made available by those in concern.
Also, president-elect of the Naga Hoho Keviletuo Kiewhuo said that the PAC had been in meeting with the Naga apex recently. While no discussions on specific terms were undertaken, it was made tacit that a joint meeting would be convened by the Naga Hoho with the committee before long. He said that consultations and meetings in the line of the PAC would continue.
In April this year the DAN PAC had informed to have featured a plan in its resolution to reactivate the DAN’s hitherto stalled People’s Consultative Forum which gone defunct during the alliance’s last stint. This “tangible” plan of action that the DAN Cabinet had in mind through the all-important Political Affairs Committee had included instating subcommittees within the PAC itself. Complementing the sub-committees would be civil forums and organizations with representatives who are expected to play the role of initiators and facilitators.
Senior DAN minister Dr. Shurhozelie had also in April assured greater and intensified efforts toward ushering in reconciliation of the Naga groups. “Without reconciliation, unity has no meaning” he had emphasized repeating the Dr. TM Lotha’s earlier contention that reconciliation should precede solution. Dr. Shurhozelie had added that the responsibility to ushering in healing is for all, “including the Congress party” and not just state-instated bodies like the PAC or even the government itself.

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Human Rights Group Ordered Closed on Procedural Grounds

(Istanbul/New York, June 02, 2008) – A Turkish court’s decision to disband a human rights organization defending lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people shows that official repression poses a serious threat to democratic rights and freedom of association, Human Rights Watch said today.
On May 29, 2008, the Third Civil Court of First Instance in the Beyoðlu district of Istanbul ruled in favor of a complaint brought by the Istanbul Governor’s Office, and ordered the closing of Lambda Istanbul, a group advocating for LGBT people’s human rights. The complaint argued that Lambda Istanbul’s objectives are “against the law and morality.” The court failed to address these claims in its judgment and reached a decision that the association should be closed on purely procedural grounds. The ruling is the latest in a series of legal measures targeting organizations promoting the rights of LGBT people.

“The judge’s arbitrary decision highlights the prejudiced proceedings,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch, who attended the hearing in Istanbul. “If the authorities can close one organization on procedural pretexts, all of civil society is in danger.”

The judgment referred to article 17 of the Law on Associations and article 60/2 of the Civil Code, which taken together provide for closure of associations if they do not “remedy errors and deficiencies” in their statutes. But the court’s judgment did not specify these “deficiencies.” The proceedings made no reference to these articles before this last hearing on May 29. Neither the Governor’s Office nor the judge or prosecutor raised any such deficiencies in the statutes during previous hearings.

Lambda Istanbul’s lawyers told Human Rights Watch they will receive a fuller explanation when the court produces a full verdict in the coming weeks. Lambda plans to appeal the decision and the case will be referred to the Court of Cassation.

The Office of the Governor of Istanbul demanded Lambda Istanbul’s closure in early 2007, claiming the name and objectives of the group were offensive to Turkish “moral values and its family structure.” In July 2007, the local Prosecutor’s Office rejected the complaint, but the Governor’s Office took the case to the courts. The court conducted six hearings before issuing the May 2008 verdict.

In October 2007, Human Rights Watch researchers met with Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler about the case. Although a department under his authority had initiated the complaint, he stated that the case was out of his hands and a matter for the judiciary. Human Rights Watch researchers and members of Lambda Istanbul met again with Deputy Governor Mustafa Altintas on May 23, 2008. Paradoxically, in view of the ongoing attempt to close the organization, he affirmed the commitment of the Governorate and its affiliated Provincial Human Rights Board to cooperate with Lambda Istanbul in future projects to promote LGBT people’s rights.

“The Turkish authorities must decide whether nongovernmental organizations are fair game for harassment, or full partners in a free society,” said Sinclair-Webb. “Promotion of tolerance and respect for civil society by the Turkish government is key.”

In another recent incident, on April 7, 2008, police raided the offices of Lambda Istanbul.
The police justified the incursion by claiming the organization “encourages” and “facilitates” prostitution.

Turkish authorities have targeted other LGBT organizations as well. In September 2005, the Ankara Governor’s Office accused the Ankara-based group KAOS-GL of “establishing an organization that is against the laws and principles of morality.” Similarly, the Ankara Governor’s Office attempted in July 2006 to close the human rights group Pembe Hayat (Pink Life), which works with transgender people, claiming to prosecutors that the association opposed “morality and family structure.” In both cases, prosecutors dropped the charges.

Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a party, requires the Turkish authorities, including the judiciary, to protect freedom of association. Any restriction on this right requires convincing and compelling justification.

On May 21, 2008, Human Rights Watch presented the 123-page report, “‘We Need a Law for Liberation’: Gender, Sexuality, and Human Rights in a Changing Turkey”. The report documents a long and continuing history of violence and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The report calls on the EU to monitor respect for LGBT people’s basic rights as a barometer of Turkey’s human rights progress.


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Dozens Still in Prison on 19th Anniversary of Massacre



(New York, June 2, 2008) – On the 19th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the Chinese government should honor its commitment to improve human rights before the 2008 Beijing Olympics by releasing the estimated 130 Tiananmen prisoners improperly arrested or tried, Human Rights Watch said today.
Chinese army troops initiated a massacre of an estimated 2,000 unarmed people in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and other Chinese cities on and after June 3-4, 1989. The Chinese government has wholly failed to account for those killings and bring justice to the victims.
“The Chinese government should show the global Olympic audience it’s serious about human rights by releasing the Tiananmen detainees,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Beijing’s use of Tiananmen Square as a macabre prop for China’s Olympic ‘coming-out-party’ adds insult to injury.”

The 1989 crackdown extended to major urban centers across China and resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people on charges ranging from “counterrevolutionary” offenses to “hooliganism,” including robbery, arson, and assault. The government continues to harass survivors, their families, and those who dare to challenge the official version of the events at Tiananmen Square. Current figures are not made public, but as recently as 2004, at least 130 individuals arrested in the wake of the June 3-4 massacre were still in prison.

The Chinese government intends to use Tiananmen Square for various Olympic functions. It has already held the starting ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay at Tiananmen, and will hold the closing ceremonies there as well. In February 2001, the Chinese government dropped Tiananmen as the proposed venue for beach volleyball at the request of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation team that visited Beijing five months ahead of the July 2001 IOC decision to award the 2008 Games to Beijing.

On June 3-4 1989, the Chinese government turned its troops and tanks against its own citizens to suppress a movement of students, plus some workers, academics, writers and journalists, demonstrating peacefully for a pluralistic political system. The death toll included the slaughter of hundreds of ordinary Chinese who massed in the streets of Beijing to stop the army from reaching Tiananmen Square.

China was globally condemned for its crackdown on the protesters, and several states imposed sanctions, including the ongoing European Union arms embargo. In 1990, however, then-President Jiang Zemin dismissed international condemnation of the Tiananmen Massacre as “much ado about nothing.”
On the 19th anniversary of the June 1989 Tiananmen massacre, Human Rights Watch again urges the Chinese government to:
overturn the 1989 official pronouncement labeling the student movement a “counterrevolutionary rebellion;”
publicly recognize that the June 1989 massacre is a deeply divisive source of pain and frustration even within the ranks of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, by providing redress to the victims;
cease the harassment, arrest and imprisonment of survivors, family members, and scholars who demand state accountability for Tiananmen abuses; and issue a complete list of those who died or were injured, and those who were imprisoned, as no such lists are publicly available.
“The Chinese government wants the 2008 Beijing Games to expunge the memories of the 1989 Beijing massacre,” said Richardson. “China could replace the image of the lone man blocking the tanks with the image of the Tiananmen prisoners being freed – a truly Olympian gesture.”

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Much of Devastated Irrawaddy Delta Remains Uninhabitable
(New York, May 30, 2008) – The Burmese government should immediately halt forcibly evicting people displaced by Cyclone Nargis from their temporary shelters, Human Rights Watch said today. The Burmese government should abide by its pledge to the United Nations and allow full humanitarian access to all cyclone victims.
“It’s unconscionable for Burma’s generals to force cyclone victims back to their devastated homes,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Claiming a return to ‘normalcy’ is no basis for returning people to greater misery and possible death.”
Human Rights Watch has received credible reports that Burmese authorities have expelled hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced persons from schools, monasteries, and public buildings, and urged them to return to their destroyed villages in the Irrawaddy Delta. The authorities emptied some public buildings and schools to serve as polling stations for the May 24 referendum on a new constitution, despite pleas from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to postpone the referendum and focus all resources on humanitarian relief. Since then, the military government has undertaken a large-scale campaign to evict displaced persons from dozens of government-operated tented relief camps in the vicinity of Rangoon, ordering the residents to return to their home areas, regardless of the conditions there.

Many in the camps fled areas that were completely devastated by the cyclone, which in some areas destroyed 95 percent of homes and other structures, according to humanitarian agencies. Many affected regions of the Irrawaddy Delta remain virtually uninhabitable, lacking shelter, clean water and food, posing a serious health hazard. Continuing unnecessary restrictions on humanitarian access have greatly exacerbated the problems.
The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance. A government official at one camp where people had been forced to leave told Reuters, “It is better that they move to their homes where they are more stable … here, they are relying on donations and it is not stable.” An editorial in the Burmese-language Kyemon newpaper said that people in the delta could survive on “fresh vegetables that grow wild in the fields and on protein-rich fish from the river” if they could not get “bars of chocolate donated by the international community.”
“This not a question of choosing ‘wild vegetables’ over chocolate bars – the junta should not be telling victims to forage for food and mocking the efforts of aid agencies when Burma’s displaced people are still in desperate need and at grave risk,” said Adams. “Without shelter, food, and clean water, the government’s suggestion amounts to sending people to their deaths and is courting a greater disaster.”
People forced from their homes by Cyclone Nargis are considered to be internally displaced persons under international law. Under the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Burmese government should ensure the right of “internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence, or to resettle voluntarily in another part of the country.”
In conducting voluntary returns, the authorities should make “[s]pecial efforts … to ensure the full participation of internally displaced persons in the planning and management of their return or resettlement and reintegration.” The guiding principles also provide that the Burmese authorities should “grant and facilitate for international humanitarian organizations and other appropriate actors, in the exercise of their respective mandates, rapid and unimpeded access to internally displaced persons to assist in their return or resettlement and reintegration.”
“International law says that disaster victims cannot be forced back to unsafe areas,” said Adams. “International pressure is needed to avoid adding yet another violation to the Burmese government’s long list.”


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New Delhi, Jun 2: Prompt action by Indian soldiers on a UN peacekeeping mission has saved the lives of many troops of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA).

A truck ferrying troops of the SPLA overturned on May 28 around 2 p.m., injuring about a dozen soldiers with two of them being stuck under the vehicle and bleeding profusely.

The 2 NAGA Infantry Battalion troops deployed at Bor in southern Sudan immediately rushed to the site to extricate the SPLA troops and provide medical aid.

The immediate response to the humanitarian need by the Indian soldiers helped save lives of SPLA soldiers who would have otherwise bled to death.

The assistance rendered by the Indian troops was widely appreciated and the Sudanese Governor expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the immediate and decisive life saving assistance.

The incident highlights the fine balance the Indian troops maintain in UN missions between professionalism and humanitarian effort beyond the accepted mandate.

The Army contingent comprises of 2 NAGA, 5/1 Gorkha Rifles and other units. The contingent has 878 soldiers from 2 NAGA regiment, 810 soldiers from 5/1 Gorkhas. 400 soldiers from the Force Signal Unit, the 619 Transport Company and a level II hospital of the Indian Army will support both battalions.

India has taken part in UN peacekeeping operations in four continents. Its most significant contribution has been to promote peace and stability in Africa and Asia.


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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel has approved the construction of almost 900 new homes in East Jerusalem, a move that could hinder international efforts to secure a peace deal by year's end.

The Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.

A spokesman for Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim said his office will issue a tender this week for the construction of 884 houses, 121 of them in Har Homa. The rest will be in Pisgat Zeev.

Both are neighborhoods annexed by Israel in 1967. The housing ministry said it timed the issuance of the permits to coincide with the 41st anniversary of the annexation.

Israel and the Palestinians are in peace talks that include the future of Jewish settlements and East Jerusalem. In March, Israel announced plans to build 600 homes in East Jerusalem as part of the Jerusalem mayor's initiative to construct 40,000 homes in the city to ease the housing plight of young couples. At the time, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- who was in the region to shore up support for the peace initiative -- said Israel should stop all settlement activity.

Largely at the request of the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert froze construction in both Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The newspaper said Israel issued a tender last year for the construction of 300 housing units in Har Homa, sparking harsh international criticism.

As a result, Olmert said he will need to approve all future construction plans personally, the paper said.

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(CNN) -- Suspected Islamic insurgents fired mortar rounds at a plane carrying Somalia's transitional president, but no one -- including Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed -- was harmed, a presidential spokesman said.

The attack happened while the plane was about to take off from Mogadishu's airport Sunday around 11 a.m. local time, spokesman Hussien Mohammed Huubsireb said."Al-Shaabab has actually tried to harm to president, but thank God nobody was hurt," Huubsireb said.

Al-Shaabab is an Islamic militia that is trying to seize control of Somalia. It is a splinter group of the Islamic Courts Union, which ousted Somalia's transitional government in 2006. The ICU was deposed in December of that year following Ethiopia's military invasion.

Bloody battles between Al-Shaabab and the Ethiopian-backed government forces in Mogadishu have forced residents to flee the capital.

More than 40,000 displaced civilians have taken shelter in dozens of makeshift settlements west of Mogadishu, described by the United Nations as "precarious conditions."

Sunday's mortar attack is the second assassination attempt on Ahmed. The president survived a car bombing in September 2006 outside Somalia's parliament in Baidoa that killed at least eight others.

Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has been more frequently targeted by the Islamic insurgents seeking to destabilize the government.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked brutal clan infighting. Somalia's current transitional government is trying to maintain control of the capital, with the help of the better-equipped Ethiopian forces.

But the presence of the Ethiopians has united various Islamic militant groups in Somalia, including Al-Shaabab, who are trying to oust the Ethiopian forces and gain control of Mogadishu.

The United States classified Al-Shaabab as a terrorist organization in March, partly because of what Washington says is the group's close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda militant group.


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