The student-led movement to end mass atrocities.

Weekly News Brief: September 8-15, 2008

Sudan:

Insecurity: The Government of Sudan has launched a huge offensive into rebel territory in North , Central , and Southern Darfur, and stands accused of bombing rebel bases and civilians. The government has allegedly been bombing every day for a week, and even bombed the SLM-MM, the one rebel group that signed a peace deal with them.

Injustice: while the International Criminal Court is debating whether to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide and crimes against humanity – Great Britain and France have joined the effort to block the indictment for a year.

Burma:

8 members of the opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and several others have been arrested in central Burma, due to their alleged affiliation with demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. 10 men have been sentenced to jail for their connections with the uprising. Prominent political activist Nilar Thein was arrested as well.

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest, is rumored to have begun a hunger strike.

Congo:

Fighting between the Congolese army soldiers (FARDC) and General Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP militia continued this week in North Kivu province, prompting the UN mission in DRC, MONUC, to relocate troops to the area. The UN Security Council released a statement condemning the violence and calling on all parties to respect the January 2008 ceasefire.

On Friday, Nkunda announced that he had ordered CNDP fighters to withdraw to their original positions. On Saturday, MONUC indicated that the military situation was still tense, but that the area was "relatively calm."

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Uganda is expecting an influx of about 100,000 refugees from DRC by the end of the month as a result of the recent fighting.

London-based resource watchdog Global Witness released a statement on Wednesday warning that cooperation between Congolese army soldiers and FDLR rebels in exploiting eastern DRC’s mineral resources is undermining peace efforts.

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