Darfur:
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and US special envoy to Darfur Richard Williamson accused Sudan of violating the ceasefire it signed last week. The UN has sent a special delegation to investigate the alleged bombings. A Darfur rebel group has accused the Sudanese Government of new attacks.
The UN has reported that that Dafur as a whole is becoming more dangerous. Particularly, humanitarian aid groups are facing growing harassment in Darfur, and the UN has criticized the attacks. The UNhumanitarian aid chief just returned from Sudan where he urged more protection in the vulnerable camps for displaced Darfuris.
Three human rights activists have been arrested in Sudan, and were accused of spying for the International Criminal Court. Human Rights Watch has expressed its concern.
Abdel Nabi Ahmed, the leader of Sudan’s largest opposition party Umma, was killed in a car crash earlier this week.
A New York Times article discusses how President-Elect Obama’s choice of Susan Rice as ambassador to the UN means the US will have a stronger advocate for ending atrocities like the conflict in Darfur.
Burma:
This Friday, fifteen detainees, were given harsh prison sentences as part of a judicial crackdown on dissidents suspecting of leading the 2007 uprising.
India and Burma are strengthening economic ties after another round of bilateral talks.
Burma’s top military leader Than Shwe says that plans for elections in 2010 are well underway.
Congo:
Despite promises to maintain a ceasefire, Tutsi rebels led by General Laurent Nkunda captured the town of Ishasha in eastern DRC on Thursday as part of a new military offensive. The renewed fighting has caused some 13,000 Congolese to seek refugein neighboring Uganda.
General Nkunda warned on Saturday that he is prepared to go to war unless the Congolese government agrees to hold talks. According to UN-appointed mediator and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, the government has agreed in principle to talks, but not to any details.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on Sunday that he is in favor of sending a European force to eastern DRC to bridge the gap until authorized reinforcements for the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUC, are deployed. Earlier in the week, Belgium said it would be willing to contribute to such a force.
The UN Security Council discussed the possibility of amending MONUC’s mandate in its meeting on Thursday to better address the current situation on the ground in eastern DRC.