TerrorismCentral Newsletter
-- For the week ending February 10, 2002 --
AUTHOR:
TerrorismCentral Editorial Staff
TITLE:
TerrorismCentral Newsletter - February 10, 2002
SOURCE:
TerrorismCentral, February 10, 2002
TEXT:
This week the newsletter feature continues in Northern Ireland, looking
at the Good
Friday Agreement and the Omagh
bombing. Next week we wrap up Northern
Ireland with a discussion of the context of these events and the current
peace process.
For more background on the material covered in this newsletter, click on
the links herein. All linked additional information is from the TerrorismCentral
Library.
Also make sure you check out Subscriptions
that offer access to the full collection and investigate ways to participate
in the Commercial
Content section of the web site.
CONTENTS:
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:
1. Africa
Liberia
declares a state of emergency, calling in troops to block thousands of refugees
from entering the capital, Monrovia, in response to Northern rebels moving
on the capital.
In Nigeria,
5 days of ethnic clashes between Hausas and Yorubas have killed more than
100 and sent thousands fleeing for their lives. Soldiers have halted the
fighting, which brought further devastation to an area still reeling from
the deadly explosions of the previous week.
A Rwandan
priest, Father Athanase Seromba, accused in the Rwandan genocide, left his
hiding place in Italy and has surrendered to the United Nations. He denies
the charges.
Sierra
Leone is taking advantage of rebel disarmament to rebuild a peaceful
country. A UN-sponsored war crimes tribunal is being set up, and a Truth
and Reconciliation Commission is also planned.
Zimbabwe has gone forward with tight media restrictions in the face of threatened
sanctions. As reported by Human
Rights Forum, political violence has reached the highest in two years,
with 16 deaths in January.
The Colombian
army will be aided by the US under a Bush administration plan to help protect
the Cano-Limon oil pipeline that has been a frequent target of militant
attacks.
The Mexican
government has commuted the sentence of Jose Francisco Gallardo, a political
prisoner, in another advance on human rights.
The furor over US
President Bush's "axis of evil" remarks continues in the rest
of the world, while in the US it is defended as powerful rhetoric. See below
for the ongoing response from the North
Korea, South Korea, Iran and
Iraq. The status of detainees in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is discussed in the Human
Rights target link section, below.
Confusion surrounds the fate of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl. The FBI has joined Pakistani authorities in the ongoing investigation.--
At least 7 Colombian
troops were killed when 2 tons of dynamite in an arms storage building used
by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) exploded. Separately, a guerilla deserter
claimed that IRA
members arrested in Colombia last year had been there to provide weapons
and training to the rebels.
The fate of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped by an unknown
group calling itself "The National Movement for the Restoration of
Pakistani Sovereignty", remains unknown.
President Bush's State of the Union Address, while well-received domestically,
has caused widespread international outrage over his classification of Iraq,
Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil".
The FBI web site has some intriguing new content. See how government analysts
review recovered documents at http://www.fbi.gov/short/afghanistan.htm
and watch a video on preparation for the Olympic games at http://www.fbi.gov/olympics/olympicsvideo.htm
3. Asia
Afghanistan,
with help from the UN and US, is mediating peace among the warlords to encourage
central management of international aid and an end to continued local violence.
Simultaneously, they are struggling against famine and the winter weather
while US military operations continue in the background of a growing list
of civilian
casualties.
Cambodians,
held their first local elections in 22 years. Despite an election campaign
marred by the killing of approximately 20 opposition candidates and attendance
intimidation and bribery, the voting was relatively peaceful. While results
continue to come in from the countryside, it seems that the opposition party
has gained, but the ruling Cambodian People's Party will remain in control.
The United Nations announced it was unable to continue negotiations to establish
a court to try Khmer
Rouge leaders for genocide due to concern they could not ensure it would
be fair and impartial. Cambodia has rejected this position and says it will
continue on its own.
India,
and Pakistan,
continue to trade fire over the line of control in Kashmir. India has again
rejected calls to hold talks with Pakistan.
Indonesia,
and Aceh separatists agreed to continue peace talks at a later date. Indonesia
has denied accusations by the US that it is not doing enough to control
local terrorist groups.
Efforts towards reconciliation between North,
and South Korea, have been imperiled by US President
Bush's "axis of evil" remarks. South Korea has called on the US
to soften its approach, fearing that his position will undermine the forthcoming
Pyongyang summit and other international efforts.
Pakistan's,
efforts to clamp down internal extremists and open discussions with India
have been clouded by the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl, that adds a constant reminder of previous Pakistani support for militant
groups. The search for the reporter has expanded to crime rings and the
US FBI is assisting.
The Philippines,
plans to ban US forces from engaging in unilateral actions or combat. Their
proposal, not yet accepted by the US Army, is in response to opposition
to the US military's presence in the southern Philippines. Assaults on the
Abu
Sayyaf continue.
4. Europe
Italy,
has responded to US suggestions to widen the "war on terrorism"
to Iraq by saying that it has no intention of expanding intervention without
proof to support such a proposal.
Russia,
has accused the US and Western allies of double standards for failing to
condemn the Chechen rebels as terrorists and for the "axis of terror"
remarks that also indicate different definitions of terrorism between the
putative allies. Russia will not back any US attack on Iraq.
In the Ukraine,
a UN report suggests using the nuclear accident site of Chernobyl as an
eco-tourism site.
5. Middle East
Antar Zouabri, head of the Armed
Islamic Group (GIA), one of the two main extremist groups in Algeria,
was killed, with two colleagues, in a gunfight with Algerian security forces.
Iran's,
historic ties with Afghanistan,
have continued to lead to pointed threats by US officials. Reacting to the
"axis of evil" comments and other threats, Iran has warned the
US not to take military action against it and has put its armed forces on
alert. Iran says the US charges are based on hallucinations not evidence,
and has offered to help the US track down terrorist fugitives who may have
escaped into Iran. It has arrested a number of Taliban supporters. Meanwhile,
Israel's Prime Minister is working to convince the US that Iran is a greater
threat than Iraq. And in an act that has unexpectedly soured relations with
the UK, Iran has rejected Britain's proposal of David Reddaway as its next
ambassador.
Iraq's,
overtures to the UN to renew weapons inspections have been received with
doubt by the US, which has now announced a major policy shift in favor of
a change of regime in Iraq, one that it is prepared to pursue alone if necessary.
Clashes continue in Israel,
the West
Bank and Gaza
Strip, including a courtroom shooting rooted in intra-Palestinian feuding
and an Israeli bombing that killed 5 members of the Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Palestinian retaliation
was swift. Israel continues raids on Palestinian areas in the West Bank.
Israel and the US are demanding that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, still
confined in Ramallah, arrest Palestinian militants, while Arafat faces a
backlash from Palestinian groups including the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), over the anti-terror declarations,
his hint that the right of return for Palestinian refugees was not absolute,
and the arrests he has already made.
More than 170 Israeli army reservists have refused to serve in the occupied
Palestinian territories. The army has decided to suspend them.
Saudi
Arabia, has suggested it would not back a US attack on Iraq even if
it was proven that they were acquiring weapons of mass destruction, suggesting
covert operations would be more effective.
In Tunisia,
police burst into a courtroom hearing to seize dissidents belonging to the
Communist Party.
6. Finance
Saudi
Arabia, is monitoring 150 accounts denoted by US law enforcement agencies
as associated with transfer of terrorist
funding. They are accelerating adoption of anti-money-laundering laws.
This month's Information Security magazine has an interesting article, "Analyze
This: Network Forensic Analysis Tools (NFATs) Reveal Insecurities, Turn
Sysadmins into Systems Detectives." It's available online at http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2002/feb/cover.shtml
7. Human Rights
At the World Economic Forum held in New York last week many speakers, including
US Secretary of State Powell, identified the end to poverty as a crucial
tool to help stop terrorism.
US President Bush has announced that Taliban soldiers in US custody would
be treated according to the Geneva
Convention, but not as Prisoners of War. This change of policy does
not significantly clarify the status of the detainees nor why the US has
not followed the procedures for determining the status of detainees laid
out in UN Conventions. . Meanwhile the International
Committee for the Red Crosssays it considers both the Taliban and al
Qaeda fighters, all captured in combat, to be prisoners of war.
In the US, the American Bar Association, defying a request from the Bush
administration to stay out of the debate, has recommended limitations on
military tribunals and recommended that Congress have a stay in their establishment,
to help ensure defendants are given legal protection.
Human Rights Watch,
has announced it will send a team of researchers to Afghanistan,
next month to try to estimate civilian
casualties, of the US war there.
The Mexican,
government has commuted the sentence of Jose Francisco Gallardo, a political
prisoner, but did not declare him innocent. Previously, President Fox had
freed two ecologists arrested by the army, demonstrating increasing political
control over the army's autonomy.
8. Law and Legal Issues
John
Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban" was denied bail following a
10-count indictment.
Judges in the Scottish Court in the Netherlands have agreed to hear new
evidence in the al-Megrahi's appeal against his conviction in the Lockerbie
bombing.
9. Weapons
of Mass Destruction
The US has announced it's willingness to meet President Vladimir Putin's
request that proposed nuclear,
arms cuts will be in the context of a formal, irreversible and certifiable
agreement.
The FBI is targeting laboratories that have worked with anthrax,
in its continuing investigation of the anthrax-laced letter attacks last
year.
Adoption of the principle of consent, which stated that the people of Northern Ireland have the final say on changes in their status
For a time, it looked as if the unthinkable would occur: accord among the warring
factions - Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein, Republicans) and Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist
Party) were sitting in the same room. . Worries were expressed over whether decommissioning
would ever happen, and what the terrorists would do when freed from jail, but
optimism was high. The all-Ireland referendum to vote on the agreement received
resounding approval by 71.2% of voters in Northern Ireland and 95% of those in
the Republic of Ireland
Optimism was short-lived. The Omagh
bombing, seemed to blast the heart out of the peace process.
It happened on 15 August 1998, a Saturday shopping day, even more busy than usual
(and more filled with children) because a carnival was in town. A 500 pound car
bomb exploded, killing 29 people and wounding more than 350. It was the worst
single act of violence in the prior 30 years of the "Troubles".
The Real
IRA, having split from the IRA,
in opposition to the Good
Friday Agreement, claimed responsibility. While apologizing for the loss of
civilian life, the atrocity did not stop them from conducting a further series
of mainland bombings, most recently a failed attempt in Birmingham at the end
of last year.
Mr. Blair, speaking after visiting the hospital, was clear: "…we must
also carry on the process of establishing real democracy and dialogue in which
all political opinions can argue their case in peace. That is the only alternative
to this violence. There is no other. And I know my duty, even now, amongst the
carnage and the tragedy is to carry on."
A massive cross-border investigation was launched, involving the questioning of
nearly 80 suspects and interviews with over 2,000 people. But after 17 months,
only one person (Colm Murphy) had been arrested, and he was charged with conspiracy,
not murder.
Widespread outrage grew amid rumors that the police knew who the bombers were
and that they had been warned in advance but not acted on the information. This
led to a civil action by the victims' families and an investigation by the Police
Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.
The Ombudsman's
report, issued in December 2001, was damning. It claimed serious flaws with
the investigation, stating that "The victims, their families and officers
of the RUC have been let down by defective leadership, poor judgement and a lack
of urgency." It proposed a series of 6 recommendations that the Ombudsman
hopes "will be fully considered and that a positive way forward will be found
which will facilitate the thorough and effective investigation of the Omagh bomb.
It is in the interests of everyone that those responsible for this terrible atrocity
are brought to justice."
Northern Ireland's Chief Constable, Sir Rodney Flanagan rejected the main claims
of the report and said he would respond fully.
Angry relatives were not calmed by the conviction of Colm Murphy for conspiracy,
particularly given the widespread belief that no other convictions would follow.
Sir Rodney has submitted his response to the Policing Board, which is in the process
of reviewing the materials and meeting with relatives of the victims. The outcome
should be known shortly and we will report it in the newsletter as soon as the
information is available.
Meanwhile, the terms of the Good
Friday Agreement, have still not been completed. Recent announcements regarding
decommissioning by theIRA,
have been positive, but have also been counteracted by renewed violence, (including
the victimization of children on their way to school).
In next week's feature article, we'll cover the peace process and the status of
the paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. In the meantime, check out the joint
UK/Irish document "Achievements
in Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement".
Source materials, topical links, and bibliography for this article can be found
in the TerrorismCentral Library,
including Incidents:
Omagh Bombing, and Government:
Ireland.
HOW TO CONTACT US:
Please contact us with your questions or comments by sending email to editor@terrorismcentral.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Editorial Team
TerrorismCentral
PUBLICATION DATE:
February 10, 2002
DATE:
20020210