Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 1. August 2005 / Timeline August 1, 2005
Version 3.508/01/2005
Det er nu 27 måneder siden, at USAs præsident Bush
erklærede krigen i Irak for vundet.
08/01/2005
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department
of Defense
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. James D. Carroll, 23, of McKenzie, Tenn., died July 31 near Baghdad, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. Carroll was assigned to the Army National Guard's 230th Engineer Battalion, McKenzie, Tenn.
08/01/2005
DR Congo: Prominent Human Rights Defender Assassinated
Transitional Government Must Investigate, Bring Killers to
Justice
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/08/01/congo11549.htm
(London, August 1, 2005) — The Congolese government must
immediately start thorough and independent investigations into
yesterday’s assassination of human rights activist Pascal
Kabungulu Kibembi, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International
and Front Line said today. Pascal Kabungulu was a highly regarded
and courageous defender of human rights who gave hope to ordinary
people afflicted by war and misery. Killing a human rights defender
means spreading fear across whole communities in Congo.
Pascal Kabungulu was the Secretary-General of Héritiers de
la Justice (Heirs of Justice), a leading human rights organization
in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was also the Vice-President
of the regional umbrella Ligue des Droits de l’Homme dans la
Région des Grands Lacs (LDGL).
Pascal Kabungulu was assassinated in his home in Bukavu, eastern
Congo, in the early hours of July 31. Three armed men in uniform
broke into his house, dragged him out of his bedroom and shot him
in front of his family. Family members reported that just before
his execution the attackers said, “We were looking for you
and today is the day of your death.” The men stole Mr.
Kabungulu’s laptop, a TV and a tape recorder.
“Pascal Kabungulu was a highly regarded and courageous
defender of human rights who gave hope to ordinary people afflicted
by war and misery,” the three international human rights
organizations said in a joint statement. “Killing a human
rights defender means spreading fear across whole communities in
Congo.”
Héritiers de la Justice is a well-known human rights group
that has uncovered grave human rights abuses, including war crimes
in eastern DRC. Created in 1991, the organization has been an
independent critic of the governments of former Presidents Mobutu
Sese Seko, Laurent-Désiré Kabila and the current
transitional authorities under Joseph Kabila. The organization has
also documented grave abuses by armed groups operating in eastern
Congo. Pascal Kabungulu joined Héritiers de la Justice in
the mid-1990s and became its Secretary-General in 1999. He had been
planning to leave Héritiers de la Justice to take up a
position at the LDGL secretariat in Kigali, Rwanda.
The human rights organizations said that threats against human
rights defenders in eastern DRC have been on the rise. Since late
last year, a growing number of human rights activists across
eastern Congo have received death threats after denouncing serious
human rights abuses by provincial authorities. Some activists have
had to flee the country fearing for their lives. Several members of
Mr. Kabungulu’s organization, Héritiers de la Justice,
based in more rural areas, have been assassinated in the past.
“The government must urgently carry out thorough and
independent investigations into Pascal Kabungulu’s
assassination, and prosecute those responsible,” the
organizations said. “The insecurity of South Kivu cannot be a
pretext for inaction. Those who defend the rights of others must be
allowed to continue their work free of harassment and
persecution.”
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Front Line also
called on the Congolese transitional government to develop an
effective plan for the protection of human rights defenders, and
asked the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Congo, MONUC, to
provide the government with technical and logistical assistance in
this endeavor.
08/01/2005
DRC: Arms embargo extended one more year
NAIROBI, 1 August (IRIN) - The UN Security Council unanimously
adopted resolution 1616 (2005) on Friday which extends an existing
two-year arms embargo in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for
at least one more year.
The civil war in the DRC officially ended in 2003 but the army of
the transitional government of the DRC and the UN mission there,
known as MONUC, are still trying to control many areas,
particularly in the east, from various armed groups.
08/01/2005
Naval mission aims to boost
Africa security
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition
Petroleum protection is not the only reason behind the U.S.
military's long-term thrust into the Gulf of Guinea to help West
African nations.
"It's not all about oil," said Lt. Cmdr. Dan Trott, Gulf of Guinea
strategy and policy desk officer for U.S. Naval Forces Europe Sixth
Fleet. "It comes down to, there are a lot of resources in the
region, and when you get to the nexus of an area with a lot of
resources and not a lot of security, then you have the opportunity
for the bad actors."
U.S. Naval Forces Europe has embarked on a 10-year push to help 10
West African nations either develop or improve maritime security,
and in turn, boost economic development.
The 10 nations are: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, São Tomé
and Príncipe, and Togo.
The Navy wants to help protect the fishing industries as well as to
combat piracy, drug trafficking and terrorism in the region,
officials said.
"We're not trying to work covertly in the region," Trott said
during an interview in his Naples, Italy, office. "It's vulnerable
to misuse of illegal oil bunkering. Vulnerable to terrorist
acts.
"Part of the U.S. interest is access to the region for trade, for
just regular activities, whether transporting goods or transporting
oil or gas," he said.
The Gulf of Guinea mission dovetails with a bigger-picture push by
the U.S. European Command to combat growing terrorist activity in
unstable regions of Africa, said Lt. Cmdr. Greg Griffitt, EUCOM's
planning and policy Africa programs desk officer, based in
Stuttgart, Germany.
"Maritime security is an important component of our ongoing efforts
in the war on terror," Griffitt said. "For us not to be engaged in
an effort to improve maritime security, both in the region and on
the continent, would be us failing to do our job as part of the
broader war on terror."
EUCOM has conducted 18 military-to-military exercises in Africa so
far in 2005, including military medicine, information operations,
chaplains visits, intelligence officer training and small-unit
reconnaissance patrolling, said Army Capt. Steven Martinez, African
regional program manager for EUCOM's military-to-military
program.
08/01/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of
Defense
American Science and Engineering of Billerica, Mass., was awarded
July 29, 2005, a $9,466,596 firm-fixed price contract for eight
Z-Backscatter Vans to meet U.S. Central Command requirements for
Afghanistan and Iraq. Work will be performed at Billerica, Mass.,
and is estimated to be completed on Sept. 1, 2005. The U.S. Army
Contracting Agency at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., is the
contracting activity. Army Public Affairs can be reached at (703)
692-2000. (GS-07F-8897D)
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