As South Sudan celebrates its formal birth as Africa's newest state, its constitution, in the process of being drafted, will have an Indian hand in it, IANS reports.

"South Sudan is looking at the experience of democracies like India," said Sandeep Shastri, pro vice-chancellor at Bangalore's Jain University who is helping draft the statute of the country.

"South Sudan has watched the political and constitutional developments in India with great interest and believe that there is a lot that a country like South Sudan can gain from that experience."

An international consultant with the Forum of Federations, a Canada-based think-tank, Shastri is the only Indian involved with public debates being held across South Sudan, a country of over 8 million people, in the run-up to framing the constitution.

The Forum of Federations was also heavily involved in the Norwegian peace process in Sri Lanka. Its representative, Bob Rae, now the Liberal Party’s interim leader, was deported from Sri Lanka in 2008.

Shastri said he had an intensive dialogue with political parties including the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the ruling party in South Sudan, on the federal process.

He underlined that  federalism could be a solution to challenges faced by multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural societies.

“Like the Indian constitution, the interim constitution does not refer to the country as federal even though (like in India) all the features of a typical federal system are enshrined in the constitutional document,” he said.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Monday for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the country’s intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, on charges of crimes against humanity.

See Al-Jazeera’s report here.

Gaddhafi has “absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control” over Libya’s state apparatus and its security forces, presiding judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng said in reading out the ruling.

"State policy was designed at the highest level of the state machinery, and aimed at quelling by any means, including by the use of lethal force, demonstrations of civilians against the regime," she said.

It is the second time in the ICC's nine-year history that it has issued an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state. The ICC indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2009, though he is yet to be arrested.

A group of 17 leading Libyan football figures have announced their defection to the rebels opposing Muammar Ghadaffi’s rule.

They announced the defection to the BBC.

They include the nation's goalkeeper, Juma Gtat, three other national team members, and the coach of Tripoli's top club al-Ahly, Adel bin Issa.

"I am telling Col Gaddafi to leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya," Gtat told the BBC.

BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mark Doyle says “Sports stars matter in the battle for public opinion [and] in football-mad North Africa, the defections are clearly a propaganda blow for Col Gaddafi.”

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested its judges to authorize an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Côte d’Ivoire following the presidential run-off held last November.

If the judges grant the Prosecutor’s request, it will be the first time the ICC opens a case in a State that is not party to the Rome Statute, which set up the Court.

See the UN News Centre’s report here.

At least 3,000 persons were killed, 72 persons disappeared and 520 persons were subject to arbitrary arrest and detentions in Côte d’Ivoire during the post-election violence, according to the Prosecution.

If authorized, Côte d’Ivoire will be the seventh investigation in Africa for the ICC, which is based in the Hague.

Earlier probes were in Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan’s Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya and Libya.

Regarding Libya, the ICC says it will render its decision on 27 June in relation to the Prosecution’s application for three arrest warrants for Colonel Muammar Gaddhafi, one of his sons, Saif Ghadhafi, and the head of the country’s intelligence forces, Abdullah al-Senussi, for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the ongoing conflict.

Officially, Beijing follows what it calls a policy of non-interference and neutrality in the domestic affairs of other nations.

However, the top foreign affairs official in Libya's opposition has just arrived in China for talks with the Beijing government, the BBC reports.

Mahmud Jibril is to be there for two days.

Earlier this month, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati al-Obeidi also spent three days in Beijing, with China saying a ceasefire should be the "top priority" of both sides.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that the US is holding "outreach" talks with members of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"There's been outreach on the part of a number of countries, including the United States," Mr Gates told CNN, without naming other countries involved.

See the BBC's report here.

"I would say that these contacts are very preliminary.

"My own view is that real reconciliation talks are not likely to be able to make any substantive headway until at least this winter."

Mr. Gates, who will leave office at the end of the month, said the first step had been to ensure the contacts were genuine and influential Taliban members.

Afghan President Karzai said Saturday that peace talks involving Afghan officials, the US and other "foreign militaries" were taking place and were "going well".

The UK said that with the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, it was time for the Taliban to "positively engage" in the political process, and that it supported Afghan efforts to reintegrate insurgents who were "prepared to renounce violence, cut links with terrorist groups, and accept the constitution".
 

Nearly thirty years after the end of Guatemala’s civil war, a former armed forces chief has finally been arrested on charges of genocide, forced disappearances and crimes against humanity.

Retired general Hector Mario Lopez, 81, was detained in the capital, Guatemala City, on Friday, accused of being behind the killings of more than 300 indigenous Maya civilians from the Ixil region in 1982 and 1983.

Lopez, the highest-ranking former official to be arrested for massacres in the 1980s, was allegedly involved in about 200 massacres committed while he was chief of staff of the Guatemalan military between 1982 and 1983.

The Guatemalan civil war that started in 1960 cost about 200,000 lives before the government signed peace accords with leftist guerillas in 1996. Independent reports blame the armed forces for most of the deaths.

Read more here and here.

Having cancelled the Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain, where a vicious and bloody crackdown against anti-government protestors has been underway for months, the sports governing body last week reinstated the race for October.

However, with several teams refusing to accept the rescheduling the race has again been cancelled, much to the chagrin of the Bahrain government.

While the official reasons given by the teams are difficulties with logistics, and safety concerns, the backdrop of human rights abuses is inescapable.

This is what one outspoken Formula One driver, Mark Webber, had to say on June 4 (between the reinstatement of the race and its second cancellation):

“My opinion is unchanged since I was first asked about this in late February. Even though a decision has been made, I’ll be highly surprised if the Bahrain Grand Prix goes ahead this year.

“In my personal opinion, the sport should have taken a much firmer stance earlier this year rather than constantly delaying its decision in hope of being able to re-schedule it in 2011. It would have sent a very clear message about F1’s position on something as fundamental as human rights and how it deals with moral issues.

“It’s obvious that the parties involved have struggled to reach a decision but sadly I feel that they still haven’t made the right one. Like it or not, F1 and sport in general isn’t above having a social responsibility and conscience. I hope F1 is able to return to Bahrain eventually but now isn’t the right time.

“As a competitor I do not feel at all comfortable going there to compete in an event when, despite reassurances to the contrary, it seems inevitable that it will cause more tension for the people of that country. I don’t understand why my sport wishes to place itself in a position to be a catalyst for that.”

See his comment, and numerous messages of support from F1 fans, here.

And this is what Max Mosely, a former president of the FIA, the sports governing body, had to say (see his full op-ed here):

“Surely [a] line has to be drawn when a sporting event is not mere entertainment in a less-than-perfect country, but is being used by an oppressive regime to camouflage its actions.

“If a sport accepts this role, it becomes a tool of government. If Formula One allows itself to be used in this way in Bahrain, it will share the regime's guilt as surely as if it went out and helped brutalise unarmed protesters.

“Having carried out [its] horrific acts, the Bahrain government wants to clean up its image. That's where the Grand Prix comes in. By running the race they hope to show the world the troubles were just a small, temporary difficulty and everything is now back to normal.

“By agreeing to race there, Formula One becomes complicit in what has happened. It becomes one of the Bahrain government's instruments of repression. The decision to hold the race is a mistake which will not be forgotten and, if not reversed, will eventually cost Formula One dear.”

Germany has recognised Libya's rebels as "the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people", the BBC reports.

"We want a free Libya, in peace and democracy without [Muammar] Gaddafi," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in the rebel stronghold Benghazi.
 
"The national council is the legitimate representative of the Libyan people."
 
German opposition politicians, media commentators and foreign policy experts had sharply criticised the government for its position on Col Gaddafi, accusing it of failing to live up to its international obligations.
 
Mr Westerwelle said in Benghazi that staying out of the Nato-led operation did not mean Berlin was being neutral.

China said Friday one of its envoys met with a Libyan rebel leader in what could signal Beijing's change of tactics on the conflict after staying on the sidelines and avoiding criticism of Libya's dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The meeting between the head of Libya's rebel council and China's ambassador to Qatar took place in the Qatari capital, Doha. It was Beijing's first known contact with the rebels.

See the AP’s report here.

China said in a statement that Beijing remained hopeful that Libyans themselves could find a political solution to the conflict.

China abstained in the UN Security Council vote in March authorizing the use of force against Libyan forces and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels.

“The meeting shows that China wants to get to know them [rebels] better, but that's still a far cry from recognizing them diplomatically," said He Wenping, director of the Institute of West Asia and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China has also studiously avoided joining international calls for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down, saying that was for the Libyan people to decide.

Russia changes stance

The Chinese move comes as Russia has offered to mediate in negotiations between Gaddafi’s regime and the rebels – a move backed by the United States

Russia, which also abstained in the UNSC vote, and has strongly criticised the West-led military campaign in Libya, has recently reversed its stance on Gaddafi. (See Time's report here, see also The Atlantic's analysis here)

Having opposed regime change, on May 27, President Dmitri Medvedev, signed the G8 summit’s final declaration, which said Gaddafi "has lost all legitimacy" and must give up power. He also agreed to US President Barack Obama's request to mediate in Libya.

See our earlier posts:

'A supremely pragmatic actor' (Jan 2011)
 

Canada’s Liberal Party, pushed into third place in recent elections, has appointed as interim leader Bob Rae.

Rae was a prominent advocate of federalism who figured in the Norwegian-led peace process in Sri lanka between 2001 and 2006.

In June 2009 he was denied entry and deported by Sri Lanka’s hardline regime, which was angered by  Rae’s outspoken criticism of the mass killings of Tamil civilians in the preceding months.

“The world can't just sit back and let this death and destruction happen,” Rae had said in April 2009 as Sri Lankan artillery continued to kill and wound hundreds of civilians every day.

“This is a humanitarian disaster and must be met with a concerted response.”

In accepting the interim leadership, Rae has effectively agreed to forfeit a run for the permanent party leadership.

His supporters have given him the nickname “Bob the Rebuilder,” saying he has done a lot of thinking since the recent election and believes he can contribute right now to the Liberal Party’s revamp.

His first act as interim leader was to appoint a new shadow cabinet.

“I think you are going to see us as a very feisty, very effective party in opposition. We accept the role that the Canadian people have given us. We’ve taken our lumps and our licks and we’re going to be back in the House."

(See this account of one visit to LTTE-held Vanni in 2003 by Bob Rae and a colleague to conduct seminars on federalism. See also his interview to Tamil Mirror in 2008)

Thousands of residents have fled North Sudan’s offensive that captured the disputed Abyei region. As urgent talks began to try and defuse the situation, 110,000 people face a humanitarian crisis.

Having occupied Abyei, Northern Sudan claimed that it had ceased military operations in the region.

A column of northern Sudanese tanks and troops rolled into Abyei last week after weeks of hit-and-run clashes between northern and southern forces, sparking the worst crisis since South Sudanese overwhelming voted for independence.

South Sudan is due to declare independence on July 19 after a successful referendum in January this year, but the fate of Abyei remains uncertain after a referendum on the question was shelved. 

The town is located (and administered from) within North Sudan, but most of the population consists of Southern Sudanese. For the past few years it has been governed by a joint body, comprising northerners and southerners.

An estimated 110,000 people lived in the town till last week, but now few remain, UNMIS, the UN Mission in Sudan, reports.

Humanitarian organizations in Abyei have had their offices ransacked and stocks of emergency relief items looted, the UN said, adding that many aid workers have left the area because of insecurity.

Dominic Deng, commissioner of Twic county in Warrap state, about 80 miles from Abyei town, announced that 80,000 people have arrived after fleeing their homes, and said conditions for the displaced was getting worse.

"They are sleeping under the trees. They need food and water ... some people are dying," he told Reuters.

Northern Sudan claims it acted only after the south's Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) moved unauthorised forces into the disputed region in violation of a 2005 peace agreement.

"The Sudanese armed forces control Abyei and are cleansing it of illegal forces," Amin Hassan Omar, a minister of state for presidential affairs, told reporters after meeting a delegation of the UN Security Council in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

It has taken sixteen years, but Bosnian Muslims finally have a chance to seek final justice with the capture of one of ‘the most wanted man’ in Europe.

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander charged with responsibility for the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre was caught in a small town in northern Serbia on May 26.

Sixteen years after he was first listed as a wanted man for acts committed during the violent break-up of Yugoslavia, the Serbian national now faces The Hague on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His arrest, so long after the crimes he commanded, underlines the powerful impact on international affairs of post Cold War norms of accountability – norms that presently also underpin international operations against Mummar Gaddafi in Libya.

"His arrest is a clear message to accused like Omar al-Bashir and potential accused like Moammar Gadhafi that justice never forgets," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program, in an email to the AP.

Last Friday the 69-year-old was declared fit to face trial and now faces extradition to Netherlands to face the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Since the 2008 arrest of Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, Mladic has been the most prominent Bosnian war criminal on the run.

The Serb ultranationalist has been pivotal to the region’s politics for over two decades.

First he commanded the brutal three year siege of Sarajevo (the longest of a capital city in modern warfare) and the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica.

Then, after going on the run in Serbia, he became a litmus test of the country’s commitment to international codes of conduct. After the Kosovo crisis and the removal of Slobodan Milosovic Serbia’s rehabilitation into international society and its ascension to the European Union became de facto conditional on handing Mladic over to the ICTY.

Reaction

"Today is an important day for the families of Mladic's many victims, for Serbia, for Bosnia, for the United States, and for international justice,” said US President Barack Obama, speaking from the G-8 summit in France. “Those who have committed crimes against humanity and genocide will not escape judgment," he said.

Ratko Mladic pictured with his boss Radovan Karadzic, who is currently on trial before the ICTY

"This is an historic day for international justice. This arrest marks an important step in our collective fight against impunity," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, during a visit to Paris.

"Mladic will finally be held accountable — to Bosnia and the world. ... Once again, we have seen that crimes against humanity will not escape the long arm of justice,” noted former US President Bill Clinton, in a statement. “His arrest also should allow the people of Serbia to take an important step toward integration into Europe and the international community," he added.

"This is a huge moment for the principle that people who engage in genocide will eventually be brought to justice, but also for Serbia,” said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking on Channel 4 news. “It's an interesting example too of the way that Europe and the prospect of European Union membership can act as a magnet for changing the behaviour of countries, changing their political system. So it's big news and good news," he noted.

Both British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague in their reactions to the arrest stressed the long reach and memory of war crimes tribunals.

"We should remember why the international community has been pursuing this man. He is accused of the most appalling crimes in both Srebrenica and Sarajevo," said Mr Cameron.

"The arrest of Ratko Mladic is a historic moment for a region that was torn apart by the appalling wars of the 1990s," noted Mr Hague.

"Almost sixteen years after his indictment for genocide and other war crimes, his arrest finally offers a chance for justice to be done," noted Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“I congratulate Serbia on its efforts to capture Ratko Mladic and I hope this will pave the way for Serbian accession talks to begin no later than 2012," Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb told the AP.

International pressure

Serbia has been under tremendous international pressure to capture Mladic as there had been credible reports that he was hiding somewhere in the Serbian countryside.

Further, the Serbian government was elected in early 2008 on a campaign of further integration with the European Union, and the EU had made it clear that the capture of wanted war criminals was a pre-requisite.

In December 2009, when Serbia formally attempted to join the EU, it officially made clear that the capture and handover of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, another Serb wanted by the ICTY, was one of the necessary steps to membership.

EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso visited Belgrade a week ago and told Serbian leaders that “time was running out”.

“Regarding cooperation with the ICTY, let me be very clear: There is no other way than for Serbia to step up its efforts in the search of the two remaining fugitives. Full cooperation is essential for EU membership, as our member states and the European Parliament have made very clear,” Barroso said.

Further, a leaker report by the chief prosecutor of the ICTY complained that Serbia was taking insufficient efforts to capture the two wanted men.

“Serbia's failure to arrest these two men undermines its credibility and the strength of its stated commitment to fully co-operate with the ICTY,” the draft says.

“It also threatens to tarnish the successful completion of the ICTY's mandate and presents an obstacle to fulfilling the international community's commitment to international justice,” it adds.

Burden removed

In October 2010, Serbia increased the reward for information leading to Mladic’s capture or arrest from EUR1million to EUR 10million.

"The government has money in the budget to cover the reward. There's always money for such allocations," said Infrastructure Minister Verica Kalanovic said at the time. "Serbia is determined to get rid of that burden.”

Speaking to reporters in Belgrade after Mladic’s capture, Serbian President Boris Tadic said it “removes a heavy burden from Serbia and closes a page of our unfortunate history.”

He added that the development “opened” all doors to membership in the European Union.

The EU’s enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele, echoed that sentiment hours later when he said that "justice has been served, and a great obstacle on the Serbian road to the European Union has been removed."

However, he noted that that the arrest did not entirely remove the “list of reforms and list of benchmarks still to be fulfilled before the commission is able to make the respective recommendation.”

“The list is shorter by just one point,” he said.

"A very courageous decision by the Serbian president," said French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. "It's one more step towards Serbia's integration one day into the European Union."

“Clearly [Mladic] was the main person. His capture was most important to the EU and the Netherlands, who is blocking Serbia’s candidacy,” Natasha Wunsch, a research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations told France24.

Mladic is accused by the ICTY of being the person with command responsibility for the four-year siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

Sarajevo

In 1991 Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, resulting in the mainly Serbian Yugoslav Army moving against both countries.

When Bosnia and Herzegovina followed suit by declaring independence in March 1992, the Serbs were determined not to lose more territory.

Between April 1992 and February 1996 undertook almost daily shelling and sniper attacks on the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

A force of more than 18,000 circled the town and embarked on a campaign of shelling and shooting that claimed and estimated 10,000 civilian lives and injured another 56,000.

Srebrenica

In April 1993, the United Nations had declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica in the Drina Valley of north-eastern Bosnia a ‘safe area’ under UN protection.

Mladic drinking champagne with the commander of the UN Peacekeeping forces in Srebrenica negotiating the surrender of arms by Bosnian Muslims which presaged the masscre of 8,000

In July 1995 the area was protected by a UN force, consisting of between 400 and 600 lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers.

When the units of the units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), the Serbian Army, moved to capture the town, the Dutch failed to stop them.

On July 11, Mladic was the Bosnian Serb commander who entered Srebrenica, accompanied by Serb camera crews, and demanded that the Muslims hand over their weapons to guarantee their lives.

In the five days that followed between 25,000 and 30,000 women, elderly and children were forcibly moved from the area. Men and boys between the ages of 12 and 77 were detained for "interrogation for suspected war crimes".

An estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in Srebrenica in those five days.

“An important moment for the Mothers of Srebrenica,” a statement from 6,000 women who lost relatives in the massacre, issued through their lawyers in Amsterdam, said of Mladic’s arrest.

Genocide ruling

In 2004, the ICTY ruled unanimously that the massacre of the male inhabitants of Srebrenica was genocide.

The ruling judge stated: “By seeking to eliminate a part of the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica, a group which was emblematic of the Bosnian Muslims in general. They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity.”