More News: “Why don’t we just ask them to stop?”

• The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for the Rwandan FDLR and ex-FAR/Interahamwe militias—the groups largely responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide—to “surrender immediately to the Congolese authorities and the United Nations peacekeeping mission.” Have you tried just asking them nicely?
• President Idriss Deby of Chad and President Oumar el-Beshir of Sudan (recovered from his headache, presumably) signed a peace agreement ahead of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Dakar. The two leaders agreed to “normalize” relations between the countries—i.e. stop sponsoring each others rebel groups. If international affairs—and the crisis in Darfur in particular—has taught us anything, it’s that it’s one thing to sign a treaty, and quite another to actually abide by and implement its provisions. So we’ll see.
• Meanwhile, UN and AU envoys in Sudan are preparing for meetings in Geneva next week to review their current efforts in Darfur, prompted by renewed violence in the region in recent weeks.
• In particularly gruesome news, a former death squad leader testified that Charles Taylor, one of the most accomplished of fear-mongers, ordered his soldiers to eat the flesh of their enemy/victims. Mr. Taylor is currently standing trial at The Hague. What justice is there for such an act?
• India, oh India…I thought you were a democracy! I feel betrayed. India has detained Tibet refugees for…a peace march. To the Tibetan border, sure, but still…a peace march. Apparently relations with Beijing take priority over commitments to human rights.
• I’m a huge fan of rebellious Buddhist monks.