Saturday News

• Rwanda and Germany: A guest post on Nicholas Kristof’s blog describes how Rwanda and Germany are working together to address genocide in the 21^st century.
• Sri Lanka: An Amnesty International report describes human rights abuses against journalists, committed by both sides—the Tamil Tigers and the government—in the country’s ongoing civil war.
• Senegal: Bus meets landmine—one killed, 20 injured. The landmine is believed to have been planted by a rebel group seeking independence for the Casamance region, in violation of a 2004 peace accord, and is on the latest of a series of landmine explosions along the same road. Landmines are dirty, dirty business.
• Zimbabwe: Human Rights Watch released a statement calling the upcoming runoff elections in Zimababwe a “tragic joke” due to the prevailing climate of violence and intimidation towards opposition supporters. U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey also cast doubt on the possibility of a fair election. Conflicting reports indicate uncertainty over the participation of the opposition MDC party in the runoff—the BBC writes that a meeting ended without resolution on the matter. Speaking at a press conference, The U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said that the embassy has document over 500 cases of violence since the March 29 elections, only one of which was carried out by an MDC supporter. A UN report states that teachers and schools are being targeted by government and ZANU-PF forces.