July 23, 2010
Venezuela – Venezuela breaks ties with US-allied Colombia
Mexico – 8 suspects killed in clash with Mexican soldiers
Kenya – (Reported from) Survey: Burundi most corrupt East African country
France – France targets ‘al-Qaeda militants’ in Mauritania
North Korea – North Korea vows ‘physical response’ to US exercise
India – Ten Indian rebels from rival factions die in gunfight
Vietnam (Reported from) – Clinton warns Myanmar against nuclear cooperation with NKorea, rips regime on rights abuses
Venezuela
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has broken diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia, accusing the close U.S. ally of fabricating reports that Colombian rebels find safe haven inside Venezuela. Souring already poor relations even more, Chavez said Thursday that he was forced to sever ties because Colombian officials insist he has failed to move against leftist rebels who allegedly have taken shelter on Venezuelan territory. At a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, Colombian Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos presented photos, videos; witness testimony and maps of what he said were rebel camps inside Venezuela and challenged Venezuelan officials to let independent observers visit them. Chavez responded within hours, suggesting that his conservative Colombian counterpart, outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, could be attempting to provoke a war. Neither Chavez nor his OAS ambassador directly responded to the Colombian challenge to let people visit the alleged camps. But Chavez insisted Venezuela does everything possible to prevent members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller National Liberation Army from crossing into Venezuelan territory.
Eight suspected drug gang gunmen died in a battle with Mexican soldiers in the remote mountains of northern Chihuahua state, the federal Public Safety Department said Thursday. The department cited an internal army report saying the clash occurred near the rural town of Madera, about 145 miles (230 kilometers) south of the U.S. border. The gunmen apparently opened fire on an army patrol, but the Defense Department did not offer any information on the attack or the identity of the attackers. The area is frequently used by gangs to produce and traffic drugs. Also Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department added two companies owned by daughters of drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to the list of sanctioned companies under the Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
A survey by an anti-corruption watchdog says Burundi is the most corrupt country in East Africa. Transparency International released findings Thursday about bribery in public and private institutions. Rwanda was found to be the least corrupt among the five countries in the region. Kenya was the most corrupt country in last year’s survey, but that survey did not include Burundi and Rwanda. The group interviewed almost 10,500 people across Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda between January and March. Those interviewed were asked whether they had encountered institutions where bribes were demanded for services, if they paid and whether they received the services sought after payment.
France
France has confirmed it took part in a raid against alleged al-Qaeda militants alongside Mauritanian troops. France said it had provided “technical and logistical” support in the raid, in which several suspected militants were reportedly killed. The group targeted has refused to negotiate over a French hostage kidnapped in the region in April, the French defence ministry said. It said the raid was aimed at stopping an attack against Mauritania. Spanish reports said a raid to free the hostage, Michel Germaneau, had failed. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had threatened to kill Mr Germaneau. It was not immediately clear where the raid had taken place, though Reuters news agency cited Malian officials saying that military aircraft had been coming and going and shots had been fired in the north of Mali.
North Korea has promised a “physical response” to joint US-South Korean military exercises this weekend. The comments came as Asian foreign ministers met in Vietnam for a regional security forum. The forum has been dominated by the crisis resulting from North Korea’s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship in March. The US has accused Pyongyang of engaging in “provocative” behaviour and has announced new sanctions against it. North Korea’s delegation spokesman at the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) Regional Forum (ARF) in Hanoi said the military exercises – which begin on Sunday – were an example of 19th Century “gunboat diplomacy” and went against the sovereignty and security of his country.
India
Ten fighters from two rival Indian rebel factions have died in a gunfight in a remote part of India’s north-eastern state of Manipur, say police. Four others were injured in the battle in the Seijiang hill region of Senapati district. The combatants were from two Kuki tribal militias who are in a ceasefire with the government and military. Since the truce, their turf war for control of territory and the drug trade out of next-door Burma has intensified. The Kuki Liberation Army and the Kuki National Front-Presidium, who both claim to fight for a separate Kuki homeland, have been waging their rebellion for two decades. Under a 2008 deal, the factions agreed to refrain from attacking security forces, but their internecine turf war has since mushroomed. Wednesday night’s gun battle lasted for several hours, according to Manipur police chief Joykumar Singh. Kukis, one of the major tribes in Manipur, have previously clashed with other Indian separatist groups from the Naga tribe over homeland demands.
Vietnam (reported from)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling on the countries of Southeast Asia to press Myanmar’s military rulers to abandon any nuclear weapons cooperation it may have with North Korea. At a regional security forum in Vietnam on Friday, Clinton said that “recent events” had called into question Myanmar’s pledges to abide by U.N. sanctions on North Korea that include restrictions on arms transaction. She did not elaborate but there have been reports of North Korean ships with military hardware docking in Myanmar. Clinton is also criticizing the junta for human rights abuses and is urging it to ensure that elections set for later this year are free and fair.
