Conservative wins presidential elections in Nicaragua
The conservative candidate, Enrique Bolanos, assumed the presidency of Nicaragua on Nov. 6. His opponent Daniel Oretega, from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), has publicly recognised Bolano’s victory.
Despite some violent incidents during the electoral process, a vast majority of Nicaraguans attended the polls to enforce their right to vote. The Army was guarding the Centro Nacional de Computo where the votes were being counted.
Nicaragua will now face a period of conservative rule by the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC). In the short-term, the new government will have to deal with the hurricane destruction in the northern zone of Nicaragua, where four people were killed and thousands were evacuated from their homes as a consequence of Hurricane Michelle. Bolanos is a proponent of the free trade campaign. The U.S. Department of State congratulated the new president and expressed their confidence in his commitment to democracy. Bolano’s government is expected to have a lot of support from the U.S., a situation that would have been different if the leftist FSLN had won the elections.
Human Rights Watch global “monitors” chosen
On Wednesday, Nov. 7, Human Rights Watch gave their highest honor to five human rights activists. “They have worked tirelessly - often in dangerous environments - to expose rights abuses and to turn the international spotlight on their countries,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
Those honored by Human Rights Watch were from five countries around the world. Afrasieb Khattak from Pakistan and the head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was honored for his efforts to protect Afghan refugees in Pakistan from deportation and his calls for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan after the military coup in 1999.
Ismail Adylov from Uzbekistan was recognised for investigating and revealing cases of illegal arrests, monitored trials, torture, religious repression and mass violations of human rights by state authorities. He recently was freed from prison after an international campaign calling for his release.
Dr. Haruun Ruun of Sudan is head of the New Sudan Council of Churches and has been working to reconcile ethnic groups in southern Sudan that are in the eighteenth year of a civil war. He fights for the return of abducted women and children to their families, implementation of a local system of law and order, and finding funds to rebuild villages destroyed by the civil war. The New Sudan Council of Churches has also fought against oil exploration in southern Sudan that has forced the displacement of countless citizens.
Abdul Rahman Yacob, a human rights lawyer in Aceh Indonesia, was honored for human rights documentation of the war between Indonesian army and police on one hand and guerrilla forces of the Free Aceh Movement on the other. He defends political prisoners and was recognised for his bravery in the face of daily death threats.
Rosa Isabel Garcia is on the executive council of CENTRACAP, an organization run by current and former domestic workers in Guatemala. CENTRACAP advocates literacy, self-improvement, vocational classes, and worker awareness of workforce rights. Garcia represents thousands of indigenous and non-indigenous women who encounter legal discrimination and daily exploitation as domestic workers in the capital of Guatemala. In addition to working full time, Garcia is studying to be a teacher.
U.S. buys all satellite war images
The Pentagon has spent millions of dollars to buy the exclusive rights to all Ikonos satellite images of Afghanistan from the company that runs the satellite. The agreement includes all images since Sept. 11.
Ikonos, an advanced civilian satellite, takes pictures better than the spy satellites images available to the military during most of the cold war. The detail of the pictures already taken includes a line of trainees marching between training camps at Jalalabad. At the same resolution it would be possible to see bodies lying on the ground after U.S. bombing raids in Afghanistan.
Under U.S. law, the defense department has legal power to exercise “shutter control” over civilian satellites lauched from the U.S. to prevent enemies from using the images while he U.S. is at war. However, no defense department order was given after the bombing raids began.
The satellite images were bought after reports of heavy civilian casualties in the overnight bombing raids of training camps near Jalalabad a few weeks ago.
The U.S. military does not need the pictures for its own purposes because it already has seven imaging satellites in orbit. Four of these take photographic images estimated to be six to 10 times better than the images available from Ikonos.
The decision to use commercial rather than legal means to prohibit access to Ikonos images was heavily criticized because the images would not have shown the position of U.S. forces or compromised U.S. military security. The ban could be challenged as a breach of the First Amendment that guarantees press freedom.
Israel begins Ramallah pullout
On Wed., Nov. 7 Israeli tanks and armored personnel withdrew from Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, as Israel’s largest military occupation on the West Bank since 1994 drew to an end.
However, Israeli soldiers still occupy two other West Bank towns, Tulkarem and Jenin.
Several Ramallah residents held up a sign to the retreating Israeli occupiers with an arrow on it, that read, “Tel Aviv, that way, and stay out.”
The Israeli defense minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, said his forces would maintain a cordon around Ramallah, but had no intention of reoccupying it.
Ramallah residents, who had been confined to their homes by an around-the-clock curfew, cheered at the withdrawal.
The Israeli government said that the occupation of Ramallah had accomplished its goals and that 42 militants had been killed in clashes, 15 were killed in targeted operations, and 85 had been arrested.
Palestinians maintain that the targeted operations are assassinations and that the incursions are the continuations of Israeli aggression.
Israel has maintained a strong grip on the West Bank since Sept. last year.
A Palestinian was killed and three wounded in Gaza on Wednesday near the Neve Dekalim settlement. The Israeli army said they were returning fire after three mortar shells were shot at the settlement.
Near Nablus, three Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed on Tuesday. Israel contends that the Palestinians were killed after firing on an Israeli patrol. However, Palestine is calling for an international inquiry and claims that the three Palestinians were executed by Israeli soldiers after they were wounded.
Also on Tuesday, two members of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group were killed. There are conflicting reports over the circumstances.