WikiLeaks: U.K. & U.S. Embrace Bangladeshi Death Squad
One new cable reveals that the British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organizations as a “government death squad.” Since it was established six years ago, the Rapid Action Battalion force has been accused of carrying out more than 1,000 extrajudicial killings. Despite the killings, U.S. and British officials have embraced the unit. In one cable, the U.S. ambassador to Dhaka, James Moriarty, writes that the Rapid Action Battalion is the “enforcement organisation best positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
WikiLeaks: Mauritius Contests Legality of Marine Reserve Near Diego Garcia
There has been political fallout from a WikiLeaks cable related to the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The nation of Mauritius announced plans on Tuesday to contest the legality of a new maritime reserve park around the disputed Chagos Islands after a leaked U.S. cable suggested the park was a ploy to stop uprooted islanders returning home. Britain leased the archipelago’s biggest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States in 1966, paving the way for the construction of a huge airbase which required the forced removal of some 2,000 Chagossians. Publicly, the British portrayed the establishment of the marine park as a move to save the environment. But a U.S. diplomatic cable dated May 2009, disclosed by WikiLeaks, revealed that a British Foreign Office official had privately told the Americans that the decision to set up a marine protected area would “effectively end the islanders’ resettlement claims.”
Halliburton Settles Bribery Dispute in Nigeria
Halliburton has agreed to pay Nigeria $35 million to settle a bribery dispute which led to charges being filed against former vice president Dick Cheney as well as Halliburton CEO David Lesar. Halliburton was accused of paying out over $182 million in bribes in order to build a liquefied natural gas plant in southern Nigeria.
Israeli Jets Bombard Gaza
Israeli jets have bombed as many as seven locations in Gaza since Monday. Initial reports from Gaza said that eight Palestinians were wounded. Earlier, on Saturday, Israeli jet strikes killed five Palestinian militants in Gaza in the deadliest strike on Gaza this year. Israel said the attacks were in retaliation for mortar attacks launched from the territory into southern Israel. The latest Israeli attacks comes just days before the anniversary of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, the month-long assault two years ago that killed over a thousand Gaza residents.
Asian Aid Convoy Heads to Gaza
Meanwhile, the first Asian convoy bound for Gaza has arrived in Syria. Activists from India, Japan, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Bahrain and other Asian countries are taking part in the convoy called “Asia 1,” which aims to deliver aid to the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Koichi Sakaguchi, an activist from Japan: “Urgently, we have to resolve the siege of Gaza, siege of the Palestinians, occupation by the Zionist Israel. I mean, it’s really urgent.”
Request Filed to Arrest Army Officers Linked to Murder of Victor Jara
And in Chile, a formal request has been filed seeking the arrest of four retired army officers for the killing of the folk singer Victor Jara during the 1973 U.S.-backed coup. An attorney with Chile’s Interior Ministry’s Human Rights Program filed the request for the arrests on Tuesday. Victor Jara was an outspoken supporter of Chilean President Salvador Allende. Jara was assassinated on September 15, 1973, four days after the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power.
– from democracynow.org