Niger Delta, Nigeria
Rebels appeal to celebrities: A Nigerian rebel group that recently blew up two oil pipelines is asking former President Jimmy Carter and actor George Clooney to mediate with oil companies and the Nigerian government on its behalf. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said it was unfair that oil revenues go to foreign companies while local communities suffer environmental damage and extreme poverty. “MEND is prepared for talks and will prefer ex-President Jimmy Carter to mediate,” the group said. “Mr. Carter is not in denial as the rest of you, who brand freedom fighters as terrorists.” If Carter, who met last week with the militant Palestinian group Hamas, is not available, Clooney is the group’s second choice.
Mogadishu, Somalia
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Fighting resumes: At least 80 people were killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu this week, in renewed battles between Ethiopian troops and Islamist militants. In one clash, Ethiopian soldiers storme, d a mosque, killing the imam and a dozen worshippers. Ethiopia has had troops stationed in Somalia to support a U.S.-backed transitional government since December 2006, when Ethiopian troops drove the Islamists from the capital. But the Islamists have not given up, and the Somali government does not control much of the country. Piracy is rampant along the coast, where commercial ships are frequently hijacked and held for ransom. This week, security forces in northern Somalia stormed a hijacked ship carrying food, rescuing hostages and arresting seven pirates.
Baghdad
Targeting al-Sadr: Hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to declare full-scale war on the Iraqi government, as government troops pummeled his loyalists in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra. In Basra, Iraqi soldiers this week took control of the last stronghold of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr, who is based in Iran, accused the Iraqi government of trying to destroy his political movement, and said he would declare “open war” if the campaign against his backers did not stop. But al-Sadr appears increasingly isolated, as major Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish parties have rallied behind Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in his showdown with the militias. The U.S. believes Iran provides weapons to the militias, but Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad this week voiced his support for the crackdown against “lawbreakers” in Basra.
Kuwait City
Arabs shun Iraq: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to Arab countries this week to open official embassies in Iraq. Her plea came during a foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuwait. No Sunni Arab nation has had a fully staffed embassy in Baghdad since 2005, when the Egyptian ambassador was murdered shortly after his arrival. But it’s not just security concerns that give Arabs pause: Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government has close ties to Iran, a non-Arab, Shiite country. Those ties have made Sunni Arab countries, traditionally hostile to Iran, wary. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq turned to Iran because, since Saddam Hussein was ousted, the Iranians have been far more helpful to Iraq than the Arab states have been.
Beijing
Passing the buck on heparin: China said it was not responsible for the deaths of at least 62 Americans who received tainted heparin, a common blood thinner given to cardiac and stroke patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said this week that the deaths probably resulted from a contaminant found in Chinese supplies of raw heparin, derived from pig intestines. Chinese officials are contending that the contaminant is harmless and that the deaths could have resulted from something added in the U.S. plant at which the tainted heparin was processed. They also say that if the U.S. wants to inspect Chinese labs, China should be allowed to inspect U.S. plants as well.
Pyongyang, North Korea
Americans visit for talks: A U.S. delegation went to North Korea this week for the first time since Pyongyang missed a deadline to disclose its nuclear programs. Senior State Department official Sung Kim led the U.S. delegation, which traveled by car from South to North Korea. Under a deal made last fall, North Korea was supposed to deliver a full account of its nuclear activities—including plutonium manufacture, uranium enrichment, and aid to a Syrian nuclear plant—by the end of last year, in exchange for fuel and a lifting of sanctions. It failed to do so. Now, the U.S. says that “acknowledgement” of the U.S. evidence of North Korean activities might be enough. “We expect to have very detailed and substantive discussions,” Kim said.
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