On Feb. 26 the Center for Economic and Political Investigations of Community Action (CIEPAC), a non-governmental organization based in San Cristobal de las Casas in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, received a note reading: "Enjoy your last day. We will kill you I am looking for you and now we have found you." This followed a series of incidents of surveillance and harassment directed at CIEPAC's members over several months. The organization is asking "national and international organized groups in solidarity [to] maintain your vigilance in anticipation of events that might occur shortly, continue your solidarity with social movements in Mexico, and denounce the continuous violations to human rights that are affecting civil society in this country." (CIEPAC bulletin, Feb. 26)

Armed with clubs, rocks and machetes, at least 3,000 Nahuatl indigenous people blocked roads in Soledad Atzompa municipality in the central eastern Mexican state of Veracruz on Feb. 26 and 27 to demand the removal of the military from the 14 municipalities in the Sierra de Zongolica. They also demanded social services and materials for the villages in the region, and punishment for four soldiers accused of the rape of 73-year-old Ernestina Ascension Rosario, who died on Feb. 26 of the injuries she sustained in the assault. In the Feb. 27 demonstration the protesters detained state public safety secretary Juan Manuel Orozco, state prosecutor Emeterio Lopez and other officials for a half hour and damaged their vehicles.

A petition from the Organization of Women's Liberation in Iran (OWLI):

To: all progressive organizations and all freedom-loving people
Your help is urgently needed to release 36 women activists in Tehran!

4th March 2007, a gathering of women activists in front of the Engelab Court, Tehran, was brutally attacked and 36 women were arrested. The gathering was called to protest against the arrest and trial of 5 women activists who were jailed in connection with protests on 22 Xordad [last June] in Haft Tir Square. Their “crime” was to stage a gathering “against the country’s security.” The 5 arrested women activists are Parvin Ardalan, Susan Tahmasbi, Shahla Entesari, and Fariba Davoodi Mohajer.

A statement from the Organization of Women's Liberation in Iran (OWLI):

Azar Majedi in a round table discussion with BBC Radio Scotland:
Military attack on Iran is a human and environmental tragedy in the region!

On 25 February 2007, Azar Majedi, the Chairperson of Organisation for Women’s Liberation, took part in a round table discussion with BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Live programme, about the possible military attack on Iran by USA. The other participant was Mr. Douglas Mary, supporter of New Conservatism and Mr. Bush.

A statement from the international women's rights group MADRE:

On February 26, 2007, Houzan Mahmoud, an international representative of MADRE's sister organization, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, received an e-mail signed by Ansar al-Islam, the notoriously brutal jihadist group based in Kurdistan/Iraq.

Australian "peacekeeping" troops killed four in a raid on rebels in East Timor March 4, but their leader Alfredo Reinado escaped. Reinado, who deserted the army last year and is wanted for his alleged role in deadly clashes that brought down the government, stole more than 20 automatic weapons in a raid on a police post, prompting President Xanana Gusmao to request his arrest by Australian forces. The exchange of fire followed a tense stand-off in the town of Same, where tank and helicopter movements were reported. (AP, The Australian, March 4)

Increasing violence between guerillas and government forces in Central African Republic (CAR) has displaced an estimated 220,000 people, including 150,000 "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) and 66,000 refugees who have fled to Chad and Cameroon. In December, France sent special forces backed by helicopters and fighter jets to dislodge rebel fighters from Birao and others towns in the north of the country, and has maintained a contingent there since. Rebel forces were reported to have re-entered Birao March 3, but government soldiers and a detachment of French troops remained in the town, with the situation tense.

The potential for Iraqi Kurdistan to be the flashpoint for a wider regional conflict is becoming increasingly clear. On March 1, a former member of the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) weighed in on the brewing crisis in Kirkuk, which is coveted as a capital by Iraq's Kurdish regional government. Former MGK Secretary-General Gen. Tuncer Kilinc said Turkey ceded the Kirkuk region to a united Iraq in the 1920s, and if Iraq is divided then Turkey has territorial rights there.