The Palestinian Authority Prisoners Ministry said that Israeli prison authorities stormed the cells of Palestinian prisoners on April 1, leaving 61 injured. The raid in Israel's Nafha facility came after prisoners refused to give DNA samples, the ministry said. Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqe asserted that every prisoner has the right to refuse forcible DNA testing. PA lawyers have filed a complaint with Israel's Supreme Court to demand the end of forced DNA tests for Palestinians jailed by Israel. (Ma'an News Agency, April 1)

South Sudan accused Khartoum April 5 both of bombing an oil pipeline near the town of Heglig, in South Kordofan state, and of trying to build an "illegal" pipeline crossing the border towards the South's oil fields. "This is oil piracy," military spokesman Philip Aguer charged, adding that a "foreign company" was involved. South Sudan also said it had shot down a Sudanese MiG-29 aircraft over South Sudan's oil-producing Unity state. The claims were denied by Khartoum. Heglig was taken by South Sudanese forces late last month, with the South's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), saying it was responding to incursions by Khartoum's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). (Reuters, AlJazeera, April 5; Sudan Tribune, March 28)

On April 2 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) released the last members of the security forces they were holding captive—a group of 10, who have been held for more than 12 years. They were handed over in a joint operation orchestrated by the Colombian and Brazilian governments, the Red Cross, and activist group Colombians for Peace. The men were picked up in a Brazilian military helicopter, and taken from the jungle to the city of Villavicencio, Meta department, where they were reunited with relatives, appearing before TV cameras waving Colombian flags and punching the air. Afterwards they were flown to Bogotá, where President Juan Manuel Santos gave a speech welcoming their return.

A day after Mali's northern city of Timbuktu fell to Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), it is now reported that Ansar Dine, an Islamist faction that had been cooperating with the rebels, has seized control there, raising its black flag at prominent points. Reports indicate a patchwork of loosely allied factions occupying the city, their ranks swelled by Tuareg and Arab defectors from Mali's army. Gao, the other major northern city, also fell to the rebels over the weekend. (See map) (AP, BBC News, April 2; RFI, April 1)

The Director of National Intelligence released a report drafted with the Defense Intelligence Agency last month warning that competition for increasingly scarce water in the next decade will fuel instability in strategic regions around the world. "These threats are real, and they do raise serious security concerns,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech at the State Department, which requested the report. Depleted groundwater for agriculture, which uses 70 percent of water, could contribute to price spikes such as those last year that have led to international food riots in recent years. "Many countries important to the United States will experience water problems—shortages, poor water quality, or floods—that will risk instability,” the study found. "North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia will face major challenges coping with water problems." (Bloomberg, March 22)

Two Tibetan monks set themselves on fire in Maerkang, Sichuan province, on March 30—bringing the total of protest self-immolations in little more than a year to over 30. The monks came from a monastery 80 kilometers away. When fellow clergy learned of the immolations, they set out for the city only to be blocked by police about halfway to Maerkang (known to Tibetans as Barkham). (AP, March 30) Four days earlier, Tibetan exile Jampa Yeshi self-immolated at a protest march New Delhi, ahead of President Hu Jintao's scheduled arrival in India. (NYT, March 26)

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters overran a military checkpoint at al-Milah in Lahj province of southern Yemen March 31, killing 17 soldiers during an intense battle that also resulted in the deaths of 13 AQAP fighters. The AQAP militants seized two tanks and other weapons. Yemeni warplanes killed three AQAP fighters while attacking one of the seized tanks; it is unclear if the tank was destroyed. AQAP fighters fell back to the city of Ja'ar in neighboring Abyan province, one of several towns now under AQAP control. Ansar al-Sharia, or Partisans of Islamic Law, AQAP's political front in Yemen, claimed credit for the attack in text message, according to Reuters. "The holy warriors of Ansar al-Sharia this morning carried out the raid of dignity on the al-Hurur military checkpoint in Abyan, resulting in the deaths of around 30 [soldiers]," the statement said. (Long War Journal, March 31)

It came to light in Israel last month that the Civil Administration in the West Bank has for years been covertly identifying and mapping available land, and naming the parcels after existing Jewish settlements, evidently with an eye toward expanding these communities. The new outposts are mostly "illegal" under Israeli law (although all the settlements are illegal under international law). The Civil Administration, part of the Defense Ministry, released its maps in response to a request from anti-settlement activist Dror Etkes under Israel's Freedom of Information Law. In some places the boundaries of the parcels outlined in the maps coincide with the route of the West Bank separation barrier.