Colombia's former Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo was charged with conspiracy, fraud and illegal arms trafficking Feb. 10, despite having left the country. The prosecution, having already successfully sought an arrest warrant against Restrepo, demanded the close ally of ex-president Alvaro Uribe be sent to jail while awaiting trial because of his attempt to flee and failure to appear before hearings five times. According to prosecutor Francisco Villarreal of Colombia's Fiscalía, the ex-peace commissioner had actively taken part in a fraudulent demobilization of 62 bogus FARC fighters in 2006.

On Jan. 23, the administration of President Mauricio Funes named retired general Francisco Ramón Salinas as the new director of El Salvador’s National Civil Police (PNC), replacing former director Carlos Ascencio—thus removing the last high-ranking member of the public security cabinet linked to the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). Prior to his naming, Salinas was vice-minister of Defense and an active-duty general; he officially retired from military service several hours before Funes appointed him.

Nigeria's Bayelsa state government said Feb. 9 it will speed up the release of money to help hundreds of thousands of villagers affected by a Chevron off-shore oil spill in January. The affected areas are Kolo Ama I and II, Akasa, Sanagana, Fish Town, Fropa, Ekeni, Ezetu and Lobia—all in Bayelsa state, and with a combined population of some 500,000. Bukola Saraki, chairman of the Senate committee on environment and ecology, said his committee had convened several meetings with senior Chevron Nigeria officials, the Nigerian National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, and the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources to plan an initial impact assessment of the contamination and begin clean-up operations. "We will also ensure that Chevron takes appropriate steps to contain the spill, remediate the impacted area and if there has been any loss as a result, ensure that adequate compensation is paid to the immediate community," Saraki said.

Arms sales from China and Russia are fuelling serious human rights violations in Darfur, Amnesty International said Feb. 8. A new briefing, "Sudan: No end to Violence in Darfur," documents how China, Russia, and Belarus continue to supply weapons and munitions to Sudan despite compelling evidence that the arms will be used against civilians in Darfur. Exports include supplying significant quantities of ammunition, helicopter gunships, attack aircrafts, air-to-ground rockets and armored vehicles. Although the war has largely disappeared from global headlines, an estimated 70,000 people were displaced from eastern Darfur in 2011, in a renewed wave of ethnically targeted attacks against the Zaghawa community by Sudanese government forces and militias. Amnesty said that arms supplied to the government of Sudan are used in Darfur both directly by the Sudan Armed Forces; and government-backed militia including the Popular Defense Force. (AI, Feb. 8)

The Greek cabinet approved new austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF in return for a €130 billion ($170 billion) bailout, as unions began a two-day general strike Feb. 10. This second proposed bailout would cut €3.3 billion from state spending, lower the minimum wage by more than 20%, and lay off thousands of workers. Demonstrators in front of the parliament building threw rocks and petrol bombs at police, who retaliated with tear gas. The austerity bill must be approved by parliament. Five ministers have resigned from the government in protest of the bill, and junior parties in the ruling coalition have defected over the "humiliating" terms. But interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said rejecting the measures "is not an option that we can allow as the country will pay a high price for the consequences... Any other option would be catastrophic." (SETimes, BBC News, NYT, Feb. 10)

Burmese authorities reportedly detained a Buddhist monk who was just recently freed from prison. Shin Gambira was taken early Feb. 10 from a monastery in Rangoon, apparently for "questioning." Shin Gambira, a leader of the 2007 "Saffron Revolution" protests, was sentenced to 68 years in prison after the movement was crushed, including 12 years of hard labor. He was among 651 political prisoners released from detention last month by Burma's new, military-backed civilian government. Western powers have imposed the freeing of political dissidents as a condition for the lifting of economic sanctions. (VOA, AFP, Feb. 10)

se rule, Radio Free Asia reported Feb. 9. Yeshe Rigsal, a monk, and his brother had taken part in a Jan. 23 protest in the predominantly Tibetan county of Luhuo in Sichuan province that turned violent when police shot dead at least one person. The incident came a day after a 19-yr-old Tibetan set himself alight in Sichuan's Ngaba county, and an unidentified monk in his 30s set himself on fire in Tridu county, Keygudo Autonomous Prefecture (Chinese: Chenduo county, Yushu Autonomous Prefecture) of Qinghai province. The youth in Ngaba apparently lived, as security forces arrived and doused the flames, although he is hospitalized and his survival seems doubtful. Identified as Rinzin Dorjee (AKA Rikpe), he self-immolated at his school in Ngaba town, where 13 Tibetans have now set themselves on fire. The new incidents brought to 22 the number of Tibetans who had immolated themselves while protesting against Chinese rule since February 2009. Eight of the self-immolations have taken place this year. (Channel News Asia, Phayul, Tibetan Review, Feb. 10; TCHRD, Feb. 9)

Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike since Dec. 17, and Physicians for Human Rights now say that his life is at risk. This was also acknowledged by the Israeli Prison Service, which has transferred him from military detention on the West Bank to Ziv hospital in northern Israel, and said he had agreed to take potassium pills. Adnan, believed to be a leader of Islamic Jihad, is refusing all food in protest of his ill-treatment and his arbitrary detention without charge or trial—known as "administrative detention." His wife, Randa, who saw him for the first time since his detention Feb. 7 described his condition as rapidly deteriorating, and that he has lost a third of his weight and his hair. Amnesty International said Israel must release Adnan or charge him with a recognizable criminal offense and promptly try him.