The Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns of a further destabilization of post-Qaddafi Libya. "Libya is threatened by a Berber revolt," said the STP's Africa expert, Ulrich Delius. "The country's new leadership is not prepared to honor the help of the Berber militias during the overthrow the Qaddafi regime by recognizing the basic rights of the non-Arab minority. Libya is about to fall back into times as bad as during the Qaddafi regime, if there is no end to the general arabization and racism against non-Arabs." This month has seen scattered skirmishes between Berber and Arab militias and the nascent national army.

A Pakistan-based NGO, the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR), led by Islamabad lawyer Shahzad Akbar, has filed a legal case in that country's courts on behalf of a Pakistani citizen, journalist Karim Khan, whose 18-year-old son and brother were killed in a drone attack on New Year's Eve in 2009. The criminal complaint for wrongful death has resulted in Pakistan CIA station chief Jonathan Banks fleeing the country, apparently to avoid prosecution after his anonymity was compromised. The FFR, along with the UK-based legal advocacy group Reprieve, is also seeking an international warrant for former CIA legal director John Rizzo on behalf of families of civilians killed in drone strikes. Rizzo was the individual responsible for approving targets in drone strikes in Pakistan..

On Dec. 12, "narco-banners" (narcomantas) with a four-paragraph communiqué were hung from pedestrian overpasses at 10 different spots around the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, signed with the name of Miguel Angel Treviño AKA "Z-40"—a fugitive leader of Los Zetas. Not hand-scrawled like most narcomantas, but professionally printed, the messages' first paragraph declared: "We do not govern this country, nor do we have a regime; we are not terrorists or guerillas. We concentrate on our work and the last thing we want is to have problems with any government, neither Mexico nor much less with the US." The message went on to distance both Treviño and the Zetas from the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US, as well as an August attack in a Monterrey casino that killed more than 50.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir arrived in Washington DC Dec. 14 to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, World Bank president Robert Zoellick and international investors at a two-day conference. Simultaneously, California-based Oakland Institute issued a report, based on on-the-ground-research, warning of a scramble for the new nation's land as foreign agribusiness interests move in. "As South Sudan opens for business, foreign companies are flocking to invest in the new country and buy up land," said David Deng, author of the report looking at land deals covering an estimated 5.15 million hectares. " For a school, a health centre, some vague promises of employment opportunities, or a couple of thousand dollars in annual lease payments, companies are given long-term leasehold rights of up to 99 years, often without the knowledge of the local populations living on the land."

Security forces have since Dec. 11 blocked roads leading to the village of Wukan, in China's Guangdong province, after residents chased out police. Residents have gathered in the center of the village, the scene of a peasant protest movement over a land grab by local officials. They are demanding negotiations with the central government to resolve the dispute. Chinese authorities have again resorted to pre-emptive electronic action, blocking Internet searches for "Wukan." Users of micro-blogging site Sina Weibo say searches for "Wukan" returns a message reading: "According to relevant law, regulations and policies, search results for Wukan cannot be displayed."

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank Dec. 11 to mourn the death of a Palestinian protester who died after being hit in the face by a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops at the village of Nabi Saleh two days earlier. The body of 28-year-old Mustafa Tamimi was carried in a procession that began in the West Bank capitol of Ramallah ending 10 kilometers north at his home village, which hosts weekly protests against land confiscation for an illegal settlement. Linah Alsaafin, a Ramallah-based blogger reported live from the scene in Nabi Saleh during the Friday protest in which Tamimi was mortally wounded. He "was throwing rocks at the [Israeli army] jeep, the door opened and the canister was fired with precision and intent straight in his face," Alsaafin Tweeted. "To use their term, 'surgical precision.'" (CNN, Dec. 11; Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 9)

President Joseph Kabila and veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi both claim victory in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Nov. 28 elections, and at least 18 have been killed in political violence in the stand-off. The majority of those killed were shot by Kabila's Republican Guard. Many more have been injured by riot police using tear gas and baton charges against the supporters of Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). Thousands have fled the capital Kinshasa across the river to the Republic of the Congo. The electoral commission has awarded victory to Kabila, of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD).

A Lebanese drug kingpin with alleged connections to both Hezbollah and Mexico's Los Zetas drug cartel, was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering, the Justice Department and DEA announced Dec. 13. Ayman Joumaa AKA "Junior" is accused of shipping an estimated 85,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States and laundering more than $850 million in drug proceeds for Los Zetas cartel through front companies and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. The indictment, unsealed in Alexandria, Va., says his trafficking and laundering networks extended to the United States, Lebanon, Benin, Panama, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere. DEA administrator Michele Leonhart said in a statement: "According to information from sources, his alleged drug and money laundering activities facilitated numerous global drug trafficking organizations, including the criminal activities of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel." (ABC News, DEA press release, Dec. 13)