Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Oct. 8 demanded that his interior and defense ministers investigate how an imprisoned guerilla leader escaped in the northeastern city of Arauca. Gustavo Anibal Giraldo Quinchia AKA "Pablito" was freed the previous morning when a group of gunmen attacked a convoy transporting him to the local airport for a court hearing. One guard was killed and two injured in the incident. Giraldo is a high-ranking leader of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who opposed peace talks with the Colombian government. He was arrested in January 2008. "There is no explanation for this escape," Uribe told reporters. "There are signs of corruption around this that are very troubling."

Bolivia's President Evo Morales denied Oct. 10 that his government is engaged in a regional arms race, insisting the purchase of six Chinese military jets is only for drug enforcement. "This purchase of aircraft does not threaten anyone, they're not for war," Morales said at a ceremony commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the Bolivian Air Force. "The aircraft purchase is aimed at the fight against drug trafficking and not any arms race."

Some 1,000 workers at Shougang Hierro, Peru's only iron ore producer, have gone on strike demanding higher wages and better working conditions. The workers held a 10-day strike in July, which ended when the company indicated that it would raise wages. The Chinese-owned company did not meet their demands to increase their pay by $1.91 per day, and the workers have now returned to an indefinite strike.

A renowned Buddhist teacher has protested the eviction of his followers from a monastery in southern Vietnam's Lam Dong province, and a group of Vietnamese intellectuals have issued a petition to support them. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese-born Zen master who popularized Buddhism in the West, wrote a letter last week to President Nguyen Minh Triet criticizing the police eviction of nearly 400 from Bat Nha monastery. His followers say a mob including undercover agents descended on the monastery Sept. 27, damaged buildings and forced the devotees out, beating some with sticks.

Just a day after India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram declared that Naxalite violence will not disrupt the Oct. 13 elections in Maharashtra state, the guerillas struck Gadchiroli district Oct. 8, killing 17 police officers. A 300-strong band of Naxals attacked a 40-man patrol of police and commandos of the elite anti-Naxal force C-60, just a kilometer from the Lahiri police station. A pitched battle ensued for four hours.

Shabab insurgents amputated a foot and a hand from each of two young men accused of robbery in Somalia's southern port of Kismayu Oct. 9. A third man who received the sentenced had only a foot cut off, because the militants realized one of his hands was disabled. The Shabab has imposed its strict version of Islamic law on much of Somalia's south and parts of Mogadishu, the capital. The militants compelled thousands of residents to attend the amputations. "It was shocking," said one. "No one could endure such a sight. They were bleeding heavily when they were carried away." (Reuters, Oct. 9)

Dissident rebel factions in Niger are refusing to honor a peace deal brokered between the government and Tuareg guerillas by Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. The Movement of Nigeriens for Justice (MNJ) issued a statement saying "What has just taken place in Libya is a gigantic farce." The Front of Forces for Rectification (FFR) said it would "pursue the political and armed struggle until democratic order and justice are restored."

The issue of Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony, was discussed in depth at the UN's Decolonization Committee meeting in New York this week. The Committee heard testimony on political, human rights and humanitarian aspects of the situation in the territory which has been illegally occupied by Morocco for over three decades. Some 84 petitioners called on the Committee to find a solution to the conflict.