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.

Constitutional rule has been restored in Mauritania, according to an evaluation team sent by the European Union, which imposed sanctions after the August 2008 military coup. "The return to constitutional order during a consensual process of ending a crisis has formally been achieved," EU delegation member Filiberto Sebregondi told a press conference Oct. 7. Coup leader Gen. Ould Abdel Aziz was elected president in a July poll contested by the opposition as a "massive fraud."

After two days of protests at the IMF/World Bank meeting in Istanbul Oct. 6-7, reports are mounting of arrested youth brutally beaten by police while in custody. Şerife Ceren Uysal of the Contemporary Lawyers Association said that of the 103 arrested on the first day of protests, 22 were underage. Uysal reported: "Many people were assaulted by the police while in detention. Arrested people were assaulted in the police buses, many of them sustained bruises and swellings." (BiaNet, Oct. 9)

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers met in Zurich Oct. 10 to sign a landmark accord to normalize diplomatic ties between the two nations. The deal, which calls for the border to be reopened within two months, follows six weeks of negotiations mediated by Switzerland. The agreement calls for an international commission to research World War I-era archives to clarify the extent of Turkish massacres of Armenians. Many Armenians fear this will produce a revisionist history that dilutes the enormity of the killing. Some 10,000 protesters rallied in Armenia's capital Oct. 9 to oppose the planned signing.