From the International Crisis Group, May 10:

Colombia’s New Armed Groups
The disbanding of the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) between 2003 and 2006 is seen by the administration of President Alvaro Uribe as a vital step toward peace. While taking some 32,000 AUC members out of the conflict has certainly altered the landscape of violence, there is growing evidence that new armed groups are emerging that are more than the simple “criminal gangs” that the government describes. Some of them are increasingly acting as the next generation of paramilitaries, and they require a more urgent and more comprehensive response from the government.

As a campaign of nonviolent protests mount in Okinawa over construction of a new off-shore US military heliport at Henoko, an e-mail alert from the local anti-militarism group "Project Disagree" informs us that the the Japanese government has dispatched the Maritime Self Defense Force ship Bungo to the Henoko base. The Bungo is a gunboat and mine-sweeper equipped with divers, and its mission is apparently to assist private contractors in the environmental "pre-survey" for the off-shore expansion. The environmental assessment is being overseen by the Defense Facility Administration Bureau, and local media have noted that Maritime Self Defense Force involvement in this type of environmental review is unprecedented. Writes Project Disagree: "Although Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Chief Cabinet Secretary, said the Maritime Self Defense Force in Henoko is not tasked with suppression of local base opposition, Okinawans suffering from the US presence and the Japanese government's discriminatory policies reacted with anger."

John Holmes, the United Nations (UN) emergency humanitarian co-ordinator, has said that the UN will investigate accusations that human rights were violated during recent fighting in Mogadishu. Somalia has agreed to the inquiry. [AlJazeera, May 14] Aid workers are said to only be reaching one third of those civilians affected by the violence in Mogadishu. [Reuters, May 14]

The European Union (EU) has lifted a visa ban on several top Uzbek officials, despite a failure to make substantive advances on human rights in the country [according to international monitors]. [The four formerly on the list who are now free to travel to Europe are; Ruslan Mirzayev, a former national security advisor who is currently serving as minister of defense; Saidullo Begaliyev, Andijan’s former governor; Ismail Ergashev, a former top Defense Ministry official; and Kossimali Akhmedov, the former defense boss of the Eastern Military District, which encompassed Andijan.] An arms embargo and other sanctions are to hold up for another year, however. [Eurasianet, May 14]

Israeli troops fired shots amid clashes between Hamas and Fatah forces at the Karni crossing on the Gaza-Israel border [May 15]. [BBC, May 15] At least seven Presidential Guard personnel are thought to have been killed during the Hamas attack. Both factions had announced a cease-fire late on [May 14]. [AlJazeera, May 15] Palestinian Interior Minister Hani al Qawsami resigned on Monday, accusing the government of not having taken security seriously and failing to grant him sufficient authority. Prime Minister Ismail Haniya takes command of forces in the Gaza Strip. [AlJazeera, May 14]

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer threw his support behind a proposal to curtail the president's recently expanded powers to take charge of the National Guard in domestic crises. "Given the Guard's growing importance in local emergencies, we are concerned about having the president assume more control over the Guard," said the governor's spokeswoman, Christine Anderson. Spitzer was reacting to a change in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 that expanded the president's ability to "federalize" the Guard during terrorist attacks, natural disasters, pandemics and other emergencies, without consulting the governors. (Newsday, May 15)

The "Islamic State of Iraq," having claimed responsibility for an ambush on a US patrol south of Baghdad May 12, has warned the US military to stop searching for three soldiers missing after the incident, if they want them to remain safe. (The Guardian, May 15) In a Web statement, a rival coalition of Sunni insurgent groups—the "Jihad and Reform Front"—accused al-Qaeda of killing 12 of its senior members in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood. The coalition claimed to represent the "Islamic Army of Iraq," the "1920 Revolution Brigade" and the "Mujahedeen Army." (Newsday, May 15)

A US and Pakistani soldier are purported to have been killed [May 14] after meeting Pakistani troops near the Afghan border. NATO announced that two of its soldiers, as well as two civilian employees, were injured in the incident. [BBC, May 14] [In Pakistan,] at least 24 people have been killed, and 25 to 30 wounded, in a bomb blast at a Peshawar hotel. [The Guardian, May 15]