The Colombian government says that it will seek the extradition of eight unnamed people affiliated with the US banana giant Chiquita Brands International for their alleged involvement in the company's payments to illegal right-wing paramilitary groups. The Chicago Tribune reports March 22 that Colombia's chief prosecutor, Mario Iguaran, has formally requested from the US Justice Department documents relating to Chiquita's payment of $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a group that the United States labels a terrorist organization.

Colombian prosecutors have opened a criminal probe of 20 leading political figures for signing a 2001 document with Salvatore Mancuso and other leaders of the illegal paramilitaries in a secret meeting at Mancuso's base at Santa Fe Ralito, Córdoba department. The figures include six former congressmen, five former mayors and two former governors—Jesús María López of Córdoba and Salvador Arana of Sucre, who is in hiding. The investigation extends a growing scandal that follows the arrest of eight congressional allies of President Alvaro Uribe. Fiscal General Mario Iguaran told reporters his National Anti-Terrorist Unit has "formally opened an investigation into these people for conspiring to commit a crime." (Reuters, Vanguardia Liberal, Bucaramanga, March 21; El Tiempo, Bogota, March 20)

At least three suspected Shining Path guerillas were killed March 20 in a gun battle with Peruvian solidiers in Huachocolpa, Huancavelica department. According to a statement from Peru's Defense Ministry, the confrontation occurred in the early morning hours when soldiers were patrolling the area for a group of "terrorists" from the Shining Path's "Comrade Alipio" faction who recently moved into the region and are believed to be working with cocaine traffickers. (Living in Peru, AP, March 21)

The threat of terrorism has allowed governments around the world to crackdown on the rights of ethnnic minorities, according to the latest annual report by the London-based Minority Rights Group International. The report finds that key allies of the US in its "war on terrorism," including the governments of Pakistan, Turkey and Israel, intensified repression of particular ethnic communities in 2006. Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the top 20 list, and Turkey and Israel both show major rises in the rankings this year. Somalia, where a pro-West regime has just taken power, is listed as the world's most dangerous country for minority communities. Iraq is number two.

Mamdouh Habib, a "rendition" victim and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, is running for a state parliamentary seat in New South Wales, Australia. He was picked up in Pakistan in October 2001, transferred to Egypt where he was tortured, then shipped to Guantanamo before being released without charges in 2005—because the Bush administration did not want the torture allegations aired in court, Australian and American officials admit. Habib suffers from severe digestive problems and his doctor believes his stomach has been permanently damaged from having gas forced into it through tubes inserted into his rectum when he was tortured in Egypt. He is running in a coalition that includes Greens, socialists and communists. (NYT, March 21)

Indonesian police shot dead a suspected Islamist militant believed to be linked to Abu Dujana, the purported current leader of the Jemaah Islamiah network, blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people. One militant was also injured after the suspects opened fire during the night raid near the city of Yogyakarta. (Reuters, March 21)

As Bangladesh prepares to hang six militants convicted in a string of bombings, a newly "interrogated" member of the network claims some 5,000 followers of outlawed Islamist groups are still active in the country, and receiving aid from supporters abroad, including Saudi Arabia and the United States. Mostafizur Rahman Shahin, detained in the northern district of Pabna March 14, confessed to being a senior member of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, led by Shayek Abdur Rahman.

Residents of Somalia's capital Mogadishu report that hundreds of militants clashed with Ethiopian and Somali government forces, in fighting that left dozens dead in the northeastern quarter of the city March 20. Insurgents set fire to the bodies of killed soldiers, dragging the flaming corpses through the streets.