The UN on Sept. 2 issued its its report on the deadly May 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, criticizing Israel for using "excessive and unreasonable" force but finding that the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip itself is lawful. Prepared by a panel headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer for the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the report found:

Libya's provisional authority says five international oil firms are resuming operations in the country, VOA reported Sept. 2. National Transitional Council (NTC) member Aref Ali Nayed said the companies include Italian energy giant ENI. We noted yesterday that BP, at least, is waiting for stability to be restored—as members of the Tuareg minority were apparently just met with harsh reprisals by anti-Qaddafi fighters at the desert town of Ghadames, where BP hopes to drill. But The Guardian reported Sept. 1 that BP is already in talks with the NTC to expand operations in Libya. The Guardian also cites a report Sept. 1 in the Paris daily Libération of a secret deal with the TNC under which French companies would control more than a third of Libya's oil production.

Over the past days, more than 500 Tuaregs, including women and children, have crossed from Libya to Algeria, claiming they were forced to flee their homes by anti-Qaddafi fighters. The Tuaregs have taken refuge at the Algerian desert town of Debdeb, where they are receiving aid from the Red Crescent. Many fled from the Libyan desert city of Ghadames after it was occupied by anti-Qaddafi forces. Refugees said the fighters wrote "Death to Tuaregs" on the city's walls, and killed one Tuareg resident. The governments of Mali and Niger meanwhile report that hundreds of former Tuareg rebels who had gone to Libya to fight for Qaddafi are now returning home. Qaddafi backed the Tuareg insurgencies in Mali and Niger in the 1990s, and then recruited former rebels to fight for him when the Libyan revolution broke out. The reports from Ghadames indicate some anti-Qaddafi forces are now taking retribution against Tuaregs indiscriminately. The Tuaregs are the indigenous people of the interior Sahara, their vast and sparsely populated homeland now divided between the nations of Libya, Algeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. (France24, Sept. 2; Ennahar Online, Sept. 1; AFP, Aug. 30)

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Aug. 30 said in a joint press release that they have evidence the Sudanese army has committed war crimes in the country's South Kordofan region. Researchers from the two advocacy groups visited the Nuba Mountain region of South Kordofan where they "documented 13 separate bombing incidents in Kauda, Delami and Kurchi towns alone, in which at least 26 civilians were killed and more than 45 others injured since mid-June." The researchers claim bombings occurred on a continuous basis during their time in the region. They argue that the use of unguided bombs dropped from high altitude on nonmilitary targets is a violation of international human rights law. Amnesty International's Erwin van der Borght called for the UN Security Council to "condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing human rights violations in the Nuba Mountains, and mandate an independent inquiry to investigate abuses committed by parties to the conflict in Southern Kordofan since 5 June."

AlJazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Tripoli Aug. 31, claims to have uncovered documents at the ransacked offices of Abdullah Alsinnousi (also rendered al-Senussi)—Qaddafi's intelligence chief (and in-law), now wanted for war crimes—implicating elements of the United States government in supporting the strongman, in violation of official policy. Damaged in a NATO air-strike before being overrun by rebel troops, the office is now in chaos. Elshayyal claims that among the thousands of once-secret documents now littering the floor, he found some that name US political figures as quietly backing the Qaddafi regime—including Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Writes Elshayyal:

The president of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, denied Aug. 30 any presence of elements of the Polisario Front in the country, in response to a question at a Benghazi press conference about claims aired by Moroccan media that TNC forces have arrested some 556 members of the Western Sahara armed independence movement. The Sahrawi government and the Polisario Front last week said they denied categorically the charges made by the Morocco Board News Service Aug. 25 that Polisario fighters serving as mercenaries for Qaddafi had been detained in Libya. The joint statement called for an urgent independent inquiry into the allegations, and invited the new Libyan authorities to issue a denial. (Sahara Press Service, Aug. 31)

Clashes between police and Shi'ite protesters continue in Bahrain, fueled by the killing of a 14-year-old boy by riot police Aug. 31. The government of the Persian Gulf island state said it would "await a full investigation" by the Interior Ministry before drawing any conclusions about the death. Media reports said the youth was hit with a tear-gas canister in the oil hub area of Sitra. The new protests erupted on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr festival. The death of another protester, the first since early July, comes days after King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa said he would pardon some imprisoned protesters as "reconciliatory gestures" after a Saudi-backed crackdown began in March. Street fighting centers around districts near the Pearl Roundabout, the center of anti-government protests that began in February. Bahrain demolished the landmark Pearl Monument at the center of the plaza in March after it became a symbol of the protests. (CNN, Sept. 1; FT, AlJazeera, Aug. 31)

The Bolivian Supreme Court of Justice on Aug. 30 convicted seven officials—five military officers and two former cabinet ministers—of committing genocide. The military officials received sentences of 10–15 years while the former cabinet ministers received three-year sentences for complicity in the crime. The convicted leaders are not permitted an appeal. One commander of the army, Juan Veliz Herrera, pleaded innocence, and suggested he was being persecuted for having different political views than the current government. Trials for the genocide began in 2009, when the court began proceedings against former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (in absentia) for the deaths of 63 protesters in the "Black October" incidents of 2003. He faces 30 years in prison if convicted. A further 17 former government officials face genocide charges related to "Black October."