As former head of a military government in the 1970s and a retired general since, Nigeria’s new president, Olusegun Obasanjo, knows better than most people what ails his country. But he also knows equally well that the men in uniform, universally held responsible for the mess Nigeria’s troubles...
Two New York police officers were convicted this month of the horrific and brutal torture of a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, on August 9, 1997. After his arrest outside a nightclub two years ago, Louima was beaten by four police officers in a car.
Sonia Gandhi withdrew her resignation from the presidency of India’s Congress Party on May 24, after an eight-day hiatus which has strengthened her position but seriously weakened the party.
Indian authorities admitted on May 26 that they have used aircraft to attack mujahideen controlling the area around Kargil, a town 220km northeast of Srinagar. It is the first time they have used aircraft against the mujahideen since the uprising began 10 years ago.
That the African National Congress (ANC) will win the June 2 elections in South Africa is not in doubt. But it is what will follow that worries most people.
US foreign policy has been reduced to a three-point agenda in the post-cold war era: unquestioning support of Israel, daily bombings of Iraq, and chasing Osama bin Laden
After seven years of vicious fighting and the failure of several mediation attempts, the warring factions in the west African state of Sierra Leone have finally agreed to a ceasefire - but only because of strong pressure exerted by the US, Britain, the United Nations and Nigeria. Washington’s role in the deal is said to have been the ‘clinching influence’.
On May 19, Dr Mazen el-Najjar, a Palestinian professor from Tampa, Florida, completed two years in an American jail for reasons he has never been told. He is the father of three American-born children.
India is an artificial State. This may surprise many in the Indian-doting west brought up to regard India as being the ‘largest democracy’ in the world, but this is gradually becoming apparent
After a meeting in Bonn on May 6, the foreign ministers of the G8 group of countries (the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia) announced a set of ‘general principles’ which they had agreed as the basis for a political solution to the Kosova crisis.
The peace deal signed in Doha, Qatar, by Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir and his Eritrean counterpart Issaias Afwerki on May 2 has left Sudanese opposition groups in disarray, with some, like former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, simultaneously holding secret and separate talks with other Sudanese officials.
Merve Kavakci, elected to Turkish parliament from Istanbul as a Fazilat (Virtue) Party candidate in the April 18 election, appears at first sight quite unassuming, even a little shy. But beneath that gentle exterior is a young Muslimah of steely nerves.
Chinese authorities executed two Uighur mujahideen early this month for their part in the Muslim uprising in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan (which the Chinese call Xinjiang Province) in Ramadhan 1417 (February 1997).
There was poetic justice in the conviction of Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari on corruption charges by the Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court on April 15. Each was sentenced to five years in jail and fined US$8.6 million
The NATO summit which took place in Washington from April 23-26 ended with a typically western fudge. After weeks of strong words against Slobodan Milosevic’s government regarding the genocide of Kosova’s Muslims, the Alliance concluded their 50th Anniversary session by authorising Russia to seek a mediated settlement to its war with Yugoslavia.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has reacted angrily to Russian plans to establish a permanent military base in Tajikistan. The Taliban foreign minister, Mohammed Hasan Akhond, complained about the plans in a letter to UN secretary general Kofi Annan on April 11.
Turkey’s Islamist Fazilat party suffered a disappointing result in the country’s parliamentary elections on April 18. The largest party in the old Parliament, they hoped to increase their largest-single party status by increasing the number of seats they won.
Qazi Husain Ahmed started his third term as Amir (leader) of the Jama’at-e Islami in Pakistan on April 8. He was elected by 79.38 percent of the 11,234 votes cast in last month’s leadership elections. He was first elected amir of the Jama’at in 1989.
An estimated 1.7 million Kosovar Muslims have been expelled from their homes in the three weeks since NATO launched its airstrikes to protect them on March 25. Tens of thousands of men have been killed, and at least 100,000 men more are missing, feared dead.
The Kalim Siddiqui Memorial Seminar which took place in London on April 11 focused on his understanding of the global Islamic movement, and on issues facing the movement at this time.
