Western Sahara group calls on UN to end Morocco ‘ethnic cleansing' The Polisario Front pushing for independence of the Western Sahara urged the United Nations Tuesday to intervene to stop Morocco's campaign of “ethnic cleansing” in the disputed territory. Polisario Front secretary general Mohamed Abdelaziz also called on the world body, in a message released on Algeria's APS news agency, to send a team to investigate last month's clearing by Moroccan forces of a Western Sahara camp. Morocco says 13 people were killed in the November 8 raid on the Gdeim Izik camp outside the city of Laayoune, most of them security forces. The Polisario Front says dozens were killed, but it has not identified them. Algeria to create state mining group: minister Algeria said on Monday it would set up a mining group to consolidate state-owned assets in the sector. The announcement, made by Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi, appeared to be part of a government policy of giving a greater role to domestic firms and creating state-run national champions in strategic sectors of the economy. “We will create a mines group. There is a huge development program for this sector,” Yousfi told a conference in the Algerian capital. Tunisia Blocks Wikileaks Just as the stories are starting to get interesting, the Tunisian authorities block Wikileaks and every other form of leaks that mention Tunisia based on cables from the whistleblower site. Soon after the cables surfaced activists around the world started creating websites to tackle specific topics and countries drawing from the plethora of information the cables provide. Tunisian activists didn't waste time, Tunileaks was born. Wikileaks: Lockerbie Bomber ‘Freed After Libya Threats' Britain feared Libya would take “harsh and immediate action” against it if the Lockerbie bomber died in prison, leaked US diplomatic cables have suggested. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi made “thuggish” threats to halt all trade deals with the UK and harass embassy staff if Abdelbaset al Megrahi was not freed, according to the latest disclosures. It comes after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pledged to fight moves to extradite him to Sweden after he was refused bail at a court appearance in London. People Returning to South Sudan for January Referendum With a little more than a month left until an independence referendum, southern Sudanese are flocking back to the south from northern Sudan. These returns are causing problems from the humanitarian community and southern government. Between October 30 and December 5, more than 51,000 southern Sudanese have returned from northern Sudan. According to U.N. Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Lise Grande, most of those returnees have gone to Unity State on the border with northern Sudan. BM
