Vanderbilt Model UN Weekly Briefing
For 02/22/10-03/01/2010
Written on 03/01/2010 at 7:05 pm
· Chile: Troops Deployed to Assist Earthquake Victims
o Chile hit by 8.8-magnitude earthquake
o At least 723 people confirmed dead
o Thus far, some 160 people have been arrested for looting
o The EU has pledged 3m euros, Japan has pledged $3m, and China has pledged $1m
· Spain: Spain asks Venezuela to Explain Alleged Rebel Link
o Spain is investigating claims that Venezuela assisted two rebel groups that plotted to kill Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe
o An investigation launched in 2008 turned up evidence that the Venezuelan governmental co-operation in the illicit collaboration between Farc and Eta
o These are some of several allegations linking the Farc and President Chavez
· Iran: Reformist Newspapers Banned in Iran
o Etemaad, the country’s biggest-circulation reformist newspaper, was accused of violating media laws
o Another reformist newspaper that was shut down was run by the son of one of Iran’s opposition leaders
o The deputy culture minister of media affairs said the incident was done with a certain degree of leniency, as their licenses were still not revoked
· Nigeria: Police Officers Held over Alleged Extra-Judicial Killing of Members of the Boko Haram Sect in 2009
o Boko Haram attacked a police station in Maiduguri, which led to days of clashes and hundreds of deaths
o An al-Jazeera broadcast that showed footage of the killings was supposedly what led to the arrests
o The footage shows police officials telling the Boko Haram to lie face down and then shooting them at close range
· Somalia: Islamist militants in Somalia are stopping convoys of food reaching more than 360,000 displaced people, according to the United Nation's World Food Program
o The insurgent group, al-Shabaab, says that the UN Program is ruining local farming by forcing Somalis to rely on imports
o The people in Afgoye, where the Program targets, have not received a food distribution from the UN since November 2009
o Somalia has been in conflict since 1991 when its central government collapsed, so much of southern Somalia is controlled exclusively by al-Shabaab
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