This posting is part of our Write-a-Thon Cases Series. For more information visit www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon/

Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini © Private

Despite having been cleared for release more than four years ago, twenty-six-year-old Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini remains detained in Guántanamo. Odaini was sent to the detention center at the U.S Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba in March 2002 along with fourteen other Yemeni nationals, all of whom were turned over by Pakistani police. In June 2005, U.S. authorities declared Odani suitable for release from Guantánamo. Yemeni authorities are prepared to take him back, however he continues to be detained without reason. He has not been interrogated for nearly two years and the reason for his continued detention is unclear.

Participate in this year’s Amnesty International annual Global Write-a-thon and help free Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini by writing a letter on his behalf to the Commander of the Joint Task Force Guantánamo. Be one of the thousands of individuals asking why Odaini and fellow detainees remain detained despite being cleared for release. By putting pressure on the Commander now, we hope to help release Odaini and fellow Yemenis and enable them to go back to Yemen. Writing a letter could not only help Mr. Odaini but the other detainees currently being unlawfully held in Guantánamo.

By Morgan Brescia, AIUSA Campaign for Individuals at Risk

Sudan – Deadly Attacks in the South
Recent ethnic clashes in southern Sudan have killed at least 25 people and displaced dozens of civilians in Upper Nile State since Friday. Violence has been escalating recently, as women and children are increasingly targeted by both tribal militias and the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned today that conflict-affected areas of southern Sudan, including Ezo County in Western Equatoria State where the LRA has been active recently, are facing a high risk of epidemics. WHO cites damaged health facilities, displaced health workers and the difficulty of accessing health facilities as contributing factors to this increasing risk for epidemics. Attacks in recent weeks have caused forced around 80,000 people to flee their homes.

In a separate development, Reuters reports that the NGO Global Witness claims that they have found serious discrepancies in reports of Sudan’s oil revenues, meaning that the Sudanese government may been underpaying the south by hundreds of millions of dollars.  However, government officials denied all accusations made in the report and claimed to the BCC that the south was represented in all state bodies that dealt with oil.

Must Reads

• Global Witness: Fuelling Mistrust: The need for transparency in Sudan’s oil industry
• Enough Project: Sudan: The Countdown
• IRIN News: Women, children increasingly targeted in Southern clashes 

Overheard

The violent clashes are different to the traditional  ‘cattle rustling’ that normally occurs each year. Women and children, usually spared in this fighting, are now deliberately targeted and the number of deaths are higher than the number of wounded… The intention is to attack a village and to kill. The result is a population living in total fear, with significant humanitarian and medical needs – Jonathan Whittall, MSF Head of Mission in southern Sudan, September 3, 2009.

Abatement of violence and intertribal reconciliation in the south are vital to the forthcoming elections in 2010 and the subsequent referendum in 2011 – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, September 6, 2009.  

Yemen – No End to the Violence
Clashes between government troops and rebel groups in Northern Yemen are ongoing and putting the lives of many civilians at risk. Displaced people in and around the city of Saada are trapped in the war zone, unable to leave and without access to humanitarian aid. Those who are able to leave the area have no choice but to use mined roads.

According to the BBC, a truce between the government and rebels which was agreed to on Friday, primarily to allow civilians to flee from the war zone, collapsed just a few hours later. Both sides blame the other for the continuing violence.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is waiting for security clearances in order to open a humanitarian corridor that would allow them to gain access through Saudi Arabia to displaced people in need of tents and other aid. The UN estimates that about 35,000 have been displaced by the fighting in the past three weeks alone.

Must Reads

• International Crisis Group: Defusing the Saada Time Bomb
• Human Rights Watch: Invisible Civilians: The Challenge of Humanitarian Access in Yemen’s Forgotten War
• Reuters AlertNet FactBox: Roots of Yemen’s Conflict with Northern Rebels 

Overheard

Heavy fighting between Al Houthi forces and government troops in and around Saada city in northern Yemen continues with utter disregard for the safety and well being of the civilian population – Andrej Mahecic, spokesman of the UNHCR, September 8, 2009 

The children of Yemen need urgent assistance. We cannot fail them – Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, September 8, 2009

Coming Up

• September 7-8: Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Kinshasa, DRC.
• September 8: Amnesty International releases new briefing on Chad, which uses satellite images to document housing demolitions in N’Djamena. 
• September 8: Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya meets with members of the OAS in Washington, DC.
• September 8: Head of UNHCR begins five-day trip to North Africa to visit refugees from Western Sahara.
• September 8: Inauguration of President-elect Malam Bacai Sanha in Guinea Bissau.
• September 10: Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders due to resume UN-sponsored peace talks.
• Week of September 14: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
• September 15: 64th session of the UN General Assembly opens.

Juliette Rousselot contributed to this post.

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response team.

NIGERIA – Instability Despite an Amnesty Deal
Hundreds of militants in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, including one of the main rebels group’s (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND) top commanders Ebikabowei Victor Ben, have begun to hand over their weapons as part of an amnesty deal offered by Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua. According to the BBC, the weapons handed over included hundreds of assault rifles, several rocket launchers and at least 12 gunboats.

However, factions of MEND have rejected the government’s amnesty offer and have pledged to resume attacks once the ceasefire is over on September 15. Security analysts warn that the Nigerian military will likely launch another major offensive against militants who do not accept the amnesty deal once the 60-day offer period officially ends on October 4.

In a separate development, Reuters reports that Nigerian police broke up an Islamic community in the western part of Nigeria and deported dozens of its members to avert renewed violence, such as last month’s clashes with the Boko Haram Islamic sect which reportedly took the lives of 800 people. The Darul Islam community was reported to be forcibly holding women to be wives.

• Must Reads
  Reuters AlertNet Q&A: The Humanitarian Impact of Niger Delta Offensive
• Amnesty International Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta
• Human Rights Watch: Arbitrary Killings by Security Forces

Overheard

We also support the Nigerian Government’s comprehensive political framework approach toward resolving the conflict in the Niger Delta. This process […] is incorporating the region’s stakeholders as absolutely essential, focusing on the region’s development needs, separating out the militants and the unreconcilables from those who deserve amnesty and want to be part of building a better future for that part of Nigeria – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, August 12, 2009

[MEND] should reconsider their stand and join the amnesty boat because the boat is about to sail –  Timiebi Koripamo, Agary, Spokeswoman for the Presidential Panel on Amnesty. 

YEMEN – Renewed Violence in the North
Over 100,000 people have been forced to flee and scores killed due to renewed fighting in the north of the country between government troops and Shi’ite rebels. The United Nations reported on Friday that at least 35,000 fled their homes in the past two weeks alone , while UNICEF reports that thousands of families remain trapped inside the conflict zone and are in urgent need of humanitarian support.

The BBC reports that Operation Scorched Earth, which begun two weeks ago, is aimed at crushing the rebels and recapturing the town of Harf Sufyan. But analysts argue that this latest assault is unlikely to end this 5-year long conflict and may only deepen instability in Yemen. 
 
The rebels, known as the Houthis after their present leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, are adherents of the Zaydi branch of Shi’ite Islam and claim the government is oppressing the Zaydis. The rebels also oppose the Yemeni government’s support for the US-led “war on terror.” The Yemeni government enlisted  the support of the US after September 11, accusing the Houthis of having links to al Qaeda, Iran and Hezbollah. Although Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh unilaterally declared the war over in July 2008, full-scale fighting resumed late last month.

• Must Reads
  Reuters AlertNet FactBox: Roots of Yemen’s Conflict with Northern Rebels
• International Crisis Group: Defusing the Saada Time Bomb
• Human Rights Watch: Invisible Civilians: The Challenge of Humanitarian Access in Yemen’s Forgotten War

Overheard

We call on both parties to return to the cease fire that was established last year. In the meantime, both parties should avoid any action that would endanger the civilian population in the affected area. We also call on both parties to ensure the security of local and international relief workers in the region, and the safe passage of emergency relief supplies to camps housing internally displaced persons – Statement of U.S. Embassy in Yemen, August 22, 2009

UNICEF stands ready to assist the civilian population. It is essential that we gain immediate and secure access to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance. Children cannot be the innocent victims of conflict – Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director, August 24, 2009

Coming This Week

• August 24-28: Kenya holds its first national census in 10 years.
• August 25: Independent Election Commission expected to release partial results of Afghan elections.
• August 26: Celebrations in the breakaway region of South Ossetia to mark the one year anniversary Russian recognition of its independence following the war with Georgia
• August 27: South African President and SADC chairman Jacob Zuma makes his first state visit to Zimbabwe.

Juliette Rousselot contributed to this post.

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response team

Can someone please explain this to me? How is it OK to arrest someone, send them to Guantánamo, keep them there a couple years, clear them for release, and then not let them leave? Among all the things that confuse and upset me about the way the US government has dealt with the detainees at Guantánamo, the situation of Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini is one of the most baffling.

Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini © Private

A Yemeni national, he was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan, where he had gone to study Islamic law. In 2005, US authorities declared him suitable for release, and Yemeni authorities indicated that they were willing to take him back. But now it’s almost 2009, and Odaini is still stuck in Guantánamo. This situation does not appear to be complicated. Unlike some other Guantánamo detainees, it’s not as if Odaini would be at risk of torture if he returned to Yemen, and it’s clear that he’d be welcomed there. What’s the holdup??

Odaini’s lawyer says “For all he knows, he could be there for the rest of his life.” I really hope this isn’t true, and that Odaini is not feeling totally hopeless.