Tuesday, August 22 06

D.R. Congo election leads quickly to intense armed conflict in Kinshasa between incumbent President Kabila and security forces of opponent Bemba's party. Today's U.N.-brokered ceasefire is the best scenario to keep civil strife at a slow boil until long-standing electoral confusion is sorted out or public confidence can be put behind October 29 election run-off. The effects of chemical weapon use presented as evidence in war crimes trial of Iraq's former President and military commander Saddam Hussein. A bizarre exchange between U.S. President Bush and press gallery over his administration's Iraq occupation strategy is parsed in The Nation. Proposals from the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China, and the Swiss (negotiating for the U.S.) are rejected by Iran's government, setting up a historic standoff. Conflict in The Sudan will be remembered as an instance of U.N. inaction, but UN Dispatch explains how international reluctance emanates from powerful member states.