Virginia Tech Shooting
Thirty three people are dead today at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia after a lone gunman opened fire on students. Reuters is reporting that at least two dozen others have been injured.
Officials say this is the deadliest school shooting in US history.
According to CNN:
"Some victims were shot in a classroom," university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.
[...]
"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said university President Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."
The killings mark the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, surpassing attacks at Columbine High School in 1999 and at the University of Texas in 1966.
One person was killed and others were wounded at multiple locations inside a dormitory about 7:15 a.m., Flinchum said. Two hours later, another shooting at Norris Hall -- the engineering science and mechanics building -- resulted in multiple casualties, the university reported.
The first reported shooting occurred at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a coed dormitory that houses 895 students. The dormitory, one of the largest residence halls on the 2,600-acre campus, is located near the drill field and stadium.
[...]
The reporter said there were "lots of students running around, going crazy, and the police officers were trying to settle everyone down and keep everything under control," according to Steele.
Sudan Will Allow Peacekeeping Plan
Looks like Kofi Annan might get one last diplomatic victory before his term as secretary general of the UN finally ends. One of the most egregious international situations to have occurred while he was serving in the UN was the genocide in the Sudan, and Annan has blamed the UN for failing to put a stop to it. That may be about to change. Finally it appears that a last minute attempt to placate the Sudanese could actually work, as they will be allowing 20,000 peacekeeping troops into the Darfur region to try and get a handle on the situation.
The Sudanese government has accepted the U.N. package for Darfur, including the deployment of what is called a "hybrid" peacekeeping operation of U.N. and African Union troops, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.
Spokesman Sadeq al-Magli said the number of troops in the hybrid force "would be decided by the commander and his committee, and we have to state clearly that the entire command would be from the African Union."
The comment reflected his government's long-standing opposition to the deployment of 20,000 U.N. troops in Darfur, as proposed by the U.N. Security Council.
Initial rejection of the plan stemmed partly due to the fact the proposed force only contained a small contingent from Africa. The new plan consists of a much larger percentage of African Union troops, which apparently is enough to satisfy the Sudanese government and assure them that it is not, in fact, a colonial invasion.
In deference to Khartoum's opposition, the U.N. scaled back its plans to replace the African Union force of 7,000 troops in Darfur with the much bigger U.N. operation and, since early November, has been pushing to reinforce the existing peacekeepers with smaller numbers of U.N. personnel as well as technical and financial assistance.
Speaking Thursday -- before the government's assent was announced -- al-Magli said a Darfur peacekeeping mission would be "a hybrid operation and not international or joint forces."
He said Friday that the peacekeeping troops would come mainly from African Union countries, but the U.N. would provide technical assistance, consultants and military and police experts.
Earlier Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he believed the Sudan government had also agreed to make renewed efforts to enforce a cease-fire and negotiate peace with those Darfur rebels who rejected the peace agreement of May. Annan said he had heard that President Omar al-Bashir would approve "a full cease-fire, a renewed effort to bring all parties into (the) political process, and deployment of the proposed African Union-United Nations hybrid force."
The world will be holding its breath and hoping that the cease fire agreement holds this time. But there have been truces before that failed, so we shouldn't be getting too optimistic yet. But still, any improvement in the Sudan is a step in the right direction.
Mexico Cleaning Up The Sixties
Mexico jumped into its way back machine and decided to issue an arrest warrant for ex-President Luis Echeverria for a 1968 student massacre. The warrant charges him with genocide, which hopefully is not a misdemeanor.
Mexican elections are currently just one day away but it is only current President Vicente Fox who is expected to gain anything from the arrest, although he cannot run for President again due to a term limit. Fox was elected to office in 2006 on a justice and anticorruption platform but to date has done very little to punish those officials he targeted. Fox has failed twice to charge Echeverria with the crime of genocide.
Echeverria was President from 1970 o 1976 but the crime occurred on October 2, 1968 when he was the interior minister in charge of national security. In what is now known as the Tlatelolco massacre, over 300 students were killed when government troops attacked a student rally in Mexico City. Prosecutors believe 360 sharpshooters fired from buildings surrounding the Plaza.
During the years covering 1960 to 1980 the Mexican government was engaged in the dirty war against leftists. The worst brutality is alleged to have occurred under the reign of Echeverria. Concentration camps were set up at military bases and the government is accused of implementing a genocide plan.
Echeverria is now under house arrest, has been hospitalized twice in the past year and is currently in poor health. If we follow the Mexican plan, George W. Bush should be arrested in the year 2044.