China's newly-appointed envoy Liu Guijin called for greater humanitarian aid on a visit to Darfur—but said international sanctions against Sudan would only "further complicate the situation" and prolong the suffering of the 2.5 million refugees displaced by the conflict. Liu met local officials in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, before touring two nearby refugee camps, the report said. An estimated 100,000 people now live in the Abu Shouk and As-Salam camps. (AlJazeera, May 24)

Thirty-three senior Hamas officials have been arrested by the Israel Defence Force (IDF). Among those detained were legislators, mayors and even the Education Minister, Nasser Shaer. [Haaretz, May 24]. Overnight, Israeli Air Force fighter jets targeted Palestinian money exchanges accused of passing monies from Iran, Lebanon and Syria into the arming and training of Hamas militants, the IDF has said. In an earlier incident, IDF fire is reported to have killed a local farmer in the Gaza Strip. [Haaretz, May 24] Palestinian militants have rejected calls for a ceasefire with both Israel and between the rival factions in the Gaza Strip. [BBC, May 24]

Even as UN-mediated negotations are set to begin, Morocco has unleashed a new wave of repression against advocates of independence for Western Sahara. The new crackdown began May 7, when Saharawi students at the university of Agadir, Morocco, were brutally beaten and arrested. On May 17, police clashed with student protesters demanding independence for the occupied territory at Rabat University, with 15 arrested and some students injured. The clash came after protesters defied a police order to end a week-long sit-in at the entrance to the university. Brahim Elansari, a member of the Saharawi Association for Human Rights Victims (ASVDH), was arrested Sunday afternoon after police stopped his car in Laayoune, Western Sahara's main city, said the organization's president, Brahim Dahane. Fellow activist Hassana Douihi, who was riding with Elansari, was also arrested. Shortly afterward, police arrested Naama Asfari, president of the Paris-based Committee for the Respect of Human Freedoms and Rights in Western Sahara. (Infoshop News, May 22)

A rampage by the Mungiki gang, which climaxed May 20 with the beheadings of three men, has prompted scores of residents to flee Kianjogu village in Kenya's Muranga North District. One of the Mungiki leaders, Stephen Kiunjuri, was gunned down by police that night, to the cheers of villagers. The gang has imposed illegal fees, forced youths to sniff tobacco, and repeatedly invaded homes and slaughtered livestock as owners watch. "They would just come into your place and slaughter goats," one resident said. The group established checkpoints, including at the entrance to a shopping center, charging fees for men who were circumcised to pass. In nearby Githemba village, police found Mungiki suspects with parts of male reproductive organs. Local police commander Stanley Lamai said the scene was littered with blood and religious paraphernalia. More organs were found in a house nearby during the May 22 night raid in village. "This is weird. We suspect they were conducting a ritual," said Lamai. (The Standard, Kenya, May 23; The Standard, May 24)

From the Center for Justice and Accountability via Haiti Action, May 22:

Brooklyn, NY — Today, the judge in the mortgage fraud case of former Haitian death-squad leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant dropped Constant's plea bargain and ordered him to stand trial. If convicted, Constant could now face five to fifteen years in New York state prison.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced May 22 that a war crimes investigation will be opened into hundreds of rapes and other violations in the Central African Republic. The investigation concerns the conflict between the former regime of President Ange-Felix Patasse and rebel forces after a failed coup by current president Francois Bozize in October 2002, but the Court is also monitoring the ongoing war in the country's north.

The separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) denied responsibility for the May 22 bomb attack that killed six and wounded up to 100 in the busy Ankara shopping district of Ulus. "We have no connection with the attack," the PKK said in a statement posted on the Firat news agency website, which has ties to the guerrillas. Turkish authorities initially said a suicide bomber carried out the attack, but that the use of A-4 plastic explosives points to the PKK. The PKK has used the explosive in the past, but typically does not carry out suicide bombings. (Hurriyet, Reuters, May 24)

The two main guerilla organizations in eastern Ethiopia's Ogaden region—the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)—say their forces have killed more than 150 government troops in joint operations this month. Ethiopian officials deny the claim. The OLF seeks autonomy for region's majority Oromo peoples, while the ONLF wants an independent state for ethnic Somalis in the region. Last month, the ONLF attacked a Chinese-run oil installation, killing 65 Ethiopian and nine Chinese workers. (BBC, May 21)