Author: Karagyozian Lena

ARMENIA ENFORCES EMERGENCY RULE

Aljazeera.net
March 3 2008
Qatar

Hundreds of troops were deployed in Armenia’s capital to enforce
a state of emergency as bloody confrontations over allegations of
electoral fraud caused deaths and property damage.

The reinforcements came as representatives from regional groupings
in Europe prepared to mediate in the Armenian crisis.

At least eight people have been killed in the clashes, officials said
on Sunday, with more than 130 wounded.

The government accused protesters of firing at the police but the
opposition denied using weapons in the former Soviet state’s worst
political crisis.

Earlier almost 2,000 opposition supporters locked in a standoff with
police in Yerevan ended their protest over February’s alleged rigged
elections following a call by Levon Ter-Petrosian, the opposition
leader, to disperse.

Police patrolling

Robert Kocharian, the Armenian president, declared a 20-day emergency
over the weekend.

Police closed major streets as hundreds of helmeted servicemen wearing
bulletproof vests and wielding assault rifles patrolled Yerevan,
warning residents not to gather in groups.

The official results of the February 19 elections showed Ter-Petrosian
finishing a distant second to Serzh Sarkisian, the prime minister.

The opposition leader, who is under house arrest, called on his
supporters to go home and refrain from further protests during the
emergency order, but vowed to continue efforts to force a new election
once it expires.

"I do not want any victims and clashes between police and innocent
people," Ter-Petrosian said. "That is why I am asking you to leave."

‘No retreat’

"We shall not retreat," the opposition leader said.

"Acting within the law, within the framework of the constitution,
we shall struggle to the end, until the removal of this hateful and
criminal regime, this bandit and kleptocratic regime."

On Friday Ter-Petrosian appealed to the constitutional court to
overturn the results.

The opposition says Sarkisian stole the election by resorting to
vote-buying, ballot stuffing and pressuring media to skew coverage
in his favour, claims the government denies.

An envoy from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), the leading regional security body, has offered to mediate
in the conflict.

The US has urged both sides to exercise restraint.

Observers from the OSCE have said that the election had mostly met
international standards, but that there were serious flaws especially
in the counting of votes.

WITHOUT A BUGBEAR

KarabakhOpen
03-03-2008 13:52:14

The Demo Public Newspaper tracked the trial of the dismissal of
Associate Professor Gagik Baghunts from the position of head of
Artsakh State University Press.

On December 3 the district court voided the order of the rector of
ASU, and decided that Gagik Baghunts should be appointed back to his
position. Rector Hamlet Grigoryan appealed to the Supreme Court,
but on February 15 the Supreme Court did not change the ruling of
the district court.

The leadership of the university solved the problem their way,
closing down the press.

VANGOLD REPORTS ON OIL AND GAS INTERESTS IN KENYA, RWANDA AND ARMENIA

StreetInsider.com , MI
Feb 28 2008

VANCOUVER, BC — (MARKET WIRE) — 02/28/08 — Vangold Resources
Ltd. (TSX-V: VAN) ("Vangold") has been actively working in Kenya,
Rwanda and Armenia over the last 18 to 24 months. President and CEO,
Dal Brynelsen, comments: "We have successfully opened offices in
Yerevan and Nairobi to support our properties in Armenia, Kenya
and Rwanda.

We have staffed these offices with excellent technical people who have
achieved an exceptional amount of information gathering and compilation
with the help of consultants in the UK and Canada. All of the three
properties which cover in total 43,000 sq kms have exhibited excellent
potential for hydrocarbons. We are very encouraged and look forward
with great excitement to the next several years for which we owe
special thanks to our technical staff. At my request they have prepared
the following report on our current operations and future plans."

Kenya

Mr. Francis M. Karanja, the lead exploration geologist, reports:
Vangold Resources Kenya, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vangold,
has acquired an office in the Nairobi industrial area to provide
technical support for operations in Kenya and Rwanda. Vangold Kenya has
retained the services of a technical team comprising three geoscientist
consultants and one administration officer. The three geoscientists
include an exploration geologist, exploration geophysicist and a
senior geologist. The experienced technical team has developed a
clear operational plan and budget. The team has also acquired the SMT
Kingdom software to undertake in-house interpretation and handling
of the geophysical and geological data.

In Kenya, Vangold has acquired a large [12,270 km2] land package
[Block 3A] which partly lies along the proven hydrocarbons fairway
of Central Africa Rift system [CARS]. The Block 3A acreage occupies
a convergence area of three sedimentary basins of Anza, Mochesa and
Lamu Embayment. The Anza basin [Graben] in Kenya is the termination
rift of the Central African Rift System in northeast Kenya. The basin
forms the southeastern extension of the prolific Melut and Muglad rift
basins in southern Sudan where working petroleum systems have been
proved and oil discovered. Potential source rocks for hydrocarbon
generation and evidences of a Cretaceous working [oil generation]
petroleum system exist in Anza Graben in Chalbi sub-basin to the
north-east of Block 3A. Past petroleum exploration in Block 3A
include geological, geophysical and geochemical studies resulting
in establishment of the geological setting and prospectivity of the
block. The prospects associated with Anza Graben in Block 3A acreage
are the most promising and will be given the first priority by Vangold
management. Two exploratory wells have been drilled in Block 3A.

Vangold has already acquired the previous data on petroleum operations
in Block 3A from the National Oil Corporation of Kenya and is now
in the process of re-processing the data followed by interpretation,
basin modeling, data integration and establishment of leads/prospects
in Blocks 3A & 3B. Before the end of the Initial Exploration Period
of three [3] contract years, Vangold will acquire more 2D/3D seismic
data and drill one exploratory well.

In addition to Block 3A, Vangold has a one-year study option for
Block 3B [12,270 km2] which lies in Lamu Embayment basin south of
Block 3A. The block has adequate magnetic and gravity data with
sparse seismic coverage. Two exploratory wells have been drilled
in the block. Vangold will re-process the relevant geophysical data
and undertake interpretation and integration of the data including
basin modeling for possible existing of active Tertiary, Cretaceous
or Jurassic age petroleum systems. The hydrocarbons prospectivity of
Block 3B based on the existing data will be established and a lead
map for the block generated. Vangold has the option to acquire the
block under the Production Sharing Contract [PSC] or drop the acreage
after one year of study.

The leadership in Kenya, both the government and opposition, are
actively engaged in mediation talks that have resulted in reduced
incidences of violence in the western region of the country. The
eastern part of the country where Block 3 falls has remained unaffected
and oil exploration activities of Lion petroleum [block 1], CNOOC
[block 9] and Lundin [block 10a] continue unabated. Recent intervention
by the US State Department, European Union, African Union and the
rest of the world augurs well for the outcome of the talks.

Rwanda

On March 1, 2007 Vangold reported that it was granted the exclusive
rights to commence negotiations for a production sharing license
for oil and gas in the northwestern part of Rwanda. The concession,
a 2,708 sq kms area, represented 11% of the landmass of Rwanda.

Vangold’s technical team had previously undertaken a technical review
of all information available and negotiations commenced.

Subsequently, in October 2007 Vangold successfully negotiated and
signed a Technical Evaluation Agreement for the East Kivu Graben Basin
area located in the Kivu Graben. A one-year technical study narrowed
the area to 1,631 sq kms.

The main achievement Vangold envisages in Rwanda Kivu Graben is the
establishment of the existence of potential sedimentary basin where
hydrocarbons may have accumulated. The task to achieve the objective
will involve undertaking a defined and specified airborne geophysical
survey [gravity & Magnetic] programme in the entire Vangold’s Kivu
Graben block that includes the Rwanda portion of the Lake Kivu
waters. The acquired data will be subjected to interpretation using
state-of-art technology. Vangold has evidence of a possible working
petroleum system in Kivu Graben with the existence of high carbon
chain hydrocarbons in the deep waters of Lake Kivu. Such hydrocarbons
originate from a source rock adequately matured and deeply [< 2,000m]
embedded in the possible Tertiary lake sediments sequences in Kivu
Graben. Lake sediments of Tertiary age outcrop at Gisakura area in
southwest Rwanda.

The Kivu Graben is the southern extension of the Albertine Graben
in Uganda and DRC where a Tertiary age working petroleum system has
been proved and oil discovered by Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil. We
believe a similar [Tertiary age] working petroleum system exists in
Kivu Graben with a possibility of oil generation and accumulation in
Kivu Graben. Therefore, Vangold has further commissioned ASAR imagery
study of lake Kivu waters as a similar study in Lake Tanganyika to
the south has revealed 10 oil seeps

Armenia

Mr. Gerry Sheehan, Managing Director of Blackstairs Energy plc,
reports as follows on Vangold’s operations in Armenia:

An Exploration and Production Sharing Contract was signed with the
Government of Armenia on April 27th, 2007. The contract covers the
areas designated "Blocks 4, 5 and 6" and extends to c. 13,775 sq. km
(c. 3.4 Million acres) in central and southern Armenia. The contract
will be operated by Blackstairs Energy plc (50%) in partnership with
Vangold Resources (50%). The associated "Exploration Licence Permit"
and the "Licence Agreement" permits were also approved by the Armenian
authorities in May 2007 and December 2007 respectively.

These permits allow unrestricted access to the Licence Area and the
commencement of various technical operations in the blocks.

The term of the contract is for 5 years with two additional extensions
each of 2 years negotiable with the authorities. The work programme
over the initial 5 years comprises Geological Studies, Gravity and
Geochemical studies, Remote Sensing (Satellite Imagery) and 170 km
of 2D seismic. The financial commitment is 2.4 Million $US over the
initial 5 year term.

The commercial terms of the Exploration and Production Sharing
Contract are attractive and serve to ensure that even quite small
accumulations of either oil or gas will be viable for commercial
development. Armenia currently imports all of its hydrocarbons and
there is a ready open market for any indigenous hydrocarbons.

Geological Summary and Prospectivity

The sedimentary basins of Armenia are relatively under-explored. The
geological history is complex due to the major Caucasus
mountain-building structural events. Two main sedimentary basins are
recognized — the "South-Western Basins" extending west to Armenia’s
border with Turkey and the "Central Depression" covering the central
part of the country extend east to the border with oil-rich Azerbaijan
and south towards the border with Iran. Within these basins lie a
series of smaller complex sub-basins. The structural style identified
within these basins displays good potential for the development
of multiple hydrocarbons traps with widespread evidence of folding,
faulting and complex fault thrusts. The Central Depression covers most
of the joint venture’s Licence Area and contains a broad age range of
sediments from the oldest Devonian era sequences right up to thick
recent sediments. This broad sequence offers the potential for the
development of various reservoir, source and seal combinations. In
the extreme south in Block 6, adjacent to the Iranian border, a
Jurassic-Cretaceous sub-basin is virtually unexplored and may offer
significant hydrocarbon potential.

Previous hydrocarbon exploration has been patchy and unsystematic and
undertaken using fairly basic geological and geophysical techniques.

>>From 1947 up to 1990 the former Soviet authorities undertook
fairly sporadic programmes of seismic and drilling, often lacking in
geological and adequate seismic control. Two key well results emerged
from this phase of exploration. The Shorakhpur-1P well east of the
capital Yerevan encountered minor oil. Further west at Armvir the
Oktemberyan-13E well flowed gas at low rates for 6 months. Numerous
other boreholes encountered indications of both oil and gas and several
oil and seeps are also well documented; these are scattered widely
throughout the Licence Area. This phase was followed in the 1990s
by a seismic and drilling campaign by AAEC. Their well — Azat-1 —
drilled to 3524 metres and again encountered minor oil shows before
being terminated for operational reasons. In 2007 Transeuro Energy
Corp. drilled the Kamir-1 exploration well and reported an extensive
reservoir interval with well logs indicating a thick zone of low
gas saturations. Transeuro also reports that this well has now been
suspended with a view to additional logging and testing programmes
later in 2008.

The exploration programmes to date offer sufficient encouragement to
infer the development of a working petroleum system. However, a more
systematic geological and geophysical evaluation programme is required
to advance our understanding of the hydrocarbon prospectivity. The
Blackstairs-Vangold joint venture is now well advanced in developing
a new geological model for the area. A team of local and western
professionals has been assembled and a technical work progamme
is underway. The historical data is being carefully analysed and
incorporated to a modern GIS database. These data are already yielding
valuable geological information and greatly assisting in the evolution
of a new geological model for the area. In order to understand the
major controls on structure formation and sedimentation a Remote
Sensing study (high-resolution Satellite Imagery) was completed
in 2007. This is being followed up with more focused evaluation of
certain areas highlighted from the initial phase and field validation
of newly identified geological trends is ongoing.

A major gravity survey (5000 stations) over Block 4 and 5 also started
in 2007 and will resume in early summer 2008 — this will serve to
elucidate the subsurface structural trends and will be integrated
with the Satellite Imagery and field structural and geological
mapping. The ultimate objective of these studies is to highlight
areas for a focused programme of 2D seismic acquisition targeted at
significant structural trends in promising fairways for reservoir,
seal, source rock and migration route development.

Ultimately the joint venture aims to assemble a good quality prospect
portfolio and rank these individually for a future drilling campaign.

In summary, the geological and geophysical data from the historic
exploration programmes indicate extensive basinal areas with
encouraging evidence that a viable petroleum system may be developed.

The nature and complexity of the structural trends would indicate that
a broad range of trap size is possible. The extensive stratigraphic
sequences should offer multiple reservoir possibilities. The
modern systematic exploration programmes being undertaken by the
Blackstairs-Vangold joint venture should considerably add to our
understanding of this petroleum system.

Blocks 4, 5 and 6 cover a very large area of virtually unexplored
terrain. There are numerous and widespread indications of hydrocarbons,
and the Licence Area represents a good quality acreage portfolio in
a strategic region.

Management of Technical Activities & Licence Administration

Immediately on signing the Petroleum Contract, the Blackstairs
Energy-Vangold Resources joint venture began putting a technical and
office infrastructure in place in Yerevan. An experienced expatriate
General Manager was appointed, local technical (geological and
geophysical) financial and administrative staff recruited, and
an office building with excellent communications and exploration
technical software was configured. These activities are supervised
and supported by the Blackstairs technical team in Dublin, Ireland.

Considerable advances have already been made in the technical
evaluation the Licence Area.

To find out more about Vangold Resources Ltd. please visit our
website at or contact Dal Brynelsen at 604-684-1974
or by email [email protected].

On Behalf of the Board of

VANGOLD RESOURCES LTD.

"Dal Brynelsen" Dal Brynelsen, President and CEO

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news
release. The statements made in this News Release may contain certain
forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ from
the Company’s expectations. Certain risk factors may also affect the
actual results achieved by the Company.

Distributed by Filing Services Canada and retransmitted by Marketwire

Vangold Resources Ltd.

P.O. Box 11622 1730 – 650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada,
V6B 4N9 Phone: 604-684-1974 Fax: 604-685-5970

+Releases/Vangold+Reports+on+Oil+and+Gas+Interests +in+Kenya,+Rwanda+and+Armenia/3413419.html

ARMENIAN LEADER SAYS OSCE PROPOSALS "GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT" IN KARABAKH TALKS

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 29 2008

Yerevan, 29 February: Robert Kocharyan stated in Yerevan today that
after he took office of the President in 1998, Armenia has not received
proposals from the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, according to which
Nagornyy Karabakh should be included in the composition of Azerbaijan.

Mediamax reports, speaking during the meeting with YSU [Yerevan State
University] students today, Robert Kocharyan described this fact as
the greatest achievement in the process of peace settlement for the
recent 10 years.

The president stated that in their proposals, the mediators always
to a smaller or greater extent base on the moods of the sides and
criticized the approaches of the radical opposition to the process of
the Karabakh conflict settlement. He noted that taking up defeatist
stance inside Armenia will have negative influence on the approaches
of the mediator-states.

Robert Kocharyan noted that the co-chairs may form an opinion that
360,000 citizens of Armenia, who gave their votes for the radical
opposition, are ready to surrender the liberated territories; however
in reality these are the representatives of the protesting electorate,
which is discontent with the work of the authorities.

Robert Kocharyan expressed opinion that one must not artificially
prolong or accelerate the settlement process, "however, one also must
not yield in issues of principle importance for us".

A WORKING CONFERENCE IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Azat Artsakh Daily
28-02-2008
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh

On February 27th the Speaker of NKR National Assembly convened a
working conference, by the participation of the chairmen of permenant
commissions and executives of the stuff’s services.

The theme of the discussion was the question of formation of agenda
of the sixth session’s next conventional session of National Assembly.

In that connection the reports of the chairmen of permenant commissions
about thematic inclusions of bills being in the circulation, about
the level of urgency and readiness were heard.

A wide exchange of opinions took place, as a result of which a scope
of questions being included in the agenda of the conventional session
was drafted, corresponding assignments were given.

MOTHER MORTALITY RATE DOWN IN 2007

ARMENPRESS
Feb 27, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS: Mother mortality rate in Armenia in
2007 dropped to 6 cases from 10 cases reported the year before. They
were caused by pregnancy and post-natal period complications.

According to the National Statistical Service, 429 infants below 12
months died last year, by 94 less than in 2006. The infant mortality
rate was 10.7 per every thousand births. Almost 77 percent of babies
died after being born.

Last year 40,142 births were registered against 37,639 in 2006.

TURKEY SEES NO NEED FOR 7TH NABUCCO PARTNER NOW
By Orhan Coskun

Reuters
Wednesday February 27 2008

ANKARA, Feb 27 (Reuters) – The six-nation natural gas pipeline project
Nabucco is "crowded enough" and there is no need at present to discuss
a seventh partner, the head of Turkey’s state gas pipeline company
Botas said on Wednesday.

Gaz de France said earlier on Wednesday that it was still ready to
join if the consortium behind the Nabucco pipeline, which is designed
to help Europe diversify its gas imports away from Russia, backed
its participation.

Turkey has blocked the involvement of Gaz de France because of the
French National Assembly’s approval of a bill making it a crime to
deny that Armenians suffered a genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks
during World War I. The bill has not become law.

The participation of Germany’s RWE, recently chosen as the sixth
partner with Ankara’s backing, has given impetus to the project,
Botas chief Saltuk Duzyol told Reuters.

"I believe that we made a very good start. It is too early to talk
about a seventh partner. We have just added a sixth partner… A
structure with six partners is crowded enough in terms of management,"
he said in an interview.

Austria’a OMV, Hungary’s MOL, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz and Romania’s
Transgaz are the other partners in the project, which aims to carry
natural gas from the Caspian basin via Turkey and the Balkans to
central Europe.

Duzyol did not completely rule out a seventh partner.

"It is of course possible if all partners agree that a seventh
partner will strengthen the project, but we have to make this decision
together," he said and called on the European Union to play a more
active policy on Nabucco.

PRICING Duzyol said there was not much difference between Turkey and
EU countries over the pricing issue, adding that prices agreed would
be completely cost-based.

"The priority goal is to have the gas that might be used in the
pipeline as soon as possible. It is the gas of Azerbaijan," Duzyol
said.

However, relying only on Azerbaijan will not be "feasible" and Turkey
plans to involve other Caspian littoral states and other countries
in the project.

"Iraq has important potential here. It should be supported and at a
certain stage, Russian gas may also be used in the pipeline," he said.

Turkey sees no problems with using Russian gas in Nabucco, Duzyol
added.

Duzyol said Turkey may also start purchasing gas from Egypt through
swap deals, though Cairo has already signed contracts for eight
billion cubic metres of its total 10 billion cubic metres gas.

"My prediction is that two billion cubic metres of gas will come to
Turkey (from Egypt)", he said, adding that a gas pipeline between
the two countries could start operating in the first quarter of 2009.

Botas will soon start a tender process for construction of the
Egypt-Turkey gas pipeline’s section in Turkey.

Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
February 17, 2008

War against PKK in Karabakh…the USA, Turkey and we?!

by Elsad Mammadli

The worldwide US fight against the PKK [the Kurdistan Workers Party]
has caused certain shift in the attitude of the Azerbaijani
authorities with regard to this organization. Until recently the
demands from the authorities to recognize the PKK as a terrorist
organization went unheeded and efforts were made to hush this topic
up under various pretexts.

However, after the visit of Frank Urbancic, Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary and Deputy to the Coordinator, the Office of the
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, to Baku, the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry has been already issuing statements to be deemed bold
enough. Immediately after the visit of Urbancic, officials of the
Foreign Ministry have voiced more than once that the country is ready
to start a fight against the PKK in tandem with the USA and Turkey.

According to a latest unofficial report leaked to our paper, official
Baku has not only stated its readiness for a joint fight but also
agreed to the use of its territory to fight against PKK fighters
resettled to Nagornyy Karabakh. There are even reports that relevant
teams of the Turkish army, reconnaissance officers, accompanied by
Azerbaijani officers, went through Azerbaijani territories to
Karabakh and carried out raids to pinpoint locations of the PKK.

The possibility of taking such a step is very advantageous and
estimable from the interests of statehood. Nevertheless, the
intriguing point is that our government is cautious to admit
officially that such a process is under way. In general, it is
obvious that our government is avoiding issuing statements related
specifically to the PKK. There may be various reasons behind this
anxiety.

As everyone is well aware there is a strong Kurdish group in the
authorities and they sympathize with the PKK. Either they do not let
them to know or those people have the opportunity to influence the
matter to a certain extent. However, based on available reports, the
authorities’ statement on readiness to fight the PKK and the
existence of a decision, although kept in secret, caused deep concern
of the "Kurdish mafia".

They are confident that if the USA and Turkey start an operation
against the PKK terrorists using the Azerbaijani territories, this
campaign would not go unnoticed for the PKK sympathisers inside the
country. As the likelihood of shaking their political, economic
strongholds and a "purge operation" against patrons of the mafia is
high, the Kurdish group in the authorities and those relying on them
are anxious…

Despite all these, we have to stress that the authorities have not so
far officially recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Although the democratic forces have raised this issue time and again,
the NAP [the ruling New Azerbaijan Party] majority in parliament has
not adopted a law to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Without such a law, it would be illogical for Azerbaijan to be
involved in a fight against the PKK in an antiterror operation on its
occupied territories.

For example, at present [Baku-based] Diplomat newspaper is openly
propagating the PKK and no any measures are taken against its
editor-in-chief. The law-enforcement agencies say that as the PKK is
not registered as a terrorist organization, it is impossible to call
to book its propagators… Nevertheless, there are signs that
parliament would soon recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Under various opinions, the possibility of launching antiterror
operations in the occupied Azerbaijani lands of Nagornyy Karabakh by
Turkey and the USA might at the end result in ousting the Armenian
terrorists from there.

That is to say, owing to a "local war" model, sometimes spoken about
and even agreed with the Armenian leadership, territories unrelated
to Nagornyy Karabakh are first emptied, the control over our
districts bordering Iran is handed over to us; in exchange, the
status of Nagornyy Karabakh is put on the agenda and tackled…

Given any option, the start of military operations in Nagornyy
Karabakh, especially, Turkey’s possible involvement in it under any
pretext would be advantageous for Azerbaijan. The current state of
Armenia is so that any change, any serious initiative may force it to
its knee. It is quite important to test this chance.

The Santa Fe New Mexican (New Mexico)
February 24, 2008 Sunday

MY VIEW: ‘NEVER AGAIN’ SLOGAN IS BUT PRELUDE TO ACTION

by HELENTY HOMANS

The 20th century saw more than its share of genocides. Six million
died in the Holocaust. More than a million died during the genocide
in Armenia. Estimates of the number who died during the Cambodian
genocide are around 1.7 million. Almost a million died in Rwanda.

Now, in the first genocide of the 21st century, hundreds of thousands
have died so far in Darfur. And although we have said "never again,"
people are continuing to die in that region. How many more are we
willing to let be slaughtered before we raise our voices in protest?

Taking inspiration from Margaret Mead, who said "Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed it’s the only thing that ever has," the Darfur Action
Committee and the organization Camp Darfur late last year brought to
the Santa Fe Plaza an installation of five tents about these
genocides.

That weekend more than 800 people signed petitions asking President
George W. Bush and United Nations Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to take
leadership in bringing peace to Darfur; asking the Beijing 2008
Olympic Games Committee and Chinese President Hu Jintao to use their
influence in Sudan to persuade Khartoum to protect civilians; asking
New Mexico’s congressional delegation to co-sponsor the Genocide
Accountability Act; and asking all New Mexico managers of investment
funds to refuse to invest in targeted companies doing business with
Sudan.

If we really mean "never again," here are four things we can all do:

* Right now, the peacekeeping mission in Darfur does not have any of
the 24 helicopters it needs to protect the people of Darfur, even
though NATO countries have 18,000 helicopters they could contribute.
Call 202-456-1111 to tell President Bush to lead the world in making
sure the peacekeepers get the 24 helicopters they need.

* This month, the organization Save Darfur highlighted its January
heroes, a couple who on their wedding day asked their guests not to
give gifts, but rather to donate to the organization Save Darfur. We
can all do the same when we plan birthday parties, bar mitzvahs and
anniversary celebrations. Go to for more
information.

* We applaud the Educational Retirement Board for its commitment to
divest from worst-offender companies doing business with Sudan. Call
or write Thornburg Investment Management

(119 East Marcy Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 800-847-0200) and Public
Employees Retirement Association (1120 Paseo de Peralta, 87501,
505-827-4700) and ask them to do likewise.

* The Tent2Tent program is a variation of the sister city model. Any
club, church, neighborhood, school group, or other entity can be
connected with displaced Darfur refugees living in a tent, developing
a relationship through videos, letters, photos and personal messages.
Go to for more information.

We can no longer claim, as so many who did nothing during previous
genocides, that we are unaware of what is happening while others are
being systematically slaughtered. Let’s now take our awareness into
action.

This "My View" was

signed by Helenty Homans and five additional members of

The Darfur Action Committee in Santa Fe.

Interfax, Russia
Russia & CIS
February 20, 2008

Azerbaijani minister discusses military cooperation in Iran

BAKU Feb 20

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev discussed during a visit to
Iran military cooperation, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a
statement circulated on Wednesday.

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najar said that the meeting
should promote the expansion of military cooperation in the framework
of existing agreements.

Abiyev spoke about the military and political tensions in the South
Caucasus and pointed at Armenia’s policy and its occupation of part
of Azerbaijani territory as the main cause.

"Azerbaijan will liberate its territories in one way or the other.

That is definite," Abiyev said at the meeting, stressing the
importance of pooling efforts to put an end to the occupation policy
and restore stability in the region.

During the visit, which took place on Monday and Tuesday, Abiyev also
met with the Iranian information and foreign ministers and mulled
bilateral relations, the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the
situation in the region and the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh.