Turkish forces massacre Kurds
More than 100 civilians killed when Turkish government forces launched an attack on the city of Irbil in the Kurdish part of northern Iraq on May 16. Heavy artillery was used against the hospital of the Kurdish Red Crescent. News media and cultural institutions were also targets.
Local sources reported that the dead included nine patients in the hospital. Five women patients were seized, paraded around the city and publicly executed.
Bekir Dogan, Irbil correspondent for the London-based Kurdish satellite television service Med-TV, has disappeared. Med-TV director Hikmet Tabak has urged international institutions to assist in locating Dogan.
Around 50,000 Turkish troops invaded northern Iraq (south Kurdistan) on May 14 to attack bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), occupying an area 450 kilometres long and 60 kilometres wide inside Iraq. The PKK charges that Turkey's aim is to establish a permanent "buffer zone".
Med-TV reported on May 24 that Turkish troops have set up bases at the towns of Atroush, Sarsang and Sumall, 50 kilometres inside Iraq. The area is part of the US-policed "safe haven" that supposedly protects Kurds from attacks by the Iraqi government.
Malawi public service strike ends
Public servants in Malawi on May 22 ended their strike after the government finally agreed to begin negotiations. The strike, which began on April 8, was led by the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions. The government also reversed its decision to dismiss all strikers but has refused to drop charges against union leaders arrested during the strike.
Public servants struck when the government refused to grant pay rises to 100,000 civil servants, after an independent commission recommended increases of 100%. Government workers earn 300 kwacha (US$20) per month, while inflation is running at 7%. Last year the government granted its members a 300% rise, bringing a minister's salary to about 10,000 kwacha per month, excluding fringe benefits.
Swaziland government suspends trade unions
The government of Swaziland on May 23 announced the suspension of activities of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions and 17 unions affiliated to it, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reported.
The government claims that the SFTU and its member unions failed to submit their 1996 financial reports. The truth is that the action is a further reprisal against the trade union movement, which launched a strike movement at the beginning of 1997 to demand democratic reforms. In response, the SFTU withdrew from negotiations on a review of the constitution and trade union demands.
Basque leaders on trial
The trial of 23 top leaders of the legal Basque pro-independence party Herri Batasuna (HB) began in Madrid on May 27. They are charged with collaborating with the guerilla group ETA, which is waging an armed struggle for the Basque people's right to national self-determination.
The charges arise from the party's distribution of a video during the 1996 election campaign in which ETA explains its proposals for peace negotiations. HB leaders argue that the Spanish state is trying to crush the party.
HB won 12% support in the Basque Country, the northern region that straddles the border between Spain and France. HB supporters outside the Supreme Court were attacked by 30 neo-Nazis chanting "Death penalty for ETA assassins!".