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COPY: Waikilaf Cadin accuses police and prison officials of torture. He is a Mapuche Indian activist who has seen his father, mother and a brother jailed when they fought to recover part of their ancestral lands taken during the Pinochet dictatorship. Cadins 14 year sister, Remultry had also a rough childhood.

Remultray was raised in a hostile climate, in an environment were a child cannot grow healthy she witnessed police raids, detention, and lived through 3 house fires. When we were attacked by paramilitary groups she hid under the bed, listening to shots. So as a family, we decided to let her live a different life where she can grow as a normal girl.

Remultray is now seeking asylum is Switzerland, in the land struggle, Cadin and Remultrays parents, the Mapuche elders, were convicted to 3 years imprisonment. Cadin himself was in custody for 18 months. During his detention, Waikilaf Cadin was busy inside the Temuco jail, organizing a movement around the prisoners rights of his fellow Mapuches.

I began to lead a prison rights movement fighting against human rights violations, inhuman and degrading treatment, jail overcrowding, trial delay and many other pressing issues. I continued to lead the prison rights movement that I was taken from that jail, I was tortured for some 9 hours in the transfer to Santiagos Maximum Security Prison. I was beaten on the road, the van would take side roads so I can be beaten it was scary.

Cadin alleges torture inside a police van when he was transported to Santiagos Maximum Security Jail. He shows this reporter photos of himself, depicting multiple back bruises consistent with truncheon lashes. Cadin is now waiting for trial for street violence and disorderly conduct.

The Cadin case is just one of the many, in fact, the violence against Mapuche Native peoples is much more systematic says Cristóbal Carmona, a journalist with News Radio Bío-Bío, based in the Mapuche heartland of Temuco.

Some weeks back a Latin American organization for peace based in Buenos Aires was here investigating the conditions of jailed Mapuches and corroborate charges of torture. They filed a formal complaint against the Chilean State at the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. In fact, that body has sanctioned Chile a number of times for cases of torture against Mapuches, and for the use of the anti terrorist law against Mapuche activists. But the Government usually responds to the Commission with well-intentioned letters but in the end, nothing happens.

Mapuches Natives make up 10 percent of Chiles population, they are the largest ethnic minority. They live in rich lands for agriculture and forestry in the south of Chile, and have fought for their rights since the Spanish invasion.

Smaller ethnic groups live in communities located in the desert north of the country. Rodolfo Valdivia, is a lawyer with the NGO Observatorio Indigena that works to protect Native rights. He says democracy and related rights have not yet arrived to the Mapuche heartland.

For example, the public prosecutors office get to the Mapuches whenever a criminal act is reported somewhere in the region. They are detained, often prosecuted and some tortured. Also new investment plans that are not liked by the community like garbage dumps are placed near Mapuche communities or place a new airport in middle of lands used for traditional rituals.

A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross will arrive in the region in March, to investigate Mapuche accusations of torture and undue violence at the hands of police and prison guards. But Mapuche activists are not hopeful. They say despite numerous visits and reports from NGOs, Mapuche Indians continue to face harsh treatment and government indifference. The discrimination is deeply entrenched they say.

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More than 18,000 cases of cholera have been reported to date for the Southern African region, with South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique being the hardest hit four countries since an outbreak of the disease was first reported in Zimbabwe last year, the World Health Organization says.

Only in South Africa 0,000 cases reported, Malawi, 1,854 while in Mozambique, the disease has infected 3,414. In South Africa, 54 individuals died of cholera, in Malawi the epidemic caused 52 deaths, 27 died in Mozambique, while in Zambia the epidemic killed 41 people.

The cases of cholera in Zimbabwe went up to more than 80,000 infected people, since the epidemic started one of the worst crises of health in that region of the African continent in August 2008.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to discuss the global financial crisis, Zimbabwe's fragile power-sharing government and climate change with South Africa's leadership at the start of his five-nation Africa tour Wednesday.



Ban arrived in South Africa on Tuesday evening on his first visit to the African powerhouse as United Nations chief. He was met on arrival in Johannesburg by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. On Wednesday, Ban and President Kgalema Motlanthe were, according to the Foreign Ministry in Pretoria, to discuss developments in Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo and other African states embroiled in political turmoil or war.



The global financial crisis, climate change, UN structural reform and the second UN racism conference to be held in Geneva in April were also on the agenda of the talks. Although South Africa has been less affected by the global downturn than northern economies, the impact of the crisis is beginning to be acutely felt. Thousands of jobs in manufacturing and mining have been axed since last year and on Monday, statistics revealed the economy had contracted by 1.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2008.



Ban is also scheduled to meet with Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who is meeting with his counterparts from across southern Africa in Cape Town Wednesday to discuss an aid package for Zimbabwe.



Zimbabwe's new government is reported to be seeking up to 1 billion dollars to be able to cover its immediate bills. With regard to UN reform, South Africa is a strong advocate of expanding the UN Security Council to include permanent members from the developing world. Only the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Japan currently have permanent membership of the top UN decision- making body.

Ban will spend two days in South Africa before continuing his visit in Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo and Egypt.



The UN said in a statement that Ban would be flying "over the receding ice cap of Mount Kilimanjaro" in Tanzania and would meet with the region's political leadership, as well as victims of conflict in eastern DR Congo.He is to attend an international conference in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort on March 2 in support of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.



Gretchen Wilson is available for 2-ways.

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The BBC reported today that some 200 members of Bandladesh's border security force involved in a two-day mutiny have been arrested while trying to escape.  The Associated Press said anxious relatives gathered Friday in central Dhaka to look for their loved ones as police continued to retrieve bodies after a two-day revolt by mutinous border guards left at least 22 people dead.

Some 200 members of Bangladesh's border security force involved in a two-day mutiny have been arrested while trying to escape, security officials say.

Reuters say the Zimbabwean president has invited the opposition leader and his new partner in power-sharing, Morgan Tsvangirai, to join him in his celebration. Sky News report of "champagne and lobster" at the luxurious event. And the Guardian describes Mugabe's behaviour as "defiant", in face of his country's devastating econimic crisis.

AFP quotes American officials saying the draft document for the conference "has gone from bad to worse" and that the current text is "not salvageable".  Fox News explain that the Obama administration is concerned that the conference might be used as "a platform for Arab countries to attack Israel". 

The BBC says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the country.

"This government is here to protect the people, not the bourgeoisie or the rich," said Chavez, ordering military authorities to "take control of and intervene in all of these businesses that process rice in Venezuela." According to the PA.

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, now Middle East envoy, has arrived in Gaza for his first visit confirmed the BBC.

According to the Independent, It is Blair's first visit to Gaza since he was appointed to present the Mideast peacemaking "quartet" of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in 2007.