This week, Turkey allowed roughly 150 Iraqi Kurds to transit Turkish territory in order to reinforce Kurdish forces defending the city of Kobani, Syria, which has been under siege by the Islamic State. President of Burkina Faso Blaise Campaore decided to step down following violent protests against efforts to amend the constitution to allow for his reelection. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto met with the families of dozens of students who went missing near the town of Iguala last month. The U.S.-appointed Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) published a series of major reports this week showing that U.S.-funded reconstruction efforts are currently hampered by a variety of issues.
According to a new report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) last month, military personnel from the U.S.-supported African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) “have sexually abused and exploited vulnerable Somali women and girls on their bases in Mogadishu.” The full report, titled “‘The Power These Men Have Over Us’: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by African Union Forces in Somalia,” urges the United States to push for more independent oversight of AMISOM military personnel to ensure they are not complicit in such gender-based violence.
Last month, the White House called out Bolivia for “failing demonstrably” to comply with international anti-drug agreements for the seventh year in a row. Out of the 22 nations labeled major players in the global drug trade, Bolivia, the only country that permits nationwide legal coca cultivation, was also the only one denied U.S. State Department-managed anti-narcotics aid for the second year in a row.
The Center for International Policy (CIP) celebrated the launch of Security Assistance Monitor, a new program and web-resource that will track U.S. military and police assistance, arms sales and trainings with a focus on Africa, Central Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East. This new initiative will provide U.S. policymakers, media, scholars and civil society (in the U.S. and abroad) with important data and analysis for a more informed debate about U.S. foreign security assistance.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate appropriations committees passed two versions of the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations bill for FY 2015, which contains most of the annual U.S. budget for foreign aid. These bills offer a glimpse into what U.S. foreign aid to Latin America might look like for next year.
Security Assistance Monitor published its first Country Profile analyzing U.S. security assistance to Yemen. South Sudanese rival factions signed a framework for future peace talks. Public demonstrations against corruption and insecurity continued across Mexico. The U.S. State Department welcomed the release of four Azerbaijani human rights activists. These stories and more in this weeks top security assistance news.