The exhumation of bodies has begun. “Malaysia’s national police chief announced Monday that 139 grave sites and 28 camps of suspected human traffickers had been found in the northern part of the country…The graves were discovered in Malaysia’s northern state of Perlis, which borders Thailand’s Songkhla province. There, a similar traffickers’ camp and mass grave were found two weeks ago. The border area has been a way station for smugglers funneling migrants and refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar primarily to Malaysia. They use the camps along journeys that can include dangerous sea crossings. In recent weeks, smugglers have deserted thousands of people on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. (VOA http://bit.ly/1FA2UQn)
How these Thai Human Trafficking Gangs Operate…explained in an 18 second audio clip. (Clammr http://bit.ly/1RiHkVO)
Nepal Quake, One Month On…”Hundreds of Nepalis gathered Monday at the rubble of a 19th-century tower in Kathmandu to mark one month since a devastating earthquake killed more than 8,600 people in the Himalayan nation…The twin quakes destroyed nearly half a million houses and left thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter, with experts warning that the opportunity to help victims is closing fast before monsoon rains arrive next month.” (AFP http://yhoo.it/1SzhP4i)
Quote of the Day: “One of my earliest memories is fleeing with my family into the hills surrounding my village. As we climbed in the rain, I looked back on the only world I knew: where I had played, where I had gone to school, where I had lived with my family. All of it was in flames,” UN SG Ban Ki-moon (AP http://yhoo.it/1SzhX3E)
Africa
Burundi’s opposition boycotted peace talks with the government on Monday in protest at the killing of an opposition leader, despite U.N.-led calls for dialogue to end a month of protests and violence in the east African country. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1FA2vNO)
Authorities in Burkina Faso began exhuming the remains of former president Thomas Sankara on Monday in a bid to establish responsibility for a murder that has dogged the West African nation since 1987. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1FA2vgX)
Congolese soldiers clashed with Rwandan Hutu rebels being held in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, wounding at least six, as an agreement to move the rebels from one transit camp to another fell apart. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1FA2vxk)
Angolan prosecutors on Monday sought a suspended one-month jail sentence for anti-corruption activist Rafael Marques despite a deal to drop defamation charges against him, his lawyer said. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Ht4baj)
Mozambique is mulling a plan to lease 240,000 hectares of prime farmland to investors to grow crops for export, threatening to displace more than 100,000 local residents, activists and academics said, citing a leaked document. (TRF http://bit.ly/1dtDmeK)
Residents of Leer, a South Sudan town targeted in a government offensive, have begun returning to their homes from the surrounding swamps where they had sought shelter, aid workers said Monday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Ht4bXN)
Sudanese security forces have seized the Monday print runs of nine newspapers and suspended the publishing licences of four of them in a media crackdown, according to reports. (AFP http://bit.ly/1SzhQoH)
Nigerian fuel marketers agreed to resume distribution on Monday after weeks of disruption led to chronic fuel shortages, bringing phone companies, banks and airlines to a standstill days before the inauguration of the country’s new president. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1SzhRsN)
African economies will grow 4.5 percent this year and 5 percent in 2016, approaching levels last seen before the 2007 global financial crisis, as economic prospects improve worldwide, the African Development Bank said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1FA2z09)
MENA
A U.N.-brokered peace conference for Yemen scheduled to take place later this week appeared in doubt Monday with Yemeni officials saying the talks had been postponed. (VOA http://bit.ly/1FA2TvX)
One of Libya’s rival parliaments wants to replace subsidies for food and fuel with cash payments to citizens, to relieve some of the pressure on public finances hit hard by dwindling oil revenue, a senior lawmaker said on Monday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1FA2xoW)
Turkey’s foreign minister says his government has agreed in “principle” with the United States to provide air protection to Syrian rebels being trained to fight Islamic State militants in Syria. (VOA http://bit.ly/1dtDQS1)
A United Nations envoy urged Lebanon’s feuding political leaders to pick a new president, warning on Monday that the country’s year-long power vacuum had undermined its ability to deal with the impact of the Syrian crisis and a host of other problems. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1SzhPRQ)
Asia
The international community’s response to devastating earthquakes in Nepal has been disappointing, a United Nations official said on Monday, adding that donors were focusing more on reconstruction than much needed aid such as food and shelter. (VOA http://bit.ly/1FA2TMk)
Malaysia has been a sort of promised land for Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar. The tens of thousands who endured perilous journeys to get here find more work opportunities than in Indonesia and a more Muslim-friendly environment than in Thailand. (AP http://yhoo.it/1SzhPkF)
Thai police said on Monday there were no human trafficking camps left in southern Thailand following a month-long crackdown and the discovery of seven camps in mountainous jungle near the Thai-Malaysian border. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Ht4bHl)
Soaring temperatures have gripped parts of southern and northern India in an extreme heat wave which has killed more than 500 people and looks set to continue this week, officials said on Monday. (HuffPo http://huff.to/1RiJox4)
The Americas
Negotiators for Colombia’s Farc left-wing rebel group say they want to push ahead with peace talks. The announcement came just days after dozens of Farc rebels were killed in an air force bombing raid in south-western Cauca province. (BBC http://bbc.in/1Ht4f9U)
In Mexico, relatives of some of the people killed in what authorities say was a shootout with drug cartel gunmen in Michoacan state told The Associated Press on Sunday that after seeing the remains of their loved ones, they don’t believe the official version of events. (VOA http://bit.ly/1dtDNWs)
…and the rest
Opinion/Blogs
Which way is up? Flatpacks alone can’t solve global shelter crisis (IRIN http://bit.ly/1cWVSew)
Papua New Guinea Reckons With Unmet Development Goals (IPS http://bit.ly/1dtDMBN)
The case that exposes Jordan’s deportation double standards (IRIN http://bit.ly/1dtEaQR)
Toward data-driven development: Big improvement or big buzz? (Devex http://bit.ly/1FA7YV1)
Why We Dev with Alessandra Pigni: Staff care, burnout & more (WhyDev http://bit.ly/1dtK3NW)
Peace in Colombia relies on tackling systemic violence against women (Guardian http://bit.ly/1dtK7gO)
National Development vs Poverty Reduction, in charts (Roving Bandit http://bit.ly/1F71iKL)
The secret to communicating grassroots social change – anyone have it? (How Matters http://bit.ly/1eqSNVh)
Thoughts on Xenophobia from a South African in Mozambique (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1eqSSbx)
FGM: A Modern-Day Scourge in the United States (On the Ground http://nyti.ms/1F71BoI)
Holding Sudan to the Gold Standard (Development Channel http://on.cfr.org/1F71Dx0)