Dateline: Singasong Province, Beta Lorea II:

In a move many other governments in the region regard as just yet another demonstration of its readiness to use ' bully-boy' tactics, Beta Lorea II has flatly refused to send its troops to the nearby planet Beta Lorea III - also known as Catusha - to act as peacekeepers, unless the Pandraxian Council Of Non-aligned Worlds agrees in advance that they will be exempt from any future prosecution as war criminals.

"Such immunity from prosecution, ' before the act', is not something that falls within the gift of the P.C.O.N.W. to grant," said, Representative [our translation], Toma Kyam, of Yumacumba. "I have been responsible for drafting much of the Code of Conduct, agreed to by representatives for almost all of the members of the P.C.O.N.W.," he went on, "but this move by the newly elected government of Beta Lorea II seeks to give its military commanders total freedom to use whatever tactics they see fit against members of the waring factions on Catusha. They [Beta Lorea II] believe it has gone unnoticed by us that, after previous deployments of peacekeeping forces by these very same commanders, accusations of excessive force - even torture and murder - have been made. However, it has proved impossible to prosecute any member of their military because of the power of ' veto' they hold in the Assembly."

Similar accusations have been submitted to the Court of Personal Freedoms and Rights concerning the indescriminate killing of combatants who have surrendered to, or have offered their surrender to, Beta Lorea II commanders in the field, as well as the torture and execution without trial of captured combatants. All attempts to investigate these accusations were fiercely opposed by the Beta Lorea II administration, and pressure was subsequently brought by them to have the then president of the CoPFR voted off the panel. This move was successfully defeated by the other twenty panel members in a secret ballot, but the court's authority was further undermined by the withdrawal of Beta Lorea II's own judicial panel member, Kort Smotha, a few weeks later."

The resolution of this diplomatic crisis is a matter of urgency. The situation on Catusha is deteriorating rapidly. Fighting between the three factions - the Hobla-Tarre, Manu-Tarre and Sumi-Tarre [Ed - ' Tarre' translates to ' Clan' ] has been further fuelled by a recent influx of significant quantities of ' state-of-the-art' weapons and explosives from an, as yet, unknown benefactor. [Ed - It is widely held in the region that the source of this generosity is none other than Beta Lorea II, itself, though hard evidence is a little hard to find, right now.]