Africa/Global: Report cites Iraq and Africa as most dangerous to minorities

Violence and repression directed against the world's minorities have struck hardest in Africa and war-affected areas of the Middle East, according to a report presented at the United Nations. Minority Rights Group International, a British advocacy organization, found that violence was targeted at religious, ethnic and other minority groups in three-quarters of the world's conflicts in 2005. "In every world region, minorities and indigenous peoples have been excluded, repressed and, in many cases, killed by their governments," Mark Lattimer, the group's executive director, told a press conference Thursday. "In war today, the targeting of minorities is no longer the exception, but has become the norm."