"Hundreds of government opponents remained imprisoned, including dozens of prisoners of conscience, despite the release of some 2,000 others in the last 20 months, and at least 40 new political arrests were made. Some of those held were detained without trial, but most had been sentenced after unfair trials. Persistent human rights violations continued to be reported from many parts of the country, with members of ethnic minorities particularly targeted. The violations included arbitrary seizure of civilians to serve as military porters or labourers, ill-treatment and extrajudicial executions..."