BS: Should we care about Africans?

Subject: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 12:28 PM

btw, my opinion is "YES"
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A Cry for Zimbabwe
A Moment to End the Repression -- Unless the World Retreats Into Silence

By Desmond Tutu and Madeleine Albright
Thursday, March 29, 2007; Page A19

Zimbabwe, long plagued by the repressive leadership of President Robert Mugabe, has reached the point of crisis. Leaders of the democratic opposition were arrested and beaten, and one was killed, while attempting to hold a peaceful prayer meeting on March 11. Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, emerged from detention with a swollen eye and a fractured skull. Several days later, Nelson Chamisa, the movement's spokesman, was stopped en route to a meeting with European officials and beaten with iron bars. Other activists have been prevented from leaving the country to seek medical treatment for wounds inflicted by police.

Unrest has continued, as have the violent crackdowns. Mugabe, stubborn and unrepentant as ever, has vowed to "bash" protesters and dismissed international criticism as an imperialist plot. Although anti-government feelings are prompted by the regime's lack of respect for human and political rights, Mugabe's poor management of the economy is also to blame. The inflation rate, more than 1,700 percent, is the world's highest, while an estimated four out of five people are unemployed. Zimbabwe, once Africa's breadbasket, has become, under Mugabe, a basket case.

The crisis in Zimbabwe raises familiar questions about the responsibilities of the international community. Some argue that the world has no business interfering with, or even commenting on, the internal affairs of a sovereign state. This principle is exceptionally convenient for dictators and for people who do not wish to be bothered about the well-being of others. It is a principle that paved the way for the rise of Hitler and Stalin and for the murders ordered by Idi Amin. It is a principle that, if consistently observed, would have shielded the apartheid government in South Africa from external criticism and from the economic sanctions and political pressure that forced it to change. It is a principle that would have prevented racist Rhodesia from becoming Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe from ever coming to power.

We are not suggesting that the world should intervene to impose political change in Zimbabwe. We are suggesting that global and regional organizations and individual governments should make known their support for human rights and democratic practices in that country, as elsewhere. We should condemn in the strongest terms the use of violence to prevent the free and peaceful expression of political thought. We should make clear our support for the standards enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Given Mugabe's consistent unwillingness to respect the legitimate complaints of his people, this is not the time for silent diplomacy. This is the time to speak out. It is especially important that members of the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) raise their voices, for they have the most influence and can hardly be accused of interventionism. As the examples of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela remind us, it is never inappropriate to speak on behalf of justice.

As in South Africa, the solution to the economic, political and social quagmire in Zimbabwe is open dialogue -- perhaps facilitated by the SADC -- that includes all relevant parties and leads to an understanding based on support for democracy and respect for the legitimate rights of all. To this end, the government of Zimbabwe should cease its abusive practices, repeal draconian laws and bring the electoral code into line with regional and international standards.

Presidential and parliamentary elections that are transparent and considered to be legitimate by the people of Zimbabwe and by local and international observers should be held. Should Mugabe decide to run for president again, as he has said he might, the world will have to make an effort to ensure that balloting is fair. However, Mugabe's own party, which includes responsible and moderate elements, might well consider whether the time has come for a new leader.

With crisis comes opportunity. This is the moment for political and civic leaders in Zimbabwe to unify around a common goal: a peaceful and democratic transition. Members of the opposition would be well advised to overcome their differences and to speak with a single, strong voice. In this way, reformers can demonstrate to the people of Zimbabwe and to the world that there is a viable and patriotic alternative to the repressive and misguided leadership under which the country has suffered for so long.

Desmond Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, was archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996 and headed South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Madeleine Albright, who served as secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, is principal of the Albright Group LLC and chairman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032801876.html

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 12:40 PM

When it comes to "regime change "----It hasn"t gone too well for Great Britain or the USA recently, so there MIGHT be some reluctance to proceed. But I am 100 % with you insofar as SOMETHING needs to be done, by SOMEBODY , and very soon. If we cannot find a national government with the guts to do something, perhaps some of us could raise an international volunteer army to go in and help to rid the world of the maniac Mugabe?? I"m a bit old ,but I"d be up for it !!!It"s not against the law to say that , is it ??

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 12:43 PM

"VISION
To support security, peace, freedom, and democracy everywhere.

MISSION
To support national and international security policies that protect those who are defenseless and provide a free voice for all with a dedication to providing ethical, efficient, and effective turnkey solutions that positively impact the lives of those still caught in desperate times."





http://www.blackwaterusa.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 12:48 PM

Mugabe went all the way from Marxist revolutionary to despotic dictator. Somewhere in between he lost what he initially may have had of humanist ideals. He repeated some of the errors of East European Socialism and added several of his own.

So, yes, we should care of course. But it will help the poor people there more if the necessary political pressure comes predominantly from African neighbours and not from very afar. We (West) should show we care and offer help if other African nations ask for. But it is in my opinion a task for Africans to begin with and to lead the way.

As awful as it feels to do not much more at first but send open letters like the one you have posted, we should be aware that more of Western interference as that at this moment could be even worse than doing nothing.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 12:54 PM

"But it is in my opinion a task for Africans to begin with and to lead the way. "

Agreed. But at what point, if action is not taken by Africans does it become our responsibility, as human beings?

Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Cambodia, Bosnia ... The West's inaction in so many cases does not do us credit.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 01:12 PM

Mugabe has effectively destroyed all the farms in his country in his attempt to put all farms under immediate black ownership. White citizen farmers were driven off or killed.

If we had intervened then it would appear to be a race war. If we do so with Blackwater mercenaries now it would appear to be a race war.

Only a huge Peace corps project to get farms up and running as effieciently as possible would be of any help at this late date. But Mugabe would have to sign on to such an intervention first.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 01:24 PM

We've been having endless programmes on radio and TV here celebrating the ending of slavery in 1807, lot's of people asking for governments to apologise, and pay reparation to the descendants of slaves.
However not one voice amongst those most prominent in this campaign about the situation in Zimbabwe, seems they'd rather pursue ideals than end persecution of more Africans.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 02:35 PM

Summit ends with African leaders siding with Mugabe
POSTED: 2:00 p.m. EDT, March 29, 2007

Story Highlights• NEW: South Africa leaders call for end of all sanctions against Zimbabwe
• Rights groups have condemned President Mugabe's opposition crackdown
• Madeleine Albright, Desmond Tutu had called on SADC to "speak out"
• Robert Mugabe has led nation with iron fist for 27 years, economy in shambles

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (CNN) -- Southern African leaders Thursday emerged from a conference in Tanzania's capital allied with embattled Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and calling for the lifting of all sanctions against his government.

Mugabe maintains a tight grip on power as his country spirals into economic disaster.

After the Southern Africa Development Community emergency summit, Mugabe described the meeting as "excellent."

"We are one with our neighbors," he said.

Mugabe has been condemned by the West and human rights groups for arrests and reported intimidation and beatings of his political opponents. His forces have been accused of severely beating opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara on March 11.

The SADC meeting comes a day after Zimbabwean forces raided the Harare headquarters of the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change, the country's main opposition group, and detained about 10 MDC staff and officials.

Police said the raid was part of an overall initiative to arrest people responsible for throwing petrol bombs around Harare.

MDC officials said it was just another attempt to intimidate the opposition group. Tsvangirai was among those detained, just before he was to hold a news conference from the headquarters, MDC officials said.

Government police denied that Tsvangirai was among those arrested.

Communique issued after summit
A joint communique issued by the 14 SADC leaders reaffirmed the group's solidarity with Zimbabwe's government and people, and mandated that South African President Thabo Mbeki continue his efforts to facilitate dialogue between Zimbabwe's opposition groups and the government.

In the communique, the SADC leaders also encouraged better diplomatic contacts to resolve the situation in Zimbabwe and called for the lifting of all economic sanctions.

In Thursday's Washington Post, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and South African human rights activist and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu addressed the Zimbabwe issue and called on SADC to "speak out."

"Given Mugabe's consistent unwillingness to respect the legitimate complaints of his people, this is not the time for silent diplomacy," the op-ed, entitled "A Cry for Zimbabwe."

"This is the time to speak out. It is especially important that members of the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) raise their voices, for they have the most influence and can hardly be accused of interventionism.

"As the examples of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela remind us, it is never inappropriate to speak on behalf of justice."

The government raid and arrests Wednesday were denounced by British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who called it a "calculated" move "not only to prevent them from legitimately expressing their views but to intimidate."

MDC: Opposition leader still suffering from injuries
MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said Tsvangirai is resting at home Thursday, a day after he was briefly detained.

He is still suffering from injuries inflicted by Zimbabwean forces on March 11, when he and his fellow MDC leader were taken into custody and beaten as they tried to hold a rally outside Harare.

Biti said Tsvangirai may have to be evacuated to neighboring South Africa for medical treatment.

That could prove difficult since Zimbabwean forces have prevented other MDC officials from leaving the country. Some were wounded in the March 11 crackdown and are seeking medical treatment in South Africa.

On March 18, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa was attacked and beaten near Harare International Airport, where he was scheduled to depart for a conference in Brussels, Belgium. Tsvangirai told CNN he believed Mugabe's government was behind the attack.

Mugabe's government accuses the MDC of using brutal tactics to oppose the government. Last week, Zimbabwe's government threatened to expel Western diplomats, including the U. S. ambassador, who have openly sided with the opposition.

Mugabe, 83, has been Zimbabwe's only ruler since it achieved independence from Britain 27 years ago.

Under his rule, the once-prosperous country has suffered an economic crisis, with routine shortages of food, electricity and foreign currency. Inflation is estimated to exceed 1,700 percent.

While there is no official figure, unemployment among Zimbabweans is estimated at 80 percent.

Mugabe has indicated he intends to run for another term in next year's elections.

Tsvangirai lost his bid to unseat Mugabe in the last presidential election in 2002, which was marked by widespread allegations that Mugabe and his supporters rigged the vote.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 02:56 PM

Yes, we should care and support financially the ones who are trying to bring about peaceful regime change in Zimbabwee.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Teribus
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 08:42 PM

Of course we should care about Africans, we should care about everybody. High time though that Africans care about Africans, but as the recently concluded summit in Tanzania shows they couldn't give a toss.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Amos
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 10:15 PM

Africa --and Zambia in particular--is wild country, blending the most violent and the most gracious of natural environments, and it is also thickly layered with despair and a loss of bearings. The small white population made Rhodesia work only by almost despotic control, and the battle of the Rhodesian whites against self-rule was awful and violent on both sides. But although it wrested rule of the region away from whe white minority, it did not address the deeper causes at play that brought about despair and confusion.

There WAS a structure to the native lives under the tribal system, which got completely shattered by the imposition of "modern" hierarchical rule. Tribes do not, apparently, smoothly transition to statehood and do not federalize easily. The tribal ethos having been lost, individuals are desperate for orientation. The natural economy having been displaced by large farms and urban centers and state controls, there is a lot of desperate poverty.

Mugabe is trying to control the region with despotic tight-fisted control, but I'd be very surprises if it did anything to remedy the core causes of chaos -- a huge often violent region naturally, and an absence of economic opportunities, and a loss of tribal moral guidance with no substitute. If the "ideal" for Zimbabwe is to make it into a "modern" nation, it will require a LOT of education, a lot of reorganization, and some kind of moral spark which steers the lives of those who live there.

ANother thought, and then I will shut up. It seems to me to be demonstrated both in Zambia and in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan, that the inability to transcend tribalism's code of violent antagonism to other tribes is the paradigm that has to shift. The world has shrunk down to the point where the sandbox is not big enough for tribes to roam around and combat other tribes, killing for the sake of old grudges or a disagreement about belief. But until that paradigm is shifted in the minds of those tribal men and women, there is no easy path out of the constant violence that is part of the paradigm. The two things that can cause such a change or reformation -- a grassroots re-eduction by some compelling vision, such as happens when a new political, economic or religous pricniple sparks huge numbers of people to re-think what they are doing -- or a lot of time allowing the shift to occur over generations. A charismatic ruler with a lot of political savvy might be able to do it.

I don't see either of those things happening broadly although there are many pockets throughout Africa, I think, where revitalization is occuring as people learn how to become citizens of the world.

I am not persuaded that more invasion, more fire-power, and more death would accomplish much of anything.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 10:18 PM

(Good post!)

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 09:05 AM

Amos-

Nice post but you are evidently confusing the country of "Zambia" with the country of "Zimbabwee."

I would agree that many "newer" counries in Africa share the same problems as Zimbabwee. Some don't. The neighboring country of Tanzania is not particularly wealthy but it seems to have been well governed for more than 40 years. Revolution, civil war, and coups rarely produce stable democracies be they in Africa, South America, Asia, the Middle East or even Europe. And we in the States have had over 200 years to sort out our transition and we still ain't got it right!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 04:32 PM

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Mugabe endorsed as 2008 presidential candidate
POSTED: 3:27 p.m. EDT, March 30, 2007
Story Highlights• Mugabe to stand for new five-year term
• Zimbabwe to add seats in parliament
• Zimbabwe facing economic crisis; inflation at 1,700 percent
Adjust font size:
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe's ruling party on Friday adopted a motion to hold elections in 2008 and endorsed President Robert Mugabe as its presidential candidate, allowing him to stand for another term as leader of the crumbling country.

"The resolution was accepted by the central committee ... and so both the presidential and parliamentary elections will now be held in 2008," Nathan Shamuyarira, national ZANU-PF spokesman said after the meeting.

"The candidate of the party will be the President (Mugabe) himself. He was endorsed by the central committee at the meeting today," said Shamuyarira, adding the presidential term will be cut to five years from the current six.

Mugabe has faced international condemnation over a brutal crackdown on opponents this month, which left opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai injured and hospitalized after police stopped a banned prayer rally to protest against a deepening economic crisis.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told journalists at the same briefing the central committee had also decided that if a presidential vacancy occurred in between elections an acting president would be chosen by parliament to complete the term.

Chinamasa said local government polls would also be held in 2008 and the parliamentary lower house of assembly would be expanded from the current 150 members to 210. Parties would fill the upper house -- Senate -- with representatives on the basis of their proportional vote in parliament.

The Senate would be expanded from 66 to 84 members.

Critics say Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, has plunged the country into crisis through his policies, including the seizure of white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

But Mugabe earlier told the central committee to resist "the machinations of the West", which he has blamed for an outbreak of violence following the police crackdown on the opposition.

"Our organs ... have to adopt a high sense of vigilancy and militancy," he said, one day after winning regional backing for his crackdown despite calls for tough action from the West.

Mugabe, 83, has accused the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of mounting a "terrorist" campaign to remove him from office and defended violent police sweeps this month which saw dozens of MDC activists arrested.

On Thursday, a special crisis summit of Southern African leaders publicly expressed solidarity with Mugabe, while calling for renewed political dialogue and an end to Western sanctions against his government. (Watch the surprising result as African leaders meet on Zimbabwe )

The veteran leader had sought to win ZANU-PF backing to extend his rule over Zimbabwe, which now faces its worst crisis in history with inflation running at more than 1,700 percent, soaring joblessness, and regular food and fuel shortages.

Mugabe had suggested extending his term by two years to 2010 but ran into resistance in his party. He then proposed running for president again when his current six-year term ends in 2008 -- outflanking opponents who planned to oppose the 2010 option.

Mugabe's candidacy had already won backing from the party's key women and youth leagues, whose members make up a sizeable number of the 245-member central committee.

Analysts had seen little opposition to Mugabe, saying his nomination was a formality because the ZANU-PF constitution stipulates that the party president, elected at a congress every five years, automatically becomes the presidential candidate.

Mugabe was elected at the party's last congress in 2004 and has not faced an election since then.

He said his fellow African leaders understood that his government was under attack by the West as revenge for his policy of seizing white-owned farms to give to landless blacks.

"We are a family. Our detractors have been shamed," he said, accusing some major television news networks of demonizing his government and laughing off British and U.S. suggestions that he might be on the way out.

Mugabe said he had told SADC leaders that Tsvangirai deserved beating by police earlier this month in an incident which drew outrage, including from some Western countries which threatened stiffer action against the veteran leader.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 03:26 PM

BB--

If by "caring about Africans" you mean an invasion of Zimbabwe, you should make that clear. And we will treat the suggestion with all the respect it deserves.

If you have something else in mind, specify.

In general, white military forces trying to solve problems in black Africa is a loser, as I think you know.

It's up to the Africans to solve this one.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 05:35 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Amos
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 10:15 PM

..."I am not persuaded that more invasion, more fire-power, and more death would accomplish much of anything" ...

Agreed.

All that is needed is one bullet.

Accurately aimed .

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 05:37 PM

Blackwater's statement needs to be examined in the light of their activities in Iraq.

""VISION
To support security, peace, freedom, and democracy everywhere."

If anything, Blackwater is responsible for destablizing Iraq and its prouncements about security, peace, freedom and democracy are hollow indeed.

"MISSION
To support national and international security policies that protect those who are defenseless"

Their true mission is to support and protect oil companies, military contractors and armed mercenaries. They torture and kill defenseless people.

" and provide a free voice for all with a dedication to providing ethical, efficient, and effective turnkey solutions that positively impact the lives of those still caught in desperate times."

They are not ethical. They cheat their employees and show lack of regard for their safety and welfare. They are efficient killing mercenaries and reflect the efficiency of their CEO, a fundmentalist religious nut who is wealthy and built up the organization with his cash,
Erik Price. You can google him and find out what his priorities are like. Blackwater would be very dangerous in Africa. It would promote private corporate interests ahead of the needs of the poor people and destablize the country as it is doing in Iraq.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 08:10 AM

National strike begins in Zimbabwe
POSTED: 6:35 a.m. EDT, April 3, 2007
Story Highlights• Two-day strike called by unions to protest deepening economic hardships
• Police reaction force, water cannon trucks deployed in potential trouble spots
• Police spokesman says planned strike has been declared illegal
• Strike comes amid political crisis after opposition leaders beaten by police
Adjust font size:
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwean police and troops fanned out through impoverished townships Tuesday on the first day of a two-day national strike called to protest deepening economic hardships blamed on the government.

Police manned roadblocks across the capital. Four trucks carrying soldiers were seen headed to the southern town of Chitungwiza, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Harare. Military helicopters flew over the nearby Epworth district.

Most downtown shops opened their doors. An electrical store kept one of its main entrance doors shut, a practice seen in previous strikes enabling businesses to close hurriedly in case of unrest. One bank was closed.

Police ordered township shops and bars to close early evening Monday as paramilitary police and water canon trucks were deployed, witnesses said.

There were no early reports of incidents or arrests. Commuter buses appeared to be operating normally with full loads of passengers.

A national reaction force of police and troops was sent to potential trouble spots, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said, according to state radio reports Tuesday morning.

The strike was a likely "avenue for acts of violence" by government opponents, he said.

Security measures were in place to keep schools open on the last day of the term before the Easter break, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told state radio.

He described the strike -- known as a stayaway with workers being urged to stay at home and not to take to the streets -- as "irrational."

The government was "doing all it could to address the current economic challenges facing the country," the radio station quoted him as saying.

The main Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called the strike to protest the country's economic crisis, accusing the government of corruption and mismanagement that fueled official inflation of nearly 1,700 percent -- the highest rate in the world -- as well as 80 percent unemployment and acute shortages of food, hard currency and gasoline.

Labor unions planned no street demonstrations for fear of inciting police action.

On Monday, Bvudzijena said the planned strike had been declared illegal and police were being "strategically deployed" at bus stations, outside businesses and factories and at commuter transport ranks in townships to stop intimidation of workers by labor activists.

He said police would protect people going to work and "going about their legal business."

Executives at one Harare engineering plant said its workers planned to ignore the strike because the lunch provided in the canteen was the only daily meal they could rely on. Other workers feared that participating in the strike would lead to their pay being withheld.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and top colleagues in the Movement for Democratic Change were hospitalized after being beaten by police while in custody last month after police violently stopped a Harare prayer meeting that had been declared an illegal political protest.

President Robert Mugabe has admitted that Tsvangirai and least 40 opposition activists were beaten in custody, and warned protesters they would be "bashed" again if violence continued -- a reference to government accusations that the opposition is to blame for a wave of unrest and petrol bomb attacks, allegations the opposition has repeatedly denied.

Fifteen opposition activists, nine of them ordered by a court to receive medical attention during the weekend for injuries allegedly inflicted by police, are scheduled to reappear in court Tuesday on violence-related charges, their lawyers said.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Stu
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 10:18 AM

Should we care about Africans?

Of course, we are all Africans - Africa is the birthplace of man.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Ross
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 05:16 AM

That could explain everything

If you were cynical

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 10:59 AM

Bodies cleared away as Mogadishu fighting calms
POSTED: 4:01 a.m. EDT, April 5, 2007

Story Highlights• Workers recover the dead as fighters, soldiers observe cease-fire
• Residents skeptical of truce, hundreds packing up and leaving
• At least 400 killed in heaviest fighting in Somalia in 15 years
• Ethiopian troops help Somali soldiers trying to rout Islamic insurgents

MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) -- Workers carried the dead from the rubble of battle in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, moving amid fighters observing a cease-fire residents say is so tenuous many are gathering their belongings to leave.

In a third day of a truce after some of the heaviest fighting in the coastal capital in 15 years, Ethiopian and Somali government troops faced off less than 20 meters (66 feet) away from insurgents belonging to the dominant Hawiye clan and a defeated militant Islamist group.

Four workers, helped by the Red Crescent society, dredged through the wreckage of the four-day battle under a deal between the Hawiye and the Ethiopians to end the fighting that killed at least 400 people and allow for the recovery of corpses.

"We found one body at the gate of Mogadishu Stadium, and then we moved on and found more bodies. At the end, we collected 25 bodies," witness Abdi Dhaqane Iye said.

The dead included women, children and the elderly. Those charged with the grim task said they expected to find more. One old man lay in the road, his body crushed and branded with the mark of tank tread.

"If you had been there, you would not eat food for the next three days. The smell was overwhelming," Iye said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said the wounded numbered nearly 900, and the toll may be higher because many had not reached the hospital. The humanitarian group said it planned to start re-supplying hospitals on Thursday.

International diplomats meeting under the auspices of the International Contact Group on Somalia late on Tuesday urged a comprehensive cease-fire to stop the bloodshed, and also pressed the government to carry out an inclusive reconciliation.

President Abdullahi Yusuf's interim government is due to hold a national reconciliation conference in Mogadishu on April 16, but many doubt it will go ahead because of insecurity.

His administration is the 14th attempt at imposing central rule on the Horn of Africa nation, in anarchy since warlords including Yusuf helped topple Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Exodus of residents, skeptical of truce
Residents by the hundreds raced into their homes to take advantage of the lull in the fighting which shattered whole neighborhoods with indiscriminate tank, rocket and artillery fire, and drew international condemnation.

The joint Ethiopian-Somali interim government offensive was intended to wipe out an insurgency that has targeted them and rocked the city with almost daily attacks since a hardline Islamist movement was ousted in a war over the New Year.

At least 100,000 people have fled Mogadishu since February.

"I went back this morning and collected what was remaining at my home. I don't trust the truce. The fighting might start at any minute," trader Dahir Ali, 45, told Reuters as he raced to get out with hundreds of other residents.

The exodus of refugees has strained limited resources in the places where the fleeing have landed, and aid groups fear clashes could erupt over food, water and housing -- prices for all of which have skyrocketed.

Even in Mogadishu, people complained of higher prices and extortion. The price of a litre of gasoline had almost tripled to 28,000 Somali shillings ($1.71) after the fighting ended on Sunday, residents said.

Truckers who keep their vehicles in a garage in one of the pro-insurgent neighbourhoods complained of having to pay government soldiers bribes.

"We had to pay 500,000 shillings to get the trucks out because we couldn't get them during the fighting," Abdisalan Yusuf Osman, 40, said, adding that the two AK-47 assault rifles he keeps in the cab were also taken.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 07 - 11:51 AM

Washington Post:

Mugabe's Enablers

By Arnold Tsunga
Thursday, April 5, 2007; Page A17

When the heads of state of the Southern African Development Community convened last week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss the political situation in Zimbabwe, hopes among the Zimbabwean people ran high. President Robert Mugabe had recently extended his brutal efforts to crush dissent from his political opponents to include ordinary Zimbabweans. His ruling party left a trail of fractured bodies and two dead in its most recent crackdown.

With the economy in shreds and the tense political situation posing a security threat not only to Zimbabwe but potentially to its neighbors, too, there was an expectation that African leaders would finally act.

At the summit, however, the African leaders showed their indifference to the suffering that we ordinary people of Zimbabwe continue to endure. At the closing news conference, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete announced that he and his fellow heads of state were "in support of the government and people of Zimbabwe."

"We got full backing; not even one [SADC leader] criticized our actions," Mugabe boasted after the summit.

Zimbabweans were left to wonder how neighboring governments can continue claiming to support the brutalizer and the brutalized at the same time.

As Mugabe's government continues its assault on the media, its political opponents, civil activists and human rights defenders, the danger to the population is growing. Nearly two years after the government's program of mass evictions and demolitions -- Operation Murambatsvina, or "Clear the Filth" -- hundreds of thousands continue to suffer catastrophic consequences.

In hindsight, we can see that this scheme was just the beginning. Mugabe sought to destabilize the population by arbitrarily destroying people's homes and property without notice, process or compensation; and by displacing thousands into rural areas, where they lack basic services such as health care, schools and clean water. Today, HIV-AIDS is rampant in my country, and there are acute food shortages. Young Zimbabweans have no meaningful educational opportunities, and Mugabe has wrecked the country's economy through macroeconomic chaos, endemic corruption and political patronage. Millions of black Zimbabweans who love their country have been forced to migrate out of this insecurity and hopelessness to live as second-class citizens in foreign lands.

Last month, Human Rights Watch documented how police forces in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare have beaten Zimbabweans in the streets, in shopping malls and in bars. The terror has prompted many families in those areas to obey a self-imposed curfew after dark.

Mugabe is stronger than ever, though removed from the fact that Zimbabweans want to be liberated from oppression. Of course, a weakened and terrified population cannot fight back.

With Mugabe poised to rig five more catastrophic years in office, it is time for regional leaders to recognize that his campaigns of oppression make apartheid Rhodesia and South Africa look like amateurs. As Bishop Desmond Tutu has said, we as Africans must hang our heads in shame at our failure to make a difference to the suffering men, women and children of Zimbabwe.

When will Southern Africa's leaders decide they will no longer align themselves with tyranny? When will they abandon their failed strategy of "quiet diplomacy" and move to help the people of Zimbabwe?

African leaders and the international community must demand that the government of Zimbabwe stop its violence against political opponents; create a democratic environment through the repeal of repressive legislation; enact a democratic constitution; and hold free, fair elections that are supervised by the international community.

If Southern Africa's leaders finally break their silence about the catastrophe in their neighborhood, this could be the year Mugabe leaves office and Zimbabwe reintegrates itself into the world. Or they could remain silent and complicit, and this year could mark the beginning of an even steeper decline into oppression.

The writer is executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and secretary of the Law Society of Zimbabwe.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 07:25 AM

Nice to see effective action taken...


Universities may rescind Mugabe's honorary degrees
POSTED: 3:13 a.m. EDT, April 6, 2007

Story Highlights• UMass, Michigan State, University of Edinburgh gave Zimbabwe leader degrees
• Honorary degrees go to world leaders, renowned scholars and writers
• Mugabe once hailed as humane revolutionary who ended oppressive white rule
• Now, seen as tyrant who crushes opposition, oversees Zimbabwe's disintegration

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (AP) -- Since 1885, the University of Massachusetts has awarded nearly 2,000 honorary degrees to world leaders, renowned scholars and writers.

Now for the first time, the university is considering taking one back -- from Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe.

When Mugabe received an honorary doctorate of law from the UMass-Amherst campus in 1986, he was hailed as a humane revolutionary who ended an oppressive white rule to establish an independent Zimbabwe in 1979. But in the two decades since, Mugabe has been condemned for attacks on dissidents and accused of running a corrupt government that has ruined the economy.

Some UMass students at the Boston campus have circulated a petition asking for the university to revoke Mugabe's degree, and officials say they're considering doing so.

Michigan State, U. of Edinburgh also concerned
The issue also has surfaced at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Michigan State University, which gave Mugabe honorary degrees in 1984 and 1990, respectively.

Terry Denbow, a Michigan State spokesman, said administrators have received letters requesting that Mugabe's degree be rescinded.

"There have been discussions, but I know of no formal process for rescinding the degree," Denbow said, adding that Michigan State has stopped its study abroad program in Zimbabwe.

Officials at Edinburgh said the issue of Mugabe's degree was under review.

According to UMass policy, honorary degrees are handed out to people "of great accomplishment and high ethical standards." Recipients have included Nelson Mandela, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, author Toni Morrison and comedian and educator Bill Cosby.

Mugabe 'has become a scourge of Africa'
Once lauded as a model for African democracy, Mugabe has tried to crush opposition to his power and has threatened to expel Western envoys for criticizing his government.

Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate and suffers from shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline and essential imports. The country's Roman Catholic bishops said last month that health, education and other public services "have all but disintegrated."

"Mugabe has become a scourge of his people and a scourge of Africa," said Michael Thelwell, a professor in the UMass Afro-American studies department. "He has degenerated as a political leader and as a human being."

Thelwell was one of the professors who encouraged the school to award Mugabe an honorary degree in 1986.

"They gave it to the Robert Mugabe of the past, who was an inspiring and hopeful figure and a humane political leader at the time," he said. "The university has nothing to apologize for in giving a degree to the Robert Mugabe of 20 years ago. And they wouldn't imagine giving an honorary degree to the Robert Mugabe of today."

But Thelwell and others cautioned against revoking the degree just to appease Mugabe's critics.

"The task of intellectuals is to seek the truth, not to be swayed by pressures of the moment," said Bill Strickland, a UMass politics professor. "If they take away the degree, they have to look at all the facts surrounding what is happening in Zimbabwe and not simply blame just one person."

Bill Wright, a spokesman for UMass president Jack Wilson, said university officials and trustees were "just in the discussion phase" about what to do with Mugabe's degree.

If they decide they want to withdraw the honor, it is not likely to happen anytime soon. While the university has a detailed procedure for awarding the degrees, there is no process for taking one back.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Mike Miller
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 09:51 AM

My God, MSU is considering thinking about decertifying Mugabe's degreee. Wow, that'll get his attention. Without his degree, he will have to take a minimum wage job at Walmart and he won't have time to victimize Zimbabwe.
If that doesn't work, we can, always, hit him with a chorus of "Kumbaya". Well, I guess that is better than wringing our hands and admitting our inability to fight evil wherever it rears its ugly head.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 03:23 PM

Zimbabwe's rural dwellers brace for food shortages by Susan Njanji
Fri Apr 6, 10:08 AM ET



BIKITA, Zimbabwe (AFP) - Winnie Mupunga normally produces 40,000 kilogrammes (40 tonnes) of the staple corn cereal on her smallholding in southwestern Zimbabwe but this year she does not expect to harvest even 500.

"This is all I have to show for the past year," she said pointing to acres of emaciated metre-long brown maize stalks bearing tiny cobs or nothing at all.

"We'll just have to rely on handouts this year."

Zimbabwe, formerly the regions breadbasket, has been hit by a drought in several of its 10 provinces which has served to compound the hardship of a nation already reeling under the effects of a 1,730 percent inflation rate.

Bikita district, 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of the capital in Masvingo province is one of the areas worst affected by the drought.

A few kilometres from the Mupunga homestead reside Ngwarai and Mabel Zevezanayi, a couple in their late fifties who are responsible for the upkeep of nine dependents, among them five grandchildren aged under 12 years.

But all they have left is 20 kilogrammes of sorghum donated by an international relief agency operating in the area.

"We have no produce to talk about this year," said Mabel.

There is no news of when next they are lined up for handouts.

And the largest foreign food relief agency operating in the country, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), announced this week that it was scaling down aid to Zimbabwe starting April.

WFP fed some 1.5 million most vulnerable people over the past three months, the most critical time of the year dubbed the pre-harvest "lean season" when poor families routinely struggle to find enough to eat.

"With the annual harvest due in April, WFP is scaling down its aid operations in Zimbabwe from this month, reducing the number of beneficiaries to 256,000 in April," said the agency in a statement.

Meantime, the Zevezanayi family, with no other source of income, resorts to brewing traditional beer with part of the donated grains so it can make a bit of money for other essentials.

"We are brewing this beer to sell. Maybe we can get some cash to pay for the milling of the little grain we have left," said Mabel of the sorghum she is so sure will not last her family even a week.

To save the meagre grains, the family skips meals.

"We dont even remember what breakfast tastes like. It's only the children who have anything before they go off to school -- a few peanuts and some tea without any sugar," she added as she spooned some sorghum porridge into the hungry mouth of her four-month-old grandson.

"I can hardly sleep when I try to think of where I will get food for my family."

In the previous two drought years, she had chickens which she could either sell or slaughter for her family to eat but the poultry has now all gone.

Down the road at Masarira primary school, about 30 children receive a daily ration of beans and starch-based cereals during their mid-morning break. For some it is the only meal they will have in the day, said headteacher Zvinavashe Takabvirakare.

"When we have no food stocks, we experience numerous cases of pupils fainting in class" as a result of hunger, he said.

"Unless there is food aid, I think this time it's going to be very difficult for the children.

"The drought has been persistent for about four years and now, coupled with the harsh economic conditions, it's worse."

When the food shortages are severe, on average 10 percent of the 470 pupils drop out, but in the kindergarten section, not even half bother to walk several kilometres back and forth on an empty stomach.

Authorities and aid agencies are yet to study the full impact of the drought but the opposition has warned that the country will fall 1.3 million tonnes short of its food needs this year.

The government has admitted food will run out in parts of the country, but said the shortages will not be critical.

"The situation is really not very serious to say there will be a crisis," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said Tuesday.

The cash-strapped government has already started importing grain to avert starvation.

Finance Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi last month spoke of plans to import about 400,000 tonnes of maize to make up for a possible food shortfall.

Bikita district chief Johnston Mupamhadzi said: "It's going to be bad, this is the worst drought" in recent years.

"We really need assistance because the district has not produced enough for the past four years," he said.

Zimbabwe is already saddled with economic crisis characterised by a four-digit rate of inflation, unemployment of around 80 percent and chronic shortages of basic foodstuffs like cooking oil, sugar and foreign currency.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 09:53 AM

Although this thread was titled about the plight of Africans & is focused on Zimbabwe and it's president, Mugabe & his awful rule there are other African nations that are also in need of disprate help. Not to take away from Zimbabwe's cry. AIDS is crippling the the economies of many countries along with drought. Corruption in many of the African's nation are also kiiling it's people & starving them off. Some of these nations are very wealthy in resources but are being raped by foriegn companies that are taken all they can from the land & sea without paying more than a pitence to those that are in power while the rest go bare. For sure it is an African problem that should be dealt with by a joint African congress but all resources, infulences should be given to a congress that askes for it if they are seen to be just & fair in their dealings with these problems & a joint effort should be brought to bare on all who'd oppose this congress.
The only draw back is that it does not seem to be a big enough problem for nations that presently have industries that profit in what's happening to Africa & why help if it's gonna cost far more than what other wise would amount to a handout.
Should we care, of course, can we afford to care, yes. Do we care or care to to care, I don't think so, not until it directly effects US, as usual. We may put forth a showing effort but if we invested more & did it for the right reasons we could take some of our value in the pride of seeing millions of Africans survive and this says nothing of our lack of motovation in putting an end to the dictorships that are commiting genocide.
Should we care yes, do we care? Not enough it seems.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 10:21 AM

"Do we care or care to to care" Sorry, that should read; Do we dare or care to care.

BTW, thanks BB for starting this thread about a topic that should be getting more world attention & doesn't.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 02:32 PM

As I have stated before, in the future our inaction over genocides, especally in Africa, will (IMO) be our greatest regret.

8-{E

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 03:55 PM

Zimbabwe's bishops warn of uprising if Mugabe stays
POSTED: 8:35 p.m. EDT, April 8, 2007

Story Highlights• Easter letter was pinned to church bulletin boards around the country
• The letter is titled "God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed"
• Pope Benedict XVI also singled out Zimbabwe as troubled in Easter address
• Zimbabwe's Anglican church has been more muted; generally toeing party line


HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- In an Easter message pinned to church bulletin boards around the country, Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic bishops called on President Robert Mugabe to leave office or face "open revolt" from those suffering under his government.

The letter, titled "God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed," was the most critical pastoral message since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980 and Mugabe assumed leadership of the country for the first time.

Once prosperous, the country is reeling under hyperinflation of more than 1,700 percent, 80 percent unemployment, shortages of food and other basic goods and one of the world's lowest life expectancies.

"As the suffering population becomes more insistent, generating more and more pressure through boycotts, strikes, demonstrations and uprisings, the state responds with ever harsher oppression through arrests, detentions, banning orders, beatings and torture," the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference said in a pastoral message pinned up at churches throughout the country.

The majority of Zimbabwe's Christians -- including Mugabe -- are Roman Catholics. Several thousand worshippers who packed the cathedral in Harare clustered around the bulletin boards to read the message after morning Mass on Sunday.

"Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into open revolt in one township after another," the nine bishops wrote.

"In order to avoid further bloodshed and avert a mass uprising, the nation needs a new people-driven constitution that will guide a democratic leadership chosen in free and fair elections," it said.

A similar letter in the nearby nation of Malawi pressured longtime dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda into holding a referendum on reform in 1992 and calling democratic elections, which he lost, ending 30 years of brutal rule.

"We cannot yet say what the response of our congregations will be, but basic biblical teachings apply. Oppression is not negotiable. It must stop before there can be any dialogue," said the Rev. Oskar Wermter of the Catholic communications secretariat in Harare.

Wermter said the bishops wanted the contents of the letter to receive the widest possible distribution. The letter was delivered in the traditional rural strongholds of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party across the country, where priests showed what he called a very strong interest in it.

In his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Easter address from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI singled out Zimbabwe among other troubled countries.

"Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis and for this reason the bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared commitment for the common good as the only way forward," the pope said in his Easter message which he read to tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square.

The bishops called for a day of prayer and fasting April 14 and said there would be a prayer service for Zimbabwe every week after that.

The Anglican church has been more muted, with its leaders generally toeing the ruling party line.

Police in Zimbabwe violently broke up a multi-denominational prayer meeting March 11, describing it as a banned demonstration. Two pro-democracy activists died and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and a dozen senior colleagues were hospitalized after beatings.

Mugabe subsequently headed off a challenge to his leadership to win party support to stand for another presidential term in national elections in 2008. There was no response from the government Sunday to the pastoral letter and Mugabe was out of the country.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 01:59 PM

Fighting rages in Somali capital as bodies rot in streets
POSTED: 8:11 a.m. EDT, April 23, 2007
Story Highlights• Six days of fighting leaves more than 200 people dead in Mogadishu
• Islamic insurgents battle Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's government forces
• U.N.: Clashes spark the worst humanitarian crisis in the country's recent history
• Many residents trapped by closed roads
Adjust font size:
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Heavy shelling and tank fire rocked Mogadishu Monday, the sixth straight day of raging battles in the capital that have plunged the country deeper into chaos and left more than 200 people dead.

Masked Islamic insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops backing the fragile Somali government's forces in the southern part of the battle-scarred coastal city, pounding each other with machine-gun fire, mortars, tank shells and heavy artillery.

At least four people were killed in Monday's fighting, said Khadija Farah, who saw a shell hit a residential area north of the city and kill three men and a women. Farah added a six-month-old baby was wounded.

The United Nations said the fighting had sparked the worst humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country's recent history, with many of the city's residents trapped because roads out of Mogadishu were blocked.

Rotting bodies have been left on the streets for days, witnesses said, as it is too dangerous to try to retrieve them. At least six people were wounded early Monday, said Medina Hospital director Dahir Dhere, but he expected fatalities.

Halime Ibrahim, who fled from south of the city, which saw the worst fighting for more than 15 years, said she had seen 11 bodies. "I even failed to recognize if they were men or women," she told The Associated Press.

"Masked Somali fighters who dug in near my house are in an intensive fight with Ethiopian and Somali troops since early morning," said Hassan Mohamed Ali lives in Tawfiq neighborhood and opted to remain behind to look after his family's house. From time to time, Ali was checking the fighting from his window.

The latest fighting flared after Ethiopian and Somali government troops made a final military push to try to wipe out the insurgency, Western diplomatic and Somali government sources told the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The government and its Ethiopian backers were facing international pressure over the mounting death toll and appeared determined to bring order before a planned national reconciliation conference.

Ethiopian troops opened fire with tank shells and artillery from the presidential palace early Monday at insurgent positions in the south, said resident Osman Ali Yusuf who said one of the shells hit near his house. Yusuf, who monitors the fighting from his rooftop, said he had seen two tanks stationed at the strategic Tawfiq junction that divides the south from the north of Mogadishu where the two sides are facing off.

Ethiopians are in the north. The insurgency they are trying to end and which emerged after the defeat of the Council of Islamic Courts is operating from the south of the city of 2 million people. Clan and warlord militia have also joined the fight against the Ethiopians and government forces.

A bid earlier this month to wipe out the insurgency left more than 1,000 people dead, many of them civilians. More than 320,000 people have fled the fighting.

Elman Human Rights Organization that records casualties in the capital, said six insurgents and 41 civilians died on Sunday alone. They did not have any casualty figures for either Ethiopian or Somali government soldiers.

"The killing of civilians like this is a crime against humanity," said Sudan Ali Ahmed, the chairman of the group. "We urge the international community to send a team to investigate these crimes. They are war crimes."

The new tallies bring the death toll in five days of fighting in Mogadishu to at least 212, with more than 291 wounded, according to the human rights group.

A Somali government official warned on Sunday that his government planned a major offensive against the insurgents soon and wanted residents of the capital to move from insurgent strongholds.

"People in Mogadishu should vacate their homes that are located near the strongholds of terrorists, and we will crack down on insurgents and terrorists very soon," said Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle.

In a separate development that could increase tension in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea suspended its membership in a regional body that mediated the Somali conflict Saturday.

The region is already tense because of the unresolved border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia that has seen the two countries go to war in the past. In recent months, the Somalia conflict has also been seen as a proxy war between the two, with each backing rival sides.

U.S. officials have named Eritrea as a supporter the months-old insurgency in Mogadishu, something Eritrea has denied.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

The transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help, but has struggled to extend its control over the country.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 07:17 AM

Nigerian vote denounced as flawed
POSTED: 3:44 p.m. EDT, April 23, 2007

Story Highlights• Ruling party candidate Yar'Adua declared winner of Nigerian presidential election
• Chief EU observer says election "cannot be considered to have been credible"
• Outgoing president Obasanjo admits electoral process was "not perfect"
• 65 people have been killed in violence related to Saturday's vote

ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigeria's ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua was declared winner on Monday of a presidential poll rejected by the opposition and condemned by observers as a "charade."

The observers and opposition politicians said Saturday's vote for the first handover of power from one civilian leader to another in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer was manipulated through violence and rigging.

Electoral commission head Maurice Iwu declared Yar'Adua of the People's Democratic Party the winner with 24.6 million votes, far ahead of his closest rival, former army strongman Muhammadu Buhari, with 6.6 million.

Buhari rejected the result as "blatantly rigged" and called on parliament to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Thousands of opposition youths started street fires in the northern city of Kano but the protest was quelled by police and reaction elsewhere was muted.

World oil prices rose sharply on Monday because of fears of further violence in the world's eighth largest oil exporter, where militant attacks have already curbed output.

Nigeria, scarred by decades of corrupt dictatorship and military rule since independence from Britain in 1960, returned to civilian government in 1999.

Yar'Adua said he was "greatly humbled" and would reach out to the opposition. "I intend to invite them to join hands with me to work for this country," he said.

Observers: Election a 'charade'
European Union observers cited poor election organization, lack of transparency, significant evidence of fraud, voter disenfranchisement, violence and bias.

"These elections have not lived up to the hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and the process cannot be considered to have been credible," said chief EU observer Max van den Berg.

The United States said the vote was "flawed" but stopped short of calling for it to be overturned. Problems should be resolved peacefully and according to the constitution, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

A coalition of civil society observers called in a statement for the vote to be cancelled and held again.

"The election was a charade. A democratic arrangement founded on such fraud can have no legitimacy," they said.

But any annulment would plunge Nigeria into a constitutional crisis because by law Obasanjo must hand over power on May 29.

Obasanjo said the election could not be described as perfect but appealed to aggrieved losers to use the courts for any complaints over the next five weeks.

"Nothing should be done to make our people lose faith in the electoral process and its democratic outcome," he said.

Analysts had predicted Yar'Adua would win because of the ruling party's unrivalled funds and powers of incumbency, but Buhari had been expected to put in a much stronger showing because of widespread disaffection with poverty and crime.

About 65 people have been killed in the past 10 days in election-related crime. Four people were killed in armed clashes between criminal gangs in the southern oil capital Port Harcourt but there was no obvious link to the election.

The government has labeled critics of the poll coup-plotters and linked them to a failed attempt to blow up the electoral commission headquarters on Saturday with a fuel tanker.

Police arrested protesters at the headquarters in the capital Abuja on Sunday and banned all rallies.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 07:48 AM

There are limits to what outside armed intervention can accomplish, and the Ethiopians (who should know better) are re-learning that lesson in Somalia. Of course, it's likely that the Ethiopians would be satisfied with continued anarchy in Somalia. What the Ethiopians don't want is a strong unified aggressive Islamic state as a neighbor. At least half of Ethiopia's population has been traditionally Muslim, and there is some potential for a Muslim/Orthodox Christian civil war, not to mention several other forms of civil war in Ethiopia.

At the same time Ethiopia is one of the staunchest allies of the United States in Africa, and we are no doubt supporting their armed intervention into Somalia.

This is just my opinion, but I'm usually right!

Charley Noble
Ethiopia Peace Corps Volunteer 1965-1968

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Mike Miller
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 09:30 AM

In a sectarian conflict, armed intervention is the only effective tool. We can wring our hands, apply economic sanctions, introduce stongly worded resolutions and congradulate ourselves for our moral stand but, for those poor souls in the line of fire, we can only observe and condemn. Unless we are willing to send real troops with real bullets (and kill real people), our protestations are empty gestures.
Condemning Ethiopia for intervening in Somalia is short sighted, even if their intervention is on the "wrong" side. Any nation that might experience a civil war, based on religion, should feel threatened and should act to prevent that war. Theocracies are, historically, intolerant and expansive. Nothing justifies injustice like faith.
What, then, is a moral people to do, in the face of atrocities? Intervention is not the answer unless we have learned nothing from a past adventures. Dictators abound and ethnic animosities are ingrained. We can not be the sword of justice, even if we, really, knew what the just side was, every time. We can, only, follow the example of Candide and tend our own gardens. It is not immoral to recognise limitations.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 11:58 AM

BB on this issue, we agree. Liked the article.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 02:40 PM

74 killed in attack on Ethiopia oil field
POSTED: 9:20 a.m. EDT, April 24, 2007

Story Highlights• Seven Chinese workers kidnapped during raid
• Ethiopian rebel group warned last year against projects in area
• China increasing presence in Africa as need for natural resources grows

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Gunmen raided a Chinese-run oil field in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers, an official of the Chinese company said.

Seven Chinese workers were kidnapped in the morning attack at the oil installation in a disputed region near the Somali border, Xu Shuang, the general manager of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, said.

China has increased its presence in Africa in recent years in a hunt for oil and other natural resources to feed its rapidly growing economy. Its forays into areas considered politically unstable, however, has exposed Chinese workers to attacks.

No one claimed responsibility for Tuesday's raid, but an Ethiopian rebel group warned last year that any investment in the Ogaden area that also benefited the Ethiopian government "would not be tolerated."

The Ogaden National Liberation Front is fighting a low-level insurgency with the aim of creating an independent state for ethnic Somalis. Somalia lost control of the region in a war in 1977.

The rebel group also has been fighting Ethiopian troops inside Somalia, where Ethiopia has been backing the government in crushing an Islamic movement and re-establishing control over the country.

In Nigeria, armed militants seeking a greater share of that country's oil wealth kidnapped nine Chinese oil workers in January, and two more in March. Two were still being held, though hostages are normally released unharmed in Nigeria, after a ransom is paid.

Also in March in Nigeria, five Chinese telecommunications workers were abducted for two weeks.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Partridge
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 03:13 PM

I have a very personal interst in Zimbabwe, I was born there and lots of my extended family lived there. It was Rhodesia when I was born, and it has gone bad. Extended family have moved back to the UK with nothing, meaning they they lost everything.

Mugabe is a corrupt person, the previous posts show that. I think that we will have to let time take its toll and he will eventually die and I hope thats soon and someome will take over that has some goodness and a sense of what is right. The political stuff is far too complicated.

Zimbabwe used to be one of the most self sufficient countries in Africa, I can only hope that in the very near future it returns to that state - for the good of its people.

Pat x

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 11:54 AM

Nigeria's president says elections not fatally flawed
POSTED: 5:38 p.m. EDT, April 24, 2007

Story Highlights• Obasanjo: Don't judge country by developed-world standards
• Opposition rejects win by Umaru Yar'Adua
• Observers say election not credible after massive improprieties
A
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- President Olusegun Obasanjo said in remarks released Tuesday that Nigeria's deeply flawed weekend presidential elections should not be voided and asked observers not to judge his country by developed-world standards.

The political opposition has rejected the Saturday vote, won by Umaru Yar'Adua of Obasanjo's ruling party, that local and international observers said was not credible after massive improprieties, including ballot-box stuffing.

Obasanjo reiterated his acknowledgement that the vote had been flawed, but said "the magnitude does not make the results null and void."

He said election observers should not only criticize, but help.

"We should not be measured by European standards. Nigeria has come a long way from when I first voted. We are better than 20 years ago," he said in statement, which indicated he made the comments originally to the British Broadcasting Corp.

The campaign for the third-place challenger, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said he rejected the result announced Monday and said he would mount a court challenge.

The runner up, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, also rejected the vote as rigged by Obasanjo's ruling party, and a party spokesman said a final response was still being formulated.

The spokesman, Abba Kyari, said his party, the country's leading opposition group, was not calling for mass demonstrations.

He said public rallies could spark massive unrest in his chaotic nation and that a decision to stage protests would only be made after careful consideration.

"We prepared for elections, we didn't prepare for war," he told The Associated Press.

The elections were meant to boost civilian rule and stability in Africa's top oil producer, where some 15,000 people have died in political violence since 1999 as factions fought for power in a political space liberated by the end of strict military rule that year.

Questions about the elections' legitimacy undermined the voting for Nigeria's first transfer of power from one elected civilian to another. All other civilian transfers of power between elected officials have been undermined by annulments or military coups. Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960.

President-elect Umaru Yar'Adua, the 56-year old governor of a heavily Muslim northern state, is scheduled to take over the presidency on May 29.

Obasanjo, a former military ruler, won a 1999 election that ended 15 years of near-constant military rule. His 2003 re-election was marked by allegations of massive vote rigging. The opposition says the elections were the worst-ever in Nigeria.

Dozens of Nigerians have died in civil strife related to the presidential election and a week-earlier vote for state officials that the ruling party also won, and the outcome seemed unlikely to stanch further bloodshed, like a low-intensity armed struggle in the country's oil-producing region.

Oil prices rose on news from Nigeria, in part because of concern about Nigeria, a country of 140 million people.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 11:55 AM

Aid held up as battles plunge Somalia into crisis
POSTED: 2:55 p.m. EDT, April 24, 2007

Story Highlights• More than 320,000 Mogadishu residents flee fighting, U.N. says
• Government demands to inspect all food and medical shipments
• Tens of thousands of residents remain trapped by the violence

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somalia's government is holding up vital aid to tens of thousands of people as car bombs and street fighting Tuesday brought the death toll to nearly 1,500 in less than a month, sending this country lurching toward catastrophe, diplomats and witnesses warned.

Tuesday's fighting came hours after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on warring sides to end the violence and allow humanitarian assistance to reach the needy. The Somali government and its Ethiopian allies are trying to quash a growing Islamic insurgency but civilians are getting caught in the crossfire.

The U.N. says more than 320,000 of Mogadishu's 2 million residents have fled since February, sending streams of people into squalid camps with little to eat, no shelter and disease spreading. The country is suffering its worst humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country's recent history, according to the U.N.

But the weak transitional government has been demanding to inspect all food and medical shipments, holding up potentially lifesaving aid, European and American officials warned in letters obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The United Nations, the European Union and the U.S. ambassador responsible for Somalia and Kenya have all appealed to Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi in letters over the past month to ease the demands, saying they were complicating the already difficult task of delivering aid to a violent and largely lawless country.

"The efforts of international agencies to come to the aid of these stricken people are being thwarted on the one hand by militia looting relief supplies, demanding 'taxes' and violently threatening aid workers, and on the other by administrative obstacles imposed by the Transitional Federal Government," the German ambassador to Kenya, writing on behalf of the European Union, said in an April 20 letter to Yusuf.

U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger wrote in an April 17 letter to Yusuf that the government should stop "halting distribution of food aid for unspecified inspections." He also said at least one government-appointed regional governor "required payment for the transit of relief goods on top of payments already made to militia checkpoints. These practices are unacceptable and undermine the legitimacy of your government."

In an April 12 letter to Gedi, Graham Farmer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said soldiers at a military checkpoint outside Mogadishu turned back a World Food Program shipment that would have benefited 32,000 people because the government had not given clearance.

The letters were provided to the AP by an aid official who asked not to be named for fear of being fired.

Somali Interior Minister Mohamed Mohamud Guled wrote in an April 9 letter to the United Nations' World Food Program that, "no food distribution can take place anywhere in Somalia without being inspected and approved by the government."

He did not give a reason, but told the AP last week that "it is our duty to monitor for security reasons all humanitarian aid." Somali officials could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

Government inspections are not unheard of for aid agencies, but Somalia's relatively new administration lacks the capacity to process the massive quantities of assistance. Several large shipments of food have been turned back because there was no clearance from government, according to aid agencies and diplomats.

One car bomb went off Tuesday outside the Ambassador Hotel, which is used as a base by Somali lawmakers, killing seven civilians were killed, witnesses said. The other car bomb, a suspected suicide attack, exploded outside an Ethiopian military base 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital, after troops opened fire on a minibus that was speeding toward them, local resident Mayow Mohamed said.

Artillery fire and mortar shells also rained down on the capital. In total, 358 people have been killed and 680 wounded in the past seven days, according to a committee set up by Mogadishu's dominant clan to assess the fighting.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy. The current administration was formed in 2004 but has struggled to extend its control over the country.

The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, a hard-line religious movement that had controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six quiet months in 2006. Somali and Ethiopian troops drove the group from power over the New Year. The militants reject any secular government, and vow to fight until Somalia becomes an Islamic state.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 11:41 AM

U.N. says Mogadishu becoming 'ghost city'
POSTED: 1:11 p.m. EDT, April 25, 2007

Story Highlights• Somali government, Ethiopians trying to crush Islamist insurgents, clan militia
• U.N. says 340,000 people have fled city, many sleep outdoors
• Agency fears health disaster looms
• 300 people killed in a week of fighting in Islamist stronghold in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) -- The Somali capital Mogadishu is becoming a "ghost city" as residents flee a government offensive to crush Islamist insurgents and clan militia, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday.

Shelling and machine-gun fire shook the coastal city for an eighth day, although residents said Wednesday's fighting was lighter than in previous days.

Allied Somali-Ethiopian forces are battling Islamist rebels frustrating the interim government's bid to restore central rule in the Horn of Africa nation for the first time in 16 years.

The United Nations says nearly 340,000 people have fled the coastal city in recent weeks, many sleeping in the open or under trees. It has warned of a looming health disaster.

"Civilians are still fleeing at a very high rate," the U.N. refugee agency said in a statement on Wednesday. "At least half the capital is deserted, slowly turning it into a ghost city."

Locals, officials and human rights workers say nearly 300 people have been killed in a week of fighting that has focused on an Islamist stronghold in the north of a city which was once home to at least a million people.

Somali media said leaders of the city's dominant Hawiye clan were meeting Ethiopian army officers to try to find common ground for a ceasefire, but gave no other details. Hawiye elders could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The shelling is still going on, but it is less heavy than yesterday. But it is still too dangerous to venture out," said one resident who asked not to be named.

Some miss relative calm of Islamists' rule
For many Mogadishu residents, accustomed to chaos and violence over the past decade and a half, the fighting contrasts with the relative stability during the Islamists' six-month rule, before they were ousted in a war over the New Year.

"This experience dramatically underlines the benefits of the brief period of 'Islamist' authority in southern Somalia which already begins to seem like a 'Golden Age'," Britain's Chatham House think tank said in a report on Wednesday.

"The (government) is simply not trusted by the populace, nor does it represent the powerful interest groups in Mogadishu."

As the battles intensified on Tuesday, a car bomb killed four civilians in central Mogadishu and a suicide attacker struck at Ethiopian troops at a base in Afgooye, a small farming town on the western outskirts.

An Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for both.

The group, calling itself the Young Mujahideen Movement in Somalia, said a Kenyan member named Othman Otibo carried out the suicide bombing at the Ethiopian military base in Afgooye.

"Following this blessed martyrdom operation, a seven-minute clash broke out between the victorious lions of unification (Islam) and the remnants of the...defeated Ethiopians," it said in an Internet statement posted on Wednesday.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified. It was posted on a Web site used by Islamist militants fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 12:41 PM

Britain slams 'outright rigged' election in Nigeria
POSTED: 10:20 a.m. EDT, April 27, 2007

Story Highlights• Britain says result "not credible," but urges opposition to seek redress lawfully
• Ruling party presidential candidate Umaru Yar'Adua won landslide victory
• President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to hand over to Yar'Adua on May 29
• Opposition plans series of mass protests on May 1

LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Former colonial power Britain denounced "outright rigging" in Nigeria's elections, but urged the opposition to stick to the constitution in seeking redress.

The electoral commission gave the ruling party candidate, Umaru Yar'Adua, a landslide victory in Saturday's presidential poll, but the opposition called for it to be cancelled and held again after international observers said the result was not credible.

"It was not just a question of disorganization, but there was outright rigging and the results were frankly not credible," High Commissioner Richard Gozney said at a reception in Lagos on Thursday night.

"It is up to Nigerians to decide what should happen next. But we do make a plea for people to stick strictly to constitutional means," he added.

President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to hand over to Yar'Adua on May 29, in what would be the first transfer of power from one civilian president to another since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960.

Obasanjo has urged the opposition to seek redress through election tribunals.

Some opposition groups have called for the National Assembly to install an interim government headed by Senate President Ken Nnamani to run fresh elections, but Nnamani has rejected the idea as unconstitutional.

The opposition is also planning a series of mass protests starting on Tuesday, when trade unions stage their annual May Day parade.

"If constitutionality prevails in Nigeria over the next few weeks that in itself will be a very big step forward," Gozney said, adding that Britain would not accept or endorse any unconstitutional outcome.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:12 AM

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/04/30/ivory.coast.reut/index.html

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 04 May 07 - 02:52 PM

Problem solved!


Mayor of Mogadishu bans weapons By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 4, 9:30 AM ET



MOGADISHU, Somalia - A former warlord who has long lived by his gun was sworn in as mayor of Mogadishu on Friday and immediately ordered residents of the Somali capital to get rid of their weapons.

But Mayor Mohamed Dheere offered no clear details on how that could be accomplished in a city awash in Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and hand grenades. Previous efforts to get residents to give up their weapons have been unsuccessful.

"No weapons are allowed in the city," Dheere, who spent 16 years as a warlord struggling for power in this Horn of Africa nation, said at his inauguration ceremony. "Anyone who violates this directive will be punished."

The new police chief, Abdi Qeybdiid, also called for residents to disarm Friday, and said cars with blacked-out or tinted windows must go.

"Anyone who fails to abide by these rules will be brought before the court," he said — a surprising assertion in a city that has seen little more than chaos for more than a decade.

Dheere is trying to build on a fragile peace carved out by clan deal-making and a fierce military crackdown on Muslim militants.

Aid groups say 1,670 people were killed between March 12 and April 26 and more than 340,000 of the city's 2 million residents fled for safety as the government, backed by Ethiopian troops, pressed to wipe out an Islamic insurgency.

It was not clear how long the calm would last — extremist Islamic leaders have vowed their forces would rise up again. But the violence was also spurred by a struggle for power among Somali clans, and that element may have subsided because of efforts to appease the clans, including the weekend appointment of Dheere as mayor. Dheere's powerful clan, the Hawiye, had complained of being ignored by the government.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. The current government was established in 2004, but has failed to assert full control.

With the crucial aid of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, Somali forces ousted a militant Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts over the New Year. But the group promised to launch an       Iraq-style insurgency, and the capital was soon enduring weeks of artillery battles and shelling between the warring sides.

The relentless violence is among the reasons many Somalis have been reluctant to give up their arms. But in a hopeful sign for the government, several members of the powerful business community in the capital handed over 25 boxes and 20 sacks filled with weapons, saying they would now depend on government forces to protect them.

But violence and crime continues to be a challenge. On Thursday, gunmen seized three boats off the coast of Somalia's semiautonomous Puntland region, said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program. Mwangura had no update on the situation Friday.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 May 07 - 11:53 AM

Villagers flee killings as 'peace' plan backfires
POSTED: 1:15 p.m. EDT, May 9, 2007

Story Highlights• "I buried my child in the forest," says one mother who fled village in Congo
• 600,000 flee homes as army meant to protect them kills, rapes villagers
• Violence result of plan to integrate rebels into regular army

NYONGERA, Congo (Reuters) -- "I buried my child in the forest," said Jeannette Nyirarukundo, who fled her village in eastern Congo when it was attacked by the government army meant to protect it.

Six-year-old Moise starved to death before the family reached the safety of a camp at Nyongera, 70 kilometers (44 miles) from North Kivu's provincial capital Goma.

Some 113,000 civilians have fled fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu since February, and the province now has 600,000 displaced people, according to the U.N. humanitarian coordination agency OCHA.

'They came for us there, too'
"We slept in the forest for two weeks, and then they came after us there too. It wasn't safe anymore, and we came here," said Nyirarukundo, 28, who was accompanied by her husband and three surviving children.

Eastern Congo is no stranger to violence, but ironically the latest surge in killing started with a deal designed to bring peace to this corner of the vast country nearly four years after a nationwide accord officially ended a 1998-2003 war.

Laurent Nkunda, a dissident Congolese army general, led his two brigades into the bush in 2004, vowing to protect his fellow ethnic Tutsis. He is under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes after his men occupied Bukavu, South Kivu.

After last year's historic polls saw President Joseph Kabila become Congo's first democratically elected leader in more than four decades, the army and Rwandan mediators began negotiations to bring Nkunda and his soldiers into existing army brigades stationed in North Kivu. That process began in January.

But instead of ending the violence, the five new mixed brigades began hunting down Nkunda's enemies in the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu-dominated Rwandan rebel movement based in eastern Congo.

Mixed brigades kill, rape, force civilians from homes
"There's more and more movement every day ... If this military strategy continues, we could be looking at another 280,000 more (displaced)," said Luciano Calestini, emergency specialist for eastern Congo for U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF.

"The next six months is going to be a disaster. It's going to be catastrophic," he said.

Human rights observers accuse the mixed brigades of killing, raping and forcing civilians from their homes.

Soldiers from the mixed Bravo Brigade arbitrarily executed at least 15 mostly Hutu civilians in Buramba village about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Goma, the human rights division of Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission said in a report.

Bravo Brigade commander Colonel Sultani Makenga blamed the massacre on the FDLR.

"What we did was separate the population from the FDLR. That's why the villages are uninhabited," Makenga told Reuters in an interview. "We evacuated the civilians in order to fight the FDLR alone ... It was to protect them."

'We are in the hands of a killer'
Makenga said operations would continue until the FDLR were chased out of Congo or destroyed.

Dominique Bofondo, territorial administrator of Rutshuru, where Bravo Brigade is based, said civilians now lived in fear of the mixed brigades.

"These are the same soldiers who killed people, who raped women. And now they are here to take care of us? ... We are in the hands of a killer," Bofondo said.

In Nyongera camp, Nyirarukundo said she is still afraid to return home but says her surviving children are hungry and sick.

"For now, we have nothing. There's no food. Nothing. We just want security, so we can go home," she said.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 14 May 07 - 01:44 PM

From the Washington Post:

Liberia's Moment of Opportunity

By Robert L. Johnson
Monday, May 14, 2007; Page A15

Last September, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf captivated an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York with descriptions of the extraordinary challenges facing her country. Sirleaf's courage and vision inspired me and a group of colleagues to commit to revitalizing the historic but dormant relationship between African Americans and Liberia. After all, Jewish Americans have been vital to Israel's welfare. African Americans should play a similar role for Liberia.

As part of our commitment, we pledged to mobilize investment capital to support Sirleaf's reconstruction efforts. This led to the creation of the $30 million Liberia Enterprise Development Fund, which is designed to make credit available to Liberian entrepreneurs working to build viable, job-creating businesses.

We also pledged to take African American leaders to Liberia. Last month, our 25-person delegation visited businesses in Monrovia, toured villages in the countryside and met with Liberians from all walks of life. We were awed by the challenges but moved by the sense of hope and faith Liberians have in their future. Every Liberian with whom we spoke said that the country will not return to war. Liberians want to rebuild their lives by finding jobs, restoring their homes and educating their children.

As it turned out, our investment mission to Liberia was the first by a group of Americans in over 25 years.

The United States has a special obligation to support Liberia. The country was established in 1847 by freed American slaves, and its first few presidents were African American. While Congress and the Bush administration have taken several helpful steps, more needs to be done -- and soon.

First, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act should be amended. Section 520 requires the administration to notify Congress of every program it intends to fund in Liberia. This delays unnecessarily the disbursement of the $270 million the United States has made available to Liberia and conveys the impression that Washington is indifferent to Liberia's challenges. Other countries under this constraint include Sudan and Zimbabwe. With Liberia's encouraging progress on economic and political reform, it is wrong that our government has not rescinded this burdensome requirement.

Immediate progress also needs to be made on relieving Liberia's debt. Liberia cannot pay the $3.7 billion it owes. The Bush administration, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union need to resolve this so that the Sirleaf government can access new sources of development assistance. Moreover, Liberians need to see tangible results from their government's development efforts. A far-reaching debt-reduction program would be a well-deserved boost for Sirleaf's administration and would visibly distance this government from the corruption and mismanagement of previous regimes.

Few issues are as critical as Liberia's security situation. Fifteen thousand U.N. peacekeepers are there now. There is agreement among the government and foreign government donors that Liberia's new army will be a force of 2,000. The United States should take the lead to ensure that the United Nations does not withdraw until Liberia's new force is fully trained and equipped. Attention also must be paid to the development of a coast guard.

The Bush administration could display its confidence in Liberia's future by locating the new Africa Command there. Few countries are as pro-America as Liberia, and it was a staunch U.S. ally during World War II and the Cold War. The placement of a U.S. military command in Africa is overdue. Liberia, with its strategic coastal location in West Africa, is well suited to serve as a host.

Promoting U.S. investment in Liberia should be another priority. In many sectors, Liberia has world-class natural resources. Under an agreement ratified a week ago, Mittal Steel will invest more than $1 billion to extract iron ore from northern Liberia. Firestone, which has been in the country for 80 years, is working to significantly increase its rubber production. Other opportunities exist in timber, mining and infrastructure development.

Attention also needs to be given to encouraging an American carrier to make direct flights to Monrovia. This would aid the growth in commerce and make it easier for Liberian residents in the United States to travel home.

President Sirleaf has put special emphasis on attracting foreign investment and strengthening her domestic private sector. She understands, correctly, that a strong private sector is essential to growth. A strategy for attracting American investors in areas such as energy, housing and road-building should be a priority for the Bush administration.

Liberia deserves American support, and African Americans especially must come forward to reestablish the historic bond between our nations. The Sirleaf government is working tirelessly to create a better and more prosperous future for citizens. We bear a special responsibility to ensure that she succeeds.

The writer is chairman of RLJ Companies, which is a member of the Liberia Enterprise Development Fund. He is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 May 07 - 03:13 PM

Bono: Industrial countries lag on Africa promises

POSTED: 12:21 p.m. EDT, May 15, 2007

BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- The world's biggest industrial countries are failing to keep up with financial promises they made to Africa, rocker-activist Bono said Tuesday, calling a new progress report "a cold shower" for the Group of Eight.

G-8 members in 2004-2006 contributed less than half the amount needed to make good on promises to double Africa aid to $50 billion by 2010, according to a report released by DATA -- Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa -- an advocacy group founded by Bono, the 47-year-old frontman for Irish band U2.

"The G-8 are sleepwalking into a crisis of credibility. I know the DATA report will feel like a cold shower, but I hope it will wake us all up," he said. (Bono talks to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta about Africa, poverty and promises )

Bono is urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chairs a G-8 summit in Germany next month, to ensure that members contribute what they said they would.(Go to CNN's podcasting page to download Dr. Sanjay Gupta's interview with Bono)

The report shows the G-8 increased aid by $2.3 billion but says the nations need to increase aid by an additional $3.1 billion to substantially help the people of Africa.

"These statistics are not just numbers on a page," Bono said. "They are people begging for their lives, for two pills a day, a mother begging to immunize her children, a child begging not to become a mother at the age of 12."

The DATA report said aid money that does arrive has an effect. "Every day 1,450 Africans living with AIDS are put on lifesaving drugs," the organization said, and 20 million African children are going to school for the first time, thanks in part to debt cancellations and aid increases.

Still, Bono warns that insufficient increases in aid could reverse progress already made. DATA says the G-8 must contribute $7.4 billion this year alone to reach its goal. If Germany makes good on its promises to help Africa, he said, the other G-8 members will do the same.

Britain and Japan have contributed most of the aid increase so far, it said.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 22 May 07 - 08:42 AM

6 beheadings blamed on sect shock Kenyans
POSTED: 7:57 a.m. EDT, May 22, 2007
Story Highlights• Media says Mungiki responsible for murders
• Group instills fear by promoting archaic Kikuyu rituals like swearing oaths
• Sect fighting with local minibus taxi operators over protection money
• Mungiki was banned in 2002 after killing more than 20 people in a Nairobi slum
Adjust font size:
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- Villagers found heads placed on poles and body parts scattered in bushes in six murders the media blamed on Tuesday on an outlawed sect notorious for killing and extortion.

People in the country's central region found the heads and other remains after attacks on Sunday and Monday.

The media blamed the killings on Mungiki, a banned group that has fought weeks of battles with local minibus taxi operators who are resisting its demands for protection money.

With presidential elections due in the east African nation in December, many commentators suspected a political hand behind violence threatening the government's authority.

"[Mungiki] is out to demonstrate that it can operate and strike with impunity anywhere and everywhere," the Daily Nation newspaper said on Tuesday in a front page editorial, below pictures of four of the six men who were decapitated.

"It is out to show the police and other government organs are feeble, helpless and unable to protect anyone who defies it."

Police said they would hold a briefing later on Tuesday.

Fear spread fast through the villages of Murang'a and Kiambu with some families fleeing the area as the victims' remains were discovered.

"I had gone out to answer a call of nature at around 3 a.m. when I switched on my torch and saw the head of a human being placed on the roof of my chicken pen," Robert Kiunjuri, a teacher in Kianjogu village, told the Nation.

The 50-year-old victim's headless body had been dragged to the nearby home of a chief, where it was dumped at the gate.

Another head was found perched atop a telephone pole about a mile (kilometer) away, and another found after villagers heard two dogs fighting over it.

In neighboring Kiambu, one head was left at a bus stop in the center of the main town, local media said. A torso and three amputated legs were discovered in a ditch in a nearby village.

The victims all appeared to be local laborers and peasant farmers with no known links to the shadowy sect.

Mungiki, whose name means "multitude" in the local Kikuyu language, was banned in 2002 after members armed with knives and clubs killed more than 20 people in a Nairobi slum.

The group instills fear by promoting archaic Kikuyu rituals like swearing oaths, and many Kenyans believe it has been supported by corrupt politicians in the past.

"The police cannot claim to be seriously investigating Mungiki if they are not calling in for questioning such political leaders," the Nation said. "Ultimately, the government must take full responsibility for failing to contain what is now clearly a national security issue."

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 May 07 - 01:02 PM

U.S. imposes new sanctions against Sudan

POSTED: 12:41 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2007

Story Highlights• U.S. imposes punitive action against 31 companies and three individuals
• Bush: Sudanese President Bashir "finding new methods of obstruction"
• Sudan objects to latest U.N. plan to deploy peacekeepers

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush imposed sanctions Tuesday against Sudan in reaction to the "genocide" in Darfur, and has ordered actions against 31 companies and three people -- preventing them from doing business in or with U.S. companies.

The three Sudanese people affected include two high-ranking government officials and a rebel leader, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. They were targeted for their roles in fomenting violence and human rights abuses in Darfur, the agency said.

"For too long the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians.

"My administration has called these actions by their rightful name, genocide. The world has a responsibility to help put an end to it," Bush said.

Bush said he had ordered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to write up a draft resolution that will be presented to the U.N. Security Council.

Bush intended to announce the sanctions last month in a speech at the Holocaust Museum in Washington but held off to give the United Nations and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir more time to try to resolve the situation.

Bush and other top U.S. officials have grown impatient with Bashir's reluctance to stop attacks by Arab militias widely believed to be supported by the government. The largest of these groups is known as the Janjaweed.

Bashir has also stalled efforts to increase international peacekeeping troops in the region.

Seven thousand African Union troops are in Darfur, and Bashir in April said Sudan would allow a U.N. support force of 3,000 troops into the country, the second phase of U.N. peacekeeping efforts in Darfur.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council approved plans for the third phase, the deployment of 22,000 U.N. and African Union peacekeepers.

At the weekend, however, Bashir said he still opposed that plan, The Associated Press reported, saying he would only accept a predominantly African Union force.

"President Bashir's actions over the past few weeks follow a long pattern of promising cooperation while finding new methods for obstruction," Bush said Tuesday.

Fighting by government-backed militias and rebel groups in the Darfur region of western Sudan has killed more than 200,000 people and driven about 2 million from their homes.

The Treasury Department issued a statement immediately after Bush's announcement, saying that, as of Tuesday, the agency had blocked the assets of the three Sudanese.

"Even in the face of sanctions, these individuals have continued to play direct roles in the terrible atrocities of Darfur," said Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. "We are working to call attention to their horrific acts and further isolate them from the international community."

The Treasury also acted Tuesday to sanction 30 Sudanese companies owned or controlled by the government of Sudan, and one company that has violated the arms embargo in Darfur.

"These companies have supplied cash to the Bashir regime, enabling it to purchase arms and further fuel the fighting in Darfur," added Paulson.

"By denying these companies access to the U.S. and international financial system, we will make it harder for the government of Sudan to pursue its deadly agenda."

One of the three individuals named Tuesday, Ahmad Muhammed Harun, Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs, has been accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court in the The Hague, Netherlands.

Sudan's head of military intelligence and security, Awad Ibn Auf, was also designated Tuesday, along with Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement , a rebel group that has refused to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement, the Treasury Department said.

Tuesday's action brings to seven the number of Sudanese individuals for whom access to the U.S. financial system is prohibited, according to the agency.

Fighting between the government of Sudan, the Janjaweed and splintered rebel groups has continued unabated in Sudan, despite the signing of the African Union-brokered Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 May 07 - 01:03 PM

3,000 Darfur refugees make 10-day trek through bush

POSTED: 11:27 a.m. EDT, May 29, 2007

Story Highlights• Darfur refugees walk 125 miles to seek shelter in Central African Republic
• Attacks force all 15,000 inhabitants Dafak to flee their homes
• Town of Sam-Ouandja unable to cope with the influx of Sudanese refugees
• Refugees are relying on mangoes picked from the bush for food

BANGUI, Central African Republic (Reuters) -- An estimated 3,000 Sudanese refugees driven from their homes by fighting in Darfur trekked for 10 days through the bush to seek shelter in Central African Republic, United Nations officials said on Tuesday.

The refugees told a U.N. team in the northeastern town of Sam-Ouandja, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Sudanese border, that a ground and air attack had forced all 15,000 inhabitants of the southern Darfur town of Dafak to flee their homes.

Most of them headed south within Sudan, but some fled westward into Central African Republic, an arduous journey of more than 125 miles (200 kilometers) following a track accessible only on foot or by horse.

Their flight was the latest evidence that the conflict in Darfur, where a war pitting rebels against Sudan's army and allied militias has raged since 2003, is pushing refugees into neighboring states like Chad and Central African Republic.

"So far we have registered 1,411 refugees and more of them are arriving every day," said Bruno Geddo, country representative for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, who led a U.N. mission on Monday to Sam-Ouandja in the isolated north-east.

"We are working on an estimate of 3,000 [refugees] at the moment," he told Reuters.

Although initial news reports suggested the group were armed and could include Chadian rebels, Geddo said the U.N. team had found no evidence of either weapons or Chadian nationals.

The town of Sam-Ouandja was attacked in March and November by insurgents trying to topple Central African President Francois Bozize, who seized power in a 2003 coup before legitimizing his rule at the ballot box two years later.

Geddo said the town's inhabitants were unable to cope with the influx of Sudanese refugees, who were currently relying on mangoes picked from the bush for food.

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF estimated last month that a quarter of the 4 million people in Central African Republic -- the world's sixth poorest country -- are suffering the effects of internal violence or the spill over from conflicts in neighboring Sudan and Chad.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 May 07 - 08:44 PM

Sudan: U.S. sanctions over Darfur unfair

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 29, 5:16 PM ET



KHARTOUM, Sudan - The Sudanese government condemned a new set of U.S. economic sanctions aimed at pressuring it to halt the bloodshed in Darfur, describing them Tuesday as "unfair and untimely" and calling on the rest of the world to ignore them.

       President Bush announced the United States was enforcing sanctions that bar 31 Sudanese companies owned or controlled by Sudan's government from the U.S. banking system. The sanctions also prevent three Sudanese individuals from doing business with U.S. companies or banks.

"We believe this decision is unfair and untimely," Sudan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali Sadiq, told The Associated Press.

His call found support in China, Khartoum's top diplomatic ally and a key business partner, which defended its investment in Sudan. Trade and investment are "helpful for the development of Sudan's economy and will fundamentally help Sudan to address the conflicts and wars in Sudan," China's envoy, Liu Guijin, told reporters in Beijing.

However, the       European Union said it was prepared to consider tougher measures to push Sudan to finally allow a large U.N. peacekeeping mission into Darfur. "In principle, we are open to consider that," Javier Solana told the AP.

Sadiq defending Sudan, saying it accepted a first batch of 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers in April to reinforce the overwhelmed African Union force already deployed in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes in four years of fighting between Sudanese forces and rebels.

"These American measures come at a time when Sudan is actively discussing peace in Darfur and working on the hybrid force," of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers, Sadiq said. "We invite the international community to ignore and condemn these sanctions."

Officials said Chris Hill, the U.S. nuclear negotiator with       North Korea, was heading to China on Wednesday and planned to raise Darfur with the Chinese.

The U.S. mission to the       United Nations has been drafting a resolution for broader U.N. sanctions against Sudan that is expected to face resistance in the Security Council because of China's opposition and questions over its timing.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he needs more time to promote negotiations and persuade the Sudanese government to accept more peacekeepers.

Asked whether the U.S. sanctions would complicate his job of getting Sudan to agree to a larger U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, Ban said: "We will have to see."

The U.N. agreed last week with the African Union on the final outline of the hybrid force that would more than triple the number of peacekeepers in Darfur with a mission of at least 23,000 soldiers and police. The peacekeepers would be allowed to launch pre-emptive attacks to stop violence.

South Africa's U.N. ambassador questioned the timing of the U.S. sanctions in the midst of those negotiations.

"It's not clear to us what are the sanctions supposed to achieve, what's really the aim?" said Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, whose country is a large contributor to the current 7,000-strong African Union force in Darfur.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa also criticized Bush's announcement, saying "this is not time for sanctions but time for intensifying efforts to reach understanding."

However, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir recently repeated his opposition to direct U.N. involvement in Darfur peacekeeping, saying the world body should only operate in support of the African Union.

World powers are growing increasingly frustrated with Sudan's dallying on the fine print of a U.N. deployment.

Sadiq, the Sudanese spokesman, warned that sanctions would "give the wrong signal" to rebel groups fighting in Darfur.

One of the individuals targeted for sanctions is Khalil Ibrahim, the head of the Justice and Equality Movement rebel group that opposes a peace deal signed last year by one rebel faction and the Sudanese government.

The group voiced outrage that Ibrahim was targeted after repeatedly meeting with U.S. officials to find a way out of the conflict.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said the rebel chief was listed because his troops contribute to the ongoing violence. "Meetings notwithstanding ... the U.S. government regards them as obstructing the peace process," said embassy spokesman Joel Maybury.

The two targeted government officials are Awad Ibn Auf, Sudan's head of military intelligence and security, and Ahmed Harun, the minister for humanitarian affairs, the U.S.       Treasury Department said.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 30 May 07 - 02:26 PM

from the Washington Post:

President Bush announces new sanctions for Sudan; China proposes more foreign investment.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007; Page A12


PRESIDENT BUSH'S announcement yesterday of new sanctions against Sudan because of the continuing genocide in Darfur was well justified and -- after more than a month's delay to allow for fruitless diplomacy -- overdue. It was also out of sync with the disturbing position of China, whose cooperation is essential to bringing sufficient pressure to bear on the Sudanese regime.

On the same day that Mr. Bush extended U.S. economic sanctions to 31 more Sudanese companies and three individuals, China's new African envoy held a news conference at which he argued that more foreign aid and investment, not sanctions, is the right medicine for the regime of Omar Hassan al-Bashir. As it is, Sudan sells 60 percent of its oil and 40 percent of its total exports to China, which has invested heavily in Sudan's oil industry and sold weapons to its army. As long as Beijing continues this lucrative partnership, U.S. sanctions, already in place for a decade, are unlikely to prove effective.

Worse, China seeks to discount well-documented atrocities by the Sudanese government, which have recently included the attempted bombing of rebel commanders meeting to discuss a peace deal, as well as raids on villages in southern Darfur. In a just-concluded tour of the region, Chinese ambassador Liu Guijin said he "didn't see a desperate scenario of people dying of hunger." He couldn't have been looking very hard: The United Nations says 250,000 people have been displaced in Darfur since last fall, adding to more than 2 million already crammed into miserable and insecure camps. Deliveries of food and other aid have frequently been disrupted in recent months, according to aid groups.

Mr. Bush said yesterday that the United States will press for a new U.N. Security Council resolution that would include further sanctions on Sudan and an enforceable ban on offensive military flights over Darfur. Though Britain and the new French government strongly support such action, the resolution will go nowhere without a change in Chinese policy. That's where the good news from Mr. Liu's news conference comes in. He declined to say that his government would veto a new resolution, and he was obliged to respond to the growing campaign to connect China's support for Sudan to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. "Linking China's approach to the Darfur issue and the Olympic Games is totally untenable," he protested. And if China uses its veto to stop a new U.N. resolution? Its leaders should be made to wonder what will be "untenable" then.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 30 May 07 - 02:29 PM

And more from the Washington Post...

A Big Enough Stick for Sudan

By Michael Gerson

Wednesday, May 30, 2007; Page A13

The greeting given to visitors at the presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan, is an exercise in intimidation. You pass guards in white uniforms with AK-47s, walk under a pair of enormous elephant tusks, then file past a machine gun emplacement. Guests are reminded they have entered the rebuilt palace where Gen. Charles Gordon -- the British father of humanitarian interventionism -- was killed in a 19th-century Islamist uprising. The message of warning to a new generation of Western idealists is given and taken.

Immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, the regime in Khartoum, which once sheltered Osama bin Laden, was suddenly cooperative -- fearful of being visited by the fate of Afghanistan. By the time I met President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2005, the fright had worn off. The regime felt shielded from pressure by close relations with China -- its main market for oil -- and by solidarity with Arab governments. Bashir dismissed accusations of genocide in the Western province of Darfur as "legitimate defense operations" and boldly pushed for an end to American sanctions on his country.

Traveling in Darfur a few days later, I got a whirlwind tour of hell. These "defense operations" involve the use of local militias to destroy village after village, sending millions into densely populated camps. The outskirts of those camps are ruled by brutal mounted militias that use rape and murder as tools of intimidation.

During that visit, it was clear that 15,000 to 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers, armed with attack helicopters and a mandate to protect civilians, could make a difference. That mission was eventually approved by the U.N. Security Council. But leaders of the regime have obstructed the deployment of that force at every turn, fearful it might eventually be used to arrest them on charges of genocide.

Yesterday's welcome announcement by President Bush of stronger American sanctions against Sudan, and new efforts in the Security Council to internationalize those sanctions, is an attempt to break this resistance. Within the administration, most concede these actions by themselves will not be enough. But the effective use of this stick -- banks expelling Sudanese accounts worth hundreds of millions of dollars -- might make the threat of other, heftier sticks more credible in the future.

The new sanctions were opposed by the U.N. secretary general, the Chinese, the Saudis and the Egyptians, who all want "just a few more weeks" to perform diplomatic miracles. But there is also a gathering coalition for stronger action that includes the United States, Britain, Denmark, some African countries -- and now France. The new government of Nicolas Sarkozy is reviewing its Darfur policy and has signaled a willingness to join the U.N. peacekeeping force and perhaps to establish humanitarian corridors in eastern Chad.

Past the current round of sanctions, the choices become more difficult. One option is to keep sanctions in place, reengage the government and the rebels in negotiations, and wait until the conditions for a genuine peace ripen. In this view, the cost of patience is relatively low -- humanitarian conditions in the Darfur camps have actually improved recently by most measures. The cost of military confrontation could be high, if it causes the regime to expel the thousands of humanitarian aid workers who keep millions from starvation.

The problem with waiting for peace, as one administration official put it to me, is that "the regime only responds to pressure. It has no record of responding to positive moves." So the other option is to set out on a ladder of escalation that will compel acceptance of the U.N. force and the disarmament of the militias. This approach would eventually involve the threat of force by a coalition of the willing -- not invasion and occupation, but a no-fly zone and perhaps a blockade. It would also require a clear message to the regime that menacing the refugees would bring terrible consequences. The more credible this threat of force, the more likely that the regime complies without the use of force.

Given other commitments, the U.S. military has been reluctant to even plan for these contingencies. But this leads to the strangest of situations: The French may now be more willing to act against genocide in Darfur than is the Pentagon.

The choice here is far from obvious. Escalation has risks; if not done in earnest, it is better not to begin at all. America is understandably weary and distracted. But a question hangs over the history of our time: Are we too tired to oppose genocide?

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 30 May 07 - 03:44 PM

Bush seeks $30 billion for AIDS program 43 minutes ago



WASHINGTON -       President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to authorize an additional $30 billion to fight       AIDS in Africa over five years, doubling the current U.S. commitment.

The money would provide treatment for 2.5 million people under the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, Bush said.

Through March 31, the program has supported treatment for 1.1 million people in 15 countries, including more than 1 million in Africa, he said. The program's original five-year mandate, which called for spending $15 billion, expires in September 2008 and Bush asked Congress to renew it.

"When I took office, an       HIV diagnosis in Africa's poorest communities was usually a death sentence. Parents watched their babies die needlessly because local clinics lacked effective treatments," the president said. "Once again, the generosity of the American people is one of the great untold stories of our time."

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the specific goals for the next five years — after Bush leaves office — call for treatment of 2.5 million people, prevention of more than 12 million new infections and the care of more than 12 million people, including 5 million orphans and children.

The president said the money "this money will be spent wisely," in nations where it can have the greatest possible impact and be sustainable.

Bush also announced that his wife, Laura, will visit four African countries — Zambia, Mali, Mozambique and Senegal — that have benefited from the U.S. program and report back to him on her findings. The trip will take place June 25-29.

The president's announcement comes before next week's annual summit of industrialized nations in Heiligendamm, Germany. Germany is pledging to make Africa a central issue and is calling for more aid, further debt relief and improved financial oversight.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 01:50 PM

From the CNN article on the G* conf:

"
Bush agreed, saying Thursday that the summit should stick to the priorities of climate change and aid to Africa, including the fight against HIV/AIDS. He and Merkel drew up the agenda Wednesday.

"They are not keeping their promises" to help Africa, Bono told CNN's Ed Henry in an interview Wednesday.

At the Gleneagles, Scotland, G8 Summit in 2005, boosted by the Live 8 concerts and the efforts of Bono and Geldof, world leaders agreed, at the urging of Blair, to a huge program of debt reduction for the "forgotten continent" of Africa, and massive boost in efforts to curb AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

G8 leaders in 2005 promised an extra $25 billion for Africa by 2010, according to Jamie Drummond, executive director of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), an advocacy organization working to eradicate poverty and AIDS in Africa.

DATA also encourages African leaders to support democracy, accountability and transparency.

Bono, a board member, has persistently lobbied the governments of the world's leading industrial democracies, which make up the G8, to keep their financial commitments.

At the end of 2006, just $2.3 billion of the $25 billion promised by G8 leaders by 2010 -- not including debt relief -- had been paid, Drummond told CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley.

"The G8 as a whole in 2006 did about half of the aid levels they promised -- just under half. They're planning for 2007 to do just under a third of what they promised. So there's a pattern of off-track behavior," Drummond said.

According to DATA, Britain and Japan are meeting their promises.

Canada, the United States and Germany are slipping behind, and France and Italy are at the bottom.

Bush said Thursday the United States was trying to do its part.

"I asked Congress to double our initial commitment and approve an additional $30 billion for HIV-AIDS prevention, for care, and for treatment over the next five years," he said.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 09:55 AM

From the Washington Post:

Zimbabwe's Unending Agony

By Michael Gerson
Friday, June 15, 2007; Page A21

When I talked this week with David Coltart, a Zimbabwean member of parliament and human rights lawyer, his office in Bulawayo had been without power for five hours. The central business district of Zimbabwe's second-largest city, he said, was "a ghost town," with "hardly anyone on the streets" and "signs everywhere of total economic collapse."

Four days previously the price for a liter of gasoline had been 55,000 Zimbabwean dollars; that morning, gas stations were advertising $85,000. Inflation, by conservative estimates, gallops at an annual rate of 3,700 percent. Perhaps 3 1/2 million people -- about one-fourth of the population -- have left the country in a massive drain of youth and ambition. "Land reform" has been a land grab for the ruling-party elite, which is proving that intimidation and brutality are powerless to make the corn grow. Orphans, many with signs of childhood malnutrition, have begun coming to Coltart's parliamentary office for help.

Zimbabweans have discovered with horror that their founding father, Robert Mugabe, is an abusive parent, as if George Washington had grown mad with power, expropriated Monticello and given Thomas Jefferson a good, instructive beating.

With elections for president and parliament set for next year, Mugabe can hardly run on his record. So he has kicked off the campaign season by attempting to destroy his opposition and rig the election in his favor. In March, his police crushed a protest rally and began arresting and torturing political opponents. In response to international criticism, Mugabe coolly replied, "We hope they have learned their lesson. If they have not, then they will get similar treatment." Constitutional changes are moving forward that will allow Mugabe to handpick his successor. Next week parliament will debate measures that permit the interception of e-mails and the suppression of democratic groups, with the excuse of fighting "foreign terrorism."

Mugabe, having spent a lifetime consuming his country, now seems determined to drink it to the dregs.

For years, nations in the region did nothing in response and called their silence "quiet diplomacy." More recently, those efforts have progressed from nonexistent to inadequate. After the recent round of beatings and arrests, a summit of the Southern African Development Community-- a 14-country regional organization -- appointed South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate the political conflict in Zimbabwe. Yet the summit's participants refused to clearly criticize the regime's human rights violations. "We got full backing," boasted Mugabe. "Not even one criticized our actions."

South African diplomats tell American officials that there is no serious alternative to the regime -- that the opposition is weak and divided. But perhaps that opposition is dispirited because in March and April, 600 of its leaders were arrested or abducted, 300 hospitalized, and three killed. Any hope of "mediation" in this atmosphere is a sham. How do you sit down at the negotiating table when one side is using a truncheon on the other? The precondition for mediation is an end to beatings and torture on Mugabe's part -- and the South Africans should insist on it. They should also start considering more muscular options if Mugabe continues on his current path. South Africa has tremendous leverage if it chooses to use it. A cutoff of energy, fuel and trade could end Mugabe's regime in a matter of days.

The hesitance of many democracies to confidently promote democracy is one of the great frustrations of recent years. The South Korean government does its best to play down massive human rights abuses in the North. India and Japan do business with the brutal regime in Burma. It would be progress if South African diplomats even raised the issue of human rights in Zimbabwe and began showing the kind of moral clarity that once benefited their own cause.

In Zimbabwe, a collapsing economy, malnutrition, high rates of disease and a failing health-care system have produced some of the lowest life expectancies in the world -- 34 years for women and 37 years for men. So Mugabe, at age 83, has achieved a rare distinction in the history of tyranny -- living twice as long as his citizens are expected to live. According to Coltart, the most vivid image of Zimbabwe is found in the cemeteries, which "are filled to overflowing." "There are burials at any time of the day," he told me, "row after row of fresh dirt, with no headstones, because the poor can't afford them." "It is the way," he said, "that I imagine the Battle of the Somme."

That terrible battle during World War I lasted 142 days. Zimbabwe has suffered for years -- and the burials go on.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Mike Miller
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 04:45 PM

The terrible truth is that atrocities occur daily throughout the world. Secterian wars are as common as religious intolerance. Life does not have the same value in every culture and, in every society, the value of life is reletive. The world has never known a time of peace. The world has never, even, known a time without some form of what we now call "ethnic cleansing". Strong nations can object, the UN can sanction, folksingers can post angry protests on Mudcat but, without armed intervention, a lot of people are going to die.
So, unless we expect the US to become the moral policemen of the world (with the resultant morasses that entails), these threads are just blowing in the wind. All they do is give the posters the illusiion of useful activity. Well, I suppose that is better than facing the hard truth.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 25 Jul 07 - 01:45 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072401852.html

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,IBO
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 07:11 AM

YES

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 07:27 PM

You missed the toxic floods in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, bb!

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 05:33 PM

I ceased caring about Africa the day that Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 04:45 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070806/ap_on_re_af/liberia_rape


"Across Africa, from Sierra Leone to Sudan, rape has been a weapon of war used by militiamen, rebels and government armies. In many places, the problem has been acknowledged and even highlighted by humanitarian agencies and rights groups, but in most cases, little has been done to stop it.

The U.N. says the level of sexual violence in Congo and Burundi is "appalling," but lack of education, resources and honest justice systems made such crimes hard to curb.

Liberia stands in contrast. It has Africa's only elected female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has sought to dispel the stigma associated with sexual assault by publicly acknowledging that she was herself the victim of attempted rape during the war.

Rape was so prevalent during the civil war that many have come to see it as a petty offense compared with other atrocities common during the conflict, such as cutting off the genitals of a man or carving out his heart and eating it.

While a 4-year-old peace has brought an end to such crimes, government officials say rape remains rampant — especially of children, who are easier targets for men deprived of their weapons. Of the 658 rape victims treated since the end of the war at the capital's main rape clinic, more than half were under 12 and 85 percent were under 18, according to Medecins sans Frontieres, which runs the hospital. Several babies have been treated for rape

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 08:49 AM

10,000 Congolese Refugees Flee to Uganda

Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:11 PM EDT
world-news, refugees, congo, uganda

Katy Pownall, AP WriterKAMPALA — As many as 10,000 Congolese refugees have crossed the border into Uganda in the last two days, fleeing violence in their villages, local government officials said Wednesday.

Some of the refugees said they fled after a demonstration by villagers protesting the failure of U.N. peacekeepers to improve security in their remote southeastern Congolese territory.

Refugees told of demonstrators hurling rocks at U.N. troops, and some said they feared that the situation would deteriorate, said David Masereka, the district commissioner of Kisoro, which sits along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The influx began yesterday morning and continues up to now," Masereka said.

He said the refugees had gathered on the site of a primary school in the small border town of Bunagana.

"It is mostly women and children that have arrived but they came in haste and were unable to bring food. These people are already hungry but we have no supplies to give them," Masereka told The Associated Press.

Large-scale influxes of Congolese refugees into Uganda are not unusual. The mineral-rich eastern part of Congo, bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, remains the most unstable area of the country. Fighting among rival militias, including groups from neighboring countries, regularly breaks out and often results in civilian casualties.

Uganda occupied part of the region during a 1998-2002 war in Congo that drew in military forces from six neighboring countries.

"We are taking these reports from local government seriously because of the large numbers of refugees involved and we have dispatched assessment teams to Kisoro," said Roberta Russo, a Uganda-based spokeswoman for the U.N.'s refugee agency. "But we suspect that as soon as the situation in Congo normalizes most will cross back to their homes."

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Silver Slug
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:56 PM

I have enough to worry about with my own life to feel too much concern about what is happening to people I've never met in places of which I've barely heard. I object to my Government throwing my money at foreign countries when there is so much to put right in the UK.

Africa has to solve its own problems and the less interference there is from outside, the better.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 09:26 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho)- lewd conduct
From: Peace - PM
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 05:13 PM

Not quite.

"Classified papers show Clinton was aware of 'final solution' to eliminate Tutsis

Rory Carroll in Johannesburg
Wednesday March 31, 2004
The Guardian


President Bill Clinton's administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, according to classified documents made available for the first time."

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 03:05 PM

U.N. condemns deadly Darfur attack

Story Highlights
U.N. chief Ban condemns attack, urges parties to prepare for peace talks

10 AU peacekeepers killed in Saturday's assault; 10 injured; 30 still missing

AU peacekeepers number 7,000; U.N. has OK'd 26,000 peacekeeper force

U.N. and Sudanese government have invited rebels to October peace talks


   
(CNN) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed outrage after rebels killed at least 10 African Union soldiers in an unprecented attack on a peacekeeping base in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.

An African Union spokesman told CNN the casualties were the heaviest suffered by the peacekeeping force since its deployment in 2004.

Some 30 peacekeepers were still missing from Saturday's assault on the Haskanita base and a further 10 wounded, Assana Ba told CNN.

Condemning the attack "in the strongest possible terms," Ban urged all parties to "recommit" to a peaceful resolution to the conflict and to prepare for peace talks in Libya in October.

The attack coincided with the arrival in Sudan on Sunday of Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter among a peace delegation seeking to help negotiate a lasting settlement ending the regional conflict.

The initiative is the first mission by Nelson Mandela's "Elders" group since its foundation to mark the former South African president and anti-Apartheid campaigner's 89th birthday in July.

Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, and former U.N. envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi are also among delegates.

"We have come here to the Sudan because we want to listen to the voices of those who have not been heard and want to explore ways that we can lend our own voices to peace." Tutu said at a news conference, shortly after arriving.

After meeting with government and opposition leaders in Khartoum, the delegates will head to Darfur this week before wrapping up their trip on Friday.

AU officers told The Associated Press that Saturday's attack was carried out by 1,000 rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army.

"We battled for hours, but when we ran out of ammunition, we took refuge in this ditch," a Nigerian peacekeeper who identified himself as Aboubakar told AP.

The camp where the attack took place was riddled with the marks of bullet and mortar fire and strewn with charred armoured vehicles and burnt out tents, AP reported.

Other peacekeepers appeared shocked by the scale of the assault and said the attackers had been armed with armored vehicles and rocket-propelled grenades. AU troops carrying their belongings were being evacuated by helicopter as Sudanese soldiers stood guard.

Although it was "too early to say who launched the attack," AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Said Djinnit said initial indications show the perpetrators were affiliated with one of the many rebel groups that did not sign an AU-brokered peace agreement in May 2006. Watch Djinnit talk about the attacks »

Only one rebel group signed the peace agreement which has done little to stop the fighting between government-backed militias and rebel groups estimated by the U.N. to have killed more than 200,000 people and driven about two million from their homes in the past four years.

"We are of the strong opinion here that once identified, those responsible for this attack should bear all consequences," Djinnit said.

"There must be some political and legal consequences from this deliberate attack."

A senior AU officer told AP, "There is a war going on between the rebels and the government, and the AU is crunched in the middle."

About two months ago the U.N. Security Council authorized a 26,000-member peacekeeping mission in Darfur, more than tripling the AU-led force there.

The "hybrid" force of U.N. and AU troops and police -- which will be under AU command -- is scheduled to take over for the current force by the end of the year, according to the United Nations.

The peacekeeping force, which will be known as UNAMID, will be the world's largest peacekeeping operation, according to the United Nations.

The current AU force of about 7,000 has been unable to stop the violence, and Sudan agreed to allow a bigger peacekeeping force after massive international pressure.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 01 Oct 07 - 05:42 PM

It's about bloody time.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Teribus
Date: 02 Oct 07 - 12:59 AM

I believe that the UN has condemned rather a lot over the years, but done very little about any of it.

At present the places grabbing peoples attention are:
- Iran
- Sudan
- Burma

The common stumbling block in each is - China, or a combination of Russia and China. Just like the "old days" isn't it.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 02 Oct 07 - 04:07 PM

Not to worry. Not only has the UN spoken sharply about it, but the controlling figures of the world are getting photo shots there:



Carter, Tutu, other statesmen visit Darfur to promote peace

Story Highlights
Delegation also includes billionaire Richard Branson; Graca Michel, statesmen

"The elders" are promoting a political solution to the region's conflict

More than 200,000 people have been killed, 2.5 million driven from their homes

   
EL FASHER, Sudan (AP) -- A group of elder statesmen, including former President Carter and Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu, began a tour of Darfur on Tuesday to promote a political solution to the region's conflict.

The visit by the delegation of prominent international personalities comes at a crucial time -- with peace talks due to start in Libya and a U.N-African Union peacekeeping force to begin deploying later this month.

It also come days after a stunning attack in which rebels overran an African peacekeepers base in northern Darfur, killing 10 -- the deadliest assault on the force since it arrived in the region three years ago.

"We are not here on a sightseeing tour. We hope we can do something that will make a significant difference ... and bring peace," Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his fight against apartheid in South Africa, told reporters after the delegation arrived in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province.

The Nigerian ambassador to the African Union, Obioma Oparah, tried to dispel fears the weekend deaths of peacekeepers would discourage African governments from contributing troops to the joint force. Sudan has insisted that the bulk of the new force be African.

"No doubt about it, we are deeply saddened by the situation and we condemn the attack on the soldiers," said Oparah, whose country lost the greatest number of troops. But, he said, "We are determined to forge ahead. We are committed."

The delegation visiting Darfur -- called "the elders" -- is headed by Carter and Tutu and also includes billionaire Richard Branson; Graca Michel, wife of former South African Nelson Mandela; and several prominent former statesmen from Africa.

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Their visit is largely symbolic, aiming to influence all sides to make peace in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven out of their homes in four years of violence.

The group met first with North Darfur governor, Youssouf Kabir, then headed to the compound of an aid camp located next to the sprawling Abu-Shok and Es-Sallam camps where 150,000 refugees who fled Darfur's violence are living.

Darfur is scene of the world's largest humanitarian effort, trying to feed those hit by the turmoil. The conflict pits the Sudanese military against ethnic African rebels who rose up against discrimination by the Arab-dominated government. To help put down the rebellion, Khartoum is accused of unleashing Arab janjaweed militias who have burned hundreds of ethnic African villages, killing and raping civilians.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 03 Oct 07 - 03:23 PM

Washington Post:

Africa's Ocean Of Need

By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, October 3, 2007; Page A23

One of the most uncomfortable and encouraging conversations I've ever had took place a few years ago at an overcrowded AIDS testing clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A nurse had asked me if I wanted to meet one of the women using the clinic's services. I assumed I'd be talking to someone who'd received a negative report. Speaking through an interpreter, I discovered that the young girl sitting across from me was still waiting for the result of her test. I awkwardly assured her that I wouldn't disturb her any further. She interrupted: "A few years ago, I would never have talked to a foreigner about AIDS. But now I know that even if I'm positive, it isn't a death sentence. Three of my friends have already been tested, and I need to know."

This is one reason AIDS drugs, when they arrive, are such a miracle. Without the realistic hope of treatment, there is little motivation to be tested; most of us would prefer denial to hopeless certainty. And without AIDS testing, preventing the spread of the disease is difficult; denial increases risky sexual behavior.

More than 2 million men, women and children are getting AIDS treatment in the developing world -- up from close to zero five or six years ago. Health professionals have demonstrated, against considerable skepticism, that complex drug therapies are possible in impoverished countries. And America has taken undeniable -- even though broadly denied -- leadership in these efforts, currently providing more funding to fight AIDS in the developing world than all other nations combined.

This moral achievement is impressive until it is compared with the scale of the problem -- about 40 million people living with HIV-AIDS. In 2006, there were more than 4 million new infections, far outpacing the growth of treatment. At ground zero of the pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, about a quarter of those who need the drugs are receiving them. Even countries that have reduced new infections, such as Uganda, are still overwhelmed by the demand for treatment. Efforts to treat AIDS have increased massively, dramatically -- and we are still losing ground.


So a debate has begun. Is the goal of universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010 -- adopted by the United Nations and the wealthy Group of Eight nations -- realistic? Will larger treatment efforts be sustainable as infections rise and resistance to cheaper, first-line drugs develops? Should more resources be shifted toward prevention instead of being "wasted" on lifelong treatment?

There is no doubt -- short of an effective AIDS vaccine -- that prevention is the long-term solution to the AIDS crisis. Some preventive measures are technological and medical -- ensuring safe blood transfusions, circumcising males to lower the risk of infection and administering drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

But AIDS prevention depends largely on changed sexual behavior, which is much more complicated than an operation or a pill. Those looking for a single, magical, preventive technique -- either condoms or abstinence -- will be disappointed. Nations that have made progress reducing HIV infection rates, such as Zambia, Rwanda and Kenya, seem to try everything at once. They have achieved delays in the onset of sexual activity, especially among girls, which argues for the promotion of abstinence among the young. They have seen declines in multiple sexual partners -- which recommends a message of faithfulness. And they have seen increases in condom use during casual sex -- which calls for the broad availability of condoms.

All these efforts deserve increased support (contrary to some angry and uninformed accusations, condom distribution by America in the developing world increased 70 percent in the first four years of President Bush's emergency AIDS plan). But can these efforts take the place of treatment? And should they be funded at its expense?

As a young woman taught me in Addis Ababa, testing is difficult to promote if AIDS is a death sentence. Treatment and prevention, in the end, cannot be separated. And the goal of universal access to treatment seems morally unavoidable. However expensive this commitment might be, there is also a cost to letting 40 million people and more die -- a cost the world should not be willing to pay.

But we also need to be realistic about the nature of this commitment. Defeating AIDS will require major new efforts in prevention. And moving toward universal treatment, according to the United Nations, will require between $32 billion and $51 billion by 2010.

America has done much -- and still we face an ocean of need.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 04 Oct 07 - 01:00 PM

Africa's fucked. We should know. We fucked it.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Oct 07 - 01:18 PM

Washington Post:

To End a Nightmare
Balancing Peace and Justice in Central Africa

By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, October 17, 2007; Page A17

In Central Africa -- not uniquely, but disturbingly -- the rules of sanity are occasionally suspended.

In 1986, a priestess named Alice Lakwena, combining elements of animism with a severe reading of the Ten Commandments, led a revolt of northern Ugandans against the newly installed central government of Yoweri Museveni. Her soldiers covered themselves with vegetable oil in the belief it would protect them against bullets. The strategy wasn't effective. After the slaughter, a relative of Lakwena's named Joseph Kony took up the cause and launched a guerrilla war that eventually brought fear to three countries, took tens of thousands of lives and forced nearly 2 million people into refugee camps.

Kony's Lord's Resistance Army specialized in intimidating the people it was supposed to be liberating, cutting off ears and lips to instill fear, and abducting about 38,000 children to become soldiers and sex slaves. A recent article from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting recounts the story of one girl kidnapped at age 14: "I was dragged by my arms and put with other children who had been captured. They only wanted children." A victim named Christine was taken along with her father, who was beaten severely by the guards -- and his daughter was forced to finish his murder.

But sometimes, unexpectedly, sanity makes a comeback. In the past few years, support for the LRA has evaporated in northern Uganda as local leaders have turned increasingly to political solutions to address their grievances. Military pressure has pushed the LRA out of northern Uganda and southern Sudan and into lawless regions of northeastern Congo. An African-led peace process has produced a cease-fire. Hundreds of thousands have returned from the camps to begin rebuilding their homes and lives.

Most amazingly, Kony and his key commanders have begun to talk about demobilization and surrender. "They looked around them," says one senior State Department official, "and found everyone had moved beyond them." And this sets up one of the most dramatic legal questions since the Nuremberg trials: What does justice mean for these brutal men who "only wanted children"?

This week, the International Criminal Court, which has indicted Kony on 33 charges of murder, kidnapping, rape, mutilation and mass killing, gave an answer. The ICC chief prosecutor said: "Those warrants must be executed. There is no excuse." As a relatively new institution, the ICC feels its credibility is at stake -- along with the credibility of future ICC prosecutions in Darfur.

But according to diplomats close to the peace negotiations, these indictments are now a main obstacle to a final agreement. LRA leaders may surrender to imprisonment in Uganda; they refuse to accept a trial and punishment by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The end of the Lord's Resistance Army now depends on three commitments from the international community:

First, the ICC needs to show some flexibility. It should insist that the Ugandan legal process meet high international standards when prosecuting LRA leaders -- but it should not insist on conducting the trials itself. By statute, the ICC is supposed to intervene only when national courts are "unable" or "unwilling" to prosecute. The Ugandans are willing. But Human Rights Watch has set out some reasonable expectations for the Ugandan courts: "credible, independent and impartial investigation and prosecution; rigorous adherence in principle and practice to international fair trial standards; and penalties that are appropriate and reflect the gravity of the crimes." This means imprisonment for LRA leaders, not merely house arrest. If these expectations aren't met, the ICC should reserve the right to move forward itself.

Second, the United States will need to support reconstruction efforts in northern Uganda -- a key to genuine reconciliation. The needs and suffering of northern Ugandans have too often been ignored. This week, President Museveni launched a long-awaited reconciliation and development plan for the region. The United States has promised to support it. But currently, the Bush administration has not included any funds for this project in either the budget or the upcoming supplemental appropriation. By this retreat from responsibility, the administration is undermining a fragile peace in Central Africa.

Third, nations in the region and United Nations peacekeepers need to be ready to launch a military campaign in the Congo against the LRA if its leaders prove recalcitrant. The Congolese military is moving two battalions into the area for possible operations in January. The United States has signaled its endorsement of this operation, which makes sincere and urgent negotiation by LRA leaders more likely.

Central Africa has experienced a two-decade nightmare. With a concerted effort in the next few months, that nightmare may finally end.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 07:54 AM

U.N.: Darfur peacekeeping mission may fail

Story Highlights
U.N. says joint peacekeeping force may be unprepared to take over in Darfur

Mission depends on Sudan quickly accepting units from outside Africa

Force also requires contributing countries to offer critical equipment

More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur since fighting broke out in 2003

   
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A joint peacekeeping force will not be prepared to take over in Darfur by the start of 2008 unless Sudan quickly accepts units from outside Africa and contributing countries offer critical equipment, a top U.N. official warned Wednesday.

Jean-Marie Guehenno said the world could face a grim choice: either delay the takeover or start the deployment with an ill-equipped force that may not be able to protect its own peacekeepers, let alone civilians.

The United Nations has already been wrangling with Sudan over the U.N.-African Union mission for over a year while the conflict in Darfur has raged. More than 200,000 people have died since fighting broke out in 2003, and the peace process suffered a setback last month when key rebels boycotted talks in Libya.

Guehenno, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, expressed frustration with Sudan for resisting critical contributions from Thailand, Nepal and Nordic countries. But he also criticized U.N. member countries for failing to offer helicopters and other equipment.


Ex-Cabinet officials to co-chair task force to prevent genocide
South Africa agrees to offer more support for Darfur force
"If those issues are not addressed very shortly, it means the mission in 2008 will not be able to make the difference that the world wants to it to make and that it may become a failure," Guehenno told reporters after briefing the Security Council.

The 26,000-member force still needs 18 transport helicopter and 6 support light helicopters crucial for sending reinforcements swiftly in emergencies, he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in constant talks with defense ministers around the world, but has yet to receive concrete offers, Guehenno said.

"I think it tells a sad story on the commitment for Darfur, frankly," he said.

He acknowledged that Sudan's reluctance to accept contributions from outside Africa may be deterring governments from pledging help.

The joint force is to takeover from a beleaguered 7,000-member African Union mission. But Sudan has yet to approve a list of contributing countries despite concessions to its demands that the force be predominantly African.

Diplomats said the Security Council would soon reconvene to discuss what to do about the problem, but offered no indications about possible steps.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 05:15 PM

from the Washington Post:

Ghosts of Rwanda

By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, November 28, 2007; Page A23

KIGALI, Rwanda -- We are used to seeing aged Holocaust survivors with faded photographs, telling their stories to remind the young and forgetful. So it is shocking to meet a 31-year-old genocide survivor with memories so fresh they bleed.

I talked to Freddy Mutanguha in a field of white crosses, near a half-finished monument to perhaps 800,000 victims of the Rwandan genocide. "My mom," he recalled, "gave money to be killed by a bullet, because she saw the machetes and knew what they would do to her. But the bullet was too expensive."

The mass violence of Hutu against Tutsi left a nation of corpses -- and a nation of stories. A young man took me on a tour of the neighborhood where he had been hunted for weeks by soldiers and informers. At one point, a friend purchased his life with the bribe of a case of beer. He hugs a woman along the dirt street, commenting as she walks away, "She lost all of her children."

A man I met in passing, I later learned, was 14 when he performed the lonely task of burying his mother, father and siblings in a grave near their home.

And the ghosts seem to gather in sacred places. At Ntarama Church, soldiers surrounded thousands of Tutsis seeking refuge, blocked the door and threw grenades inside. The walls and rafters of the dark sanctuary are covered with the clothing in which the victims were found. Light comes through the tin roof in holes from shrapnel, like constellations frozen at the hour of death.

Some things about the lead-up to the Rwandan genocide are familiar. Victims were dehumanized for years as "inyenzi" -- cockroaches -- just as the Jews of Europe were labeled vermin. Tutsi children were forced to stand up in primary-school classes to be humiliated and abused -- just as Jewish children were once treated. And children were eventually a special target of the murderers, to prevent them from growing up to perpetuate the threat -- one of the excuses the Nazis employed.


And these patterns should be familiar, because at least some of the hatred in this part of Africa has European roots. In traditional African culture, the division between Hutu and Tutsi was social and economic; intermarriage was common, and mobility between classes was possible. Then German and Belgian colonial rulers in Rwanda and other places declared this a racial divide -- measuring the skulls of Hutus and Tutsis to prove their racial theories and issuing racial ID cards.

But there are differences between the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. Over time, Germany developed an impersonal machinery of death, with trains and timetables and gas chambers. In Rwanda, the violence was more intimate. Neighbors who had shared meals suddenly became informers and executioners -- adopted children turned upon their families. At one church I visited, soldiers had taken children by the legs and smashed their heads against the wall.

And this has left behind a unique challenge. In Europe, there was little need for post-genocide reconciliation because few Jews were left. Here in Rwanda, many complicit in genocide remain in their neighborhoods or return after prison sentences. For many others, the fate of parents and siblings, after 13 years, is still unknown. Potential witnesses protect the guilty, and justice is uneven. Mass graves continue to be discovered when building foundations are dug. It is difficult for Rwandans to draw grand lessons from all this -- except the need to somehow deliver the next generation from shapeless rage.

The rest of us can draw lessons of courage. A man I met who ran an orphanage saved the lives of nearly 400 children by bluffing the militias and bribing them with food. And those 400 lives mattered, even when 10,000 in the neighborhood around them were lost -- both for the lives themselves and for the affirmation of human dignity that such rescues always symbolize.

We should also draw lessons of shame. Signs of stress and pleas for help were largely ignored in 1994. The world has a poor track record of preventing mass murder, though we have gotten good at the apologies that follow.

As the Rwandan genocide began, a woman named Sifa began hiding the hunted in her home until it was full. When one more arrived, she was forced to turn her crying friend away. But then she reconsidered, saying, "Come back or your tears will judge me forever."

In Rwanda and elsewhere, the tears judge us still.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Dec 07 - 04:22 PM

Washington Post:

'A Different Kind of Genocide'

By Michael Gerson
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A29

WALUNGU, Congo -- This village, surrounding a small Catholic church, is as far down the red dust road as you can go without entering territory controlled by the exiled perpetrators of Rwanda's genocide. The rebels often come in civilian clothes to trade in Walungu's open-air market. At other times they raid the nearby farms for supplies and women. The region is known as "the quarter of rape."

In the shadow of the church is a facility run by Women for Women, an organization that matches international sponsors to local women in need of help. Listening to one of those women, I heard the story of a suffering nation in a single life.

Lucianne is 24, dressed in a red top and red skirt. She speaks quietly while looking downward, her hands trembling. Her eyes are staring and empty; her lovely mouth never smiles.

In December of 2005, while her husband was away on business, Hutu soldiers broke into her home, tied her arms behind her back, did the same to her sister-in-law and dragged them into the bush. The two women were marched to their family farm, where Lucianne's brother was also kidnapped. Other families were captured along the way.

"We were taken to a hill, and laid down for rape," she told me. "They gave a flashlight to my brother to hold while they were raping us. When he tried to resist, they struck him with a gun in the face. . . . We were near a stream. When one of them was finished, they washed the blood off us before the next was raped."

Afterward they were moved again. "I was unable to walk properly, and they were beating us along the way. The next morning we arrived" -- here she breaks down, then quietly continues -- "at the place where they killed my brother." She was tied to a tree. Her sister-in-law and most of the other women were taken away to be murdered.

A rebel officer decided that Lucianne would be kept as a "wife." "When I got in the house, I saw my younger sister," Lucianne recalls. "I thought she had died. She told me she was pregnant and ill.

"When I cooked, if there was more or less salt, I was put in prison, which was a hole filled with water. Once I spent three days in prison with swollen legs."

Eventually Lucianne was ordered to escort her sister to town so she could give birth. Lucianne was rescued by the wife of a government soldier, who got help for her sister at nearby Panzi Hospital-- but her sister died soon after childbirth.

Lucianne remained for treatment at Panzi. She had contracted a sexually transmitted disease and was pregnant herself. When she tried to return home, her husband had abandoned her, and her family farm had been occupied by others.

After delivering her child, she tried working on a different farm, but the soldiers came again. "I wanted to hide myself, and they told me, 'Why do you hide? You are Lucianne, and you have our baby.' " She recently saw two of her captors in the market. "Since that day I have never spent the night in the house, because of fear."

Lucianne -- who is young and lost and should be loved -- now sleeps with her child in the cassava fields near Walungu to avoid being captured again.

At Panzi Hospital, which specializes in treating rape victims, there was a long line of women waiting for treatment on the day I visited. By one estimate, 27,000 women and girls were raped in eastern Congo in 2006. The hospital has seen victims as young as 3.

Denis Mukwege, the hospital's medical director, explains that women are sometimes raped by six soldiers at a time and violated in front of their families to maximize the shame. "After the rape, sometimes they destroy their private parts," he says, "introducing firewood and guns. . . . Most people who come back from the bush come back with fistula; they smell bad and leak in their private parts." The excretory organs are no longer under control. "The idea is to destroy the entire community, so they can't procreate anymore, for the race to disappear."

"If they were shot by a gun," says Mukwege, "you would call it genocide. This is a different kind of genocide, which destroys women physically and emotionally over the years."

At the close of my interview with Lucianne, she finally looked up. "I beg you, my fathers and mothers, to help me get safety from these people."

No words of comfort came to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Bruce Michael Baillie
Date: 07 Dec 07 - 01:16 AM

...What's needed is for a large oil field to be discovered under the area, That'll get the Yanks interested!

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 07 Dec 07 - 02:13 PM

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/sudan1103/


But with China already staking the claim, nothing will be done.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 01:59 PM

Washington Post

Stuck on Darfur

A planned peacekeeping force is stalled, two weeks before it is due
to deploy.
Sunday, December 16, 2007; Page B06


WHEN THE United Nations Security Council approved an expanded
peacekeeping force for the Darfur region of Sudan last summer, some
Western politicians may have concluded -- prematurely -- that one of
the world's worst humanitarian crises was at last going to be
relieved. If so, that's exactly what Omar Hassan al-Bashir was hoping for. Mr. Bashir, Sudan's Arab dictator, has made an art form out of confounding Western attempts to end his genocidal repression
of Darfur's African population. His pattern is to resist
international pressure until it reaches a peak. He then appears to
give in, waits until Western attention wanders and returns to
intransigence.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 02:06 PM

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/15/AR2007121501582.html


I can't seem to post it, so...

But given the level of interest here, I doubt if many will bother- after all, you can't blame Bush on this one...

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Peace
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 05:52 PM

From that article:

"The Bush administration, which called the campaign in Darfur genocide more than three years ago, has done more than most other governments. It provides airlift for peacekeepers and is paying for the construction of their camps. U.S. helicopters might be counterproductive in Darfur even if Mr. Bashir would accept them. But the Bush administration needs to step up its efforts to see that the U.N. force is deployed in January. That means helping Mr. Ban get his aircraft and simultaneously renewing the pressure on Mr. Bashir. The cynical strongman is counting on a failure of will by NATO and the Security Council; it will take an effort by President Bush to disappoint him."

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 07:36 PM

Like I said...

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 19 Dec 07 - 02:53 PM

Washington Post

The Choices in Darfur

By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, December 19, 2007; Page A19

On a recent trip to Rwanda, I visited a humble memorial -- the bullet-marked corner of a room with 10 candles arranged in an arc on the floor. It is the site where 10 U.N. peacekeepers from Belgium were executed early in the 1994 genocide. The architects of that genocide calculated that an early atrocity against foreign troops would cause all of them to run. And run they did.

Almost 14 years later, the international community faces a different kind of test. On Jan. 1, the United Nations, in cooperation with the African Union, will take control of peacekeeping operations in the Darfur region of Sudan, where more than 200,000 are dead in a genocide and about 2 million have been forced into refugee camps.

This international intervention must succeed, or all the post-Rwanda promises of "never again" will be revealed as pious lies.

Within the Bush administration, the seriousness and steadiness of the United Nations in Darfur are hotly debated. One diplomat told me that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pushed for rapid deployment, while other U.N. officials, such as Jean-Marie Gu¿henno, the undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, have dragged their feet, fearful of failure.

Jane Holl Lute, the head of U.N. peacekeeping operations, dismisses such speculation as "academic." The pace of deployment, she says, is being determined by the military contributions of U.N. member states and by the attitude of Sudan's government. She points to progress -- more Rwandan and Nigerian troops on the ground, the arrival of part of a Chinese engineering unit. She also outlines a number of obstacles.

"There is still the issue with the helicopters," says Lute. The U.N. force requires 24 -- six to eight of which are supposed to be gunships. The Europeans have plenty but no interest in lending them.

The United States is pushing for contributions from China, Ukraine, Poland and South Korea, with little result. "No one other than the U.S. is helping much here," says a frustrated Bush administration official.


And ultimately, according to Lute, "if we don't have the active support of the host country, we're not going to succeed." Which means that a small circle of leaders in Khartoum must actively cooperate in extinguishing a genocide they ignited.

For years, the Sudanese regime has made broad promises of strategic cooperation, then scattered tactical obstacles at every turn. Lute reports current problems "with visas, at the ports, getting land [for bases], moving equipment, night operations."

"Every day is a struggle," she told me, "requiring constant engagement and liaison" -- meaning constant appeals to overturn lower-level obstruction.

All of this leaves the United States with limited options:

The first is just to muddle through -- to "negotiate every single day," according to one Bush official, "to negotiate every 100 boots on the ground." These gradually accumulated forces could eventually create additional leverage on the regime. And this pressure would be paired with efforts to fashion a new peace agreement -- uniting fractious, unsophisticated rebel groups; sponsoring new talks with the government; and hoping for a meaningful settlement.


A second option is increased unilateral pressure on Sudan. The last round of American sanctions was surprisingly effective, and there are many more targets. In January or February, the administration could quietly make specific demands of the regime and, if these were refused, go after additional Sudanese bank accounts or encourage the collection of Sudan's international debt.

The most difficult and controversial option is regime change. This does not mean an American invasion of Sudan, which would probably be a sun-baked disaster. Instead, it might involve a no-fly zone and a blockade of Sudan's only port, through which its oil flows for export. The message to Sudan would be clear: Fundamentally alter your behavior or change your government.

Few nations would support America in this conflict. And the risks would be considerable. The balance between northern Arabs and southern Africans in Sudan is fragile; both sides seem to be preparing for the resumption of civil war. Any American action that upsets this balance could provoke mass violence.

All of these options have flaws. Intensified negotiations might give diplomats another series of press-release victories that result in little change on the ground -- the kind of barren "progress" we have seen for years. Unilateral pressure goes only so far. Regime change is the messiest foreign policy option, fraught with unintended consequences.

But the choices in Rwanda were also flawed. Once again, the credibility of the United Nations is questioned; its troops are too few in number. Yet their deployment is perhaps the last hope for the betrayed people of Darfur. And we cannot run again.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:42 PM

From the Washington Post:

Kenya's Last Chance
As the country's political leaders dither, the risk of civil war is mounting.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008; Page A16

KENYA, a country that for decades has been the anchor of East Africa, is perilously close to an implosion that could destroy what until recently looked like a promising future. In the past two months, ethnic violence has killed more than 1,500 people, displaced 300,000 more and polarized the country along tribal lines. Neighborhoods of Nairobi and swaths of the western part of the country have been swept by ethnic cleansing. The economy, dependent on exports and foreign aid, is reeling, and Kenyans fear the country is close to a merciless civil war -- the "moment that the U.S. was at in 1861," as Maina Kiai of the National Commission on Human Rights put it.

Whether that can be avoided depends on two proud and powerful political leaders who have spent the last few weeks alternately negotiating and threatening each other: President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. The trouble began after a Dec. 27 election that, in all likelihood, Mr. Kibaki stole from Mr. Odinga. Mr. Kibaki at first tried to ride out the crisis and entrench himself as president, while Mr. Odinga at first insisted that the president resign. By late last week, guided by former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan, they appeared close to a compromise under which Mr. Kibaki would remain president but Mr. Odinga would assume the new post of prime minister, with the cabinet to be shared between their two parties.

By yesterday, however, the agreement had still not been completed. Mr. Kibaki is still resisting handing over substantial powers to Mr. Odinga; in the background is the reluctance of the ethnic Kikuyu, the country's traditional elite, to yield power and economic privilege. Mr. Odinga, a member of the Luo tribe, has threatened new mass demonstrations for later this week if no agreement is reached. That could be the spark that renews the ethnic warfare now precariously on hold.

The United States, along with most of Africa, has a vital interest in preventing Kenya's destabilization. The Bush administration, which initially seemed to tilt toward Mr. Kibaki, has lately pressed for a settlement: Last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that without an agreement the government would not enjoy "business as usual" with the United States. The administration now must push both sides -- but in particular Mr. Kibaki -- still harder. Even if a political accord can be reached in the coming days, Kenya will face a steep challenge to overcome its sudden polarization. But each day that the two leaders fail to reach a deal increases the chance that their country will be destroyed by civil war.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 04:14 PM

Washington Post:



An Empty Breadbasket
As an election approaches, Zimbabwe's crisis grows more acute.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008; Page A18

ONCE the "breadbasket of Africa," today's Zimbabwe is desperate. Half of the country's citizens are malnourished. They can be beaten and tortured for expressing anti-government views. The country's inflation hovers around 100,000 percent, meaning the price for a loaf of bread is comparable to what a Zimbabwean might have paid for a house just a few years ago. Yesterday, the exchange rate reached an astounding 35 million Zimbabwe dollars to a single U.S. dollar on the black market, according to Bloomberg news.

This misery results from the policies of President Robert Mugabe, a man once hailed as a liberator but who now watches from his 25-bedroom mansion while his people starve. The world has been hoping that elections scheduled for March 29 will present an opportunity for change. Mr. Mugabe's reelection, though, is all but guaranteed; he seems to be readying his old tricks of brutal voter intimidation, bribery and ballot-box stuffing. Still, the infighting within Mr. Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party -- as evidenced by a presidential challenge from Mr. Mugabe's former finance minister -- gives hope. Mr. Mugabe himself dismisses condemnations from the West, which he derides as continuing colonialism. But disenchanted fellow party members may be more amenable to persuasion, since they know the government's current policies are not sustainable. Western countries should offer financial assistance upon the condition of basic reforms, such as an end to voter intimidation, to encourage party officials unhappy with Mr. Mugabe. Even though Mr. Mugabe has said he won't allow Western countries to provide election monitors, the international community can still send representatives, accredited or not, to bear witness.

Those with the most leverage are Zimbabwe's neighbors -- South Africa and fellow members of the Southern African Development Community. For now those countries are doing precious little to help. While for historical and political reasons they may be hesitant to criticize Mr. Mugabe, whom they respect for his long-ago fight against white minority rule, these countries must realize that stabilizing Zimbabwe and protecting its people from human rights abuses are in the region's present interest. South Africa and its neighbors should pressure Mr. Mugabe to hold a fair election -- and to step down if he does not.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 28 May 08 - 09:45 AM

Washington Post


The Despots' Democracy

By Michael Gerson
Wednesday, May 28, 2008; Page A13

"Things on the ground," e-mailed a friend from a groaning Zimbabwe, "are absolutely shocking -- systematic violence, abductions, brutal murders. Hundreds of activists hospitalized, indeed starting to go possibly into the thousands." The military, he says, is "going village by village with lists of MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] activists, identifying them and then either abducting them or beating them to a pulp, leaving them for dead."

In late April, about the time this e-mail was written, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa -- Zimbabwe's influential neighbor -- addressed a four-page letter to President Bush. Rather than coordinating strategy to end Zimbabwe's nightmare, Mbeki criticized the United States, in a text packed with exclamation points, for taking sides against President Robert Mugabe's government and disrespecting the views of the Zimbabwean people. "He said it was not our business," recalls one American official, and "to butt out, that Africa belongs to him." Adds another official, "Mbeki lost it; it was outrageous."

It is also not an aberration. South Africa has actively blocked United Nations discussions about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe -- and in Belarus, Cuba, North Korea and Uzbekistan. South Africa was the only real democracy to vote against a resolution demanding that the Burmese junta stop ethnic cleansing and free jailed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. When Iranian nuclear proliferation was debated in the Security Council, South Africa dragged out discussions and demanded watered-down language in the resolution. South Africa opposed a resolution condemning rape and attacks on civilians in Darfur -- and rolled out the red carpet for a visit from Sudan's genocidal leader. In the General Assembly, South Africa fought against a resolution condemning the use of rape as a weapon of war because the resolution was not sufficiently anti-American.

When confronted by international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch about their apparent indifference to all rights but their own, South African officials have responded by attacking the groups themselves -- which, they conspiratorially (and falsely) claim, are funded by "major Western powers."

There are a variety of possible explanations for this irresponsibility. Stylistically, Mbeki seems to prefer quiet diplomacy with dictators instead of confrontation. Some of his colleagues in the African National Congress (ANC) -- South Africa's ruling party -- argue that because Mbeki was an exile during apartheid instead of a prisoner or freedom fighter, he has less intuitive sympathy for prisoners and freedom fighters in other countries. South Africa clearly is attempting to league itself with China and Brazil in a new nonaligned movement -- to redress what one official calls an "imbalance of global power," meaning an excess of American power. And longtime observers of Mbeki believe that racial issues -- including Mbeki's experience of raw discrimination during the London part of his exile -- may also play a role. He lashes out whenever he believes that Westerners are telling Africans how to conduct their lives, or who their leaders should be. So for years he viewed AIDS treatment as a plot of Western pharmaceutical companies -- and now he helps shield Mugabe from global outrage.

Whatever the reasons, South Africa increasingly requires a new foreign policy category: the rogue democracy. Along with China and Russia, South Africa makes the United Nations impotent. Along with Saudi Arabia and Sudan, it undermines the global human rights movement. South Africa remains an example of freedom -- while devaluing and undermining the freedom of others. It is the product of a conscience it does not display.

Zimbabwe is the most pressing case in point -- reflecting a political argument within South Africa and a broader philosophical debate.

The labor movement within the ANC, led by Jacob Zuma, is close to the opposition MDC in Zimbabwe (which also has labor roots) and is highly critical of Mbeki's deference to Mugabe. Zuma's faction has provided planes to transport MDC leaders. The labor faction of the ANC is using the Zimbabwe crisis to argue that Mbeki is "yesterday's man" -- indifferent to the cause that gave rise to the ANC itself.

And this debate is clarifying a question across southern Africa: Did revolutionary parties in the region fight for liberation or for liberty? If merely for liberation from Western imperialism, then aging despots and oppressive ruling parties have a claim to power. But if for liberty, those who work for freedom in Zimbabwe must also have their day.

So far, South Africa -- of all places -- sides with the despots.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 07:15 AM

Washington Post

Mugabe's Roman Holiday
By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, June 3, 2008; Page A15

With an unerring sense of timing, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe arrived in Rome yesterday, thereby demonstrating the profound limitations of international diplomacy. Indeed, it's hard to think of any other single gesture that would so effectively reveal the ineffectiveness of international institutions in the conduct of human rights and food aid policy. Even someone standing atop the dome of St. Peter's, megaphone in hand, shouting, "The U.N. is useless! The E.U. is useless!" couldn't have clarified the matter more plainly.

For Mugabe is in Rome at the invitation of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, which is holding a conference on the international food crisis. He is also in Rome despite the fact that he has been formally forbidden from traveling to Europe by the European Union, which considers him persona non grata: For the past several years, he has beaten and murdered his political opponents in Zimbabwe so blatantly that even the Europeans noticed.

Nevertheless, it seems that the Italians can't prevent Mugabe from being there this week. Since the summit is a U.N. event, U.N. rules take precedence over European or Italian border rules. This is not the first time Mugabe has taken advantage of this little loophole, either: He attended a U.N. food conference in Rome in 2002, during which he stayed at a five-star hotel on the Via Veneto, sent his wife out shopping and bragged about how his "land reform" program -- i.e., the wholesale theft of land from white Zimbabwean farmers and its redistribution among political supporters -- was going to enrich his nation's food supply.


It hasn't. According to Oxfam, 80 percent of Zimbabwe's population now lives on less than $1 a day, thanks to Mugabe's policies, and lacks access to basic foods and clean water. Inflation is at 100,000 percent, this year's harvest was poor, and Zimbabweans are fleeing their country in large numbers. Meanwhile, Mugabe is notorious for using food aid as a political weapon, distributing it only to those who reliably vote for him. Thus does his presence at a U.N. food summit contain layers of troubling irony. Stephen Smith, the Australian foreign minister and one of Mugabe's more vocal critics, put it less delicately: "Robert Mugabe turning up to a conference dealing with food security or food issues is, in my view, frankly obscene."

And the timing couldn't be worse: The United Nations is still (or should be) smarting from its recent failure to persuade Burma's generals -- also notorious for using food aid as a political weapon -- to accept any outside help. As a result, a month after Cyclone Nargis hit the Burmese coast, a quarter of a million or so Burmese are still not receiving a steady supply of food and water. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did, after much wrangling, visit Burma, and the generals did, after much stalling, agree to allow a few foreign aid workers to enter the country. But even the highest-ranking U.N. food relief official recently conceded that " urgent work remains" to be done there. Translation: The regime still refuses to let relief workers travel to the afflicted region, still refuses to let others into the country, still refuses to let foreign ships land on the coast with aid.

In fact, the root of Burma's humanitarian crisis is a political crisis. The root of Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis is a political crisis, too. But because the United Nations was never set up to deal with political crises, it can't really address these humanitarian crises either. Officially, the United Nations has to respect the decision of the Burmese government not to feed its people. Officially, it has to invite Mugabe to Rome, despite the E.U. ban. Indeed, one U.N. official justified Mugabe's presence on the grounds that the United Nations is "about inclusiveness, not exclusivity" and besides, the food issue is so serious and this week's food conference is so significant that "the rest is irrelevant."

That, of course, is nonsense: In this case it is "the rest" -- the vicious dictatorship, the manipulation of agricultural policies for political ends, the fear and violence -- that matters, not the rise in international commodity prices, the mass planting of crops for biofuels, or drought. To their credit, European leaders have tried to address "the rest" and put pressure on Mugabe by restricting his movements, shunning meetings he attends, seeking to demonstrate that his behavior is unacceptable. Though not especially effective so far, this isn't a pointless policy: Mugabe clearly cares how Europe treats him or he wouldn't go out of his way to defy its ban.

The European boycott might work better, however, if the United Nations didn't help the Zimbabwean leader flout it. Indeed, the United Nations should join it. If this really is a serious food conference, after all, then an egregious abuser of his own country's food policy has no place at the table.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 08:12 AM

Police stop Zimbabwean opposition leader 8 minutes ago



HARARE, Zimbabwe - Police stopped Zimbabwe's opposition presidential candidate at a roadblock Friday and ordered him to go to a police station, another setback in a campaign to unseat Robert Mugabe that has been marred by violence and intimidation.

Reporters with the convoy heard police at the roadblock say Morgan Tsvangirai's planned rallies were illegal. He was ordered to follow police to Esigodini, a town about 30 miles southeast of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city.

Tsvangirai's spokesman George Sibotshiwe said the candidate and other top officials entered the police station, as others in the convoy waited outside.

In a statement Friday, Tsvangirai's campaign called for his immediate release and said his detention was "yet another shameless and desperate act by the Mugabe regime" to frustrate the opposition's campaign.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was not aware of Friday's incident, but said that it is not uncommon for police to stop drivers at roadblocks to ensure they are not transporting weapons.

"Tsvangirai and his convoy are not immune to search," he said. "They can be searched at any roadblock they pass."

He also said candidates had been informed they needed to inform police before holding a political rally.

On Wednesday, Tsvangirai said he was detained for nine hours at another police station near Bulawayo. Bvudzijena denied police were interfering with the opposition campaign.

Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 first round, but did not garner the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a runoff, which is scheduled for June 27.

Opposition and human rights groups accuse Mugabe of orchestrating violence to ensure he wins re-election amid growing unpopularity for his heavy-handed rule and the country's economic collapse.

On Thursday, a mob of Zimbabwe "war veterans," a group of often violent Mugabe loyalists, waylaid a convoy of American and British diplomats investigating political violence, beating a local staffer, slashing tires and threatening to burn the envoys, the U.S. Embassy said.

Mugabe frequently accuses Britain and the United States of plotting to topple him and return Zimbabwe to colonial rule.

Also Thursday, aid groups in Zimbabwe were sent a memorandum from social welfare minister Nicholas Goche ordering an indefinite suspension of field work.

Millions of Zimbabweans depend on international groups for food and other aid as the economy crumbles.

James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's agency, said the suspension was "completely unacceptable and hugely concerning. Hundreds of thousands of children are in need of immediate assistance.

"With the onset of the winter in Zimbabwe, the timing is critical for children who are among the most vulnerable and most in need of support," Elder said.

Goche's memorandum to the United Nations and other aid groups made no mention of government claims that aid was distributed to favored recipients or opposition supporters, or that civic and human rights groups registered as voluntary organizations were campaigning against Mugabe's party.

Earlier this week, the aid organization CARE International said it had been ordered to halt operations pending an investigation of allegations it was campaigning for the opposition. CARE denies the allegation.

Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and was once hailed as a liberator who promoted racial reconciliation and economic empowerment.

But he has been accused of clinging to power through election fraud and intimidation, and of destroying his country's economy through the seizure of white-owned farms beginning in 2000.

Discontent over the economy propelled Tsvangirai to the top in presidential voting March 29.

Tsvangirai, who lost a 2002 presidential election that independent observers said was rigged in Mugabe's favor, had only returned to Zimbabwe in late May to campaign for the runoff. He left the country soon after the March first round, and his party has said he was the target of a military assassination plot.

He has survived at least three assassination attempts. In 1997, unidentified assailants tried to throw him from a 10th-floor window.

Last year, he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by police at a prayer rally. Images seen around the world of his bruised and swollen face have come to symbolize the plight of dissenters in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change says at least 60 of its supporters have been slain in the past two months

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 09:14 AM

Washington Post:

Africa's Messiah of Horror

By Michael Gerson
Friday, June 6, 2008; Page A19

A friend, the head of a major aid organization, tells how his workers in eastern Congo a few years ago chanced upon a group of shell-shocked women and children in the bush. A militia had kidnapped a number of families and forced the women to kill their husbands with machetes, under the threat that their sons and daughters would be murdered if they refused. Afterward the women were raped by more than 100 soldiers; the children were spectators at their own private genocide.

This is ultimately the work and trademark of a single man: Joseph Kony, the most carnivorous killer since Idi Amin. As the military and spiritual leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Kony is a combination of serial murderer and cult leader. He raises armies of captured boys, who are often forced to kill their neighbors and engage in cannibalism to sever all their ties of community and conscience. Girls are kidnapped into sexual and domestic slavery. Kony has a messiah complex -- all must prostrate themselves in his presence -- but he is a messiah in reverse, who sheds his humanity instead of assuming it.

After a decade-long campaign of intimidation in northern Uganda that displaced more than 1.5 million people into camps, Kony finally seemed to be cornered and running out of options. With his forces chased into Garamba National Park in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kony's emissaries entered peace talks two years ago and promised demobilization.


A peace agreement ceremony was set for April 10 in the Sudanese town of Ri-Kwangba near the Congo border. Hundreds of delegates, journalists and observers arrived. But after a series of confused excuses -- too many people, not enough security -- it became clear that Kony had no intention of showing up or giving up. "The people speaking for Kony, it turned out, weren't speaking for Kony at all," says a frustrated U.S. official.

In fact, Kony has used the peace-negotiation lull to rebuild his power. He has issued orders to abduct 1,000 new "recruits" from Congo, the Central African Republic and south Sudan. Since late February, he has begun training between 200 and 300 kidnapped children at a camp in northeastern Congo. Agents of the LRA in the region have supplied satellite phones, tents, generators and uniforms. LRA forces have dug up weapons caches, attacked barracks in south Sudan to obtain weapons, and established at least six new bases along the Sudanese border.

All this makes Kony more than a moral menace; he is a regional threat. The government of Sudan -- the author of the Darfur genocide -- has historical ties to the LRA, which Khartoum once used as a proxy to fight Uganda's government. According to some reports, those contacts between the Sudanese regime and the LRA have now resumed. After last month's unsuccessful attack by Darfur rebels on Khartoum, Sudan's capital, the regime may again be looking for a proxy to engage its enemies -- this time in Darfur or neighboring Chad. In this part of Africa, there is a market for useful thugs -- and Kony is a particularly effective one.

What should be done?

First, the U.S. State Department needs to finally put Kony on its terrorism list. He deserves that designation by any definition -- including the narrow standard of threatening the lives of Americans in the past. This designation would give the president more latitude in tracking the threat from Kony, and eventually dealing with it. The executive decision to define Kony as a terrorist has been made, but it has been held up by State Department bureaucracy.

Second, American defense and intelligence officials will need to be tasked with keeping close tabs on Kony's whereabouts. If he begins to move north to interfere in Sudan or returns to the killing fields of northern Uganda, America needs to know.

Third, the time has arrived for those countries with stakes in the region -- Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Britain, France and America -- to deal with Kony himself. A report by Enough, a project of the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress, calls for a "military strategy to apprehend Kony and disband the rest of the LRA." It is overdue.

We are seeing the second coming -- surrounded by an army of children and trailing clouds of death -- of Joseph Kony. If this is not a cause for horror -- and a justified cause for international action -- it is difficult to imagine what would be.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 11:26 AM

Zimbabwe aid ban 'puts millions at risk'

Story Highlights
Zimbabwe orders aid groups to stop field work

Government accuses aid group of political campaigning

Diplomats safe after threats from security forces, U.S. and UK say

Opposition leader MorganTsvangirai arrested for second time this week

   
(CNN) -- Millions of people in Zimbabwe already facing economic hardship and hunger are being put at risk by a government ban on relief organizations, the United Nations warned Friday, saying it would urge a lifting of restrictions.


Robert Mugabe's supporters are accused of mounting a campaign of intimidation and violence.

Agostinho Zacarias, the U.N.'s top humanitarian coodinator in Zimbabwe said he planned to meet with authorities to ask them to let aid agencies resume providing food, clean water, medical care and other services.

"This decision is likely to affect millions of people," he said.

In another development Friday, Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested for the second time this week, his spokesman said.

Zimbabwe imposed the aid agency ban Thursday, accusing international aid groups of political meddling ahead of a June 27 runoff election that opposition groups say long-time President Robert Mugabe is trying to rig through intimidation.

Bright Motonga, deputy information minister for Zimbabwe, accused several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of telling people they would not receive food unless they voted for an opposition presidential candidate.

Agencies must re-register with the government and state their purpose clearly to continue working in Zimbabwe, he said, and the government hopes that happens soon.

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Kenneth Walker, a spokesman for the aid agency CARE, told CNN on Friday that the government's action has sowed confusion.

"All the NGOs are in the dark. They have no idea what this letter means. They have no idea how long it's going to last," he said.

"There's some serious concern about the impact on the millions of Zimbabweans who now won't be receiving food aid, clean water and sanitation facilities, help with agriculture and a wide variety of other services that the NGOs provide."

Henrietta Fore, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, urged the government of Zimbabwe Thursday to "lift the suspension on all international aid agencies involved in humanitarian work in the country."

Fore told CNN that the "suspension is a direct threat to the lives and well-being of tens of thousands of innocent people in Zimbabwe."

In another development on Thursday, a convoy of U.S. and British diplomats was halted by Mugabe supporters and threatened with violence in what both countries have condemned as a major breach of diplomatic protocol. Watch condemnation over diplomatic detentions »

U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee said the British and American vehicles were halted at a roadblock, where Mugabe supporters slashed their tires and threatened to burn the vehicles with the diplomats inside.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga denied McGee's claims, insisting the diplomats were detained after trying to flee police at a roadblock.

The alleged incident, which ended with the release of the unharmed envoys, will be seen as the latest in a long line of efforts by Mugabe's regime to antagonize international critics -- particularly the country's British former colonial rulers.

And threats aimed at what McGee said was a mission to check on election-linked violence will do little to ease concerns over the June 27 vote, despite claims by Mugabe that he will end his three-decade rule if he loses.

Opposition politicians, led by Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change party, insist they won an initial round of voting in March and say Mugabe supporters are intimidating voters ahead of the runoff election.

In the latest incident on Friday, Tsvangirai was stopped at a roadblock and taken to a police station as he was on his way to a regularly scheduled rally, his spokesman, George Sibotshiwe said. He was released after two-and-a-half hours.

"We've noticed that it's going to be a common trend in this campaign and obviously the government and Robert Mugabe are trying to prevent [Tsvangirai] from going about his campaign freely and peacefully," Sibotshiwe said.

He said that unless the African Union deploys peacekeepers to the country, "campaigning in Zimbabwe is now virtually impossible."

" What I can convey is that since this morning we have had 10 or 11 central intelligence organization vehicles following us everywhere. There was heavy intimidation with armed military people following us everywhere as well and they basically pushed the president up to this roadblock before arresting him."

Sibotshiwe said there were no grounds for the arrest.

"The way they work here is they don't give you any reason," he said. Obviously, there is no charge."

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 08:36 AM

Rights group calls for intervention in Zimbabwe

By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press Writer
27 minutes ago



JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - With just three weeks until a presidential runoff, a leading human rights organization said Monday that the African Union must push longtime Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe to end political violence.
The 14-nation Southern African Development Community appointed South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Mugabe and the opposition, but those efforts have "not borne any fruit," said Human Rights Watch researcher Tiseke Kasambala.

In its report, HRW said it had documented 36 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries at the hands of Mugabe party militants backed by the police and army, but that the real figures may be much higher.

The rights group also said hospitals had been told not to treat victims, scores of opposition activists had been arrested, and homes and businesses of opposition supporters had been looted.

"There's no way a credible runoff can take place unless there are drastic improvements in the remaining weeks," Kasambala, who prepared Monday's report, said in a telephone interview from London.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe and two other candidates in the first round of voting March 29, but did not win the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a runoff, scheduled for June 27.

Tsvangirai's party, foreign diplomats in Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwean and international human rights groups accuse Mugabe of unleashing violence against the opposition to ensure Mugabe wins the runoff. Zimbabwean government and party spokesmen have repeatedly denied such allegations.

The current SADC chairman said there were few options for finding a solution. Zambian Information Minister George Mulongoti predicted the need for mediation would continue after the runoff.

Tsvangirai has called on Mbeki to step aside, saying the South African leader's quiet style of diplomacy has been ineffective and questioning whether Mbeki is biased toward Mugabe.

Mukoni Ratshitanga, a spokesman for Mbeki, said Monday that South Africans "remain seized of the matter, together with the rest of SADC and the rest of the continent."

Mulongoti, the Zambian official, said: "The difficult thing is that Zimbabwe is a sovereign state." He said all fellow Africans could do was "advise" Mugabe.

Whatever the results of the runoff, Mulongoti said it was unlikely they would be endorsed by both sides. Mediation then would be aimed at finding "some transitional arrangements," possibly a unity government, he said.

Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, was lauded early in his rule for campaigning for racial reconciliation and building the economy. But in recent years, he has been accused of holding onto power through fraud and intimidation, and trampling on political and human rights.

Zimbabwe's collapsing economy was a major concern of voters during the first round of voting. People are going hungry in what was once the region's breadbasket, with the world's highest inflation rate putting staples out of reach.

The country's economic decline has been blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector after the seizures — often violent and at Mugabe's orders — of farmland from whites. Mugabe claimed the seizures begun in 2002 were to benefit poor blacks, but many of the farms went to his loyalists.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 03 Jul 08 - 03:36 PM

Africa's Food Crisis Opportunity
By Josh Ruxin
Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A17

KIGALI, Rwanda -- Every time Americans buy groceries, we feel the crisis in food prices. But while inflation presents discomfort in the United States, it is causing dire hardship elsewhere. In many of the world's poorest communities, food prices have become an obstacle to survival. Yet rapidly rising prices -- which are hurting the 73 million people fed each day by the World Food Program and the hundreds of millions who work for low wages in cities -- may also create an opportunity: the first chance in years for the world's poorest farmers to climb out of poverty.

More than a billion people around the world eke out an existence on less than a dollar per day. Most people here in Rwanda fall into that category. But since they rely on themselves for food production and are too poor to afford fertilizer, tractors or advanced seeds, they are insulated from price spikes. For years, working as a farmhand in Rwanda meant slow starvation. Yet with basic food items now priced too high for the average person to afford, local production of food is more attractive, meaning that farmworkers are better able to maintain a living wage.

Since 1850, commodity prices have declined steadily. Coffee, maize and even oil have all become cheaper -- until recently. The surge in fuel prices has, ironically, driven up demand for corn-based ethanol. And, while biofuels won't lessen the need for crude oil, at least not yet, the resulting corn shortage has forced food prices higher.


In Africa, the crisis is imparting sharp lessons. Freer, more democratic nations with better economic policies appear more immune to the spike in food prices. Meanwhile, less-open countries have employed anachronistic policies of subsidies and tariffs, exacerbating market fluctuations. It's no coincidence that Nigeria and Ethiopia have experienced rioting while Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania have been relatively calm.

Asian countries that are becoming industrial economies are in the toughest spot: Low-wage factory workers' situations are less elastic, leaving those workers more hard-pressed when the prices of common household goods rise. But subsistence-level farmers who are not reliant on expensive fertilizer or oil-fueled machinery can sell their excess produce at higher prices, which are still less than prices for food that might be trucked or flown in. The resulting boomlet benefits sub-Saharan Africa's small farmers, who cultivate, on average, less than 2 1/2 acres and who can, with appropriate assistance, expand their production to meet increasing demand. It's also possible that a local agricultural renaissance may attract some of the world's urban poor back to the countryside to cultivate fallow land and earn decent wages.

A report released in April by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization confirmed that farmers worldwide would benefit from reducing their dependency on fossil fuels and adopting practices that help protect their environments. This means reducing the amount of fossil fuel used for cultivation, as well as transported fertilizers and pesticides, in favor of locally available resources. To be sure, inputs such as fertilizer can tremendously boost poor farmers' productivity and earnings in the short term. A colleague from Nigeria wrote to me this spring saying that while the cost of fertilizer had increased by 50 percent, the selling price of corn was up by 100 percent. In other words, those productive small farmers who had had access to the increased capital required to obtain fertilizer had doubled their income in a year. Other key areas of productivity investment for poor farmers in which donor governments would do well to invest include advanced seeds, technical assistance for terracing and irrigation, and diversification into higher-value crops that are less likely to be influenced by fluctuations in international commodities markets.

It has taken Americans decades to warm to the common sense of producing and consuming locally. Fortunately, the trend may catch on more quickly in the world's poorest countries. Many have argued for an African "green revolution": better farming practices and greater productivity through larger investment in smallholder farms. The timing could scarcely be better for following up on these opportunities. We should also resist the temptation to apply traditional fire-control responses to counter rising food prices, responses such as expanding subsidies or protecting markets. Investing in the poor today may enable many to make the transition out of poverty that has been so elusive for decades. If smallholder farmers can increase their income in real terms for the first time in 50 years, aided by improvements in health and education, they may manage to claw their way out of poverty, as many in Southeast Asia have done.

In the coming months, many will need food relief, but many more will benefit from investments in farm cooperatives and small farms. These investments will help to maintain progress, support stability, and, most important, help the world's poor feed themselves and their neighbors.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 02:00 PM

Worth reading: Zimbabwe youth militias hold sex slaves


The Los Angeles Times interviewed a 21-year-old woman who says she is being held as a sex slave by youth militias loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

The story, which is based on anonymous sources, says she was seized 10 weeks ago because her mother supports the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

"She has to stay most of each day and night at the base, a sex slave of the thuggish youth militias unleashed by the government. The Times interviewed her during one of the several short daily periods she is allowed to leave the ZANU-PF base," the paper says. "When asked why she doesn't escape during that time, Asiatu gives a chilling explanation: 'They promised me if I run away, my mother will be killed.'"

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Greycap
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 01:27 PM

This seems to just be the 'beardedbruce' slot. I'm outa here.Time to go, huh?

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 05:25 AM

Diplomats: Zimbabwe talks to get under way

By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 10 minutes ago



PRETORIA, South Africa - Diplomats say talks between Zimbabwe's ruling and opposition parties will soon get under way in South Africa's capital.

Tuesday's talks in Pretoria come a day after President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed on the conditions to meeting. The talks aim to set up a power-sharing deal to end their country's crisis after a violent, widely condemned presidential runoff in June.

The diplomats say the negotiations will kick off with only mediators. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of angering their sources.

Parties to the Zimbabwean agreement have given themselves two weeks to complete negotiations. And they have signed a clause promising not to communicate about them with the media.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 05:27 AM

Papering over the cracks in Zimbabwe

The push for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to reach a political deal must not overlook the root causes of violence in the country

Blessing-Miles Tendi guardian.co.uk, Monday July 21, 2008


Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party are reportedly close to signing a deal setting out a framework for talks on the country's political crisis. A political stalemate exists between both sides over the legitimacy of last month's violent one-man presidential election runoff won by Mugabe. The move towards the beginning of talks has been welcomed in some quarters with Zimbabwe's leading labour group, the ZCTU, calling for the talks to be conducted swiftly because "the economy is in bad shape". Tsvangirai is reported to be in favour of pressing ahead with negotiations on the grounds that "the people have suffered enough". This emerging rush to reach a power-sharing deal between Zimbabwe's contending political parties risks papering over the need to address the country's enduring legacies of violence, impunity and pseudo-reconciliation.

Zimbabwe experienced one of the most bloody and bitterly fought wars against colonialism in Africa. There were untold human rights violations on both sides but these were never addressed because of an independence settlement reached at Lancaster House that did not lay a constructive foundation for nation-building. Systematic racial discrimination was the pillar of white domination in the colonial years but its negative legacies were not tackled post-independence. Race relations remained problematic from 1980 but the subject was never taken seriously and some even romanticised independent Zimbabwe's so-called racial reconciliation.

The British-sponsored, short-sighted Lancaster House agreement was more intent on appeasing and protecting the white minority's privileges than it was long-term nation building. The Lancaster House agreement left white Zimbabweans susceptible to envy and resentment by a majority black population that understood white dominance in terms of unresolved colonial legacies, fertile earth for demagogues attempting to rouse nationalist sentiment. Mugabe had preferred a total military victory over the white-settler government. His eventual resort to reconciliation was expedient. The language of racial reconciliation bought western acceptance for his government, which many had feared would espouse communism and disregard private property rights by nationalising white-owned assets. These unresolved legacies are part of the seed for the violent anti-white farm seizures that erupted in 2000.

The early independence emphasis on racial reconciliation resulted in the neglect of the need for meaningful reconciliation within the black population. Little surprise that in the early 1980s Mugabe ordered a campaign of violence aimed at crushing the Matabeleland province's allegiance to ZAPU, a rival black nationalist party to Mugabe's Zanu-PF. Up to 20,000 lives were lost. There is no existing official explanation for the atrocities and the victims have been disallowed the right to articulate their victim-hood publicly.

There have been other violent episodes in Zimbabwe's independence period history, all of which are unaccounted for officially, nor has any form of justice been served. In 1980, hundreds of Zimbabwean strikers were arrested and others killed during state repression of massive strikes mostly against multi-national corporations. In popular riots against the Zanu-PF government over increases in the price of basic commodities in 1998, Zimbabwe's military forces, equipped with live ammunition, guns, teargas, baton sticks and armoured vehicles, were deployed in the townships to suppress the unrest. Mass violence, beatings, intimidation and looting ensued for three days. Uncounted deaths, injuries and arrests transpired. In 2005, the Mugabe government carried out Operation Murambatsvina – a nationwide "urban clean-up" – in which more than 569,000 Zimbabweans lost their homes in evictions which, according to a UN report (pdf) "took place before alternatives could be provided, thereby violating human rights and several provisions of national and international law".

The disturbing violence and human rights abuses witnessed in Zimbabwe's presidential election runoff have some of their roots in the country's unresolved legacies of impunity, intolerance and the primacy of a coercive state. The current diplomatic push to reach a political deal in Zimbabwe must not overlook the pertinence of resolving these negative legacies once and for all. If they are disregarded, as they were at Lancaster House and throughout the post-independence period, Zimbabwe will experience more violent occurrences in future – and the international media, concerned states, and international and regional bodies will once again look on helplessly wondering, "how can such violence be happening?"

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 05:28 AM

Somewhere in Africa - McClatchy Newspapers
Buying time - and little else - in Zimbabwe

Posted by Shashank

Mon Jul 21, 5:47 AM ET


Word comes today that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are ready to start negotiations over last month's universally condemned election in Zimbabwe. The BBC says the two sides "are close to signing a deal outlining a framework for talks." This, for Zimbabwe, qualifies as a breakthrough, although I wouldn't be too quick with the champagne.

It's been four weeks since Tsvangirai pulled out of the election due to violence against his supporters. Despite world furor over his tactics and leadership, Mugabe -- with help from friends in South Africa, Russia and China -- has hung on long enough since the vote that nothing short of a miracle will overturn June's election result, however flawed.

Mugabe's goal all along appears to have been to buy time, wait for Zimbabwe to fade from world headlines and then negotiate from a position of strength. Obvious enough if you have no intention of leaving office, but there may also be a financial imperative. As reported Friday by the always-excellent Africa Confidential, a London-based journal, ruling-party officials since the election have quietly been socking millions of dollars away in offshore bank accounts in South Africa, Namibia, China, Malaysia and elsewhere.

Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and other Mugabe cronies are laundering money through Zimbabwean companies with links to reputable institutions in the UK and South Africa, and then shifting it to more opaque destinations "to avoid the threat of tightening sanctions and the possibility of financial scrutiny by a power-sharing government," AC writes.

It is this outflow of capital that is more than anything else destroying Zimbabwe's economy. Zimbabwe's capital exporters have intensified their operations as political and economic conditions have deteriorated, promoting a cycle of decline.

No coincidence, then, that today Gono's Reserve Bank rolled out Zimbabwe's latest ridiculous bank note: the 100-billion-dollar bill, which, as of this writing, is worth about 2 U.S. dollars. Spend it now, because it could be worth less than a single greenback by the weekend.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Teribus
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 06:03 AM

"Word comes today that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are ready to start negotiations over last month's universally condemned election in Zimbabwe. The BBC says the two sides "are close to signing a deal outlining a framework for talks." This, for Zimbabwe, qualifies as a breakthrough, although I wouldn't be too quick with the champagne."

Neither would I, and I would strongly recommend that Morgan Tsvangirai take a good look at what happened to Robert Mugabe's last "political partner" and his supporters - Joshua Nkomo, remember him?

Anybody that thinks that Zimbabwe's woes will disappear when Mugabe dies is dreaming. All Morgan Tsvangirai will be doing in aligning himself with Mugabe's ilegitimate regime is ensuring that MDC share Mugabe's guilt in what he has done to the country.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:21 AM

Washington Post

Zimbabwe's Talks

Robert Mugabe's campaign to stay in power continues by other means.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008; Page A16

NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN Zimbabwe's government and opposition broke off yesterday four days after they began, which should have surprised no one who has followed Robert Mugabe's brutal and uncompromising campaign to remain in power. Since the 84-year-old strongman lost a presidential election March 29, his thugs have murdered at least 120 people, including some who were tortured before they died. Villages suspected of supporting the opposition have been looted and burned, and humanitarian groups have been prohibited from distributing food. In agreeing to two weeks of talks, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai obtained a commitment that the violence would end and won the involvement of international mediators who could help ensure that the peace was kept. But even that has not stopped the rampage of government goons in the countryside.

The talks stopped at a predictable point: Mr. Mugabe is refusing to yield power and instead seeks to manipulate Mr. Tsvangirai into accepting a subordinate position in the regime. In that aim, Mr. Mugabe is abetted by the chief broker of the talks, South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has dedicated the waning months of his own tarnished administration to propping up one of Africa's most heinous rulers. With the help of dictator-loving Russia and China, Mr. Mbeki managed to block the U.N. Security Council from approving new sanctions against Mr. Mugabe's government this month. The two cronies no doubt hope they can use the negotiations to further deflect international pressure; if they can co-opt Mr. Tsvangirai, they will have an argument for lifting the Western sanctions now directed at the regime.


Neither Mr. Tsvangirai nor Western governments should allow such a maneuver. The only acceptable outcome of Zimbabwe's political bargaining -- if it resumes -- is a transition to Mr. Mugabe's retirement, the removal of the criminal clique that supports him and the staging of fresh democratic elections. The opposition already has offered to spare Mr. Mugabe and others from prosecution; they could also be allowed to keep some of the assets they have stolen. But until Mr. Mugabe leaves office, the campaign to punish and isolate his regime should continue. The Bush administration and European Union sent the right message last week by approving new sanctions directed at the Mugabe clique. If the suspension of the talks continues, or if the talks fail to produce results in the original two-week time frame, the United States should reopen the debate at the Security Council.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:46 AM

I agree.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 22 Sep 08 - 01:22 PM

U.N.: Almost 10 million Ethiopians need food aid


Story Highlights
Ethiopia in the grip of worst drought in five years

Number of people needing emergency food aid has doubled, U.N. official says

9.6 million need emergency food, up from 4.6 million in June, U.N. says

   
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- A U.N. official says the number of Ethiopians needing emergency food aid has more than doubled.

World Food Program spokesman Barry Came says 9.6 million people need emergency food. This is more than twice the estimate of 4.6 million people released in June.

Came says the rise in Ethiopians needing food aid includes people not accounted for in previous assessments.

He said Monday that the increase comprises about 2 million residents of Ethiopia's southeastern Somali region. The figure also includes 3.2 million people who had been covered by a plan intended to stave off chronic food shortages but now need emergency food aid.

Aid workers say this year's drought is the worst since 2003.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Dandy in Aspic
Date: 22 Sep 08 - 01:54 PM

A very firm NO.

They have elected governments that seem to be able to buy weapons and armoured cars and maintain an army. Yet when it comes to feeding and caring for THEIR OWN PEOPLE they look towards America and Britain the two soft touches to load up planes and send out the weeks shopping.

If they wish to hold tribal fights good luck to them. I recently watched a programme in which they used rubber tyres filled with petrol on eachother, it was barbaric. Machete rule is still the order of the day out there. And many wonder where the 300% increase in knife crime in London comes from !

It en't our problem, and if any of you think you have the solution for it I would love to hear it. Throwing food and money hasn't worked, America or Britain will not be going in with guns blazing. Failed actors or singers going our and singing love songs full of dope and hugging sick babies hasn't worked either.

Dandy in Aspic

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 08:17 AM

shhhh...

They are not being hurt by Jews, so it must be ok.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Al
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 08:26 AM

No, they are the responsibly of their government. We aren't the feeding bowl of the world. Sooner or later you have to realise that.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 07:37 AM

Cornering A Killer In Africa
By Michael Gerson
Friday, January 9, 2009; Page A17

On Dec. 14, the Ugandan army launched an attack on leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Congo, targeting its commander, Joseph Kony.

Kony's epic career of murder has few equals. As both a rebel and a cult leader in northern Uganda, he led an army of stolen children and sex slaves, sometimes forcing his captives to engage in cannibalism and the murder of neighbors to sever ties of community and humanity. The LRA has been known to line roads with the heads of enemies. Terror and conflict displaced millions of Ugandans into camps. When Kony lost his havens in that country, he fled into the chaotic vastness of Congo, using the cover of peace negotiations to raise another force of terrorists and child soldiers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/08/AR2009010803029.html

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 09:19 AM

Sudanese forces bomb outskirts of rebel-held town
      

Mon Feb 2, 1:50 pm ET AFP/File – The United States is gravely concerned …

CAIRO – Sudanese forces bombed the outskirts of a rebel-held town in southern Darfur Monday as the U.N. secretary general said peacekeepers would not heed a government request to leave the area.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa that the joint U.N.-African Union peackeeping force will remain in the town of Muhajeria and all sides needed to show restraint, urging rebels to pull out of the town.

"I urge maximum restraint on President Omar al-Bashir and have urged the Justice and Equality Movement rebels to withdraw from the city to protect innocent civilians," Ban said.

The force is there to protect civilians displaced by the six-year civil war in the arid western region of Sudan.

The spokesman for the peacekeepers, Nourredine Mezni confirmed to the Associated Press that government planes were bombing the outskirts of the town and some 5,000 residents were now taking refuge around the peacekeepers' compound.

JEM spokesman Ahmed Tugod said government planes were bombing the outskirts of the town Monday and asserted that his forces, which captured the town Jan. 15, would stay and fight government forces.

Sudan told the peacekeepers on Sunday to leave so that they could retake the town after rebels seized it.

U.N. and AU officials say they want the peacekeeping force to reach its full capacity of 26,000 soldiers and policemen by June.

Sudan regularly challenges the U.N.'s presence in the country. In January 2008, Sudan's army attacked a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, critically injuring a driver.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:16 AM

Washington Post- ( link requires password after a day or so)


Zimbabwe's False Hope

South Africa demands that the West aid a 'unity' government under Robert Mugabe. How to answer?


Thursday, February 5, 2009; Page A16

SOUTH AFRICA has won a round in its relentless campaign to preserve Robert Mugabe's hold over a dying Zimbabwe. With the help of its allies in the Southern Africa Development Community, South Africa succeeded last week in coercing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai -- the winner of last year's presidential election -- into accepting a subordinate role in a "unity" government led by the 84-year-old strongman. The deal, which Mr. Tsvangirai bravely resisted for months, will leave Mr. Mugabe in charge of the country's last functioning institutions -- army and police forces that have been waging a campaign of murder, rape and torture against the opposition and human rights activists.

Mr. Tsvangirai relented because he believed that the frightful humanitarian emergency in Zimbabwe left him with little choice. The United Nations estimates that 7 million of the 9 million people remaining in the country need food aid this month. A cholera epidemic has so far infected more than 62,000 and killed 3,100. Schools, hospitals and most businesses have closed, the national currency has been discarded and unemployment is over 90 percent.

The opposition will be placed in charge of the finance, health and education ministries, which it hopes will allow it to solicit and distribute aid to prevent mass death from starvation and disease. As South Africa and its client more cynically calculate, Mr. Tsvangirai's appointment will compel the United States, Britain and other Western governments to lift sanctions and renew economic support, thus preventing what would otherwise be the inevitable collapse of Mr. Mugabe's regime.


The misery of Zimbabwe is indeed compelling -- but the Obama administration and other Western governments should reject South Africa's demands. It long ago became clear that Zimbabwe cannot recover as long as Mr. Mugabe remains in power. South Africa and other neighbors who insist on supporting the criminal regime are free to supply aid. But Western governments must maintain their sanctions -- especially those aimed at individual members of the Mugabe regime and the companies they control.

A State Department statement this week said the administration would consider new assistance and the lifting of sanctions "when we have seen evidence of true power sharing as well as inclusive and effective governance." What should that include? Mr. Tsvangirai himself is demanding the freeing of more than 30 opposition activists from prison. Legislation must be passed giving the opposition a measure of control over security forces, and replacing the central bank president -- a Mugabe crony -- with a technocrat. Restrictions on the press must be lifted and foreign journalists admitted. Perhaps most important, the government must agree on a plan for a new presidential election, with guarantees for fairness and full international monitoring.

If these steps were taken, Western aid to Zimbabwe might serve some purpose. But they won't be. "Zimbabwe is mine" is Mr. Mugabe's only principle. The first step in any rescue must be prying the country from his grip.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:34 PM

Not Jews against Palestinians, so nobody cares.



UN: Sri Lanka war zone facing food crisis
   
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The United Nations warned Friday of a food crisis in Sri Lanka's north where some 250,000 civilians are trapped in fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels on the verge of defeat.

The military said it chalked up more victories on the ground, capturing the headquarters of a Tamil Tiger regiment responsible for the security of their top leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on Friday.

"Troops surrounded the area so fast that the (fleeing) terrorists couldn't even take their flag," military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

The military's relentless offensive in recent months has almost routed the Tamil Tigers, virtually ending their 25-year war for a separate Tamil nation in the Sinhalese-majority country.

Nanayakkara said about 600 civilians fled the war zone Friday, joining thousands who have escaped in the past few days. The government says it is not targeting civilians, and accuses the rebels of using them as human shields.

But evidence has grown in recent days of mounting civilian casualties in the shrinking sliver of land still controlled by the rebels.

Reports from the sealed war zone, known as Vanni, are spotty. But the top health official there said last week that 300 civilians had been killed, and the U.N. said at least 52 civilians were killed Tuesday.

Amnesty International called on both sides to declare a cease-fire to allow civilians out and to let food, water and medical supplies be delivered to those who can't leave.

"A quarter of a million people are suffering without adequate food and shelter while shells rain down upon them," said Yolanda Foster, a researcher at the London-based rights group.

Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, told reporters in Geneva that the entire population of Vanni is facing a food crisis.

Some 250,000 people there are completely dependent on humanitarian aid, but WFP has not been able to get a supply convoy into the conflict zone since Jan. 16, she said.

A convoy that was supposed to enter during a four-hour "humanitarian window" Thursday could not go because the agency did not receive the necessary clearance from government officials, she said.

The earliest they would be able to send in another convoy is next Thursday, she said.

"We don't have any more stocks to be distributed, and our staff are essentially hiding at the moment," Casella said. WFP has 16 staff members and 81 dependents in the Vanni area.

Despite growing concerns over the fate of civilians, the government has rejected calls for a cease-fire to allow them to escape the fighting.

On Thursday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a 15-minute telephone conversation that the offensive "would be carried out without harassment to the civilian population," a statement from the president's office said.

Some 70,000 people have died in the Tamil conflict, which began in 1983 after years of marginalization of the Tamil minority by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:24 PM

Nigeria: 84 children dead from teething formula

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

– 32 mins agoLAGOS, Nigeria – Nigerian health workers hunted down errant bottles of a poisonous teething formula Friday as the government reported that 84 infants and children have now died after swallowing a syrup laced with a chemical normally found in antifreeze.

The children were stricken with fever, convulsions, diarrhea and vomiting, and were unable to urinate after being given the My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture.

The dead ranged from 2 months to 7 years old, the Health Ministry said, adding that at least 111 children in all have been sickened since the tainted batch hit store shelves in mid-November.

"The death of any Nigerian child is a great loss to the nation," Health Minister Babatunde Oshotimehin said in a statement. "The federal ministry of health sincerely regrets this painful incidence and sympathizes with the nation and the families."

Health officials said in early December that 34 children had died and stores were returning stocks of the formula meant to stop teething pain.

But health workers were now pressing to collect already-purchased bottles of the sweet-tasting medicine, said Marshal Gundu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health. He said parents of the affected children were being interviewed and an epidemiological survey was under way.

Health officials said they don't know how many bottles of the bad formula were made or remain in circulation, so it was not clear if the death toll could rise further.

Nigeria is a vast, chaotic country of 140 million people, and bottles of the teething formula could easily go undiscovered by authorities. Nigeria also has a long history of poor enforcement of its own regulations, with corruption rampant among police and government officials.

It was unclear if any of the teething formula had been shipped overseas, but most products made in Nigeria are designed for domestic sale in Africa's largest market.

Many bottles of the paracetemol-based formula were found to have a high concentration of diethylene glycol, a chemical commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid and sometimes used illegally as a cheaper alternative to glycerin, which thickens toothpaste. Exposure can cause kidney and liver damage and may be fatal.

An official with manufacturer Barewa Pharmaceuticals Ltd. apparently procured diethylene glycol from an unregistered chemical dealer in a sprawling slum near the main dump in Lagos, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has said.

Several officials of the Lagos-based pharmaceutical maker are under arrest, along with several other suspects accused of helping provide the poisonous ingredient. Gundu said no charges had been officially lodged against the suspects.

A phone number listed for the company was not working Friday, and officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Health officials said earlier that Barewa Pharmaceuticals appears to have been told it was purchasing propylene glycol, a normal ingredient in the teething formula. They said the pharmaceutical company had always bought that ingredient through approved channels before, but had turned to a new source for the ingredient used in the tainted batch.

The food and drug agency said the first sickened child was taken for treatment on Nov. 19 in Nigeria's far northern region. Similar cases turned up in subsequent days in Nigeria's densely populated southwest, and investigators isolated the product as the culprit.

Nigeria has been plagued by tainted, fake or untested drugs since it gained independence from Britain in 1960. About 200 babies died in 1990 under similar circumstances, also from diethylene glycol.

The food and drug administration, however, has drawn plaudits from Nigerians in recent years for having cut down on counterfeit or dangerous medicines.

Diethylene glycol has also been implicated in poisoning cases around the world, including in Panama, where at least 116 people died in 2006 after taking contaminated cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made at a government laboratory.

The Nigerian teething formula is the only the latest poisoning case to kill the very young.

In China, hundreds of thousands of children fell sick last year and six died after drinking milk tainted with melamine. A court handed down two death penalties and long prison terms for 19 other defendants in the scandal.

__

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 10 Feb 09 - 08:49 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090210/ap_on_re_af/eu_international_court_congo

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 08:17 AM

A Glimmer of Hope in Africa
By Ben Affleck Thursday, Feb. 12,

The picture of the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has grown tragically familiar: a region with great natural wealth, riven by war, racked with hunger and traumatized by a long history of colonial abuse, postcolonial kleptocracy and plunder. In the past 10 years alone, millions have died here, and more die each day as a result of the conflict. Most die not from war wounds but from starvation or disease. A lack of infrastructure means there is little medical care in the cities and none in rural communities, so any infection can be a death sentence. The most vulnerable suffer the worst. One in five children in Congo will die before reaching the age of 5 — and will do so out of sight of the world, in places that camera crews cannot reach, deep in a vast landscape and concealed under a canopy of bucolic jungle.

It is common in the West to read about African lives in grim statistical terms, so we've become inured to these huge numbers of deaths. Making matters worse, the conflict in Congo is often seen as a hopelessly byzantine African tribal war, encouraging the damning notion that nothing will ever change. This, of course, creates a sense of hopelessness — and nothing cuts down on humanitarian, foreign and development assistance so much as the jaded diminution of hope. The nation most in need of investment gets the least by the cruel logic that it is the most broken. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that ultimately fosters indifference in the guise of wisdom. (See pictures of the fallout in the Congo by James Nachtwey.)

That should not be the case in Congo.

more

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 09:52 AM

Sudan dismisses Beshir genocide charge 'rumours'
      
Guillaume Lavallee – 21 mins ago AFP

KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan on Thursday sought to dismiss reports that its President Omar al-Beshir is about to become the first sitting head of state to be charged with genocide by International Criminal Court (ICC) judges.

The ICC had been expected to make a decision on issuing an arrest warrant as early as this month after chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in July accused Beshir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

According to the United Nations, 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since rebels in the western region rose up against the Khartoum government in February 2003.

But Sudan, which puts the death toll from the six-year conflict at 10,000, sought to dismiss a New York Times report on Wednesday that the ICC had decided to issue an arrest warrant for Beshir as "rumours" aimed at thwarting peace talks.

"The rumours are aimed to spoil the Doha talks; that is why we don't consider them," foreign ministry official Mutrif Siddiq told AFP, referring to Qatari-hosted talks between a Darfur rebel group and the Khartoum government.

In Doha, the head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the most active rebel group in Darfur, called on Beshir to give himself up.

"I advise Beshir to turn himself in, voluntarily," Khalil Ibrahim said, adding that he would welcome any arrest warrant for the Sudanese president.

"If Beshir does not turn himself in, no doubt, we will arrest him and hand him over to the international court," Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim, whose JEM last year launched an unprecedented but unsuccessful attack on Khartoum, said that a warrant would "not affect the peace process, neither in Darfur nor in Sudan, nor will it affect Sudan's stability."

Ocampo has also tried to obtain ICC arrest warrants against three unnamed Darfur rebel leaders for an attack in September 2007 in which 12 African Union peacekeepers were killed and eight wounded.

ICC judges in December requested more information from Ocampo on the charges against the rebels.

Sudanese officials, including Beshir, have always insisted they will not cooperate with the ICC, saying that any allegations of crimes in Darfur would be dealt with in Sudanese courts.

"It's clear Sudan is not a party of the ICC. Whatever the ICC does it is not affecting us," Siddiq said, slamming the charges as "politically motivated."

Sudan has been seeking to garner international support to fight the accusations, with the Arab League and the African Union both saying formal ICC charges will not help the situation in Darfur.

Khartoum has also in recent weeks hosted senior officials from China and Russia, both of which have veto rights as permanent members of the UN Security Council which has the power to defer a Beshir prosecution for one year, renewable.

ICC spokeswoman Laurence Blairon told AFP following the New York Times report that "at this moment, there is no arrest warrant."

"When we have something to announce, we will announce it. For now, there is nothing to announce."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Khartoum to act "very responsibly" if an arrest warrant is issued for Beshir.

The UN chief said that whatever decision the ICC reaches, "it will be very important for President Beshir and the Sudanese government to react very responsibly and ensure the safety and security" of UN peacekeepers in Darfur and protect the human rights of the population.

Last week, UN special envoy to Sudan Ashraf Qazi warned that the UN Security Council would have to weigh "potential threats" to the operation of the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

"We have received assurances of protection and cooperation from Sudanese authorities at the highest levels," he noted. "But these assurances have been qualified by warnings about political outrage."

Earlier this month, Ban also voiced concern about remarks by some Sudanese officials suggesting that "Khartoum may redefine its relationship with UNMIS should an arrest warrant be issued against president Beshir."

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 07:45 AM

Washington Post

A Chance to Sway Sudan
By Michael Gerson
Friday, February 13, 2009; Page A17

While a new administration is just getting started, history doesn't stop.

On Sudan and Darfur, President Obama's Africa team has begun a lengthy policy review and is mulling names for a special envoy. But an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity was reportedly approved by the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week. And the administration suddenly faces an unprecedented question: Can a hunted war criminal also be a partner in the Sudan peace process?

While in government, I was skeptical of the usefulness of ICC indictments in situations such as Sudan. Indictments are a blunt diplomatic instrument -- once imposed, they are almost impossible to withdraw in exchange for concessions. They leave a thug in a corner -- less likely to negotiate and more likely to lash out at humanitarian groups and civilians. A dictator with no options is dangerous.

But I have changed my mind in the case of Bashir. The traditional carrots and sticks of diplomacy have failed. For decades, the Sudanese regime has been masterful at using minor concessions and delaying tactics, playing allies who want oil and critics with short attention spans, to achieve its genocidal ends. Bashir would like nothing better than to play another round in this game. The ICC warrant provides an opportunity to change the rules, holding Bashir personally responsible for achieving massive improvements, or personally responsible for committing massive crimes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021203011.html

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 09:37 AM

More than 40 Hutu rebels killed in Congo air raid
         

GOMA, Congo – More than 40 members of a Hutu militia suspected of atrocities during Rwanda's 1994 genocide were killed in an overnight air raid, a Congolese military spokesman said Friday.

The air raids targeted the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, said Oliver Hamuli, a spokesman for a joint Rwanda-Congo military operation aimed at stamping out the remnants of the Hutu militia.

The group is made up primarily of ethnic Hutus from Rwanda who fled across the border into Congo after being linked to the 1994 slaughter of more than 500,000 mostly ethnic Tutsi civilians.

He also said several militia members were wounded in the attack that took place late Thursday in Kashebere, in the eastern Congo region of Masisi.

A few miles (kilometers) away, a second attack on the Hutu militia took place, with an unknown amount of deaths, Hamuli said.

"The death toll there was high as well. The survivors threw the bodies in the river," Hamuli said.

The echoes of Rwanda's genocide are still being felt in Congo nearly 15 years later. The presence of the Hutu militia in Congo's terraced hills has destabilized the region, giving rise to a counter rebel group, made up of Congolese Tutsis. While that group claimed to be protecting Congo's Tutsi minority from the Hutu militia, it too is accused of grave abuses.

Congo has long accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi militia formerly led by rogue general Laurent Nkunda. Rwanda, on the other hand, has accused Congo of aiding the Hutu militia and the two countries twice went to war over the issue.

But Congo began a joint operation last month with Rwanda to finally root out the last of the FDLR. Rwandan troops are expected to leave Congolese territory by the end of the month.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Teribus
Date: 14 Feb 09 - 07:03 AM

I see that having signed up for this "power sharing" deal in Zimbabwe the first of the MDC appointed Government Ministers has been arrested on charges of treason by ZANU-PF.

Morgan should start making his way quietly towards the border.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 06:33 PM

UN accused of failing to protect Congo civilians
      

Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 17 mins ago AP

– U.N. humanitarian aid chief John Holmes, center,visits the pediatric ward of a hospital in Dorouma, Congo, …

DUNGU, Congo – Early in the morning the warnings came: Rebels notorious for vicious attacks on civilians were advancing on this eastern Congolese town of thatched roof huts along the winding Kibali River.

Aid workers alerted nearby U.N. peacekeepers, but for hours no one came.

So tens of thousands of townspeople fled — on foot, on bicycles, on motorcycles, anything to escape. Some did not get out on time and were slaughtered on the spot. Others were abducted and killed in the bush.

The failure to protect the people of Dungu and other towns from attack by the Lord's Resistance Army is a sign of the collapse of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in this sprawling Central African nation.

More than 1,500 civilians have been slaughtered since September, many hacked and clubbed to death in unspeakably brutal attacks, according to humanitarian groups. Aid workers and others say the U.N. force and Congolese military received almost daily alerts as the death toll mounted and the rebel offensives multiplied.

Critics say the 17,000-member U.N. mission has foundered despite being the largest and most expensive in the world — and with the strongest mandate ever issued to U.N. troops to use force to protect civilians.

U.N. officials say they simply do not have enough boots on the ground to perform effectively in Congo, a country more than twice the size of California and Texas combined, but with only 300 miles of paved roads.

With a population of more than 58 million, there is only about one peacekeeper for every 3,400 people.

During a tour last week of towns laid waste by the rebels in the remote Haut-Uele region, the top U.N. diplomat for humanitarian aid, John Holmes, said the peacekeepers have been given an impossible task.

"Can we do better? Yes. The fact that I am here is an admission that we need to do a lot more — more resources, more capacity on the ground, better security," Holmes told The Associated Press.

"In an area like this, where attacks are coming from all directions, it's impossible to protect every civilian. Even the big towns aren't particularly safe," he said.

Over nearly a decade, Congo's people have suffered through back-to-back civil wars that devastated the nation. Adding to the misery, the Lord's Resistance Army's more than 20-year insurgency in Uganda spilled over into Congo about five years ago.

Medecins Sans Frontieres holds the U.N. peacekeepers responsible for the hundreds of civilians killed by the Ugandan rebels, blaming the force for not doing more to protect them. And other agencies have joined the outcry.

The U.N. troops "are mere spectators in the massacres of these people whom they should be defending," Fides, the Catholic missionary news agency, wrote last week.

In July, Congo's army — supported by U.N. helicopters and planes — deployed more than 3,000 troops with a plan to contain the rebels in their hideouts near the border with Sudan. They hoped to encircle them, cut off their food and weapons supply, then flush out the rebels so they could be captured.

The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA, which had set up an office in the town of Dungu in September, warned the U.N. peacekeepers of the risk of rebel reprisals on the civilian population, according to an official involved in setting up the office. But the U.N. force did nothing.

The rebels had killed only two people between January and mid-September, according to U.N. humanitarian and other aid workers. But after the army launched its offensive, the rebels struck as predicted and attacked some 20 villages on Sept. 17.

In some, every person was slaughtered, their heads smashed in with clubs, their throats slit with machetes or bayonets. In others, all the men were killed, and women and children were abducted to become sex slaves and forced labor.

A total of 620 civilians were killed between Sept. 17 and Dec. 24, according to aid groups. More than 900 others were slaughtered from Christmas until mid-January, although the toll is likely even higher, aid workers say.

After the September attacks, the people of Dungu rioted and attacked a U.N. base, setting ablaze a U.N. vehicle and storming the compound. U.N. troops abandoned the base, which now is littered with goat droppings and the vehicle's burnt-out carcass.

A Moroccan peacekeeper told an AP photographer the 240 U.N. troops now have no contact with the people they were sent to protect; they stay in their new camp at an airstrip, a 20-minute drive from town, according to the soldier, who would not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

After the rebel attack on Dungu in the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 1, the peacekeepers finally arrived at 4 p.m. to evacuate aid workers from the town, U.N. officials said. By then, the Congolese troops had driven out the rebels.

"MONUC did nothing for us the day we were attacked," said Edoxie Babe, a market vendor, using the French acronym for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo. "I saw MONUC come in only in the afternoon, and then only to get the white foreigners to safety."

U.N. deputy mission chief Ross Mountain said the peacekeepers plan to set up protection units at their military bases to improve communication with and defense of civilians. The U.N. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich, said the U.N. also is preparing a rapid reaction force to swiftly intervene in conflicts.

The belated action comes after the head of the U.N. mission in Congo, Alan Doss, pleaded for months for more soldiers. The U.N. Security Council in November approved 3,000 more troops for Congo, but only Bangladesh has responded with an offer of about 900 troops.






shhhh.....

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 06:50 PM

"More than 1,500 civilians have been slaughtered since September, many hacked and clubbed to death in unspeakably brutal attacks, according to humanitarian groups. Aid workers and others say the U.N. force and Congolese military received almost daily alerts as the death toll mounted and the rebel offensives multiplied."















shhhh......

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 24 Feb 09 - 05:38 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 24 Feb 09 - 09:29 PM

"Should we care about Africans?"


             Shouldn't Africans care about Africans?

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,b eardedbruce
Date: 25 Feb 09 - 07:06 PM

Sierra Leone rebel leaders guilty of war crimes
         
Clarence Roy-macaulay, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 35 mins ago AP –

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – The rebels were known for asking their victims if they preferred "long sleeves" or "short sleeves." They then cut off the hands of those who chose the first option and the full arm of those that picked the second.

On Wednesday, an international court modeled after the Nuremberg tribunal convicted three top Sierra Leone rebel leaders of crimes against humanity — the closest thing to justice in this West African nation of amputees, orphans and widows.

Revolutionary United Front leader Issa Sesay and one of his battlefield commanders Morris Kallon were found guilty on 16 of 18 counts, including mutilation, terrorism, rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery and the enlistment of child soldiers. Another commander, Augustine Gbao, was found guilty on 14 of the 18 counts.

All three had pleaded not guilty and shook their heads as the verdict was read.

About a half-million people were victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities during Sierra Leone' 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Illicit diamond sales fueled the conflict, dramatized by the 2006 film "Blood Diamond," starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090225/ap_on_re_af/af_sierra_leone_war_crimes

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 08:36 AM

UN to see if Sudan's aid group ban is war crime
      

Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans, Associated Press Writer – 24 mins ago AP –

… GENEVA – The U.N. human rights office will examine whether Sudan's decision to expel aid groups constitutes a breach of basic human rights and possibly a war crime, a spokesman said Friday.

Rupert Colville said the Sudanese decision to expel relief workers from 13 of the largest aid groups constitutes a "grievous dereliction" of duty, putting the lives of thousands at risk.

The World Health Organization said the loss of the aid agencies would tear a hole in the body's disease monitoring efforts that could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases going unchecked.

The U.N. refugee agency said refugee camps in neighboring Chad were ill-prepared to deal with an influx of people crossing the border from Sudan in search of help.

Sudan ordered the organizations out after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur conflict. It has accused the groups such as CARE and Save the Children of cooperating with the court and giving false testimony. The groups deny the accusations.

"To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act," said Colville, who speaks for U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay. "Humanitarian assistance has nothing to do with the ICC proceedings. To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people."

"This decision by the government could threaten the lives of thousands of civilians," living in camps in Darfur and elsewhere, he added.

World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said the expelled aid groups had been carrying out surveillance of infectious diseases in the region.

"If they are not helping us do this very vital work, we may see the emergence of infectious diseases," she said.

There is currently an outbreak of meningitis in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, she said. One of the groups, Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland, was carrying out meningitis vaccinations in the area before it was expelled.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sudan's decision will cause "irrevocable damage" to humanitarian operations in Darfur and called on the government to urgently reconsider its decision.

At least 2.7 million people in the large, arid region of western Sudan have been driven from their homes in the war between Darfur rebels and the government since 2003. Ban said 4.7 million people in Darfur are receiving aid.

The U.N. has identified the NGOs expelled as Oxfam GB, CARE International, MSF-Holland, MSF-France, Mercy Corps, Save the Children Fund-UK, Save the Children Fund-US, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre La Faim, Solidarites, CHF International and PADCO.

Sudan's expulsion order removes 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur, roughly 6,500 national and international staff, said Catherine Bragg, the U.N.'s deputy emergency relief coordinator. She said at U.N. headquarters that 76 NGOs had been operating in Darfur along with all major U.N. agencies.

The U.N. humanitarian coordination office says the global body will have a hard time making up for the loss of its aid partners.

"The U.N. is looking into contingency planning to fill the gaps left by the expulsion, but it will be very, very challenging for both remaining humanitarian organizations and the government of Sudan to fill this gap," said spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs.

"Some of us don't see how these gaps can be fully covered," she added.

Christophe Fournier, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres's umbrella group, MSF International, said there was "absolutely no way" the remaining aid workers would be able to meet the needs of the population in Darfur.

Fournier complained that his aid group was caught up in a battle between the government of Sudan and backers of the ICC indictment.

"We are being held hostage — we and the population of Darfur — to judicial and political process," he told reporters in Geneva.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 08:54 AM

Here is a way the wealthy nations can kill two birds with one stone. Show generosity and kickstart the global economy.
Vote billions of dollars in aid for the African nations who can then, in turn, place new orders for the most expensive Mercedes, Mitsubishis and presidential palaces.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Mar 09 - 01:16 PM

Iran, Hamas defend wanted Sudanese president
         

AP KHARTOUM, Sudan – Iran and the Palestinian militant group Hamas showed their support for Sudan's president Friday, sending top officials to the Sudanese capital and denouncing the international warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

Their visit came as the U.N. human rights group warned that Sudan's expulsion of 13 aid organizations from Darfur could also constitute a war crime. Sudan took the step in retaliation after the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court issued a warrant against President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday.

The expulsion raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in the large, arid western region, where war has been raging for six years. Some 2.7 million people have been forced from their homes, and many rely on aid groups for food, water, shelter and medical care.

The government also ordered the closure of SUDO, the largest Sudanese non-governmental aid organization operating in Darfur, said SUDO's head, Ibrahim Mudawi. He said the order came late Thursday, accusing the group of "violations" of the law, without providing specifics.

SUDO, with about 300 staffers, distributes food and drills water wells in Darfur, as well as operates 13 clinic and provides psychological help, Mudawi said. "We will take legal procedures against this decision," he said. "We are worried (about our staff). We don't know what they are going to do with them."

The ICC accuses al-Bashir of leading a counter-insurgency campaign against Darfur rebels that included atrocities against civilians. Al-Bashir denies the charges against him and his government refuses to cooperate with the ICC, calling it part of a "colonial" conspiracy to destabilize Sudan.

Dozens of al-Bashir supporters marched in downtown Khartoum after Friday prayers in support of the president. They are waving banners and shouting: "With our blood and soul, we defend you, al-Bashir." The small rally came after al-Bashir joined thousands of supporters demonstrating in the capital on Thursday, denouncing the warrant.

Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, arrived in Khartoum along with Moussa Abu Marzouk, the No. 2 figure in Hamas' Damascus-based leadership. Larijani told reporters at the airport that the ICC's arrest warrant is an "insult." Also in their delegation were Syrian Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash and representatives from other Palestinian militant factions.

Iran and Hamas have been long time allies of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, whose government is dominated by Muslim fundamentalists and military officers.

A spokesman for the U.N. human rights office said Friday that the expulsion of the groups may be a war crime and said officials at the agency were looking into the issue.

"To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act," Rupert Colville said in Geneva. "Humanitarian assistance has nothing to do with the ICC proceedings. To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people."

"This decision by the government could threaten the lives of thousands of civilians," living in camps in Darfur and elsewhere, he added.

Asked about the comments, a senior Sudanese Foreign Ministry official, Mutrif Siddique, said only, "Their campaign against us continues."

Siddique said the Sudanese humanitarian affairs ministry, which is responsible for the work of aid agencies, is aware the expulsion of the organizations will have an impact on people in Sudan.

"This ministry and authorities have made arrangements to avoid a food shortage or a medical crisis," he said. "There will be a partial effect and they (authorities) will work to avoid any shortage.'

Siddique claimed that major U.N. aid agencies were not affected by this expulsion decision and stressed that "hundreds of Sudanese NGO workers remain and work in Darfur."

The U.S. State Department condemned the decision to expel the aid groups and called on the Sudanese government to allow the groups to continue operating.

"These organizations provide critical humanitarian assistance to millions of Sudanese, and the forced departure of these organizations immediately and seriously threatens the lives and well-being of displaced populations," said spokesman Gordon Duguid.

The World Food Program questioned whether the remaining aid groups would be able to fill the gap.

"We simply don't have the capacity to carry out the life saving work of the NGOs," said the agency's spokeswoman in Geneva, Emilia Casella.

Under the Geneva Conventions it is illegal to intentionally starve people to death by blocking their access to food. The rule applies to international conflicts, but efforts have been made to incorporate it in customary international humanitarian law, which would carry weight in courts.

Other U.N. agencies also expressed concern about the consequences of losing their aid partners. The World Health Organization said it would tear a hole in the body's disease monitoring efforts that could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases going unchecked.

"If they are not helping us do this very vital work, we may see the emergence of infectious diseases," said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 06:44 AM

US urges protest of Darfur aid group expulsions
         
Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press Writer – Wed Mar 11, 2:50 am ET

UNITED NATIONS – The United States is urging leading African, Arab and Muslim groups to protest Sudan's ordering aid organizations out of Darfur, an expulsion it says threatens the lives of more than a million Muslims.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said Tuesday the African Union, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference must tell the Sudanese government to reverse the expulsion of the largest humanitarian organizations in conflict-wracked Darfur.

The Sudanese government ordered the expulsion of 13 international aid organizations and three domestic groups after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last week for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

"If this decision stands, we can expect over a million people to be in immediate risk of losing their lives and the responsibility for that decision lies squarely with the government of Sudan," Rice told reporters.

There has been criticism of the arrest warrant in Africa and the Middle East. The African Union chief, Jean Ping, has called it "counterproductive" for peace efforts in Darfur. And in a strong sign of support, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani said al-Bashir will be invited and welcomed at an Arab summit in late March.

"I think it's imperative that the African Union and its member states, the OIC, the Arab League come together and deliver a very clear message to the government that they will not tolerate and stand by while over a million African Muslims are at risk of urgent death," Rice said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_re_af/un_un_sudan_humanitarian_1

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 10:16 PM

Care about Africans???..Not on here!...Too busy caring about the most ridiculous arguments and bullshit, I've ever heard in my life!

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: Amos
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 11:30 PM

Funny how concerned we were about the half-a-million or however many Iraqis who got chewed up and spit out during the Iraqi invasion. BAM!! Well, see, there were these WMD so we had ta do it...


First of all, there is no "Africans"--it is a HUGE collectivity. Second of all caring is an indivdual choice not some silly moralistic mandate imposed by a vote.

Individuals should care about those they can care about.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 10:49 AM

Arab League will not arrest Sudan's president
      
Albert Aji, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 3 mins ago AP –

… DAMASCUS, Syria – Arab League countries will not carry out an International Criminal Court request to arrest Sudan's president on charges of war crimes in Darfur, the group's leader said.

Amr Moussa said Qatar — one of the league's 22 member states — has also rejected a similar request to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has indicated he will attend an Arab summit in the country later this month.

"The court asked Qatar and the Arab League at the same time, but our legal position on the matter does not allow what the International Criminal Court is requesting," Moussa said Monday during a visit to Syria.

Only three Arab League states recognize the Netherlands-based court — Jordan, Djibouti and Comoros. It was unclear whether they have endorsed Moussa's statement.

The Arab League chief did not specify when the court made the requests but said he was concerned about the effect that arresting Sudan's president would have on the country's stability.

The court issued its arrest warrant in early March, accusing al-Bashir of orchestrating atrocities against civilians in Darfur, where his Arab-led government has been battling ethnic African rebels since 2003. Up to 300,000 people have been killed, and 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.

Al-Bashir has denied the charges and has said he will not cooperate with court. He has struck a defiant tone, and his trip to Qatar at the end of the month is meant to show he cannot be touched.

He has expelled 13 large foreign aid agencies mainly operating in Darfur, accusing them of spying for the court. The U.N. has said those expulsions will leave millions at risk of a humanitarian crisis. On Monday, al-Bashir said he wants all international aid groups out of the country within a year.

Moussa said the Arab League was working with the African Union in trying to halt the court's efforts. Many Arab and African countries have lobbied the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution deferring any prosecution of the president for at least a year, hoping to defuse the crisis.

But the U.S., which has a veto on the council, does not support the move, and there have been some signs of frustration among Arab and African countries with al-Bashir's tough line.

"Any policy must be based on two things: achieving justice in Darfur and maintaining security and stability in Sudan," said Moussa.

When the court's chief prosecutor first presented his charges against al-Bashir last year, the Arab League said the move undermined Sudan's sovereignty and only the country's courts should have jurisdiction.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 18 May 09 - 10:44 AM

Commentary: War on women in Congo

Story Highlights
Eve Ensler: War in Congo is targeting girls and women
She says rape is being used as a weapon, with 1,100 raped each month
Western governments, including the U.S., need to protect Congo's women, she says
updated 1 hour, 22 minutes

By Eve Ensler
Special to CNN
   
Editor's note: Eve Ensler is the playwright of "The Vagina Monologues" and the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. V-Day has funded over 10,000 community-based anti-violence programs and launched safe houses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. This commentary was adapted from remarks Ensler made Wednesday to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs and the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's Issues.


Playwright Eve Ensler says conflict in Congo is taking a terrible toll on women and girls.

(CNN) -- I write today on behalf of countless V-Day activists worldwide, and in solidarity with my many Congolese sisters and brothers who demand justice and an end to rape and war.

It is my hope that these words and those of others will break the silence and break open a sea of action to move Congolese women toward peace, safety and freedom.

My play, "The Vagina Monologues," opened my eyes to the world inside this world. Everywhere I traveled with it scores of women lined up to tell me of their rapes, incest, beatings, mutilations. It was because of this that over 11 years ago we launched V-Day, a worldwide movement to end violence against women and girls.

The movement has spread like wildfire to 130 countries, raising $70 million. I have visited and revisited the rape mines of the world, from defined war zones like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Haiti to the domestic battlegrounds in colleges and communities throughout North America, Europe and the world. My in-box -- and heart -- have been jammed with stories every hour of every day for over a decade.

Nothing I have heard or seen compares with what is going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where corporate greed, fueled by capitalist consumption, and the rape of women have merged into a single nightmare. Femicide, the systematic and planned destruction of the female population, is being used as a tactic of war to clear villages, pillage mines and destroy the fabric of Congolese society.

In 12 years, there have been 6 million dead men and women in Congo and 1.4 million people displaced. Hundreds and thousands of women and girls have been raped and tortured. Babies as young as 6 months, women as old as 80, their insides torn apart. What I witnessed in Congo has shattered and changed me forever. I will never be the same. None of us should ever be the same.

I think of Beatrice, shot in her vagina, who now has tubes instead of organs. Honorata, raped by gangs as she was tied upside down to a wheel. Noella, who is my heart -- an 8-year-old girl who was held for 2 weeks as groups of grown men raped her over and over. Now she has a fistula, causing her to urinate and defecate on herself. Now she lives in humiliation.

I was in Bosnia during the war in 1994 when it was discovered there were rape camps where white women were being raped. Within two years there was adequate intervention. Yet, in Congo, femicide has continued for 12 years. Why? Is it that coltan, the mineral that keeps our cell phones and computers in play, is more important than Congolese girls?

Is it flat-out racism, the world's utter indifference and disregard for black people and black women in particular? Is it simply that the UN and most governments are run by men who have never known what it feels like to be raped?

What is happening in Congo is the most brutal and rampant violence toward women in the world. If it continues to go unchecked, if there continues to be complete impunity, it sets a precedent, it expands the boundaries of what is permissible to do to women's bodies in the name of exploitation and greed everywhere. It's cheap warfare.

The women in Congo are some of the most resilient women in the world. They need our protection and support. Western governments, like the United States, should fund a training program for female Congolese police officers.

They should address our role in plundering minerals and demand that companies trace the routes of these minerals. Make sure they are making and selling rape-free-products. Supply funds for women's medical and psychological care and seed their economic empowerment. Put pressure on Rwanda, Congo, Uganda and other countries in the Great Lakes region to sit down with all the militias involved in this conflict to find a political solution.

Military solutions are no longer an option and will only bring about more rape. Most of all, we must support the women. Because women are at the center of this horror, they must be at the center of the solutions and peace negotiations. Women are the future of Congo. They are its greatest resource.

Sadly, we are not the first to testify about these atrocities in Congo. I stand in a line of many who have described this horror. Still, in Eastern Congo, 1,100 women a month are raped, according to the United Nations' most recent report. What will the United States government, what will all of you reading this, do to stop it?

Let Congo be the place where we ended femicide, the trend that is madly eviscerating this planet -- from the floggings in Pakistan, the new rape laws in Afghanistan, the ongoing rapes in Haiti, Darfur, Zimbabwe, the daily battering, incest, harassing, trafficking, enslaving, genital cutting and honor killing. Let Congo be the place where women were finally cherished and life affirmed, where the humiliation and subjugation ended, where women took their rightful agency over their bodies and land.

Subject: RE: BS: Should we care about Africans?
From: CarolC
Date: 18 May 09 - 11:16 AM

We also need to try to find another way to make cell phones without using coltan, and people should stop buying mined diamonds altogether. It is now possible to buy laboratory produced diamonds that are just as good as, and in some ways, better, than mined diamonds. Mined diamonds are not better than laboratory produced diamonds except for the value that the diamond merchants artificially create in the minds of buyers. It's a huge scam.