BS: Should we care about Africans?

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.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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,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 - 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,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: 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: beardedbruce
Date: 24 Feb 09 - 05:38 PM

refresh

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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,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: 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,lox
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:46 AM

I agree.

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: 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: 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: 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 - 05:25 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.

Don't Miss
Mugabe rival resumes campaign after detention
Diplomats safe after detention
Zimbabwe arrests 3 drivers linked to Sky News
Police release Zimbabwe opposition candidate
Mugabe could be stripped of knighthood
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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 17 Dec 07 - 07:36 PM

Like I said...

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 - 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...