December 09, 2004
On Africa
In today's Los Angeles Times, John Prendergast has a moving commentary on the challenges facing Africa.
Posted by jnfr at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2004
Some good news for Darfur
The U.S. is forming a partnership with Africa in which U.S. cash and technical expertise will back African troops in an attempt to stop the killings in Sudan. The effort was instigated by the African Union, and pulls together 3000 troops from Nigeria and Rwanda under one banner, with troops from more countries to be added soon.
The push by Africans to solve their own problems marks a significant shift, experts say. Rather than waiting for the outside world to resolve the crisis, "The AU has taken a very clear lead in saying, 'These are African problems, and we will sort them out,' " says Mr. de Waal.
Success is far from sure, but any signs of cooperation between African people and the rest of the world is a hopeful thing.
Posted by jnfr at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
Don't forget Uganda
For all that the Sudan gets little attention these days, there is yet another horror in Africa that we need to be aware of. A rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army has been operating in Uganda for some time, perhaps with some support from the Sudan. But in the past year LRA has launched such a savage assault on Uganda's people that 1.6 million people have been displaced. I follow the news much more than most people, and I had no idea this was going on until I caught this editorial in the Washington Post today.
These rebels are exceptionally brutal too, and the worst is that they deliberately target children. 20,000 children have been kidnapped and forced into lives of servitude, sexual slavery, and brutality of terrible kinds.
This is another area where even a small amount of U.S. attention and some number of U.N. forces could have changed the tragic destiny of so many. But we're too busy with our wars of convenience to even notice.
Posted by jnfr at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2004
The Darfur Camps
Earlier this week I heard a chilling story on NPR, short and with no resolution. The newscast said that in Sudan, the government had surrounded the Darfur refugee camps and was refusing to allow aid workers or reporters inside. No one knew what was happening. But given that the Muslim government there has colluded in the genocide of the black African refugees, this was an ominous development. I expected to hear that nothing was left but mass graves.
But intervention by international forces has apparently stopped what was the beginning of a forced transfer of the Darfur refugees. At least one camp was destroyed in the incident. The situation in the region remains extremely unstable, and more deaths are certain to come. Aid agencies are being forced out by rebel attacks.
In his latest column for the Village Voice, Nat Hentoff is scathing in his description of how the United Nations has failed the Darfur refugees. And of course, the U.S. is caught up in fighting elsewhere, and has little to offer in terms of help. I don't see anything but heartbreak ahead for these people.
Posted by jnfr at 01:31 PM | Comments (0)