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September 30, 2009

The Dalai Lama

"The greatest challenge facing our time is not weapons of mass destruction or terrorism or ethnic cleansing. It is that we are raising a generation of passive bystanders. "
 
 

Obama Administration Engages Sudanese Regime It Blasted

Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post , September 28, 2009 EL FASHER, Sudan --
The volatility of this East African nation -- from the Darfur conflict to the threat of renewed civil war in the south -- is becoming a test of how President Obama will reconcile a policy of engagement with earlier statements blasting a government he said had "offended the standards of our common humanity."

Top administration officials are scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss a major review of the United States' Sudan policy. But even as that document is being finalized, U.S. diplomacy has remained mostly in the hands of one man, Obama's special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, who is pushing for normalizing relations with the only country in the world led by a president indicted for war crimes.

Although Gration describes the approach as pragmatic and driven by a sense of urgency, his critics here and in the United States say it is dangerously, perhaps willfully, naive. Obama himself last year criticized a similar Bush administration proposal as a "reckless and cynical initiative" that would reward a regime with a history of broken promises

.During a recent five-day trip to Sudan, Gration heard from southern officials, displaced Darfuris, rebels and others who complained uniformly that he is being manipulated by government officials who talk peace even as they undermine it.Still, at the end of the visit, Gration maintained a strikingly different perspective. He had seen signs of goodwill from the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, he said, and viewed many of the complaints as understandable yet unfair, knee-jerk reactions to a government he trusts is ready to change."We've got to think about giving out cookies," said Gration, who was appointed in March. "Kids, countries, they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."

Gration's detractors say that his approach is based on a misunderstanding of how Bashir's ruling party works. John Prendergast, co-chairman of the Enough Project, a human rights group advocating tougher, multi-lateral sanctions against Sudan, said that Bashir's crowd responds only to pressure. "They do not respond to nice guys coming over and saying we have to be a good guest," he said. "They eat these people for dinner."

Adam Mudawi, a Sudanese human rights activist who has seen envoys come and go, put it more bluntly: "In six months, he'll find out," he said. "They are liars."

During a stop in this Darfur capital, Gration was greeted like a rock star by hundreds of cheering Bashir supporters in a conference hall plastered with posters of Bashir with Obama, poorly joined together using a computer.

Elsewhere during the trip, the reception was less festive.In the southern capital of Juba, the region's President Salva Kiir Mayardit told Gration he is concerned that his approach is emboldening the ruling party to dictate unfavorable terms for the south's secession vote, such as demanding 75 percent turnout. Southerners have repeatedly accused the government of arming militias to create chaos ahead of the vote, and tribal violence has killed 2,000 people in the south this year.But in his meeting with Kiir, Gration backed the ruling party's argument, saying it had legitimate concerns about the referendum.

. Gration urged southerners to trust the government that waged a brutal war against them for 20 years."It is the other side that can build trust,"

Kiir countered during a press conference. "How will you trust that person that was killing you yesterday?"

In the western region of Darfur, leaders from several camps of displaced people told Gration that security has not improved. Ahmed Ali Osman said that 22 camp leaders had been arrested recently for resisting a government plan to tax a market inside a camp.

Hawa Abdallah Mohamed said there was still "rape and intimidation and different types of harassment by pro-government armed elements."And as Musa Tohlil addressed Gration, he wore a yellow patch over his left eye, saying he could not look at the envoy with both of them."We have a concern about you, sir, that you will go to Bashir and ask him what to do," he said.

Gration delivered his message to a group of women in the Abu Shouk camp on the edge of town, a place that has transformed into a sprawl of straw-roofed huts and brick walls since the start of the conflict, which some experts estimate killed as many as 400,000 people, and left another 2.7 million displaced."We've been receiving visits from senior officials from the U.S.," a frustrated Majda al Faki Adam told Gration, who handed the women a glossy photo of the White House. "But we don't feel the impact of those visits."

Later, Gration met with aid workers who told him the government was still delaying their permits and access to the camps."I thought that problem was fixed," Gration said to the group, citing a deal he had struck with the government in Khartoum."It wasn't," an aid worker said.

On the last day of his trip, Gration flew in a helicopter to a rebel base and sat with the men in the shade of mango and guava trees. The rebels explained how the government was now backing a certain rebel faction in order to defeat another more powerful one.Gration leaned in and asked exactly who was providing the support.

The rebels told him but added that such distinctions were unimportant.

"In all cases, it's the government," a rebel leader said.

Later, stranded in a hot desert airport waiting for a dust storm to clear, Gration said he did not necessarily see some nefarious government plot behind all the complaints he had heard. Maybe the permit issues the aid workers raised represented a "disconnect" between Khartoum and low-level bureaucrats, he said. Maybe the rape and harassment the displaced people were speaking of were local issues, rather than part of some systematic government plan. Maybe the militias receiving arms in the south were getting them from some rogue government official.

"Up to now, the efforts I've seen, the changes I've been observing, make me say 'Yes, I'm willing to take a risk that I'll be betrayed' " Gration said. "And if that trust is violated, then I believe pressure should come. And it should come hard." 
 
 
September 27, 2009

LRA murders two aid workers

BANGUI Two employees of an Italian NGO, Coopi, were killed in the Central African Republic when Lord's Resistance Army rebels attacked their vehicle, a military source said Friday.
"A vehicle belonging to the Coopi was transporting construction material to Obo with nine people on board when it was attacked by LRA.
"The vehicle's driver and another Coopi employee were killed in the attack. Two other people were wounded by bullets, and five others are missing."
More than a year ago villages in the Obo region, which is located in southeastern Central African Republic, were attacked, and some 300 children were stolen.

The Ugandan-led LRA began its campaign of brutal guerrilla raids two decades ago, but has launched a fresh wave of attacks, terrorizing a vast swathe of land across several nations, including the Central African Republic.
 
 
September 24, 2009

Urge President Obama and Congress to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child protects children. It defines their basic human rights; the right to live free from violence, the right to life free from exploitation,  the right to learn and the right to live a healthy life. Only two nations in the world have yet to join the global community in ratifying this agreement: Somalia and the United States. Don’t let another year go by.
Urge President Obama and Congress to ratify the convention without delay. Sign the petition.
http://www.theirc.org/rescueachild
 
 
September 21, 2009

Cameroon

Cameron is an oasis of peace surrounded by some violent neighbors that include Congo, Chad and Central African Republic. For this reason I have long been curious about Cameroon. How is it that they have managed to maintain peace while surrounded by war? People here offered some answers. Peace for Cameroon is the top priority. There are 250 ethnic groups here. Cameroonians pride themselves on their acceptance of all ethnicities.

I journeyed to the east to visit with some of the 66,000 refugees from CAR along that border. These traumatized and fragile people have been received into host villages. In one such village, formerly of 3000 people, 1000 refugees have been integrated. I saw all the children together in the village school. The refugees told me they were happy and very relieved to be out of danger. They said they never want to return to their homeland. A nearby health clinic is overflowing with many children suffering from malnutrition, respiratory and skin ailments.

I also went to northern Cameroon, a beautiful part of the country, to meet with Chadian refugees. Here in the north the situation is different. When Chadian rebels (supported by Sudan) attacked N'Djamena in an effort to topple the government, large numbers of Chadians fled into Cameroon. You can see Cameroon across the river in Ndjamena. I have often watched the hippos there. It's easy to cross the bridge and many terrified Chadians, and ex-patriots too, did just that as rebels hacked their way through town, leaving the streets strewn with bodies.

But the rebels were driven back into Sudan. Life resumed and most of the Chadians returned home. Only about 3000 remained in Cameroon. They live in a camp. Local authorities say the men make trouble. There are several theories as to the men's identities and their reasons for not wanting to return to Chad. Whatever the case, their basic needs are being met by UNHCR, Unicef, Red Cross Red Crescent and others. The school is full and functioning. I met with a group of women who asked for new clothes and for income generating activities, especially for their husbands. I was not permitted to meet with the men's group because they have previously taken violent action against ngos and authorities.

The countryside in Cameroon, particularly the north, is spectacular, but everywhere the land is lush and anything can grow.


I met with the Prime Minister, the First Lady and the Ministers of Health, Education and Social Services as well as with local Governors and authorities. Everywhere I was received most warmly and graciously. My message was the same to each. I came to Cameroon for 52,000 very good reasons. In this (relatively) middle-income country it is not acceptable that every year 52,000 children under the age of five are dying of malnutrition.

This is a case where the international community does not need to give money to Cameroon but rather we ask that the government step up and develop an effective infrastructure to address hunger in their country. The fact that they have so generously received huge numbers of refugees is commendable. For those who wish to assist the humanitarian agencies, working to sustain the refugees that is where to focus.

Tourists would love Cameroon. Gorgeous place with lovely people. I hear there are elephants and gorillas in wild life parks.
 
 
September 20, 2009

A truly remarkable book!

I have just read a beautiful and remarkable book. It is DESERT SONGS, a woman explorer in Egypt and Sudan (2008). The author and photographer is Arita Baaijens, a western woman (Dutch-American father) who travels in the desert with her own small camel caravan. Her journeys also took her to North Darfur, where she followed old caravan routes, discovered ancient cities, met nomads and encountered private armies in the desert. It is not only  an exciting and unusual story, it provides valuable insights of a woman without any support system, trying (among other things) to understand and test her limits in one of the most inhospitable environments on earth.  She traveled in Darfur in 2000-2002,  before the war officialy broke out. In 2008 she returned to find out what had happened to the people she had met back then. Some had joined the janjaweed, others had put down their weapons, a teacher had became a rebel leader, etc etc. Go to: http://www.aritabaaijens.nl 
 
 

Alarming update on movement of Kony and the LRA

My sources inform me that Joseph Kony and  Lord's Resistance Army is heading for Chad.  He is expected to reach and attack Western  Bahr  El  Ghazal .  


 
 
September 13, 2009

Cameroon

I'm heading for Cameroon where there are 250,000 refugees from CAR, DRC, Chad, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea and other countries. The influx of refugees has placed a burden on impoverished host populations. This is why Unicef invited me to come. As a UNICEF ambassador I usually travel to conflict areas. I have long been curious about peacefull Cameroon bcause it is in such a very turbulent and violent neighborhood.

I don't know if I will have internet access. Will post when possible.
 
 
September 5, 2009

Thank you Teddy

“For you and for me the work begins anew
The hope rises again
And the dream lives on.”

‘Thank you thank you” Ted Kennedy
 
 
September 4, 2009

Porous Borders and Fluid Loyalties: Patterns of Conflict in Darfur, Chad and the CAR

Excellent analysis of the extremely complex ‘regional web of hostilities’.
http://forums.csis.org/africa/?p=119
 


 
 

CONGO-the human cost of mineral mining

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8235058.stm
 
 
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