Ugandan Rebel Leader breaks silence

Since we were discussing Uganda today and the lack of news coverage today, I decided to do a little digging. On BBC, I found incredible amounts of information about the conflict, child soldiers and the one I linked here about Joseph Kony's interview. In the interview he discusses how the peace talks will be good for the country, saying, "If Museveni can agree to talks with me it is only a very good thing, which I know will bring peace to the people of Uganda." However, he does insist that the allegations concerning abduction of children to fill in his ranks of the LRA and killing civilians are completely false. He says "I do not kill the civilian of Uganda. I kill the soldier of Museveni." If they are so false, why does the ICC want him for 33 counts of crimes against humanity? Why is he hiding out in a DRC army camp? This is his first interview with the press since the conflict started.

Another interesting thing: if people are interested in reading an account of a child soldier in Sierra Leone, there was a very interesting article called "I was a child soldier" in the New York Times Magazine on 01.16.07.

Cote D'Ivoire Soccer Star To Acheive UN Millennium Development Goals

Soccer star of the UK soccer Premiership League and European Champions League Didier Drogba is from Cote D'Ivoire. He has recently been appointed by the UN as a Goodwill Ambassador to try and fight poverty, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, especially focusing on Africa. Other such world known soccer stars previously appointed by the UN are Zinedine Zidane (originally Algerian) and Ronaldo (Brazilian). Drogba commented on how lucky he felt to have found a way to succeed and how even when he had overcome his humble origins, he never forgot them and wished to help those in need.
Drogba has worked several times in the past with development and poverty eradication programs, charities and organizations; and led his homeland, Cote D'Ivoire, to its first ever World Cup final in 2006. Both he and the UNDP are hoping that his fame and involvement will help spread the word and increase funding in the long run.
Other UN organizations have also appointed national or international sports stars to help different causes be publicized and hopefully create a network for further funding opportunities.
I think having appointed an African star as a Goodwill Ambassador to help Africa was a good idea since that way Africans can gain hope and the progress that may come from this may be felt closer by Africans. Also it will seem more convincing by the world population as a success story that though many Africans ARE poor, they can prosper and succeed in life, they just need to be given a chance.

Can Peacekeepers aid Somalia?

Problems within Somalia continue to grow even with the recent steps taken to remove Somalia's Islamists from Mogdishu. These problems center around the fact that removing the Islamists is one thing, but keeping them out is something totally different. These Islamists were pushed out of power by the Somalian government with aid from Ethiopian forces, which seemed like an easy task, however do these two African nations have the funds and resorces to keep them out? It seems that Western powers will "foot the bill" but it will be the African peacekeepers that will provide the man power to undergo this endevour. One country that has offered up troops is Uganda led by Yoweri Museveni. He has pledged at least 700 troops to aid the conflict in Somalia. This concerns me. Why would Museveni send troops to aid another country when his own country is riddled with problems? Well.. "The motivation of Uganda is political, partly to keep in America's good books," says de Waal. "Museveni's record on democracy leaves a lot to be desired, and closer to home he's fearful of a resurgence in militant Islam. So the Ugandans want to make sure they are part of some regional coalition with Nigeria and Ethiopia to keep it at bay." In this situation it is obvious that the UN should undergo some type of game plan to aid the crisis within Somalia. It seems that using African peacekeepers, made up of soilders from "Big-Man" countries like Uganda only acts as a front for the real goals of the leaders of these countries. Africa's problems should not be kept at 'arms length' for too much longer, because failure in the aid of these countries will only add to the problems and we could possibly see an Iraq-like situation rise from all of this.

The Irony of the African Diamond Charity Campaign

In a recent article from the BBC news, Edward Zwick, the director of the Hollywood film Blood Diamond, was highly critical of the US diamond industry’s newest charity campaign. The US diamond industry will donate $10,000 to an African charity for every movie star who raises his or her hand, wearing a diamond ring, during Hollywood events like the Oscars. This campaign is ironic to many, including Zwick, because illegal diamond profits have been funding wars in Africa for years. This charitable campaign is also suspicious because Zwick’s film illustrates the atrocities of the violence in Africa funded by diamonds. Many in the diamond business have expressed reservations that the film will reduce the demand for diamonds.
Those in the diamond industry will be quick to point out that nearly 99.8% of new diamonds come from conflict free sources compared to 4% in the late 1990s. Personally, I feel as though the diamond charity campaign is a bad idea. Even the smallest percentage of diamonds coming from violent African areas can still create large profits. Furthermore, the money donated to the African charities many not necessarily halt the violence and the promotion of diamonds by Hollywood starts will only increase the demands for diamonds. Thus, with a greater demand for diamonds, there is a greater chance that diamonds will come from the violent areas of Africa and will fund these African wars.

A New Cycle of Violence in Rwanda?

BBC reported on Monday that Rwandan authorities must address the killings of genocide survivors that have occurred in recent years for fear that a new cycle of violence may erupt within the country. The Rwandan genocide, which claimed the lives of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis, as well as moderate Hutus, lasted for a 100-day period in 1994. Since the end of the genocide, numerous witnesses who were to take part in the judicial process have been killed. The Human Rights Watch believes that if swift action is not taken against these events, violence could rear its ugly head again. Officials in Rwanda have given some numbers as to how many genocide survivors have been killed in recent years, 16 in 2005 and 7 in 2006, however, survivor groups within Rwanda estimate around 20 genocide survivor killings a year since the end of the conflict.
The killings of genocide survivors have also caused reprisal killings in Rwanda. The article notes that, "in one case, the killing of a genocide survivor sparked the reprisal killings of eight adults and children." While the HRW argues that reprisal killings have been rare in the past, they add to the potential of an increase in violence if they continue to occur. Additionally the HRW is concerned over the deaths of three individuals who were incarcerated for the murder of a gacaca judge. Although a new constitution was adopted in 2003 which prohibits any political activity or discrimination based on race, ethnicity or religion, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) have continued to promote unity among Rwandans, fear of a new cycle of violence has grabbed international attention.

Time for some Justice in Uganda

In a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, "What comes first: Peace or Justice?", Nick Grono rightfully calls for the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to proceed with his prosecutions of the top brass of the LRA. Many think this will derail peace talks -- I'm not sure that peace talks will ever work with an individual like Joseph Kony -- head of the LRA. For almost 20 years Northern Uganda has been ravaged by war led first by the Holy Spirit Movement (Alice Lakwena -- related to Joseph Kony) then the LRA. Why hurry now? Too many dictators and murderers have avoided justice in return for peace. But what kind of peace would there be? Idi Amin was able to seek refuge in Libya, then Saudi Arabia. Milton Obote lived happily ever after in Tanzania -- although he always wanted to return to Uganda. It's time for some real justice for the Ugandan people: anything less would be suggesting that their losses are not worthy of international condemnation. It was not only a crime against Ugandans, it was a crime against all of humanity.

Evil in the Heart of Africa

Yes indeed, there is evil in the heart of Africa -- the Democratic Republic of Congo that is.
How else can you describe what happened to a 3 year old girl: gang raped by soldiers in the DRC. What did this little girl do to deserve this? Or how about the woman named Angela that was raped by 3 men in front of her children? As Anderson Cooper documents on his 360 blog, she was shot after her rape, and they burned her baby girl. Why? What logic can you bring to help explain this?
Poverty? The vulgarities of civil war? Revenge? So go the spoils of the victors?
It's hard to have compassion for Africans when you hear about these stories -- at least for the African men. How could they let this happen to their women? How could those men do what they did? Is there no humanity?
Or, is this simply possible anywhere in the world where the "law of the jungle" rules? Who is to say that it wouldn't happen in America if we didn't have the rule of law -- if there was a civil war going on -- or if the international community didn't seem to give a damn.
I'm outraged -- but I'm not sure who to be outraged at. I feel powerless as a human being -- these atrocities are being committed halfway across the globe -- and they continue daily -- just as frequent as the rains. Whether it's the Congo, Darfur, Northern Uganda, or Sierre Leone or Liberia. How can we make any sense of this? How can we maket his stop? Help!

Only 3 weeks to "Save" Darfur?!

One of today's NYT's editorial reads: "Three Weeks to Save Darfur".
Oh really? Wow...a timetable? What a concept. Darfur will not be saved because there is no international will to save it. There is a lot of talk, but not much action. To boot, the African Union peacekeeping forces are set to leave Darfur at the end of this month. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has made it clear that he will not allow UN peacekeeping forces into his country.
So where does that leave the people of Darfur? Probably with more of the same as in the picture above. (this picture was taken by a colleague of mine who was working with the UN in Sudan during the summer months -- the picture shows a village in Darfur shortly after a Janjaweed attack)...

Bashir for Crimes Against Humanitiy?

So, the U.N. Security Council has finally got off its collective behind to try and put forward a resolution to STOP the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. But, perhaps not surprisingly, President omar Hassan al-Bashir is opposed to letting in 20,000 UN peacekeepers. He and his diplomats claim that the killing in Darfur is a problem of "underdevelopment". Oh really? Genocide is a problem of underdevelopment?
Let's try, genocide is a problem of the international system that is so focused on state sovereignity that it is allowing the murder of thousands of human beings. Maybe al-Bashir and those preventing a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur should be hauled in front of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity?

Congo has its first elections in over 40 years

Congo has had its first elections since it was granted independence from Belgium in 1950. The U.N. sees an optimistic future for the war torn country, but I can not say I completely agree with the United Nation's fulfilled optimism. The country has no infrastructure (under 500 hundred miles of 'paved' roads), has no legitimate police force, and its health care system is pretty much non-existent. President Kabila as well as the United Nations should be more worried about setting up a benevolent dictatorship than just trying to setup some type of quasi-democracy. The U.N. is like a naive child who still believes in the tooth fairy; they're being too hopeful and optimistic about democracy, when they should be more realistic about the real policies that need to be implemented in the DRC.

Even when the results of the election come out in a couple of weeks and democracy in the DRC seems to be somewhat pliable, this will undoubtedly prove to be short lived. Democracy in the DRC is just a pipe dream right now, it is way to expensive and expansive of an endeavor for such a poor, illiterate, and unstable country to take on right now. "The election cost $458 million and was the biggest and most complicated the United Nations has ever run." Imagine the DRC's own economy and government trying to put up numbers than big on their own!!! It's just not possible. If the government's going to put that type of money into anything, it will be something more applicable and practical (i.e. national security, education, and health care) not something as trivial (at least for the time being) as the type of government that runs this crime ridden country. The Congo needs an iron fisted hand that is only possible through a dictatorship, to make sure the right policies are pushed through. Democracy in the DRC will be just as ill-fated as it was in Jakarta, Malaysia in 1998 or in Guatemala and the AFC (American Fruit Company) under JFK. Sorry for being such a pessimist.