Thursday, August 18, 2005

Darfur this week 8/18/2005

Forging the new Sudan.
August 11, 2005 - Foreign Policy Association
As Garang's successor Salva Kiir is officially sworn in as Vice President of Sudan this week, power jockeying within the SPLA and a chain-reaction of events set off by Garang's death have long-time observers of Sudan questioning the future of the fragile peace agreement, and many have called on the international community to help prevent a return to fighting.

Displaced women in west Darfur are helped to achieve independence. 8/11/2005 - www.christianaid.org
While the women are making prayer mats and bed mats and selling them at the market to gain some independence, there must be something else to be resolved for these women to return home. We must ensure this region is finally developed.

Violence Continues In Darfur
11 August 2005 - Voice of America
A report issued by the United Nations says law enforcement officers and the Sudanese military are continuing their campaign of rape and violence against the people of the Darfur region of Sudan. The UN says that in the past two-and-a-half years, at least one-hundred-eighty-thousand people have been killed and two-million others have been driven from their homes and live in refugee camps.

Time-out. What is the mission of the UN? Is it not ONLY to prevent genocide? This is why it was erected. If they cannot do the job, get out!

CARE International is piping clean fresh water to residents of Kalma.
15 Aug 2005
I went in with the understanding that it is a refugee camp for internally displaced people (IDP) and it is a difficult place to live, but what the NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) have set up there is amazing. It is a fully functioning camp – but really is more like a town, and it's amazing to see how well structured it is. There is a large hospital, and the camp is divided into small communities of people living alongside each other. There is also a market place where people sell things at the entrance to the camp just as you drive in, things like cigarettes and watches – the same as in a normal African village.

China, Africa Dictators Link Rings Alarms
August 15, 2005 - Fox News
Not only has China become an exporting giant, dumping cheap goods and creating enormous trade deficits all over the globe, but it continues to reach out to historically oppressive regimes for trade, economic partnerships and greater influence on the world political stage, policy watchers say.