February 15, 2008

Bush & Rice Head Into Africa

President Bush embarks on a tour of five African countries tonight and, as the New York Times puts it, the trip will "thrust himself into the role of peacemaker" as he tries to help international leaders address recent crises in the region.

He won't be alone: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in Kenya, one of the administration's greatest areas of concern. In Nairobi on Monday, Rice will meet with former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has been in the country since mid-January to try to mediate a bloody conflict sparked by Kenya's contested presidential election at the end of last year.

Annan said today that a deal between the two rival factions was "very close," but that a final solution about a power-sharing government had not yet been reached.

But Bush, for his part, is sticking to friendlier territory: Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. At a speech yesterday at the Smithsonian's African Museum of Art, the president offered a rosy view of the five nations: "Each of these countries is blessed with natural beauty, vibrant culture, and an unmistakable spirit of energy and optimism. Africa in the 21st century is a continent of potential.... It's a place where democracy is advancing, where economies are growing, and leaders are meeting challenges with purpose and determination."

Continue reading "Bush & Rice Head Into Africa"

Posted at 12:15 PM
Posted to: Africa, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Kenya, President Bush, Sudan
Share via

January 24, 2008

Freedom Falters Worldwide

If 2007 seemed like a bad year for democracy, that's because it was, according to new data from Freedom House, a U.S.-based organization that monitors and promotes freedom around the world. The group recently released its report on 2007, citing a "notable setback for global freedom" for the second consecutive year.

Freedom House uses its own set of criteria to divide nations into three categories: "free," "partly free" and "not free." In 2007, one-fifth of the world's nations experienced a decline in freedom, the group says. Although the number of countries in the "not free" category did not grow over the last year, "there were many changes within these broad categories" that demonstrate an alarming trend, a press release announcing the report claims. These reversals were seen in countries across the globe -- from sub-Saharan Africa to the former Soviet Union.

Nearly four times as many countries saw declines in levels of freedom as showed improvement. Dishearteningly, several countries that had been experiencing progress toward democracy in recent years, such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Kenya, took steps backward in 2007. Two former Soviet countries that underwent "color revolutions" fairly recently -- Kyrgyzstan and Georgia -- also reversed track last year, Freedom House reports.

Continue reading "Freedom Falters Worldwide"

Posted at 2:16 PM
Posted to: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Iran, Kenya, Middle East, Pakistan
Share via

January 23, 2008

Rebel Groups & Congo Gov't Sign Peace Deal

The government and armed rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace deal today aimed at putting an end to months of fighting in the country's eastern Kivu provinces, which has displaced nearly 500,000 people. The various sides in the conflict have been negotiating for two weeks in the city of Goma.

The agreement signed today "is the first public and official peace settlement for the two Kivu provinces," Agence France-Presse reports. "The overall conference recommendations, made by elected politicians, members of the different ethnic communities, local business people and other community players, count for a lot on further help from the U.N. mission in" Congo, "the largest peacekeeping force deployed by the world body." (BBC News has details on the agreement.)

According to CNN, the peace accord comes as a new report details the horrors that have beset Congo in the years since a nationwide war broke out in 1998. In the past 10 years, some 5.4 million people have died in the violence. The monthly death rate now stands at about 45,000, according to a study from the International Rescue Committee. Reuters has background on the conflict, and the IRC has the full report available online.

Posted at 2:35 PM
Posted to: Africa
Share via

January 14, 2008

Kenya Death Toll Mounts On Eve Of Annan Visit

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is headed to Kenya tomorrow to try to lend assistance in the escalating conflict over disputed presidential elections. Violence in the usually peaceful east African country has created hundreds of thousands of refugees and killed more than 600 people, and three days of national protests starting Wednesday could spark more bloodshed.

Last week, negotiators from the U.S. and the African Union left the country without any resolution. The new round of talks led by Annan will try to bring Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his challenger Raila Odinga closer together; in the previous round, the two men refused to meet and blamed each other for the collapse of the talks. The government has already rejected Annan's mediation mission.

Reuters explains the opposing positions of the political factions, and AP has more details on the conflict.

Posted at 8:10 AM
Posted to: Africa, Kenya
Share via

January 07, 2008

Kenya: Odinga Cancels Rallies Ahead Of A.U. Mediation

After a meeting with U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga today canceled planned protests by his opposition group, the Orange Democratic Movement, saying that he wanted to provide "a peaceful environment" for the mediation process scheduled to begin tomorrow.

"We are now sure that mediation will start. We have consulted and decided that the public rallies we called for are canceled," he said, as African Union Chairman John Kufuor of Ghana was expected to arrive in Kenya Tuesday to lead the mediation effort.

Odinga has signaled that he is willing to negotiate a power-sharing agreement between himself and President Mwai Kibaki, whose hotly contested re-election victory two weeks ago has sparked protests, riots and ethnic violence throughout the country.

Continue reading "Kenya: Odinga Cancels Rallies Ahead Of A.U. Mediation"

Posted at 10:56 AM
Posted to: Africa, Kenya
Share via

January 04, 2008

Group Claims Responsibility For Diplomat's Death In Sudan

A group calling itself Ansar al-Tawhid, or Companions of Monotheism, has claimed responsibility for the Jan. 1 murder of a U.S. diplomat in Sudan, the SITE Intelligence Group is reporting.

SITE, which monitors extremist Web sites, said today that there was no way to verify the statement from the previously unknown organization. "The soldiers of Tawhid carried out an operation of killing the American diplomat and his Sudanese driver who sold his religion for few benefits of life, in the section of Al-Riyadh in eastern Khartoum," the claim reads, according to SITE's translation.

John Granville of the U.S. Agency for International Development and his driver, Abdel-Rahman Abbas, were shot and killed early on New Year's Day. Sudanese officials have ruled out terrorism, but the FBI arrived in Khartoum yesterday to begin its own investigation of the diplomat's death.

Granville's body was flown home for burial yesterday.

Posted at 3:36 PM
Posted to: Africa, FBI, Sudan
Share via

January 03, 2008

Kenya's Kibaki Breaks Silence As Post-Election Crisis Continues

Amid continuing violent protests in the capital today over his contested re-election last week, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki extended an olive branch to his political opponent, Raila Odinga. The results of last week's election, in which Kenya's electoral commission named Kibaki the winner by a slim margin, has sent the country spiraling into violence and chaos.

With more than 300 people killed and tens of thousands displaced, according to BBC News, Kibaki bowed to intense political and diplomatic pressure and made a televised appeal for peace today.

"I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough for constructive and productive engagement," Kibaki said, breaking his silence on the election results, which the opposition claims were rigged.

Meanwhile, the attorney general has called for an independent inquiry into the election, as Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement continues to demand a revote. The opposition party canceled a planned rally for today but has rescheduled it for Jan. 8 if an agreement is not reached by then.

Continue reading "Kenya's Kibaki Breaks Silence As Post-Election Crisis Continues"

Posted at 3:22 PM
Posted to: Africa, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, EU, Europe, Kenya
Share via

December 19, 2007

Global Health Survey Finds Regional Differences

Health care has been a prominent issue on the campaign trail in the U.S. this year, with presidential candidates, particularly on the Democratic side, vowing to expand access to health care coverage for the over 40 million Americans without insurance. According to a new study, these concerns about the quality and availability of health care are also shared worldwide, albeit in different ways.

The global survey [PDF] from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows that while health care ranks high among citizens' political priorities around the world, attitudes toward the issue vary widely according to where people live, their economic status and their experiences with particular diseases.

Overall, the survey of over 45,000 people in 46 countries finds that health is a "local phenomenon." Not surprisingly, respondents in areas hardest hit by disease and malnutrition, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, were more likely to rank health as the top problem for their countries. In other regions, including Latin America, Asia and Europe, crime, terrorism, drugs and pollution were perceived as greater threats than the spread of infectious diseases.

Continue reading "Global Health Survey Finds Regional Differences"

Posted at 12:30 PM
Posted to: Africa, Campaigns, Economy, HIV/AIDS, Health, U.N., WH 2008
Share via

December 11, 2007

What Is Al-Qaida In The Islamic Maghreb?

It's too soon to know for sure, but indicators so far point to a North African Sunni terrorist group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (QIM), as the culprit behind today's twin bombings that killed more than 60 people in Algiers. U.S. and European intelligence agencies have been tracking al-Qaida-affiliated groups in North Africa for some time because of well-founded fears that it will be the next frontier in the war against Islamic terrorism.

The current incarnation of QIM is not even a year old. In January, the Algeria-based Islamic extremist group Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French initials as GSPC, announced it was changing its name because its membership in al-Qaida had been formalized.

Washington counts Algeria's democratically elected government as an ally in the war on terror, and provides financial assistance [PDF] via the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative. QIM counts Western-friendly Algiers as its enemy, and in May the group released an audio message telling Algerians that participation in this year's elections would make them "the traitors in this great sin" of their leaders' "tyranny and infidelity and their fight against religion." A series of bomb explosions apparently targeting the elections resulted in dismal turnout for the May 17 vote.

Continue reading "What Is Al-Qaida In The Islamic Maghreb?"

Posted at 6:45 PM
Posted to: Africa, Al-Qaida, Bush Administration, Middle East, Military, Terrorism
Share via

U.N. Offices Targeted In Algeria Bombings

Two car bombs exploded in Algiers this morning, killing at least 47 people. One of the bombs exploded in a street that contains offices for both the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.N. Development Program.

CNN reports that 10 U.N. workers were killed in the blast. A spokesman for the refugee agency also said the building itself sustained "extensive damage." The other explosion occurred outside a court building in a nearby neighborhood 10 minutes before the bomb near the U.N. offices.

Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said today that a suicide bomber detonated the blast in front of the U.N. office.

No individual or group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attacks in the Algerian capital. In April, another bomb in Algiers killed more than 30 people; the northern African branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility for that attack.

Posted at 8:14 AM
Posted to: Africa, U.N.
Share via

October 31, 2007

Aid Workers Charged In Alleged Rescue Attempt In Chad

Associates of the French charity Zoe's Ark who tried to fly more than 100 African children out of Chad last week are facing charges of kidnapping and child trafficking, sparking international conflict over the case and concerns about the future of humanitarian efforts in the region.

Nine French citizens and six Spanish nationals have been accused of abduction and fraud, and some of them face up to 20 years of hard labor in a Chadian prison, according to Chad's interior minister.

U.N. officials claim many of the children were actually from Chad, not refugees from Darfur, and there is no clear evidence they are actually orphans. Zoe's Ark counters that tribal leaders told them the children were from Darfur and that the children were to be placed in the French foster care system, which would qualify the airlift as a medical rescue operation rather than an adoption effort.

The French government is backing up the U.N. "According to initial information... there seem to be many Chadian children and even many who are not orphans," a government spokeswoman told reporters yesterday.

Continue reading "Aid Workers Charged In Alleged Rescue Attempt In Chad"

Posted at 9:25 AM
Posted to: Africa, Europe, France
Share via

October 22, 2007

Muslim Live 8 Concert Raises Money For Darfur

London's Wembley Arena has played host to many high-profile concerts, including this summer's tribute to Princess Diana. But on Sunday, Wembley was the scene of a different kind of concert, one many are calling the first of its kind.

Ten thousand Muslims gathered at the arena for what is being dubbed Muslim Live 8, a concert to raise money for and awareness of the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The sold-out crowd heard music from Outlandish, an MTV award-winning hip-hop band, and Muslim-American country singer, Kareem Salama. But Sami Yusuf, labeled by Time as "Islam's biggest rock star," drew the most fervent cheers from fans.

Continue reading "Muslim Live 8 Concert Raises Money For Darfur"

Posted at 3:47 PM
Posted to: Africa, Europe, Gordon Brown, Sudan, U.K.
Share via

October 05, 2007

Myanmar Unrest Sets Stage For Another U.N. Face-Off

As the U.S. and its allies lay the groundwork for possible U.N. action against the military dictatorship that rules Myanmar, China and Russia are forming an axis of opposition to the endeavor.

China is one of Myanmar's most generous benefactors, and in a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, warned members not to interfere in the junta's crackdown on an army of monks.

"It is quite understandable for the outside world to express concern and expectation regarding the situation on the ground, however, pressure would not serve any purpose or would lead to confrontation or even the loss of dialogue and cooperation between Myanmar and the international community, including the United Nations," said the Chinese ambassador, Wang Guangya. "If the situation in Myanmar takes a worse turn because of external intervention, it would be the people of Myanmar who will bear the brunt."

According to the New York Times, Russia and China are arguing that "the crisis does not constitute the kind of threat to international peace and security that calls for the involvement of the Council."

Continue reading "Myanmar Unrest Sets Stage For Another U.N. Face-Off"

Posted at 3:30 PM
Posted to: Africa, Asia, China, Sudan, U.N.
Share via

October 03, 2007

Carter Loses His Cool In Darfur

In a moment uncharacteristic for the notorious nice guy, former President Jimmy Carter lost his temper with a Sudanese security official during a visit to the Darfur region on Tuesday.

On his way to visit a tribal elder in the city of Kabkabiya, Carter was suddenly blocked by a guard, who would only give the name Omar. "You can't go. It's not on the program!" Omar told Carter, who angrily replied: "We're going to anyway!"

AP reports that Carter entered the town to meet with refugees who were "too frightened to attend a scheduled meeting at a nearby compound."

British billionaire Richard Branson and Graca Machel, rights campaigner and wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, were accompanying the former president, and "tried to ease his frustration" while "his Secret Service detail urged him to get into a car and leave."

Continue reading "Carter Loses His Cool In Darfur"

Posted at 11:15 AM
Posted to: Africa, Jimmy Carter, Sudan
Share via

October 01, 2007

AU Opens Probe Into Deadly Weekend Attack In Darfur

The African Union is vowing to punish those responsible for the death of 10 peacekeepers and the disappearance of 40 others as it begins an investigation today into a deadly weekend attack on one of its bases in Darfur.

The well-organized attack by several hundred gunmen at the Haskanita base, the worst in the AU's three-year deployment in the region, has been blamed on rebel factions. According to Reuters, an influential member of one of those groups, the Sudan Liberation Army's Unity faction, "said if his faction was involved it was a local decision, not ordered by the leadership."

The AU's probe into the incident commences as "a delegation of notable world figures led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu has arrived in Sudan for talks" aimed at addressing the genocide and ongoing strife there, BBC News reports. Former President Jimmy Carter is also among the delegation, which is the first of a new initiative called The Elders -- a group of prominent leaders and Nobel Prize winners who will address various global hotspots to gather information and help mediate conflicts.

Continue reading "AU Opens Probe Into Deadly Weekend Attack In Darfur"

Posted at 7:35 AM
Posted to: Africa, Sudan
Share via

August 14, 2007

The China Conundrum

The Chinaphobia train grew a little more powerful today, but there are various ways to view our emerging supercompetitor to the East.

One is the What, Us Worry? approach. The repetition of product recalls and bans this year exposed a large, ugly gash in the exports machine China's become. Sure, they can turn out commodities faster and cheaper, but where's the quality control? For nations including the U.S. and Germany, which lead China in exports but not for long, this is potentially good news. Those fearing China's economic reach will soon envelop the world have good reason to suspect the communist giant can't logistically handle the task after all.

The other, darker vision of what's ahead: China, as both manufacturer and investor, is simply too wealthy and ambitious to ignore. The relationships China has developed with countries like Iran and Russia have given rise to an alternative axis of world powers that has successfully stymied the agendas of the U.S. and EU. China is rising, and no amount of crowing about its lax human rights record and alarming income gap will change that.

Continue reading "The China Conundrum"

Posted at 6:35 PM
Posted to: Africa, Asia, Bush Administration, Campaigns, China, Democrats, Economy, Sudan, WH 2008
Share via

August 08, 2007

'08 Olympics: 365 Days And Counting...

Today marks the one-year countdown to the opening ceremony of Bejing’s 2008 Olympic Games, an event the communist superpower hopes will draw positive attention from the international community. However, the Chinese government has faced harsh criticisms on a range of issues, from food safety to human rights abuses to complicity in the genocide in Darfur, leaving many to wonder: Is China ready to open itself up to the world?

Immediately after winning its bid for the games, the Chinese government in 2001 released the Beijing Olympic Action Plan, a series of principles and objectives for developing not only the venues for the games, but also an environment conducive to hosting delegations from across the world. One provision was that China would clean up its human rights record and expand press freedoms for domestic and international journalists before the games.

Continue reading "'08 Olympics: 365 Days And Counting..."

Posted at 3:45 PM
Posted to: Africa, Asia, China, Climate Change, Congress, FDA, Health, House, Olympics, Sudan
Share via

July 25, 2007

Gadhafi: Still A Menace?

Libya's release of six Bulgarian medics who had been sentenced to die has earned that country loads of goodwill from Europe and the U.S. France's pledge of $400 million in compensation for the families who allege the group infected their children with HIV helped secure the deal; meanwhile, the EU is now preparing a substantial aid package for the northern African nation. President Bush recently named the first U.S. ambassador to Libya in more than three decades, and today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she looked forward to paying Tripoli a visit soon.

It's an odd reversal for a nation once considered to be a sponsor of terrorism. In the 1980s, Moammar Gadhafi was right up there with the late Ayatollah Khomeini on America's enemies list. An alliance of conservatives and human rights groups whose memories stretch back to the 1980s aren't happy with the turnabout.

Gadhafi's decision to give up his nuclear weapons logically precipitated warmer relations with the West, but the Wall Street Journal balks: "The blackmail habit is hard to shake, and rewarding a dictator for hostage-taking is fraught with moral hazards." A director of U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights complained, "This is really an outrageous case, in which the lives of these nurses and medic were literally ransomed for $400 million.... There is nothing to prevent the future scapegoating of foreign health workers and holding them hostage in exchange for foreign aid."

Indeed, the West's embrace of Gadhafi comes as Taliban militants hold a South Korean church group hostage in Afghanistan. One was killed earlier today.

Continue reading "Gadhafi: Still A Menace?"

Posted at 7:23 PM
Posted to: Africa, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Europe, France, Libya, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, Tony Blair, U.K.
Share via

July 24, 2007

Jailed Medics Freed From Libya

Five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor arrived today by plane in Sofia, Bulgaria, after being released from a prison in Libya.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov immediately pardoned the medics, who had spent eight and a half years as captives. The Libyan government accused them of deliberately infecting hospitalized children with HIV and had sentenced them to life in prison.

No money was exchanged for their release, but negotiators did promise to try to improve relations between the two countries. French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to visit Libya tomorrow to help the country "rejoin the international community."

Posted at 8:09 AM
Posted to: Africa, Libya
Share via

July 17, 2007

Libyan Court Commutes Death Sentences For Foreign Medics

Under intense international pressure, Libya's supreme court has decided to spare six foreign medical workers from execution. The five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor are accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV in the 1990s.

Bulgaria, in concert with the EU, has been campaigning heavily to bring the nurses home. The case has attracted international attention. Pop singer George Michael held a concert in the nurses' honor in May, and France's first lady visited the prisoners last week.

Continue reading "Libyan Court Commutes Death Sentences For Foreign Medics"

Posted at 4:36 PM
Posted to: Africa, EU, Europe, Libya, Middle East, Palestinians
Share via

June 12, 2007

Sudan OKs U.N. Peacekeepers

After months of resistance, the Sudanese government has agreed to allow a combined force of United Nations and African Union peacekeepers into the Darfur region, Reuters reports.

"AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said Khartoum agreed to a hybrid, compromise force of between 17,000 and 19,000 troops and an additional 3,700 police," according to Reuters.

The White House has termed the killings of tens of thousands of Africans at the hands of Arab militias in the region genocide. President Bush announced new economic sanctions against the Sudanese government, which is accused by the international community of turning a blind eye to the carnage.

AP reported today on the U.N.'s efforts to rush food and aid to thousands of refugees from Darfur in the Central African Republic. The Council on Foreign Relations' Web site has an interactive, historical guide to the crisis.

Posted at 4:00 PM
Posted to: Africa, Sudan
Share via

May 30, 2007

Bush Seeks Doubled AIDS Funding

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden this afternoon, President Bush asked Congress to approve an additional $30 million for AIDS prevention, treatment and support care for millions of people around the world. If met, his request would double the current level of U.S. funding through the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, which is set to expire in 2008. Bush asked Congress to renew that program for another five years after his departure from office.

Bush also announced that first lady Laura Bush will visit Zambia, Senegal, Mali and Mozambique next month to visit areas funded by the U.S. program.

In anticipation of Bush's speech, the Washington Post reported this morning that the announcement "comes in a week when he is highlighting his administration's commitment to international development and human rights protections -- both of which will be major items for discussion next week when he joins other world leaders at a Group of Eight summit meeting in Germany."

Posted at 1:13 PM
Posted to: Africa, Bush Administration, Health
Share via

May 16, 2007

Peacekeepers Killed Near Mogadishu

A roadside bomb struck a convoy of African Union soldiers north of the Somalian capital today, killing four and injuring five. Hussein Mohamed Mohamud, spokesman for Somalia's interim president, blamed the attack on al-Qaida.

Earlier in the day, four people were killed and 20 were injured in an attack on a movie theater south of Mogadishu. The violence comes a day after Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, discussed the peacekeeping mission.

BBC News notes that today's bombing is the worst attack on the peacekeeping force since 1,600 Ugandan soldiers entered the country in March. A force of 8,000 will eventually take over security responsibilities from the Ethiopian army; yesterday, both the United States and the African Union warned Ethiopia not to pull its troops out before the new peacekeeping force could arrive over the course of several months.

Posted at 2:15 PM
Posted to: Africa, Terrorism
Share via

April 16, 2007

Sudan OKs U.N. Peacekeepers

The Sudanese government has agreed to accept more than 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help stabilize the war-torn country, AP reports.

For months, the government has been under pressure to accept a much larger force of up to 20,000 peacekeepers. There are currently 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in the region, but they have been unable to check the raging violence.

"More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced in the four-year conflict in Darfur," AP reports.

Posted at 2:37 PM
Posted to: Africa, Sudan
Share via