On February 24 this year, Béatrice Nirere was sentenced by a Gacaca court to life imprisonment with “special conditions” (isolation) for her involvement in planning the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi population in Rwanda. This week, I sat in an over-crowded stifling room (despite glassless windows, no fresh air made it through due to the […]
Prosecution gets to appeal ICC decision not to charge Bashir with genocide
June 24, 2009 by 3 Comments
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I* has granted the Prosecution leave to appeal its decision from March this year not to issue a warrant of arrest for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir for genocide (it issued it for five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes). The Prosecution raised its appeal on […]
Bashir arrest warrant decision in bullet points and (relatively) plain English
June 24, 2009 by 2 Comments
The arrest warrant was issued against Omar Al Bashir for five counts of Crimes Against Humanity (murder, murder, rape, torture, extermination and forcible transfer committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population) and two counts of War Crimes (killing and pillaging). Standards of proof at different stages of proceedings: Under […]
In loving memory of Sifa Nsengimana
June 24, 2009 by 1 Comment
October 25, 2012 I just received the heartbreaking news that my dear friend and inspiration, Sifa Nsengimana, has been killed in a car accident in South Africa. Death is hard to handle no matter the circumstances, but for this world to lose someone who had survived so much, who had managed to see the worst […]
From Kigali
June 21, 2009 by Leave a Comment
After the killing has ceased, and order has been restored: How do you make it right again? This is the question addressed in a new film, My Neighbor, My Killer, according to the article about it in the NYT this week. It’s also the question that I can’t stop thinking about as I walk through […]
A plea from Cairo: “See how they killed my people”
June 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment
This powerpoint was created by one of the Darfuri refugees I interviewed in Cairo. He asked me to post it on my site so more people could see it. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment in a poor area with twelve family members, and does menial labor for 15 hours a day for the equivalent […]
Worth reading: ‘Beyond Janjaweed’ Understanding the militias of Darfur
June 17, 2009 by Leave a Comment
This report, released this month by the Small Arms Survey, on the people who were recruited as proxy militias by the Sudanese government in Darfur, is well worth the read. Its author is Julie Flint (who wrote Darfur: A Short History of a Long War with Alex de Waal), and while I don’t agree with […]
When both SUNA & the NGOs say the same thing . . .
June 14, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I have been advised that my last vent, caused by having the same message delivered, on the same day, by both SUNA and the “new” NGOs for Darfur, MercyCorps Scotland and CARE (Switzerland), was misguided. Rather than it being a case of the NGOs repeating SUNA’s message in order to protect their re/entry, I am […]
The Sudanese government’s new business: NGO Press Release Dictation
June 13, 2009 by 1 Comment
So – I was about to get off the computer, but I just caught sight of these, and they warranted the creation of a new category: “WTF?” Press Release by CARE:
“Gration Must Go” – a distraction
“Gration Must Go” is the call that has just been put out by some U.S.-based Darfur advocates – including people that, I should disclose, I respect the work of. They are sincere people, genuinely committed to improving the lives of people in Darfur. And yet I think that in making this call they are setting […]