Each time I arrive at Khartoum airport, I marvel at the campaign laid out by the Sudanese state to welcome foreign arrivals. The trouble is I always land at night and so once again I have returned without any decent photos. The one to the left is a quick snap out the cab window that […]
Ain Siro
September 19, 2009 by 1 Comment
Since Julie Flint first wrote about Ain Siro in a Washington Post article back in 2007, this small village in a mountainous region of North Darfur has become something of a poster-child for Darfuris ‘doing it for themselves.’ And, from what I saw last weekend, deservedly so. I have to admit that when I saw […]
The way forward
September 18, 2009 by 2 Comments
The big takeaway for me from the trip to Darfur this weekend was that the Special Envoy is facing a communications breakdown. In a situation like Darfur, where the IDPs in the camps are so networked into the global media and advocacy organizations this messaging problem is no superficial matter – it has a substantive […]
John “JJ” Hamilton
September 16, 2009 by 3 Comments
Truest of Aussie larrikins. Due irreverence and lack of tolerance for bullshit. Walkabouts in the Volvo – Mt Keira to the Wollongong North surf beach. Deep bass voice, resonating out across the theatre. Pesto-making, pot-smoking, out on the verrandah watering the herbs. Best of all, mine. You went out in style – I would have […]
BBC/PRI Interview
September 15, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Link to interview about trip to Darfur with Gration is up.
Costs & benefits
September 15, 2009 by 1 Comment
Hi all I’m writing this from Frankfurt airport. My plane is delayed and I just found out my Uncle – the closest person I have to my Dad, who died when I was a kid – has had a heart attack back in Australia. I’m feeling desperately far away and there is nothing I can […]
Back to Darfur
September 9, 2009 by 1 Comment
Hi everyone I’m heading back to Darfur (which means this blog will once again become inaccessible to me). But this time, I’m not going solo. I will be accompanying U.S. Special Envoy, Scott Gration. The schedule for the trip is up on the U.S. State Department blog. Darfur policy under the Obama Administration (whenever it […]
Update on Lubna
September 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment
The BBC is reporting she has been jailed for refusing to pay the fine. The phone number I spoke to her on earlier in the day seems to have been disconnected. Now is the time, more than ever before, to ensure the spotlight doesn’t fade.
Return from Sudan
August 26, 2009 by 1 Comment
Hi everyone As many of you know I spent August in Sudan. Unfortunately this blog was a casualty of my time there – with the GOS having blocked this site inside Sudan I couldn’t access even the back-end of it to post updates. In many ways it was a blessing in disguise, both because I […]
More on the ‘war is over’ comments
So my mate Rob Crilly has written a post I need to respond to regarding my remarks on General Agwai’s comments. Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m not sure we are substantively in quite as much disagreement as Rob would like to think. He agrees with most of my comments, before concluding “But Bec charmingly […]