Congolese officials are preparing a veritable extravaganza for the arrival of President Kabila in Goma on Tuesday to mark independence from colonial rule. Meanwhile, many of the soldiers rehearsing their drills in preparation for his visit remain unpaid. Local aid workers worry about the volatile mix of large groupings of invariably drunken soldiers with accompanying […]
Gacaca up close
June 28, 2009 by 1 Comment
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 […]
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 […]
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:
Montgomery vs. Galbraith
June 12, 2009 by 1 Comment
The Balkans is not my area of expertise, but the issue of territorial gains from genocidal policies is going to come up in the future of Darfur as it is today in Bosnia, which it why it seems relevant to highlight this recent interaction between former US diplomats in the Balkans, William Montgomery and Peter […]
From those with the most power to those with the least . . .
June 11, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Too tired and too many interview notes to go over to do a proper post, but just to say that today covered the extremes. I started the day interviewing the Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, and finished the day in the overcrowded lodgings of a Darfuri family of twelve who are struggling […]
