"Militias mar Sudan homecoming; Convoys bringing southerners back come under fire" by Maggie Fick, Associated Press / January 30, 2011
AWEIL, Sudan — It should have been a joyful homecoming: Aker Aguer was returning home to southern Sudan years after she fled a brutal civil war, to vote for her homeland’s independence.
But then, armed raiders fired on the bus she was traveling on with her five children, during one of several attacks on returning southerners reported by the United Nations in the weeks after a vote that drew international praise for being peaceful.
The attacks on convoys north of the contested Abyei region continued throughout the weeklong referendum in early January, marring a process that was otherwise largely peaceful, and continued even after polls had closed, UN reports said.
The violence along Sudan’s contested north-south border shows that militias can still strike with impunity despite a heavy military presence on both sides of the border. Observers fear such attacks could derail key talks between the north and south preceding the south’s declaration of independence, set for July.
In the past three weeks, UN agencies have reported at least eight attacks on convoys of buses driving through central Sudan. The most serious incidents occurred near the contested border hot spot of Abyei, a fertile area claimed by both northern and southern governments.
The UN report also said a convoy was shot at on Jan. 17 as it passed through the oil fields of Diffra, just north of Abyei.
On Jan. 8, Aguer joined the tens of thousands of southern Sudanese returning home, encouraged by the prospect of her homeland becoming Africa’s newest country.
How come Kashmir or Palestine do not get a vote?
She was still north of the border, in a convoy of some 800 people on Jan. 9, when the convoy came under attack, despite a guard of Sudanese soldiers. Gunmen shot in the air to stop the buses then looted luggage and valuables.
“We were just frozen,’’ said 38-year-old Aguer. Aguer was searched and said her clothes were torn by a woman who was with the raiders.
The mother of a 3-month-old baby was stabbed to death when she refused to give up her cellphone, according to an internal UN report and interviews with witnesses. A separate report, based on interviews with more than 80 families, said roughly half of them were robbed. Others reported missing family members after the attack.
“Even though they took everything, I am happy to be home with my children alive,’’ Aguer said, sitting in a makeshift lean-to of thatched straw and wooden poles in the southern town of Aweil. Around her, new arrivals slept in the open; some had scrounged a plastic sheet or a bit of straw for a roof.
Holding the vote was a key part of a 2005 peace deal that ended the civil war, a conflict between the mainly Muslim north and mainly Christian-animist, oil-rich south that lasted more than two decades and drove Aguer and hundreds of thousands like her to seek refuge in the north and in Kenya and Egypt.
I'm so sick of the Christian-Muslim wedge cited by the Zionist War Press.
A UN spokesman said that the north and south have both agreed to increase security in Abyei and in the region of southern Kordofan.
The future of the region and whether it will be part of north or south Sudan is being negotiated by the two regions.
“These efforts for reducing and preventing violence are vital to help contain the situation,’’ said Kouider Zerrouk, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan. “However, continued absence of a final settlement for the future status of Abyei leaves open the possibility of further clashes between the communities in the area.’’
Most of the people attacked said the raiders were Misseriya tribesmen, who fear losing their rights to graze in Abyei if the region goes to the south. Some said the governor of South Kordofan state, Ahmed Haroun, is organizing the tribesmen.
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Also see: Sudanese Spoilers
And the results are in:
"Nearly 100 percent in southern Sudan vote for secession" by Associated Press / January 31, 2011
JUBA, Sudan — Southern Sudan’s referendum commission said yesterday that more than 99 percent of voters in the south opted to secede from the country’s north in a vote held earlier this month.
The announcement drew cheers from a crowd of thousands that gathered in Juba, the dusty capital of what may become the world’s newest country.
The weeklong vote, held in early January and widely praised for being peaceful and for meeting international standards, was a condition of a 2005 peace agreement that ended a north-south civil war that lasted two decades and killed 2 million people....
If the process stays on track, southern Sudan will become the world’s newest country in July. Border demarcation, oil rights and the status of the contested region of Abyei still have to be negotiated.
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While we are talking Texas tea:
"Nigeria’s president survives party challenge" by Bloomberg News / January 15, 2011
ABUJA, Nigeria — President Goodluck Jonathan won the nomination of the ruling People’s Democratic Party to compete in Nigeria’s presidential election on April 9, easing concern that infighting in the party would destabilize the country....
And there is enough of that going on in Africa these days.
Nigeria is the fifth-largest source of US oil imports. Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Total, and Eni run joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum that pump more than 90 percent of the West African nation’s oil....
Thus "stability" at all costs is important.
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"Soldiers open fire on college students
JOS -- Soldiers in a central Nigerian city opened fire yesterday on university students protesting continuing violence between Christians and Muslims, witnesses said, with at least nine people killed in the ensuing violence.
What GOOD KIDS!
The shooting came as gas stations and a market smoldered after late Friday violence that sparked when Christian students attacked Muslims trying to bury a corpse in Jos (Boston Globe January 30 2011). "
I don't know about that.
Besides, I'm sick of the Zionist War Press and its use of the Christian-Muslim wedge.
I better watch my mouth:
"Man jailed for cursing politician online" by Associated Press / February 3, 2011
LAGOS, Nigeria — A man who used Facebook to post a curse directed at a northern Nigerian governor has been arrested and jailed, police said yesterday, a chilling warning about freedom of speech ahead of the oil-rich nation’s coming elections....
U.S. criticism, if any, has been muted.
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Nothing on the lead poisoning crisis?
And while we are in the neighborhood:
"Niger votes for president, Parliament" by Associated Press / February 1, 2011
NIAMEY, Niger — This impoverished country on the edge of the Sahara took another stab at democracy yesterday when it voted for a new president and Parliament that are expected to take over leadership from the military....
Related: Niger: The Good Coup
Although rich in uranium, this African nation of 15 million is among the bottom of the UN’s Human Development Index, which ranks countries in order of general well-being.
Its northern deserts and even the capital, Niamey, have been the scene of kidnappings linked to Al Qaeda terrorists....
If there are minerals in the ground or its a strategic location, "CIA-Duh" is there!
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Now that we are all oiled up:
"Ugandan lesbian’s deportation halted
LONDON — A 29-year-old Ugandan woman who says she is a lesbian won a last-minute stay of deportation Friday night from a British High Court judge, who heard her lawyers plead that her life would be at risk if she was forced to return to her homeland. The judge’s ruling came after Brenda Namigadde had been taken from an immigration detention center to Heathrow Airport ahead of a flight to Uganda (New York Times)."
Also see: Gay-rights activist killed in Uganda after article
"Congo army colonel charged in rapes" by Associated Press / January 20, 2011
KINSHASA, Congo — A former rebel commander who became a colonel in the Congolese army has been arrested in the rapes of dozens of women in volatile eastern Congo on New Year’s Day, the United Nations reported yesterday....
The soldiers’ alleged involvement is the latest outrage in the Central African nation’s epidemic of rape, which has become a weapon of war used to break down family and community structures. Such attacks drive residents from areas that fighters — both in the army and from many rebel groups — want to use for mining, which provides income and fuels the conflict....
Also see: Around Africa: Calling the Congo
Whadda ya mean western corporations are fueling the conflict?
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"Poachers using planes to hunt Zimbabwe’s rhinos" by Associated Press / January 26, 2011
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Poachers are using aircraft to hunt and kill rhinoceros, Zimbabwe’s wildlife chief said yesterday, as demand grows in Asia for their horns’ supposed medicinal benefits....
Rhino horn is prized in Asia as a traditional cure for everything from colds to impotence and it is used to fashion ceremonial dagger handles in oil-rich countries in the Middle East....
South Africa has more rhinos — more than 21,000 — than any other country.
In South Africa, the trade is lucrative enough for poachers to be able to afford helicopters and night-vision goggles — equipment African wildlife officials often can’t afford.
Seven endangered rhinos were killed in southern Zimbabwe from early December to Jan. 19. In neighboring South Africa, 333 rhinos were poached in 2010; the country has more than 21,000. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press Files)I see him I'm headed the other way fast!
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Yup, an icon is fading in South Africa.
