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Books by Chinweizu
The West and the Rest of Us
(1975) /
Decolonising the African Mind
(1987) /
Voices from
Twentieth-century Africa (1988)
Invocations and
Admonitions (1986);
Energy Crisis and Other Poems
(1978);
Anatomy of Female Power
(1990)
Towards the Decolonization of
African Literature (1980)
Other Books
Julie
Flint & Alex deWaal,
Darfur: a short history of a long war. Zed
Books, in association with International African
Institute, 2005. 151 pages.
Gérard Prunier.
Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. Cornell
University Press, 2005. 212 pages.
David Morse.
The Iron Bridge (1998)
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Sudan: History of a Broken
Land
It was the giant of
Africa: a nation which once represented the
greatest hope for peaceful coexistence
between Arab and African, Muslim and
Christian. That hope is all but gone. The
promise of Sudan was just an illusion. It is
already a fractured country and, in the
longer term, this is unlikely to be an
isolated matter of north and south breaking
apart following the referendum on southern
secession.
Separatist movements in
regions such as Darfur and the Nuba
Mountains are watching with more than
curiosity. And it is not just Sudan: in
other African and Arab countries
independence factions are eying developments
with a view to making their move either
through the ballot box or the gun.
In the run-up to the
referendum, I traveled to Sudan to make the
film. I have been fortunate enough in my
life to have visited most of the world’s
countries and yet, this would be the first
time I had set foot in Africa’s largest. . .
. I also discovered
self-delusion: in the coffee shops,
restaurants and streets, the vast majority
of people I spoke with wanted desperately to
believe that it was not too late and that,
surely, the South will never leave the
union. It will. |
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South Sudan,
officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, is a
landlocked country in
East Africa. Its capital and largest city is
Juba. South Sudan is bordered by
Ethiopia to the east;
Kenya to the southeast;
Uganda to the south; the
Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest;
the
Central African Republic to the west; and
Sudan to the north. South Sudan includes the vast
swamp region of the
Sudd formed by the
White Nile, locally called the
Bahr al Jabal.
What is now South
Sudan was part of the British and
Egyptian
condominium of
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and became part of the
Republic of the Sudan when independence was achieved
in 1956. Following the
First Sudanese Civil War, the
Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972
and lasted until 1983. A
second Sudanese civil war soon developed and ended
with the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that
year, southern autonomy was restored when an
Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed.
South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011.
On 14 July 2011, South Sudan became a
United Nations member state.
After on and off civil wars, South
Sudan is one of the poorest countries with possibly the
worst health situation in the world.—Wikipedia
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Racism: A
History, the 2007 BBC 3-part documentary explores
the impact of racism on a global scale. It was part of
the season of programs on the BBC marking the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British
Empire. It's divided into 3 parts.
The first, The
Colour of Money . . .
Racism: A History [2007]—1/3
Begins the series
by assessing the implications of the relationship
between Europe, Africa and the Americas in the 15th
century. It considers how racist ideas and practices
developed in key religious and secular institutions, and
how they showed up in writings by European philosophers
Aristotle and Immanuel Kant.
The second,
Fatal Impact . . .
Racism: A History [2007] - 2/3
Examines the idea
of scientific racism, an ideology invented during the
19th century that drew on now discredited practices such
as phrenology and provided an ideological justification
for racism and slavery. The episode shows how these
theories ultimately led to eugenics and Nazi racial
policies of the master race.
And the 3rd, A
Savage Legacy . . .
Racism: A History [2007] - 3/3
Examines the impact
of racism in the 20th century. By 1900 European colonial
expansion had reached deep into the heart of Africa.
Under the rule of King Leopold II, the Belgian Congo was
turned into a vast rubber plantation. Men, women and
children who failed to gather their latex quotas would
have their limbs dismembered. The country became the
scene of one of the century's greatest racial genocides,
as an estimated 10 million Africans perished under
colonial rule.
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Update
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China to Loan South Sudan $8 Billion—30
April 2012—China has agreed to loan
oil-rich South Sudan eight billion dollars
for infrastructure development, according to
Juba government spokesman, Barnaba Mariel
Benjamin. “It will fund roads, bridges,
hydropower, agriculture and
telecommunications projects… within the next
two years,” he said, giving details of a
visit this week to China by South Sudan’s
President Salva Kiir. “Details (of the
projects) will be defined by the ministers
of the two countries and by the Chinese
firms in charge of the work,” said the
spokesman for the world’s youngest nation.
Energy-hungry China is the largest purchaser
of oil from South Sudan, which proclaimed
independence last July, and is also a
longstanding business partner of Sudan from
which it also buys oil.—AfricanGlobe
/
Modern Chinese Tanks for the Sudan |
China: A
Strategic Partner of the New Nation of South Sudan—Luka
Biong Deng—16 April 2012—The Republic of South
Sudan, the newest member state of the UN, has entered
into a world that is stratified into the top billion
people who are prosperous, middle four billion of people
who are developing and on track to be prosperous and
bottom billion of people who are struck at the bottom
with appalling living conditions.
Also the people
living in the countries of the bottom billion have been
in one or another of the four traps: conflict trap,
natural resource trap, land-locked and bad neighbours
trap and bad governance in a small country trap. It
would certainly not require much efforts of where to
position the newest member of the United Nation in the
current economic and political stratification of the
world. South Sudan falls not only in the bottom billion
but it is at the bottom of the bottom billion and is
virtually exposed to all the four traps experienced by
the bottom billion. . . . There are five basic goals
that the Government of South Sudan could seek to
accomplish during President Salva Kiir’s visit to China.
First, the visit could be used to reposition South Sudan
as strategic partner to China not only in terms of South
Sudan’s economic potentials, but also in terms of its
position in the region. Second, the visit could assure
China of South Sudan’s commitment to maintaining good
relations with Sudan, including exporting its crude oil
through the pipelines in Sudan if Khartoum is willing to
settle for internationally accepted fees.
Third, the visit
could serve to articulate the strategic importance that
South Sudan ascribes to the diversification of its
pipelines and the need for China to assist not only in
the feasibility studies and impact assessments
associated with the alternative pipeline but also in its
funding.
Fourth, the visit
could make it clear to China that if not resolved, the
unfinished business of the CPA in terms of popular
consultation for the people of Southern Kordofan and
Blue Nile states, the referendum for the people of Abyei
area, and demarcation of the North-South border will
continue to haunt the relationship between the two
states. China is uniquely positioned to exert diplomatic
pressure on Khartoum to resolve these pending issues.
Fifth, the visit
could ensure access to concessional loans for
development of infrastructure (telecommunication, roads,
power generation and sports) and for agricultural ‘green
revolution’. China is a huge country and shifting its
policy to include a focus on an independent South Sudan
is a mammoth task. But with hard work and patience, our
mutual interests align enough to remain hopeful for a
strong relationship in the years to come.— SudanTribune
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Table
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Southern Sudan minister shot
dead
Juba—South Sudan's minister for rural
development and co-operations Jimmy Lemi
Milla has been shot dead. The southern army
spokesperson said. The incident comes only
days after referendum results confirmed that
the region will become the world's newest
independent state on July 9. South Sudan's
army spokesperson Philip Aguer said. "The
minister was shot dead inside his ministry
on Wednesday by a driver working at the
ministry who also killed a guard at the
doorway and then shot himself." . . .
Violence in the south remains persistent six
years after a peace deal ended decades of
north-south civil war. Ethnic tension and
tit-for-tat cattle raids killed an estimated
3,000 people in 2009 alone, although clashes
had subsided ahead of the January
referendum.—Africau |
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International
Criminal Court Calls for the Arrest
Of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for Genocide A
decade after 120 states met in Rome in July 1998 to
approve a treaty creating the
International Criminal Court (ICC), its prosecutor
has moved the court to the centre of world attention.
The decision of its prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on 14
July 2008 to charge Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes
is a transformative event for the ICC and for the
intractable Darfur war. |
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Many only
caught sight of the genocide in Sudan when the war
intensified in Darfur. But genocide had been long
practised in south Sudan, as well as rape as a
weapon etc. Some two million plus lost their lives
as a consequence. Please find two attachments
entitled 'bombings' which capture bombings and
aerial activity by Khartoum in south Sudan in a
window period of some 5 weeks in june/july 2002.
B.F.Bankie
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Qaddafi apologizes
for Arab slave trade—12 October 2010—By Sallie Pisch—CAIRO: Libyan leader Moammar
Gaddafi apologized for the slave trade on behalf of
Arabs at the second Afro-Arab summit in Libya on Sunday.
It may be the first time an Arab leader has
admitted—much less apologized for—enslaving Africans. While completely unprecedented, the
statement falls in line with Qaddafi’s decade-long
policy of aligning himself with African nations.
“I regret the behavior of the
Arabs… They brought African children to North Africa,
they made them slaves, they sold them like animals, and
they took them as slaves and traded them in a shameful
way. I regret and I am ashamed when we remember these
practices. I apologize for this,” Qaddafi was quoted as
saying.
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A number of African leaders,
including Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, were in attendance
at the summit which covered topics ranging from the
Palestinian issue to Sudanese separation.
Gaddafi continued his statement by
saying, “Today we are embarrassed and shocked by these
outrageous practices of rich Arabs who had treated their
fellow Africans with contempt and condescension.”
Gaddafi’s statement was broad, leaving a time reference
open for debate.
There is very little documentation
about the African enslavement in the Arab world. Most
documentation and research focuses on the trans-Atlantic
slave trade, but until the turn of the 19th Century,
Arab slave traders dealt in a lucrative business in
African slaves from the Congo, Rwanda, and particularly
East Africa. In the middle of the ninth century, a
revolt of the Zanj, African slaves held in modern-day
Iraq, lasted for nearly fifteen years.—BikYaMasr
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B. F.
Bankie and K. J. Mchombu, eds.
Pan-Africanism/African
Nationalism: Strengthening the Unity of
Africa and Its Diaspora (2008)
The first edition of this publication was
based on the proceedings of the 17th All
African Students Conference (AASC) held in
2005 in Windhoek, Namibia, which series
began in 1988. It covered the major issues
arising for the unity movement from the 2005
conference, with diverse contributions from
a broad range of participants, including a
head of state, the head of a liberation
movement, youth, students and various other
concerned social groups and individuals.
This second edition came about in the
context of the prior neglect of developments
in the Afro-Arab borderlands and their
impact on Africans both at home and abroad,
as well as on the unity movement.
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The books moves from continental unity to
Pan-African national unity, which is
constituted by Africa south of the Sahara
and the east [Arabia, north Africa, Gulf
states and points eastwards] and the west
[Caribbean, Americas, Europe etc] Diasporas.
It is dedicated to the Late John Garang de
Mabior, in recognition of the role played by
the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM)
in championing the legitimate aspirations of
the marginalized in Sudan and the
borderlands in general. This book provides
an entry point towards the reformulation of
the unity project and will be of interest to
all those who have an interest in Africa and
those who take Africans seriously.
This book needs to be taken seriously by all
Darfurians.—Yahya
Osman Mohamed (Darfur/Sudan )
An indispensable, must-to-read book, on the
various interpretations of Pan-Africanism
and African nationalism, not only for
Sudanese, but more particularly for those,
who are interested worldwide in the history
of the struggle of Black Africans against
Arab hegemony and dominance, seen from an
African nationalist point of view. It tells
the story and process through which millions
of Black Africans have come to be subjugated
and systematically marginalized by the Arabs
and later by an Arabized breed of Black
Africans.
Furthermore, it tells aspects of the
struggle for mental and physical
emancipation lead by the martyr of the
marginalized people of the Sudan, the Late
Dr John Garang de Mabior.—Muhammad
Jalal Hashim ( Nubia/Sudan )
Considering the identity crisis many
Sahelians suffer from, the relevance of Pan-Africanism/African
nationalism can not be overstated. A
millennium of massive religious/ideological
and human influx from the Middle East into
the region has not only physically pushed
the native population towards the south, but
it has also displaced their African
identity. The problem has become so profound
that many of the Sahelian people cannot tell
whether they are African, Arab or a mixture
of both. This identity crisis is the root
cause of the bloody wars of the Arabized
regimes in Africa.This book preserves an
inclusive Pan-Africanism/African nationalism
that is open and respectful of other
cultures.—Garba
Diallo ( Mauritania )
About the Authors—
Bankie Forster Bankie trained as a
lawyer and has worked variously in
administration, diplomacy, education and
research. He currently lives and works in
Juba, South Sudan, where he is associated
with the Kush Institution and is actively
interested in Afro-Arab relations and their
impact on the African unity movement.
Kingo Mchombu is
Professor and Dean, Faculty of Humanities
and Social Sciences, University of Namibia.
In addition to his Pan African interests,
his expertise is in information and
knowledge sharing for the development of
grassroots groups in Africa.
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Genocide, slavery, rape,
and colorism are wrong.—It
is now less than a month
since I was appointed
National Chairwoman of
the United States branch
of South Sudan's
Sudanese Sensitization
Peace Project (the SSPP).
This was a most ironic
appointment considering
the fact that I am a
half-Arab Northerner,
originally born Muslim,
a "traitor" to the
North. I did spy work
for the SPLA (South),
and now, in my job
rounding up celebrities
and politicians to take
a stance on behalf of
Darfur and the 2011
secession of South
Sudan, I find myself
greatly pained that
absolutely none of the
African Presidents of
the African Union are
doing what they should
to challenge and
confront President
Bashir's regime in
Khartoum, even as they
acknowledge that he, and
in full disclosure, my
former boyfriend, Hasan
al Turabi, are
responsible for carrying
out genocide. |
Millions
of blacks around the
world—whether their
worlds be Johannesburg,
Harlem, Dakar, London or
Los Angeles—love to
evoke the names "Nubia"
and "Cush" to the point
of overkill, yet as we
get high linking
ourselves to some
glorious ancient past,
we place little stock in
fixing our present or
constructing our future. Kola
Boof
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A New Chance for
Darfur—Mr. [Ambassador Richard] Williamson, who is
President Bush’s special envoy to Sudan, wrote a tough
memo to Mr. Bush this fall outlining three particular
steps the United States could take to press Sudan’s
leader, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir:
The United States
could jam all communications in Khartoum, the Sudanese
capital. This would include all telephone calls, all
cellular service, all Internet access. After two days,
having demonstrated Sudan’s vulnerability, the United
States could halt the jamming.
The United States
could apply progressive pressure to Port Sudan, from
which Sudan exports oil and thus earns revenue. The
first step would be to send naval vessels near the port.
The next step would be to search or turn back some
ships, and the final step would be to impose a
quarantine and halt Sudan’s oil exports.
The United States
could target Sudanese military aircraft that defy a
United Nations ban on offensive military flights in
Darfur. The first step would be to destroy a helicopter
gunship on the ground at night. A tougher approach would
be to warn Sudan that unless it complies with
international demands (by handing over suspects indicted
by the International Criminal Court, for example), it
will lose its air force — and then if it does not
comply, to destroy all its military aircraft on the
ground.
NYTimes
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Sudanese Government Forces Push
Back Darfur Rebels—26 May 2009—Rebels attacked the military base
in Umm Baru on Sunday (25 May 2009), setting off an
eight-hour battle that stretched into the following day,
Saiki said. Residents reported government airstrikes on
the town on Monday night, he said.
''The government is in control'' of
the town and base, Saiki said. ''We are promised
humanitarian assistance'' for the displaced.
Twenty Sudanese soldiers and 43
rebels were killed, said army spokesman Brig. Gen. Osman
al-Aghbash. There were 85 wounded from both sides, he
said.
Saiki gave a different figure,
saying 50 people were injured, most of them government
soldiers, though there was at least one civilian among
them.
On May 16, rebels from the Justice
and Equality Movement seized a government military base
in Kornoi, another northern Darfur town close to the
border with Chad. Rebels remain in control of that town,
Saiki said.
The war in Darfur began in 2003
when rebel groups took up arms against the government,
complaining of discrimination and neglect. U.N.
officials say up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7
million have fled their homes.
NYTimes
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Manute Bol's Philanthropy As Great An Achievement As
Prolific NBA Career
Though several
news outlets had reported on Manute Bol's acute
kidney disease in the past months, it still came as
a shock to much of the world when the 7 foot 6
former NBA player
died in Virginia at the age of 47.
Bol's height
gave him a domineering presence on the court as well
as premier shot-blocking ability (for comparison,
Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is also listed at 7
foot 6).
However, few
who didn't keep up with Bol's activities after his
NBA career are aware of his consistent efforts to
improve conditions for those in his homeland of
Sudan. In fact, Bol spent nearly his entire fortune,
and went bankrupt, donating money to organizations
that were working in Darfur.
As his former
teammates discuss in the video below, Bol had never
heard of America or the game of basketball until he
was 18. Overwhelmed by an amount of wealth unheard
of where he came from, Bol dedicated his life to
charitable endeavors in Sudan.
With
Alliance for the Lost Boys, Bol worked to bring
medical assistance and education to Sudan. Just last
year, Bol was busy
raising money to build a school when he
contracted Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a skin disease
that would ultimately take his life.
Bol also became
politically active, campaigning for Sudanese
politicians that he believed would help promote
peace.
HuffingtonPost
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Manute Bol
Manute Bol (English pronunciation:
October 16, 1962 – June 19, 2010 was a
Sudanese-born basketball player and
activist. Until the debut of Gheorghe
Mureşan, Bol was indisputably the
tallest player ever to appear in the
National Basketball Association. Bol was
believed to have been born on October
16, 1962 in either Turalie or Gogrial,
Sudan. He was the son of a
Dinka tribal chief, who gave him the
name "Manute," which means "special
blessing."
Wikipedia |
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Britain and France Will
Support Freezing Indictment of Sudan President
The British and
French governments will back efforts in the UN to
stall the issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudan
President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, the Guardian
reported today. The newspaper said that officials
from both capitals informed human rights activists
that they have taken this stance to protect the
peace process in Darfur and Southern Sudan.
The human
rights advocates said that Britain and France will
join the Arab League, African Union, China and
Russia in backing a resolution by the UN General
Assembly this month requesting a deferral of the
charges against Al-Bashir.
Arresting Bashir for Genocide
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Who’s Behind the Egyptian Influx
into Sudan
Letter to the Editor by Luke
Kuth Duk
The Southern
Sudanese people are in a state of shock,
bewilderment and uncertainty regarding the reasoning
of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) and
its executive branch (GOSS) in allowing the infinite
influx of Egyptians, Palestinians and other Arab
nationalities into the country.
The
preparations are well underway for the migration of
five million Egyptians into Sudan under the pretext
of coming, to return life, to the failed Al-Jazzera
Cotton Scheme. As a result of this move, one might
rightly think that the largest country in Africa is
in fact short of indigenous people who can get the
job done, or learn how to.
There are
millons of marginalized Sudanese, who are in
desparate need to work, and millions more scattered
all across the globe, who love and cherish their
country dearly, but were forced to leave when the
current Islamic regime of the tyrant Omar Al-Bashir
muscled themselves into power in 1989
The majority if
not all of those refugees would love to return home
and participate in development, but simply can’t due
to the fact that, nothing has really changed in
terms of the laws of the land and civil liberties.
Sudanese from all walks of life, and especially from
the marginalized regions, are still being subjected
to racial profiling, harassed and arrested without
reasons other than the colour of their skins. So, if
Sudan is indeed one nation for all of its peoples,
then why is it that one side of the coin could be
able to arrive at such a drastic and highly
suspicious immigration decision, without first
consulting with the general public or even its
partners in the government of national unity.
Infusing this
large number of Arab nationalities is particularly
suspicious and alarming considering the elections
and the referendum are nearing. More disturbingly,
the Sudanese nationality is no longer the sacred
document it once was. Under the extremist Islamic
regime, it is being issued even to those who didn’t
ask for it, let alone qualify, as long as they are
Arabs or fanatical Muslims. This has been going on
for the length of this regime. So do your maths!
There is no
other force in Sudan that has the authority and
legality to put an end to the Arab’s immigration
crisis other than the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement. It’s time that the SPLM makes its stance
very clear on this serious issue before they become
suspect themselves. It’s that simple.
Source: Sudan Mirror,
Nairobi/Juba, 18-28th July 2008, page 7
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U.S. Fund Cultural Preservation Award Presented
in Southern Sudan
By Isaac Billy
The US
Government presented to the Government of Southern
Sudan Ministry of Culture. Youth and Sports a check
of 145 thousand Sudanese Pounds to allow for the
preservation of Southern Sudan’s government
archives.
In the
project’s first phase, the Ministry and its
partners, the British Institute of East Africa and
the Kenya National Archives, will catalog and list
the archive holdings. In the second phase, the
Ministry and the Rift Valley Institute will proceed
with digitization of documents.
This written
history of Southern Sudan is currently stored in
Juba in special shelters provided by the USAID
Office of Transition Initiatives. Many documents
were damaged and destroyed during the decades of
civil war.
The Embassy and
the Ministry signed a grant agreement earlier this
year.
The grant was
made possible by the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural
Preservation, which supports cultural preservation
projects around the world each year. The projects
represent the heritage of all geographic regions and
encompass the preservation of museum collections and
archives, historic building restoration and
ethnographic documentation.
The Fund,
created by the United States Congress in 2001, aims
to assist developing countries in preserving museum
collections, ancient and historic sites, and
traditional forms of expression.
The Cultural
Heritage Centre of the US Bureau of Education and
Cultural Affairs, US Department of State,
administers the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural
Preservation. This particular project is
administered with the assistance of the Office of
Public Affairs of the Embassy in Khartoum.
Through a range
of cultural preservation activities, the Bureau
promotes cooperation with other countries to reduce
the threat of pillage of irreplaceable cultural
heritage, and to develop long-term strategies for
preserving cultural property.
Source:
The Juba Post, 4-7 August 2008, J uba, South Sudan,
page 4.
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No Printing
Press in South Sudan
Juba, South
Sudan
South Sudan does not posses a printing press. All
newspapers are printed in Khartoum or in Nairobi.
English language papers serve the southern community
in the South or those living in the Khartoum area.
There used to be three main English language papers
for Southerners. Some ten days ago the Sudan
Tribune, headquartered in Khartoum, was closed down
by the Khartoum government, who complained about its
tone and specifically about some of its writers. The
Tribune is looking at the possibility of printing in
Kampala.It used to print in Khartoum.
The Citizen has just been closed down by
Khartoum. The Citizen maintains its main
editorial team in Juba and prints in Khartoum. The
reasons for its closure was that it had recently
appointed a Darfurian as its Khartoum based editor,
whom the Khartoum authorities do not like Nhial Bol,
its Editor in Chief has just travelled from Juba to
Khartoum. He states that these incidents are typical
of the climate in which the press operates in Sudan.
According to him the press is now under pressure
prior to the 2009 national elections.
This leaves only one English language daily serving
Southerners—this is the Khartoum Monitor, which has
its editorial team in Khartoum where it prints.
Regards, B.F.Bankie (2 September 2008)
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Sudanese Moving North
to Israel—Excessively harsh socio-economic
conditions and racist attitudes in Egypt seem to be the
main reason why Sudanese refugees want to relocate to
Israel. Of the Sudanese refugees now resident in Israel
71 per cent report verbal and physical abuse as the main
reason for their fleeing Egypt. Some 86 per cent had
refugee status with the UNHCR in Egypt, though those
crossing the border spent an average of six months in
detention upon arrival in Israel. Others are subject to
indefinite detention. Sudan is considered an enemy state
by the Israelis and Sudanese refugees are viewed as
suspect. This is especially the case with Muslim
Sudanese from Darfur and northern Sudan. Southern
Sudanese are culturally more attuned to Israeli culture,
and Israelis warm up to them. |
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"The Israelis are
suspicious of us because we are Muslim," complained
a Sudanese originally from Darfur. . .
. There are an estimated 400,000 Sudanese refugees
in Kenya, 400,000 in Chad and 100,000 in Egypt. Yet
on the UN human development index, Israel stands at
23, Egypt at 111 and Kenya at 152. Chad is among the
world's poorest and least developed nations and
Sudan is not far behind.
–Gamal Nkrumah.
Sudanese refugees fleeing Egypt for Israel
Web links:
Restriction
of Humanitarian Aid Eric
Reeves on Sudan
Counter-Insurgency
on the Cheap
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The drift back to
war: insecurity and militarization in the Nuba mountains
The Brief provides the context for understanding current
tensions in the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan,
where Nuba and Arab groups are becoming increasing
militarized. It finds that:
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* The area is highly
militarized with both parties to the
conflict actively violating the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA),
including by recruiting members of armed
groups.
* Khartoum's paramilitary Popular Defence
Forces (PDF) are being reorganized in the
region on a sharper ethnic basis than in the
past.
* Arabs returning to animal migration routes
closed by the war are being armed, often
through the PDF, with a corresponding
mobilization by some settled tribes.
* UNMIS has done little to calm tensions, in
contrast to the active efforts of the much
smaller number of unarmed ceasefire
monitors, the Joint Military Commission (JMC),
which were present from 200205.
* There is considerable resentment among
Nuba about how the CPA protocol on South
Kordofan dealt with the region, providing
little in the way of enforceable autonomy
and deferring the most important questions
on land ownership and access and security
arrangements. |
The Brief concludes
that discontent is turning to anger, and many now view
war in the Nuba Mountains as inevitable.
The Issue Brief, Number 12 in the HSBA series, can be
downloaded from:
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/portal/spotlight/sudan/sudan_publications.html
For further information about the publication and the
project, contact Claire Mc Evoy, HSBA Project Manager,
at
claire.mcevoy@smallarmssurvey.org
Please let us know if you wish to be removed from this
mailing list.
Sincerely, The HSBA
Team Small Arms Survey / 47 Avenue Blanc / 1202 Geneva /
Switzerland /
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org
* * * *
*
SOUTHERN SUDAN LEGISLATIVE
ASSEMBLY (SSLA): MARTYRS,WAR-VETERANS AND WOUNDED HEROES
TO BE REGISTERED by Ladiong Anthony, extract from page
3, Juba Post, Juba, South Sudan, 30 June-3 July 2008
The Southern Sudan
Legislative Assembly (SSLA) Monday 23 June passed a
recommendation demanding that the Ministry of Sudan
Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA) Affairs make a roster
of victims of the 21 year old civil war in Sudan. The
victims specifically include widows, orphans, martyrs,
war veterans and wounded heroes.
The resolution was
passed after the findings of the SLAA Security and
Public Order Committee, that nothing has been done for
the fallen heroes about their post service benefits.
SSLA passed the recommendations on the Report on the
SPLA White Paper on Defence, through the leadership of
the acting SSLA Speaker Hon Daniel Deng Monydit.
* * * *
*
SSLA RECOMMENDS IMMEDIATE
DISARMAMENT by Lodiong Anthony, extract from page 3,Juba
Post, Juba, South Sudan, 30 June-3 July 2008
The Southern Sudan
Legislative Assembly (SSLA) has on Monday, June 23
recommended immediate disarmament of the civil armed
population without distinction, concurrently with army
encampment. The resolution was passed following a report
on the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) White Paper
on Defence presented by the SSLA Security and Public
Order Committee chaired by Hon Retired General Ayoub
Phillip Gaza
Reading that their
general observations on the transformation, roles and
functions of SPLA, Hon Ayoub lauded that the process of
disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR),
assembling of forces, integration and deployment still
faces difficulties and delays. Under the Chair of Acting
SSLA Speaker Hon Daniel Deng Monydit, the august house
passed the disarmament resolution including speedy
screening, training and deployment of the undeployed
officers and unassembled army to ease the
implementation of DDR and budget processes. Two weeks
ago the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) President H.E
Salva Kiir Mayardit issued a decree asking for the
disarmament of Southern Sudan communities carrying
arms. In Jonglei State, the process has started in Akobo
County. It has also commenced in Western and Northern
Bar El Ghazal States. According to Upper Nile State DDR
Coordinator Peter Gatwech, his state is getting prepared
to conduct the disarmament exercise.
* * * *
*
The Sudan Sensitization
Peace Project (SSPP)
SSPP raises the
levels of consciousness within the global African
community on Sudan issues and so impacts positively on
the destinies of those involved in its interactive
process.
SSPP is conceived,
and implemented by concerned Africans, on the basis that
Sudan is geo-strategically placed to impart a number of
lessons relevant to the African experience.
SSPP is conceived
as a two-way learning process bringing to Sudan the
experience of the global African community.
The configuration
of Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is not well
known by Africans in general, both within the Continent
and in the Western ( Americas, Europe etc ) and Eastern
( Gulf states, Arabia etc ) Diasporas, yet today
Sudanese issues are world headlines. Their resolution
provide solutions for similar problems in the
Borderlands, from the Red Sea through to Mauritania, on
the Atlantic.
SSPP will empower
Sudanese to talk internationally to their issues, from
their perspectives, to their fellow Africans, on the
understanding that ultimately that constituency is the
most effected by how the issues are resolved and how
peace is attained.
Historical records
establish the significance of the land which was and
today is known as Sudan. Whether considered from the
Asiatic or Western perspective, civilizations existed
which impacted humanity in general. It was later that
this initial sharing became an extractive process with
people and materials being taken out and ideas put in.
Similar historical patterns were experienced by Africans
at home and abroad.
The challenge in
the new period is to bring peace and development from
within, in the face of external countervailing forces.
Other parts of the world have realized national
auto-development, on a sustained collective basis. The
lessons from the component parts of the unity concept
are not only relevant, but vital. Such microscopic
scrutiny can only advance understanding, co-operation
and integration.
January 2008
* * * *
*
* * * *
*
Africom: The new US military
command for Africa—A series of
consultations with the governments of a
number of African countries—including
Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt,
Djibouti, Kenya—following the
announcement of Africom found than none
of them were willing to commit to
hosting the new command. As a result,
the Pentagon has been forced to
reconsider its plans and in June 2007
Ryan Henry, the Principal Deputy
Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy
told reporters that the Bush
administration now intended to establish
what he called “a distributed command”
that would be “networked” in several
countries in different regions of the
continent. Under questioning before the
Senate Africa Subcommittee on 1 August
2007, Assistant Secretary Whelan said
that Liberia, Botswana, Senegal, and
Djibouti were among the countries that
had expressed support for Africom—although
only Liberia has publicly expressed a
willingness to play host to Africom
personnel—which clearly suggests that
these countries are likely to
accommodate elements of Africom’s
headquarters staff when they eventually
establish a presence on the continent
sometime after October 2008.
Pambazuka
* *
* * *
|
Roba
Gibia was born in Singo, Southern Sudan.
He received his Bachelor of Arts & Education
in Ain Shams University, Egypt (1987). He
writes on Sudan affairs and publishes widely
in newspapers in Sudan and websites at Sudan
Tribune, Khartoum Monitor, Gurtong Peace
Trust, Google International News, and Sudan
MonitorMagazine in Uganda.
Gibia is author of
John Garang and the Vision of NEW SUDAN
(Fall 2008):
The objective of this new book is to tackle
the crux of Dr. John Grang’s vision of the
new Sudan. Roba Gibia shows the power greed
and inhumane behaviour of the ruling elites
in the central government are the causes to
the marginalization, suffering, war, deaths
and destruction of the majority of the
Sudanese people. |
 |
* *
* * *
 |
Will
Africa Let Sudan Off the Hook?—The
expected issuance of an arrest warrant for
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan by
the International Criminal Court tomorrow
presents a stark choice for African
leaders—are they on the side of justice or
on the side of injustice? Are they on the
side of the victim or the oppressor? The
choice is clear but the answer so far from
many African leaders has been shameful.
Because
the victims in Sudan are African, African
leaders should be the staunchest supporters
of efforts to see perpetrators brought to
account. Yet rather than stand by those who
have suffered in Darfur, African leaders
have so far rallied behind the man
responsible for turning that corner of
Africa into a graveyard.
NYTimes |
Diaspora and
African Slavery
Bankie, B.F.
Mchombu,K (ed). 2006. 199-207, 210.
Pan-Africanism, strengthening the unity of Africa and
its Diaspora. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan
Diop, C. A. 1974.
The African origin of civilization: Myth and reality.
New York : Lawrence Hill Books
Diop, C. A. 1989.
The cultural unity of Black Africa: The domains of
matriarchy and patriarchy in classical antiquity.
London: Karnak House
Ga’le, S.F.B.T. 2002. Shaping a
free Southern Sudan: Memoirs of our struggle 1934-1985.
Torrit: Loa Catholic Parish Council
Hunwick, J.O. 1993. African slaves
in the Mediterranean world: A neglected aspect of the
African Diaspora. In Harris (ed), 1993b
Lagu, J. 2006. Sudan, odyssey
through a state, from ruin to hope. Omdurman : Omdurman
Ahlia University
Lemelle, S. 1992.14.
Pan-Africanism for beginners. New York : Writers and
Readers Publishing Inc.
Nabudere, D.W.
2007.6-34. Cheik Anta Diop : the social sciences,
humanities, physical and natural sciences and
transdisciplinarity. Pretoria. CARS/UNISA – in
International Journal of African Rennaissance Studies 2
(1) 2007, Pretoria: UNISA
Prah,K.K. (ed) 2005. 2, 8-9, X111,
147. Reflections on Arab-led slavery of Africans. Cape
Town: CASAS
Prah, K. K. 2006.196. The African
Nation. Cape Town: CASAS
Redkey,E.S. 1969.1.
Black exodus, Black nationalist and back to Africa
movements 1890-1910. New Haven: Yale University
Press
Segal, R.1995.
The Black Diaspora. London : Faber and Faber
Segal, R. 2001.
Islam’s Black slaves : The other Diaspora. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
African Renaissance
/
Kwame
Nkrumah, Kenyatta, and the Old Order /
God Save His Majesty
For Kwame Nkrumah
Night of the Giants /
The Legend of the Saifs /
Interview with Yambo Ouologuem
Yambo
Bio & Review
African
Renaissance (Journal)
* *
* * *
Escape from Slavery: The True Story
of My Ten Years in Captivity and My
Journey to Freedom in America
By
Francis Bok
Slave: My True Story
By
Mende Nazer
Alek: My Life from Sudanese Refugee to
International Supermodel
By
Alek Wek
* * *
* *
* * * *
*
 |
Daunting
Documentary Details Ethnic Cleansing in
Sudan—While the U.S. has seen fit to
intervene to save the citizens of Iraq from
Saddam Hussein, it’s sad to think that
nothing is being done about the ongoing
ethnic cleansing in Sudan. At last count,
over 2000 villages had been destroyed and
about 400,000 people had perished in the
government-sanctioned slaughter which has
sent hundreds of thousands scurrying across
the border to refugee camps and 2,000,000
more simply on the run. As delineated in
Darfur Diaries, the problem stems from
Sudan’s Arab-run government giving free rein
to the Janjaweed, a federation of nomadic
Muslim tribes to pillage Africa’s largest
nation’s black communities. Sudan’s air
force actively assists the aggressors in
this endeavor by bombing and strafing not
only villages, but even the refugee camps.
The film
Darfur Diaries
was shot in
2004 by three Westerners, Aisha Bain, Jen
Marlowe and Adam Shapiro, intrepid
filmmakers who risked life and limb to bring
back interviews which just tug at your
heartstrings.
We hear from women who have been brutally
raped, from starving orphans scarred by
watching their parents die, and from lost
souls at their wit’s end living under trees
and with nowhere to go. |
An urgent call for the
world community to do much more than merely observe this
ever-worsening humanitarian crisis as it continues to unfold.— Excellent (4
stars). Unrated. In Arabic and English with
subtitles.
Darfur Diaries
Running time: 55 minutes. Studio: Cinema
Libre Studio. DVD Extras: Interviews, photos
and featurettes.—Kam Williams
* * *
* *
|
The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia
Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East
By Andrew Scott Cooper
The Oil Kings: How Nixon courted the shah—Joan Oleck—The transcripts of the oil deals reveal how Kissinger referred to Nixon as "that drunken lunatic" with "the meatball mind," and how he negotiated a settlement with Iran that cost US oil companies their strategic hold in the Saudi oil industry.Rigged defence contracts also emerge in these pages, most notably the one fashioned by Nelson Rockefeller, then the governor of New York, who solicited Kissinger's help to save New York-based Grumman Corporation from bankruptcy by pushing the shah to purchase the company's F-14 jet fighter. That deal would help carry New York state for the Nixon-Agnew ticket in the 1972 election. For his part, the shah leapt at the opportunity. There's more, such as the preparation of military contingency plans—which called for Iran to invade Kuwait and Saudi Arabia—and the war games that were held in the Mojave Desert to prepare for such an eventuality. |
 |
Then there are the millions of dollars in kickbacks paid by Grumman and Northrop to "middlemen" in Iran, facilitating all those weapons sales. And the scariest deal of all: Nixon's agreement to sell nuclear power plants and fuel to Iran, with no apparent concern for the wider implications such a transaction might hold.—TheNational
Derrick Bell Law Rights Advocate Dies at
80 / Civil Rights Activist Fred Shuttlesworth dies at 89
* * * * *
 |
Allah, Liberty, and Love
The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom
By Irshad Manji
In Allah, Liberty and Love, Irshad Manji paves a path for Muslims and non-Muslims to transcend the fears that stop so many of us from living with honest-to-God integrity: the fear of offending others in a multicultural world as well as the fear of questioning our own communities. Since publishing her international bestseller, The Trouble with Islam Today, Manji has moved from anger to aspiration. She shows how any of us can reconcile faith with freedom and thus discover the Allah of liberty and love—the universal God that loves us enough to give us choices and the capacity to make them. Among the most visible Muslim reformers of our era, Manji draws on her experience in the trenches to share stories that are deeply poignant, frequently funny and always revealing about these morally confused times. |
What
prevents young Muslims, even in the West, from
expressing their need for religious
reinterpretation? What scares non-Muslims about
openly supporting liberal voices within Islam? How
did we get into the mess of tolerating intolerable
customs, such as honor killings, and how do we change that noxious status quo?
* *
* * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
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Black World
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music)
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