April 2010
112 posts
UNESCO's strongman prize for life sciences →
The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
has come under fire this week from human rights groups and anti-corruption
advocates for proceeding with plans to award the…
Rallying Peace Activists into One Global Network →
The global community of peace activists, peacebuilders, peace-keepers, peaceniks, conflict mitigators, and midnight gardeners — yes all distinctly different things — have tried time and again…
100,000 Japanese Protest for U.S. Military Base... →
Did you hear about the Japanese protesters who marched against U.S. bases in their country? If not, don’t feel left out. The news hardly made headlines stateside, although it figured…
U.N. diplomat: Iran sanctions "not even nearing... →
The U.S. effort to secure U.N. support for sanctions against
Iran stalled this week as the Iranian leader unveiled plans to travel to New
York to challenge any U.N. agreement to constrain Tehran’s…
U.S. 'Special Relationships' Strained Globally:... →
The good cop (President Obama) and bad cop (President Bush) routine when it came to foreign policy and international relations, which the Democrats convincingly pushed during the presidential…
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The UN must continue to protect civilians in Chad... →
Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people living in eastern Chad, including more than 450,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur and internally displaced Chadians, are at risk if the UN mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) leaves or no longer has a mandate to protect civilians. The current MINURCAT mandate is due to expire on 15 May 2010. The government of Chad already announced...
CNDP-Kigali rift →
More and more former CNDP members seem to be falling out with the government in Kigali. I wrote here previously that some members of the Rwandan security services suspect that the CNDP could be…
Papa Wemba speaks out →
Most Congolese musicians have an ambivalent relationship with politicians. Many have to maintain good relations, as their funds rely to a certain extent on the largesse of politicians and…
Haiti: Life in camps continues - Oxfam staff diary →
Ahmadinejad coming to America? →
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has requested a visa to attend a high-level conference next
week at U.N. headquarters to review progress on the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty,…
So Much for the "Crisis" in U.S.-Israel Relations →
Every so often, I find myself having an “I can’t believe it” moment as I read through the International section of the New York Times during my ritualistic morning subway ride to work. In…
Crates, Food Aid, and Explosives →
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has just come out with a fascinating website that helps humanitarian aid and development agencies attempt to monitor whether…
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Tackling sexual violence must include prevention... →
27 April 2010 – Fresh from her visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which she described as the “rape capital of the world,” a senior United Nations official today urged the Security Council to make the prevention of sexual violence a top priority, and stressed the need to end impunity for the scourge.
“Women have no rights, if those who violate their rights go unpunished,” Margot...
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UN humanitarian chief sees deprivation among... →
27 April 2010 – The top United Nations humanitarian official today traveled to south-eastern Niger to assess the human impact of a grave food crisis that has affected more than half of the West African country’s 14 million people.
John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, went to the department of Tanout in the region of Zinder, where...
UN Evacuates Some Staff From Embattled Kandahar:... →
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced today that it has temporarily moved some of its international staff in Kandahar to Kabul and instructed its national…
A victory for the U.N. press corps →
The U.N. Security Council has
agreed to restore some limited rights to U.N. reporters so they can roam the
U.N. corridors with U.N. diplomats entering and exiting the council’s chambers,
ending…
Ban: U.N. staffers may have been killed by Afghan... →
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office said today that
a U.N. board of inquiry has concluded that four U.N. staffers may have been
killed by Afghan security forces who might have mistaken…
Mass Sickness of Afghan Schoolgirls Raises... →
Dozens of schoolgirls in northern Afghanistan have mysteriously fallen ill after reporting a strange smell in their classrooms. The mysterious epidemic is raising fears of poisoning by…
Why Are Many Vets Celebrated While Others Remain... →
Why do you think some U.S. war veterans return home celebrated while others are deported, homeless, jailed, or dead?
Vets are a cross-section of America with the not-so-simple addition of a…
Humanitarian Aid: A Warmonger's Best Friend? →
Does humanitarian aid prolong wars? Yes, argues Dutch journalist Linda Polman in her new book War Games: The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times. War Games is the latest addition to the…
Ingabire on trial →
This is turning out to be a very exciting electoral season in Rwanda, indeed. People are paying attention: A Wall Street Journal opinion piece came out in support of Kagame, while a TIME article
Afghanistan: Kabul’s Restaurant Raids →
Afghanistan: Taliban reintegration plans →
Public sexual harassment in Kabul →
A woman who recently went to Kabul for the first time has often posted on her facebook about public sexual harassment on the streets of Kabul. To be honest, sexual harassment is quiet common in…
As Iran's bid to join rights body fails, U.S.... →
The Obama administration today applauded Iran’s decision to
withdraw its candidacy for a seat on the 47-nation Human Rights Council,
portraying it as a vindication of its decision to join the…
The Australian Government's Senseless Asylum... →
Canberra limits the options of Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers.
The Australian Government temporarily suspended processing of asylum claims from Afghan and Sri Lankan nationals…
Has Eritrea Turned into a Giant Prison? →
Eritrea, Eritrea, how I’ve longed to travel to Eritrea. Just a few short years ago, Eritrea miraculously won a fierce, long, and bloody war of independence against the overwhelming power of…
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Guardian Letters: We must not forget the victims... →
The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have for over 11 years endured violence, war crimes, corruption, humanitarian crisis, looting and rape on a scale that defies comprehension. In April 2007, theInternational Rescue Committee estimated the death toll in Congo since 1998 at 5.4 million. This horrific figure continues to rise at a rate of 45,000 a month. The additional consequences of...
Who says the U.N. Security Council's decisions... →
The world’s
premier security body acted decisively today, banning reporters from roaming in
the vicinity of diplomats as they enter and exit the U.N. delegates’ entrance.
The new policy will be…
Don't Forget to Teach Our Kids About Human Rights →
I googled the words “Awareness Day” on my computer, and a Wikipedia page popped up listing everything from “Pig Day,” March 1; “Potato Day,” January 28; “International Dance Day,” April 29;…
Nepal's Peace Ministry Celebrates Post-War... →
Ban-Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, reminded governments this week that peacebuilding is not just about armed forces subduing insurgents or ministries mitigating opposition. It’s a…
Riposte on Johnnie Carson →
I was speaking with a diplomat friend in Kinshasa about US Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson’s visit. It appears my blog posting did him some injustice - he did “forcefully” raise the issue…
Kadhalika →
After Minister of Info Lambert Mende’s diatribe against MONUC last week, where he fulminated that they had stood by insurgents killed a civilian, now a local NGO is claiming they have…
Exclusive: Death at the Afghan guesthouse →
A U.N. security officer from Miami, Louis Maxwell,
was most likely shot to death outside a U.N. guesthouse last October by Afghan
security forces that mistook him for a Taliban insurgent, U.N….
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Dangers Mounting for Afghan Women →
Attempted assassinations of women lawmakers, and the gruesome murder of a young aid worker highlight increasing violence against Afghan women in public life.
Heeeere's Johnnie →
Some articles in the news: US’ top diplomat on Africa, Johnnie Carson, visited Kinshasa this week. Let’s see…what could be on the top of his agenda - dealing with security sector reform? The…
What's going on in Rwanda? →
Reports emerged in the press today that President Kagame had arrested two high-ranking generals: Karenzi Karake and Charles Muhire (in the middle in this picture, between Gen Kayonga and Gen…
The nuclear backlash begins →
For
more than a week, the United States and Russia have been basking in the glow of
international praise for their commitment to eliminate thousands of nuclear
warheads at an April 8 signing…
Kill Everything in Sight, Then Hit Reset →
Following up on research regarding video game violence for the War and Peace blog here at Change.org, I decided to watch a recent documentary concentrating on the debate over whether…
Website offers new transparency on shadowy... →
Last year, the U.S.
security contractor Dyncorp hired a South Africa-based air transport company,
Aerolift, to transport African peacekeepers and relief supplies to Somalia in
defense of the…
Why and How To Do 'Green' Peace Activism →
The pioneering (though sometimes disparaged) Greenpeace organization was originally an anti-nuclear war group that changed course, but in so doing found and helped vastly enlarge a tiny…
Pacific Islanders Debate How to End Colonialism →
What happens when a set of indigenous people believe that foreign domination, new colonialism, and repression is destroying their way of life, but instead of launching an insurgency, they…
What Could Nick Clegg’s Meteoric Rise Spell for... →
“Nick who?”
That, undoubtedly, was the reaction of most Americans on Saturday to news that Nick Clegg, leader of Britain’s third largest political party, the Liberal Democrats, managed…
Kadhalika →
Introducing a new name to an old section: Kadhalika, meaning et cetera in Swahili. A big name for my links to other articles of interest on the web. Colette Braeckman, probably the best…
Affaire Enyele: Political aftershocks →
The rebellion/insurgency in Equateur is, as predicted, now spilling over into the political domain. According to some sources in Kinshasa, the government is now investigating Jean-Yves …
Detained Italian Aid Workers Freed in Afghanistan →
After eight days in police custody, three Italian aid workers accused of plotting to kill a provincial governor have been freed.
Three Italian aid workers arrested in southern…
Putting Humpty Dumpty back together →
REPORTAGE - Les grands chantiers - RD Congo Uploaded by AFRICA24. - News videos hot off the press. Many of you may have already seen this, but here are a couple of…
Translations into Afghan languages: Dari and... →
Since a long time ago, I had this in my mind to speak up publicly that I enjoy translation in Afghan languages. I used to work as translator for various publications and publishers in Afghanistan. As…
5 UN Employees Believed Kidnapped in Afghanistan →
Five Afghan UN employees have gone missing in the northern province of Baghlan as Afghanistan’s war spreads to once-peaceful areas.
Bad news out of Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan…
Rwanda: Rwanda suspends newspapers →