Prostitutes rape pastors

You try finding an appropriate image

Im not a massive fan of copy and pasting but this was just too funny. From AllAfrica:

Two men of God were over the weekend allegedly lured to patronise harlots at a popular brothel at Cable Point, Asaba, the Delta State capital, when they went there to preach to the ladies of easy virtue.LEADERSHIP learnt that the pastors from a very popular church along Ibusa Road in the state had visited the area to convert and win over the sex workers to their church, but they were themselves seduced by the prostitutes who had sex with them and later burnt their Bibles and clothes.
Sources said the men of God (their names withheld) had resolved in one of their meetings to win many converts, especially the prostitutes who stay in brothels, in order for them to grow their church's membership.Cable Point is a notorious stop-over for hoodlums and has the largest number of brothels and casinos in the south-south region.An eyewitness said that preachers had gained audience with the harlots but after a period of time they were disoriented by the sudden display of breasts and other revealing body parts which reportedly hypnotized the preachers. Their hosts then took them into their rooms where they were said to have performed 'quickies.'LEADERSHIP learnt that fight broke out when the evangelists regained their composure and insisted on not paying the harlots' bills, arguing that that was not their original mission. During the scuffle, they ladies reportedly burnt the pastors' Bibles and clothes.

I have absolutely nothing to add....

(I don't know how to get rid of the highlights and can't be bothered to retype it, sorry)

Ostriches and Sufis in Sudan

I was recently sent this most interesting link of a video of a Sufi Tariqa (order) in Sudan performing a ritual ceremony......with ostriches?!
Further research led to the photograph above from a Foreign Policy collection of photos of Sudan as a whole released just before the South's independence. There are references to ostriches in a bunch of articles, but nothing that actually explains the significance of ostriches to their ceremonies. Just references to the creature in metaphorical a

I consulted my Sufi expert (because all the cool kids have one of those), who has spent some time with this Tariqa in Sudan but he was unsure of it himself. I then tried to consult my ostrich expert, but he had his head in the ground (ba-dum-tiss)

If anyone out there has some answers and would like to enlighten me, I would be very grateful.

H/T: Harith Ramli 

More Tweet Battles...

Continuing on from previous wars being fought over twitter, Al-Shabab (@HSMPress) and the Kenyan Defence Forces (@KDF) have started their on war of words as the KDF pushes into Somalia in support of the "Somalian Government".

From Al-Jazeera:

A few days ago, al-Shabab posted this, referring to the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF): "Unable to foot the bill, the young & temperamental #KDF joins the fatigued &timid #AMISOM in a turbulent marriage of convenience." 

Major Emmaneul Chirchir, the KDF's spokesman, is also on Twitter (@MajorEChirchir). When Kenyan forces went into Somalia, he tweeted the names of the Somali towns which would be targeted, warning people to leave. 

 "Any large concentration and movement of loaded donkeys will be considered Al Shabaab activity," he wrote.

@HSMPress responded: "Like bombing donkeys, you mean! Your eccentric battle strategy has got animal rights groups quite concerned. Major. " 

The Major, clearly rattled, responded: "Life has more meaning than denying women to wear bras..RT in support of Somalia women."

The use of formal english in their tweets suggests that the writer for Al-Shabab was educated in the west or is a westerner themselves. Whoever it is, they are pretty dedicated in their role as a spokesperson, while even adding some humour:

@nazaninemoshiri [correspondent for Al-Jazeera] This must be #AlJazeera's innovative new approach to Twitter interviews. Should we call it Twinterview?

On the darker side, HSMPress is also being used as a means to report the victims of its violence:

Images of the ID cards of #Burundian soldiers killed in #Mogadishubattles. - NSENGIYUMVA, Céléstin. D.O.B = 1975

Lessons in diplomacy

If things start to get messy, just walk away:

 The Kenyan foreign minister Moses Wetangula on Tuesday announced that his government will not host the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting that was to be dedicated for discussions on the Sudan issues.
The decision comes against the backdrop of the arrest warrant issued by a Kenyan high court judge last month for Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in compliance with similar warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC)....the Kenyan top diplomat reversed course revealing that Kenya has written to IGAD to allow Ethiopia host the summit since President Meles Zenawi is the current IGAD chairman.

from Sudan Tribune.

Also, read the rest of the article to see a beautiful political system with its powers well distributed in action.