To celebrate this momentous occassion that signified the end to a longstanding violent conflict with the North, the US thought the most appropriate gift was to give South Sudan a load of new weapons......
After adding South Sudan to the list of countries which the US can transfer weapons to, Barack Obama said this in his memorandom:
“the furnishing of defense articles and defense services to the Republic of South Sudan will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace”. (ST)
Emphasis on South Sudan now being the US' guard dog in East Africa...... congratulations?
As happy as I am on this day, I can't help but think that there are some little cynical weasels out there who are rubbing their hand together as their idea of a pre-failed state (also here and here) may have come true with today's line up of news.......
I'm probably being irrational in my beliefs, and I can't really argue against their points, but I can't help but still hold a lot of hope for South Sudan. Being there, with the spirit of the people, one can't help but think that these are merely short-term problems that will be overshadowed by the long path of success in South Sudan's future.
Im sure (hoping) that many of you have heard about the recent violence that has been occurring in Jonglei State of South Sudan between the Murle community of Pibor county and the Lou-Nuer of the surrounding area*. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Al-Jazeera had made it the headline of their front page. Also, here is a link to an interesting recording from the BBC Worldservice, on the current conflict
It is difficult to really state when this conflict actually began but it is certain that the the level of violence has been continuously escalating as vengeance is met revenge. This recent attack is in retaliation to this attack that left 600 (Lou-Nuer) dead, which was a retaliation to this attack 250 (Murle) dead, and so on and so forth. The number of casualties of this recent attack has been estimated at 2,182 people from the Murle community, mostly women and children......That is about 1.5% of the entire Murle population**. This is the type of numbers you see from a full military conflict or civil war. But this is not civil war. This is a conflict between two communities fighting over identity, resources (cattle) and a lot of strong emotions. For me, one of the strangest thing about this conflict is that you can't really sympathise with either sides.
Anyways, the following is a video from Al-Jazeera, I want to draw your attention to the interview with the vice president Riek Machar, and his strategy on dealing with the issue.
******WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IMMINENT.....you have been warned*********
Aside from the standard procedures to deal with the immediate threat, deployment of additional security forces and the creation of a buffer zone, the solution is one that I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing......Motherfucking PEACE CONFERENCE!!
For those that might not know, a peace conference is basically just an event where the politicians and community leaders from both warring parties come together, have a nice meal, hand out some t-shirts, and tell some wanker consultant about what THEY think the cause of conflict is and how THEY think the issues can be resolved. A whole bunch of pretty resolution and recommendations are written down....and then ends up in some file to never see the light of day again. This obsession of peace conferences basically stems from its successes in resolving some of the inter-community conflict, back in the day. Since those successes, whenever there is a conflict, peace conferences have become the de facto solution.....but it has been so long since they have been successful. The organisers typically exclude the people who are involved in the conflict, and when the belligerents are involved, they will say whatever sounds good at the time just for the sake of saying them.....people behave differently in the presence of different people?!.....that is just shocking! (anyone who has ever done a community focus group discussion will know what Im talking about).
Now of course I am being excessively harsh. Its not like I have any bright ideas to solve this conflict.....(not one that is ready to be implemented anyways) and these politicians are merely just implementing what they know......and what they know is basically whatever horseshit that NGOs and the UN have been feeding them.....and what do these people know? well....horseshit. Many of the peacebuilding strategies are created with guesswork based on the dubious information about the causes of the conflict that they extract from the community (through rubbish focus group discussions).
So basically, Im calling for an end to this ridiculous method of resolving conflict. Im calling for a beginning of peacebuilding strategies that are rigorously tested before implementation. Im calling for new approaches to resolving conflict that does not involve what is essentially a really expensive circle jerk***
Oh and lets also not forget those damn donors with their short term funding that forces organisations to adopt simple shallow projects that are expected to perform miracles......fuck you, you ignorant cretins.
Finally, I just have to add.....the UN would've probably been able to anticipate this attack much much earlier if they actually had people on the ground. The UN has a compound in Akobo town (the capital of the county where the Lou-Nuer come from) that I know is always empty. They just fly-in on their fancy helicopters once in a while to talk to the county commissioner, but never actually stay there.....probably due to security issues.....pussies.
*For a map of the boundaries of the various ethnic groups in SS, go here
*** Not to say that there aren't organisations out there that are trying different approaches......but usually when there are, they are still not very well thought through and a widely based on gut instinct.
My personal sufi expert has finally started his own blog, Internet Penance. His most recent post is an interesting perspective on why al-Dabi was selected to lead the Arab League observer mission to Syria.
I am more inclined to believe that this the failure of this mission had less to do with a genuine desire to resolve the conflict, but a reflection of the limitations and increasing irrelevance of the Arab League model as defined by the worldview of the Old Guard. Perhaps, the Arab Parliament (a newer body connected to the League) and its call on the observer mission to give up and leave (and hence contradiction of the League’s adamant defense of the mission) is an indication that the breeze of the Arab Spring ‘khamsin‘ is about to turn up at the headquarters of the Arab League itself.
Im not a massive fan of copy
and pasting but this was just too funny. FromAllAfrica:
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)
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.
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".
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
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.
