Cross-border conflict explodes in violence against world cup watchers.

July 12th, 2010

From The NY Times.
Reminder of the continual proxy violence between Somalia, Uganda, and Ethiopia. The most innocent are terrorists unfortunate victims.

KAMPALA, Uganda – Somalia’s most feared insurgent group, the Shabab, claimed responsibility Monday for the coordinated bombings that killed more than 70 people in Uganda as crowds gathered to watch the final match of World Cup.
The Shabab have been waging a relentless insurgency against Somalia’s weak transitional federal government, and they have repeatedly threatened Uganda and Burundi for contributing troops to the African Union’s effort to stabilize the country.
“We have warned several times to the Ugandan government to withdraw its army from Somalia, and they should face the consequence,” Ali Mohamoud Rage, a Shabab spokesman, told reporters Monday.
“Burundi will face similar attacks soon, if they don’t withdraw,” he added. “We are sending a message to every country who is willing to send troops to Somalia that they will face attacks on their territory.”
The bombs exploded at 10:30 p.m. local time on Sunday in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, in the middle of the match between Spain and the Netherlands in South Africa. The explosions tore through a popular Ethiopian garden restaurant and a rugby field where large screens had drawn hundreds of spectators.
Visiting the sites of the bombings on Monday, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda condemned the attackers as “backwards and cowardly.”
“If they want to fight they should find soldiers, not attack people who are just enjoying themselves,” Mr. Museveni said. “We shall look for them and get them, wherever they are.”
Among the dead was at least one American, killed with scores of others at the rugby field. The aid group Invisible Children identified him as Nate Henn, saying he had worked with the organization for a year and a half, raising money and doing advocacy work for child soldiers affected by years of warfare in Uganda.
Julie Cozzie, a neighbor in Raleigh, N.C., described Mr. Henn as a “kind, gentle, nice young man” who cared deeply for Uganda.
Officials said that, besides Ugandans, the dead included Indian, Irish, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Congolese citizens. Police officials said they had not ruled out suicide bombers in the attack, and roads throughout Kampala were closed off as American and Ugandan security officers inspected the sites. The United States Embassy said it had offered to help in the investigation and warned of the possibility of more attacks.
The Shabab have long threatened to strike outside of Somalia and have carried out some smaller-scale, cross-border raids in Kenya. But Sunday’s bombings greatly increased the group’s reach beyond Somalia, and could ultimately restructure some of the region’s dynamics, particularly around security issues.
In a taped message broadcast last week on Somali radio stations, the Shabab’s senior leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, who is also known as Abu-Zubeyr, ordered militants “to wage revenge attacks against the Ugandan government for their killing of the Somali people.”
“I am sending a message to the Ugandan people, the massacre, the killing and the atrocities committed by the your troops, you are the ones facing the revenge,” he said in the message.
Uganda, a close ally of the United States, was the first country to commit peacekeeping troops for the African Union’s mission in Somalia, and without its military support the government would probably fall. Thousands of Somalis have also sought refuge in Uganda.
“This terrorist attack would really put pressure on the Somali refugees living in Uganda, their business and movement as well,” said Ali Abdullahi Egal, chairman of the Fanole Human Rights and Development Organization. “It will also hinder the flow of refugees and asylum seekers who flee from their country and arrive in Kampala.”
Somalia’s president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, vowed not to let the attack undermine the fight against the insurgency. Last week, east African heads of state agreed to send an additional 2,000 troops to reinforce his government against the advancing insurgents, without specifying which countries would provide them.
“The international community and the region will not further tolerate the insecurity,” he said.
Uganda is a predominantly Christian country, but the capital has a thriving Muslim community. Kale Kayihura, inspector general of the police, tried to assuage concerns that the bombing would make life harder for Somalis living in the country.
“Understandably, we must take extra security precautions,” said Mr. Kayihura, citing an African Union summit meeting scheduled for late July in Kampala. “We are not going to target the Somali community as such, but the investigation will work closely with the community, the majority of whom we know are peaceful people.”
A landlocked nation close to many of Africa’s most troubled regions, Uganda has remained relatively unscathed by the terrorism that has visited other parts of East Africa, notably in the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and attacks on Israelis on the Kenyan coast in 2002.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Uganda fought a campaign against insurgents calling themselves the Lord’s Resistance Army, which fielded thousands of soldiers. But in recent years the group has degenerated into a band of several hundred living deep in the bush in Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic.
The United States has provided the Ugandan Army with millions of dollars’ worth of aid – including fuel, trucks, satellite phones, night-vision goggles and contracted air support – to hunt the fighters down.
Josh Kron reported from Kampala, Uganda, and Mohammed Ibrahim from Nairobi, Kenya. July 12, 2010

World Refugee Day Event-UPDATED

June 11th, 2010

Join us to support the Genocide Intervention Network and the Save Darfur Coalition on June 27th to meet with Diaspora members, refugees and activists who live in the Chicago community.
Bring your family and friends, food, beverages, blankets, photos, music, etc. Together we will learn what we can do to help the 4.9 million refugees and displaced people in Sudan, and the further 41.2 million people that are displaced by conflict worldwide.

http://tinyurl.com/WRDevent

http://www.meetup.com/World-Refugee-Day/8334/


Visit www.transitchicago.com for public transit directions. There is also nearby meter and pay parking.
Please contact Jennifer to volunteer, comment, or with any questions – jenniferkhowe@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!!

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Possibility in Sudan

February 2nd, 2010

There may be a wisp of possibility in Sudan to move toward peace. President Bashir stated he will support the outcome of the 2011 elections that will determine if the southern part of the country will secede.  The split seems likely and will hopefully provide a greater independence to the state. The distribution of oil resources will most likely remain a sticking point, but initial plans should tamp tension down and provide time to develop new strategies. This will probably be made more difficult by geopolitics. With new management over resources new players will most likely emerge trying to gain control.

Legitimate elections and respect for the outcome may provide Sudan with a foundation to democratically work out many other ongoing issues, and ultimately provide their people with a better quality of life.

BBC News – Will Bashir let the south go?.

Hundreds arrested, displaced after Nigeria clashes

February 1st, 2010

BBC News – Hundreds arrested after Nigeria clashes.

Several thousand people have been displaced abandoning their homes.

Critical year ahead for Sudan

February 1st, 2010

BBC News – Critical year ahead for Sudan amid fears of war.

Comprehensive article provides overview of the current situation between North and South Sudan and the upcoming elections that may lead to dividing the country.

ICC ‘must probe Nigeria religious violence in Jos’

February 1st, 2010

BBC News – ICC ‘must probe Nigeria religious violence in Jos’.

International assistance to bolster the governments effectiveness is necessary in Nigeria now. Possible solutions raised by local officials will only serve to deepen ethnic divides and ripple into further economic depression and violence.

http://www.serap-nigeria.org/

Amnesty Ends in Southern Nigeria

February 1st, 2010

BBC News – Nigeria’s oil pipeline sabotaged – Royal Dutch Shell.

Destruction of pipelines resumes confirming MEND has ended the short truce. Violence is flaring all over the country. The issues of ethnicity, lack of resources and discordant government run deep and have been long ongoing. The innocent people of Nigeria are suffering and need international support to focus human and national resources toward developing infrastructure. The countries that use Nigeria’s oil cannot continue to take advantage of the country’s instability.

U.S. concerned arms flowing to South Sudan

January 29th, 2010

U.S. concerned about arms flowing to South Sudan | Reuters.

This is an especially dangerous situation. The upcoming elections may be seriously jeopardized.

LRA Active in Congo, Sudan May Be Involved

January 27th, 2010

From the ENOUGH Project:

During a trip to the Haut Uele region of northeastern Congo in December, Enough field researcher Ledio Cakaj found abundant evidence of the Lord’s Resistance Army’s ongoing violence against Congolese civilians. Despite claims from Congolese and Ugandan state officials that the LRA is on its last legs, attacks against Congolese civilians remain frequent and disturbingly brutal. There are also lingering suspicions that the LRA may once again be receiving direct support from the ruling party in Sudan. Congolese soldiers deployed to Haut Uele have been unable to provide adequate civilian protection, and the number of U.N. peacekeepers in the area remains woefully inadequate, but better coordinated and resourced efforts by both Congolese and international security forces have the potential to protect civilians from LRA attacks. Read the two-part field dispatch here.

Who Do You Have to Know In Al-Qaeda to Get Some Attention?

January 27th, 2010

BBC News – Hillary Clinton blames Nigeria leaders for extremism.

However far the leap between facts, at least Sec. Clinton is bringing attention the the desperate living conditions Nigerians face. The government must be held accountable for its past lack of action and pressed to improve the country’s quality of life, especially for the 70% of Nigerians living on less than two dollars a day.

It is highly unfortunate of the media to hammer the link between the recent Christmas Day bomber and his Nigerian heritage. He had left the country a decade earlier and went to al-Qaeda training camps in Yemen.  His anger toward his father’s wealth and lifestyle was generalized, and radicalized, toward the blanket “sin” of the American lifestyle.