|
Home
>>
Analysis
>>
Blog
A bi-weekly audio series and podcast service, hosted by Committee on Conscience Project Director Bridget Conley-Zilkic, that brings you the voices of human rights defenders, experts, advocates, and government officials. Vital voices addressing one of humanity's most vital issues. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not necessarily represent those of the Museum.
Page 24 of 26 pages « First < 22 23 24 25 26 >
4/28/06
4/27/06
|
Interview:
On April 30th, rallies to end genocide in Darfur will take place in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and around the country. Olympic speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek and former U.S. Marine Brian Steidle will be among the speakers. They talk with Jerry Fowler about their speaking tours around the country, the public's reaction to their decisions to speak out for Darfur, and the future of the Darfur movement.
Update: The April 30 rallies are starting to get press coverage nationwide -- including the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Oregonian, and (drumroll) People Magazine. But maybe DCist put it best: "demonstrations for causes as compelling as stepping up to save the people of Darfur deserve what little pimping we can give them."
 Subscribe |
Listen now |
Transcript
|
|
|
4/26/06
4/25/06
|
April 30 is the day -- rallies for Darfur on the National Mall in Washington and at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Earlier that day, from 10 am to noon, we'll be screening some key Darfur videos at the Museum, including Darfur Eyewitness with Brian Steidle. Over the next few days, we will be posting interviews with some of the Rally speakers. But some of the speakers have already been guests on VoGP. Check out these past episodes: Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel; Million Voices National Chair Gloria White-Hammond; Crisis Group Special Advisor John Prendergast; and Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Gayle Smith.
Self-promotional note 1: I'll be speaking at the San Francisco rally.
Self-promotional note 2: Voices on Genocide Prevention has been nominated for a coveted "Webby," one of five nominees in the podcast category. Winners will be chosen both by professional judges and by the People's Voice -- meaning you can vote for VoGP. Your voice can make a difference!
|
|
|
4/24/06
|
It’s one thing to drive civilians into a desert where they can’t survive without outside assistance. It’s another to block that assistance. That’s what my friend and colleague John Heffernan has called a “desert death trap.” In 2003 and the first half of 2004, Khartoum and its militia allies were driving Darfurian civilians into such a trap – and mortality from the conditions of life inflicted on those civilians was substantially above emergency levels. International pressure beat down many of those obstacles, and many people are no doubt alive today because of the resulting aid. But they are still at risk and still cannot survive without outside assistance. Now, Khartoum’s at it again.
The UN’s top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, delivered an alarming report to the Security Council last week. Here’s the money quote from his “fact sheet”:
[I]n addition to major funding shortfalls and a significant reduction in access due to rising insecurity, the humanitarian community has been facing an increasing level of Government restrictions, depriving the civilian population of Darfur of much-needed assistance. These restrictions threaten the humanitarian operations in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan.
In his statement to the Security Council, Egeland described “a constant stream of threats and a climate of intimidation created by the Government that are imposing a heavy burden on aid workers.” Khartoum’s new clampdown on international aid is coming even as “more than 200,000 additional people have been displaced in the last four months alone. . . . Most of this new displacement is the result of militia and Government attacks on villages, often in retaliation for rebel attacks and continuing fighting between the parties.” Intra-rebel fighting is also playing a role.
All the more reason for citizens to turn out for the rallies planned this Sunday, April 30, on the National Mall in Washington and at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This week, I'll be interviewing some of the folks who will be speaking at the rallies. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
4/20/06
|
President Bush met today with Chinese President Hu Jintao (I refuse to pun with Mr. Hu's name!), and Darfur apparently made the shortlist. Money quote from President Bush's welcoming statement:
Prosperity depends on security -- so the United States and China share a strategic interest in enhancing security for both our peoples. We intend to deepen our cooperation in addressing threats to global security -- including the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, the violence unleashed by terrorists and extremists, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
This is vital, because China has been Khartoum's chief ally in the Security Council. Why? A principle of Chinese foreign policy, stemming partly from its own shabby human rights record, is to resist UN intervention in other countries' internal affairs. China also has a huge stake in the Sudanese oil industry and gets 5% or more of its growing oil needs from Sudan. In December, I discussed the increasing Chinese presence in Africa as well as its interests in Sudan with Ambassador Princeton Lyman of the Council on Foreign Relations -- you can listen to the interview here and read the transcript here.
My sense is that one point US officials make to their Chinese counterparts is that Darfur is on the agenda because there is an active public constituency. All the more reason for citizens to continue to communicate their concern.
|
|
|
4/20/06
4/18/06
|
The word “sanction” has the unusual quality in English of having opposite meanings depending on context – it can mean either “support or encouragement” or “a penalty.” The Security Council is providing a case study of this strange duality. Here’s the short version: In March 2005, the Council authorizes targeted sanctions against individuals who impede the peace process or commit atrocities in Darfur. A UN panel gives the Council a secret list of 17 such individuals. No surprise – when the list leaks, it fingers top Sudanese officials, including intelligence chief Salah Abdalla Gosh. But the UK chops the list to eight, then the US slices (why, exactly?) that to four – two rebels, an Air Force general and Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal. Even that is too much for China, Russia and Qatar. The US says it will force a vote. No matter the outcome, Gosh and friends who are no longer on the list must be poring over their Arabic-English dictionaries in Khartoum and chuckling about how “sanction” can mean both approval and punishment. Here’s the bottom line in my mind: If we’re not penalizing genocide and crimes against humanity, we’re encouraging them.
Update: The Security Council passed Resolution 1672 on April 25, imposing sanctions on four named individuals. China, Russia and Qatar abstained.
|
|
|
4/17/06
|
Pulitzer, that is. He should have won last year (he was a finalist), and the saddest part is that Darfur still merited Pulitzer-caliber commentary for another year. And still merits. Nick was on the program last month right after he came back from Chad -- you can listen here or read the transcript here. To mark the occasion, the Times has posted his 2005 Darfur columns on the open access part of its website. A really great way for the Times to honor Nick's courage and tenacity would be to make his columns open access all the time!
|
|
|
4/15/06
|
Chad seems to have fought off an attack by Sudanese backed rebels, for now. President Idriss Deby's threat to expel the 200,000+ Darfurian refugees in eastern Chad is both ominous and a sign of how seriously he takes the rebels' challenge to his regime's existence. (He's also threatening to cut off Chad's oil exports -- probably not enough to disrupt international oil markets but a definite inconvenience to Exxon Mobil and other companies that spent billions to build a pipeline to pump the oil through Cameroon.) After all, he came to power 16 years ago by attacking from Darfur with Khartoum's support. Human Rights Watch recently reported on the details of Darfur's violence spilling over into Chad. Their conclusion:
The crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which has been trickling into Chad for the better part of three years, is now bleeding freely across the border. A counterinsurgency carried out by the Sudanese government and its militias against rebel groups in Darfur, characterized by war crimes and “ethnic cleansing,” has forcibly displaced almost two million civilians in Darfur and another 220,000 people who have fled across the border into Chad. The same ethnic “Janjaweed” militias that have committed systematic abuses in Darfur have staged cross-border raids into Chad, attacking Darfurian refugees and Chadian villagers alike, seizing their livestock and killing those who resist.
The government of Sudan is actively exporting the Darfur crisis to its neighbor by providing material support to Janjaweed militias and by failing to disarm or control them, by backing Chadian rebel groups that it allows to operate from bases in Darfur, and by deploying its own armed forces across the border into Chad.
Update (April 17) -- President Deby has backed off his threat to expel Darfurian refugees.
|
|
|
4/13/06
|
Interview:
This April marks the 12th anniversary of the beginning of the Rwanda genocide. Bridget Conley-Zilkic, Project Director of the Committee on Conscience, recently talked to Louise Mushikiwabo about her new book, Rwanda Means the Universe: A Native's Memoir of Blood and Bloodlines. [33:02]
Subscribe |
Listen now |
Transcript
|
|
|
4/06/06
3/30/06
3/28/06
|
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution (1663, if you're keeping count) on March 24 asking Secretary General Kofi Annan to step up planning for eventual deployment of a UN force in Darfur. Though moving in the right direction, this is more timid than what seemed possible at the beginning of February. Meanwhile, Sudan has continued its pr campaign against foreign intervention. Bottom line -- a more robust force to augment the beleaguered African Union is months away. On this Thursday's episode, I'll be talking with Jon Sawyer of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting about his recent stint "embedded" with the AU in Darfur.
|
|
|
3/28/06
Page 24 of 26 pages « First < 22 23 24 25 26 >
|
|
