Awate Four Winds: February 2008

Déjà vu in Denkalia: Ethiopian troops have escorted a group of 28 French tourists to safety following violence in the eastern Danakil region, the French foreign ministry said. Ethiopian television had reported that rebels backed by the Eritrean government had crossed the border and attempted to kidnap the tourists on Wednesday.  More
  

The “Situation Between Eritrea and Ethiopia”:  Whoever is in charge of naming UN resolutions is a master of understatement.  All resolutions are named “The situation” –there is a situation in Timor, a situation in Congo, another situation in Darfur, and another in Somalia.  There is no situation in Kosovo, however, at least not yet.   Here’s the latest situation in Eritrea (one of a dozen since 1998) from the SC.
  

Afro-Pessimism: This Good News May Expire By The Time You Read It.   The LRA which has been waging a brutal rebellion that has killed or maimed thousands and displaced close to 1 million in Uganda's northern region, began talks with the Ugandan government in July 2006 under the mediation of southern Sudan's political leaders. The talks which have been disrupted by one disagreement after another, have been dragging on since then but three main treaties out of the draft peace agreement have been signed, including one allowing LRA leaders indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2005, to be tried by the Ugandan courts.  Source 

African Confusion For African Problems:  Speaking of Southern Sudan…while its politicians are mediating the Ugandan conflict, a Nigerian diplomat has been assigned to mediate southern Sudan’s conflict with the central government of Sudan.  [Alpha Omar] Konare named Oluyemi Adeniji, former Nigerian foreign and interior minister between 2002 and 2007, to oversee the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed in Kenya in 2005, an AU statement said.  Source Meanwhile, speaking of Kenya, another African, Koffi Anan is trying to mediate the Kenyan conflict (between the government and the opposition.) 

Eri-TV, Russian Version:  Is it really possible that, in Chechnya, 99% of the registered voters voted and that, of those who voted, 99% voted for United Russia, Vladimir Putin’s party?  So asked a curious French reporter to comrade Putin in his press conference on February 15. Vladimir didn’t answer the question directly, he pointed to a Russian state media reporter to give the answer.  “These are absolutely realistic figures.  Personally, all my acquaintances, including myself, voted for United Russia,” said the reporter who owes his livelihood (if not his life) to Putin.  Meanwhile, a female Russian state media reporter told Putin that she would like to give him a Valentine, and “he invited her to pass it down to him through the crowd.”  This is the future of Eritrean media, where gushing reports about the Man of Steel air regularly.  More in New York Times
-

Zimbabwe’s Inflation:  At almost 27,000% Zimbabwe’s inflation rate was so bad that, last year, in November,  “a decent day’s pay was nearly worthless by the time a worker arrived home in the evening.”  Tragic, huh?  It only gets worse: for December 07, the inflation rate is now estimated at 66,000%.  Since inflation has doubled in one month, does this mean that the worker in the example above had to work a full day just to be as poor as he was two days ago?   Now you know why African leaders love Mugabe: he makes their dismal economies look good.   Isaias Afwerki has found the perfect solution to inflation: just don't publish the rate and make people guess what it is. Separate our editorial from the article at NYT

Bush African Itinerary February 2008:  Congo, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.   Are we kidding?  Of course we are!  He is actually going to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. 

UN Ducks “The World’s Most Pressing Humanitarian Crisis:”  Somalia.  The sense of the council is that ... the council would attend to this issue as soon as it receives the report of the secretary-general," Panamanian Ambassador Ricardo Alberto Arias, the current council president, told reporters. Diplomats said the report was expected on March 10…. Reuters 

UN Confronts the other most pressing humanitarian crisis: Chad.  Jean-Marie Guehenno, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, also sounded pessimistic, saying a planned 26,000-strong peace force faced continued obstacles in deploying and might have to operate as hostilities continued. Reuters  Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg has withdrawn his services from the Olympics to protest Chinese indifference to the situation in Darfur.  Let's separate politics from sports, protested China, a land where politics rules every sphere of the Chinese citizens' lives.

ARCHIVES

January 2008 

December 2007 
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007