Tao of Pauly

Africa Watch

Editor's Note: I posted this entry to my poli-blog This Side of the Truth. Check it out.

Ingrid from Me and Ophelia is a British blogger who has been devoting a tremendous amount of her time and energy into shedding light on the worsening situation in Africa, something that we should all be paying attention to. Every major American media outlet failed to mention the ongoing crisis in Sudan... where an ugly war with local rebels has turned the country upside down. A massive humanitarian crisis looms overhead with more than a million refugees fleeing the Darfur region.

Here's a bit of a recent entry at Sudan Watch in which she quoted an article from Steve Crawshaw, director of Human Rights Watch in London and a former foreign-news editor:

"At last, the world has focused its attention on the catastrophe of western Sudan. A United Nations Security Council resolution has set a deadline for the end of this month for the Khartoum government to take action against the murderous Janjaweed militias. In recent weeks, stories from western Sudan have filled the newspapers, and have regularly led the television news. Any readers and viewers who are interested in foreign affairs - and many who are not - now recognise the name of Darfur...

In 1984, the Ethiopian famine was not "news" for many months until Michael Buerk made it so, with a single powerful report for the BBC about "the closest thing to hell on earth". In 1994, the Rwandan genocide was not deemed to be news until the worst of the slaughter was already over. And now, in 2004, we have seen the process repeated, all over again.

Paradoxically, it was the attempted suppression of a story about Darfur that allowed many news editors to treat it as a serious news story for the first time. A campaign of rape, ethnic cleansing and murder did not, apparently, count as news. But the suppression in late April of an internal UN report that confirmed the known facts was news. The censors, in short, gave the subject publicity."

Yes, without Ingrid, I wouldn't know anything about Sudan. It's time for me to pass along the horrifying word that there is a living hell on Earth... and people are dying under a dark veil of brutality every few minutes in Sudan. The sad thing is knowing that it will continue and no one on this side of the ocean is doing anything to stop it. How could busy Americans take time out of their day and focus on something aside from the Election, or the Olympics, or the Kobe Bryant rape and Scott Peterson murder trials, or the upcoming season of The Apprentice, or what brand of orange juice J. Lo drinks on Sunday mornings for brunch while on vacation in Bermuda?

I don't think anyone could stomach any of the violent, graphic images of Sudan under siege. It's not getting any better anywhere else in Africa. Every day more people die, more governments lose grip on their countries. People are hungry. People are angry. People are dying of AIDS. Pictures of starving babies and images of little kids with their hands cut off are not the first things Americans want to see when they wake up in the morning or when they get home from an exhausting day at work. That was the driving factor behind the mysterious omission of numerous stories the Sudan genocide and war and rape and torture in our newspapers and on our alphabet news channels. That brutal reality stuff doesn't sell newspapers and truthful tales of mutilation and gang rape are the types of uncomfortable topics that keep would many spoiled Americans awake at night in their warm and comfortable beds... and we don't want to disturb the herd. The last thing Consumer America wants to hear from our suburban teens is... "Why should I spend $100 at the GAP when there are babies starving in Sudan?"

Although Sudan wasn't entirely ignored by our government, which re-issued a Travel Warning about Sudan in late June. Here's what they said:

This is being re-issued to remind Americans of continued terrorist threats aimed at Western and U.S. interests, and update them on concerns regarding the security situation in Sudan. This supersedes the Travel Warning of November 14, 2003.

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all travel to Sudan. Although the two parties to the long-running civil war are negotiating a peace accord to end the war, travel in the south is still dangerous. In addition, there is serious fighting in Darfur and a humanitarian crisis brought on by fighting, drought and famine.

As noted in previous Travel Warnings for Sudan, the U.S. Government has received indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Sudan. Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, bombings, or kidnappings. U.S. citizens should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in public places, which include tourist sites and locations where westerners are known to congregate, and commercial operations associated with U.S. or western interests. As physical security remains high at official facilities, terrorists may turn towards softer targets, such as residential compounds.

Sporadic fighting has continued between Sudanese government forces, the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA), and various militias in the southern part of the country. Threats have been made against foreigners working in the oil industry in Upper Nile province. The potential for violence remains in the areas around Kassala and southern Blue Nile province. The ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains generally has been respected. At least one American relief worker was beaten and falsely accused of espionage. Other Americans have been held hostage. Travel into opposition-held areas of Sudan requires a specific travel permit from the SPLA or other rebel movements controlling the territory. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which normally operates in northern Uganda and occasionally receives shelter in southern Sudan, has allegedly threatened to target Americans.

There have been demonstrations in Khartoum against United States foreign policy. In some instances, demonstrators have thrown rocks at the U.S. Embassy and Westerners. Americans should avoid large crowds and demonstrations.

Uncle Sam basicially says, "Don't travel to a horrible place that we haven't told you about."

Here's just a quick glimpse at the current instability in Africa:

IVORY COAST: REBELLION
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: WAR
ZIMBABWE: TYRANNY/FAMINE
SUDAN: ETHNIC CLEANSING/FAMINE
UGANDA: REBELLION/AIDS
RWANDA: ETHNIC STRIFE
BURUNDI: CIVIL WAR

Ingrid is the author of several other important blogs that will shed better light on some of our world's problems. I suggest at sometime you visit Congo Watch and Uganda Watch... two blogs that will focus on the issuing surrounding those war torn countries.