Beyond the Obvious: A Deeper Look into African Affairs

This week I explored the internet for more sites on the current state of affairs in Africa. I have carefully chosen to include ten web pages from various esteemed organizations in the field of international studies; none of my choices include blogs because I have found very few of high merit in regards to African politics. The links to the pages I found most relevant can be found in the linkroll section on the right of the page. Below I have evaluated each based on the Webby Award Criteria which help shed light on the quality and effectiveness of the sites. The organizations I have chosen to hone in on can be broken down into four different categories; the first group addresses the judicial aspect of affairs. The page for the International Law Institute (ILI) consists of many different components including a side link roll along with recent headlines in the field. While it is a great tool for research on global judicial interactions, each of its pages are presented in different formats making it daunting to navigate. Similar to the ILI, the World Jurist Association is a forum for law professionals to research current international news regarding their emphases. The discourse is reached through papers and dissertations who have respective links provided on various pages which limits any hope for quick access to information. The other two international law organizations are more specified, allowing for more narrow searches. I really enjoyed the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict because the site provides small blurbs about each link so little time is wasted trying to seek out information. The other site, the International Center for Not-for- Profit Law is not as effective in terms of navigability; in fact, it is extremely difficult to traverse but the substance is invaluable. Moving along to economics, one organization is renown above all others: the World Bank. The link provided is specifically to the African branch. The page is phenomenal in terms of layout, material presentation, and even down to the graphics. In terms of politics, there are several less well known organizations than the United Nations, but they are in the lead for helping to bring about political change to third world nations. By far, Africa Action is my favorite site to visit because of its effectiveness in portraying their messages and because of the overall aesthetics of the page. The African National Congress is another great tool that is leading the continent towards greater political stability. this page is so important to the current state of affairs which is why it's great that their site is laid out successfully. The last category of organizations stresses humanitarian issues that need drastic attention. Closest to most people's hearts is Save Darfur because of the immense notoriety the entire war has received. The website for the group utilizes powerful graphics as a lure, including their famous logo that I have shown here. A lesser known institute is the International Crisis Group that works throughout the world to better the lives of impoverished people. Their page specific to Africa provides wonderful information that is updated frequently about what has been happening throughout the continent. The last humanitarian group, Africare, is another fairly well known organization that has created a site that is both effective and touching. Not only is the page easy to negotiate, but it is also inspiring and empowering. These sites are all priceless resources that help to examine the many facets of African affairs in very divergent ways; collectively they provide a strong foundation for becoming informed about a continent that has been largely ignored.

Sudan: Bereft with Over Fifty Years of Conflict

Very few of us know much about Sudan- other than that it has a place in it called “Darfur” where there is a violent civil war. We have all seen the t-shirts that say “Save Darfur” and many of us have seen the Invisible Children movie, but what are we trying to save them from? What really is going on there? I pride myself as being someone who knows what happens outside of the United States daily, but I have recently realized how little I actually know about what stemmed this conflict. It seems totally ludicrous that any one can try to fix a problem without knowing the causes of the conflict (let alone where the country is located), so today when I came across the BBC headline “Darfur: Little Hope Five Years On”, I planned on writing my own policy prescription for how to restore peace to the region but quickly realized that I too knew very little about what the actual problem was. In noting my own ignorance, I recognized that many of my readers and peers are probably just as in the dark. So in hopes of enlightening both myself and others on what is really happening, my "policy prescription" has expanded to include a brief history of Sudan, specifically leading to the conflict in Darfur. While the most recent clash broke out in 2003, the country has actually been ravaged by civil war since independence. With this in mind, bringing peace to Sudan seems a bit more complicated and dreary, although still entirely possible because of massive international attention and intervention.

According to the U.S. Department of State's nation profile, Sudan is the largest country in Africa, covering as much land mass as the continental United States east of the Mississippi River. Although its citizens are called “Sudanese”, the country is actually made up of several different tribes, with vastly varying beliefs, that came under British imperialist rule in the early nineteenth century. Because the borders of African nations were arbitrarily drawn by the Europeans, it is little surprise that civil war broke out almost immediately following Sudan’s independence in 1953. The internal conflict raged between the North, consisting of Arabic Islamics, and the South, a compilation of tribes that consider themselves Black African, until 2002 when peace talks began to unite rifts. In the course of those fifty years, it is estimated that the war cost over $1.5 million a day, a figure that can only be minimized by the death of 1.2 million people.

As though this story is not devastating enough in and of itself, in February 2003 there were increasing numbers of attacks on civilians, specifically the Non- Arab tribes. Because the government was doing little to stop the violence, two rebel groups took it upon themselves to protect their land and people. These two militias, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) have been fighting against an Arab nomad group knows as the Janjaweed (who is supported and financed by the Sudanese government) for over six years now with no end in sight. While those involved claim their grievances to be based on ethnic and tribal inequality within Sudan, the conflict has been exacerbated by drought, overpopulation and starvation.

By September of the following year, the international community had recognized that a genocide was occurring in Darfur and both sides were responsible. The United Nations has passed several resolutions to “protect the civilian population and humanitarian participants, seek avenues toward a political settlement to the humanitarian and political crisis, and recognize the need for the rapid deployment of an expanded African Union mission in Darfur” (Profile). In addition, the UN Security Council, the United States, and the African Union have sent a peace-keeping task force to the region, which is supposed to eventually number over 26,000 strong. On top of all of these measures, the government and militia groups have signed numerous cease fires. Still the fighting has continued interminably.

The situation in Darfur is a far uglier one than imaginable. The conflict can be prolonged indefinitely because both the rebel groups and military army have access to and make use of a largely unlimited resource: soldiers, specifically children who are captured and trained to fight. As for the people living in the region who have managed to escape capture and death, their circumstances are not much better. Today it is believed that over 2 million Sudanese people have fled to neighboring Chad and are now living in camps for internally displaced people (IDP). A BBC journalist who recently visited one of these sites spoke to several refugees who reported “toddlers being burnt alive in villages as men on horseback razed their houses to the ground; women being raped as they fled their homes looking for safety” (Henshaw). Only four days ago, people in Chad heard bombs beings dropped from helicopters that have been identified as belonging to the Sudanese government army (‘Still Bombing’). As a direct result, refugees who are trying to reenter Sudan to look for their family are being denied passage. In addition, Chad fears the conflict may cross their borders, so IDP camps are being relocated farther from the fighting.

With all this in mind, what can be done to stop the war that has not already been tried? First, the entire UN peace keeping force needs to be deployed. Currently only 9,000 of the 26,000 task force are actually in Darfur. Perhaps there should be consideration of bringing even more military power into the region. Because most of the raids occur at night, patrols consisting of people familiar with the terrain should be placed around villages to minimize these surprise attacks on unarmed civilians. In addition, more effort should be made to capture the top officials of the army and rebel groups as a way to break down the power structures. It is not effective to simply kill those who are ransacking towns because as mentioned earlier, soldiers are not hard to come by. On the political side, harsher punishments need to be placed on high officials in the militaries who are responsible for ordering large scale human rights violations that have led to this massive genocide wherein over 400,000 people have been killed. Those responsible need to reach a cease-fire that can be enforced, beginning by placing leaders in prison upon reaching an agreement. Following this, all of the soldiers need to be demobilized and placed through a rigorous reintegration program as a way to ensure that smaller factions do not restart conflicts in the future. While this is taking place, international volunteer groups should rebuild towns with homes and schools for the internally displaced people to return to. As another preventative measure, the Sudanese government should work to help alleviate the marginalized lifestyle the natives of Darfur endured prior to the conflict. Although all of these measures will help to end the immediate civil war, the international community needs to address border issues in not only Sudan, but throughout most of Africa as a way to lessen the chance of a similar outbreak of conflict. This is not to suggest that borders should be redrawn because this would undoubtedly lead to widespread unrest; however, government policies should address both majority rule and minority rights within each nation.

There are no words in the English language that can even begin to describe the atrocities that have taken place in Sudan since it became an independent nation. The fact that we still have been unable to resolve the circumstances in Darfur is evidence that the international community is not doing enough to protect and guarantee basic civil rights and liberties to people around the globe. Much more can still be done by the UN, the African Union, single nations, human rights organizations, and each of us as individuals. As the banner says, we need to do all we can to make sure that what is happening in Darfur happens "Never Again."

International Legitimacy: Engaging the World's Leading Forums

While my main goal for this blog is to create a forum where I can share my thoughts on how globalization is affecting African nations, I also aim for this to be a resource for anyone wishing to extend their knowledge about the topics I discuss within my writing. With this in mind, in my link roll I have placed the links to ten websites that are of highest quality and credibility within the field of International Relations. UNICEF is an extremely well known non governmental organization; their breadth is incredibly extensive, so the website is quite daunting for anyone who does not know what they are explicitly looking for. Because of this, I have included two pages buried within UNICEF’s archives that are extremely relevant for Africa’s future and development: Unite for Children Unite Against AIDS and The State of The World’s Children 2008. The former is fairly easy to navigate and provides valuable insight while the latter is more interactive and engages the material effectively. The logo shown to the right is that of the United Nations, the most renown international coalition of states; their website, like UNICEF’s, is an amazing compilation of tremendous information that has been meticulously organized for in depth research; it is extremely thorough in its content but perhaps too thorough for any novice trying to attain an overview of current world affairs. One of the UN’s departments, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has created an efficient site, allowing for simple searches; however the page is filled with an overwhelming amount of textual headlines making it seem busier than need be. The United Nations Women Watch is similar to the FAO in its profuse overuse of words on its homepage, but the site is filled with great pertinent stories and links to other great sources! The Center for Global Development is yet another website that makes liberal use of small font and information cramming. The benefit to this page is that the headlines are updated almost daily, and the articles are extremely thorough and well written. I have made direct reference and links to the ONE Campaign in previous posts and have made it available again because the website provides its information so successfully making it an invaluable forum. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also been successful in creating a simple, traversable site with easy access to all of its pertinent information. Lastly, BBC Africa is one of the best places for anyone trying to get a general overview of the daily passings of affairs on the continent. The information is relevant, updated around the clock, and is one of the most credible sites of international news reporting.