[Montréal, Québec, Canada 13°C] It has been just over three weeks since I returned to Montréal from ten weeks in East Africa, most of which were spent in Southern Sudan. I’ve been back long enough to discard the lag that fogs the spirit after flying between continents. Sufficient time has passed to deplete the novelty [...]
Posts Tagged ‘refugee’
ICC Arrest Warrant Repurcussions on Southern Sudan
Exactly three weeks ago, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. Like many people in Sudan, I was glued to the television set to view the announcement. It was 4 p.m.
A Visit to War Faj Village in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal
[Malual Kon, Bahr el-Ghazal, Southern Sudan 42°C] This morning, like every morning, I wake up with the sounds of roosters clucking, children playing, and neighbours beyond the compound fence discussing the beginning of their day. I make my way from inside my canvas tent on the Save the Children (UK) compound, and walk the narrow [...]
Schooling Sudanese Refugees in Nairobi at Sud Academy
[Nairobi, Kenya 27°C] Below is a selection of photos taken at Sud Academy, a primary/secondary school for Sudanese refugees in a poor neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya. The school has a student population of more than 200 students, some of whom were abducted during the civil war by northern militia and enslaved by them to tend the cattle stolen in the raid. Lino Madut Angok is ne of the abductees who was freed, as indicated in his letter (below) by an organization called Redemption(?). Although I recognize the benefit Lino has received by being freed from bondage, there is much debate (here, here and here) about the practice of redemption (buying the slave’s freedom) and its ability to end slavery in Sudan.
In Nairobi preparing for Juba
[Nairobi, Kenya 28°C] The Nairobi heat rarely gathers on the brow long enough to bead. It evaporates long before it has a chance to trickle then drip. Kenya will prepare you for the heat of Sudan, everyone tells me as I reach for my water bottle, still thursty. It’s not just the heat of Southern Sudan I’m preparing for, it’s the place itself. It’s hold on a tenuous peace, as mandated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed on Januray 9, 2005 between the Khartoum-based Government of Sudan and the, then-rebel group, Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
