It’s been far too long. Sorry about that. I can hardly claim there’s been any lack of developments to write about, what with the arrest of Nkunda and subsequent operations against the FDLR in eastern Congo, the sad loss of Alison des Forges, all the recent controversy surrounding the ICC’s indictment of the President of Sudan, and [...]
UN appeals for 3,000 extra peacekeepers for eastern Congo have yet to be answered. A proposal to send European troops was blocked by Britain and Germany, prompting the London Director of Human Rights Watch to denounce what he calls “Britain’s cowardice“:
“In speech after speech, the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, talks up human rights and his [...]
Three years ago, I sat in on a meeting with some of the negotiators at the 2005 World Summit. It was the morning after the Summit outcome document had been approved – something that had looked very unlikely even 36 hours before. All were exhausted.
“It’s not a bad result,” one said. “But we didn’t get [...]
The following was in yesterday’s New York Times. Interested to hear views on this debate.
July 17, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist [link]
Prosecuting Genocide
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Many aid workers and diplomats suffered a panic attack when the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant this week for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for [...]
A few weeks ago, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (a lifelong advocate of ‘humanitarian intervention’) invoked R2P when the Government of Burma/Myanmar appeared to be obstructing relief efforts in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. However, when the French Ambassador to the UN requested a briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation, even this [...]
Darfur - Waiting for Justice from Aegis Trust on Vimeo.
A 17-minute video from Aegis Trust, in which survivors from villages attacked by Sudanese Government forces and Janjaweed militia in West Darfur directly implicate two men already indicted by the ICC on 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur: Ali Kushayb, a [...]