Over the last two days, leaders of the Government of National Unity have been meeting in Kadugli under the banner “First Reflections Forum for Tamazuj States.” Tamazuj is officially translated as “intermingling” but there is no consensus on the exact

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In early February, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I declined to confirm the charges against Bahr Abu Garda, commander of a group that broke away from the Justice and Equality Movement, in connection with the attack that killed 12 African Union

Read the rest of Two Legal Issues in the Context of the Abu Garda Decision »

The celebrations in Doha on Tuesday masked an agreement that has more questions than answers. One of these, if the so-called “Framework Agreement to resolve the Conflict in Darfur” (available here: Doha Accord) is to be taken at face value,

Read the rest of Doha: A New Beginning or Another False Hope? »

It’s election season on Sudan, and the leaders of the Sudanese political parties are understandably sensitive about criticisms of their performance. It’s soon to become self-determination season in southern Sudan, and sensitivities around this are already high. One opposition politician

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I had to fight back some tears when listening to Jaoa telling me about that dreadful moment when the UN airlifted him and his colleagues from a burning Dili, while leaving thousands of Timorese behind. Standing powerless in the face

Read the rest of The Ethic of Refusal: (or) the inability to cope with powerlessness in the face of human tragedy »

Rob Crilly’s book, Saving Darfur, is unique among the books on Darfur to date for the way he handles the very tough balance between conveying the complexities of the situation, while managing to keep the book accessible to a non-expert

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Darfur had everything needed to be a good, eye-catching story: good guys, bad guys and no moral ambiguity. Sure enough, it became such a big story because it was able to be presented in this way. In “a continent of

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In a recent comment posted under the thread titled: “What it the ICC After?” Eric Reeves made what I assume to be a response to a previous comment of mine. Because an adequate response to Eric requires a lengthy reply,

Read the rest of Eric Reeves’ Mischaracterization of Facts about Darfur »

The recurring theme of Rob Crilly’s book, ironically entitled Saving Darfur, is that Darfur only looks simple from a distance. Close up, it’s much more like the other complicated wars that a foreign correspondent posted to Africa has to follow

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General Rokero had been my guide for a visit to a rebel stronghold inside the Jebel Mara mountains. He introduced me to two girls who had been held prisoner and repeatedly raped by government soldiers. And over steaming bowls of

Read the rest of What the Jebel Mara tells us about saving Darfur – A View From The Hills »