Topic: you may find this a bit disturbing

[Michael]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/video-of-iraqi-girls-stoning-released-on-internet/2007/05/05/1177788472536.html

[nichi]

I remember seeing photos back in the 70's of something similar in Iran --- I think I'll pass on looking.
Incomprehensible stuff. 

[daphne]

It never fails to amaze me, man's continual inhumanity to man.

In this country, we went through a spate of particularly vicious 'sentences' passed by mob "kangaroo courts". This by seemingly ordinary every-day people, who would then continue with their lives as if nothing untoward had happened...

[erik]

For me it all was set by Rwanda: 800,000 - 1,000,000 killed in 2-3 months. One mercenary company (Executive Outcomes) offered their help - for 120 million $ they would have deployed a battle group and stopped slaughter in a week or so, but nope - for diplomats with silk ties and golden pens in the UN the principle of persecuting and not hiring mercenaries is at least as valuable as lives of a million people.

[daphne]

For me it all was set by Rwanda: 800,000 - 1,000,000 killed in 2-3 months. One mercenary company (Executive Outcomes) offered their help - for 120 million $ they would have deployed a battle group and stopped slaughter in a week or so, but nope - for diplomats with silk ties and golden pens in the UN the principle of persecuting and not hiring mercenaries is at least as valuable as lives of a million people.

Africa, unfortunately, does not have the same 'value' as other parts of the world, with all eyes focused elsewhere. By many it is perceived as if all the peoples are the same, yet of course they are not. Wrenched from tribal life to to the legacy of colonial imperialism, there appears to be a middle process' 'missing'.
Sometimes I wonder if the rest of the world just hopes that eventually Africa will destroy itself..
Nowhere can the juxtaposition of past and future be seen more clearly - well.to me anyway.. 
Africa is a strange land, one where life and death walk hand in hand, in total simplicity, complexity, and acceptance. Mood changes very quickly here. There have been strides in my country at integration of past and future, of hope and hopelessness. Here, my country is a kind of "Mecca" for sub-saharan Africa, bringing with it many problems that appear unsolvable, and that need to be addressed to Africa as a whole. Unfortunately, politics too, is an arena in which much is missing.

An excellent film on Rwanda is "Shooting Dogs"

[erik]

Yes, for the rational western mind Africa looks like a resource-rich basket-case, where brute force is the way, means and ends. Nobody wants to interfere (I heard lately that Africa is increasingly full of Chinese who would trade anything (including massive amounts of weapons) for resources), when they do, it tends to be a disastrous process leading to growing dependence on external aid and so on. Most attempts to help Africa have led to worsening of situation in the long-term. The life standard of Sub-Saharan Africa has been constantly falling since 1970's (with the exception of 2-3 countries).

I can see no rational way out of it.
Sun will guide it somewhere.

[erik]

Goes without comment...

Russia and China 'break Darfur arms embargo'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/09/wdarfur09.xml

By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:28am BST 09/05/2007

Russia and China have broken a United Nations arms embargo by supplying Sudan with attack helicopters, bombers and other weapons in the knowledge that they are being use against civilians in Darfur, Amnesty International said yesterday.

Chinese strike aircraft and Russian helicopter gunships have been photographed at three airports in Darfur. Their presence violates UN Resolution 1591, which banned Sudan from transferring any weaponry to Darfur without the Security Council's official permission.

Both Russia and China approved the passage of the resolution in March 2005. But Amnesty's new report finds that both countries went on to breach the very arms embargo they were party to imposing.

China sold arms and ammunition worth £12 million to Sudan in 2005, along with spare parts worth £30 million for military aircraft.

In the same year, Russia sold helicopter gunships worth almost £7 million to the Khartoum regime. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, exported 32 heavy artillery guns and nine armoured fighting vehicles. China also sold six K8 training aircraft to Sudan's air force. Another six of these jet planes, which could be used for ground attack missions, are due to be delivered soon.

Sudan has carried out numerous air strikes against civilian targets in Darfur, in breach of a no-fly agreement signed in 2004. Four years of civil war between the Arab-dominated regime and black African rebels have forced at least two million people to flee their homes and claimed about 300,000 lives, either from violence, starvation or disease.

Russia and China "cannot have been unaware of reports of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law by the Sudanese security forces," says the report. "But they have nevertheless continued to allow military equipment to be sent to Sudan."

Amnesty adds that both countries "have been or should have been aware" that "several types of military equipment, including aircraft, have been deployed by the Sudanese armed forces for direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks in Darfur".

In addition, Sudan's air force routinely employs Antonov 26 transport aircraft - all made in Russia - as heavy bombers. At least one of these planes has been sprayed with white paint and given fake "UN" markings in order to disguise it as a UN aircraft.

Moreover, small arms supplied by Russia and China have been passed on to the notorious "Janjaweed" militia, an armed group raised by Khartoum to combat Darfur's rebels. These gunmen have been turned loose on black African tribes and given carte blanche to loot and murder.

Weapons supplied by Russia and China have even found their way into the hands of rebel groups in neighbouring Chad.

Russia officially denied breaching the arms embargo and said that it "unswervingly" enforces UN Resolutions.

Abdel Mahmood Haleem, Sudan's ambassador to the UN, called Amnesty's report "baseless and false".