October 29, 2009
World Vision Report – Week of October 10, 2009 – Manute Bol.
Manute Bol with Ayuel Leek Deng on left, Beny Ngor Chol on right
Learn what Manute Bol is doing by building schools with Sudan Sunrise for all children in southern Sudan. Click on World Vision Report above.
March 21, 2009
President Obama has chosen retired Major General J. Scott Gration as special envoy to Sudan. This action is urgently needed as many people around the world have been hoping that the President would appoint someone of Major Gration’s ability, experience, and integrity. In 2006 Major Gration traveled to Africa with Mr. Obama and visited the refugee camps in Chad.
Following the arrest warrant for President Al-Bashir of Sudan for war crimes, the Sudanese government expelled 13 international aid agencies (NGOs), which left 1.1 million civilians without vital food deliveries and many more left without potable water and health care. We can expect to hear of starvation and disease on a grand scale.
Hopefully, the new envoy to Sudan will be able to make a difference in this land that continues to be left devastated and desolate.
February 17, 2009
February 17, 2009
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), western Darfur’s most influential rebel group, and the Khartoum government have signed a joint declaration of good intention. Representatives of the two groups have been meeting in Qatar this past week. Sponsors of the meetings include Qatar, the United Nations, African Union and Arab League.
The sponsors say, whereas the agreement is hopeful, the talks are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace. Other rebel factions are refusing to talk to Khartoum and say the peace drive will fall without them.
Fragile as it is, the agreement is a positive first step.
Source: Aljazeera.net/english.
February 14, 2009
February 13, 2009
To listen to U.S. news one would think that the economic crisis was the government’s sole concern. But this week two roundtable events were held in congressional office buildings, highlighting Sudan’s crises and considering ways to move ahead with a more muscular policy.
Conflicting reports of a arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omer al-Bashir by ICC and news that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 between the North and the South was faltering brought about the new concern.
At a meeting of four members of Congress, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom suggested creating security guarantees for Southern Sudan in order to deter a renewal of the North/South civil war. “The key to making CPA implementation a reality is to put Southern Sudan in a position where it has leverage,” said Commissioner Leonard Leo in an interview.
The Commission, a government agency created by Congress in order to advise the State Department, made its recommendations to Secretary Hilary Clinton. The Commission also recommended that a new Special Envoy be appointed to Sudan, someone with the necessary stature to emphasize the priority of Sudanese peace and stability to the new Administration.
Congressional members attending: Chris Smith (R-NJ), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Barbara Lee (D-CA)
*
A group of four Senators met for a roundtable discussion, hosted by the Senate Foreign Relation Committee. They discussed the importance of a Special Envoy for Sudan and the need for the US to help lead efforts to implement the North/South peace agreement (CPA).
Senator Kerry said that he had met with Secretary Clinton that morning and disclosed that she was favorable toward the concept of a no-fly zone and other “concrete steps.” He added, “To the degree that anyone is listening, particularly Khartoum, I hope they will understand, no matter what happens with the ICC, that there is a moment here to try to change the dynamics and begin to move responsibly. I am absolutely confident that this administration is going to focus on this issue and I personally am interested in this no-fly zone concept.”
Senators attending: Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Feingold (D-WI), Senator Cardin (D-MD), Senator Kaufman (D-DE).
Source: www.sudantribune.com Feb. 13, 2009
October 13, 2008
October 13, 2008
Ayuel & Beny sign book contract for Courageous Journey
Ayuel Leek Deng and Beny Ngor Chol, co-authors with Barbara Youree of Courageous Journey, now have a website about their newly formed non-profit foundation: The Lost Boys Face Foundation.
Their goals are to help Lost Boys and Girls with education (scholarships), medical assistance (testing and treatment) as well as create awareness of the crisis in Sudan. Check it out: Lost Boys Face Foundation
October 7, 2008
October 8, 2008
Astronomers call it: There will be an asteroid hit tonight
Tell your family in Sudan not to be scared
Astronomers are calling their first ever asteroid impact — a really small and insignificant one — for Monday night in Sudan. The 6.5-foot-wide rock, designated 8TA9D69 by its discoverers at the University of Arizona Mount Lemmon Survey, will break up in the atmosphere over Sudan.
The asteroid will enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 10:46 p.m. ET (2:46 a.m. GMT). There is no danger to people or property since the asteroid will not reach the ground. It will burn up in the upper atmosphere, well above where airplanes travel. People in eastern Africa will be able to see a brilliant fireball.
“This is the first time an asteroid impact has been predicted,” and shows astronomers are improving their asteroid observationcapabilities, says NASA’s David Morrison, in a asteroid newsletter.
The atmospheric impact will equal about a 1 kiloton explosion, causing no damage on the ground, according to Italian astronomer Andrea Milani of the University of Pisa.
“We want to stress that this object is not a threat,” said Dr. Timothy Spahr, director of the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.
“We’re excited since this is the first time we have issued a prediction that an object will enter Earth’s atmosphere,” Spahr added. There are between 99.8 and 100% odds the object will encounter Earth, according to Milani’s calculations.
A small asteroid like this compresses the air in front of it when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The compression heats the air, which then fires up the object, causing it to glow and vaporize. Once it starts to glow, we call it a meteor.
“A typical meteor comes from an object the size of a grain of sand,” said Gareth Williams of the Minor Planet Center. “This meteor will be a real humdinger in comparison!”
“We’re eager for observations from astronomers near the asteroid’s approach path. We really hope that someone will manage to photograph it,” said Williams.
By Dan Vergano and Jess Zielinski
Photo: This artist’s concept showed a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our sun. The asteroid heading for the Sudan is significantly smaller, so call off Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. By T. Pyle, NASA/JPL Caltech
–
M A R K R. T O W S L E Y
Phoenix, Arizona
October 9, 2008
An asteroid entered the atmosphere over Sudan Tuesday morning, October 9, producing a brilliant light show as it burned up. Small portions may have hit earth, spectators surmised, but posed no threat to people. The asteroid, scientists said, would have measured between 6 and 15 feet in diameter. The object was first spotted Monday morning by the Catalina Sky Survey telescope near Tucson, Arizona.
According to scientists, the most important aspect of the sighting was the prediction of its path.
July 15, 2008
July 14, 2008
At last, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir may finally face judgment for his crimes. Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, prosecutor at the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, has asked the court for an arrest warrant. It comes three years after the U.N. Security Council requested him to investigate the atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The evidence covering the five years since 2003 has brought 10 charges against President Al-Bashir: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. It is the first time a sitting head of state has been accused of such crimes. Moreno-Ocampo accuses Al-Bashir of both conceiving and implementing a plan to destroy three tribes in Darfur (the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa peoples) who rebelled against the Islamic government for its pattern of bias and marginalization against them. Khartoum then organized a local Arab militia, called the Janjaweed, and carried out a brutal counterinsurgency against civilians that has killed more than 300,000 people and left two and a half million homeless. “His motives were largely political. His alibi was a ‘counterinsurgency’. His intent was genocide,” the Prosecutor said.
Al-Bashir’s government uses rape as a weapon of war against his own people. One victim told of how when the forces surround the camp, “we run. Some of us succeed in getting away, and some are caught and taken to be raped—gang raped. Maybe around 20 men rape one woman. These things happen all the time. . . They rape girls in front of their mothers and fathers.”
The Prosecutor further pointed out the cruel nature of the crimes: “Al-Bashir organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors. He did not need bullets. He used other weapons—rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent.”
One of Sudan’s two vice-presidents denies the allegations, calling them “null and void.” President Al-Bashir points out that Sudan is not a party to the International Court and says it will ignore the announcement.
Although it will take months for any action against Al-Bashir to take place, at least the indictment calls the world’s attention to the genocide he is carrying out in plain view.
NOTORIOUS JANJAWEED ARRESTED
Khartoum, October 24, 2008
The International Court is active again in Sudan. It has just arrested (Oct. 13) a notorious janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhamad Ali Abd-al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb). He is charged with crimes against humanity in 2007 for planning the attacks in the Darfur region that led to the rape and murder of civilians and the destruction of entire villages.
Whereas previously the Sudanese government ignored orders to extradite Kushayb, its sudden willingness to cooperate suggests that his arrest may have been merely an attempt to ease International pressure on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir who was recently accused of war crimes and genocide in Darfur.
April 26, 2008
Manute Bol’s Tall Order
“The key to peace is education”
Much has been said and written about Manute Bol and most of the focus has been on his fabulous nine-year career as the tallest person to ever play in the NBA. But there is a deeper side to the seven-foot seven native of Sudan who resides in Olathe, KS and calls the village of Turalei in Southern Sudan his home.
An un-educated young man when he came to the U.S. to attend school and play basketball in 1983, Manute has since come to place a high value on education. He knows that one of the important keys to peace in Sudan is education for its children. There are 100 students and five teachers in Manute’s home village, but no schoolhouse. They teach and learn under trees and when it rains, as it often does in Southern Sudan, there is no school.
HERE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO HELP MANUTE BUILD A SCHOOL IN TURALEI. A team is forming to make construction of a school a reality for the children in Manute’s home village. Will you help? Click on SUDAN SUNRISE on Blogroll to findout how.
