GOOD NEWS JUST IN!

Beny Ngor Chol has recently returned from 3 months in Africa where he looked for land to build the projected Multi-Purpose Center for the disabled of Southern Sudan. He met with the Land Commissioner and a Land Title Official in Juba, the largest city in the South. He told them of the plan, sponsored by the Lost Boys Face Foundation. They offered to GIVE land near Juba to locate the Center if the non-profit Foundation could raise the funds to build and staff it.

At Overland Park Unity Church in Kansas, Beny and Ayuel Leek (along with Barbara Youree) first told the good news and explained their vision to help the disabled and vulnerable people of Southern Sudan. For more on the project, click on Lost Boys Make a Difference under Archives in the right side bar.

To contribute to this amazing project by Lost Boys of Sudan, who after having endured years of hardship, are not bitter, but only want to help those less fortunate than themselves: Go to Lost Boys Face Foundation and click on contact us.

For questions about this project: email Barbara Youree at byouree1@cox.net

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

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 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)

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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

February 13, 2009

This is the month that the International Criminal Court at the Hague was to issue an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. The New York Times, basing its information on unnamed lawyers and diplomats, reported late Wednesday, February 11, that judges had decided to issue said warrant.

On Thursday, February 12, the court quickly clarified that “no decision had been made” on whether to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir in connection with atrocities and genocide in the Darfur region.

A flurry of news items then went out confirming and denying the action. It was soon learned that the UN Security Council had discussed the situation in Sudan and the “possibility” that the ICC would move to arrest the Sudanese President. Some of the Council members expressed the concern that working for peace in Sudan and upholding justice at the same time presented a dilemma.

France suggested that the ICC should withhold the arrest if al-Bashir would surrender two senior Sudanese officials charged with the killings in Darfur.

Some felt that the fragile Comprehensive Peace Agreement (the north/south peace pact) of 2005 would be in jeopardy. Other arguments pro and con continued. Apparently the ICC will consider all the angles before making such a far-reaching decision.

FYI: More than 300,000 people have been killed in the ethnic war in Darfur since 2005.
There are now about 13,000 international peacekeepers in Darfur and another 10,000 monitoring the peace agreement between Khartoum and southern Sudan.

Sources for this post: The Times, Feb. 13, 2009; www. ynetnews.com.

January 10, 2009

Sudan Sunrise will break ground along with Manute Bol for a new school in Turalei, not far from Abyei, for some 300 children who have no school except the shade of trees. According to Bol this will give Sudan a giant example of reconciliation. His school will welcome Darfurian and other Muslim students. And Darfurians are volunteering to help build it as a sign of reconciliation.

This move toward reconciliation is quite significant in light of what the New York Times warns is a “fragile” peace between the Muslim North and the largely Christian and Animist South. For more about the project,Sudan Sunrise. Then scroll down to Manute Bol Turalei School Project.

LOST BOYS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Ayuel Leek Deng and Beny Ngor Chol, co-authors (with Barbara Youree)of Courageous Journey, have plans to make a difference in this world, using their experiences and expertise. Through their new non-profit organization, Lost Boys Face Foundation, they are working toward creating a Multi-Purpose Center for the disabled in Southern Sudan. Here’s the plan:

LBFF Initial Project:
Multi-Purpose Center to be located in Southern Sudan

Concept: A Multi-Purpose Center will be built to host a variety of activities to benefit disabled men, women and children. These individuals will be trained in marketable skills, such as carpentry, masonry, weaving, clothing manufacture, metal work, tanning and leather work, growing vegetables and preparation of food, basic medical skills for helping to run a medical clinic for minor illnesses and first aid.

All these products will be sold to the local community. The profit will be shared between the disabled producer and the Center. In time, the Center will become self-supporting and the disabled self-reliant.

Classes will also be taught to both the disabled and the community at large on such topics as sanitation, sign language for the deaf, family planning and prevention of sexually-transmitted diseases.

The need: Sudan is a war-torn country with a 2008 population of 39,445,000, over 40% under the age of 15. The long civil war between the North (Arabic Muslim) and the South (Black Christian and Animist) took two million lives and displaced four million people, many of whom still live in refugee camps outside the country. According to Dr. John Garang, head of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army and Vice-President of Sudan after the Peace Agreement in 2005 (until his untimely death shortly thereafter), estimated that 39.2% of the people of Sudan are disabled, most from war injuries and mutilation by having hands or legs cut off.

Beny and some of his staff at Kakuma

Expertise to make the project a reality: Beny Chol, President of LBFF, served as Manager of the Community-Based Rehabilitation Program in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. As a Lost Boy himself, he worked under the direction of the International Rescue Committee and had 120 paid staff under him. In addition, 595 volunteers formed the Community Based Rehabilitation Committee who helped identify, register, and organize the disabled for the program. He supervised the types of programs envisioned for the Multi-Purpose Center.

Ayuel Leek, Vice-President of LBFF, also a Lost Boy, worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Kakuma. He was trained in counseling, visiting the sick, and helping children deal with their war traumas through drama.

Both Beny and Ayuel are still in contact with several persons, both disabled and not, who worked in Kakuma and are skillful and willing to make this dream a reality. They and other Americans, board members and donors will periodically make visits to see how the Center is progressing. Beny will be in Kenya and Sudan in December 2008 and January 2009. He will check out possibilities of purchasing property for the Center in Juba, Jongulei or Unity State. He has contacts in these areas.

To be part of making this dream a reality, go to Lost Boys Face Foundation and click on Contact Us.

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 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

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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 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.