A Long Way Gone

Ishmael Beah's new book - a hard-hitting account of child- soldiering in late 1990s Sierra Leone - is out; and apparently being sold in Starbucks (could someone with access to the coffee giant confirm…) Beah has a story that needed to be told, and I commend him for meticulously going back through the nightmare that was his youth and recounting, in lurid detail, his experiences fighting for a complex web of rebel alliances and counter alliances, vaguely understood even by the young combatants themselves. While Beah’s account is unique, I am sure it is not uncommon. Most, if not all of contemporary conflicts, particularly in Africa, are carried out by young boys (and girls) who have often been abducted, drugged, indoctrinated, and turned into killing machines. The suddenness with which Ishmael Beah regressed from a normal boy to a participant in Sierra Leone’s bloodletting is testimony to the impressionability of people in general, and young war victims in particular. The fortunate part of Ishmael’s story is that it basically has a happy ending; it is not without redemption. He was rehabilitated and settled in America, where he graduated from college and is doing momentous things. It remains to be seen if the others, the hundreds of thousands of other child soldiers, will have a happy ending or ever come to know redemption and deliverance from the forces that have abducted them. To Ishmael - well done, keep sharing your story. To Ann - thanks for the book.

An excerpt:

We walked into the arms of the forest, holding our guns as if they were the only thing that gave us strength. We exhaled quietly, afraid that our own breathing could cause our death. The lieutenant led the line that I was in. He raised his fist in the air and we stopped moving. Then he slowly brought it down and we sat on one heel, our eyes surveying the forest. I wanted to turn around to see my friends’ faces, but I couldn’t. We began to move swiftly among the bushes until we came to the edge of a swamp, where we formed an ambush, aiming our guns into the swamp. We lay flat on our stomachs and waited. I was lying next to Josiah. Then there was Sheku and an adult soldier between myself, Jumah, and Musa. I looked around to see if I could catch their eyes, but they were concentrated on the invisible target in the swamp. The top of my eyes began to ache and the pain slowly rose up to my head. My ears became warm and tears were running down my cheeks, even though I wasn’t crying. The veins on my arms stood out and I could feel them pulsating as if they had begun to breathe of their own accord. We waited in the quiet, as hunters do, our fingers gently caressing the triggers. The silence tormented me.

Also, please click here for Jeffery Gettleman's article in New York Times about child soldiers: The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars.

Vanity Fair July '07

The July 2007 Vanity Fair is out, and you should buy it. The magazine has teamed up with the likes of, you guessed it, Bono, Desmond Tutu, Jefferey Sachs, Binyavanaga Wainaina, Annie Leibovitz (20 different covers for edition), and countless others to present a fabulous magazine, dedicated exclusively to Africa. Click here for more.

"Silence was Killing"

The words of new French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking at an international conference in France this week on ending the violence in Darfur. Just 5 weeks into his Presidency, Sarkozy's government seems to be spear-heading a new push to resolve the ongoing conflict. Go Sark! Interestingly, the Sudan government was absent from the talks - they weren't invited; and African Union (AU) delegates, boycotted stating the French efforts were counter to their own. Condoleeza Rice was in attendance, and stated, "The world had failed the people of Darfur." Indeed. This "failure" that Rice speaks of should be our challenge, our drive, our reason for action. Laudably, last week the government of Sudan agreed to a joint UN-AU peacekeeping force, but, true to form, the actualization of these measures is dragging. The government of Sudan's Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, states, "Actually, the ball is in the UN's court [referencing the implementation of a peacekeeping force]". My reactions:

1. Well done France (and the other 18 nations and delegations in attendance).
2. Prove Condoleeza wrong; take up the challenge
3. AU - give me a break, stop politicking and engage in peacekeeping. Do your job.
4. The various players (western nations, gov of Sudan, AU, UN, Darfur rebel groups)
must coordinate efforts to cut through the paralysis of policy.

Summary of letter(s) sent to Congress:

Use something of this nature to send to your elected officials as well

You can get the addresses of your representatives by going to this website and entering your zip code: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home.

I write to you to make an appeal for your support of U.S. policy to protect the people of Darfur. As you know, this is one of the world’s most entrenched conflicts and approximately 400,000 people have been killed. In 2004, Colin Powell and President George W. Bush declared the crisis in Darfur to be “genocide.” However, despite this designation, too little has been done to respond to the crisis

The United States has enormous leverage in the global political arena, and I ask you to lobby and vote for a stronger international peacekeeping force. Currently, the paltry 7,000 African Union troops do not have the ability to control the conflict or protect the millions of displaced Darfurians. Also, the United States must play a much larger role in helping broker a political solution to the conflict, as was done for the civil war in Southern Sudan. It is clear that the Janjaweed attacks on the mostly non-Arab Darfurians are not random. They are calculated, systematic and funded / coordinated by Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP). This is not acceptable. It is imperative that the U.S. government target the NCP with economic sanctions. The perpetrators of this genocide must be held accountable.

Furthermore, I urge you to encourage President Bush to cooperate with the International Criminal Court as they investigate war crimes in Darfur. Though not party to the ICC, the U.S.Darfur. should, at a minimum, provide information and support to the ICC to bring accountability for the atrocities in

In conclusion, I ask that the important global alliances forged in the name of the War on Terrorism (ie. U.S. – Sudan ties) do not interfere with what is required to stem the violence in Darfur. It is not acceptable to turn a blind-eye on the National Congress Party of Sudan, since they have cooperated with the U.S. in the War on Terrorism. Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to your response. Together we can stop the genocide in Darfur.

On Darfur

Yesterday I was heading home from a short visit to the United States. I was at 36,000 feet over Sudan, and reading a new book: Not on Our Watch – The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond , by actor Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Crash) and John Prendergast.

As I became more and more absorbed in the pages of the book, I reached for my in-flight computer screen and discovered that I was right over Darfur, soaring south along the Chad / Sudan border. The horrors I was reading about on the pages in my lap were unfolding on the ground, just 36,000 feet below me. What had I done about it? Really, not much. What was I going to do about it? Well, that’s where this blog comes in…

While I was home, a friend asked me about Darfur. “So what is going on there? Why all the killing? And why for so long?” Naturally, I should know, right? I live here in East Africa. I work with Sudanese people. Well, the truth is I stumbled and stuttered and backpedaled and was unable to answer the questions. I tried, but didn’t do justice to the sort of answers that are required. I dodged the issue saying “We don’t work with Darfurian refugees. The conflict is too recent. We resettle more entrenched problems, where refugees have been displaced for a much longer period.” All that was true, but I was uncomfortable with my explanation.

I have been living in Kenya for three years, and during that time I have been involved in refugee resettlement, mostly of Somalia, Ethiopian, Sudanese, and most recently Burundian refugees. This was how I personally got involved in things going on in Africa that outraged me. Now, however, having finished the book, I realize that my efforts are too little, too late, and that I am capable of much more. And so I write. I bring these uncomfortable truths to you. And I ask you to listen, and more importantly I ask you to act.

When I came out to Kenya I was fresh out of university and filled with optimism and hope. My actions and expectations were marked with a naiveté bordering on the Pollyannaish. Initially, I wrote op/ed pieces to newspapers back home. Several editors never responded. Two pieces were published – one on Darfur, one on Rwanda. Several people commented on the pieces. It felt good. I was doing something. Soon, as the months turned into years and my visits to refugee camps became routine, and wars raged in the countries surrounding me, my optimism began to fade. It crumbled. It washed away. My advocacy went into hibernation. I put my head down, ostrich-like, and hammered away, bit by bit, at the problem of displacement. At times it felt good – it still does – but I was haunted by headlines of fires burning in Darfur, northern Uganda, Somalia, and Congo – to name but a few. The body counts kept climbing. In August 2004 (see my blogs: http://craigmurphy.easyjournal.com/entry.aspx?eid=2268974 and http://craigmurphy.easyjournal.com/entry.aspx?eid=2276413) the Darfur death toll was 30,000. Now some put estimates as high as 400,000. That is almost half a million people – mostly women and children – who have been slaughtered with impunity. And now frankly I feel guilty at how little I’ve done.

Not On Our Watch is, among other things, a how-to guide. It takes you, step by step, through what has happened in Darfur and what we, as concerned citizens, can do. It puts forth several useful points, such as the “Three Ps”, “Four Horsemen enabling the Apolcalypse,” and “Six Strategies for Effective Change.” I summarize:

The Three Ps:
1) Protecting the People
2) Punishing the Perpetrators
3) Promoting the Peace

The Four Horsemen Enabling the Apolcalypse:
1) Ignorance
2) Indifference
2) Policy inertia
3) Apathy

Six Strategies for Effective Change:
1) Raise Awareness
2) Raise Funds
3) Write a letter
4) Call for Divestment
5) Join an Organization
6) Lobby the government

I don’t like telling you these things. It makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news. I don’t want you to see my name in your inbox and think “Oh, Craig is at it again, going on about Africa’s woes.” I often avoid those kinds of advocates. When in the U.S. and people ask me about Africa, I habitually downplay my responses. Everything is vague and glossed-over and roundabout. The adjective “fine” features prominently. When maybe I should be saying, “Well, I’m good, but almost half a million people in Darfur have been killed in 3 years, there is combat in Mogadishu, Robert Mugabe still is single handedly responsible for famine in southern Africa, militias are on the move in Congo, and Joseph Kony continues to abduct children, drug them, brand them, torture them and turn them into child soldiers in northern Uganda.” Who wants to hear those sorts of responses? Nobody. And I certainly don’t want to be the guy giving those sorts of retorts to the “How’s Africa?” question. Further, I don’t want to contribute to the already extremely negative image that the West has of Africa. I try to tell and write about the success stories. To capture the beauty of this place, and some of the interesting people. By being the random guy living in Africa, I don’t want to, by default, be the purveyor of a continent’s horrors. I don’t want to be that guy. But, maybe I am. Maybe I should be. I feel it necessary to be that guy, though I don’t want to be. So, I give you the opportunity now, by all means, if you don’t want your inbox rocked with the horrors of Darfur and beyond, DO LET ME KNOW. I would be happy to remove you from my blog list.

Living out here and interviewing refugees on a daily basis, does take its toll. It takes its toll in ways that I wasn’t initially aware of. Now that I reflect, one of the things I did was withdraw from involvement in some of the conflicts. I stopped routinely checking BBC and UN websites for updates on Darfur and Somalia. I stopped blogging about Darfur. I stopped forwarding news articles to like-minded friends. I didn’t want to know. There was nothing more I could do. I was doing my part. I was out here. I was doing enough. BULLSHIT.

I think effective advocacy is concise, coherent, and often blunt. So let me try to be these things. I am writing you for the following reasons:

1) To let you know that I am declaring my own little war on the Darfur crisis. (I will move on to other conflicts later…stay tuned).

2) To encourage you to educate yourself about what is happening in Darfur (see the following websites: www.enoughproject.org/, International Crisis Group, IRIN News Africa, Not on Our Watch Project, Save Darfur, Genocide Intervention Network, Darfur Scores, Eric Reeves Site)After you get a sense of what is going on in Darfur, get on the Internet and get the postal addresses of your Representatives and your Senators, and put the pen to paper. You can get the addresses of your representatives by going to this website and entering your zip code: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home. Write. Lobby. Advocate. Beg. Plead. Let your voice be heard. Send snail mail. Don’t email, unless you must. Because, hell, who even uses the postal system anymore. Shock your leaders and support the U.S. postal service (Though I hear stamps are 41 cents these days – yikes!) Inform those in positions of power. Let them know that you are informed and that inaction is no longer an option. And most importantly let them know that if they don’t listen to you, they may not be re-elected (I recommend diplomacy with the latter!). I have only written to my elected officials once or twice. This is all new to me. But I am starting now. I hope you join me.

3) Forward this email / blog link to others. Or write your own. Just spread the word. Click on everyone in your address book and ask them to write to their elected officials. The letters don’t have to be long – remember: concise, coherent, blunt – just let them know that you know what is going on and then ask them to support policies and pressure that will affect positive change for the people of Darfur. Just write, tell, blog, speak, spread the word, break the silence, rock the inertia that has a strangle hold on the world as the Darfur crisis enters its 4th year. Mailing one letter is not sufficient. You’re not off the hook yet. The effort has to be long-term, widespread, and SUSTAINED. That is how support will be mobilized to put pressure on the situation. If we are quiet. If we are complacent. The air strikes will continue to obliterate villages. The Janjaweed will continue to wreak havoc. Women will continue to be systematically raped. Darfurian non-Arabs will continue to be exterminated with impunity.

4) Buy Not On Our Watch. Read it. Talk about it. Spread the word. Pass the book to others and encourage them to read it and pass the message. Hopefully, your advocacy will be reignited like it has for me. When I put the book down, I didn’t have a choice. I turned on my computer and started typing. It was a slap in the face. A necessary kick in the ass. I have broken my silence and it feels good. For all of my attempts at waxing poetic about Africa and her glories, the reality is that there is also an ugly side to this continent, and I can no longer remain mum.

There is so much going on in the world that you may wonder why I’ve chosen to advocate for Darfur. At least that’s the question I ask myself. Why not something else? Why not poverty or street children, child soldiers, trafficking of women and girls. I can walk out of my house, cross the street and see ten street children sitting on the curb sniffing glue. At night they are in the drains, curled up in the underworld of my neighborhood. Why not them? There are a lot of reasons, namely because poverty is a more global, widespread, long-term, economic situation, that has to do with differential development and access to resources and technology on a historical level. (For more on this read Jeffery Sach’s The End of Poverty , Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and see my 2005 blog: http://craigmurphy.easyjournal.com/entry.aspx?eid=2612360 ) It is more difficult, but not impossible, to pin the blame on why there is so much poverty (and thus street children) in the world. It is not something that Congress can set a policy on, implement, and quickly eradicate. This can, however, be done in Darfur. People are to blame. It is all documented and recorded. The architects of the Darfur Genocide are known and roam freely. In fact many are courted by U.S. officials, because Sudan is a “friend of the U.S.” who is “assisting” in the so-called “War on Terror.” Remember “You are either with us, or you are against us.” Well, the Khartoum clique is “with us.”

Let’s do this thing.