Friday, May 25, 2012 8:47 PM EDT
While millions find freedom in South Sudan, a vicious crackdown persists in the north
GEOFFREY YORK
The independence of South Sudan may have liberated millions of people after decades of civil war, but it’s been a disaster for many of those who remained behind in the north.
Less than a year after South Sudan became officially independent, Sudan is cracking down harshly on dissidents, relief agencies, journalists and anyone else suspected of disloyalty to the authoritarian regime.
The worst suffering is among civilians near the border of South Sudan, where Khartoum’s military has been clashing with rebel groups. The Sudanese air force is continuing to drop bombs on villages and refugees in the border area – including at least one cluster bomb.
The use of cluster bombs, designed to hurl a deadly spray of shrapnel and “bomblets” over a wide area to kill as many people as possible, would be a blatant violation of international law. But an unexploded Soviet-made cluster bomb, dropped by a Sudanese warplane, was photographed this week in a farming village in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, near the border.
The remains of Chinese-made cluster munitions were also documented in another village in the same region in late February. Since the opposition forces do not have combat aircraft, the cluster munitions could only have been dropped by Sudanese planes.
“Sudan claims it doesn’t possess cluster bombs, so why have cluster munitions been found on its territory?” asked Steve Goose, an arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Cluster bombs cause unnecessary and unjustified risk and harm to civilians. We believe they should not be used by armed forces, anywhere, any time.”
While the fighting continues in the border region, Khartoum has been cracking down in the rest of the country too. The military conflict between Sudan and South Sudan in the border region has triggered “increased repression” across Sudan, a coalition of human rights groups said this week.
They reported that Sudan’s authorities have arrested political opponents, harassed activists, imposed censorship on the media, and banned more than 15 journalists from writing stories.
The Sudan government has listed about 20 taboo subjects that the media cannot discuss – including any criticism of the military, the police, the intelligence service, or President Omar al-Bashir. The list of banned topics is given to editors in daily letters or phone calls, according to the human rights groups.
Khartoum is also imposing tougher restrictions on foreign aid groups, especially in the war-torn Darfur region. The result has been a withdrawal from North Darfur by a leading agency, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). Its departure has left 100,000 people without any medical care, and it means that people in the region will die needlessly, the agency says.
“Over the past year, increasing obstacles have put MSF’s work under threat,” the agency said in a report this week.
“No shipments of drugs or medical supplies have been authorized since September 2011, while MSF has encountered growing difficulties in obtaining work and travel permits for its staff.”
Life-saving Caesarean-section deliveries are no longer possible for women with complicated deliveries in the region. The nearest hospital is a hazardous eight-hour drive away, and women would have a poor chance of surviving the journey, MSF says.
“If we are not allowed to deliver medicines and supplies to our hospital and health posts soon, disease outbreaks are likely to occur, and maternal and perinatal deaths are likely to increase and may even reach emergency levels,” said a statement by Alberto Cristina, the MSF operations manager in Sudan.
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Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:30 PM EDT
New polls suggest U.S. election race in dead heat
Konrad Yakabuski
Is the United States in for another squeaker presidential election akin to Bush vs. Gore in 2000?
A slew of recent polls and analyses suggests that could be case with President Barack Obama’s approval rating consistently stuck below the critical 50 per cent mark and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney rapidly shedding the negative baggage accumulated during a nasty primary season that dragged him far to the right.
Even Democratic pollster Peter Hart, one half of the bipartisan team that puts together the monthly Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, now puts Mr. Obama’s chances of re-election “at no better than 50-50.”
According to the average of eight national polls released in the two weeks until May 23, and compiled by Real Clear Politics, Mr. Obama has a marginal 1.8 percentage point lead over Mr. Romney.
The presidential race is effectively a dead heat.
Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:33 AM EDT
In photos: The flash cars of Beijing's poorly paid public servants
Mark MacKinnon
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 7:19 AM EDT
Egypt’s Christians fear the worst as Islamists poised to win presidential election
PATRICK MARTIN
The Christians of Upper Egypt are sure about two things: First, they really like democracy – the new-found sense that everyone is considered equal (Muslim and Christian, men and women), and second, the prospect of what Wednesday and Thursday's democratic choice for president may turn out to be scares the devil out of them!
Friday, May 25, 2012 1:18 AM EDT
Mounties set to replace Queen’s Life Guard at Buckingham Palace for one day
Doug Saunders
After RCMP Constable Beverly White had spent more than an hour at attention on a sleek black horse under the hot sun in London’s Hyde Park, the grand weight of history was not as pressing as the unyielding hard leather of the British saddle.
“It really is a much less comfortable saddle than the Canadian one – we’re going to be aching when this is done,” said the 32-year-old New Brunswick native, who, along with 15 fellow Mounties, had just endured a long morning beneath her stetson being screamed at by a British officer while engaging in precision exercises astride an unfamiliar horse.
It is, however, the highlight of their careers, and a big moment for the Mounties. On Wednesday they will ride down the Mall for the 11:00 Changing of the Guard before spending 24 hours in front of Buckingham Palace, taking the place of the Queen’s Life Guard.
Friday, May 25, 2012 4:03 AM EDT
Tea, cricket and tourism: The degree of the thaw in Indian-Pakistani relations
Stephanie Nolen
Cricket matches, visits to grandma and record shipments of tea leaves – are these the signs of progress in one of the world’s longest-running and most intractable international disputes?
An optimist might see signs of a substantial thaw in relations between India and Pakistan these days. Next week, the home secretaries of the two countries are slated to announce that, for the first time ever, tourist visas will routinely be made available to each other’s citizens. They are also set to ease restrictions on visas to visit family: while a great many people in both countries have relatives on the other side of the restive border (a legacy of Partition), it is at present a torturously difficult process to obtain a visa to visit, and many families have not met face to face since the territorial line was drawn in 1947.
The changes should take effect by August, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs. The new visa regimen includes “group tourist visas” for groups of between 10 and 50 people; they must use a government-approved tour operator. Children and senior citizens will be able to obtain visas on arrival at the lone land border crossing between the two nations, near Amritsar. Business travellers will be able to obtain a two-year multiple-entry visa, substantially streamlining a capricious and bureaucratic procedure that has been the bane of the business communities on both sides of the border.
Monday, May 21, 2012 12:20 PM EDT
‘Enough is enough’: Democratic mayor breaks ranks with attack on anti-Romney Obama ad
KONRAD YAKABUSKI
It is the kind of friendly fire only someone with Cory Booker’s charisma, media savvy and future prospects could – almost – get away with.
The Newark, N.J. mayor and fast rising Democratic star broke the rules of the American Sunday morning political talk shows by criticizing the team he was supposed to defend.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 9:29 PM EDT
Muslim Brotherhood flexes muscle in rallies ahead of Egypt’s election
PATRICK MARTIN
“This is the first time in 7000 years that we’ve been able to choose our national leader,” said the man bubbling with enthusiasm. “It feels wonderful.”
Indeed, one can imagine the excitement: The millenia of Pharaonic rule, the Greeks and Romans, the Arab conquest, Salahedin, the Ottomans, Muhammad Ali and his “royal” family, the military rule; now this, the people’s choice.
Friday, May 18, 2012 12:12 PM EDT
Anti-Obama ad campaign hurts Republicans more than its intended target
KONRAD YAKABUSKI
There are still Republicans who think there is political mileage to be had out of President Barack Obama’s past association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor who once likened the 9/11 terrorist attacks to “America’s chickens coming home to roost.”
They are just hard to find outside the confines of a Fox News studio or the fringe right-wing groups that deal in conspiracy theories. Elsewhere, Rev. Wright is boring old news.
If there was a moment that Americans might have doubts about Mr. Obama’s links to “black liberation theology,” it seems to have long past. The President’s likeability ratings have been off the charts for most of his first term, even though Americans express ambivalence about his job performance. His overall approval remains below 50 per cent.
In short, Barack Hussein Obama just isn’t that scary.
Friday, May 18, 2012 10:45 AM EDT
American jihadi offers rare glimpse into Canadian life, extremism
Colin Freeze
It’s a rare writer who publishes an autobiography at age 28. But, if for nothing else, give former Toronto resident Omar Hammami credit for his literary audacity – and his extraordinary optimism in the face of peril.
The Story of an American Jihaadi Part One was released on the blogosphere this week. “I might as well set the story straight for history’s sake,” writes the Menace from Mobile Bay, Alabama, in the new memoir. “Yes… I was born and raised in America …but now I’m in Jihaad.”
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Affan Chowdhry
Affan Chowdhry is the Globe’s multimedia reporter specializing in foreign news. Prior to joining the Globe, he worked at the BBC World Service in London creating international news and current affairs programs and online content for a global audience.
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Paul Koring
Paul Koring, the Globe’s Washington-based International Affairs and Security Correspondent, has covered conflicts and crises from the Cold War to Afghanistan, reporting from Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.
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Mark MacKinnon
Based in Beijing, Mark was previously Middle East correspondent and before that Moscow correspondent for The Globe and Mail.
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Patrick Martin
Covering the region since 2008, this is Patrick’s second tour as Middle East correspondent. His first assignment was from 1991-95. In between, he served as The Globe’s Foreign Editor and as Comment Editor.
Read more from Patrick and follow him on Twitter @globepmartin
Stephanie Nolen
Stephanie Nolen is the Globe's South Asia correspondent. She has reported from more than 40 countries and is a seven-time winner of the National Newspaper Award for coverage of issues including India's crisis of child malnutrition and the challenges faced by Dalit girls. Working across South Asia, she has also reported on the final days of the Tamil Tigers, the civil war in Sri Lanka, and humanitarian crises in Pakistan stemming from natural disasters and the rise of Islamist extremism. Ms. Nolen is a four-time winner of the Amnesty International Media Award.
Read more from Stephanie and follow her on Twitter @snolen
Doug Saunders
Doug Saunders is the chief of the Globe and Mail's London-based European Bureau, writes the weekly Reckoning column in the Focus section as well as daily reports and weekly features on European issues and international social and political trends.
Read more from Doug and follow him on Twitter @DougSaunders
Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith is a foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail. Based in Istanbul, he has recently focused on Libya, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
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Sonia Verma
Sonia Verma writes about foreign affairs for The Globe and Mail. Based in Toronto, she has recently covered economic change in Latin America, revolution in Egypt, and elections in Haiti.
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Konrad Yakabuski
Konrad Yakabuski is The Globe and Mail's chief U.S. political writer, based in Washington. He covers all aspects of the American political scene, including relevant social and cultural issues.
Read more from Konrad and follow him on Twitter @KonradYakabuski
Geoffrey York
Geoffrey York is The Globe and Mail's Africa correspondent. He has been a foreign correspondent for the newspaper since 1994, including seven years as the Moscow bureau chief and seven years as the Beijing bureau chief.
Read more from Geoffrey and follow him on Twitter @GeoffreyYork
