SAD SUDAN

The sad state of Sudan..

United Nations figures estimate that 200,000 people have been killed and two million people have been driven into temporary camps as a result of the ongoing conflict between armed groups in the Darfur region of Western Sudan. The conflict is now entering into its fourth year and has been described by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian disaster.

Conditions in Sudan’s Darfur region have deteriorated despite a peace deal that was signed in May 2006 and a recent upsurge in violence has restricted humanitarian aid reaching suffering populations. Hundreds of thousands have been left without help. Nearly four million people in Darfur currently depend on international aid for food, shelter and medical treatment.

There are many organisations currently working in Sudan to relieve the crisis such as World Vision.
You can help.
For ways to give aid click here.

Worldwide Appeal

Mark Wilkerson has been imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to participating in war.

Mark Wilkerson was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment for refusing to go on a second tour of duty in Iraq in 2005, by a US court martial in February. He was also discharged from the army for bad conduct for going absent without leave (AWOL). AI considers Mark Wilkerson to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for his conscientious objection to participating in the war in Iraq.

When Mark Wilkerson was in Iraq from March 2003 to March 2004, he refused to return fire on a man who was shooting at him, because, he says, “there were so many people around him; I did not want to kill innocents.”

Returning to the USA in March 2004, he immediately applied for conscientious objector status. While this was being processed, he learned that his unit would be returning to Iraq in January 2005. In November 2004, his application was refused on the grounds that he did not present clear and convincing evidence that he was opposed to all wars. US army regulations stipulate that applicants for conscientious objector status must be opposed to war in any form.

He was told that an appeal could not be re-considered until his return from a second tour of duty in Iraq, more than a year later. At this point he decided he had no option but to go AWOL. He finally turned himself in to the military authorities in August 2006.

To help!!
Send appeals to:
The Honorable Peter Geren,
Acting Secretary of the Army
102 Army Pentagon
Room 3E588
Washington DC 20310-0102
USA
Fax: +1 703 697 0720
Salutation: Dear Secretary

Somalis denied refuge

Thousands of Somali asylum-seekers and refugees have been left stranded by Kenya's decision to close the border with its war-torn neighbour. The decision has put asylum-seekers and refugees at risk of grave human rights violations.

Kenya closed its border with Somalia on 3 January 2007, citing "security concerns" in the wake of the resurgence of Somalia's armed conflict. On the same day, at least 420 Somalis, who had already crossed into Kenya and were waiting at the transit centre in Liboi, were forcibly returned to Somalia by Kenyan authorities.

Since then, thousands more Somali asylum-seekers have been unable to cross the border into Kenya and exercise their right to seek refuge from the violence that has soared since June 2006.
For the estimated 2,000 asylum-seekers who have managed to cross the border, there are additional risks and hardship along the way. Hiking through the bush exposes families to the threat of killings, rape and torture by armed groups. Those who make it to the Kenyan refugee camps in Dadaab live in fear of being sent back, if it is discovered they arrived after the border closure.

Among those trying to escape Somalia on the day of the closure was Khadija, a 24-year-old mother of four.

She told Amnesty International: "We were driven back to Somalia and dropped in the middle of nowhere. Some of us decided to come back to Kenya illegally, through the bush."

When her group encountered a low-flying helicopter, thought to be Kenyan security forces: "There was confusion and panic and everyone started running to hide. I lost all my children and have not been able to trace any of them," said Khadija, who also lost contact with her husband since he went in search of their children.

The right to seek international protection in another country is enshrined in international law. Kenya's refusal to allow Somalis through its border is a violation of its international obligations, including a breach of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention to which Kenya is a state party. The Kenyan government must re-open the border immediately and ensure that all individuals seeking refuge in the country have access to proper and effective protection.

Arms transfers to Sudan fuel serious human rights violations

Arms, ammunition and related equipment are still being transferred to Darfur in the west of Sudan for military operations. Extremely serious violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law are being committed by the Sudanese government, the government-backed Janjawid militias and armed opposition groups in these operations.

In a report published today, Amnesty International (AI) describes the arming process and its effects on the people of Darfur and neighbouring eastern Chad, many of whom have been forcibly displaced. It describes violations of the United Nations arms embargo on Darfur by parties to the conflict that occurred during January to March 2007.

Amongst other things, it shows how the Government of Sudan violates the UN arms embargo and disguises some of its military logistics operations in Darfur. It details what types of arms supplied to Sudan from China and Russia -- two Permanent Members of the Security Council -- have been used by the government of Sudan for violations of the Security Council’s own mandatory arms embargo.

Read the full report

The stupid life!

Ok a winge!
Do you feel stupid?
Do you watch the western world and wonder why?

I do....

I wonder are we any better off?
I mean of course we are but our families are now second to our jobs, second to the new house or car, second to what people think of us.

I am constantly aware of this and do not allow this to be so but how many people do you know who are a slave to work? a slave to the next big thing?

How many of us need the next new gadget or complain we are broke yet couldn't possible turn off pay tv?
We'd rather go to work for an extra hour to pay for the right to watch ridiculous Americanised tv shows which numb our brain and help us feel worthless.

Thrid world countries have NOTHING! yet they have the most amazing familie connections, their relationships are strong and they would do anything to help one another.

Surely we can take a leaf out of their book and slow down. Stop the chase for the all mighty dollar and reevaluate what is really important.
Why is that we need to get a disease to find out what it is we really care about?

I'd love for people to put family first, to stop the constant drive of consumerism and to enjoy the small things in life.

Learn to live in the moment and see the blessings around you.