Confronting the past, shaping the future

This past week violence has considerably escalated in two African states - both Kenya and Chad are immersed in hostilities that have massive consequences for the populations, as thousands are reduced to nothing short of a state of hopelessness and despair. Well over a month after the contestable results of the December 27th election and with several hundred Kenyans dead and thousands more displaced, Kenya is still a torn state; the Kikuyo faction of President Mwai Kibaki and the Luo - to which opposition leader Raila Odinga belongs - are both vying for power. At the same time, it is a sad development that Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, an expert mediator, will not participate in negotiation talks; the decision of the Kenyan government to exclude Ms. Ramaphosa is indeed a blow to the peace efforts of former Secretary General, Kofi Annan, whose recommendation of a Truth and Reconciliation Committee might relieve people of much anguish and suffering.

The situation in Chad is quite worrisome as groups of rebels wage a fierce war against President Idriss Déby - a member of the Zaghawa group, which is a minority in the country; Déby's 18-year rule has been particularly problematic after allegations of electoral fraud (on more than one occasions) and particularly after the Constitutional reforms that augmented the President's powers. As French and Westerns evacuate the country, rebels have managed to enter N'Djamena, the capital city of Chad, on February 2nd. With a quarter of a million refugees from Sudan occupying the southeast parts of the country and a native population gravely affected by the battles, the peace-enforcement troops that France and several other European states are expediting in the region will certainly prove crucial.

Conflicts in Kenya, Chad and elsewhere in Africa are distressing for the suffering they inflict on people, the destruction they cause on the infrastructure of rural and urban spaces and the nature as well as the state of instability they impose, with order and peace returning on average months if not years after ceasefire. At the same time they awaken us all to two sad realities, of the sort that tend to be neglected:

- Just because states in Africa are sovereign, and no longer under colonial rule, this should not mean that they have done away with colonialism altogether; colonialism is present through the legacy it has bequeathed to the countries and the people. A mere look at the map of Africa betrays the sad reality of artificially created countries and explains why ethnic tensions are frequent and so difficult to manage.

- Just because democracy is a desired form of government for many people, this means not that democracy is also preferred by all and much less that it is easy to implement. With volumes of political science dedicated to democratic transition and the difficulties that come along, it is not a surprise that many states fail and as a result swing between authoritarianism and democracy, or, alternatively maintain "pseudo"democracies or, on some occasions, electoral democracies.

This past week severe human rights violations have also occurred in Sri Lanka. Civilians have died as a result of attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the occasion of the 60th year anniversary of the independence of the country from the British. The Tamil Tigers, it must be noted, question the legitimacy of the Sri Lankan government and have been waging a secessionist war for the past 30 years. Another Asian country, Indonesia, has come to the fore this week as former dictator Suharto passed away on January 28th. Responsible for much of the progress of the Indonesian economy during his 31-year rule, Suharto had a notorious human rights record, with blatant suppression of political dissent and media censorship. Suharto was never brought to a court of law, and this should not go unnoticed.

Yet this past week has brought also some positive developments in the field of human rights. Two important instruments of regional law came a step closer to becoming a reality: the Council of Europe Convention on Action against the Trafficking of Human Beings entered into force on February 1st, following the ratification of the Convention by four more countries (France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway and Malta) this past January. The second instrument, the Arab Charter on Human Rights entered into force on January 24th, following the ratification of the seventh Arab state. Despite some controversial provisions regarding Zionism, the rights of children and non-citizens, the Charter provides a basis upon which human rights can be negotiated and further developed in the years to come.

Regional instruments are valuable as complements to existing law, often times acting as an "in-between" layer with international and domestic law on the two sides. In our contemporary times where conflicts and human rights violations span the entire globe, the international community has yet to guarantee a universal respect of human rights. In light of this deficiency, the regional instruments may in fact present us with a valuable tool to safeguard human rights in the various parts of world and with an opportunity to strengthen the legitimacy of human rights broadly speaking.

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Links:

on Kenya: Call for Kenyan Truth Commission
on Chad: Journal TV5 MONDE (in French; yet, worth watching for the images of N'Djamena)
on Indonesia and Human Rights in Asia: Asia's Need for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation

Somalia, today -

The scourge of war has been ravaging the population of Somalia for more than a year now causing a major humanitarian crisis that words alone cannot describe. Some 600,000 people, or, half the population of Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, have opted to flee Inferno for the rural regions, in search of food or hope. Not that there is much of either food or hope in the impoverished villages, but anyway - let's assume there is.

Failed negotiations in late 2006 between the Transitional Government and the Islamist Movement led to a large-scale warfare when neighboring Ethiopia and the USA intervened on behalf of the Transitional Government, that is, against the combined forces of the Islamists and the Eritreans. Today, the Transitional Government is back in the capital but retaliation acts from the Islamists turn Mogadishu into a battlefield almost daily.

Famine is, for a second time in less than 20 years, a gloomy prospect for Somalia as political precariousness, lack of security and hostile checkpoints around the capital make the distribution of whatever UN and other food reaches the country disturbingly uncertain. Gross suffering and excessive deaths appear to be occurring as wounded women and children are frequently prevented from accessing UNICEF medical stations. If confirmed, the soon-to-happen expulsion of journalists from the area of Somaliland will seal the "death decree" for Somalia as it will sever the region from the world for good.

Reporting from the Shabelle River region for the Washington Post, Stephanie McCrummen is a voice in the field - and she communicates not only the plight of Somalis but also the quintessence of virtue in her article "A wealth of kindness among Somalia's poorest": entitled to only a loaf of bread and a few tomatoes per family, locals welcome their displaced compatriots knowing very well so that this means putting their very own survival at risk. Amidst so much misery, Somalis teach lessons for life - they truly do.

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References:

For updates: UN News on Somalia

Stephanie McCrummen's article: "A wealth of kindness among Somalia's poorest: Clan Ties Open Doors for Refugees From Capital"

African tales

Despite the light that postcolonial writings have been shedding on Africa in the past few decades, the truth remains that by and large the continent lives, still, in shadow; Africa makes only "rare appearances" in the public scene since the latter continues to be dominated by Western, and to a lesser extent Asian and other, "actors". Hence our entrenched ignorance about the lands, the people, the culture; suffice here to point to the international media for instance - Africa appears almost like a tautology for disaster and grief: Darfur - Rwanda - Apartheid.

This is both wrong and unjust for a continent that is home to over a quarter of the world's countries. But it is also highly misleading, since Africa is far from being drained - that is, despite our consistent efforts to deprive it of all its resources, whether human, animal or natural.

But I wish to go no further with general comments; instead it is a personal experience I wish to share - the feelings of guilt and frustration I experienced earlier this evening in the well-stocked neighboring bookstore. Scrutinizing what was a temporary display of African literature, I was chagrined as I realized that I possess only a handful of books and I have read just a few more; I felt deeply ashamed as I was reading the synopses of all the great books that were lying in front of my eyes and some I had not heard of.

A big splash of extra cold ocean water woke me up to a reality that extends beyond Soyinka's literary and non-fiction writings, Achebe's poetry and Appiah's lucid descriptions of Asante life in Ghana. There I had it all; in front of my eyes there was such a wonderful display of books that spanned from Algeria and Djebar's "Children of the New World" to Kenya and Thiongo's 1964 account of Mau Mau atrocities ("Weep not Child") to Zimbabwe and Dangarembga's "Nervous Conditions". South African accounts of Apartheid and "Truth and Reconciliation" proceedings were not absent either; nor were, of course, horrific accounts of atrocities in Darfur, enough to fill quite a few books and volumes - and, note, the real-life drama of the people has yet to end...

I did not want to leave; at least not until I had sucked in summaries, pages and characters, not until I had jotted down titles and authors. Was I less frustrated? Yes - I must admit. Was I more optimistic? No - much as I did appreciate the book display it did not take me much to realize that beautifully stacked albeit lonely books cannot do much. Plus, most of them have no flashy or glossy clovers... To believe otherwise, seems to me quixotic at best, foolish at worst.. I claim to be neither. But I would love to be proven wrong. I seriously do.