NE Congo - Missionary Warns of a New War in the Country

GOMA, September 7, 2007 (CISA) - A Catholic missionary in North Kivu where fierce fighting has been raging between the regular army and rebels led by Laurent Nkunda has given a dramatic account of the violence. Latest reports say aid workers in eastern Congo are struggling to cope with a surge of people fleeing the recent fighting. More than 10,000 people have fled their homes in the past week. “The streets are filled with people carrying mattresses on their heads, the only thing they manage to take with them as they run from violence,” the missionary, who asked not to be named, told FIDES news agency. “These people come from an area about 25-30 km west of Goma. They say that yesterday morning (September 4) at about 6 am they were woken by mortar shelling and decided to abandon their village en masse before the fighting reached their homes.

“The fortunate ones go to family or friends in Goma, the main town in North Kivu. Those who have no one to go to are settling in makeshift shelters close to the town. “I wonder who is funding the violence. Who has the money to pay people to take up weapons again? Recently Congolese authorities said they had dismantled a network of provocateur agents, rebels preparing to take action in Bukavu, Uvira and other parts of Kivu, to spread the conflict. There is fear of a third Congolese war, after those of 1996-97 and 1998-2003. “Sadly, when the militia in this area were disarmed nothing was done to reintegrate them into society. They were given an incentive of 100 dollars to hand over the arms, but many of them failed to find work. Unemployed and with no prospects, they are easy prey.

“There exist then the conditions for another war: all that is needed is someone with a box of matches. The members of the provocateur agents are paid 250 dollars a month, a fortune in this part of the world. Not even a university professor earns as much! Who is paying?” “There are precise strategies behind these events. Nothing is left to chance. I saw, for example, that the media in the West gave ample coverage to the killing of the mountain gorillas in Virunga Park. This was not useless cruelty to nature; instead it was to prevent tourists coming here to see what is happening.”

Laurent Nkunda commands rebel brigades of the unified Congolese army established after the peace agreement of 2003. He is wanted for war crimes. Nkunda's troops have repeatedly thwarted efforts on the part of the central government to restore peace in the eastern regions of D.R. Congo. Because of the fighting, tens of thousands of Congolese have fled to Uganda.
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First Lady Calls for U.N. Resolution over Ongoing Strife in Burma

Washington, Sept. 6th. During her recent vacation at the family ranch near Crawford, Texas, first lady Laura Bush was reading news articles about the ongoing strife in Burma, where the military government has been arresting dissidents and protesters in large numbers in recent weeks. When she returned to Washington last week, she did something unusual: She called the secretary-general to register her dismay and urged him to condemn "the brutal crackdown." Yesterday, the first lady invited a small group of reporters to her office in the East Wing to explain her passion for the cause of Burmese freedom and called for a U.N. resolution expressing the world's concern over the deteriorating situation in one of the world's most isolated and repressive governments. "So far as we can tell, they thumb their nose at the rest of the world," Bush said in the interview. "But that doesn't mean the rest of the world shouldn't continue to speak out about these issues."

Bush said her long-standing concern about Burma began several years ago when she learned the compelling story of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has spent much of her time in detention since her party won elections in 1990. The Burmese military rejected the electoral result. But Bush's engagement has grown more pronounced in the past year or two, as she has consulted with numerous experts and human rights officials, met with the nation's ethnic minorities and hosted a forum about Burma at the United Nations last September. "I think this is sort of one of those myths that I was baking cookies, and then they fell off the cookie sheet and I called Ban Ki Moon," she joked, referring to the U.N. secretary-general. Even so, Bush seems to be playing a more confident and expansive role in the past year: Along with her focus on Burma, she has stepped in to help the lobby lawmakers on the president's education law and has traveled to highlight the administration's initiatives on curbing AIDS. She is careful not to raise too much of a ruckus. Asked yesterday whether her call to Ban was a sign of administration frustration with the United Nations, Bush quickly cut off the question, saying, "No, no, no. I wouldn't say that at all." But Bush also made clear her willingness to eschew normal diplomatic language, acknowledging that China and Russia stand in the way of the kind of tough resolution that the United States might seek at the Security Council. She said she has a "small amount of optimism that China will work with us on this issue," noting that Beijing helped facilitate a recent meeting between U.S. and Burmese diplomats and has an interest in stability in the country. "I don't know about Russia," she added. "You know, they seem that whatever we're for, they're against."

Yesterday's interview was part of an accelerating campaign among Western leaders to raise consciousness about the strife in Burma, also known as Myanmar, where dissidents have been arrested amid scattered protests against recent increases in the price of fuel and other consumer goods. Yesterday, there were reports from Rangoon that hundreds of Buddhist monks in the town of Pakokku were met by warning shots from soldiers when they staged an anti-government protest. President Bush issued his own condemnation of the Burmese government last week, and administration officials said they expect the president to make Burma an issue as he meets with Asian leaders at a Pacific Rim summit this week in Sydney. The first lady's campaign seems to be having some impact on the U.N. bureaucracy, which has been on the defensive somewhat since Ban issued what was seen inside the U.S. government as a weak statement last month. It called on the Burmese government to exercise "restraint" but also urged "all parties to avoid any provocative action."

In an interview, the top U.N. envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, said he was caught off guard by what he saw as a critical statement last week from the first lady, whom he said he has briefed three times. "The tone was surprising," he said. "We share the same end result, which is a democratic Myanmar with greater respect for human rights." Gambari said the United Nations is pursuing a strategy of "patient diplomacy" by painstakingly rallying support for its policies from key regional and international powers -- including the United States, China and Russia. "We don't condone what has happened recently," he added. "We have issued a strong statement that this is unacceptable." Laura Bush said she was hoping "for as much pressure as we can possibly put" on Burma's ruling generals "to get them to move." "These are all peaceful protesters," she added. "None of them are calling for a violent overthrow of the government. They're only asking the government to be responsive
By Michael Abramowitz
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Avoid Punishment that Debases Human Dignity of Prisoners

VATICAN CITY, SEP 6, 2007 (VIS) - In Castelgandolfo at midday today, the Pope received participants in the Twelfth World Congress of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care, which is currently being held in Rome on the theme: "Discovering the Face of Christ in Every Prisoner." Addressing the group in English, the Holy Father acknowledged that the work of prison chaplains "requires much patience and perseverance. Not infrequently there are disappointments and frustrations," but "this ministry within the local Christian community will encourage others to join you in performing corporal works of mercy, thus enriching the ecclesial life of the diocese. Likewise, it will help to draw those whom you serve into the heart of the universal Church, especially through their regular participation in the celebration of the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.

"Chaplains and their collaborators are called to be heralds of God's infinite compassion and forgiveness. In cooperation with civil authorities, they are entrusted with the weighty task of helping the incarcerated rediscover a sense of purpose so that, with God's grace, they can reform their lives, be reconciled with their families and friends, and, insofar as possible, assume the responsibilities and duties which will enable them to conduct upright and honest lives within society."

Judicial and penal institutions, the Pope went on, "must contribute to the rehabilitation of offenders, facilitating their transition from despair to hope and from unreliability to dependability. When conditions within jails and prisons are not conducive to the process of regaining a sense of a worth and accepting its related duties, these institutions fail to achieve one of their essential ends. "Public authorities must be ever vigilant in this task, eschewing any means of punishment or correction that either undermine or debase the human dignity of prisoners. In this regard," he concluded, "I reiterate that the prohibition against torture 'cannot be contravened under any circumstances'."

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Sudan - UN Secretary General Renews Peace Effort

Kartoum, Sudan Sept. 3rd. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon began a weeklong Africa trip devoted to Darfur by pleading with Sudan on Monday to ensure the human rights of its citizens. Mr. Ban also hinted that he would show more understanding toward the country’s much-criticized leadership. "I have never put much stock in grand rhetoric, dreams of the future, ‘visions’ that promise more than can be delivered," he said, addressing an invited gathering at Khartoum’s palatial Friendship Hall. "I am a realist, a man of action," he said. "I believe in results." Following his speech, he held a private meeting with Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Mr. Bashir has been shunned by many national leaders for his repeated denials of human rights abuses under his government. Mr. Ban told the audience that he was here to help end the violence in Darfur with a plan that combines a large force of peacekeepers with negotiations toward a political settlement between rebel militias and the government. "There must be a peace to keep," Mr. Ban said. "Peacekeeping must be accompanied by a political solution."

Last month, the Security Council authorized a joint United Nations force of 20,000 soldiers and 6,000 civilian police officers to be sent to Darfur to protect civilians from the wave of killings, rapes and pillaging that has cost more than 200,000 lives and left more than two million villagers homeless. The joint force will be the world’s largest peacekeeping operation and cost more than $2 billion a year. United Nations officials hope to begin deployment in October and complete it by the beginning of 2008. Mr. Ban said he would extend an invitation to the eight major rebel groups involved in the fighting in Darfur for a "full-fledged peace conference" this fall. The groups met last month in Arusha, Tanzania, and came up with a framework for sharing power and resources that the United Nations says lays a basis for talks with the government. "There has to be a political will inside the government of Sudan to move toward negotiations, and we think that there is such a political will," said an official traveling with the secretary general. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid upstaging Mr. Ban, added, "I never use the word ‘optimistic’ about Sudan as a rule, but at least there are some positive trends here." He listed them as the unified support of the Security Council, the cooperation of neighboring countries like Chad, Eritrea, Egypt and Libya, and the "express will" of Sudan to participate in negotiations.

Mr. Ban is concluding his visit to Sudan this weekend before heading to Chad and Libya to enlist their continuing support in trying to end the Darfur crisis. In his talk, Mr. Ban coupled his offer of United Nations cooperation with an appeal to the audience, supporters of the Sudanese government, to recognize Sudan’s own responsibilities. "We have only to look around us to see how far Sudan has to go in upholding human rights," he said. Mr. Bashir had long resisted the entry of United Nations peacekeepers in Darfur, but this summer bowed to international pressure and agreed to the joint force. United Nations officials said they were placing hopes for progress in Darfur on the working relationship they believed has developed between Mr. Ban and the Sudanese president. The men have held three face-to-face meetings and a number of phone conversations since Mr. Ban became secretary general in January. "Bashir knows that the secretary general will be frank, but trusts him not to go parading around afterward saying, ‘I told him a thing or two,’" said another United Nations official traveling with Mr. Ban. "I won’t go so far as to say the talks are friendly, but the S.G. feels that he can talk in a very forceful way without derailing things," he said. Many countries have been less trusting of Mr. Bashir, who has a record of going back on his word. Last week at the United Nations, Britain and France suggested that there should be new sanctions against the Sudanese government for the continuing violence in Darfur.

On taking office in January, Mr. Ban said Darfur would be his top international priority, and fulfilling that pledge has become a growing obligation as concerned countries and aid groups have increasingly looked to the United Nations to produce an outcome. While he seeks their support for the peace effort in Darfur, Mr. Ban faces pressure from the Sudanese to produce United Nations action on development, water scarcity and the war-ravaged environment of Darfur. His audience greeted him with polite applause on Monday. Yet questioners focused not on Darfur but on the need for United Nations development assistance and the lack of a permanent seat on the Security Council for Africa. One asked if Mr. Ban could bring South Korean business success to Sudan. Mr. Ban responded by saying he found the give-and-take "much more lively than in the General Assembly."
By Warren Hoge
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Education - The Path out of Poverty

Sept. 3rd: Returning from hiding to her village in Sierra Leone, 15-year-old Mary Smart was stunned to find her classroom burned to the ground by rebels. The rebels ransacked her school and killed her teachers, as they had done countless times across the country, in the hope of keeping the population uneducated. But it didn't work. Now that the country's civil war is over – with largely peaceful elections held last month – Mary and others have begun returning to class, refusing to have their education taken from them. Mary wants to be a lawyer, she says. That way, she can defend the rights of other children to ensure they also get to go to school.

This is the kind of success story that next Saturday's International Literacy Day is meant to honour. But while we are celebrating stories like Mary's, we must remember just how low on the world's list of priorities literacy has become. Less than 3 per cent of official development assistance is spent on education, with just a fraction of that going to literacy programs. While it would cost just $7 billion (U.S.) to teach every person to read and write, one in six is illiterate.

By contrast, the U.S. and Europe alone spend upwards of $18 billion every year on makeup products. That's a discouraging disparity. It means that there are still 120 million children not in primary school and that nearly a billion people cannot read papers like this one. No one doubts that even a basic education is vital. The UN estimates that earning potential increases by as much as 10 per cent for every year of schooling. Basic literacy vastly improves a family's quality of life: they are better able to find jobs, prevent diseases and protect their rights and dignity. What's key about education is that it allows people to lift themselves out of poverty. It's not charity, but rather a long-term and sustainable path to development. Countries in the developing world, from Brazil to Senegal, are becoming aware of these benefits and in recent years have introduced national literacy strategies.

Ethiopia's initiative is called the Education Sector Development Program. It provides alternative learning for children not in school, literacy classes for youth and even basic skills training for adults. With a literacy rate of only 41 per cent, the program will go a long way in helping ordinary Ethiopians out of poverty. It is expected to reach more then five million people by 2011.

But these countries are struggling to fund their programs. Kenya spends just over $30 per person on education, while China spends about $20. Canada spends nearly $1,500 per person on education. Part of the problem is that many developing world countries are saddled with debt repayment, diverting billions of dollars a year away from social services. Burkina Faso spends five times more on its debt than it does on education. That is where the developed world can help. By dropping crippling debt repayments for countries that show good governance, the West can ensure poor nations have more money for education. And by linking aid and trade deals to education spending, countries can know that their money is being put to good use. Three per cent of official development assistance is simply not enough. Because, as Stephen Lewis once said, "education is the solution to everything.
By Craig and Marc Kielburger
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Pope Urges Young People to Care for the Planet

Loreto, Italy Sept. 2nd: (Zenit.org).- The world is in urgent need of Catholics working to protect the environment, says Benedict XVI. The Pope said this today at the end of his homily for the closing Mass of his encounter with young people in Loreto. Following Christ, the Holy Father affirmed, brings with it "the continual effort to make one's own contribution to building a more just and solidary society, where all can enjoy the goods of the earth." "I know that many of you dedicate yourselves with generosity to bear witness to your own faith in various social ambits, volunteering, working to promote the common good, peace and justice in every community," he said. "One of the areas in which work appears to be urgent is without a doubt that of protecting creation. "To the new generations the future of the planet is entrusted, in which there are evident signs of a development that has not always known how to safeguard the delicate equilibriums of nature. "Before it is too late, it is necessary to make courageous decisions that reflect knowing how to re-create a strong alliance between man and the earth. "A decisive 'yes' to the protection of creation is necessary and a firm commitment to reverse those tendencies that run the risk of bringing about situations of unstoppable degradation."

Benedict XVI applauded an initiative from the Church in Italy to promote sensitivity to the issue of protecting creation. Sept. 1 has been established as a national day for promoting awareness of these matters. "This year," the Holy Father observed, "attention is focused above all on water, a most precious good that, if it is not shared in a fair and peaceful way, will unfortunately become a cause for significant tensions and bitter conflicts."
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HTLM Link

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Military Spending

Annual Cost of Improving the World
• $19 billion: Eliminates starvation and malnutrition globally.
• $12 billion: Provides education for every kid on earth.
• $15 billion: Provides access to water and sanitation.
• $23 billion: Reverses the spread of AIDS and Malaria.

The Cost in Perspective
• $522 billion: U.S. Military budget this year.
• $340 billion: Cost of Iraq War thus far.
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