Act Now or See 'Unrecognizable' Earth:

The Star.com Nov. 18th: Without urgent, aggressive steps to stop greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will cause devastating heat waves, floods, starvation and disease, says a report written by the world's top climate scientists and endorsed by 140 nations yesterday. Environment Minister John Baird immediately welcomed the document, from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "Canada, like the rest of the world, needs to take immediate action," he said in a written statement. But critics said the minister and the rest of the Conservative government still pay lip service to the problem while promoting a plan that would make it worse. "The government is acting to protect industry and its shareholders instead of the planet and future generations," said John Bennett, of Ottawa-based Climate for Change.

Impacts have already begun, declares a 23-page summary of thousands of pages of scientific evidence. Without action, human activity could lead to "abrupt and irreversible changes" that make Earth unrecognizable. As early as 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, while residents of Asia's megacities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding. The new report is the fourth and final statement this year from the panel – the roughly 2,000 scientists who assess research on the rapid increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. It draws conclusions from the previous three documents and sets the stage for next month's UN conference in Bali, Indonesia, where governments are supposed to resolve how to set targets for emission cuts after 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Climate change imperils "the most precious treasures of our planet,"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in Valencia, Spain, where, in five days of often-tense negotiations, governments haggled over the summary's wording. Ban urged the United States and China – the two biggest greenhouse gas sources – to do more. Panel reports, issued every five years for the past two decades, tend to be conservative. This one, though, is stark and urgent. "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late," said Rajendra Pachauri, a scientist and economist who heads the IPCC. "What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.'' Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official, said what's new is the clarity of the scientific message, adding that, while the report isn't binding, "The politicians have no excuse not to act." "The timing of this report couldn't be better," Baird said in his statement. "Canada has been a leader in bringing the world together... and we will continue that work in Bali." But critics said his plan – which rejects absolute emission caps – would let Canada's greenhouse emissions grow with the economy. The panel says emissions must fall at least 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 to prevent catastrophic impacts. Canada's target is a 20 per cent cut below 2006 levels by 2020 – which if achieved would still leave us slightly above our 1990 total. But many say the Conservatives' proposals aren't capable of hitting even that weak target. "The government is not acting on the science," said Matthew Bramley, of the Pembina Institute. "They're trumpeting bogus targets as if they're meaningful," said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "I'd believe John Baird if he came out with a plan that includes things like a carbon tax and a moratorium on growth in (Alberta's) tar sands."
By Peter Gorrie
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Bangladesh Cyclone Death Toll Tops 3,100

BARGUNA, Bangladesh (AP) — The death toll from Thursday's cyclone in Bangladesh is now more than 3,100, and officials say that number could reach 10,000 once rescuers get to outlying islands. Rescuers are struggling to reach thousands of survivors, and relief items have been slow to reach many. Survivors grieved and buried their loved ones Monday as they waited for aid to arrive.

In Galachipa, a fishing village along the coast in Patuakhali district, Dhalan Mridha and his family had ignored the high cyclone alert issued by authorities. "Nothing is going to happen. That was our first thought and we went to bed. Just before midnight the winds came like hundreds of demons. Our small hut was swept away like a piece of paper, and we all ran for shelter," said Mridha, a 45-year-old farm worker, weeping. On the way to a shelter, Mridha was separated from his wife, mother and two children. The next morning he found their bodies stuck in a battered bush along the coast.

The coast abounded with such grim tales following Tropical Cyclone Sidr — the worst cyclone to hit Bangladesh in a decade. Many grieving families buried their loved ones in the same grave because no male member was available to dig them. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, warned the toll could hit 10,000 once rescuers reach outlying islands. The society's chairman, Mohammad Abdur Rob, said the estimate came from the assessments of thousands of volunteers involved in rescue operations across the battered region.

Helicopters airlifted food to hungry survivors Monday while rescuers struggled to reach remote areas. The army helicopters carried mostly high-protein cookies supplied by the World Food Program, said Emamul Haque, a spokesman for the WFP office in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, which is coordinating international relief efforts. International aid organizations promised initial packages of $25 million during a meeting with Bangladesh agencies Monday, Haque said. But relief items such as tents, rice and water have been slow to reach many. Government officials defended the relief efforts and expressed confidence that authorities are up to the task. "We have enough food and water," said Shahidul Islam, the top official in Bagerhat, a battered district near the town of Barguna. "We are going to overcome the problem."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that several million dollars were available from the U.N.'s emergency response funds, depending on the need. He expressed his "profound condolences to the people and government of Bangladesh for the many deaths and the destruction involved, and the full solidarity of the U.N. system at this time of crisis," the statement said. The government said it has allocated $5.2 million in emergency aid for rebuilding houses. Many foreign governments and international groups have also pledged to help.

An American military medical team is already in Bangladesh and two U.S. naval ships, each carrying at least 20 helicopters, among tons of other supplies, will be made available if the Bangladesh government requests them, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement. Other governments and organizations that pledged aid include the German government, which offered about $730,000, the European Union with $2.2 million, and the British government with $5 million. France pledged some $730,000, while the Philippines said it would send a medical team.

Every year, storms batter Bangladesh, a country of 150 million, often killing large numbers of people. The most deadly recent storm was a tornado that leveled 80 villages in northern Bangladesh in 1996, killing 621 people. Only two people were killed in Bangladesh by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was spawned off Indonesia's Sumatra island by a magnitude-9 earthquake, hitting a dozen countries and killing at least 216,858, according to government and aid agency figures considered the most reliable in each country. Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history, killed 1,600 people across the Gulf Coast, destroyed or severely damaged more than 200,000 homes and made more than 800,000 people homeless overnight.
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'Fast Economic Growth' in Africa

The economic outlook for Africa is improving after a decade of growth of 5.4% for the continent that matches global rates, the World Bank has said.
The trend indicates that a fundamental change is occurring in Africa, a World Bank official told the BBC. But the bank's latest report, Africa Development Indicators 2007 (ADI), says ongoing investment is needed to sustain long-term development on the continent. Otherwise, a split may grow between affluent nations and stagnant ones.

The report looked at more than 1,000 indicators covering economic, human and private-sector development, governance, the environment and aid. It concludes that growth in many African countries appears to be fast and steady enough "to put a dent on the region's high poverty rate and attract global investment". The World Bank's chief economist for Africa, John Page, said he is "broadly optimistic" that there's a fundamental change going on in Africa. "For the first time in about almost 30 years we've seen a large number of African countries that have begun to show sustained economic growth at rates that are similar to those in the rest of the developing world and actually today exceed the rate of growth in most of the advanced economies," he told the BBC. The key, said Mr Page, was that "Africa has learnt to trade more effectively with the rest of the world, to rely more on the private sector, and to avoid the very serious collapses in economic growth that characterized the 1970s, 1980s and even the early 1990s." The report points to wide variations in Africa, however, highlighting three distinct groups of countries: 1. The big oil-exporting countries. 2.Those with expanding, diversified economies. 3. Those which have few natural resources, are conflict-prone and are experiencing slow or no growth.

Uneven growth rates between these groups risks splitting the continent between countries which become affluent and eradicate poverty and those which continue to stagnate. For example, 60.5% of total net foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005 went to oil exporting countries. South Africa and Nigeria account for more than half of the region's gross domestic product. Poor infrastructure and the high cost of exporting from Africa compared to other regions of the world has been holding the continent back rather than any failures of African enterprise or workers. Volatility in sub-Saharan Africa has dampened investment, the report says. Corruption is also a factor that may limit needed investments in education and health. "Perhaps the easiest illustration of that is in the resource-rich economies where the resources often accrue to a small number of corporations and to government," said Mr Page.
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Musharraf Calls Crackdown Crucial to a Fair Vote

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 13 (New York Times) — Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lift his state of emergency, insisting in an interview that it was the best way to ensure free and fair elections. He vigorously defended the emergency decree issued 10 days earlier that suspended the Constitution, dismissed the Supreme Court, silenced independent news stations and resulted in the arrests of at least 2,500 opposition party workers, lawyers and human rights advocates. “I totally disagree with her,” General Musharraf said in an interview with The New York Times at the presidential building here in the capital. “The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner.” He said Sunday that elections would go ahead by Jan. 9.

Dressed in a dark business suit rather than his military uniform, General Musharraf spoke in a confident tone, saying the decree was justified because the Supreme Court had questioned the validity of his re-election, and because of the seriousness of threats from terrorists. He refused to say when he would step down as army leader and become a civilian president, a demand that President Bush has made publicly and, in a telephone call last week, privately. “It will happen soon,” he said. General Musharraf, who has been criticized as being increasingly isolated and receiving poor advice from a shrinking circle of aides, insisted he was in touch with the mood of Pakistanis. Dismissing consistent reports that a vast majority of Pakistanis oppose his emergency decree, he said he had information from “several organizations” and feedback from politicians and friends that the move was popular. “I know what they feel about the emergency when all these suicide bombings were taking place,” he said, speaking of the rising number of suicide bombings in Pakistan. “Their view is, Why have I done it so late.”

He sharply criticized the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, saying she was confrontational and would be difficult to work with. Ms. Bhutto returned to Pakistan last month in a deal brokered by the Bush administration, which hoped that the two could find a way to share power, in order to increase public support for General Musharraf’s increasingly unpopular military government. The understanding was that she would take part in elections that could make her prime minister, while he would run for re-election as president. Instead, they have engaged in increasingly public sparring, and Ms. Bhutto has come in for criticism that she is an American pawn who is not mounting serious opposition to the general. Early Tuesday, 900 police officers surrounded the house where Ms. Bhutto was staying in the eastern city of Lahore, preventing her from leading a march to Islamabad to protest what opposition groups say is martial law. After waiting for more than a week, on Tuesday she joined other opposition leaders and called for General Musharraf to resign. “You come here on supposedly on a reconciliatory mode, and right before you land, you’re on a confrontationist mode,” he said in the interview, conducted in English. “I am afraid this is producing negative vibes, negative optics.” As for her demand that he resign, he said “she has no right” to ask.

On Nov. 3, General Musharraf imposed emergency rule when it became clear that the Supreme Court was about to declare his re-election last month illegal. That election was carried out by the national and provincial assemblies and boycotted by many opposition parties, though not by Ms. Bhutto’s. After a more compliant court was impaneled this week, General Musharraf said he expected to be sworn in as a civilian president after the new court validated his re-election. But asked when emergency rule would end, he said matter-of-factly, “I don’t know, I don’t know.” He said Pakistan was suffering from a “disturbed terrorist environment,” and he appeared to be unaffected by calls from Europe as well as the United States for an end to the emergency rule. Instead, the general, whose government has received more than $10 billion in aid from the Bush administration, mostly for the military, asked for even more support, and more patience. The Bush administration has called the general the best bet to fight Al Qaeda and Islamic militants, but has also complained that the cooperation of the Pakistani military has been sporadic and often ineffective.
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Tens of Thousands Flee Congo Refugee Camps

Nov. 14th. (CNN): Tens of thousands of Congolese refugees fled camps Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo as rebel troops attacked government forces in the area, the U.N. refugee agency said. A press release from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it didn't appear rebels had targeted the camps, but it reported some were looted after camp residents, classified as internally displaced persons, fled. Roads to Goma, about 10 miles from the camps, were crowded with refugees and local residents fleeing the fighting, the UNHCR reported. Torrential rain made the movement even more difficult. "The main road toward Sake was crowded with people; we had difficulties getting through," UNHCR field safety adviser Pierre Nazroo was quoted as saying in the agency's release. "Internally displaced people are moving from site to site, in the direction Goma."

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said, "They have been living in extremely difficult conditions anyway. Now they have nothing but what they can carry." Redmond added, "These are people in poor health; they are soaking wet because of the torrential downpours. They need shelter, they need water, they need a lot of assistance so we're going to have to move quickly to get that help to them because a lot of them are already in a weakened state." While the Congolese government accused troops under rebel general Laurent Nkunda of staging the attack, a Nkunda spokesman denied the allegation, according to a report from the Integrated Regional Information Networks, a U.N.-affiliated news service. The spokesman, Bwambale Kakolele, said Rwandan Hutu rebels who also operate in the area were behind the attack, that report said.

A spokesman for the U.N. military mission in the Congo said it was uncertain which group attacked the Congo army outpost near the village of Kishangazi, according to the U.N.-affiliated news service. "We think it could have been insurgents close to Nkunda who attacked, but we cannot rule out the [Rwandan rebels]," spokesman Col. Pierre Cherayron was quoted as saying. The UNHCR identified the affected camps as Mugunga I, Mugunga II, Lac Vert and Bulengo, saying about 28,000 had abandoned the first three camps and about 2,000 had left Bulengo. The UNHCR said 375,000 Congolese in North Kivu province have been forced from their homes in the past year. In the past two months alone, 160,000 have fled their homes amid the fighting between renegade troops and government forces, the agency said.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila has tried to gain a cease-fire with the rebels in the area under Nkunda, but fighting continues as hard-liners among the rebels and in the government have blocked reconciliation efforts, according to the International Crisis Group, an nongovernmental organization looking for solutions to conflicts.
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Poor S Africans Double in Decade

There are more losers in post-apartheid South Africa

The number of South Africans living on less than $1 a day has more than doubled in a decade since shortly after the end of apartheid.

The South African Institute of Race Relations survey said 4.2m people were living on $1 a day in 2005. This is up from 1.9m in 1996, two years after the first all-race elections. "Poverty has increased both in absolute numbers and proportionally," SAIRR said in a statement, blaming the rise on unemployment and HIV/Aids. Despite good economic growth in recent years, unemployment has remained consistently high at about 26%.

SAIRR says poverty is also increasing among the white population while inequality was growing among the black population. The government plan to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014 was ambitious, said SAIRR. "It is going to take a long time to get rid of the poverty," said researcher Marius Roodt.

Poverty and jobs

The governing African National Congress chooses a possible successor to President Thabo Mbeki in December, with trade unions backing the former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

South Africa has failed to create enough jobs

He has criticised Mr Mbeki's government for not doing more to reduce poverty. A government-backed report on unemployment released last month warned that a reliance on growth alone will not achieve the target of halving joblessness by 2014. It also concluded that even if the government did meet this target, it would not go very far to relieving poverty.

The most likely areas of job growth are in domestic service, restaurants and the informal sector - none of which are well paid. As the author of the Accelerated & Shared Growth Initiative for SA report, Miriam Altman, put it: "Poverty is something that we are likely to see in South Africa for many generations." (BBC Report)

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Catholic Church in Shock as State Expels Missionaries

ASMARA, ERITREA Nov 13:(CISA) -The Eritrean government has thrown the Catholic Church into tension by expelling 13 missionaries in unclear circumstances. Reliable sources have confirmed to CISA that the missionaries, including a Kenyan, were given 14 days to leave the country, beginning November 6. The expulsion, our sources say, is part of a wider plot by the Maoist dictatorship of President Isaias Afewerki to destroy the Catholic Church in the Horn of Africa nation.

The missionary news agency MISNA reports that the expulsion order was issued to four Comboni fathers (2 Mexicans, a Filipino and a Kenyan), 2 Comboni sisters, 2 Pavonian fathers, 2 Filipino Pius Teachers, 2 nuns of an unspecified congregation and a lay missionary. The lay missionary, an Italian national, was a volunteer working as secretary for the Bishop of Barentu, south-west of Eritrea. Two of the 13 missionaries, a Comboni father and sister, are already outside of Eritrea, but for personal reasons, according to MISNA. The reasons for the expulsion remain unclear. But sources told MISNA that two years ago the government gave notice to some missionary institutes to prepare local personnel ahead of a planned exit of foreigners from the nation.

Eritrea has one of the worst records of religious freedom violations in the world. More than 90 percent of its people belong to four recognized religions: Orthodox, Catholicism, Lutheran and Islam. Members of unrecognized churches are often detained and tortured. The annual International Religious Freedom Report issued by the United States of America this September says religious freedom worsened in 2006. The government severely restricted the freedom of religion for groups that it had not registered and infringed upon the independence of some registered groups.

Following a 2002 decree that religious groups must register, the government closed all religious facilities not belonging to the country's four principal faith groups. It continued to harass, arrest, and detain members of independent evangelical groups and sought greater control over the approved religious groups. The government also meddled with the Eritrean Orthodox Church by supplanting the patriarch in favour of its own candidate. It failed to register four religious groups that had applied in 2002, and it restricted religious meetings and arrested individuals during religious ceremonies, gatherings, and prayer meetings. According to media reports, many hundreds of religious detainees continue to be held without due process in harsh conditions that include extreme temperature fluctuations with limited or no access to family.
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U.S. Says South Africa Impedes U.N. Motion to Condemn Rape as a Tactic

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 8 — The United States accused South Africa on Thursday of obstructing an American-drafted General Assembly resolution that would specifically condemn rape and sexual abuse used by governments and armed groups to achieve political and military objectives. While the resolution does not mention any countries by name, the Bush administration has cited accusations that rape was being employed by soldiers and militia members as a tactic for intimidation and warfare, notably in Sudan and Myanmar. “The South African position is shocking,” said Kristen Silverberg, the assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, given “South Africa’s long struggle against oppression.” She noted that the South African government took a strong domestic position against sexual violence.

Speaking in a telephone interview from Washington, Ms. Silverberg said that the South Africans were demanding watered-down language that would make the resolution one about sexual violence in general rather than one about sexual violence sponsored by governments. “We think there is a real difference between governments that fail to prevent rape and governments that actively promote it, and we do not want the resolution to blur that difference,” she said. The resolution, which currently has 61 co-sponsors, would also call on the secretary general to report back to the General Assembly on evidence of government-sanctioned rape. Ms. Silverberg described this as a needed backup mechanism that did not exist in any of the many international conventions and resolutions on sexual abuse. “We want the secretary general with all the power behind his office to shine a spotlight on this specific form of abuse,” she said.

Asked about Ms. Silverberg’s expression of shock at South Africa’s position, Baso Sangqu, the country’s deputy ambassador, said, “I am shocked about that statement because we have been working very closely within the African group to find agreement on this resolution.” He said, “We are objecting to the resolution because it is politicized and singles out clear categories of rape. We want a resolution that is nonpoliticized and that looks at rape in a holistic manner in all its situations including rape by soldiers in detention centers and in situations of foreign occupation.”

American officials said that South Africa initially tried to portray its position as one that enjoyed the support of the 43-nation African group at the United Nations. When American diplomats made inquiries in individual capitals, however, they said, they found this not to be true, and three African countries, Burundi, Congo and Liberia, have signed on as co-sponsors. Since beginning its two-year term as a member of the Security Council in January, South Africa has continually been criticized at home and by longtime supporters abroad for withholding the same sorts of international human rights condemnations at the United Nations that helped end apartheid. In the cases of Myanmar and Zimbabwe, two notorious rights violators, South Africa moved to tone down or prevent harsh actions by the Council. And it has resisted proposals for strict measures by the Council put forward by Britain, France and the United States to curb Iran’s nuclear program, even though South Africa is the only country ever to have renounced its nuclear program of its own accord.

The United States had hoped for a vote on Friday, but Ms. Silverberg said that was now in doubt because of the persistent South African demands for changes. “We would like to have a vote as soon as we have a resolution that reflects the interests of the victims rather than the interests of the government,” she said.
By WARREN HOGE
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Negativity on Islam 'fuels tension'

London Nov. 9th (Press Association): The UK must be careful how it tackles terrorism and treats Islamic culture if it is to avoid recreating a society reminiscent of Nazi Germany, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain has warned. Muhammad Abdul Bari, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, criticised the Government for fuelling tensions in the Muslim community rather than dissipating them.

He told the paper: "There is a disproportionate amount of discussion surrounding us. The air is thick with suspicion and unease. It is not good for the Muslim community, it is not good for society." The Muslim leader continued: "Every society has to be really careful so that situation does not lead us to a time when people's minds can be poisoned as they were in the 1930s. "If your community is perceived in a very negative manner and poll after poll says that we are alienated then Muslims begin to feel very vulnerable. "We are seen as creating problems, not as bringing anything, and that is not good for society."

The Government's foreign policy and particularly the Iraq war, which he described as a "disaster", had been used by criminals as a weapon to encourage young people into extremism, he said. Dr Bari also criticised the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, for painting a bleak picture of the terrorist threat the night before the Queen's Speech this week. He said: "I don't think it was a good thing to share information in this way, I think it is creating a scare in the community and wider society. It probably helps some people who try to recruit the young to terrorism." The leader believes integration should be a two-way process and that the emphasis should be on the positive aspects of Muslim culture instead of the threat of al Qaida.

Muslim principles - including stricter attitudes to drinking, sex, marriage, abortion and dress - could improve the country as a whole and add more morality, he argues. Dr Bari said: "Marriage should not be forced on people but parents can be a catalyst... Young people are emotional, they want idealism. Older people have gone through all sorts of things and become a bit more experienced."
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Oprah Case Highlights Abuse in South Africa

Alleged sexual assault at Oprah Winfrey's new girls' school sparks fresh discussion about the widespread problem.

Johannesburg, Sth. Africa (Christian Science Monitor) Nov. 8th. - The allegations were far from unusual: Physical and sexual abuse of young teenage girls. In Sth Africa, where sexual assault rates are among the world's highest, the news would normally surprise few. But over the past month, ever since Oprah Winfrey says students at her new $40 million Leadership Academy for Girls reported that a dorm matron was sexually abusing a classmate, the response has been anything but typical. Ms. Winfrey suspended the suspected staffer, put other school officials on leave and brought in counselors to talk to students. Within weeks, police identified seven alleged victims, arrested 27-year-old Tiny Makopo and charged her with 13 counts of abuse. "This has been one of the most devastating, if not the most devastating, experiences of my life," Winfrey said Monday in an emotional but forceful video address in which she detailed her response to the allegations.

It was a marked change from what children's advocates say they normally see after sexual abuse here: some combination of silence, inaction, and shame. And because of this, they hope that the alleged abuse at Winfrey's school – presented in US media this week as a "scandal" – will help bring attention to what observers call an epidemic of sexual abuse in this country. "It's phenomenal," says Rachel Jewkes, a specialist on sexual violence with South Africa's Medical Research Council, of Winfrey's talk. "I think the message that is sent by this, that [sexual abuse] is utterly unacceptable, is a really powerful one. We never get a message that's so unequivocal about how these acts should be judged. Wouldn't it be wonderful if these acts would always be taken so seriously?"

Even with rape and sexual assault considered underreported crimes in South Africa, the numbers here are staggering: 54,926 reported rapes in 2006 for a country of 47 million, according to the South African Police Force. In the US, whose population is more than six times as large, there were less than double the number of reported rapes that same year – 92,455. For girls, abuse often happens at school, studies show. The 2005 National Youth Victimization Survey, conducted by a team of academics, found that 23 percent of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 had been threatened or harassed at school, and 24 percent had been sexually assaulted at school. In a 1998 health survey, which Dr. Jewkes helped conduct, more than half the women who said they were raped before they turned 15 identified the perpetrator as a teacher. "It's not just these big, high-profile incidents; child sexual abuse is a significant problem, and it has been around for a long time," says Andy Dawes, research director of the Human Sciences Research Council in Cape Town. "[The Winfrey school case] can help put attention to services that children get.... The problem with some of these [media] events, is that there is only a short-time flurry of activity. It's about sustaining the response to this kind of events."

Fairouz Nagia-Luddy, the project coordinator for the domestic violence project of the Western Cape-based Gender Advocacy Programme, says that many girls never report sexual abuse because of cultural pressures. "The problem is the silence around it," she says. Until Oprah, she says, few famous figures have addressed sexual abuse publicly. "It's important to create awareness at all levels," she says. "Role models coming up and speaking about it is one way of doing it. "Students abused by teachers are often loath to report the crimes for fear of retaliation, advocates say. In addition to the problem of girls being afraid to report abuse, a 2001 Human Rights Watch report documented widespread incompetence when it came to following up on girls' complaints. The report found "a great deal of confusion over responsibility for resolving problems and repeatedly encountered breaks in the chain of communication between school officials, police, and prosecutors, with all actors shifting responsibility and sexually abused girls getting lost in the shuffle."

In a new study that Jewkes is working on, she says a close review of thousands of police rape files also shows consistent investigative lapses – investigators losing track of a victim because they never asked for her phone number or address, for instance. "The patterns of failures of policing are incredible and they are repetitive," she says. "A lot of cases fall down because very basic things aren't done." These won't be issues in the Leadership Academy case, Winfrey says. "It is one of my goals in life to put child abusers, whether they be in my home, whether they be in my workplace, or, in this case, in the Academy, to put them where they belong," she said. "And that is behind bars." Earlier this week Makopo appeared in the Sebokeng Magistrate's court south of Johannesburg and heard the charges against her – indecent assault, common assault, soliciting a minor to perform indecent acts, and verbal abuse. She told the court she intended to plead not guilty.
• By Stephanie Hanes Scott Baldauf contributed to this report.
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Bhutto Gives Musharraf Ultimatum

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) Nov. 7th. Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto threatened on Wednesday to lead a mass protest march to the capital unless President Gen. Pervez Musharraf quits as army chief, holds elections and restores the constitution. Ms. Bhutto, leader of the largest opposition party and the politician most capable of mobilizing street power, gave Gen. Musharraf until Friday to comply.

Government officials have said national elections due in January will be held on time and a member of Gen. Musharraf's inner circle said emergency rule was likely to be lifted within 2 or 3 weeks. But Gen. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and imposed emergency rule last Saturday citing a hostile judiciary and rising militancy, has not yet personally confirmed either. "We can't work for dictatorship. We can work for democracy," Ms. Bhutto told a news conference in Islamabad after meeting members of her Pakistan People's Party and smaller opposition parties. "General Musharraf can open the door for negotiations only if he revives the constitution, retires as chief of army staff and sticks to the schedule of holding elections." She said her supporters would begin to march on Nov. 13 from the eastern city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province and the nation's political nerve-centre, to Islamabad to stage a sit-in. "The ball is now in government's court," said Ms. Bhutto. Her party is also due to hold a public protest rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad, on Nov. 9 — which police said would be blocked.

Ms. Bhutto, with Gen. Musharraf's blessing, returned to Pakistan from almost eight years of self-imposed exile on Oct. 18, amid speculation that she could end up sharing power with him after elections, forging a partnership favoured by the United States. Police have arrested hundreds of lawyers and opposition figures and supporters since Saturday, and courts remained virtually deserted across Pakistan on Wednesday in a boycott by lawyers angry at the crackdown. The main reason for imposing emergency rule and suspending the constitution appears to have been the removal of judges who appeared hostile to the government, analysts say. The Supreme Court had been hearing challenges to the legality of Gen. Musharraf's Oct. 6 re-election by parliament while still army chief, and fears the decision could have gone against the general were believed to have been the main motive for his move. The only public protests of any size so far have been led by lawyers, outraged by the dismissal of independent-minded judges such as ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is being held incommunicado at his residence in Islamabad.

As arrests have mounted lawyers' protests have become smaller and more subdued. Fewer than a dozen men wearing black waistcoats over their shalwar kameez marched toward the High Court in Lahore on Wednesday chanting "Go Musharraf Go", before being pummelled and detained by plain clothes security officials. Announcing the emergency and suspension of the constitution, the general said he was being hampered by a hostile judiciary while fighting rising militancy and asked in vain for Western allies' understanding. The United States and Britain were joined by the 27-nation European Union in urging Gen. Musharraf to release all political detainees, including members of the judiciary, relax media curbs, and seek reconciliation with political opponents. The EU said Gen. Musharraf should stick to a pledge to step down as army chief this month and hold elections in January. The Commonwealth, a 53-nation group of mainly former British colonies, called a special ministerial meeting in London next week to discuss the state of emergency in Pakistan.

However the Karachi stock market, which fell 4.6 per cent on Monday, has since stabilized thanks to perceived low prices and a boost to oil stocks from international crude prices. The market is still up around 34 per cent since the start of the year, but has come off around 10 per cent amid deepening political uncertainty since scaling historic highs on Oct. 22. Washington has said it will review aid to Pakistan, which has reached nearly $10 billion since the Sept. 11 attacks. But it has yet to come up with a clear stance for dealing with a nuclear-armed country which is on the front line in the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban. A White House spokeswoman said President George W. Bush had not telephoned Gen. Musharraf since he imposed emergency rule and described the general's act as "a mistake". Critics of Gen. Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule say he may have made Pakistan more unstable.
ZEESHAN HAIDER
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Aung San Suu Kyi Set for Talks with UN Envoy

November 6th: (Guardian) The detained Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is set to meet the UN envoy to the country today. The move is another attempt to resolve the country's political crisis amid reports that she is being treated for an unknown illness.

Ibrahim Gambari has returned to Burma earlier than scheduled to discuss the fallout from the brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in September. He has been holding talks with the senior figures in the ruling military junta in their remote new capital, Naypyitaw, and is hoping to again to persuade the generals to talk to opposition leaders. Mr Gambari is expected to travel to the former capital, Rangoon, to meet Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. Her party, the National League for Democracy, told the Irrawaddy - a website run by exiled Burmese journalist in Thailand - that doctors had been visiting her home. "We do not know yet whether she is suffering from a serious illness or not," the site's spokesman, Nyan Win, said.

Ms Suu Kyi, who is 62, appeared in public for the first time in several years in September when protesting monks gathered outside her home. Pictures of her holding previous talks with Mr Gambari also appeared. She is known to have suffered back pains and problems with her teeth in the past. Mark Farmaner, the acting director of the Burma Campaign UK, said: "She did not look at all well in the pictures with Gambari. She has always been thin, but she looked unusually thin and uncomfortable, and she is normally quite vibrant." He said reports of the democracy leader's failing health could provide added impetus to resolve the crisis, and urged Mr Gambari to take a tougher stance with the generals.

"The UN needs to stop tiptoeing around and start showing some muscle," he added. "The softly softly approach of the UN has got nowhere and has allowed the regime to keep delaying any reform or dialogue. If Mr Gambari can't get negotiations going this time, he will have failed, and the UN director general himself should take over negotiations because the regime shows no respect for UN envoys."

Burma's leading general, Than Shwe, again kept the UN envoy waiting during the current visit. He has refused to talk to him since he arrived on Saturday. On his last trip, Mr Gambari eventually met Gen Shwe after four days of negotiations. After the visit, the general said he would only meet Ms Suu Kyi if she dropped demands for human rights in Burma and calls for sanctions against the regime. The National League for Democracy rejected the demands. Last Friday, the junta announced it would expel the top UN official in the country, Charles Petrie.

It accused him of going beyond his duties by issuing a statement criticising the generals' failure to meet the economic and humanitarian needs of the people and saying this had been the cause of September's protests. The military brutally cracked down on September's protests, firing into crowds and arresting thousands of demonstrators. There have been only two open demonstrations since.
Matthew Weaver and agencies
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Chad Won't Impede Aid Groups Despite Arrests

N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) Nov. 1st. -- Chad assured humanitarian groups Wednesday that it would not hinder their efforts along the border with Darfur because of charges that a French group kidnapped children whom it falsely labeled orphans from the conflict. Seventeen Europeans have been detained since Thursday after authorities thwarted an attempt by a group calling itself Zoe's Ark to fly the African children to Europe, where the group said it intended to place them with host families.

Six French citizens were charged with kidnapping, raising concerns that the government could restrict the work of humanitarian organizations. Chad said humanitarian efforts would continue unimpeded. "Anyone not implicated in this affair ... and who work in other humanitarian assistance organizations, need not concern themselves with, nor be concerned by, those who would substitute themselves for justice to fill their empty accounts," said a statement attributed to Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor and read on national radio Wednesday. He reiterated that the case would have no bearing on a European Union plan to deploy 3,000 peacekeepers to protect refugees in strife-torn regions of Chad and neighboring Central African Republic.The French Foreign Ministry and others have cast doubt on the claims by the little-known group that the children are Darfur orphans, suggesting many are from Chad and their parents are still alive. If convicted, the six French nationals face up to 20 years in Chadian prison with hard labor. Three French journalists traveling with the Zoe's Ark members and a seven-member flight crew were charged with complicity in the alleged crime. A Belgian pilot is also under detention, but hasn't been charged. French Justice Minister Rachida Dati said France and Chad had an agreement that would enable the French nationals to face trial at home, but added that Chad had not yet chosen to act on it.

More than 300,000 Darfur refugees are living in camps along the Sudanese border, having fled four years of conflict that has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced from their homes. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Tuesday criticized the French group and expressed hope that the case didn't discredit other nongovernmental organizations doing "remarkable work" in Chad and Darfur -- "and which now are suffering suspicion and violence."

Zoe's Ark was founded in 2005 by volunteer firefighter Eric Breteau. According to its Web site, the group announced in April an operation for "evacuating orphans from Darfur." The group launched an appeal for host families and funding. Established French aid and adoption agencies raised questions about how the group could legally organize adoption of children from Darfur, and alerted French judicial authorities, according to French newspaper reports. The French Foreign Ministry in August warned families to be careful about involvement in the group's operation. Still, some 300 families reportedly signed up to adopt or foster children, and many were waiting at a French airport last week for the children when they heard members of the group had been arrested. The charity said its intentions were purely humanitarian.
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Editorial - Playing Sudan's Game

NY Times November 1: After four years of genocidal massacres that have killed more than 200,000 people, the Darfur region of Sudan desperately needs a peace agreement and a robust multinational force to carry it out. Regrettably, this week’s internationally sponsored peace conference in Libya is doing little to meet those urgent needs. The problem is not just Sudan’s continuing duplicity — it announced a cease-fire and then promptly violated it. Sudan does not really want a peace agreement. It merely wants more time to let the janjaweed militias it backs in Darfur finish killing or drive off what remains of the region’s non-Arab population.

Many of the rebel groups that claim to be Darfur’s defenders also bear serious responsibility. Some of the best-known rebel leaders failed to show up. And so, the killing is likely to proceed, with Sudan taking maximum advantage of the rebel’s fecklessness, the diplomatic timidity of those closest to it and the failure of an Iraq-distracted Bush administration to pay consistent, high-level attention to the Darfur issue. The Arab League, to which Sudan belongs, and China, a major customer for Sudan’s oil, have at least started talking about Darfur. But they have yet to apply real pressure on Khartoum. The Arab League is reportedly readying proposals for Darfur’s future economic development that all but overlook the far more pressing problem of creating the peace that is essential for development. China’s tepid complaints seem aimed more at fending off Darfur-related protests at next year’s Beijing Olympics than stopping the slaughter. President Bush’s words on Darfur have been admirably strong, but he has not followed up with the high-level diplomacy and focus needed to rally effective international pressure on Sudan.

These failures, large and small, go a long way toward explaining why the killing continues monthly despite worldwide protests, White House speeches, American sanctions, African peacekeepers and Security Council resolutions. They make it easier for Sudan to take credit for announcing cease-fires that it has no intention of honoring, agreeing to peacekeepers that it has no intention of cooperating with and attending peace conferences that have no realistic possibility of bringing peace.

Meanwhile, the genocide goes on.
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Islamic Scholars Send Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI

October 11th: More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging greater understanding between the two faiths. Entitled - A Common Word Between Us and You, the historic letter compares passages in the Koran and the Bible, concluding that both emphasise "the primacy of total love and devotion to God", and the love of the neighbour. The message identifies the principles of accepting only one god and living in peace with one's neighbours as common ground between the two religions.

With Muslims and Christians making up more than half the world's population, the letter goes on to say that the relationship between the two religious communities is "the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world". "As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, or oppress them and drive them out of their homes".
The letter was signed by prominent Muslim leaders, politicians and academics, including the Grand Muftis of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Russia, Croatia, Kosovo and Syria, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt and the founder of the Ulema Organisation in Iraq.
Click here to read complete document

Vatican: Catholic scholars respond to Muslim Letter to Pope
ICN News: Members of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) of Rome, issued the following statement in response to the letter sent by 138 Muslim scholars to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders on October 11.


A Common Word Between Us and You
"An Open Letter and Call From Muslim Religious Leaders" to leaders of different Christian Churches as a festive message on the occasion of the ending of the fast of Ramadan 1428/2007, and on the first anniversary of the 2006 "Open Letter of 138 Muslim Scholars to Pope Benedict XVI", is a highly significant event that we cannot fail to notice and must accentuate its importance. Accordingly, as members of staff of the Rome Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI), concerned particularly with relations between Christians and Muslims, we believe it is our duty to express our viewpoint on this document.

In an attempt to enter with an open mind into the dynamic of this event just as it appears, we would like to register all that we appreciate in the presentation and content of these pages. We are convinced of the good faith of those who produced it, purified by their lengthy fast during Ramadan. Our long and diligent association with the cultural and religious patrimony of Islam, as well as our regular contacts with members of the Muslim community enables us to take note of the originality of this gesture and entitles us to draw the attention of non-Muslims to it qualities.

Firstly, we were impressed by the broad scope of this text. Its breadth at the level of the signatories, one hundred and thirty-eight Muslim personalities from numerous countries of every continent, whose religious affiliations demonstrate a great variety. There was breadth also at the level of the addressees, all leaders of different Christian Churches, including twenty-eight named explicitly.

Partners with humanity
In the same line of observation, we highlight the extent of the area under consideration: Muslims, Christians, Jews and people worldwide. The authors of the letter do not seek refuge in a convenient one-sided protest on behalf of the "umma," but on the contrary, place themselves as partners within humanity. For it, they offer their way of perceiving its foundations and principles, accepted also by other communities, in view of its survival in an effectual and general peace.

The broad sweep of its perspectives is also a noteworthy feature of this text. Admittedly, its authors are interested in the fate of the present world, at stake here and now, but also in that of the 'eternal souls', a destiny determined elsewhere and in the future. This dual aim, at once immanent and transcendent, runs a strong and liberating current throughout this discourse. Naturally, we are equally struck by the fundamental character of the issue in question: God and humankind. It is much easier to confine oneself to ideas that are all the more generous for being vague and general, than to call attention in this way to the urgency of God's rights and those of humanity that demand continual awareness and an active and concrete love from each individual.

We are also keenly aware of the special treatment that the signatories of this letter give to the supreme point of reference that under girds "the other" as Jew or Christian, namely, the dual commandment of love of God and neighbour in Deuteronomy and in Matthew's Gospel. This willingness to acknowledge another person in the deepest desire of what he or she wants to be seems to us one of the key points of this document. Only this can guarantee success in a genuine relationship between culturally and religiously diverse communities. At the same time, we appreciate the way the authors of this text, as Muslims, see the proper definition of their own identity in these two commandments. They do so not by compliance or by

Politicking, but truly, solely on the basis of their proclamation of divine uniqueness, (al-tawhîd), the pivot of Muslim belief. Indeed, we acknowledge that the radical acceptance of divine uniqueness is one of the most authentic expressions of love owed to God alone. In addition, as faith always goes together with good works, as the Koran never fails to repeat, (al-ladîna âmanû wa 'amilû al-sâlihât : al-Baqara 2, 25), love of God is inseparable from love of neighbour.

Diverse communities
We are grateful to those who challenge us, thus underlining the agreement over the essential that underpins our diverse communities of believers, nonetheless keeping a realisticand bold vision in place. In effect, on the one hand, they do not erase the differentiation of our Christological options and on the other, they do not disregard the problem of religious freedom (lâ ikrâha fî l-dîn : al-Baqara 2, 256), which they consider a crucial issue.

This realism does not prevent them from having a positive view concerning obstacles and differences that remain between us. This means that faithful to the Koranic tradition that inspires them, they only see in it an opportunity for competition in the pursuit of the common good, (fa-stabiqû l-hayrât : al-Mâ'ida 5, 48). Undoubtedly, this positive view of problems enabled them to avoid controversy, to surpass themselves, to shoulder and ignore their disappointment to a response that did not rise to their expectations in the outcome of their letter of 2006 addressed to Pope Benedict XVI.

Reading this document, we notice on their part the presence of a new and creative attitude relative to the Koranic text and that of the Prophetic tradition. This is in reference to certain historical interpretations, marked by particular situations that made access relatively restricted as far as the consideration of non-Muslims was concerned. In particular, we have in mind the general application they give to the Âl 'Imrân 3, 113-115 verses, relative to 'a staunch community who recite the revelations of God in the night season, falling prostrate,' that many commentators had up to then considered only in relation to Christians on the point of converting. We are pleased to see that the biblical and Gospel quotations used in this document come from the sources and that explanations given are on occasion based on the original languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. This is evidence of deep respect and genuine attentiveness to others, while at the same time of a true scientific spirit. In this respect also, we note the emergence of a new attitude.

In conclusion, we wish to insist on the a priori positive attitude of the writers of this text in their interpretation of the three parallel passages in the Synoptic Gospels. They could have chosen a much more restrictive and minimalist exegesis with which the Christian tradition would have provided them without difficulty and of which they were surely aware. Inspired by their attitude, we also would only hold to the maximum interpretation according to which the texts of the Koran and the Prophetic tradition do not only restrict to members of the umma the benefits that any good Muslim may lavish on his neighbour, for the sake of his faith in God and in his exclusive love for him.

Differences in our languages and in our hues, (ihtilâf alsinati-kum wa alwâni-kum: al-Rûm 30, 22), that is, our deep cultural differences, will be far from engendering suspicion, distrust, contempt and dissension in us, as it often turned out in the history of our relations and still is the case in the world today. Such a document encourages us to pursue our commitment with determination, so that these variations will be seen as signs for those who know, (inna fî dâlika la-âyâtin li-l-'âlimîna), that is, as the mercy of Our Lord.

Rome, 25th October 2007
Rev Fr Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, Comboni,Rector
Rev Fr Etienne Renaud, Miss. Of Africa, Dean of Studies
Rev Fr Michel Lagarde, Miss. Of Africa, Professor
Rev Fr Valentino Cottini, Professor
Rev Fr Felix Phiri, Miss.of Africa, Professor
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Myanmar Junta May Have Killed 110 Protesters, UN Says

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar soldiers may have killed as many as 110 people during a crackdown on anti-government protests last month, said a United Nations official tasked with probing alleged human rights abuses by the military regime.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who will travel to the Southeast Asian nation next month, said he had verified ``allegations of the use of excessive force by the security forces, including live ammunitions, rubber bullets, tear gas, bamboo and wood sticks, rubber batons and catapults.'' Thirty to 40 monks and 50 to 70 civilians may have been killed in the crackdown, Pinheiro, who is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special rapporteur on human rights in the country formerly known as Burma, said in New York yesterday.

General Than Shwe's regime has faced global condemnation since it deployed soldiers Sept. 26 to crush the biggest anti- junta protests in almost 20 years. UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari is trying to rally neighboring countries to pressure the regime to take steps toward democracy. He is holding a second day of talks today with officials in China, Myanmar's closest ally. Reports continue of deaths in custody, torture, disappearances, ill-treatment and lack of access to food, water and medical treatment for those in detention, Pinheiro told a General Assembly committee, according to a statement on the UN's Web site.

The army and militia are reportedly ``going home by home searching for people and detaining participants in the demonstrations,'' Pinheiro said. ``Relatives of people in hiding have reportedly been taken hostage as a way of pressure.'' A ``situation of fear prevails,'' he added. The junta must unconditionally release all detainees, grant amnesty to those who have been sentenced, reveal the whereabouts of missing people and conduct an independent investigation into the killings, Pinheiro said in a statement to the committee. He also demanded the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 years in custody since the junta rejected the results of parliamentary elections won by her National League for Democracy in 1990. Protesters staged rallies yesterday in cities around the world, including London, Paris, Bangkok and Washington, demanding Suu Kyi's release.

China is one of Myanmar's biggest trading partners. As a permanent, veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, its support is essential for any international effort to end the political crisis in Myanmar. Gambari will meet Tang Jiaxuan, China's highest-ranking foreign policy official, and Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi today. ``This is a very important stop on this mission,'' Gambari told reporters yesterday in Beijing.

He will travel next to Japan before returning to New York on Oct. 27 to brief Ban on his trip, which included visits to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. Gambari, who held talks with junta leaders earlier this month, is scheduled to return to Myanmar in the first week of November, the UN says.
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Darfur Rebel Leaders Want Talks Halted

SIRTE, Libya (AP) — Key rebel leaders in Sudan's Darfur region called Monday for a peace conference to be canceled, but U.N. and African mediators bid for more time in hopes of drawing the insurgents into the stalled talks. The two main rebel chiefs have boycotted the U.N. and African Union-brokered conference since it began in this Libyan city Saturday, saying they won't sit alongside minor rebel factions that they describe as stooges of the Sudanese government. Their rejection of the meeting has blocked long-sought direct negotiations between rebels and Sudan's government on bringing peace to Darfur, a region where more than 200,000 people have died in nearly five years of conflict.

Jan Eliasson, the chief U.N. envoy at the meeting, said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decided not to postpone the conference despite the absence of the rebel chiefs because he felt it was urgent to push for an end to the suffering of Darfur civilians. African Union spokesman Noureddine Mezni took a similar position. "We're trying to find a formula to conciliate the sense of urgency with the rebels' need for more time," Mezni said. But leaders of the two main rebel forces — the Justice and Equality Movement and a major faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement headed by Abdulwahid Elnur — called for an outright cancellation for now. Elnur, founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement, insisted he would not participate in talks until a 26,000-strong force of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers deploys to Darfur in January and shows it has the muscle to end violence. "I appeal very, very strongly on Eliasson not to pursue this failed negotiations process," Elnur said by telephone from his base in Paris. "They need to first stop the killing of my people."

Khalil Ibrahim, founder of the Justice and Equality Movement who initially supported holding the conference, also said the talks should be canceled. "We have to arrange for another time, this is not working," said Ibrahim, who leads the most potent rebel force. He said he would not attend because mediators let in splinter groups beholden to the Sudanese government in Khartoum. "These aren't rebels, they took money from Khartoum and were created to dilute the cause of Darfur," Ibrahim told The Associated Press by satellite phone. The mediators, who have traveled for months through Darfur, insist they invited everybody to Sirte so that talks would be as inclusive as possible. Ahmed Farzi, spokesman for the mediators, Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim of the African Union, said envoys would be sent to Darfur in the coming days to meet with the boycotting rebel leaders. He said those leaders "have a sincere interest in peace and a desire to participate."

Meanwhile, talks among various civilian delegates and a handful of low-level rebels continued in Sirte's half-empty conference center. Organizers said they were discussing a "general framework" for future peace.

Darfur's ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government in early 2003, accusing it of discrimination. The regime has been accused of waging a campaign of atrocities on civilians, causing 2.5 million to flee their homes. The government denies doing that.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Father Damien Closer to Sainthood

Clerical Whispers Oct. 27th: Father Damien DeVeuster, the Belgian priest who ministered Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients at Kalaupapa, Molokai, and later died of the disease, has moved closer to sainthood. A commission of five doctors scrutinizing an alleged medical cure attributed to Damien has reported that the woman’s healing was dramatic and defied medical explanation, said Patrick Downes, Catholic Diocese of Honolulu spokesman. The woman was reported cured of lung cancer about 10 years ago after making a pilgrimage to Kalaupapa and praying to Damien.

The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts Order (SS.CC) that Damien belonged to was informed of the medical commission’s decision, Downes said, describing it as “a significant step forward.” Two miracles are needed to be considered for sainthood. The first one attributed to Damien occurred in 1895 when a French nun dying of a gastrointestinal illness miraculously recovered after beginning a novena or Catholic ritual to Damien. He was beatified in 1995, 100 years after the first miracle.

A commission of theologians now must determine whether the alleged second miracle was done through the intercession of Damien, Downes said. If the commission determines that Damien was involved, a commission of bishops and cardinals will review the case and make a recommendation to the pope, he said. The process may take about a year, Downes added.

Damien came to Hawaii from Belgium in 1864, joining other missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He died at age 49 in 1889 of leprosy after ministering to people of Kalaupapa for 16 years.
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Pity the People of Darfur, Pity the Peacemakers Too

As peace talks begin in Libya, expect arm-twisting, boycotts and confusion but little progress towards peace

Oct. 25th. (The Economist) AS THE people of Darfur, the ravaged western region of Sudan, continue to die in droves, their representatives—or at least those who claim to represent them—are set to gather in the town of Sirte in northern Libya to make yet another attempt to persuade the Sudanese government to agree to a ceasefire and to start discussing how to fix a durable settlement. Even though the meeting, brokered jointly by the African Union (AU) and the UN, is supposed to be at best a preliminary session to set a framework for more detailed talks, the omens are bleak. The Sudanese government has given no sign that it is ready to stop its forces or its proxies from bludgeoning the Darfuris. And the Darfuris are so divided that it is hard to imagine them creating a coherent front that would command the support of the bulk of their people if they did forge an accord with the government in Khartoum.

The mélange of parties, splinters and acronyms standing for just some of the dozen-odd rebel groups who are sending people to Libya, and who claim to speak for the 6m or so Darfuris in the maelstrom of what the UN calls the “world's worst humanitarian disaster”, is a negotiator's nightmare. The biggest Darfuri faction is called the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army but it has broken into at least five factions; the SLM/A is led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur, perhaps the key rebel leader, who says he will not attend the meeting in Libya. Then there is the SLM/A-G19, which probably will come, but may or may not be talking to another SLM/A faction loyal to Ahmed Abdel Shafi, a rival of both the SLM/A-North Command and the SLM/A-Union Front, to say nothing of the Great Sudan Liberation Movement. The fractious SLM/A may in turn co-operate with a faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the other big umbrella group, led by Khalil Ibrahim. But that depends on the attitude of another JEM faction led by Idriss Bahar abu Garda—not to mention the Revolutionary Democratic Front Forces, the United Revolutionary Force Front or, for that matter, a faction of the National Movement for Reform and Development. Some of the expected delegates may have invented these names just to attend the talks—and may, in the words of one observer, represent “just 30 men and a jeep”. This hotch-potch of rebels has so far failed to agree to any kind of negotiating position from which to parley with the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir, which has continued to launch lethal attacks against the Darfuris. Sudanese government officials will be in Libya to talk about a ceasefire. But only if the rebels sort out their own differences can they hope, at a later date, to talk to Mr Bashir.

Even that might be hard, because several of the groups so far refusing to come, in particular Mr Wahid's, are those with the most clout among the Darfuris, particularly the 2.1m-2.5m who, says the Save Darfur Coalition, a leading lobby group based in America, now fester in camps. That figure does not include the 300,000 or so who have fled across the border to Chad and the Central African Republic, and another 1m-plus who have not been counted because they migrate according to the seasons and no one is sure where they are. Yet another serious SLM/A faction, headed by Minni Minawi, who signed a peace deal with the government at the last round of talks, last year in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, may not come either. The main JEM faction says it may stay away too. The splintering of the opposition is partly due to the failure to implement the deal signed in Abuja in May last year. Then, as only one rebel group signed up, the other two main ones were left out in the cold and have since splintered into ever-smaller factions determined to improve their positions at any future talks through military gains in battle.

The UN and AU envoys, respectively Jan Eliasson, a Swede, and Salim Salim, a Tanzanian, who will chair the event under the eye of Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, are unlikely to repeat that mistake; better no deal than half a deal that most of the biggest rebel groups have not signed up to. Yet if the rebels could create a front, an agreement would be timely and vital. After years of wrangling with Sudan's government, the UN has finally persuaded it to accept 20,000 peacekeepers in Darfur. The first units are due to arrive before the end of the year (provided that the UN and the Sudanese government agree to the force's composition, which Mr Bashir insists must be all-African). Their task would plainly be much easier if there were an agreed peace to keep. A much smaller AU force, less than 7,000-strong, due to be merged with the UN force, has been struggling to make an endlessly flouted ceasefire stick since 2004. But the AU's force has been battered by attacks from the various rebel and bandit groups that have proliferated, some with the wink of the government. Last month ten Nigerian soldiers serving in the AU force were killed in a rebel attack on their base at Haskanita, bringing AU deaths up to 28 so far.

In the first six months of this year, 160,000 more Darfuris were displaced by the fighting. In the same period, one in every six convoys carrying humanitarian aid to the refugee camps was attacked; assaults on aid workers more than doubled compared with a year ago. The killing and burning of villages by the government-directed Arab janjaweed militias continue. More than 500,000 refugees are now cut off from supplies. And there are ominous reports that the Sudanese government, in what would be ethnic cleansing, is inviting Arab tribesmen from Niger and Chad to occupy the lands vacated by the refugees. If they have any sense, that should make the rebels put their differences aside. They are not secessionists, like the south Sudanese who want full independence. They want greater autonomy and a bigger share of national wealth (especially from oil). Their demands are eminently negotiable. But if they cannot form a coherent front, Sudan's ruthless government will be happy to leave them in limbo, at the mercy of the murderous janjaweed.
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