Scramble For Africa's blog

An observer's plausible assessment of the recent elections in Sudan. The following comments are of particular interest because of who is making them: Dave Peterson, the Senior Director of the Africa program at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC. He writes:

Read our op-ed, "How much does Washington care about African democracy?," in the Los Angeles Times Blowback series.

Nigeria and Niger are different countries?

AFP reports: "Yemen on Wednesday slapped a last-minute ban on a meeting of Arab parliamentarians to discuss the crisis in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, the head of one group due to attend said."

The article gives further details:

The title above is borrowed from a just-released UN dispatch reporting that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "warns that the mission continues to lack crucial equipment required to enhance the capability of both its military and police units." It quotes Ban: "continuing shortfalls in terms of the self-sustainment of military and formed police units remain a challenge to the operational capability of the mission." As the dispatch notes, "Helicopters and military vehicles such as armou

"Sudan's largest rebel group says it will suspend peace talks with the Sudanese government because of alleged violence in the west of the country."

From the BBC:

A major joint military exercise with countries around the volatile Sahara desert region is beginning as part of a US programme of counter-terrorism.

The three-week Operation Flintlock aims to improve the ability of the region's armed forces to work together to bring security to the area.

It serves as a base for the group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and has seen increased terror attacks.

The central African state has also been named one of the world's worst "predators of freedom" by Reporters Without Borders. On the HRW case, the Christian Science Monitor reports:

A solid report from the New York Times, though tellingly it includes no mention of the role of years of astronomical U.S. aid in propping up Mubarak's rule:

From the BBC: