In the News, Week of June 19
The week’s reading, straight off the razor wire:
MONDAY
From the NY Times re: someone for the US to support in Sudan:
In addition, Mr. Minnawi’s [a rebel leader] behavior in the month since he signed the agreement has not been promising. In peace as in war, Mr. Minnawi is wedded to force. On May 20, his men seized one of his most visible critics, Suliman Gamous. Mr. Gamous has been held in solitary, without charge, ever since. As humanitarian coordinator of the Sudan Liberation Army, Mr. Gamous made it possible for the United Nations and many nongovernmental groups to work in rebel areas. He helped hundreds of foreign journalists move safely around Darfur and document the plight of its people.
But Mr. Minnawi denied senior United Nations officials access to Mr. Gamous for nearly a month. When concerned Zaghawas sought a meeting to ask why Mr. Gamous had been arrested, Mr. Minnawi’s chief of staff told them, “I can shoot Gamous and sodomize you.” They were stripped, bound, pistol-whipped and burned with cigarettes.
— But he didn’t sodomize them. So I say let’s get behind him, since it’s clearly better to be behind him than in front. And these guys only seem to get so good.