Editor’s Note: The following is the final installment of Kurt Pelda’s diary of his recent trip to Darfur. To read the diary from the beginning, start here. The JEM and an Illiterate ColonelThe Last Wadi We get up at three in the morning, since we have a long voyage ahead of us today. The rebels are shivering and coughing. We wrap our turbans around necks, noses and mouths to protect us against the morning cold and the wind in our faces as we drive, leaving only a narrow slit for our eyes. The rebels push the truck to get it [...]
NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s embattled transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was slated on Wednesday to nominate a successor to interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who quit last month during a spike in insurgent violence in the capital of Mogadishu that claimed hundreds of lives. The new prime minister faces a daunting task — holding together a fragile and unpopular government (based for security reasons in the northern town of Baidoa) while organizing security forces to fight alongside Ethiopian troops that have occupied Mogadishu since routing the hard line Islamic Courts regime last December. Local press reports indicate that former [...]
Some might say it was just oil and business deals worth billions that prompted President Bush earlier this year to do what it takes: get over his acute dislike for hosting formal state dinners and invite the Saudi King Abdullah as the guest of honor for a lavish White House gala. But oil and big business deals are only the most obvious reasons to court the Saudi king. Given the president’s many predicaments in the Middle East, the Saudis are a power well positioned to help a friend in need. However, if the invitation was intended to acknowledge the importance [...]
