Africa

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From War to Stone Quarries: Displaced Ugandans Face Challenges as Urban Refugees

Siena Anstis October 16, 2008 Siena Anstis

Families at Work in Stone Quarry
On the slopes overlooking Kireka, the suburbs of Kampala, hundreds of women and children spend their day working at stone quarries. Whether sick, crippled, young or old, they spend long hours hauling yellow jerry cans of stone from a dusty pit and smashing the large rocks into gravel with crude hammers. One full jerry can fetches 10 cents. At the end of the day, the women have made just enough to buy their children a small portion of dry and starchy cassava for dinner. On slow days, they eat only a bowl of diluted porridge, or nothing.

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Internet Access Fuels Development in War-Torn Uganda

Siena Anstis August 14, 2008 Siena Anstis

Teacher Charles Okumu in Lacor
Not far from the closely packed mud huts of Pabo camp for internally displaced persons in Northern Uganda, the Catholic parish office lights up like a beacon in the inky night of this war-torn area; the region has never had electricity. Last year, the Pabo diocese used a wireless internet connection provided by an NGO to apply for a $40,000 grant for solar panels. Now the health center has an internet phone they can use to call free anywhere in the world, and students at Pabo secondary school are sharing stories of abduction and war on personal blogs.

Photo from VOA News

Justice and Genocide in Sudan

Rene Wadlow July 29, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
On July 14, 2008, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) presented to a three-judge panel a request for an arrest warrant against Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He is to be charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes related to the war in Darfur. Moreno-Ocampo presented solid evidence of a policy of genocide against the Fur, Massaliet and Zayhawa peoples. This is the first time that a charge of genocide has been made against a Head of State in power.

Photo from the Pulitzer Center

Inside Africa’s PlayStation War

John Lasker July 8, 2008 John Lasker

Children Mining Coltan in Congo
In the rugged volcanic mountains of the Congo the conflict known as Africa's World War continues to smolder after ten grueling years. The conflict earned its name because at the height of the war eight African nations and over 25 militias were in the combatant mix. But more recently the conflict was given another name: The PlayStation War. The name came about because of a black metallic ore called coltan, which is used to make cell phones, laptops and other electronics made by SONY. Extensive evidence shows that during the war hundreds of millions of dollars worth of coltan was stolen from the Democratic Republic of Congo.