Global Voices Online

Why do we pay attention to Darfur?: “One of the questions I’ve wanted an answer to for some time is how the community focused on Darfur has managed to attract so much attention to their cause. While the situation in Darfur is dramatic and dire, there are a number of other situations on the African continent that demand attention and, generally, receive a small fraction of the attention paid to Darfur.”

Sudanese blogger Yahya Jaser Mohammed [Ar] sheds light at the plight of Palestinians stranded in Sudan - and who cannot return to their homes.

Khadija discusses US military interest in Africa: “According to the US African Command website, Somalia -– invaded by US backed Ethiopian troops in Jan 2007, under the guise of hunting Al–Qaeda –- is in desperate need of assistance.”

Bankelele wonders whether Africa has to reform or develop: “Rwanda is on the fast path to being an ICT powerhouse. They may get there, but we have the beach, undersea cable etc. - all we have to do is wait to benefit from them. Uganda and Sudan have oil – but so what? It will have to pass through here.”

Andrew writes about coffee culture in Al Meganis, Sudan: “It is almost as complicated as an Ethiopian coffee ceremony - look at all those pots, including the glue tin containing the final brew. But the end result is harsher and sweeter. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing on some mornings.”

Varena at PingMag interviews Lars Bromley, director of the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), who talks about how his group uses geospatial technology to digitally capture atrocities against civilians in Darfur, Zimbabwe, North Korea, the Gaza Strip and Burma.

Chris Blattman writes about African rebels on YouTube: “YouTube is turning into a surprising source of archival videos on rebels and rebel leaders. Tim Allen, a friend and anthropologist at LSE, shares with me his collection of links to short films and reports on the wars in Sudan and Uganda.”

Black Kush discusses three years of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan: “It is three years tomorrow January 9th since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which brought an end to the twenty years civil war in South Sudan. It is three years that have yet to see results, and a lot more to be desired.”