Week 5: Catching Up
These are my last posts of sources for us. I'm happy about these. Though late in coming, I feel like I was able to find some definite connections with Sudanese organizations working to combat the corruption in the region. I was also brave enough to dig into some of the oil issues.After talking with Steven Watts, a Fuller Phd student studying poverty and corruption in the sub-Saharan region in Africa, I am intent on identifying sources that lead us as a group to look for "African solutions to African problems." He is mentioned here as one of my sources.
We spoke for an hour and a half about the conditions in the Sudan, in neighboring Chad and the refugee camps there. We spoke of the armed and government backed military groups mentioned in previous posts and of the Chinese who continue to do oil business in the region. See this Washington Post article about how China subsequently funds those groups, literally arming them with oil money.
For informational reports about the oil business and how this contributes to corruption in the region, see this Christian Aid report documenting how the presence of international oil companies is fueling the war. While some of this information may now be outdated, the relationship between oil and violence is clear. Africans, long exploited for their resources, are acting out in violence in an attempt to control them. Corruption seems to have have bred corruption. Also, the European Coalition on Oil is a wealthy resource I look forward to exploring in more detail.
Alertnet posted an article entitled, Oil discovery adds new twist to Darfur tragedy. Posted June 2005, the article reports how the discovery of oil in Sudan has turned the quest for peace in Sudan's historically war torn region into a fight over resources. Allafrica.com features an even more to date article on the conflict over oil in the region. Oil Sector Proves a Hard Nut to Crack, published in October 2005, looks at Sudan, post-January 2005's peace agreement, saying the new war over oil rages on.
And this is the last! See National Geographic's September issue dedicated to Africa. This is what first prompted me to look at oil as a factor in war amongst Africans. They profit so little compared to the wealthy industry that is the oil business, strife is inevitable.
Finally, even in focusing on "African Solutions for African Problems," I came across this organization. A council of churches in the Sudan, New Sudan Council of Churches, whose vision is of "a new transformed Sudan at peace, where the spirit of Christ inspires the full and equal development of all peoples." Yet even in reading just of such an organization (and I am beyond impressed by Christian organization after hearing negative feedback about large non-profits such as World Vision), there is question of corruption within. I came across a critique of the NSCC, New Sudan Council of Churches: Christian Voice, or Mouthpiece for War Criminals? It serves as somewhat of an admonishment to exercise caution in exhorting Christian orgs that are so closely linked to gov't agencies. AfricaAction has posted a resource page with links to discussion paper entitled, Great Expectations: The Civil Roles of the Churches in Southern Sudan. I can't wait to get my hands on this. The summary of the paper,
Argues that the involvement of church institutions in
relief aid as well as conflict resolution, and their
complicated relationships with different sectors of
Sudanese society, should lead to caution against
exaggerated hopes for their achievements in conflict
resolution. While church agencies should remain ready to
facilitate negotiations between factions, they also need
to be less reticent in calling attention to human rights
abuses, and more ready to participate in international
Christian-Islamic dialogue.
I think we can all take something home with that.
posted by Colleen Yvonne Mae @ 4:45 PM
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