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The cheetahs have been rescued

My mom would call these beautiful cheetahs the cutest damndest things. They are the two cubs US Marines found being held captive and abused in Ethiopia. Thanks to an American rescue mission, they have made their way to a new home on the grounds of the African nation's presidential palace in Addis Ababa, where a number of other rescued animals are living.

They had been forced to fight for the entertainment of restaurant patrons in a town hundreds of miles from the capital city; one of the three-month-old cubs, nicknamed "Patch," had been blinded after being kicked in the face. A soldier who accompanied the babes on their flight to Addis said they purred the whole way and "really brought the soft side out in the troops...they were all cooing over the cats like children."

Posted by Sebastian / December 1, 2005 /

Zimbabwe: A forgotten land on a forgotten continent

The genocide in Sudan, where millions have been displaced and hundreds of thousands may be dead, has faded into the background of mainstream news sources, and the latest crisis in Zimbabwe is barely making a blip. In the past three weeks, the homes of 300,000 or more people have been destroyed in the capital Harare and other cities, urban farming has been banned, and millions of lives uprooted as Pres. Robert Mugabe carries out "Operation Drive Out the Rubbish," a strategy he claims is meant to clear the nation's cities of criminals and chaos.

"Why?," Newsday asks in an editorial today. "Simple: These are the very people who voted against him in a sham election, potential enemies who, he feared, would revolt against his tyranny. With famine devastating a nation that once was Africa's most productive agricultural exporter, Mugabe is now shutting down flea markets and roadside kiosks across the country to cripple the black market, the only functioning segment of Zimbabwe's economy."

Below, from the BBC, shots of townships being cleared of homes and residents in Harare.

A readers' forum on the BBC site offers up some heartbreaking perspectives on the situation, and of the world's response to the upheaval. "Why is it that the world would be outraged if this sort of thing was done under the apartheid regime?," one writer asks. "I cannot understand how our neighbours think it is OK that blacks oppress other blacks. Zimbabweans need help, but nobody cares enough."

• Let's hope next week's Live 8 concerts in Berlin, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, Tokyo, and Toronto (well, Barrie) are not just feel-good events but ones that provide meaningful and lasting exposure for the problems facing the African continent

Posted by Sebastian / June 23, 2005 /

Canada Takes Lead on Darfur Support

In Addis Ababa yesterday, Canada renewed its pledge to Darfur, becoming the world's largest donor to the genocide-torn region of Sudan by offering up roughly $205 million (USD). The United States has pledged about $145 million.

"At least 180,000 people have died - many from hunger and disease - and about two million others have fled their homes in Darfur to escape the conflict between rebels on one side and government forces and pro-government militia on the other."

In one of the finest travel series ever, the Boston Globe travels to Sudan, and touches on the crisis, of which the group Save Darfur says, "Not since the Rwanda genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement."

Posted by Sebastian / Canada / May 27, 2005 /

Congo, with 4 million dead, watches the world aid Asia

As the death toll from Boxing Day's tsunami continues to rise in southeast Asia, a renewed focus is being placed on war torn Africa by some in the media, with a few asking why Asia is getting all the international aid when 1,000 people are dying each day in Congo, and untold numbers in Sudan.

• Also in the news today, Rwanda's lessons yet to be learned, an Op-ed from Don Cheadle, star of the new film, "Hotel Rwanda."

Posted by Sebastian / January 8, 2005 /

Latest Boston Globe "Crossing Divides" Story

• Read the third in the Boston Globe's "Crossing Divides" series, this one about Cambodia, one of the geographic and cultural divides the Globe will journey across this fall, in a series that will circle the planet, from South America to Africa, Asia, and the Arctic.

Posted by Sebastian / November 28, 2004 /