The United Nations has accused Rwanda of wholesale war crimes, including possibly genocide, during years of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An unprecedented 600-page Report based on investigations by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights cataloged years of murder, rape and looting in a conflict in which hundreds of thousands were slaughtered.

The Report accuses the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan army of killing tens of thousands of ethnic Hutus – including women, children and the elderly over a period of seven years and two invasions – acts, it says, may amount to genocide. A draft version of the report expected to be published next month was leaked to and revealed ahead of time by the French Newspaper Le Monde. AfrobeatRadio is now in possession of a copy the Report.

Keith Harmon Snow, war correspondent, photographer and independent investigator joins AfrobeatRadio on WBAI 99.5 FM on September 4, 2010, to discuss and respond to the 600-page UN Report based on his own experience working in the field. This will be his second appearance on AfrobeatRadio on the issues related to the DR Congo; the first time as a part of our Congo Series in 2009. Read K.H. Snow’s recent article on his website. Keith Harmon Snow is a four time (2003, 2006, 2007, 2010) Project Censored award winner. He is also the 2009 Regent’s Lecturer in Law & Society at the University of California Santa Barbara, recognized for over a decade of work, outside of academia, contesting official narratives on war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide while also working as a genocide investigator for the United Nations and other bodies. Keith Harmon Snow is publisher of All Things Pass and Conscious Being Alliance.

Photo Source: consciousbeingalliance.com

Among the accusations there is that Rwandan forces and local allies rounded up hundreds of men, women and children at a time and butchered them with hoes and axes. On other occasions Hutu refugees were bayoneted, burned alive or killed with hammer blows in large numbers.

While the story of the Hutu Genocide has been around for a few years, it is the first time the UN has published such forthright allegations against Rwanda, a close ally of Britain and the US.

In an angry response to the leaked Report, Rwanda has threatened to withdraw co-operation with the UN if the report is published. Officials in Kigali said Rwanda’s contributions to UN peacekeeping missions would be reconsidered and dismissed claims in the UN report as “insane”. The London-based Guardian Newspaper reported Rwanda officials as dismissing the Report as “amateurish” and “outrageous” after reportedly attempting to pressure the UN not to publish it.

Excerpts from the Guardian:

Rwanda’s Tutsi leaders will be particularly discomforted by the accusation of genocide when they have long claimed the moral high ground for bringing to an end the 1994 genocide in their own country. But the report was welcomed by human rights groups, which called for the prosecution of those responsible for war crimes.

The report by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) covers two periods: Rwanda’s 1996 invasion of the country then called Zaire in pursuit of Hutu soldiers and others who fled there after carrying out the 1994 genocide of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis, and a second invasion two years later that broadened into a regional war involving eight countries.

Rwanda’s attack on Zaire in 1996 was initially aimed at clearing the vast UN refugee camps around Goma and Bukavu, which were being used as cover by Hutu armed forces to continue the war against the new Tutsi-led government in Kigali.

Hundreds of thousands of the more than 1 million Hutus in eastern Zaire were forced back to Rwanda. Many more, including men who carried out the genocide but also large numbers of women and children, fled deeper into Zaire. They were pursued and attacked by the Rwandan army and a Zairean rebel group sponsored by Kigali, the AFDL.

Excerpts from the UN report:

The UN report describes “the systematic, methodical and premeditated nature of the attacks on the Hutus [which] took place in all areas where the refugees had been tracked down”.

“The pursuit lasted months and, occasionally, humanitarian aid intended for them was deliberately blocked, notably in the eastern province, thus depriving them of things essential to their survival,” the report said.

“The extent of the crimes and the large number of victims, probably in the several tens of thousands, are demonstrated by the numerous incidents detailed in the report. The extensive use of non-firearms, particularly hammers, and the systematic massacres of survivors after camps were taken prove that the number of deaths cannot be put down to the margins of war. Among the victims were mostly children, women, old and ill people.”

The report goes on to say that “the systematic and widespread attacks have a number of damning elements which, if proved before a competent court, could be described as crimes of genocide”.

The UN also adds that while Kigali has permitted Hutus to return to Rwanda in large numbers, that did not “rule out the intention of destroying part of an ethnic group as such and thus committing a crime of genocide”.

The Zairean army collapsed in the face of the invasion and Rwanda seized the opportunity to march across the country and overthrow the longstanding dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. Laurent Kabila was installed as president. He promptly changed the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Rwanda invaded again in 1998 after accusing the new regime of continuing to support Hutu rebels. The following five years of war drew in armies from eight nations as well as 21 rebel groups in a conflict that quickly descended in to mass plunder of the DRC’s minerals as well as a new wave of war crimes.

The UN report accuses Angolan forces of using the cover of the war to attack refugees from Angola’s conflict-plagued Cabinda province who had fled to the DRC. Angola is accused of “executing all those they suspected of colluding with their enemies”. Angolan soldiers also raped and looted, the UN investigation said.

Hutu Refugees at UN Camo-Gom: Photo by UK Guardian

International human rights groups welcomed the UN report and said it should be used to bring the accused to trial. “This is a very important report,” said Human Rights Watch. “We hope that it can form the basis for ending the impunity that has protected the people responsible for some of these crimes.”

The UN’s damning conclusions will prove hugely embarrassing to Rwanda, which is attempting to project itself as a rapidly modernising state that has put its brutal recent history behind it.

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the leaked draft was not the final version and the report to be published next month had undergone revisions. “It’s only a draft from about two months ago and the proper final version will come up very soon,” he said. But if there are substantial differences, the UN is likely to stand accused of bowing to pressure from Rwanda.

Atrocities detailed in the OHCHR Report

Kinigi, 7 December 1996 “Elements from the AFDL/APR killed nearly 310 civilians, many of them women and children. The troops had accused the local population, mostly Hutu, of sheltering Interahamwe [Hutu paramilitaries, who] had already left the village. At first the troops sought to reassure the civilians [whom they gathered together] in several buildings, including the adventist church and the primary school. In the afternoon, troops entered these buildings and killed the villagers with hoes or axes to the head.”

Luberizi, 29 October 1996 “Elements from the AFDL/APR/FAB [Burundi's armed forces] killed around 200 male refugees. The victims were part of a group of refugees told by the troops to regroup so that they could be repatriated to Rwanda. The troops separated the men from the rest of the group and killed them with bayonets or bullets. The bodies were then buried in mass graves [near to] the church.”

Bwegera, 3 November 1996 “They burned alive 72 Rwandan refugees in Cotonco (cotton company) headquarters, one kilometre from the village.”

Mutiko, December 1996 “Special units from the AFDL/APR started to hunt down refugees, killing several hundred. Once they had been intercepted at barriers put up by the troops, the victims were given food and told to get into UN lorries waiting at the exit of the village. The victims were then taken out on to the road, then killed with blows to the head with canes, hammers and axes. The troops encouraged the local population to take part in the killings.”

Posted by AfrobeatRadio

Sources:
The Report on Democratic Republic Of The Congo, 1993–2003 by the the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
UK Guardian: Leaked UN report accuses Rwanda of possible genocide in Congo
BBC News: Rwanda threatens UN over DR Congo ‘genocide’ report

The African Diaspora Film Festival is a cultural institution installed in New York since 1993. Their mission aims “to present films to diverse audiences, redesign the Black cinema experience, and strengthen the role of African and African descent directors in contemporary world cinema.”

Their annual film festival remains one of the most important cultural events for Africans and others in New York. It usually takes place in late autumn but the organizers screen films all year round.

The summer festival has already begun and will end on the 29th so there’s lots of time to view films on the rest of the schedule. On the final day of the festival, the film “Arugba” will be screened.

The blurb on the DVD describes it as “set against the backdrop of a corrupt society seeking cleansing, rebirth and nationhood, with all its attendant intrigues, the film intimately presents a world in which modernity and tradition exist alongside each other but seldom in equilibrium” This film is the latest masterpiece by the venerable Nigerian cineaste; Tundé Kélani.

Mr. Kélani may not be available for a chat with the audience after the screening of his film on the 29th. And so, he sat down to a one hour conversation with Afrobeatradio’s Wuyi Jacobs over an international call. Unable to attend due to preparations related to Nigeria’s 50th independence celebrations in October. However, through the machinations of AfrobeatRadio’s producer Akenataa Hammagadji, an interview was arranged. It was an opportunity not to be missed. I have been familiar with Mr. Kelani’s works since my days as a theatre student at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University.

VIEW TRAILER

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Yoruba with English subtitles.

Born in Lagos in 1948, Mr. Kelani was raised in Abeokuta at this paternal lineage compound, at the insistence of his father who wanted him fully immersed in traditions and culture of his Yoruba people. He would spent his vacation from school in Lagos and later Ibadan where his parents worked and lived. This combination of access to traditional life and culture, and to the urban life of Lagos and Ibadan will later in life give him access to a great cultural store of visual imagery, literature, theatre and festivals that inspire his work as a filmmaker.

He recounts with some relish his long relationship with the camera. It was unusual at the time for a nine-year-old to count a camera among his possessions. His father wanted him to be a pharmacist but by the time he finished high school in Abeokuta, it had become clear to him without doubt that his life’s vocation lay in photography.

TK as he is fondly called by friends and associates became an apprentice photographer in the Lagos studios of Dotun Okubajo from 1969 to 1970. Shortly after, he joined the newly established Western Nigerian Television as a trainee cameramen and started on a career path that would lead him to being one of Africa’s most prolific filmmakers.

TK has played a central if not pivotal role in Nigerian Cinema. He has contributed to most of the the feature films on celluloid that have been made since the 1970s. His credits as cinematographer include such films as Anikura, Ogun Ajaye, Iya Ni Wura, Taxi Driver, Fopomoyo, and Iwa. His own feature film credits include, Ti Oluwa Nile, Ayo Ni Mo Fe, Koseegbe, Oleku, Saworoide, Thunderbolt, Agogo Eewo.

Tunde Kelani does newsreel, shorts and documentary work for BBC world service and other international news organizations in Nigeria and Africa, including, the M-Net New Directions initiative as cinematographer, director and producer.

Written by Wuyi Jacobs
Akenataa Hammagaadji contributed to this article and broadcast the interview on his WVKR radio program FirstWorldMusic on Sunday August 22, 2010.
Photographic Slide Show Edgardo Parada & Wuyi Jacobs
All Pictures were provided by Tunde Kelani and Mainframe Film and Television Productions

Augustine P. Mahiga

Somalia Transition Federal Government (TFG) has been urged to develop a road map for allocating funds through the Somali National budget, for the payment of salaries for Somali Security forces.

This comes as the TFG government plans to have 10,000 police officers and a fully furnished military headquarters in place by 2011.  This was disclosed over the weekend, following a Joint Security Committee (JSC) meeting held at the UN complex in Gigiri, Nairobi to oversee the installation of National Security forces in Somalia

The Committee meeting which was jointly chaired by the Somali Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, and the UN Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, agreed on the need for the TFG to move quickly to update and adopt the National Security and Stabilization Plan, which will see the revised target of Somalia Police force (SPF)  of 7,000 civilian police officers trained under the international community umbrella and integrated into the Stipends Payroll List by the end of 2010.

In the strictly media briefing attended by Somali Prime Minister Sharmake and Mr. Mahiga, and issued in a communiqué to AfrobeatRadio, through its East Africa correspondent, Abdulaziz Billow; the communiqué stated:

Article 15 pointed out that the Committee reaffirmed its commitment to the protection of civilians and in this regard emphasized:

• All civilians need to be protected – and atrocities of the insurgents against civilians need to be exposed.

• The need to provide protection to civilians including vulnerable groups as part of maintaining law and order by the police.

• The need to avoid casualties of civilians caught in the conflict through the provision of appropriate training, information gathering, appropriate operational equipment and application of the relevant rules of engagement in conformity with international law.

• Facilitate humanitarian access and safety of humanitarian workers.

JSC plans to revert the situation by Including in the Stipends Payroll List all trained police officers as a way of boosting their moral, for the period June-December 2010. USD 5.4 million would be needed to accomplish this. The international community has been urged to provide additional funding to sustain the process.

Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke

The stated target for 2011 is 10,000 civilian police. The UNPOS will start training 500 Somali Police Force (SPF) in Djibouti as a matter of urgency. In a Joint communiqué released after the meeting the proposed date to starting training the police officers will be 23 August 2010 at Lafoole and Labantin which will be conducted by UNDP and AMISOM.

The communique affirms that the TFG policy not recruit or use child soldiers. The joint security committee plans to work with the international community to establish processes to prevent the recruitment of children (under the age of 18) by all groups; by setting up a task force to ensure the timely implementation of the recommendations of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict.

However, TFG government has been challenged to ensure it provides alternative livelihoods and education for Somalia youths so that they cannot be lured into joining the Al-Shabab militia.

With plans to bring sanity in Somalia  under review, the problem seem far from over since amongst the 925 SPF trained with German funding in Ethiopia, some absconded duty and joined militia groups because they were not paid by the TFG.

In conclusion, the Committee commended the Transitional Federal Government and United Nations’ Political Office for Somalia for organizing the meeting and for having detailed and result-oriented outcomes. The Committee also undertook to meet more regularly, with the support of better technical preparations.

Communiqué  Of The Joint Security Committee
ANNEX I. Recommendations of the Military Technical Working Group
ANNEX II. Recommendations of the Police Technical Working Group

News Report by Abdulaziz Billow
Abdulaziz Billow is AfrobeatRadio’s correspondent for East Africa.

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In a scenario reminiscent of women’s protests during colonial times, and perhaps the only time since Nigeria’s independence that so many women came together in one place to act together on one overriding issue, Pastor Ibanga (and her co-organizers) like women leaders before them – women like Mrs. Funmilayo Kuti, Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, Hajiya Sawaba Gambo and others – co-organized and led ‘The Jos Women for Peace March’ which brought out a hundred thousand women to downtown Jos, Nigeria to march, protest and mourn the children and women killed in the most gruesome manner in the March 2010 reprisal attacks in Dogo-Nahawa village.

Violence between Christians and Muslims in neighboring Plateau State earlier this year left a trail of dead bodies in its wake. The so-called 2010 Jos riots were said to be motivated by multiple factors. Although the clashes have been dubbed ‘religious violence’ by many international and local News sources, many informed commentators including people living in and around Jos cite ethnic differences and economic competition as the root causes of the violence. The violence that first erupted in and around Jos on 17 January, 2010, lasted over four days. At the end of the riots, over 200 people were killed. Tens of Houses, businesses, churches, mosques and vehicles burned to the ground.

On March 7, 2010, Less than 2 months later, Jos was to wake up to gruesome reprisal attacks in which hundreds of people died in Dogo-Nahawa village; the victims mostly Christians, women and children. These attacks were allegedly perpetrated by groups of Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen. The death toll was put at over 500.

“What seems to be a recurring decimal is that over time, those who have in the past used violence to settle political issues, economic issues, social matters, inter-tribal disagreements, or any issue for that matter, now continue to use that same path of violence and cover it up with religion.”

- Benjamin A. Kwashi, Anglican Archbishop of Jos

Northern Nigeria has had a long history of religion based crisis, the Jos riot of 1945 and in 1953 are examples of such disturbances. “In the late 1960s violence against Christian Igbo immigrants in the Muslim north, was a key factor in the attempt of Biafra, the Igbo south east of Nigeria, to secede and the cause of the civil war.”

In early 1980s, an armed quasi-Muslim fringe group sparked religious riots in Kano, Kaduna, and Maiduguri. An attempt by the Nigerian Army to contain them triggered riots which led to the deaths of over 5000 people between December 18 and 29, 1980. The riots were called Maitatsine or Yan Tatsine, meaning followers of the Maitatsine in the local Hausa language. Churches and mosques were destroyed, whole communities were killed and displaced. In the Maitatsine riots, it took the then Federal military government over three years to restore order. The Maitatsine riots shook the Nigerian nation to its very core and remains one of the key reference points for political and social disturbances in post – civil war Nigeria till date, and the 20th Century precursor  to unfolding saga of ‘internationalized political Islam’.

“There were always two drivers of this violence – the genuine religious differences in values that led to disagreements over education, crime and punishment, alcohol and other issues. And the political manipulation of those differences.”

In 1990 Muslim and Christian rioting began in Bauchi State. Again in 1991 rioting exploded in Kano after a German fundamentalist Christian announced a campaign to bring his Good News Revival campaign to Kano. The decision to hold the Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria led to rioting between Christians and Muslims in the northern city of Kaduna. Six days of rioting left at least 215 dead, several thousand injured after and an estimated 12,000 people displaced.

This Day, a Nigerian daily, published an article written by one of its staff writers in which she wrote that the Prophet Mohamed PBUH would not have objected to the event and would have chosen a wife from among the contestants. Islamic leaders were quick to condemned the article as blasphemous. Muslim youths attacked the paper’s offices, setting fire to them and to churches in Kaduna City. Christian youth retaliated by burning mosques, Muslim owned businesses and houses. Ms Isioma Daniel, the journalist who wrote the article fled into exile after a fatwa was issues on her.

“But sudden battles between Christians and Muslims were not as spontaneous as they were portrayed. When military rule ended in 1999, democratic politics provided a perfect platform for corrupt and cynical politicians to play on religious fears to gain votes. So in the lead up to the second election in 2003 governors of northern states declared Sharia law in defiance of the constitution.”

The religious violence continues in Nigeria. On July 14, 2010, violence between Christians and Muslims erupted again. This time in Taraba State, also in central Nigeria. At least five people were reported dead by the Nigerian Police, many more were left bloodied. Taraba State Police Commissioner, Aliyu Musa said the killings started on Tuesday July 13, in the community of Bukari after Christian youth became angry over the location of a mosque and burned down the mosque, resulting in counter attack by Muslim youth. Security agents were said to have intervened, eventually restoring calm to the community.

Pastor Ibanga is a Senior Pastor at the Jos Christian Mission International. She was in the US on the invitation of the Cecilia Attais Foundation for a conference on conflict resolution. Bola Omoniyi lives and works in the US.

By AfrobeatRadio

Additional sources:
Nigeria: Death toll from inter-communal violence mounts
Religious conflict in Nigeria – spontaneous or synthetic?
Nigeria: Death toll from inter-communal violence mounts
2010 Jos riots

Our guest is Zingi Mkefa, a South African radio host presenting an arts and entertainment radio talk show on Radio Today, South Africa. Zingy joins us to discuss democracy, politics and post apartheid legacy, Art, culture, and the upcoming World Cup in South Africa. This conversation took place on May 1, 2010, with Leon James and Wuyi Jacobs live on WBAI 99.5 FM PACIFICA Radio, NYC.

With eloquence and passion, Zingy shares with us his aspirations for his home country, South Africa, and why he is never too far from home. He talks of the South African preoccupation with “themselves” resulting in the sense of a “certain separateness” from the rest of the continent. South Africans, certainly the artists and culture practitioners, are engaged in “working out” and “forming” new identities for blacks by blacks. A separate identity he says, different from that which was assumed during the struggle against Apartheid. This preoccupation with identity is not new; many newly independent African nations went through this phase immediately pre- and post- independence, as new nation States emerged with  new confidence. A new confidence only too often short lived, arrested by dictatorships, wars and a plethora of other issues – a fate South Africa has so far avoided. However, as South Africa evolves new identities, it is indeed contributing to ever growing lists of emerging and new ethnic identities that are in constant formation on the continent and its Diasporas.

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In a sense, the “struggle” continues but it take different forms, different attitudes and substance now. It has assumed new dimensions as well, in every sphere of life; the struggle of class consciousness, of poverty- huge economic disparities between minority white and blacks, and between the emerging middle class blacks, also a minority, and majority of poor blacks. Counterpoised with the struggle  between cosmopolitanism and chauvinism- the tension between internationalism of the World Cup and the xenophobia of the new breed ANC nationalism.

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On a continent where 17 countries are celebrating 50 years of independence this year and with South African, independent now for 17 years, a teenage country, if one could describe a country as such; confident, boisterous but also hesitant. The jury is still out on South Africa and much work is yet to be done.  Motsoko Pheko in his article The price of freedom in the South African Mail & Guardian Online sums it up in his reflections on South Africa’s recent celebration of its Freedom Day.

Sixteen years of the post-apartheid period, however, shows that the foundation upon which South Africa is built has dangerous cracks. The negotiated settlement was one-sided. The negotiations did not take into consideration the primary objectives for which the liberation struggle was fought. The fundamental interests of the majority 80% were terribly compromised. The negotiators mistook the beginning of a long journey for arrival at the destination.

In South Africa most unemployed people are Africans. The poorest people are Africans. People who live in squalid inhuman settlements are Africans. These inhuman shelters often burn or flood, destroying lives and property. The least equipped hospitals and clinics are those that serve Africans.
The worst or no roads are where Africans live. The least educated and skilled people in South Africa are Africans. People who have no money for education and are being educated in the lowest numbers are Africans.
People who have the shortest life expectancy are Africans. People with the highest child mortality are Africans. Yet billions of rands are buying land and servicing the apartheid debt.

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Zingy Mkefa was a 2006 Fulbright Scholar. He earned an MA in Journalism at New York University and has written on the arts for some of South Africa’s leading publications, including the Sunday Times, the Sunday Independent, Art South Africa and the now-defunct Nigerian-owned enterprise ThisDay (South Africa). While in New York, Zingi also spent time working for America’s oldest weekly political magazine, the left-wing The Nation.

We sincerely hope you enjoy our conversation with Zingy Mkefa. Please share it with others. Thank you.

Credits:
South African World Cup Stadium pictures were taken from World Cup 2010 South Africa

His professional credits include The Martha Graham Dance Company, Sean Curran Company, Fosse (1st National Tour), A Christmas Carol (Madison Square Garden Theater), Encores Golden Boy, NYC Opera’s Alcina/Turandot, and a featured performer for Jacob’s Pillow Katherine Dunham Tribute conceived and directed by Reginald Yates.

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He has presented solo concerts at Jacob’s Pillow, Stella Adler Studio (as resident artist), Florida International University and George Faison Firehouse Theater. His awards and honors include Martha Hill Prize from The Juilliard School, National Foundation for Advancement of Arts-1st Place, Presidential Scholar for the Arts, National Society of Arts and Letters (1st Place) and Jerome Foundation Fellow.

Gelan Lambert has danced the works of Alvin Ailey, Hinton Battle, Margie Gillis, Jiri Kylian, Jose Limon, Donald McKayle, Mia Michaels, Reginald Yates and others.

Akenaata Hammagaadji is an African music expert and cultural critic. He is the radio host of First World Music; an African music programme broadcast from WVKR. His insightful music reviews, which goes beyond music into cultural dissections, can be found in his weekly First World Music Newsletter, now a blog on afrobeatradio.net

Suliman Baldo

Our guest today is Suliman Baldo, we sat down to a conversation on the unfolding historic elections in Sudan and his prognosis for post election in Sudan. Suliman Baldo is a widely recognized Sudanese, expert on conflict resolution, emergency relief, development, and human rights in Africa. He has worked extensively in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Sudan, and traveled widely throughout the rest of the African continent. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he taught at the University of Khartoum and worked as a Field Director for Oxfam America, covering Sudan and the Horn of Africa. He founded the Al-Fanar Center for Development Services in Khartoum, Sudan. He is currently Africa Director at the International Center for Transitional Justice. Suliman Baldo holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (1982).

This interview was broadcast on Saturday April 17 on AfrobeatRadio on WBAI 99.5 FM, NY.

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The Republic of the Sudan, located in the north-eastern Africa, is the largest country in Africa and the tenth largest in the world by land area. It is bordered by Egypt, the Red Sea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad and Libya.

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After gaining independence from Egypt, and the United Kingdom in 1956, Sudan suffered a civil war that lased 17 years and was subsequently followed by ethnic, religious, and economic conflicts between the Northern Sudanese of Arab and Nubian roots and Southern Sudan made up of Christians and practitioners of indigenous African  religions which led to a second civil war in 1983. In 1989. In the midst of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized by then colonel Omar al-Bashir, who proclaimed himself the President of Sudan after a bloodless coup.

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Sudan ended the civil war with the help of international mediation in 2005 and adopted a new constitution under a Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) also referred to as Naivasha Agreement, with  THE MACHAKOS PROTOCOL the Machakos Protocol (or Chapter I), signed in Machakos, Kenya on July 20, 2002 – Agreement on broad principles of government and governance. Under the CPA, Southern Sudan was granted a  limited autonomy, to be followed by a referendum about independence. The CPA also provided for a 6 year interim period, after which, the referendum for Independence of the South will be held in 2011. Southern Sudan has been ruled by the SPLM, the dominant rebel group under the CPA.

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Sudan is rich in natural resources including crude oil, natural gas, gold, silver, chrome, uranium, copper, cobalt, and many others.

You can listen to other interviews and write-ups with/by Suliman Baldo
On Charlie Rose: the first steps to solving the Congo crisis
On open Democracy: Darfur’s peace plan: the view from the ground
On Vanity Fair: Seeking Justice in Africa. A Q&A with Suliman Baldo, who helps war-scarred countries to rebuild.
For more information on Sudan and the CPA:
DRAFT 2005 Constitution
Sudan Embassy

Pa Nderry M’Bai, Managing Editor and Publisher of the online Freedom Newspaper, in conversation with AfrobeatRadio’s Wuyi Jacobs on Focus on Gambia. Part 1. This interview was broadcast on Saturday April 3, 2010, on AfrobeatRadio on WBAI 99.5 FM in NYC. Mr. Nderry M’Bai was the Secretary General of The Gambia Press Union and a Correspondent with the Voice of America Radio Africa Service, Banjul.

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While in the Gambia, Mr. M’Bai worked as a Senior Staff Reporter with the Banjul Based Daily Observer and the Point Newspaper respectively. Pa Nderry M’Bai spoke to AfrobeatRadio on the political repression in the Gambia and consequences of it for the Gambian people under the repressive regime of President Yaya Jameh.

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Under the rule of Yaya Jameh, several journalists,  including Chief Ebrima Manneh and Deida Hydara, have been killed or disappeared without trace (see African Press: Courage Under Fire) and many others remain jailed, tortured and/or exiled. For example,  The Freedom Newspaper reported recently that an UDP’S opposition politician, Mr. Femi Peters, was jailed for one year imprisonment with hard labor.

More information can be located at The International Federation of Journalists that report on the dangers journalists face yearly in Gambia and other countries.

This week on AfrobeatRadio Akenataa Hammagadji speaks with Beninoise international artist Angelique Kidjo. Ms. Kidjo spoke with us about her new project Oyo. Ms. Kidjo is known for her electric performances and drawing larger audiences the world over.

Angelique Kidjo in AfrobeatRadio Part 1 from AfrobeatRadio on Vimeo.

Born in Benin (West Africa), Angelique Kidjo is a Grammy award-winning music recording artist deemed “Africa’s premier diva” by Time Magazine. Kidjo’s internationally acclaimed repertoire includes collaborations with various recording artists such as Carlos Santana, Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Branford Marsalis, Joss Stone, and many more. Known for her dynamic and uplifting music, she has translated her distinctive work in the arts to that of philanthropy; by promoting education for girls in Africa through her foundation, Batonga and as a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Kidjo travels the world to inspire and empower.

Written by Akenataa Hammagaadji.

Angelique Kidjo on AfrobeatRadio Part 2 from AfrobeatRadio on Vimeo.

Akenaata Hammagaadji is an African music expert and cultural critic. He is the radio host of First World Music; an African music programme broadcast from WVKR. His insightful music reviews, which goes beyond music into cultural dissections, can be found in his weekly First World Music Newsletter, now a blog on afrobeatradio.net

Andrew M. Mwenda, Uganda-born journalist and political activist speaks with Afrobeatradio’s Wuyi Jacobs on the State of democracy in Uganda and on many other topics, including, press freedom in Uganda, the Anti-Gay Bill going through the Uganda Parliament and his opposition to Western aid to Africa and more. Mr. Mwenda’s admits to unorthodox political views on several controversial issues both in his country and on the African continent. His regular columns can be read in Uganda’s The Independent.

Ugandan Journalist Andrew Mwenda Speaks On The State of Democracy in Uganda from AfrobeatRadio on Vimeo.

Andrew M. Mwenda is the founding Managing Editor of The Independent, Uganda’s premier current affairs news magazine. He was also host of Andrew Mwenda Live, a popular prime time radio talk-show in Uganda until it was banned. His newspaper’s office and his home have been raided and ransacked by state security agencies of Uganda several times. Andrew Mwenda is facing 23 criminal charges in Ugandan courts with a cumulative sentence of 115 years in jail. He has refused to go to exile or back down, saying he prefers to die defending the cause of liberty than to live by acquiescing to tyranny. Andrew Mwenda is a recipient of the prestigious Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellowship. Mr. Mwenda joins AfrobeatRadio courtesy of Yale University.