Blogs & Ecology

Jacky discusses humanitarian access in Darfur, Sudan: “Media reports this week cite growing concern over ‘denial of humanitarian access’ in Darfur. Although such denial certainly exists, many of the actors being denied – in the form of travel bans, visa refusals, car-jacking, etc - are not strict ‘humanitarians,’ but a loose community of NGO’s whose right to intervene is debatable.”

Drima, the 2007 Weblog Awards finalist, turns 22, “I hated the 20th, hated the 21st (which I actually didn’t even remember until I started receiving “happy birthday” wishes via text messages), but the 22nd? Oh my, I’m totally loving it.”

Compartes Chocolatier is partnering with Relief Beads for Darfur to support the end to war and genocide in that country, as well as redevelopment of the country and people.

Reacting to the news of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, Bahraini blogger Hayat [Ar] describes the decision as ‘cross-eyed justice.' Will the ruling save Darfur and its people or is it another ploy to allow the United States direct control over the region and its rich resources?

Hayat briefs us about what happened and says:

The International Criminal Court Prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir for his “criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.” A Sudanese blogger writing in Arabic wonders who will be next on the United States' hit list which targets Arab leaders.

After news broke on Monday night that former Bosnian Serb leader and one of the world’s most wanted war criminals Radovan Karadžić had been arrested, astonished bloggers in the Balkans and all around the world started reacting to the story. And because of the recent request by the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, some bloggers have been making comparisons between the two cases.

John Boonstra at The UN Dispatch reports that a security officer working with the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has been assaulted by Sudanese Government military personnel. He also reports that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vocally defended his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Bashir.

Since the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor asked for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan a few days ago, there haven't been many big reactions in the Sudanese blogosphere (although we covered reactions of several bloggers elsewhere in Africa in this roundup). Activity in the Sudanese blogosphere is at an all time low. However, the Sudanese debate has been alive and full of passion on Facebook.

Note: This article was written in collaboration with John Liebhardt

Bloggers from around the world are reacting to the International Criminal Court's recent decision to charge Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with multiple counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many of those bloggers are criticizing the indictments, claiming they are difficult to enforce and that they will bring more unrest to an already unstable nation.

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

Getting citizen journalism videos more airtime has just gotten easier: YouTube video uploading website has opened a new channel exclusively for citizen videos named CitizenNews. Vloggers who specialize in reporting what is going on where they live can now subscribe to the channel and let the world know what is going on.

Following, the invitation made by YouTube and presentation of Olivia who will be in charge of the CitizenNews channel:

One of their featured videos are produced and taped by Miyong G. Kuon from South Sudan, who reports about the conditions in refugee camps, where it can get sweltering hot, or flooded whenever it rains too hard:

Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan is now a free man, after spending 137 days in detention in Jeddah. While bloggers have all along speculated why he has been held by the authorities for this long, Arab bloggers are unanimously excited over his release. And they also share their hopes for the release of other jailed bloggers.

According to Global Voices Advocacy, Al Farhan was arrested on 10 December 2007 for unspecified “violation of non-security regulations.”

Saudi Arabia: