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The 5 Best Stories You May Have Missed This Week

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The 5 Best Stories You May Have Missed This Week

Posted by Laura Heaton on April 3, 2009

The 5 Best Stories You May Have Missed This Week

Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.

  • CFR published a Q&A with Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese business man and founder of telecom giant Celtel, which discusses the effect of the financial crisis on African economies and connects the dots between transparent business, good governance, and long-term stability. Well worth a read.
  • The Christian Science Monitor examined “Why Arab leaders embrace Sudan’s indicted president” and got a few academics to weigh in. The article makes the point that while the Arab states don’t necessarily have an affinity for Bashir himself, they share similar historical struggles with Sudan and are concerned about the precedent being set that holds heads of state accountable.
  • As the story of a mysterious bombing in Sudan unfolded late last week, Israel tacitly took responsibility, suggesting it was a preemptive measure to keep a large arms shipment from reaching Gaza. It seemed clear that Sudan was, at least for that moment, a new battleground for proxy engagement between Israel and Iran. This article in the Economist sums up the historical links between Sudan and Iran, indirectly explaining why the seemingly circuitous route for an arms shipment to Gaza in fact made perfect sense.
  • A new report by Refugees International focuses on the urgent needs of south Sudan during the very strained humanitarian situation as a result of the aid agency expulsions. The article rightly highlights the fragile condition of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and outlines steps various actors should take to prevent the CPA from unraveling.
  • To end the week on a lighter note and in the spirit of the season, here’s an NPR story about a family of basketball players from Juba, South Sudan. With four sons on four top U.S. college basketball teams, they hold the record for having the most family members playing in the NCAA at the same time. The story gives a shout out to Manute Bol as well, the tallest player in NBA history who also hails from Sudan and is now a vocal activist.

 

And since we’re on this lighthearted kick, we’ll throw in a bonus this week. Slate asked “Why do the most totalitarian countries always have the most democratic-sounding names?” Of course, one of our favorites, the Democratic Republic of Congo features high on Slate’s list.

The Enough Team contributed to this post.