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.
This narrated slideshow on BBC tells the story of Deng Chan, a teenage boy in southern Sudan who fought in the rebel army during the North-South civil war when he was just 10 years old. His story of leaving the army, starting school, and supporting his family, and his remarks about the South’s self-determination referendum last year are startlingly incongruous with his boy voice.
The student-led opposition movement Girifna is getting ample attention on the blogosphere as Sudan prepares to go to the polls on Sunday. On his blog, Professor Sean Jacobs highlighted this popular song by Alsara featuring Oddiseeto promote Girifna’s work. (He’s got a translation of the lyrics too.)
Through video, Al Jazeera documented a voter education workshop in southern Sudan, where final efforts are underway to prepare voters for what will be for many the very first time casting a ballot. The piece emphasized the complexity of the process, showing the challenges that exist even in an urban center like the capital of Juba.
And to top off this week’s all-Sudan ‘5 Best Stories’ special, take a look at the diametrically opposing views of two major U.S. publications on the Sudan elections—set to begin this Sunday. The Economist argues that having elections, though flawed, would be better than not having one at all because the checking off of the exercise would allow a peaceful split to take place between the North and the South.
In contrast, the Los Angeles Times op-ed piece, “Why Sudan’s vote can’t be trusted” calls the Obama administration out for “its apparent endorsement of the [Sudan] vote as fair,” underscoring the many irregularities that have already tainted the process. The article urges the administration to point out the elections’ many flaws after the vote takes place, and to push for U.N. condemnation as well.