Archive for the ‘Burundi’ Category
Goodbye to a great Great Lakes emissary
The Associated Press reported last night that former US Congressman and, later, Great Lakes Special Envoy Howard Wolpe died on Tuesday. Congressman Wolpe had a long and distinguished career before his work in the Great Lakes. Then he served as Special Envoy from 1996-2001, under President Clinton, and again in 2009, at the request of [...]
Places Not to Be Right Now: Burundi
Human Rights Watch released a new report on Burundi today, the first in-depth look at the country since the debacle of elections this summer. The reports squarely calls out Burundi’s Minister of Interior for illegal crackdowns against political opposition parties, during and after the election; details the disappearance into exile or hiding of opposition leaders; [...]
Happy Birthday 1325, or, Why women in Burundi won’t let me be cynical about (some) UN resolutions
If you’ve never been to a birthday party for a Security Council resolution, well, get out your party shoes. Today is the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and the party guest du jour is Hillary Clinton, who is slated to address the council today. So what’s 1325, and why all the fuss? [...]
If you’ve got a radio, you can hear my voice
I have a short radio essay, “The Music of Language,” about the cacophony and the calm of working across a handful of languages, on National Public Radio’s World Vision Report this weekend. Check your local listings for times, or listen to it online starting at midnight, pacific time. Thanks to my favorite Dutchman, who shall [...]
Africa: “A whole continent for helping white people understand poverty”
This is a series of photographs called “I Studied Abroad in Africa!” in which white people are called out/picked on for their real or presumed ridiculousness in Africa. They’re not bad, though the targets’re pretty easy (on the other hand,the Justin Bieber joke is classic). Really I’m sharing the link (h/t Glenna Gordon) because of [...]
Quote of the day
From my ever-increasing Vault of Thus Far Unused Reportage A Burundian man described to me meeting some people from Belgium, who were befuddled by the whole Hutu-Tutsi thing. “They said, ‘How do you tell who is what?’ “I said, ‘We are using the criteria you set up.’”
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [