Throughout the day I read updates regarding a number of issues -- presidential elections, continuous developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the crisis in Darfur, homeland security appropriations, legislation enacting humanitarian aid for North Korea, reports outlining psychosocial effects on children in armed conflict, new developments regarding the Beslan militants, and constant updates from the United Nations and assorted humanitarian organizations.
Amid the chaos there is a quiet, but steady undertone of the desire of humanity to bring peace into the world. That is what brings a moment of clarity in an otherwise unclear world.
Today that clarity is provided by a speech of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Yesterday he spoke at the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster, where he presented nine lessons which the UN has learned regarding peacebuilding.
Nine Lessons of Peacebuilding
Annan went on to say that the most important lesson learned "that we must always be listening and looking out for new knowledge."Excerpted from a speech by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
- Say no when we need to.
- Know where you are going.
- Know the context.
- Never neglect security.
- Manage expectations.
- Stay the course -- peacebuilding is a long-term commitment.
- Get the sequencing right.
- Keep everyone on the same page.
- Make sure local populations take responsibility.
Food Security, Living Conditions at Issue in Darfur
Yesterday a report issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross revealed an overwhelming food shortage in Darfur. According to the ICRC, the shortage is worse than the famines of the eighties and nineties.
The UN World Health Organization released a separate report yesterday stating that up to 70,000 people made homeless by the conflict in Darfur have died as a direct result of living conditions. Since the outbreak of fighting early last year between the government of Sudan and two rebel groups, some 1.65 million people have been uprooted from their homes in Darfur, with 200,000 of them living in refugee camps in neighboring Chad.Excerpted from the International Committee of the Red Cross
Most rural communities in North, West and South Darfur are facing an unprecedented food crisis, worse even than the famines they faced in the eighties and nineties. Insecurity is the root cause of the collapse of agriculture and trade in Darfur.
Because of the violence that has plagued the region since last year, villagers have only been able to plant one-third of what they normally do. In most cases, their seeds and tools have been looted and their cattle stolen.
Salt Lake City, Utah has a population of 1.5 million people. Can you imagine uprooting every person in Salt Lake City from their homes, and then stealing their food source?
The WHO also reported that a polio vaccination campaign conducted in West Darfur has so far reached nearly 47,000 of the target 202,000 children. In the U.S., nearly all children are automatically vaccinated against polio.
Beslan Militants Were Drug-Dependent
According to a story released by the New York Times, thirty one militants who seized the public school in Beslan last month were dependent on heroin and morphine.
Although the world is moving so fast, it's important to make sure we're moving in the right direction, or as Kofi Annan put it, "know where you are going." Are we moving in the right direction? Perhaps only time will tell.Excerpted from the Overseas Security Advisory Council
Forensic analysis of the remains of 31 militants who seized the public school in Beslan last month has determined that all of them were dependent on drugs, a senior law enforcement official said in a statement reported by Russian news agencies Sunday.
Nikolai Shepel, the deputy prosecutor general of Russia's southern federal district, also said that blood tests had found very high levels of heroin and morphine among a majority of the attackers who died at the siege, "which indicates that they were long-term drug addicts and had been using drugs permanently while preparing for the terrorist attack," according to the Interfax wire service.
As terror attacks have emanated in recent years from the war in Chechnya, many Russian law enforcement officials and politicians have said that those who plan the attacks use hard drugs to coerce suicide bombers, or to induce in the bombers a semi-alert state that assists bombers in fulfilling their grim assignments.
In an interview last year with the newspaper Vremya Novestei, Akhmad Kadyrov, who later became the president of Chechnya, took this view: "Suicide bomber terrorists are people acting not of their own will. They are filled with various psychotropic drugs." Kadyrov was killed in a bomb blast this year.
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." -- Mother Teresa