Disembowelled, then torn apart: The price of daring to teach girls

[gsyh]

By Kim Sengupta in Ghazni, Afghanistan
Published: 29 November 2006

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The Independent

Comments

[allhatnocattle]

Only the difference you point out is one of quantity. The numbers are significantly higher in central Africa only because the populations are bigger. But in terms of qualitity, the brutality is still brutal. I wouldn't want to trade shoes with victims of either situation.

At least with Afghanistan there's international support to make a difference; to save lives and fight the oppressors. And in Afghanistan we've already made significant differences where the oppressors are no longer in control and rights have been returned to the people. Generally speaking anyways. All that's really left to do to add stability which is a far more difficult task that demands a long term commitment.

Certainly our presence will change customs, purposely or accidentally. I see long term results similar to Korea or VietNam where there's been influence but it hasn't presided over all aspects. They still retain their own culture.

Africa is a different beast. There are a lot of countries in turmoil right now and others are teetering on the brink. Getting any intelligence on any region has proved difficult at best. Say what you will about Iraq or Afghanistan pre-9/11, at least it was stable. In Africa there are so many fractions competing for control and none seem to be able to maintain any advantage for very long. Only the most brutally ruthless seem to have any chance at succeeding, and that's not comforting news.

One sign of hope in Africa is to re-emergence of a vision of a united East Africa. In the 60's and 70"s Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya had tried to come together as a single political force but were hampered by "sibling" rivalry, former colonial interference and other independent problems. It's my belief that a larger government could have a calming effect on the continent by redistributing resources more effectively, whether that's food or military. But I don't know if this idea has the momentum to be implemented.

Sending in troops to Darfur to echo the effort made in Afghanistan (or Iraq to a lesser extent) would have an immediate impact. But then we're in the same situation of sitting in an awakened hornets nest. I can only predict a bloodbath to follow. The enemy is only loosely organized and loosely affiliated if affiliated at all.

It's widely acknowledged that most of Africa's problems stem from the 1884 Berlin Conference that divided the continent along European ethnic lines and the aftermath left behind when they finally relinquished control. There hasn't been much stability anywhere in Africa. Rebellions, uprises, coups, ethnic conflicts, etc have made governing dangerous. We don't really see that to that extent anywhere else in the world. There's usually not a long succession of coups lined up to take over a government.

That's why Sudan has pleaded not to allow foriegn troops into the Darfur region. It's an African problem that the ANC should solve on it's own. They don't need the perception of a new colonialism taking over, adding fuel to what is already on fire. It's traumatic and unmanagble enough as it is with out more players on the scene. We simply don't want to take over control.