Sudan and Secession

inked · 12-30-2010, 05:00 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101229/...mo/us_us_sudan

"WASHINGTON – A group founded by American actor George Clooney said Tuesday it has teamed up with Google, a U.N. agency and anti-genocide organizations to launch satellite surveillance of the border between north and south Sudan to try to prevent a new civil war after the south votes in a secession referendum next month.

Clooney's Not On Our Watch is funding the start-up phase Satellite Sentinel Project that will collect real-time satellite imagery and combine it with field analysis from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, organizers said.

The data will point out movements of troops, civilians and other signs of impending conflict. The U.N. Operational Satellite Applications Program and Google will then publish the findings online.

"We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide and other war crimes know that we're watching, the world is watching," Clooney said in a statement. "War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight." " ... (read it all)

I personally think this is a great idea. I have doubts that the UN would act even with televised 24 hour proof of genocidal actions, though. Remember Rwanda!

Edit: a German viewpoint - http://www.spiegel.de/international/...736686,00.html

***Jonathan*** · 12-30-2010, 05:15 PM

I know that for quite some time, Google has made use of satellites to point out the thousands of destroyed villages in Darfur, as to raise global awareness of the ongoing war in the region. With Google Earth, one can easily zoom in and see all the villages and get an idea of the vast destruction.

As for Southern Sudan, it will be interesting to see what will transpire after the referendum on the 9th of January.

inked · 01-22-2011, 10:10 AM

Here's a BBC report from the 15th January:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12200479

Here's the NYT report from 21 January:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/wo...c=mv&ref=world

Darfur, today: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/...sudan_darfur_6

Alas, fighting continues in Darfur:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/...sudan_darfur_3

Keep watching this process.......

inked · 01-31-2011, 09:42 AM

99.57% of the vote is in ....

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR reports :

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Afric...7-percent-vote

"...Six of the ten southern states registered a 99.9 percent vote for separation, with the lowest vote in favor of secession came in at 95.5 percent in Western Bahr al-Ghazal state, which borders Darfur. The long-awaited referendum produced an overwhelming turnout of 99 percent among voters in the south, one of the poorest and least developed regions on earth.: ...

inked · 02-02-2011, 09:34 AM

Here's a report from NPR on the challenges ahead for the southern Sudan...

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/01/133374...s-from-scratch

12-30-2010, 05:00 PM	#1
inked Elf Lord Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: sikeston, MO, usa, earth, sol Posts: 3,114	Sudan and Secession http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101229/...mo/us_us_sudan "WASHINGTON – A group founded by American actor George Clooney said Tuesday it has teamed up with Google, a U.N. agency and anti-genocide organizations to launch satellite surveillance of the border between north and south Sudan to try to prevent a new civil war after the south votes in a secession referendum next month. Clooney's Not On Our Watch is funding the start-up phase Satellite Sentinel Project that will collect real-time satellite imagery and combine it with field analysis from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, organizers said. The data will point out movements of troops, civilians and other signs of impending conflict. The U.N. Operational Satellite Applications Program and Google will then publish the findings online. "We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide and other war crimes know that we're watching, the world is watching," Clooney said in a statement. "War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight." " ... (read it all) I personally think this is a great idea. I have doubts that the UN would act even with televised 24 hour proof of genocidal actions, though. Remember Rwanda! Edit: a German viewpoint - http://www.spiegel.de/international/...736686,00.html __________________ Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941 Last edited by inked : 12-30-2010 at 05:03 PM. Reason: add der spiegel sourcing

12-30-2010, 05:15 PM	#2
*Jonathan* Entmoot Attorney-General, Equilibrating the Scales of Justice, Administrator ♎ Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 3,891	I know that for quite some time, Google has made use of satellites to point out the thousands of destroyed villages in Darfur, as to raise global awareness of the ongoing war in the region. With Google Earth, one can easily zoom in and see all the villages and get an idea of the vast destruction. As for Southern Sudan, it will be interesting to see what will transpire after the referendum on the 9th of January. __________________ An unwritten post is a delightful universe of infinite possibilities. Set down one word, however, and it immediately becomes earthbound. Set down one sentence and it’s halfway to being just like every other bloody entry that’s ever been written. ☻

01-22-2011, 10:10 AM	#3
inked Elf Lord Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: sikeston, MO, usa, earth, sol Posts: 3,114	Here's a BBC report from the 15th January: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12200479 Here's the NYT report from 21 January: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/wo...c=mv&ref=world Darfur, today: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/...sudan_darfur_6 Alas, fighting continues in Darfur: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/...sudan_darfur_3 Keep watching this process....... __________________ Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941

01-31-2011, 09:42 AM	#4
inked Elf Lord Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: sikeston, MO, usa, earth, sol Posts: 3,114	99.57% of the vote is in .... THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR reports : http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Afric...7-percent-vote "...Six of the ten southern states registered a 99.9 percent vote for separation, with the lowest vote in favor of secession came in at 95.5 percent in Western Bahr al-Ghazal state, which borders Darfur. The long-awaited referendum produced an overwhelming turnout of 99 percent among voters in the south, one of the poorest and least developed regions on earth.: ... __________________ Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941

02-02-2011, 09:34 AM	#5
inked Elf Lord Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: sikeston, MO, usa, earth, sol Posts: 3,114	Here's a report from NPR on the challenges ahead for the southern Sudan... http://www.npr.org/2011/02/01/133374...s-from-scratch __________________ Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941