Africa: Faces in Words

Weekly update on the breaking stories in the African nations.

Photo: Faces of Nigeria: Nigerian teens

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Unseen, unheard; no one should be the bearer of these two words. Unfortunately, Africa is often in the forefront of this association.

Our common humanity should change this; we should never look away because it is too distant. Our commitment to one another, to human rights, and the ability to learn should always keep us connected no matter the severity and complexity of problems.

Important insights from last week, not to be missed:

When Rape Is a Tool of War - The raw courage demonstrated by Eman al-Obeidy in persisting in telling her story of alleged repeated gang rape and torture in Libya is helping to change the dialogue in Libya and the Middle East about the use of sexual violence as a weapon of repression. http://blog.soros.org/2011/04/when-rape-is-a-tool-of-war/

Somalia: Vaccine fears fuel measles outbreak - The cause of a measles outbreak in Somalia has yet to be determined but doctors say initial suspicions point to "unfounded rumors" that the vaccine could cause HIV/AIDS in children and interfere with their reproductive abilities. http://www.medeshivalley.com/2011/04/somalia-vaccine-fears-fuel-measles.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+medeshivalley%2FJLIj+%28Medeshivalley.com%29

Kenya: Patients on ARVs hard hit by drought, high food prices - When IRIN/PlusNews recently visited Nuna Kahiro, 75, in Kenya's Rift Valley town of Nakuru, she asked the same question she asks everyone who visits: "Did you bring me anything to eat?" http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92406

Survival tools in Haiti: Truth and Deception - We found him on a Sunday morning, as an outdoor service came to a close at what was once the Notre Dame cathedral. When the hymns faded, we picked through the carcass of the building, and there he was among the collapsed walls, his slender body framed by piles of rubble and blue sky attempting to peek through after a hard rain. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/09/haiti.suffering/index.html?eref=rss_world&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_world+%28RSS%3A+World%29

Congo Government, UN Underestimate LRA threat - Enough recently wrote about the upsurge in violence committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, against civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which had raised the concern of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, and severalNGOs. In early March,UNHCR expressed alarm about the 52 LRA raids that had occurred this year in Orientale Province in northeastern Congo and resulted in 35 deaths, 104 abductions, and the displacement of 17,000 people. http://enoughproject.org/blogs/congo-government-un-underestimate-lra-threat?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+enoughblog+%28Enough+Said%29

UN: 100 Bodies Found in Ivory Coast in 24 hours - United Nations officials say investigators have found more than 100 bodies in western Ivory Coast in the past 24 hours. A spokesman for the U.N. human rights agency said bodies were found in more than one location and most of the deaths seemed to be "ethnically motivated." http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/west/UN-100-Bodies-Found-in-Ivory-Coast-in-24-Hours----119464354.html

Morocco: Sahrawi Activists, Detained 18 month, await verdict… - Three Western Sahara activists have been in pretrial detention for 18 months, with numerous delays in their trial, Human Rights Watch said today. Their trial on charges of "harming [Morocco's] internal security" has proceeded in fits and starts, with limited evidence produced against them. Four co-defendants are provisionally free. http://allafrica.com/stories/201104090003.html

Nigeria hit by second blast as polls continue - A second explosion has hit a polling booth in a neighbourhood of the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing three people, only hours after the first blast killed at least eight people on the eve of parliamentary elections, an emergency official said. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/201148195657822597.html

Zimbabwe: Rape Victims Speak Out - Three women, allegedly raped by their husbands, told the meeting about their harrowing ordeals and the difficulty they had in getting help. Esther Hombarume, Agnes Munengami, and Everst Mukandiona, all from Harare, said they had been failed by the police and the court system and struggled to find help from NGOs. http://www.ngonewsafrica.org/?p=7245

Cote d’Ivoire: Ouattara Forces Kill, Rape Civilians During Offensive - Forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara killed hundreds of civilians, raped more than 20 alleged supporters of his rival, Laurent Gbagbo, and burned at least 10 villages in Côte d'Ivoire's far western region, Human Rights Watch said today. Forces loyal to Gbagbo killed more than 100 presumed Ouattara supporters as Ouattara's forces advanced in their March campaign. Upon taking power, Ouattara should urgently open a credible and impartial investigation into serious abuses by both sides and ensure that those responsible at all levels are brought to justice, Human Rights Watch said. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/04/09/c-te-d-ivoire-ouattara-forces-kill-rape-civilians-during-offensive

Alysha Atma spends many hours working on projects that support and benefit the beleaguered people of African nations who spend way too much time off the western media's radar. This writer explains that she is a culmination of all her experiences, most importantly knowledge she says, and all that she still needs to learn; lessons of love, laughter and the extraordinary giving of both young and old. She says she has the enormous fortune of learning from the best; every person around her, and the amazing strength and fortitude of those she has never met but will always strive to listen to. "I continue to work and write because I believe in the power of community and the power of one, both contradictory to each other and yet can move together in a very powerful way. I feel a responsibility to use my place, freedoms and connections here in the US to stand up and yell for those who need my voice and actions. I have seen such strength in my fellow humans that I cannot even begin to comprehend, they have traveled distances, have gone without food, water, shelter and safety for days and weeks at a time. I have a responsibility as a fellow human to put our common humanity before anything else. Everyone deserves to look towards tomorrow, to dream of a safe future and to have a peaceful present." You can write to Alysha Atma at: alyshann78@comcast.net