It seems as if there&${esc.hash}39;s nothing but negative news on Darfur at the moment. In the past week or so, a scandal has blown up over claims that African Union (AU) peacekeepers in the region paid women and girls for sex. The allegations were aired on Britain&${esc.hash}39;s More4 TV channel, following a trip to Geraida in southern Darfur by Sudanese reporter Nima Elbagir. There girls as young as 11 told her they&${esc.hash}39;d been threatened and coerced into sexual acts by soldiers.
The AUhas said it will look into the allegations but emphasised that investigations had shown a series of recent allegations to be groundless.
Abusive sexual behaviour by peacekeepers is nothing new. The U.N. has investigated some 300 cases under a new reporting system introduced last year. However full reform of the system is expected to take several years &${esc.hash}39; which, for people who suffer at the hands of those meant to protect them, is surely too long.
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Another startling piece of media coverage on Sudan looks at the relationship between the Mandari tribe of nomadic herdsmen in the south and Kalashnikovs. Britain&${esc.hash}39;s Independent newspaper talked to Mandari warriors about the impact of an influx of small arms during and after the region&${esc.hash}39;s 23-year civil war, which ended last year. The paper reports that there&${esc.hash}39;s now thought to be one AK-47 for every family in poverty-stricken south Sudan.
One herder said having a weapon was necessary to protect his cows &${esc.hash}39; &${esc.hash}39;you must have a gun or else you will be robbed of your animals and killed like a dog&${esc.hash}39;. But the report says an increase in cattle raids is not the only problem &${esc.hash}39; a rise in infertility due to sexually transmitted diseases is motivating some clans to try to abduct children, aided of course by guns.
The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a coalition of more than 500 groups in nearly 100 countries, is lobbying for a global arms-trade treaty that would introduce tight controls on weapon sales. It will present its Million Faces petition in support of a treaty to the U.N. conference on small arms in June.
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The spread of small arms across much of Africa just can&${esc.hash}39;t be underestimated. In a live laptop link-up with the Ethiopian community of Moyale near the Kenyan border, organised by BBC News Online, Laura, a Canadian from Ottawa, asked villagers what solutions were needed &${esc.hash}39;to focus on peace&${esc.hash}39;.
Aden Aliyo told in his reply of how spears and shields have now been replaced by AK-47s and other weapons. These come from many sources, he said, including sales to citizens during the fall of the country&${esc.hash}39;s military government, as well as from Somalia and southern Sudan. &${esc.hash}39;Therefore the problem of widespread firearms should be dealt with to bring peace&${esc.hash}39;, he concluded.
News Online&${esc.hash}39;s Africa editor Russell Smith had warned there could be a hiccough with the &${esc.hash}39;live&${esc.hash}39; Q&A due to an expected power cut. With only three hours of battery supply for his laptop, he said he&${esc.hash}39;d have to be &${esc.hash}39;creative&${esc.hash}39; - and later headed off the the local barber where he was able to use a generator to recharge his computer!
Technology is an amazing way of linking people around the globe, as we all know, but the BBC experience also serves as a useful reminder that many people just don&${esc.hash}39;t have the power, electric or otherwise, to reap its benefits.
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Moving to central Europe, Britain&${esc.hash}39;s Guardian newspaper warns that more than a million Georgians face evacuation due to the risk of flooding, landslides and mud flows. The country&${esc.hash}39;s chief environmental adviser told the paper that experts are examining mountainsides and river valleys in areas where disasters could occur, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of families.
The main culprits, according to Professor Emi Tsereteli, are climate change and human activities such as illegal logging. The worst short-term threat is from heavy rains across central Europe that have caused serious flooding in several countries, compounded by the spring snow melt due in Georgia in the next two weeks.
The professor said 50,000 families have been relocated over the past 30 years, but the situation is getting worse every year.
Best, Megan Rowling AlertNet reporter
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