I’ve been out of commission for a few days with travel and catching up and the ebbs and flows of modern life. Here is a deluge of links to get you (and me) back in the swing of things:
In South Africa there is a new documentary series on the Truth and Reconciliation process, When Truth Hurts, that seems very much worth while. I have done a good deal of work on the TRC and the South African quest for reconciliation generally since 1994 and am always on the lookout for good work in any medium. Hopefully it will appear on dvd in the US at some point.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) President Mangosutho Buthelezi has criticized “Those renegades who are pursuing a rift in the IFP are hurting our party and hurting the people who voted for us.” As the IFP slides further and further from relevance he probably ought to grow accustomed to his erstwhile followers seeking greener pastures. Hopefully his form of explicitly ethnic nationalism will be consigned to the country’s dustbin before long.
There has been a coup in Niger. Usually coups are cause for alarm. But it does not seem that too many people are especially upset over President Mamadou Tandja’s forcible removal from office.
Kinshasa has signed a cease fire with Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). This is good news, for however long it lasts and for whatever long-range benefit it accrues. But it would be easy to overstate the significance of the agreement as well. The old cliche “a little too little, a little too late” springs to mind.
