Among the many scandals that have rocked the United Nations over the last several years, none has been more damaging to its reputation and mission than accusations of rape and sexual abuse by UN Peacekeepers.

Refugees - most notably in The Democratic Republic of Congo - have been terrorized by the very men who were sent to protect them. According to The Christian Science Monitor, 319 peacekeepers worldwide have been investigated for abuse in the past three years. Of those, 179 were repatriated or dismissed, however the UN has no power to prosecute the troops. That can only be done by the contributing country.

The UN hopes to counter some of these problems with the deployment of its first all-female peace keeping unit in Liberia. (more…)

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission began work October 10, taking statements from perpetrators, eyewitnesses, and victims of the 14-year civil war that left the country shattered and its population decimated. The commission has a two-year mandate to investigate crimes but cannot put alleged perpetrators on trial.

Offices are opening throughout the West African country and in the diaspora (including Minnesota) in an effort to document evidence on crimes committed between 1979 and 2003.

BBC and Minnesota Public Radio

Kanye West put some of his fans on African “blood” diamonds in his 2005 single “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.”

Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless
’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless

Well recently the 15th largest rough diamond was found in Lesotho. A British owned company bought the 603 carat diamond for $12.4 million and plan to sell it for more than $20 million.

The 1.8 million people of Lesotho, a tiny mountain kingdom completely encircled by South Africa, are among the world’s poorest.

Although this may not be a certified “blood diamond” it still speaks to the unjust way Africans are treated on their own land.

Yahoo! News

I listened to all the noise made at the UN this week over global dominance and Western hegemony……and very little or no noise has been made by African nations against the racist Sudanese government that is killing innocent Black Africans through its Janjaweed Arab militia. The Arab League has been conspicuously silent over the genocide in Darfur, and we accept the false premise of the Sudanese government that UN intervention in Darfur is reminiscent of colonialism.

How long shall we wait as another Rwanda unfolds everyday in front of our eyes? Where is the political will of African nations to stop the Sudanese govt’s racist practices?

The African Union no doubt like the former Organization of African Unity, is a toothless dog, a coffee shop for most of its members who are among the world’s most renowned dictators. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka added his voice to the pool of critics against the racist genocide while keynoting the 50th anniversary of the Congress of Black Writers and Artists currently underway in France.