William M. Gumede at PostGlobal

William M. Gumede

South Africa

William M. Gumede is Associate Editor at Africa Confidential. He is Research Fellow at the School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He recently released the bestselling book Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC. Close.

William M. Gumede

South Africa

William M. Gumede is Associate Editor at Africa Confidential. more »

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Human Rights Supercedes Solidarity

Johannesburg, South Africa- Regional solidarity should never trump human rights needs, whether its Zimbabwean buttressed by southern African allies, the Israel's invasion of Lebanon supported by the U.S, or now the Sudanese regime's repression being aided by the Arab League...

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All Comments (5)

Chris Affleck:

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Anna Jackson:

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skirke, chicago:

I thought neo-con policy was to trash the U.N..
And, golly gee, regime change = democracy -- the bush admin's policy -- seems to make other governments nervous.
Oh, forgot about pre-emptive.
Nobody cares what we think anymore -- only hope we're too mired to cause more damage.

rk:

The Bush administration & their
"neo-con" braintrust, have repeatedly stated that the overarching point of the Iraq war
was to spread democracy in the middle east. I agree that democracy
in the middle east would a good thing. However, I wonder, why leave
Africa out of this great plan. Africa could certainly benefit from having more democracy, that much is certain. So, why not have
those very clever "neo-cons" assemble a coalition of the willing and get going in Africa?
Darfur might be just the place to
start.

Adam Fine:

As far as I have observed, there is no logical premise for al-Bashir's concern that a peacekeeping force would somehow help the US push for a "regime change". The US rarely contributes peacekeepers to such forces, usually providing only monetary support, precisely because governments are so suspicious of any US presence. I have studied this issue throughly, and still find little explanation for al-Bashir's recalcitrance, especially considereing that a UN peacekeeping force (see UNMIS) is currently present in southern Sudan. As a representative of Sudan in Model United Nations (collegiate activity) I had to defend the governments postion, which was certainly a difficult task.

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