Daily Darfur: Hearings Continue Today in the Senate

by Michelle . · 2009-07-30 05:10:00 UTC
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A rather quick one this morning, on account of a bit of post-travel brain drain (and over-sleeping):

The Enough Project has good coverage of the Sudan hearings in Congress this week, with reactions to US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice's testimony in the House, and (presumably) continuing with coverage of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today and the much-anticipated testimony of US Special Envoy Scott Gration.

In his testimony yesterday, Enough's John Prendergast remarked:

"In the absence of any agreement on the policy, U.S. diplomatic engagement has been energetic, for which Special Envoy Gration should be credited. But the substance of this robust engagement has been fraught with missteps, lack of internal coordination, and an overall aversion to pressuring the ruling National Congress Party."

The hearing in the Senate starts at 10am EST.

A Sudanese woman arrested in Khartoum for wearing trousers decided to challenge the laws governing dress code in court:

"Lubna Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by members of the public order police force on a popular Khartoum cafe for wearing trousers, considered indecent by the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan's Islamic regime. All but three of the women were flogged at a police station two days later."

(Once upon a time, I challenged a dress code prohibiting female employees of the Texas Senate from wearing pants. I failed. I also wasn't facing 40 lashes.)

Lastly, displaced Darfuris calling in to Radio Dabanga accuse Sudanese NGOs of delivering rags, rather than clothes (as claimed) to the camps. Radio Daganga also reports that the Sudanese minister of foreign affairs claims that the military repulsed Chadian forces that crossed the border into Darfur this week, but I can't find any other news of such an incursion elsewhere.

[Photo from AFP: Susan Rice speaks at the UN on July 1, 2009.]

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
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