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Bush’s Effort To Combat AIDS In Africa Saved 1.1 Million Lives
A recently released study from Stanford University says that former President Bush’s PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) program in Africa saved more than 1.1 million lives, and cut the mortality rate of the disease by 10 percent.
PEPFAR is the most sweeping attempt at combating AIDS in Africa in human history. President Bush spent more money on fighting AIDS in Africa than any human being on earth.
Much to the chagrin of liberals, it wasn’t left-wing rock bands or benefit concerts that are saving the people of Africa, but their arch nemesis George W. Bush.
Someone should let Kanye West know that George Bush apparently does care about black people.
-Chris Jones
African Union Gives Hero’s Welcome To Mugabe
The continent of Africa has once again proven that it’s just as corrupt as ever. Just hours after taking office again (’taking’ in the literal sense) Robert Mugabe traveled to the African Union Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh where he should have been shunned.
Instead he was hugged and kissed warmly by his fellow African dictators and treated like a hero. Only veiled references to the violence, intimidation, and murder, that has gripped Zimbabwe in the wake of Mugabe’s power grab were made.
Until African nations begin to take a stand against corruption and bloodshed and demand democracy and diplomacy, the continent of Africa will remain a place synanamous with poverty and misery.
Queen Of England Strip Mugabe Of Knighthood?
The NY Times is reporting today that Queen Elizabeth II has officially stripped Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe of his honory knighthood. The British foreign office says the move was a “mark of revulsion” for his African dictator’s “abject disregard” for Democracy.
The question that really needs to be answered here is how in the hell was Robert Mugabe granted Knighthood? Are they just handing that title out to just anyone these days? The Brits claim he was given Knighthood during a state visit in 1994 when “conditions in Zimbabwe were quite different.”
I’m not sure what “conditions” they’re referring to, but Robert Mugabe has been a vicious third world dictator since the day he took office.
I’m not blaming Britain for having relations with his government, but it’s pretty incredible that a thug like Mugabe would be given Knighthood. Maybe they should have given Knighthood to Mobutu Sese Seko, and other African strong men as well.
Mob In Kenya Burns 15 Women To Death For Witchcraft
Via AFP:
A rampaging mob in western Kenya burnt 15 women accused of witchcraft to death, a local official and villagers told AFP Wednesday.
“This is unacceptable. People must not take the law into their own hands simply because they suspected someone,” said Mwangi Ngunyi, the head of Nyamaiya district. “We will hunt the suspects down,” he added.
Geldof and Bush
Interesting article in Time magazine by Bob Geldof about traveling with President Bush in Africa. He talks about the amazing things Bush has done in Africa, and about the man himself.
Video: Bush Dancing In Africa
Bob Geldof Says Bush Has Done More For Africa Than Any President
From The Washington Times:
Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.
Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, “has done more than any other president so far.”
“This is the triumph of American policy really,” he said. “It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion.”“What’s in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing,” Mr. Geldof said.
Mr. Geldof said that the president has failed “to articulate this to Americans” but said he is also “pissed off” at the press for their failure to report on this good news story.
“You guys didn’t pay attention,” Geldof said to a group of reporters from all the major newspapers.
I’m glad to see someone like Geldof actually has the guts to tell the truth. You would NEVER read about Bush’s Africa success in the NY Times or anywhere else in the American media.
It’s become a fashionable to hate President Bush and it’s disgusting. The media refuses to acknowledge anything positive that Bush does, and instead chooses to harp on scandals that they themselves create.
It’s not surprising that President Bush has such low approval ratings considering the kind of coverage he gets. How can the public have anything other than a negative perception of the Bush Administration when all they get is a constant drumbeat of lies and distortions from a corrupt media?
-Chris Jones
New Strain Of Ebola Virus Discovered
A new strain of the deadly Ebola virus has been discovered near Uganda. Ebola is one of the deadliest and most terrifying viruses on the planet.
The new strain of Ebola has infected 51 people and killed 16 in an area near Uganda’s border with Democratic Republic of Congo, U.S. health experts said.
Ugandan health officials have said the virus appears to be unusually mild, but Ksiazek said it is not yet clear if this is the case. He said experts need to check to see how many diagnosed patients are still alive.
There are no known cures or treatments for the Ebola Virus. An infected person typically dies a horrifying death in which the internal organs liquefy causing the patient to “bleed out.”
-Samantha Giles
A Tearful Oprah Back in Africa
A tearful Oprah Winfrey begged parents to forgive her for an alleged abuse scandal at her girls’ school in South Africa.
The school was hit two weeks ago with allegations that one of the matrons fondled a girl and physically abused other students.
The school’s principal – indentified only as Dr Mzimane – and at least one other matron were put on administrative leave following the charges.
“I’ve disappointed you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” Oprah told parents at an emergency meeting, South Africa’s top news Web site reported yesterday.
UN says three mass graves found in Congo
Three mass graves have been discovered in an eastern area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said.
The area was formerly controlled by a rebel warlord that has been the scene of recent clashes.
Maj Gabriel De Brosses, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, said the graves were found on Monday in Rubare, a village about 40 miles north of the regional capital, Goma. Few details were available.
De Brosses did not know how many bodies had been found or who killed the victims.
Rubare was controlled by fighters loyal to former army Gen. Laurent Nkunda until earlier this month, when clashes broke out in the region between Nkunda’s men and the army. Nkunda left the army several years ago and now commands thousands of his own combatants in the area
Michel Bonnardeaux, a spokesman for the UN mission in the DRC, said the graves were found by residents, who reported them to UN officials.
The region has been the scene of fighting between the army and militias loyal to Nkunda, who commands thousands of combatants in the area. Clashes eased over the last week, but the area remains tense.
The UN food agency said it had delivered emergency food rations to about 35,000 people at a camp at Mugunga, just north of Goma.
But “poor security has severely limited access beyond Mugunga to the worst-affected areas,” including parts of Masisi district, where “at least 7,000 people are believed to be living in the bush in urgent need of food,” the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said.
Tens of thousands of people have fled the latest round of violence, bringing the total number of displaced in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu from years of conflict to nearly 1 million, WFP said.
WHO: Ebola outbreak confirmed in the Congo
The World Health Organisation said Tuesday that five cases of the deadly Ebola virus had been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after dozens of people succumbed to an unidentified illness in recent months.
The five cases of the viral haemorrhagic illness were confirmed in western Kasai in the centre of the vast African country, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told journalists in Geneva.
Ebola causes the patient to bleed under the skin and in severe cases, from the mouth, ears and eyes. The virus, which has no known cure, is highly infectious for those who come into contact with a victim’s body fluids.
The WHO was not in a position to say whether the five people confirmed with Ebola are presently alive or dead, she added.
“The priority for the WHO is to find those who are sick with Ebola, to isolate them and to trace the people with whom they have been in contact,” Chaib said.
WHO teams on the ground will also help families of the deceased to bury their bodies in a secure fashion, she added.
Ebola has killed some 450 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1976, and 1,200 people across the whole of Africa in the same period.
Local authorities said at the end of August that 68 people had died from an unknown illness within the space of four months in western Kasai.
Chaib stressed that another illness other than Ebola could yet be responsible for some of these deaths, possibly the Shigella infectious disease which is less deadly than Ebola.
[AFP]
Rwandan Army Major Jailed Over Genocide
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – A former Rwandan army major was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for his involvement in the 1994 killings of 10 Belgian peacekeepers at the start of the Rwandan genocide. Bernard Ntuyahaga was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury Wednesday following the killings of the 10 Belgian paratroopers.
Prosecutors in the case had pleaded for the court to sentence the 55- year-old to life for his role in ensuring the 10 peacekeepers were disarmed and killed by a mob of local soldiers in Kigali.
Ntuyahaga’s defense lawyer, Luc De Temmerman, said the deaths of the ten Belgians was the fault of a civil war in Rwanda that had started in 1990. He said his client did not receive “a just legal process” to make his case and added Ntuyahaga was likely to appeal the verdict.
Thursday’s sentencing by the Belgian court came at the end of an almost three-month trial, which heard over 150 witnesses and went over 70,000 pages of evidence.
The death of the 10 peacekeepers led to the withdrawal of the 450 Belgian troops in Rwanda and eventually, troops from other nations in the U.N. mission too. It opened the way for Rwanda’s 100-day genocide, during which radical Hutus slaughtered 500,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
The 10 peacekeepers were given orders to protect then-Prime Minister Agatha Uwilingiyimana and take her to a radio station to make an appeal for calm the day after a plane crash in which the president died, which remains unexplained.
When they arrived there, soldiers of the Hutu army opened fire with rifles and grenades. After about two hours, the prime minister fled. She was caught and killed.
[AP]
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