Program Overview

* Hosts: Deborah Amos
* Length: 51 minutes
* Original Airdate: Dec 2010

Sudan has been at war with itself for decades. Arab Muslims in the north have long dominated Christian and animist Africans in the south. But, in a referendum scheduled for January 2011, southerners are expected to vote for separation. And the divorce may not be pretty. The south will take water, land, and about three quarters of Sudan’s oil with it. That’s one of many reasons the north opposes the divorce, and why there’s fear of a return to conflict.

Segment 1: Sean Carberry reports from Malakal in South Sudan on the voter registration process, and how people there are eager for the referendum, but wary of possible conflict with the north. Listen to this segment.

Guests include Jacob Lazaro Doro, a resident of Malakal; Khor Paul Gatinal, a student who recently returned to South Sudan from Kenya; Lieutenant General Simon Kun Pouch, Governor of Upper Nile State; Rass Muy Tang, chairman of the Southern Sudan Youth Forum, a civil society organization advocating for separation.

MULTIMEDIA: For a firsthand perspective of life on the ground, read Sean Carberry’s blog posts while reporting from Sudan on The Dispatch.

Segment 2: Deborah Amos examines the negotiations behind the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that put an end to Sudan’s long-running civil war and mapped out South Sudan’s road to self-determination. Listen to this segment.

Guests include Senator John Danforth, former Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan; Ambassador Alan Goulty, former UK Special Representative for Sudan; General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, Kenya’s Special Envoy to the Sudanese peace process.

Deborah Amos speaks with Sean Carberry about the unresolved details of the split between north and south that could prompt conflict.

Segment 3: Matt Ozug reports from Bor, South Sudan, on the mismatch between optimistic expectations and post-independence reality when it comes to development and security. Listen to this segment.

Guests include Kuol Manyang Juuk, Governor of Jonglei State in South Sudan; Judy McCallum, Country Representative for the NGO Pact Sudan; Mabior Sodit, a resident of Bor; Yot Kot Yot, a cattle dealer in Bor.

Segment 4: Deborah Amos speaks with Nicholas Kristof, columnist of The New York Times and Andrew Natsios, former US Special Envoy to Sudan, about US foreign policy towards Sudan and about tense internal negotiations between North and South Sudan in the lead up to the referendum. Listen to this segment.

Splitting Sudan / Executive Producer: Aaron Lobel / AAM Producers: Monica Bushman, Sean Carberry, Jordana Gustafson, Matt Ozug, Chris Williams. Editing by Martha Little.

America Abroad is distributed by PRI: Public Radio International.

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Filed under: Sudan by William on December 9, 2010
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Dr. Glenn Geelhoed in Sudan

A) PID is number one–untreated pelvic inflammatory diseases, which scar the tubes at an early age. Without treatment of the earlier manageable stages of STD’s (and their clinic has been bombed away decades ago in the twenty two years of N/S civil war even before the current inter-tribal hostilities remained as the principle causes of casualties) the disease progresses to a scarred PID consequence of infertility during what would otherwise be reproductive years of life.

Hypothyroidism is number two–see the two references on this –one is the whole journal on “Metabolic Maladaptation:….” in the December 1999 “International Journal of Nutrition” and all editorials attached thereto. Also see Alberto Ahuka’s chapter in “Surgery and Healing in the Developing World” by Landes BioScience, which you can get just by googling my name.

Number three is the lack of what has become known in the Global Health Circles as “Safe Motherhood”–that is, the surgical means of assisting birth—1) C-section, 2) D& C for incomplete abortion, 3) Ruptured ectopic pregnancy, an emergency secondary to the PID referred to above.

Number four is general malnutrition of the kind called “Protein Calorie Malnutrition” formerly known as Kwashiorkor, but now better defined.

Number five: specific micronutrient deficiencies, namely Folic acid, Iodine (see “Hypothyroidism” above) Vitamin A and Iron (anemia of “Syndanemia” = 1) Malaria, 2) Parasitic worms [hookworm and soil transmitted helminths of the NTD] ) and 3) HIV.

Number six–and one that is overestimated, but now we have the brucellosis titer laboratory kits to prove/disprove this cause: Brucellosis. Brucella is a transmissible disease infecting the placenta among cattle culture people usually first known by causing spontaneous abortion among cattle. The fertility of the Dinka/Murle/Nuer cattle is devoutly sought even as much as for their human counterparts to whom the brucellosis can be transmitted–an attractive hypothesis, but I have only seen it confirmed once while in Jonglei Province (but that may be only because the lab capability of proving it only just arrived.)

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Filed under: News, Photos, Sudan by William on December 7, 2010
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Guyzos,

I spoke to Brother Jim for about half an hour this morning. The reports of his death from machete-wielding cholera zombies are somewhat exaggerated, but he will be taking a mental health/sanity trip back to the US from 21 December through early/mid Jan. His observations and projections on cholera, security, popular sentiment, NGO support, and current needs in Haiti are as follows:

Cholera: is present in the camps in the city but is not a raging epidemic. He reported that in one camp of 5,000, 2-3 new patients developed cholera yesterday. In a larger camp of 10,000 [Camp "Canaan"], roughly six new cases were reported yesterday, and one person died. [I am reconstructing these numbers from memory; Jim, please correct them if I am way off.] During a 20-minute drive through the city this morning, he observed one family wheeling around a family member with probable cholera via wheelbarrow. Jim projects worsening/greater spread of illness rising on a curve over time, but the IDP camps in/around PAP are not experiencing a full-blown epidemic as yet.
(more…)

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Filed under: Haiti, News, Volunteers by William on December 6, 2010
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Filed under: Conferences, Haiti, Pakistan, Photos by teamrubicon on December 4, 2010
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Filed under: Conferences, Haiti, Pakistan by teamrubicon on December 4, 2010
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Filed under: Photos, Sudan by teamrubicon on December 3, 2010
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Filed under: Sudan by teamrubicon on December 3, 2010
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