Christine Welter's Blog

Posted by Christine Welter

The connection between cell phones and widespread violence in eastern Congo, which is fueled in part by the trade in conflict minerals, received some more media attention.

A 4- minute BBC movie on the mining of minerals in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo investigates the exploitation of local workers and natural resources by militants.

BBC World's investigation into the military exploitation of eastern Congo's mines

Congo Conflict Minerals Fuel Brutal Civil War

Editor's Choice Award on Suite101

Posted by Christine Welter

Fighting has flared up again in the eastern part of the Congo. 35.000 people have been displaced in the last month alone.The Kivus (North Kivu and South Kivu provinces) are about the size of the state of California. The land is mainly hill and jungle, there are few paved roads. United Nations peace keepers fight an uphill battle in this terrain, since the enemy can just melt away into the jungle.

During Secretary of State Clinton's trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo today, she met with refugees and victims of rape. She told Congolese President Joseph Kabila there should be "no impunity for sexual and gender-based violence."

Zainab Salbi (Women for Women International) said Clinton's visit was very important, because the people of the Congo felt at times that America was looking the other way while 5 million people were killed. Secretary Clinton's visit draws attention to the region and signals that the international community is willing to risk something to stop the violence.

Doctors Without Borders Aids Women in the Congo

Suite 101.com

Systemic Rape, Fighting Threaten Congo's Future

The Online Newshour

Crisis in the Congo, Women as Weapons of War

Women for Women International

Posted by Christine Welter

"Clean water would be one of the biggest improvements in quality of life in Iraq", says Ihsan Jaafar, Iraq's director of public health. Everyone complains about the water in Baghdad, and few are willing to drink it from the tap. According to the Iraqi Environment Ministry 36 percent of Baghdad's drinking water is unsafe — in a good month. In a bad month, it's 90 percent. Officials are worried about cholera, typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis and other diseases.

Thousands of displaced people fled to Baghdad during the war and built temporary homes in abandoned government offices. "They dug down and tapped city pipes, often using pumps to find water supplies. As a result, 6 million people use Baghdad water daily, but only 5 million of them use it legally."

The city has a 10-year, $6 billion plan to fix the problem, which involves shutting down the squatters' settlements. However, there's fear that shutting down the settlements would force families onto the street and reignite sectarian fighting; the settlements are a recruiting ground for Shiite Muslim militias.

So step one in the repairs for the city water department is putting together a security force.

"We fight, as if we were in the army, to bring people clean water and take away sewage," a city spokesman says.

(Matthew Schofield for McClatchy Newspapers)

Restoring Water and Sanitation Services in Iraq

Posted by Christine Welter

Years of warfare have left Afghan farmers with few alternatives to growing narcotics. Some farmers, who are looking for an alternative to opium poppies, started growing saffron. Saffron is a spice derived from the dried stigma of the flower of the saffron crocus. It is one of the world's most expensive spices.

DACAAR, the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees, has been sponsoring a saffron cultivation program in Herat Province since 2004. Soil and climate conditions are optimal in Western Afghanistan for saffron, and it has the potential to generate a good income for farmers.

The government of Herat distributes saffron bulbs free of charge to those willing to make the switch.

"Saffron does not need a lot of water," says a local farmer. "It does not need a lot of fertilizer, and you need fewer people to harvest it." Also, he added, the bulbs, once planted, are productive for six years.

Saffron has a history in Herat stretching back more than 80 years. The first plants were cultivated in the Hauz-e-Karbos area of the province, and in 1973-74 the government conducted experiments in saffron cultivation. Then came the war and the project died. In the early 1990s as Afghan refugees returned from Iran, they brought saffron bulbs with them.

Farooq Faizi : Afghan Farmers Ditch Opium for Saffron

DACAAR supports the development of sustainable livelihoods for rural Afghans.

Posted by Christine Welter

Pakistan's army and paramilitary forces have deployed troops in the tribal area between the northern Bannu district and South Waziristan. They are preparing to launch an operation against militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban. (BBC News)

Baitullah Mehsud belongs to the Mehsud tribe and commands Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP). He is Pakistan's most wanted militant with a five-million-dollar reward posted by the United States. His network of fighters and suicide bombers executed a string of deadly attacks in Pakistan.

Mehsud has his stronghold in South Waziristan and is said to command about 20,000 heavily armed Taliban militants. South Waziristan is regarded as a safe haven for al-Qaeda. It is a buffer zone between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the most untamed of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Provinces.

I first learned about Waziristan reading Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson, the Montana man who builds schools for girls in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, was kidnapped by a tribal group associated with the Taliban in Waziristan in 1996. They held him in a warehouse for eight days, but then let him go. Mortenson is fascinated by the Wazir people and he describes them well. They are underdogs, and they have resisted the great world powers for centuries in an environment of vegetationless desert valleys and brown mountains. When Mortenson first entered Waziristan he felt "he had entered a medieval society of warring city states." (Three Cups of Tea, p.159)

Read about the fighting in Pakistan:

The Long War Journal (analysis of the Waziristan operation)

Tide turns against Taliban (BBC news)

Posted by Christine Welter

As many as two million Pakistanis have fled the fighting between the Taliban and the Pakistan army. On Tuesday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US would offer Pakistan $110 million in humanitarian aid.

Washington Post reporter Pamela Constable visited the refugee camps and told the following story:

A family of about 70 people had fled from the Swat Valley, at first by foot, and then by truck. They made it almost to Islamabad. When she met them, they had found shelter in a stable in an outlying village. She talked to the patriarch, an articulate man, who was very upset at what they had witnessed in Swat.

"When the Taliban fighters first came into their little village, they were preaching, "You know, we're going to bring justice. We're going to bring peace (...) and fairness.(...) And they were received well by the people.

And then, he said, just two days later, they saw these Taliban fighters grab the local policeman and start chopping off his head. And the whole village was just horror-struck. They managed to save the man's life and get him away and hide him, but he said, "All of us from that moment on looked at each other and said, "Who are these people? Why have they come here? Are they really Muslims? And what do they really want with us?" (Refugees on a Mass Exodus, Online Newshour)

Most of the refugees are small tenant farmers. They are not educated. Right now they don't know what will happen to them. Will they be able to go back? Will the Pakistani army protect them from the Taliban?And if they can return, who will help them rebuild? $110 million in aid won't go very far.

Posted by Christine Welter

A detailed map published by the BBC Urdu's service shows that only 38% of the north western provinces in Pakistan are under government control. The Pakistan conflict map gives a detailed snapshot of the conflict area.

BBC news also quotes displaced Pakistanis who were forced to leave everything behind.

Majid (24), a student who escaped from Mingora was among the lucky who could hire a truck to escape to Peshawar:

"I am staying at a university hostel with friends. My family is at some relatives' house. Many joined refugee camps, but those must be full, because I see lots of people lying on the roads, people for whom there's no accommodation or help." (...)

"I feel depressed. Swat has been brought back to the Stone Age. Each and every individual has left. There's no life there any more. I am not hopeful that things will get better any time soon - they can't clear this mess up in a hundred years." (BBC, 'Everything Destroyed' in Swat Valley)

Posted by Christine Welter

Pakistani warplanes on Friday bombed Taliban hideouts in the Swat valley after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani vowed to "eliminate the militants and terrorists" in a televised address.

Asked about the threat to the civilian population by the military offensive Pakistan's president Asaf Ali Zardari said his government could not let aid organizations into the region during the offensive because then they would suffer casualties as well. Most people in the conflict area have fled the region and the Pakistan government wants to take care of them in refugee camps. (Interview with Margaret Warner, The Online NewsHour)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned last week that a humanitarian crisis was escalating in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. "The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said he was deeply concerned for displaced Pakistanis and some 20,000 registered Afghan refugees affected by the conflict, and that the agency was stepping up relief." (Telegraph.co.uk)

On Sunday, May 10, a curfew was temporarily lifted in the Swat Valley to allow people to flee from the fighting in the area. The residents of the towns of Mingora, Qambar and Rahimabad have been asked to leave. In these towns Taliban fighters seem to be hiding. Many people were leaving on foot. (The Gaea News)

Posted by Christine Welter

Pakistan security forces are launching a major operation to eliminate "militants and terrorists" from their stronghold in Swat Valley. Fighting between Taliban militants and Pakistani security forces have forced more than 500,000 people to flee the area this week.

Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev (McClatchy Newspapers) report that "the Pakistani government is using heavy-handed military force in Buner district, flattening villages, killing civilians and creating refugees — steps that could further undermine support for the government."

U.S. officials are worry that the Pakistan army will just destroy villages without trying to hold and rebuild the area. The only way to keep the local support is to be able to deliver aid services to the villagers in distress.

In the Swat Valley, also known as the "Switzerland of Pakistan" and a former tourist resort, Islamic militants are enforcing a brutal form of Islamic rule. Earlier this year — in a gesture meant to appease the extremists — the Pakistani government had agreed to a demand by local Islamist leaders to let them implement strict Islamic law. The local leaders in turn had pledged to disarm the fighters. But Taliban extremists continued their advances and officials fear that they might reach Islamabad.

On Wednesday President Obama brought Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Zardari together for a meeting in Washington D.C. The U.S. strategy is to get the two countries to confront the Taliban fighting along their border. Marine Gen. James Jones described the three-way meeting among Obama, Karzai and Zardari as "very warm," and said it was "obvious that the two presidents (Karzai and Zardari) got along well (Mc Clatchy Newspapers)." Obama plans to hold such sessions approximately every three months.

SEE ALSO: Can the Taliban Be Defeated in Afghanistan?

Posted by Christine Welter

More than 85 nations, international organizations and non-profit observers met in the Netherlands this week to secure political support to stabilize Afghanistan. Participants stressed the need to fight corruption in the country and hold free presidential elections this coming August.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton introduced the new strategy which calls for more U.S. troops to go after the Taliban and Al Qaeda but also to help the Afghan government build up its army and police force.

Most speakers at the meeting applauded US President Barack Obama's plan to win over defectors from the Taliban insurgency,since a majority of the fighters are motivated by desperation, not ideology. The idea of approaching former Taliban members has been unthinkable under the Bush administration.

The Afghan government seems enthusiastic about the new approach. Presidential spokesperson Humayun Hamidzada declared it "probably the most significant outcome" of the conference.

One of the goals of the meeting was to bring in the countries directly neighboring Afghanistan. Iran also participated and Washington's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, had an informal meeting with the Iranian delegate, Mohammad Mehdi Akhundzadeh. Akhundzadeh publicly pledged Iran's co-operation in counter-narcotics and development efforts in Afghanistan.

Clinton said: "I did think the Iranian intervention this morning was promising. The issue of counter-narcotics is a worry that we share. We will look for ways to co-operate with them on that."

Observers commented positively on the tentative beginnings of a new relationship between Iran and the U.S. Obama's policy on Iran emphasizes the search for common ground.

Sources:

France Radio International's Report on the Afghanistan Conference

Iran's offer of help to rebuild Afghanistan heralds new age of diplomacy with the US

Posted by Christine Welter

Greg Mortenson, the bestselling author of "Three Cups of Tea", will be honored with the Sitara-e-Pakistan ("Star of Pakistan") for his sixteen-year effort of building schools and promoting rural girls' education. Mortenson (51) will receive the award from Pakistan's President Asaf Ali Zardari in a ceremony in Islamabad on Monday, March 23. Only three foreigners have received Pakistan's Sitara award.

While many Pakistanis are angry about the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and the U.S . bombing of Taliban and Al-Quaida strongholds in Pakistan's South Waziristan border region, it is exactly in this volatile area where Mortenson builds schools to bring hope to Pakistan's most vulnerable young girls.

Most recently Greg Mortenson has become an adviser to the U.S. military. After General David Petraeus read "Three Cups of Tea", which recounts the school-building efforts, he recommended it to his staff. “‘When Gen. Petraeus read "Three Cups of Tea", Mortenson says, "he sent me an e-mail with three bullet points of what he’d gleaned from the book: Build relationships, listen more, and have more humility and respect."

Last November Mortenson was invited to the Pentagon for a private meeting with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Earlier this month he was invited to speak to cadets in West Point during a course on counterinsurgency operations. Mortenson, who spent a few years as a medic in the military after high school, might not have dreamed that he would be back as a consultant on how to build stronger relationships with village elders and tribal leaders.

Posted by Christine Welter

There are growing signs that the economic downturn will have a devastating impact on developing countries. As world trade shrinks, private sector investment slows down (DFID, 3/09)

• the flow of cash from foreign companies into developing countries might fall by 80% from $929 billion in 2007 to $165 billion in 2009
• cash sent by foreign workers to their home countries will drop by $20 billion next year
• less demand for export means fewer jobs; 300,000 miners have lost their jobs in the Democratic Republic of Congo

In preparation for the G20 summit in April Douglas Alexander, British Secretary of State for International Development, warned that radical action is needed to protect the world's poorest from the financial crisis. As developed countries adopt new policies and pour money into their own economies, they have to be aware that these measures might have negative effects on developing countries.

US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met at the White House earlier this week and called for global coordination to help the world's poorest nations weather the economic crisis.

It is time to focus on trade policies that help build sustainable economies worldwide. A positive outcome of the global economic crisis could be closer coordination and global partnership between nations, as defined in Goal 8 of the United Nations Development Goals.

Sources:

A Trade Agenda for the G 20: MDGs and Deficits in Global Governance

Posted by Christine Welter

The humanitarian organization CARE is partnering with women's organizations across the United States to celebrate International Women's Day 2009 with "A Powerful Noise, Live" on March 5.

The documentary will be shown in 440 selected movie theaters and is followed by a town hall discussion broadcast live from New York City with Dr. Helen Gayle, CARE President and CEO, Madeleine K. Albright, Former U.S.Secretary of State, Nicholas D. Kristof, columnist for the New York Times, and other panelists.

The subtitle of "A Powerful Noise" is "The Impact of One Voice. The Power of Many". Directed by Tom Capello the award-winning film takes viewers inside the lives of three remarkable women who defeated the cycle of poverty and oppression.

Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam. Nada a survivor of the Bosnian war. And Madame Urbain works the slums of Bamako, Mali. Through their ability to empower others the three individuals are sparking unprecedented changes. The film is a meditation on the potential of women to change the world.

• Hanh learned that she had contracted HIV after her husband and daughter died from AIDS. Bouncing back from despair, she started a self-help group in Vietnam to give people living with HIV/AIDS a place for support, counseling and health care.

• Nada is a working mother of three children.  As a refugee, she survived the Bosnian War. Her women's association, Maja Kravica, is helping ease hostilities between Serbs and Bosniaks. Nada is building an agricultural cooperative to offer employment opportunities for war widows, and fair trade markets for families to sell their crops and livestock.   

• Jacqueline, known as "Madame Urbain" fights forced labor practices in the slums of Bamako, Mali. She stands up for the rights of powerless girls who are abused in the workplace or on the streets. Her organization, APAF, provides girls a basic education, teaches them vocational skills and places them in safe jobs.

For ticket information and a movie theater near you, visit  "A Powerful Noise."