'' describes his experience in the town of Juba in Southern Sudan.

“Some people die. Some survive. When bullets went off three meters from my tent, my first instinct was to unzip the tent and peep, my second instinct was to save my life -- keep the head to the ground, [and] -- as the shooting continued… – [I decided that what I needed to do] was to take the first car/plane -- or whatever -- out of Juba the following day. The instinct for survival trumped the instinct to be an eye witness. I lived to tell the tale.

“Gunshots went off at 4 a.m. Thursday, reverberating through half of Juba, less than a kilometer from Southern Sudan's Parliament buildings. Seconds into the breakout of the gun exchange a car raced along a lane between homesteads, firing back as it drove off, and as its engine died down into the distance.”

Last week I listened to the first report on Al Jazeera’s English channel on Darfur. It was an interview with the General in charge of the AU troops who basically said his presence had minimal impact on the lives of the people he was supposed to be protecting. He had only one soldier for every two square kilometres and he needed at least 17 000 more in order to make a significant difference.

'fleur d’ Afrique' writes that she sometimes wishes she came from a different country – not the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Election results were out a few mins ago. Folks are patiently waiting for the crazy shit to start. Isn’t it sad when you actually patiently wait for things to explode? *sigh* Today I really really really hate my country. Some things can’t be undone.

“I’d still go back to live there but things will never be the same again. Call it nostalgia or whatever. There were certain things I was looking forward to experience again...won’t happen”

Since writing this piece, there have been clashes between Joseph Kabila’s forces and those of his opponent, John Pierre Bembe. The truth is that for most people like Fleur the only acceptable winner is peace and this does not seem to be happening. The leadership and opposition in the DRC, like many other countries, are selfish and think only of themselves – the people they elect to serve are the least of their concerns.

'Just Thots by a Naijaman' writes an excellent piece on Nigeria’s political mindset called “Nigeria: Snippets from our ‘nascent’ demonstration of craziness aka democracy! Where politicians leave it to God to determine all things including who is in control and indulge in sychophancy and the idol worship of those who call themselves ‘leaders’ of the nation."

“Journalist: How do you feel about your present position?
Governor Etiaba: It is the will of God.
Journalist: Why the visit to the President?
Governor Etiaba: I came to pledge loyalty to the President because he is the father of the nation.
Journalist: What is the political situation in Anambra State?
Governor Etiaba: God is in control.
Journalist: What are your priorities?
Governor Etiaba: Good governance.”

‘God’ indeed is in control of arson, political brigandage, massive looting of the treasury, circumventing the will of the people, and godfatherism. While the people groan under the burden of misgovernance, political office holders are busy pledging their ‘loyalty’ to the ‘father of the nation.’

'Ijebuman’s Diary' continues continues with the religious theme in Nigerian society. This time it is the failure of Nigeria’s politicians to follow the scriptures or be ‘Godly’ that is the source of Nigeria’s present day problems.

“Our problem is not global recession, it all started in 1977 when we used God's oil money to promote and display demons of Africa under the pretence of rich African culture, all nations of Africa brought their idols (He is referring to the Festival of Arts and Culture, Festac 77 held in Nigeria in 1977), we built a town for them called Festac town and a big theatre, the capital expenses ran into millions of dollars. God was up there, repenting he ever created us. There was no time our government ever sponsored a gospel crusade.

“The whole world has turned against us, threatening sanctions
all over, it is not that we don't have good government but the sins of our fathers will not permit them to perform, the demons we invited have taken their permanent residence here.”

'Scribbles from the Den' reviews ‘The Lion Man and Other Stories’ by Peter Vakunta. The book is a collection of short stories from the village of Bamunka in Cameroons.

“It is truly a mirror that reflects the socio-cultural life of the inhabitants of the region. It is a pointer to the worldview and value systems of the people. Each story is an entity in itself harboring a moral. The stories deal with life yesterday, today and tomorrow. They constitute a bridge between the near and the far. The book’s special merit resides in its suitability to the young and the old. High school and college students with an interest in African folklore and literature would find the collection indispensable.”

'Black Looks posts two pieces' involving Kenyan writer and academic, Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o in which he was asked to leave a hotel he was staying in San Francisco just last week. In the incident, the professor was sitting on the verandah of the hotel when an employee came up to him told him this place was for guests only and asked him to leave. The professor related the experience…

"This place is for guests of the hotel. You have to leave.”
Handling the matter calmly and intrigued by the assertion of the man, the Professor asked “How do you know that I am not a guest of the hotel?” The man continued unabated “You have to leave. This is for guests of the hotel.”
“But how do you know that I am not a guest?” the Professor asked again. “You have to leave.” “But you have not even asked me if I am staying in the hotel”
‘Okay. Are you staying at the hotel?’ The tone and demeanour was of a man who had made up his mind that the Professor could not be a guest. “Let’s us go to the reception desk,” the Professor told him. “It is not necessary,” he said. “Just leave.”

The blogosphere responded to the racist incident via comments and some took up the call to write to the management and the CEO who responded personally stating he would make a public apology and wrote:

“Prejudice still exists in America. It is real and palpable. While we’ve all witnessed superficial changes in America over the past four decades, the reality is that people 'pre-judge' each other way too much, whether it’s based upon skin color, religion, sexual orientation, age, economic status, or some other factor that makes one 'the other.'"

Unfortunately the matter did not end there, as a comment was then left anonymously by an employee which contradicted the CEO’s statement. Black Looks posts the employees comment - Black Looks

“THIS IS NOT AN INCIDENT OF RACISM. As an employee of the spoken restaurant I am appalled that this can even be considered an incident of racism. This is San Francisco, a city with the worst homelessness problem in the nation. Daily we have people from the street wander in and disrupt service. Crack addicts, prostitutes, etc. disturb people who are paying good money to eat and stay here. Constantly we have to escort disgusting trashy people from our restaurant on the embarcadero in order to ensure a sense of security amongst out guests. It does not matter whether you are black, white, pink or blue, if you come into our restaurant reeking of body odor, adorning dreadlocks, and wearing filthy clothes, you run the risk of being escorted from any fine dining establishment. Any restaurant in the state of California reserves the right to refuse service to ANYONE. Service was refused to this man based on his appearance not his race. If anyone has strong enough evidence than I to contest this statement I would like to know. We are a tolerant community and a diversely employed restaurant, how dare you try to bring down our good name for an issue that has been dead for years.”

Part of Black Looks's response, which hopefully will again be taken up by the blogosphere and mainstream media, was:

“The most significant aspects about this comment are first that he denies that racism exists yet his statement is so loaded with prejudice and discrimination, not to talk of lack of humanity. Secondly, is his more emotional reaction which is the manifestation of his attitude towards other human beings and basically boils down to making judgments about people which includes one’s skin colour and any other “visible statement of difference” because that is what this is about. It’s about not respecting and accepting difference in a land where wearing “no brand name” clothes is seen as subversive, dreadlocks as seditious and deviant and “prostitutes” the lowest of the low - he obviously has no thought on the punters who presumably are the “clean shaven, baldheaded, beardless, Tommy Hilfiger dressed white” acceptable guests in his hotel”.

The names and address of the hotel senior personnel are published on the website and it is hoped that as many people as possible will write to them expressing their disgust not only at the incident itself but the comment by one of their employees.

• Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org

• Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org