Egyptian blogger, Baheyya (http://baheyya.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-eve-of-hearing.html) reports on the arrest of peaceful demonstrators holding a vigil in support of judges campaigning for judicial independence.

“Amid screams, sobs, and cries of ‘Down with Hosni Mubarak,’ ‘Down with Habib al-Adli,’ riot police cornered protestors as plain clothed agents removed them one by one. In a final, eerie scene, police peeled off the huge Egyptian flag that demonstrators had strung up to frame their vigil.”

Baheyya also provides a series of background posts to the demonstrations, explaining the last 4 years of confrontation between the judicial system and the President.

Another Egyptian blogger, the Skeptic (http://elijahzarwan.net/blog/?p=109) posts on the renewal of “the Emergency Law” last Sunday, adding to the picture of an extremely repressive and dictatorial regime in Egypt. He also writes that 25 members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested for putting up posters protesting the renewal of the Emergency Law.

Lavina Live (http://lavinialive.blogspot.com/2006/04/our-freedom-was-not-free.html) comments on the recent Freedom Day holiday in South Africa celebrating 12 years of democracy. She comments on life in present day South Africa and feels privileged to be part of it:

“Living in South Africa right now is wonderful for me. I never forget how privileged I am and have been all my life. There is still a lot of work to do with education, development, in the public service and many other areas but we have come very far in 12 years. There are equal opportunities for everyone, disability and education grants for the poor, decent housing for those who never had access before and dignity for everyone, especially those who were never treated with it in the past.”

But she reminds us of the people who sacrificed their lives and liberty for her to live in an independent country and makes the insightful comment:

“Our freedom was indeed not free. I remembered that, the first time I went to vote in the national elections in 2004. I remember it each time a political figure is busted for corruption. I remember it each time I go to my comfortable suburban home in an area black people were not allowed to live less than 2 decades ago.”

Sudan Reeves (http://www.sudanreeves.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=102) writes on the genocide taking place in Darfur and asks: How do we quantify the deaths? He believes that current data shows some 450,000 people at least have been killed over the past three years of conflict.

“As Rwanda marks a grim twelfth anniversary, we must accept that while vast human destruction in Darfur has unfolded plainly before us, we have again done little more than watch, offering only unprotected humanitarian assistance while some 450,000 people have perished as a result of violence, as well as consequent malnutrition and disease. Human destruction to date, however, certainly does not mark the conclusion of the world’s moral failure in responding to genocide in Darfur - on the contrary, this massive previous destruction is our best measure of what is impending.”

He then states the Khartoum government’s “decision to stage yet another large scale military offensive is designed to assure the failure of the Abuja peace process”. In addition to that the latest statement by the SLA suggests “strong disapproval” for the peace process.

He expects that without any intervention from anywhere the situation will rapidly become much worse.

“All that can reverse this course of humanitarian collapse and accelerating human destruction is urgent intervention, with all necessary military resources and an appropriately robust mandate for civilian and humanitarian protection. At present, there are no signs that the UN is planning for such an urgent, well-equipped, and robust mission.”

Gukira (http://gukira.blogspot.com/2006/05/sexual-offences-bill.html) comments on the Kenyan Sexual Offences Bill that is presently being debated in parliament.

“Although sold as a bill against sexual offences, the current document is nothing less than a referendum on the status of gender relations in Kenya. And the news is not good. It is also an attempt to legislate sexuality and, by inference, the social worlds we create and inhabit. And, there too, the news is not good.”

He believes the Bill represents an ongoing struggle between tradition, religion and modernity and that at some point:

“We have to challenge what I now call the Culture Kiboko – that invocation of Culture used to discipline and control…We need good legislation on sexual offences. As is, this bill is not that legislation.”

Black Looks which has moved to a new site (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/05/781.html#more-781) comments on the recent events in the Niger Delta. Specifically she questions the worthiness of Obasanjo’s latest 5 year development plan for the Niger Delta:

“The President in a panic and eager to sell the Niger Delta to the Chinese, felt he had to come up with a quick solution to the growing militancy in the region so in his ignorance of the depth of dissatisfaction and sheer misery of peoples lives, he chose to use leaking buckets to put out a raging forest fire.”

She considers his offer to the people of the region an insult which in no way even begins to meet their demands. “The people have been calling for resource control; for 25% leading to 50% deviation of oil monies; for compensation for the environmental destruction of land and water; for clean up of oil spillages over the past 40 years; investment in education and training. Obasanjo’s answer? A few thousand jobs, conscription of youths into the army and police and building 12 mega petrol stations.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,

* Please send comments to [email protected]