BurningBillboard.org Rotating Header Image

Posts under ‘podcasts’

Conflict Minerals from the DRCongo

[Montréal, Québec, Canada -2°C]  The Concordia Initiative for a Conflict-Free Campus (CCIC) works “towards consumer and student awareness surrounding conflict minerals as well as amendments to Concordia University’s purchasing policy for electronic products.” On March 22, I attended the CCIC’s panel discussion: The Concordia International Forum on Conflict Minerals. The four panelists offered a diverse [...]

ICC Arrest Warrant Repurcussions on Southern Sudan

Exactly three weeks ago, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. Like many people in Sudan, I was glued to the television set to view the announcement. It was 4 p.m.

In Nairobi preparing for Juba

[Nairobi, Kenya 28°C] The Nairobi heat rarely gathers on the brow long enough to bead. It evaporates long before it has a chance to trickle then drip. Kenya will prepare you for the heat of Sudan, everyone tells me as I reach for my water bottle, still thursty. It’s not just the heat of Southern Sudan I’m preparing for, it’s the place itself. It’s hold on a tenuous peace, as mandated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed on Januray 9, 2005 between the Khartoum-based Government of Sudan and the, then-rebel group, Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Kader’s Three Years of Sanctuary in St-Gabriel’s Church

January 1, 2006 was the day Abdelkader Belaouni entered into a self-imposed sancutary at St-Gabriel’s Church in the Pointe Saint-Charles neighbourhood of Montréal. On January 6, I visited Kader on the second floor of the rectory where he has spent much of the last 1100 days to avoid deportation back to Algeria.