May 9, 2008
Andrew Heavens was doing so well dealing heroin ...
Jealousy over drug profit led to killing
Sydney Morning Herald - May 8, 2008ANDREW HEAVENS was doing so well dealing heroin that when he refused to hand over some clients to his supplier he was killed, a court has heard.
The alleged supplier, Scott Alan May, 27, is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court for murder after he allegedly ordered his close friend Ryan Burns to shoot Mr Heavens during a late-night meeting at Callan Park on May 2, 2003.
In his opening address, the Crown prosecutor, Anthony Cook, SC, told the jury that Mr Heavens, 31, was a successful supplier and user of heroin and that by the period leading up to his murder had many customers and a high turnover of the heroin he was selling.
The perils of ego-surfing.
Posted by aheavens at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
May 7, 2008
HIV positive - HIV negative
Anti-AIDS campaign in Switzerland (photo by d'n'c')
Anti-Aids campaign in Wau, southern Sudan (with added road sign)
Posted by aheavens at 4:04 PM | Comments (0)
May 5, 2008
Sudan snapshot #2: School-on-a-camel near Al Meganis
NEAR AL MEGANIS, Sudan - It is not every teacher who can pack up their school in a matter of minutes and stack it on the back of a camel.
But Hamad Abdullah Saleh is not every teacher.
He is the lone man at the head of a school of 61 children, all members of Sudan's nomadic A-Hamda tribe who spend large parts of the year covering miles upon miles of land across the neighbouring states of White Nile and South Kordofan.
And when the 61 students move, Hamad Abdullah Saleh moves with them, with his blackboard strapped to the back of his school camel, and his small stock of cattle trailing behind.
"As long as it is school time, I travel with them," says Hamad, a tall, white-robed man in his late 50s who spent most of his earlier career teaching children who stay in one place – White Nile State's main town of Kosti.
"The first thing we do when we arrive in a new place is unload the blackboard. Then the community spends a day collecting wood and straw for the building. Then we start teaching.
"I have to leave my family behind in Kosti. But I took on this new job as a new challenge. The children are good students. And it is very fulfilling."
Saleh's Mohammad Hamad nomadic school is the first educational establishment that the A-Hamda group has ever had...
Posted by aheavens at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)
Sudan snapshot #1: Playing with grenades in Malakal
MALAKAL, Southern Sudan - Temene Chamou was playing with her two young cousins when she found the interesting looking metal box underneath a pile of rubbish.
The 10-year-old took it back to her home in Malakal, on the banks of the White Nile in South Sudan, and tried to open it by pulling on a rod, fixed into what appeared to be its lid.
The explosion ripped of most of her right hand, burned her face from chin to forehead and peppered her body with shards of shrapnel.
One metal spike hit the head of her four-year-old cousin Emanuel David, missing his left eye by 5mm. Another fragment lodged itself in the neck of her other cousin, Habiba David, aged three, stopping just short of his windpipe. The boys' baby sister Angelina, who was also is the room at the time, was burned all the way up her right arm.
Officials are still not sure whether the interesting box was a grenade or an old-fashioned landmine, set off by some sort of fuse.
What they are certain of is that it was one of the millions of explosive objects that still litter the land around Malakal and other parts of South Sudan, all leftovers from decades of fighting in Africa's largest country...
Two months after the explosion their wounds may have started to heal, but the memories are still raw.
Temene's mother describes how the whole community rushed out of the huts when they heard the explosion and had to hunt for the boys after they ran out of the family compound in a blind panic.
Temene still has to go back to hospital every few weeks to have her bandage changed. She has regained her good humour and greets visitors shyly with an awkward left-handed handshake.
Ten minutes drive across town, yet another young body has been cut and torn by what, in technical jargon, is known as ERW – explosive remnants of war.
Augustino threw a stone at a cow he was trying to catch on open ground outside his family's home. The stone fell short, hitting a hidden mine that sprayed him and three of his friends with shrapnel.
All four survived but all four are permanently scarred on their faces, torsos, arms and legs.
Posted by aheavens at 11:17 AM | Comments (1)
April 30, 2008
Time for a sharp exit
"So, how are the landmines around your village affecting the local economy," I asked the elder from Doleib, an hour and a half's boat ride up the River Nile from Malakal in Upper Nile State, South Sudan.
"Well, take this field we're standing in right now," he replied. "We haven't been able to cultivate it for years. There are landmines everywhere."
Posted by aheavens at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
Ethiopian bloggers defend charged pop star
(Originally published on GlobalVoices)
By Andrew Heavens
Ethiopian bloggers rushed to the defence of their country's top pop singer Teddy Afro, after he appeared in court charged with the hit-and-run killing of a youth in capital Addis Ababa.
Many writers were convinced Afro was being framed by Ethiopian authorities who, they said, resented the singer's huge popularity and veiled anti-government lyrics.
Afro was first questioned by police in November 2006 after a homeless 18-year-old was killed by a car in the centre of Addis Ababa. Officers reportedly claimed Afro's BMW had been spotted at the scene by a taxi driver.
His fans were taken by surprise when Afro was arrested, charged and remanded in custody last week, two years after the original incident. The mainstream media described how fans staged protests outside the court room where a judge decided to postpone a bail hearing.
Teddy Afro - real name Tewodros Kassahun - is hugely popular among Ethiopians in and outside the country. His hit song Yasteseryal (hear a clip on his official site teddyafro.com) - which many say criticises a line of Ethiopian leaders including current prime minister Meles Zenawi - was reportedly banned on state controlled radio.
Merkato published an entry by Golto Aila titled Ethiopia - “My Solidarity Forum” for Teddy Afro - An Ethiopian Hero & a Prisoner of Conscience which stated:
This advocate of justice for our people; this voice for the voiceless; this champion of the oppressed; this ultimate entertainer could have lived in luxury abroad and enjoyed life as most of us do, but knowing the risk to his own life, he returned home to continue the mission he has set for himself! Today he sits in the notorious Kaliti Prison, precisely because of what he does for his down-trodden compatriots! The humiliation he has suffered so far and will continue to suffer hence will be the most poignant symbol of our peoples' suffering for the last two decades!
Debteraw Blog mentioned Afro in a list of “political prisoners” in the entry Tensae Le-Ethiopia.
Addis Tibeb wrote in Teddy Afro arrested:
Many fans believe that Teddy is set up for the charge by the government that is supposed to resent Teddy’s public acceptance in his political reprimands by some of his songs
Arefe of Addis Journal stopped short of describing his own opinion of the case, but described the scenes outside the court in Court adjourns Teddy's hearing:
hundreds of cheering and chanting fans had greeted Teddy's arrival. Wearing a T-shirt and sunglasses, Teddy waved as he slowly made his way into the courthouse. As he left the court, the ‘free him' shout became more intense and police surrounded and arrested some of them. A journalist for Hamrawai magazine and another newspaper reporter were among the arrested. It's unclear why police arrested them. It was said they are all detained in the police station in front of the court…
Teddy's arrest weeks ago has generated much interest and anxiety in the city and his songs have enjoyed sudden popularity in the bars, taxis and public places.
freeteddyafro left a message on esai the forum run by The Ethiopian Students Association International:
It is hard to know if Teddy's (imprisonment) is motivated by politics or it is a following judicial process. Teddy is the symbol of Ethiopian new and future generation. He is a bridge for the past, present and future. He is an idol for young generation. Let us bring Teddy to daylight before he disappears forever.
esai commenter Ethiopia said he was convinced Afro was innocent and feared for his chances of a fair trial:
I DONT believe Teddy IS BOTH INHUMAN to leave a dead street kid laying on the ground AND DUMB enough to stay in the country for two years.
Samuel Gebru sounded a lone voice of caution, calling on people not to politicise Afro's case in Ethiopia: Teddy Afro's imprisonment:
Some Ethiopians abroad have tried to capitalize his imprisonment, pending a bail hearing, as the Government's bid to silence the iconic singer…there's a long way ahead before the verdict, so whatever is said abroad is mere speculation. Nevertheless, the politicization of his arrest is not only false but unhealthy in our developing political climate in Ethiopia.
Posted by aheavens at 3:51 PM | Comments (4)
Coffee in Al Meganis
Coffee maker and crowd in the frontier market town of Al Meganis, on the border of White Nile State, South Kordofan and Upper Nile State, that last one in South Sudan.
It is almost as complicated as an Ethiopian coffee ceremony - look at all those pots, including the glue tin containing the final brew. But the end result is harsher and sweeter. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing on some mornings.
Posted by aheavens at 4:44 AM | Comments (1)
April 15, 2008
Twittering space stations over Sudan
It is not every day you get twittered by a passing space station.
twitter: (Space_Station): L:14.413,25.4277 I am currently orbiting over Mellit, Sudan. Can you see me? www.agi.com
I got it through tracking the word 'sudan'.
(Here's Wikipedia's entry on Twitter if you don't know what it is.)
Posted by aheavens at 9:28 AM | Comments (2)
Darfur's athletes
"In a few years, Sudan is going to be on a par with Kenya and Ethiopia as a running nation."
You read it here first.
Darfur athletes train on as Olympic row ragesBy Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A world away from the political rows over China and the Olympic Games, a young Darfuri man crouches down at the start of a cracked and pitted running track in the capital of Sudan.
He is Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr, a 21-year-old from Nyala in southern Darfur, and one of Sudan's main medal hopes for the Beijing Games.
Western celebrities and activists have been pushing for Olympic boycotts and protests against China for its alleged failure to press Sudan to end more than five years of killing in Darfur, as well as over its human rights record in Tibet.
But Ali and a small group of other Darfuri athletes are focusing on their training and hoping the run-up to the Games will go as smoothly as possible.
"I have heard some stories. But they don't really concern me," said Ali, taking a break from training in his country's half-built athletics stadium, made of crumbling concrete blocks still spiked with metal construction rods. "We are all Sudanese and I am running for Sudan."
The only thing on Ali's mind right now, he says, is the 16 weeks of training ahead of him before he gets to meet the world's best 400 meter runners in Beijing's gleaming new 'bird's nest' National Stadium in August.
Actually, you read it here second. Here's Rob Crilly's post on the same story.
Posted by aheavens at 7:03 AM | Comments (1)
