Region

Africa

Part 1 - Ethiopian refugees: a side story

Jen Marlowe, for the Pulitzer Center

A man wearing a green, yellow and red knitted cap with the words "End Racism" greeted us as we walked through the Ethiopia market in Kakuma Refugee Camp. (Kakuma was established to house the influx of Sudanese refugees escaping from camps in Ethiopia in 1991, but since has sheltered refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, DRC, Burundi, and Tanzania--exact breakdown in next post)

Kakuma Camp

David Morse, for the Pulitzer Center

Our charter flight out of Juba was delayed by a day, as it could not take off from Malekal owing to muddy airstrip. (Appropriately, by temporary e-mail address is [email protected]) We did make it out Sunday morning, though, in time to settle in at the International Rescue Committee guest quarters where we were delighted to find actual beds, privacy (one to a room) and flush toilets - our first experience with these luxuries in the month we've been traveling.

What it is like "on the ground"

David Morse, for the Pulitzer Center

We did get to speak to Salva Kiir, President of South Sudan and, under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Vice President of the Government of National Unity. He, like Pagan Amum, Secretary General of the SPLM, was optimistic about the transformation of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement from a liberation movement to a political party and its ability to bring home a victory in the scheduled 2008 elections.

Optimism and reality

Jen Marlowe, for the Pulitzer Center

"Without optimism, I have no right to call myself a freedom fighter," Pagan Amum, the Secretary General of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement told us. "This optimism is not calculated, it's organic. Optimism, coupled with action, is what makes a revolutionary."

We were sitting with Pagan Amum, awaiting a quick and impromptu audience with Salva Kiir, the President of South Sudan. We had been scheduled to have an interview with Pagan the previous morning, but it had been cancelled.

Video Journal: Days 4-8

Since I am online and the comp seems to be dry, will fill you in on the current state of affairs. Its our fourth day out here, and the first where I could sit on deck with my little computer and upload video and get in touch with the outside world. We just escaped from a violent storm the pulled into Cape Town the night of the day we left. It was brutal out here, with waves bearing down on us from the very first night.