MEDIA ROOTS- John Dau is one of Sudan’s Lost Boys, a group of more than 20,000 boys who escaped the genocide during the Sudanese Civil War, where 2.5 million Southern Sudanese were killed and millions of others were displaced. John gives Media Roots a moving account of his escape, his life growing up in the refugee camps, his experience coming to America for the first time and his work with the John Dau Foundation, where he established the first comprehensive & sustainable community medical clinic in his home village of Duk Payuel.

 Interview with John Dau conducted, produced and edited by Abby Martin 

Trailer for National Geographic’s award winning documentary called ‘God Grew Tired of Us’, based on John Dau’s story. Check out more about the film at http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com/

Learn more about the John Dau Foundation and how to help at http://johndaufoundation.org/

MEDIA ROOTS- Media Roots interviews Darfur refugee and human rights activist Adeeb Yousif from the Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization (DRDO) about his organization, his work documenting human rights abuses, his experience being targeted by the Sudanese government and what he thinks could bring peace to the region.

For more information about the Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization visit http://www.drdoafrica.org

Photo by flickr user UN Photo

PRESS TV– A Russian official says that Libya’s ruler Muammar Gaddafi plans to blow up the capital Tripoli with missiles if revolutionaries seize the city.  In his latest televised speech on Thursday, Gaddafi said that he will not surrender to NATO forces.

“The Libyan Premier [Baghdadi al-Mahmudi] told me: if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up,” Russia’s special envoy to Libya Mikhail Margelov told Russian newspaper Izvestia on Thursday.

“I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan,” Margelov added.
He said that Gaddafi still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition.

The Russian envoy met with the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month.

Read more about ‘Gaddafi Has Suicide Plan for Tripoli’.

© 2011 PressTV

Photo by Flickr user EuanSlorach

NY TIMES– After five decades of guerrilla struggle and two million lives lost, the flags are flapping proudly here in this capital. The new national anthem is blasting all over town. People are toasting oversize bottles of White Bull beer (the local brew), and children are boogieing in the streets.

“Free at Last,” reads a countdown clock.

But from the moment it declares independence on Saturday, the Republic of South Sudan, the world’s newest country and Africa’s 54th state, will take its place at the bottom of the developing world. A majority of its people live on less than a dollar a day. A 15-year-old girl has a higher chance of dying in childbirth than she does of finishing primary school. More than 10 percent of children do not make it to their fifth birthday. About three-quarters of adults cannot read. Only 1 percent of households have a bank account.

Beyond that, the nation faces several serious insurrections within its own sprawling territory and hostilities with northern Sudan, its former nemesis.

It is clearly an underdog story.

So many people here embody the distance traveled and the hopes to come. James Aguto, a former child soldier and longtime guerrilla fighter, now delivers babies. Mr. Aguto is a newly minted clinical officer, working in a government hospital, and his journey from taking life to sustaining it makes him an apt symbol for the transition this country is trying to make.

“There was one night I delivered six babies, six babies in one night!” he said. “I was so happy. I was making development here. I was showing that I had skills.”

Mr. Aguto now wants to be a doctor. “I have that spirit,” he explained.

The nation will certainly need it. More than 2,300 people have been killed in ethnic and rebel violence this year, with at least a half-dozen rebel groups, some with thousands of fighters, prowling the bush, attacking government soldiers, terrorizing civilians, and stealing cattle and even children.

Read the full article about South Sudan, the Newest Nation, Is Full of Hope and Problems.

© 2011 New York Times

Photo by Flickr user UN Photos

ALMASRYALYOUM– The government has declined a loan from the World Bank because it found the terms of the loan incompatible with the national interest, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday.

The minister added that the government would not accept conditions dictated by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, especially since the 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

However, Abul Naga said the Saudi government has granted Egypt a loan of US$200 million to be directed to small and medium enterprises.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal said Egypt was wary of the United States’ recent offer of financial support, doubting possible ulterior motives behind it.

Read more about Egypt Declines World Bank Loan.

© 2011 ALMASRYALYOUM

Photo by Flickr user Acameronhuff