Bush Defends Decision Not to Send Troops to Darfur

He begins trip, backs power-sharing deal for Kenya

(NEWSER) - President Bush is keeping things positive on his five-country African tour, focusing attention on “success stories.” But at the same time, he says, his efforts are addressing conflicts ravaging the continent. “When you herald success, it helps others realize what is possible,” he said during a stopover in Benin. And though he won’t visit the troubled Kenya, Condoleezza Rice will on Monday, the AP reports. More»

Op-ed: Other nations must keep up pressure ahead of referendum

(NEWSER) - For Sudan, this might be as optimistic as it gets: Two experts have returned from a two-week visit and concluded that war and violence "are not inevitable" following January's referendum on southern independence. "But only if the international community sets clear lines of acceptable behavior as the two sides manage an acrimonious and potentially violent divorce," write Michael Abramowitz of the US holocaust museum and former envoy Andrew Natsios in the Boston Globe . More»

Even Bush was better, Kristof writes

(NEWSER) - When is comes to Sudan , Barack Obama has been worse than even George W Bush, argues Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times , who despite his many failings, managed to secure the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's 20-year civil war. Obama's "incoherent, contradictory and apparently failing Sudan policy" is setting the stage for a bloody war or another round of genocide next year, when oil-rich Southern Sudan is likely to vote to secede. More»

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton ended her African tour today on a note of optimism colored by disdain, the New York Times reports. The secretary of state visited seven nations over 11 days and made her final remarks on the Cape Verde islands off the coast. “I leave Africa after this remarkable trip even more committed,” Clinton said. She commented on the “joy and energy Africans have,” as well as on having “seen the worst humanity can do to itself.” More»

Secretary of State says no end to sanctions against Mugabe

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton is in South Africa, where the secretary of State called on the continent's richest nation to pressure Zimbabwe into reform. "South Africa has 3 million refugees from Zimbabwe, and every one of those refugees represents a failure of the Zimbabwean government to care for its own people," Clinton said. She added that the Obama administration will not offer any aid to Zimbabwe or lift sanctions against Robert Mugabe and his supporters until it sees evidence of reform. More»