Chicago Tribune correspondent charged as spy in Sudan

[Robbien]

Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, was charged with espionage and two other criminal counts in a Sudanese court Saturday, three weeks after he was detained by pro-government forces in the war-torn province of Darfur. Salopek, 44, who was on a freelance assignment for National Geographic magazine, was arrested with two Chadian nationals, his interpreter and driver. If convicted, they could be imprisoned for years.

. . .

The charges come amid increasing signs that diplomatic efforts to resolve the continuing crisis in Darfur are failing. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, who has called the situation in Darfur dire, is leading a mission that she hopes will persuade the Sudan government to accept an expanded United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The presiding judge in Salopek's case on Aug. 14 sentenced Slovenian writer and activist Tomo Kriznar to two years in prison on charges of spying and publishing false information. Kriznar admitted entering the country without a visa but denied the spying charge. His attorneys are appealing.

Earlier this month, the same judge ordered the deportation of an American freelance photographer who had been detained.

Salopek, who has extensive experience reporting from Africa, had been traveling in Chad, near the Sudanese border. When arrested, Salopek was carrying two U.S. passports--a legal practice, common among journalists and other frequent travelers who require multiple visas--and satellite maps of the conflict zone in Darfur, printed from public Web sites. According to sources, Sudanese officials view the passports and maps as evidence of espionage.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/chi-060826salopek,0,6941372.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[MrPrax]

1. The world community is really

missing the ball on this one. If there is a country that earns the security council's wrath -- it's Sudan.

This got lost in the shuffle:

Sudan demolishes village, forces Darfuris out - UN

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese authorities bulldozed houses and removed by force Darfuris living in an area south of Khartoum, the United Nations said on Thursday, adding there had been reports of people killed and injured.

Khartoum is surrounded by miles of slum housing where millions of Sudanese from the war-torn south and west of the country have sought shelter over the past two decades from conflict, disease and famine.

But land prices have soared and the government wants the land the build houses or sell to investors.

Authorities often demolish the camps without prior notice and forcibly move the residents to areas without running water, electricity or sufficient healthcare.

More than 12,000 Darfuris live in the Dar es-Salaam area, around 45 km (28 miles) south of Khartoum, having fled famine in the arid west in the 1980s.

Reuters
more at link

So you force them out of the refugee camps and push them down south so the Jangaweed can slaughter them... :grr:

Why have land prices gone up? Seems there is a boom going on there:

Sudanese capital benefits most from the economic boom

Aug 3, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The conversations tend to be very different, but very predictable, when Khartoum’s bourgeoisie gathers for espressos and croissants at the trendy new Ozone café. Americans and Europeans, mostly aid-workers, swap horror stories about the latest depredations in Darfur, Sudan’s war-ravaged western region, or bemoan southern Sudan’s “lack of capacity”. At the Sudanese tables, however, Arab men, and often women, josh about their city’s brand-new traffic lights, which most still ignore, share information about new government privatisations and greet old friends who have returned to live in the Sudanese capital after years abroad.


Both views of Sudan, Africa’s largest country, are valid. It is just that the Western focus on Darfur, where about 2m people are living in refugee camps as the result of a still unresolved war in the region, has obscured another fact about Sudan: the country is booming. With low inflation, GDP growth of 8% in 2005 and 13% projected by the IMF this year, Sudan is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. Furthermore, this success has been achieved despite the fact that the country has been subject to American sanctions since 1986, the year that the IMF ended financial assistance to the country.

more at Sudan Tribune

Sudan could use a little more persuasion to take it's criminality seriously. Maybe these arrests might trigger a little more muscle and attention to this terror sponsoring POS regime.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. "American sanctions" - they do the world a whole lot of good, don't they?

.
.
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I'm certain they would not do that out of greed and a desire to rule the planet.

"Land of the Free"(right) and "Home of the Brave"!

Nintendo pilots slaughtering with missiles from afar - - -

Brave indeed - -

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. I feel so badly for Salopek's wife...

And this has to be extremely trying for the Tribune. I can imagine tomorrow's front page.

[mucifer]

4. Tribune correspondent held as spy in Sudan

This is really scary he is a great investigative journalist and reporter for the Chicago Tribune and National Geographic. Here is the link:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0608270353aug27,1,1785295.story?coll=chi-news-hed

From the story:

Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, was charged with espionage and two other criminal counts in a Sudanese court Saturday, three weeks after he was detained by pro-government forces in the war-torn province of Darfur.

Salopek, 44, who was on a freelance assignment for National Geographic magazine, was arrested with two Chadian citizens, his interpreter and driver. If convicted, they could be imprisoned for years.



Salopek did a great investigative report recently tracing oil from a Chicago suburban gas station back to Africa and telling the story of those involved including increased economic strife for the people on both sides (Especially Africa as you could imagine). Here's the link to the series:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/chi-oilsafari-html,0,7894741.htmlstory

He's won 2 pulitzer prizes for his work in Africa in the past.