The Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Newswire : Nigerian ‘unsung hero’ tapped for major U. N. award

    Zannah Mustapha.jpg
    Zannah Mustapha, surrounded by children

    Oct. 2, 2017 (GIN) – Zannah Mustapha, a champion for the rights of displaced children growing up amid violence in north-eastern Nigeria, is the 2017 winner of the Nansen Refugee Award, U.N. officials announced this week.

    In the first online Facebook video of the U.N. agency, long-time journalist Yvonne Ndege recounted how Mr. Mustapha established the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation which houses a school for orphan children of both Boko Haram and the security forces and widows in Maiduguri – the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Over a decade, the school has grown from 36 students to 540. In 2016, Mr. Mustapha opened a second school just a few kilometers away from the first. Eighty-eight children, all of whom have fled conflict in the region, walk through its classroom doors each day.

    The schools provide children affected by violence a free education, as well as free meals, uniforms and health care.

    “Education is one of the most powerful tools for helping refugee children overcome the horrors of violence and forced displacement.” said the U.N.’s refugee commissioner Filippo Grandi. “The work Mustapha and his team are doing is of the utmost importance. With this award, we honor his vision and service.”

    “This school promotes peace,” Mr. Mustapha said. “It is a place where every child matters,” adding: “These children shall be empowered in such a way that they can stand on their own.”

    In addition to his education work, Mr. Mustapha was instrumental in setting up a cooperative for widows, providing much-needed support for nearly 600 women in Maiduguri.

    A lawyer turned property developer in Borno state, Mr. Mustapha also took part in mediating between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government.

    Mr. Mustapha will take home prize money of $150,000, funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Swiss government, the Norwegian government and the IDEA Foundation, to fund a project that complements their existing work.

    A Ugandan group – International Youth Organization to Transform Africa – was among the runners-up. Its mission is to transform the lives of young refugees, particularly girls, through education.

  • Newswire : Michelle Obama has some words for women who voted against Hillary Clinton

    By Cavan Sieczkowski, Huffington Post

    Hillary and Michelle
    Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama

    Fifty-three percent of white women and 42 percent of women overall voted for President Donald Trump rather than Hilary Clinton in the 2016 election. And Michelle Obama has some thoughts as to why.
    The former first lady was a speaker at the Inbound marketing conference in Boston, Massachusetts, Wednesday, where she sat down for a Q&A with author Roxane Gay. During the conversation, she broached the subject of women who chose to vote for Trump instead of Clinton.
    “Quite frankly we saw this in this election, as far as I’m concerned. Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice in a way,” she said. “To me, it doesn’t say as much about Hillary Clinton ― and everybody’s trying to wonder. Well, what does it mean for Hillary? ― No, no, no. What does it mean for us as women? That we look at those two candidates, as women, and many of us said, ‘That guy. He’s better for me. His voice is more true to me.’ Well, to me that just says you don’t like your voice. You like the thing you’re told to like.”
    She encouraged people to view obstacles and dark times they may face as lessons. “Life teaches you great,” she said. “It gives you the ability when you encounter obstacles. That’s why I always tell young people don’t be afraid of failure, don’t be afraid of those obstacles. Those are the things that make you stronger. They make you better.”
    2016 might not have been the year America elected its first female president, but Obama has hope that one day a woman will be in the Oval Office.

     

  • Newswire : Kamala Harris: U.S. isn’t as split as it seems

    Bill Barrow, Associated Press

     

    Senator Kamala Harris
     California Senator Kamala Harris

    ATLANTA (AP) — Making her first high-profile foray into the Southern Black church, California Sen. Kamala Harris told a Georgia congregation founded by former freed slaves that the United States remains wracked by racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination that flout the nation’s core values.
    But the rising Democratic Party star added that Americans aren’t as split as “forces of hate and division” suggest. “I believe it is time we replace the divide-and-conquer,” she said from the pulpit of First Congregational Church in downtown Atlanta, adding that national unity comes from citizens’ recognizing their share priorities while still honoring diversity.
    A 52-year-old, first-term senator widely mentioned as a potential national candidate, Harris did not mention President Donald Trump in her remarks.
    Yet her approach highlights a complex political task for Democrats as they try to counter Trump’s economic appeals to working-class whites, while honoring their core supporters among nonwhites, to rebuild the electoral coalitions that twice elected President Barack Obama. And the choice of venue — a congregation that includes business, civic and political players in Atlanta’s black community — also nods to a Democratic constituency that helped sway the party’s last two presidential nominating battles.
    Harris’s future prospects dominated her appearance as the invited keynote for the 150th anniversary of First Congregational Church’s founding.
    Introducing Harris, church member and personal friend of the senator Eugene Duffy called the occasion “a day of projection and reflection.” At the word “projection,” Duffy pointed at the senator.
    Duffy also dispensed with Harris’s avoidance of lambasting the Trump administration, praising her for her aggressive questioning of “that white supremacist Jeff Sessions,” the nation’s attorney general. He said Harris “pulled (Sessions’) sheet off” at hearings on Capitol Hill.
    Harris smiled but did not clap as did many congregants when Duffy blasted Sessions.
    From the pulpit, Harris criticized “the attorney general,” without naming Sessions, for renewing the push for harsher sentences in nonviolent drug crimes and for rolling back some of policing overhauls from the Obama administration.
    A former local prosecutor and California attorney general who opposes the death penalty, Harris says she advocates a criminal justice system that honors “the concept of redemption.”
    Separately, Harris called for a more effective U.S. response to hurricane devastation in Puerto Rico. She did not mention health care. She’s recently signed on as a co-sponsor of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare-for-all” bill.
    Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, does not publicly embrace speculation about her 2020 intentions. Her calendar is noticeably devoid of visits to the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But she’s also met in recent months with key Democratic donors and hired aides who worked for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
    And her path to the Democratic nomination would certainly run through voters like those she addressed Sunday in Atlanta. Obama in 2008 and Clinton in 2016 each lost the cumulative white vote in Democratic primary states, according to exit polls, but both of the eventual nominees won black voters overwhelmingly, propelling them to key victories in Southern states that gave them early delegate leads they never relinquished.

  • Newswire : CBC Chairman’s letter to President Trump expresses ‘utter disgust’ with the way he handles race relations

     

    By Hazel Trice Edney

    cedricrichmond
     CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D – La)
    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Fresh on the heels of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Caucus, CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) has sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing “utter disgust” with the way Trump has handled race relations.
    “I write today to express my utter disgust with your handling of race relations in America in general and, more specifically, your calculated, divisive response to nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice by professional football players, owners, coaches, and countless other patriots,” Richmond wrote in a Sept. 27th letter. “African Americans are just as patriotic as any other American. We have fought in every war from the American Revolution to Iraq and Afghanistan, only to come home to a country that has yet to reconcile deep-seated issues of race, inequality, and injustice.”
    Richmond was referring to Trump’s calling NFL players “Sons of B—–s” if they protest racial injustice by kneeling or what is commonly called “taking a knee” during the National Anthem. It was a form of protest started by Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, who was not able to get drafted this season because of his controversial stance.
    The letter continues, “As President of the United States, your use of profane, sexually derogatory language in addressing American citizens, or anyone for that matter, is unbecoming of the office you now hold. Moreover, your complete lack of understanding of or empathy for the very painful history and substantive policy concerns that move people like Colin Kaepernick to take a stand, or a knee, in the first place is a reminder of all the African American community has to lose under Read More your Administration. Nonetheless, as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), an organization with the well-deserved reputation as the Conscience of the Congress, I feel obligated to yet again attempt to educate you and your Administration about the many problems facing our communities and how you can work with us to improve them.”
    Trump’s past racial insensitivities are well known, including his insisting – without apology – that then President Barack Obama was from Kenya instead of Hawaii. But in his inaugural address he promised to represent all of America and to bring unity. Ever since then, CBC leaders have tried to sensitize him to and educate him about the issues of racial inequality in America.
    “As you may recall, I, along with senior leadership within the CBC, met with you on March 22, 2017. In that meeting, we presented you with a 125-page policy book, as well as a letter addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions from Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, the Dean of the House, and myself,” Richmond wrote. “Both the policy book and the letter to Attorney General Sessions provided much-needed insight into our legitimate concerns with the criminal justice system, racial profiling, and police brutality, among many other issues. Not only did you and Attorney General Sessions fail to respond to either document in any substantive way, your actions continue to suggest that our pleas for responsible policy solutions were completely disregarded.”
    Richmond then listed several examples of the Trump Administration’s ignoring CBC policy advice pertaining to the Black community. They include:

    Attorney General Sessions has initiated a second failed war on drugs that will wreck the Black community, an over-policed population, and only exacerbate our nation’s shameful mass incarceration problem.
    Black drug users are treated as criminals while White opioid addicts receive a multi-million-dollar federal public health response.
    Trump makes “racist dog whistles”, such as calling for “law and order” in underserved, neglected communities across America while concurrently encouraging police brutality.

    “When we met, you claimed you cared for our communities. At the time, we provided you with several solutions that you could have discussed with us in order to prove that you were not just blowing smoke. Since our meeting, you have done nothing to help our communities and have taken affirmative actions that have harmed our communities,” Richmond wrote. “Almost everything you have done and said on the topic of race or on issues that implicate race demonstrate a shocking lack of knowledge for an adult public official in the 21st century.
    Richmond concluded, “The actions taken by you and your Administration in the short time you have been in office have already caused serious harm to our constituents and the vulnerable communities for whom we speak.”

  • Newswire : Rwanda jails women’s rights activist after presidential bid

    Rwanda election
     Rwandan election rivals Diane Rwigara and Pres. Paul Kagame

    Oct. 2, 2017 (GIN) – Diane Shima Rwigara, who took on Rwandan President Paul Kagame in recent national polls, has been arrested and sits in jail, charged with “offenses against state security and forgery.”

    “These charges are false; and nobody in Rwanda believes the validity of these charges,” said Rwigara’s brother, Aristide Rwigara, who lives in the United States, speaking with Voice of America.

    “It’s punishment to my sister because she was running for president,” he declared. “You don’t do that in Rwanda. You don’t exercise your constitutional rights.”

    A police spokesman said Rwigara and her mother and sister face charges of tax evasion. Diane Rwigara additionally is accused of using fake documents while she was gathering signatures for (her) presidential candidacy. He said Rwigara had failed to respond to three summonses.

    President Kagame’s party has faced criticism from human rights groups for harassing opponents and using intimidation to stifle dissent. After announcing her candidacy, nude photos of Rwigara appeared online, which she denounced as fake. Later, she was disqualified from appearing on the ballot due to an alleged lack of signatures.

    Kagame later won that election with 98 percent of the vote to secure a third term.

    During a recent talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, the President defended his human rights record. “You know, me as the leader of my own people, to be accused of violating their rights is just an absurd insult. But my answer is simple — is to do my best to serve my people the best way they can be served.”

    Journalist and author Anjan Sundaram commented: “Initially, when Kagame took power in 1994, just after Rwanda’s genocide, a lot of observers were willing to make allowances for Kagame’s authoritarian style of leadership believing that it was justified in the aftermath of a genocide.” “And there may have been truth to that.”

    “Twenty-four years since the genocide, however, observers are seeing fewer and fewer justifications for such authoritarian leadership.”

    Under recent constitutional reforms, Kagame is eligible to run for two additional five-year terms as president after his current seven-year term ends.

  • Newswire: Disability advocates forcibly removed from Senate protest

    Republican leaders pull Graham-Cassidy bill before vote
    By: Katie Reilly, Time Magazine

    Stephanie Woodward and protestor being removed from Capitol Hill protest

    At press time, the Democrat learned that Republican leaders pulled the Graham-Cassidy proposal before a vote in the U. S. Senate, after five Republican Senators indicated that they would vote against the bill, which seeks to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with block-granting reduced Medicaid funds to the states. This is the legislation that disability activists were protesting.

    Stephanie Woodward, a disability advocate who was forcibly removed from the U.S. Capitol while protesting the controversial Senate health care bill on Thursday, said it was worth it because “the lives of millions of people with disabilities are on the line.”
    “I genuinely believe that thousands, if not millions, more people in our nation now know about the crisis that people with disabilities are facing with these cuts,” said Woodward, director of advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights in Rochester, N.Y. “And if being arrested and carried out is what needed to happen in order to get people to pay attention to this issue and get angry about it and start calling their Senators, then it was completely worth it.”
    Woodward, who has spina bifida, got out of her wheelchair to participate in a “die-in” organized by the disability rights organization ADAPT outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Protesters chanted against the bill’s significant proposed cuts to Medicaid — which could affect the community services available to people with disabilities.
    Woodward, who was arrested along with several dozen other protesters, said officers who broke up the demonstration initially put her back in her wheelchair, but they struggled to wheel her out and ultimately carried her out instead.

    “They at first were reluctant to touch me because they had seen I was wearing leg braces, so I think they thought I was extra fragile, so they waited to carry me out last from the office,” said Woodward, 29, who was charged with incommoding, or obstructing. “And I was not actively being aggressive or resisting, but I certainly wasn’t going to help them in the process. I acted more like a sandbag that just kind of flopped.”
    Dawn Russell, who was born with cerebral palsy, also participated in Thursday’s protest. She said one of the most concerning parts of the current health care debate is a lack of public understanding about how the proposed legislation could affect nearly every part of disabled people’s lives.
    “We have a perception of people with disabilities in this country, and we have a mindset that somehow our lives aren’t valued. And I can promise you, with the home and community-based services that I receive, I would dare put my life up against anybody without a disability,” said Russell, 51.
    “Without those services — without the home and community-based services — I am just what people think about me, as a person with a disability. But with these services, I live a life. I live independently, interdependently, in the community just like everybody else. These services allow me to do that.”
    She said had it not been for Medicaid, she would have entered a nursing home when her husband died in 2015. Instead, she receives daily attendant care in her home, helping her to get ready for work in the morning and go to bed at night.
    “We have the right to live,” Woodward said. “And by live, I don’t mean just breathe. I mean be a part of the American dream, be in the community, raise a family, go to work. These Medicaid cuts will force people into institutions who don’t need to be there.”

  • Newswire: Hundreds of NFL players protest Trump by kneeling and locking arms during National Anthem at football games

    By: CNN Sports
    NFL: Dallas Cowboys at Arizona Cardinals
     players kneeling

    Rather than taking a knee, most NFL players opted for a show of unity Sunday, locking arms ahead of their games amid criticism from President Trump who slammed players opting to protest during the national anthem.
    Still, plenty opted to kneel during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” with the Baltimore Ravens’ Terrell Suggs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Mike Evans among the stars following the lead of former pro quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who pioneered the anthem protests last year over what he was said was social and racial injustice.
    Kaepernick, who has sat and knelt during the anthem, has said he refused to honor a song or “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” He also referenced the shootings of black men by police as one of reasons for his stance. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way,” he told NFL Media. “There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
    Ahead of a Sunday morning game in London and afternoon games, players from several teams, including the New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins, took knees during the anthem. With the exception of one player, the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t even take the field until the anthem was over. The Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans also chose not to take the field for the national anthem.
    In Sunday morning tweets, Trump renewed his criticism of the protests, slamming the league’s ratings and saying players should be fired or suspended for such protests. On Saturday, he called for NFL owners to fire any “son of a bitch” who “disrespects our flag.”
    “What you just saw was a variety of responses with the theme of unity,” an NFL front office source told CNN. “All across the league, owners, coaches and players came together to decide what was best for them.”
    The source added, “If Trump thought he could divide the NFL, he was wrong.”
    Following Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoffs, Trump tweeted that he approved of players locking arms, saying it represented “great solidarity” for the country.

  • Newswire : NNPA, Pfizer release groundbreaking poll about sickle disease in the Black community

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

    nnpapfizerpoll_0133_fallen_web120
     NNPA President and CEO Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. (far left) and NNPA Chairman Dorothy Leavell (3rd from left) joined researchers from Howard University and Pfizer officials to release a new poll on sickle cell disease at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)
    A new poll about sickle cell disease (SCD), presented by the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and Pfizer revealed that while the majority of respondents were familiar with the illness, less than 40 percent realized that it disproportionately affects people of African descent.
    The NNPA is a trade group that represents more than 200 African American-owned community newspapers operating in the United States. Earlier this year, Pfizer partnered with the NNPA to increase awareness about SCD in the Black community and to encourage greater participation in clinical trials for treatments involving the disease.
    The groundbreaking poll also helped to dispel one of the long-held myths about the negative perception of medical professionals in the Black community.
    The poll revealed that, despite long-standing historical perceptions of mistrust in medical professionals by the Black community, 91 percent of respondents indicated that they believe health care professionals are trustworthy.
    Seventy-nine percent of respondents had positive or neutral attitudes toward sickle cell disease (SCD) trials and a majority indicated a willingness to participate in future clinical trials for SCD, given appropriate knowledge and recommendations from health care professionals.
    “Our core belief is that every patient counts, especially when it comes to rare disease,” said Michael Goettler, the global president of Pfizer’s Rare Disease unit. “When you have a rare disease, often you feel lonely and your physician may not be able to help you.”
    Goettler noted that the poll results provide a basis for Pfizer to seek more detailed assistance for sufferers.
    Even though the greatest burden for SCD, the report said that there’s limited research regarding African-Americans’ knowledge and thoughts about clinical trials that study the health impacts of the illness, the report said.
    “These poll findings will give our readers an in-depth understanding of how sickle cell disease is perceived by African-Americans,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., president and CEO of the NNPA. “With this knowledge from the dedicated research team at Howard University, and through our collaboration with Pfizer, we can spur meaningful conversation and assess the best ways to improve disease education for those impacted in our communities.”
    Dorothy Leavell, the chairman of the NNPA, said that she’s pleased to be a part of a group delivering “good news,” as well as the research that Pfizer continues to embark upon, on behalf of SCD patients.
    SCD is a lifelong and debilitating disorder that affects red blood cells and it’s the most common inherited blood disorder in the U.S. Most people who live with SCD are of African descent and the disease occurs in one out of 365 African-American births.
    The median age of death for sickle cell disease patients in America hovers in the mid-40s, said Dr. Kevin Williams, the chief medical officer for Pfizer’s Rare Disease unit. Williams also writes a regular column about SCD for NNPA, titled “Ask Dr. Kevin.”
    Williams said that the insight form the poll will not only help researchers determine how to further enhance disease education and awareness, but will also help Pfizer educate SCD patients and their families about the importance of clinical trials in bringing novel treatment options to market for those in need.
    The survey was conducted by researchers at Howard University, who made 31,934 telephone calls for the poll that was conducted between June 15 and July 15. A total of 741 individuals aged 20 to 70 living across the country, who identified as being of African-American ethnicity, responded to the survey.
    The majority of respondents (79 percent) said they understood the importance of disease education and expressed the need for additional current information, specifically regarding pain relief, clinical trials and progress toward better treatment or a cure.
    “It’s not surprising for us that a majority of our participants understood and were previously aware of sickle cell disease,” said Dr. Terri Adams, an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University. “The overwhelming majority understood that it’s a disease, a blood disorder.”
    Adams continued: “There was a willingness to participate in [SCD] clinical trials, however, 82 percent had very or somewhat negative attitudes toward clinical trials in general, so there’s still a general mistrust in clinical trials.”
    Researchers and officials at Pfizer and the NNPA each said that they hope to continue to educate patients, family members and primary care doctors about SCD clinical trials.
    “Close to 20 percent said they were unsure of how it was inherited and this presents a problem,” Adams said. “If you don’t know how it’s inherited, you may be putting your offspring at risk.”

  • Newswire : 60th anniversary of the “Little Rock Nine”

    Photos of Little Rock Nine
    Little Rock Nine
    As the world watched, nine African American students were escorted into the formerly all-white Little Rock Central High School by members of the 101st Airborne on September 25, 1957, and remained in the school. This was the culmination of not only three weeks of tumult in Little Rock, but of several years of legal battles.
    In reality, the Little Rock Nine (Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls) were the fulfillment of efforts for equal rights which dated back for decades and centuries.
    Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to keep the Little Rock Nine out of the school, though he claimed it was to maintain peace. Eventually, President Dwight Eisenhower had to federalize the National Guard and removed them. He replaced them with the 101st Airborne who escorted the students in.
    The story did not end on September 25. The Little Rock Nine endured much hostility during the 1957-1958 school year. Even after that school year was over, the drama continued as the high schools were closed during 1958-1959 in an effort to keep them segregated. Once the schools reopened, there were still efforts to delay the full integration of Little Rock schools.
    Likewise, there was an immense amount of effort leading up to the Little Rock Nine entering into the school. Work by the NAACP both nationally and within Arkansas laid the groundwork for that day.
    During September 2017, there will be a series of events that will look back at the events of September 1957. They will also examine the work that led up to the integration of Little Rock Central High. In addition, the programs will look at the impact of the 1957-1958 school year over the past six decades.

  • Newswire : New travel ban listing Chad, an important U.S. ally, stumps area experts

     

    Chad protest
    Zahriya Miller, North Alabama University student, opposing travel –
    (GIN) – African countries working with the U.S. to defeat terrorism are questioning why Chad has been added to the latest group of countries excluded under the U.S. travel ban.
    The addition of Chad took that country’s government by surprise and bewildered analysts of Central Africa.
    For years, the United States and its European allies have praised the central African nation of Chad as a helpful partner in the fight against terrorism, noted the Washington Post. Chad has been a longtime American ally in fighting Islamist militants in the region, including offshoots of Al Qaeda and Boko Haram, and its troops took part in a French-led effort to root out Islamist militants from parts of Mali in 2013.
    The government expressed “incomprehension in the face of the official reasons for this decision, which contrasts with Chad’s constant efforts and commitments in the fight against terrorism.”
    In a report on Chad last year, the State Department said that few Chadians join terrorist groups, and that the country had tightened its borders to impede the movements of militants, but that a financial crisis kept the country from consistently paying police and military salaries, which presented some risk.
    “This makes no sense at all, even from a Trumpian standpoint,” said Reed Brody, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch. “I’ve been to Chad 30 times. No country should be on list, but Chad is particularly bewildering. Only one Chadian was ever accused of anti-US terror.”
    Chad has been a key member of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership, a US inter-agency program that helps governments defeat terrorists in the Sahel and west Africa regions. US marines and navy personnel have also provided training for Chadian officers, even deploying troops to Chad to help find the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.
    Chad’s increasing involvement in regional conflicts has made it a continental superpower.
    This was most obvious in Mali in 2013, where Chadian forces were key to the defeat of Islamist rebel groups who had occupied the north of the country, and were planning to march on the capital.
    Another surprise in the newly released list of excluded countries was the removal of Sudan from the Trump travel ban. Sudan was removed just days ahead of an Oct. 12 decision whether to permanently lift decades-old US sanctions on Khartoum.
    Relations with the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and the U.S. began warming under Pres. Obama. Charges of genocide, however, still face the President at the International Criminal Court for actions taken against South Sudan.