FRIDAY, 9 JANUARY 2004

401 Excerpt: Powell Cites Progress in Sudan, Hope for Liberia
(Tells news conference diplomacy takes time, dedication) (340)
402 American Museum of Natural History Focuses on Haiti's Culture
("Living in America: The Haitian Experience" opens Jan. 10 in New York) (680)
403 Text: Coalition in Afghanistan Airlifts Bomb Victims to U.S. Medical
Facility
(Critically wounded children receive "definitive medical care") (450)

*AEF401 01/08/2004
Excerpt: Powell Cites Progress in Sudan, Hope for Liberia
(Tells news conference diplomacy takes time, dedication) (340)

Looking back on some noteworthy foreign policy issues of 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell at a January 8 news conference mentioned a hallmark of progress in the Sudan and hope for the people of Liberia.

Following are excerpts from his briefing:

"We've seen progress in the Sudan. You saw an announcement the other day where the negotiators in Lake Naivasha in Kenya have come to an agreement on wealth sharing. There are just one or two outstanding issues, difficult issues, having to do with disputed territories. But the key here is that after 20 years of the most terrible war, Sudanese leaders have come together and are just one or two steps short of having a comprehensive peace agreement that will bring peace to Sudan."

He continued, saying that he is "pleased that the United States, through the President's personal involvement, the work of Senator Danforth and the work of a number of people here in the Department and over at the NSC (National Security Council), have brought us to this point.

"Diplomacy doesn't happen overnight. It takes time. It takes dedication. It takes being prepared to accept some slipbacks as you move forward. But we see an improvement in the situation in the Sudan."

On Liberia, Powell said "(Charles) Taylor is gone. And we worked with friend and partners in Africa and in the UN to cause that to happen, and provided just a touch of military presence and military force to ensure that Taylor would depart and that the Liberian people would be given a new opportunity.

"We've used our alliances in such an important set of ways, whether it's working with our NATO allies to expand the NATO alliance, whether it's working with the EU as they expand the European Union, working with our West African friends in Liberia, working directly with the Russians a few weeks ago as we dealt with a challenging situation in Georgia and Tbilisi."

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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*AEF402 01/08/2004
American Museum of Natural History Focuses on Haiti's Culture
("Living in America: The Haitian Experience" opens Jan. 10 in New York) (680)
By Judy Aita
Washington File Staff Writer

New York -- Saluting the 200th anniversary of Haiti's independence, the American Museum of Natural History is highlighting the country, its culture and arts as the subject of its "Living in America" series beginning January 10.

"In presenting the 'Living in America' series, the museum works in collaboration with a wide variety of cultural and community-based organizations in New York City," said Myles Gordon, vice president of education at the museum. "The museum designed this series to reflect our experiences as a world and a nation of many cultures, examining how our differences are a fundamental strength that we share, as well as an ongoing challenge."

Each year the museum's "Living in America" series showcases a different culture and community.

"The Haitian Experience" celebrates the rich and diverse arts and culture of the more than 500,000 Haitians living in the three states surrounding New York City -- New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, Gordon said. The series offers a wide range of programs, from performances and films to lectures and panel discussions.

One cold January day was warmed with Caribbean heat by the compelling drum rhythms of master drummer Frisner Augustine and the aroma of classic Haitian dishes drawing visitors to the wing of the museum where some of the artists who are participating in the month-long event were giving a preview of their presentations for journalists January 7.

The series opens January 10 with a special tribute by Grammy Award-winning artist Wyclef Jean, who will perform a song in Creole (or Kreyol, as the museum spells it). Also on the program are "Haiti Chante et Danse" with the Ibo Dancers of Haiti and choreographer and dancer Paulette Saint-Lot, and Jean Leon Destine, the celebrated storyteller known as the patriarch of Haitian folklore.

On January 17-18, the museum's Hall of Birds will be turned into a Haitian marketplace in the spirit of the Iron Market of Port-au-Prince. Haitian musicians and artists who will be at the marketplace either performing or exhibiting their artworks are George Remponeau, Eric Girault, Patrick Gerald Wah, Collette Jacques, Francois R. Gracia, Emmanuel Dostaly, Fritz Saint Jean, Margaret Solon, Deenps Bazile, and Jaqueline Chalmers.

Augustine's La Troupe Makandal will also perform at other times during the month, introducing Haitian work songs -- from the elegant melodies of the "Twoubadou" to the rhythms and spirit of the "Konbit" -- and highlighting "Kanaval" and "Rara" forms of music and dance.

"An Insight into Haitian Arts: Vodou as a Source of Inspiration" is the subject of a January 17 panel discussion on the influence of voodoo, with Etienne Telemaque and Eric Girault.

The ritual dances of voodoo (or vodou, in the museum's rendering) will be the topic of another lecture/performance. Henry Frank, executive director of the Haitian Centers Council, the Ibo Dancers of Haiti, and Paulette Saint-Lot will give an overview of the ritual dances from ceremonies in voodoo temples, and will discuss the evolution of these ritual dances to secular dances on the stage.

One of the museum's cafés has been transformed into "Café Haiti" serving soup joumou, lambi, griots with ban pase, poulet roti a la Creole, pikliz, and cremasse.

A special children's event featuring music demonstrations and storytelling will be held January 18. Children will hear Taino Indian songs and stories presented by Sylvia Karayaturey Rosario and Roger Atihuibancex Hernandez, who are members of the Kasibahagua Cultural Society.

The museum will also be offering a sneak preview of the Haiti on Screen Film Festival, which will take place in New York City from March 31 to April 4. The featured films are "Tchala, L'argent des Reves," "É Pluribus Unum," and "Looking for Life." A panel discussion with Gary Dauphin, film critic and editor-in-chief of the Internet magazine Africana.com, and Guetty Felin, a filmmaker currently living in Haiti, will focus on trends in contemporary Haitian filmmaking both in Haiti and abroad.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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*AEF403 01/08/2004
Text: Coalition in Afghanistan Airlifts Bomb Victims to U.S. Medical Facility
(Critically wounded children receive "definitive medical care") (450)

Airmen from the international coalition in Afghanistan airlifted 18 Afghani victims of a January 6 bombing from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar to a U.S. medical facility at Bagram Air Base in northern Afghanistan for advanced life support care, according to a January 7 press release from the Combined Air Operations Center in Qatar.

More than four dozen Afghans were killed or injured when two improvised explosive devices detonated in Kandahar on the morning of January 6. Twelve of the 18 victims evacuated to Bagram were children.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ian Hendricks, director of the Theater Joint Patient Movement Requirements Center in Qatar said, "This should result in most of them returning to a relatively normal life."

Following is the text of the news release:

(begin text)

January 7, 2004

Injured Afghani Children Airlifted by American Airmen
By Master Sgt. Jeff Bohn
U.S. Central Air Forces-Forward Public Affairs

COMBINED AIR OPERATIONS CENTER, Qatar - Eighteen Afghans were emergency airlifted to an American medical facility by two aircraft after two improvised explosive devices detonated and killed or injured more than four dozen Afghans in Kandahar shortly after 8 a.m. Kandahar time Tuesday (January 6).

Coalition forces used U.S. Air Force HC-130 aircraft on alert from Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, Uzbekistan, to rapidly transport the most severely injured from the medical facilities at the coalition air base at Kandahar to a field hospital in Bagram Air Base for advanced life support care. Twelve of the evacuees were children under the age of 18.

The life-saving flights were the result of rapid planning and coordination between Combined Joint Task Force-180 forces at Kandahar and Bagram and the Combined Air Operations Center located in Qatar. Putting air support and pararescue teams where they were needed most was a key to the operation's success, according to Air Force Lt. Col. John Nelson, Joint Search and Rescue Center director here.

"This was an outstanding example of interoperability among various divisions within the CAOC and the forces on the ground in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ian Hendricks, Theater Joint Patient Movement Requirements Center director here. "It resulted in a successful operation and led to getting the critically injured Afghan children to definitive medical care. This should result in most of them returning to a relatively normal life."

The CAOC is staffed by 800-plus airpower specialists from six coalition nations. Its mission is to provide coalition air support where and when it is needed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa region.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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