Posted by Heather Hwalek on Jul 29, 2008 - 05:48 PM
![Chinese peacekeeper greets UN commander in South Darfur, Jan. 29, 2008. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0725_china_darfur_bh_m.jpg)
Members of the State Department's Office of Sudan Programs Group are frequently sought out to participate in conferences held in Washington to discuss the situation in Sudan and the conflict in Darfur. But rarely is there an opportunity to travel halfway around the world -- all the way to Beijing -- to engage Chinese scholars and a diverse group of international actors on the topic.
In June, Sudan Programs Group Deputy Director Jason Small and Desk Officer Kemi Yai boarded a 14-hour flight to China's capital city to attend the country's first public forum on Darfur. A government-affiliated think tank, the…
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Posted by Mary Deane Conners on Jul 28, 2008 - 05:57 PM
![Nelson Mandela and his wife celebrate his 90th birthday in South Africa, July 19, 2008. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0728_mandela_2_bh_m.jpg)
About the Author: Mary Deane Conners is the Public Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
Nelson Mandela turned 90 on July 18, 2008. Affectionately known as Madiba -- the clan name given to him at the "initiation ceremony" during his teenage years -- former South African President Mandela began receiving birthday wishes from the entire nation and the world for weeks prior to his birth date. From the "46664" (his number in prison) concert held in London, to the birthday party in the village of his youth, Qunu, in the rural Eastern Cape Province, there has been an outpouring…
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Posted by Sean McCormack on Jul 25, 2008 - 07:57 PM
![Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Smith with students, Perth, Australia, July 25, 2008. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0725_rice_australia_bh.psd_m.jpg)
Sean McCormack: Away from the Podium
About the Author: Sean McCormack serves as Department Spokesman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
Thursday, we left the permanent summer of Singapore for Australia, where we landed with enough time left in the day to attend a dinner in Secretary Rice's honor at the Western University of Australia in Perth. Foreign Minister Smith…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Jul 24, 2008 - 11:25 AM
![Secretary of State on Columbia [State Department image]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0724_rice_bh_m.jpg)
In any partnership, the coin of the realm is trust and responsibility -- in other words, saying what you mean and doing what you say. In the dramatic rescue on July 2 of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held captive for many years by guerrillas and terrorists, deep in the Colombian jungles, we saw a powerful reminder that the United States has no better partner in South America than the government and people of Colombia.
Colombia's leaders, especially President Uribe, had promised us that our three abducted citizens would be treated no differently than the many Colombian men and women who shared their fate. Colombia never wavered in this promise, and never cut any side deals with the guerrillas…
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Posted by Sean McCormack on Jul 23, 2008 - 08:41 PM
![Six-Party talks officials meet at ASEAN regional forum in Singapore July 23, 2008. [AP photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0723_asean2_bh_m.jpg)
Behind the Scenes: Secretary Rice Attending ASEAN Meeting in Singapore
About the Author: Sean McCormack serves as Department Spokesman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
OK, a day of diplomacy in the books. After a non-stop series of bilats (diplo-speak for "bilaterals," meaning meetings between the foreign ministers and staffs of two countries) listed in my earlier…
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