Sierra Leone - and Africa - in the spotlight

You may have noticed Africa on the horizon, if not the front pages, for the past year or so. It's not just limited to press on the latest hostilities in Somalia or Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's momentous election in Liberia, AIDS, or kidnappings in the Niger Delta - there are cultural offerings to boot (movies like Catch a Fire, The Last Kind of Scotland, Blood Diamond; Totsi, to name several) and books on Africa. While most Hollywood-released movies rest comfortably in the same framework of letting the white-guy-who-gets-away tell the story, the fact that someone thought Uganda under Idi Amin Dada would make a hit film is worth noting - although one could easily point out that it's pretty obvious that this devastating story would make for compelling moviemaking. Either way, Africa as the latest dramatic backdrop is upon us.

But, the point - I don't know if it was Bono and Angelina or Kanye singing (two lines) about blood diamonds or further back, Live 8 (most interesting from the African perspectives - kudos to WaPo for noting some of them) which generated interest, and I wonder why, nearly 15 years after the start of horrific clashes by RUF/Sankoh and the Sierra Leone army, it's suddenly in the spotlight like it happened yesterday. Articles on blood diamonds, the diamond industry crowing about the Kimberely Process, and Leonardo is posturing the most interesting "Rhodesian" accent ever in the history of film and why the cacophony now?

I don't want to get fixated like a petulant kid - for whatever reasons, we'll likely see more pieces like this from former child soldier Ishmael Beah's upcoming memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. This excerpt alone made my eyes well up - it's nearly impossible to process the enormity of his trauma, but he conveys it powerfully by telling it simply, with little added drama. Yes, it's been endorsed by Oprah and Starbucks is planning to sell it - only positive things for the author and other survivors. This book will be one of several emerging as many child soldiers from mid-1990s wars come of age, many in the States, and document their stories. I'll let my anti-Dave Eggers bias show - I couldn't even finish A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering BS and when I heard about What is the What, a fictionalized tale of Sudan's "lost boys", I was torn - Egger's self-indulgence and smarmy tone has so far prevented me from reading it, although I know I will (Eggers, you devil, you). Most will be worth reading if only to orient oneself within the various conflicts and their histories, and it'll be interesting to see what outrage, political posturing, and possible positive moves come out of these publications. Mind you, I'm not advocating for Live 9, but I'm waiting to see if this is just a fad or a trend that may actually change how we look at the continent.