Tidbits of Arabic News translated into English

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Central African Republic

(December 6, 2013)

There is fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Central African Republic right now. The UN voted on Thursday to send French troops, along with African troops, to act as peace-keepers.

This is a good chance to compare BBC Arabic and AlJazeera coverage. On Thursday, the BBC Arabic reported on the UN vote, plus showed footage from CAR: destroyed villages, ghost towns, and people whose parents had been killed and were now in hiding.

I was too tired on Thursday to check what AlJazeera had to say, so I did not check until Friday. I don't have access to AlJazeera television in Arabic, but I could go onto their website. They also had a story about the UN vote in the CAR, but it did not mention the killings and awful things happening. It just reminded the reader that France is a former colonial power and that it is very surprising and suspect that a former colonial power has, within the space of a year or so, sent its troops to two former possessions (CAR and Mali.)

I guess that is fair to point out, and on Friday, in between the Mandela coverage, they talked about that on the BBC Arabic, as well. But at least they pointed out both sides on the BBC Arabic. If there is ethnic cleansing happening, someone should stop it.

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