Sudan's President Pardons Teddy Bear Teacher

LONDON, Dec. 3 -- Sudan's president on Monday pardoned a British school teacher sentenced to two weeks in jail for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, ending a delicate diplomatic tangle with what Prime Minister Gordon Brown called a victory for "common sense."

President Omar al-Bashir pardoned Gillian Gibbons, 54, of Liverpool, after meeting with two Muslim members of Britain's House of Lords, Nazir Ahmed and Sayeeda Warsi, who had traveled to the predominantly Muslim African nation to lobby for her release.

"This is a case which is unfortunate, unintentional, innocent misunderstanding," Ahmed told reporters in Khartoum after the decision was announced. He said Gibbons was to be released Monday.

Gibbons's case caused international outrage and strained relations between Britain and Sudan, whose government is under intense international pressure over the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. Government officials and many British Muslim leaders said they believed Sudan's prosecution of Gibbons was a reaction to that pressure, particularly the upcoming arrival of a U.N.-backed peacekeeping force in Darfur...

This from the Washington Post.

Kids name their class teddy bear 'Muhammad,' teacher arrested

A British schoolteacher has been arrested in Sudan

accused of insulting Islam's Prophet,

after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad

SUDAN -Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, said she made an "innocent mistake" by letting the six and seven-year-olds choose the name.

Ms Gibbons was arrested after several parents made complaints.

The BBC has learned the charge could lead to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine.

Officials from the British embassy in Khartoum are expected to visit Ms Gibbons in custody.

"We are in contact with the authorities here and they have visited the teacher and she is in a good condition," an embassy spokesman said.

The spokesman said the naming of the teddy happened months ago and was chosen by the children because it is a common name in the country.

"This happened in September and the parents did not have a problem with it," he said.

The school has been closed until January for fear of reprisals.

This from the BBC.

Student starts effort to help people in his African homeland

MURRAY, Ky. --When Gabriel Akech Kwai graduates from Murray State University in December, he'll have more than a finance degree. He's also learned how to help his troubled African homeland.

Kwai, who has lived in the United States for six years, has established the Women's Educational Empowerment Project for Southern Sudan to help educate and empower women there. The goal is to bridge the educational gap between the northern and southern regions of the wartorn nation.

"This is where my dreams lie," Kwai said in a recent interview with the Murray Ledger & Times. "... I learned that children learn a lot from their mothers, and if we educate the women of Sudan, then we help her entire family."

Kwai, who was born in 1979, was 7 years old when his father was killed in northern Sudan. His homeland was divided by civil war that eventually forced him to travel with the 33,000 other "Lost Boys of Sudan" to Ethiopia and later to a Kenyan refugee camp.

He lived in Ethiopia from 1987 until 1991, when that government ordered the refugees to leave the country within 24 hours. Kwai recalled the devastation to come: While seeking shelter in Kenya, Ethiopian militias attacked the young refugees, killing 5,000 of them in one day.
"I was one of the luckiest who crossed the border," he said...

This from the Herald-Leader.