“I had a surprising call this week,” the author Richard North Patterson told the audience that had gathered last weekend as part of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. It was former President Bill Clinton. Mr. Patterson’s new novel, “Eclipse,” is based on the case of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Mr. Clinton spoke of a phone call he had made 14 years ago to Gen. Sani Abacha of Nigeria, asking him to spare Mr. Saro-Wiwa from the hangman.
Mr. Clinton said General Abacha “was very polite,” but “he was cold,” Mr. Patterson related. “Clinton took away from that, among other things, that oil and the need for oil on behalf of the West and other places made Abacha, in his mind, impervious.”
The event’s moderator, the Nigerian novelist Okey Ndibe, added an unexpected epilogue. A friend in the Abacha cabinet said the general later boasted: “All these pro-democracy activists run to America and expect America to save them. But the U.S. president himself is calling me ‘sir.’ He is scared of me.”
Source: New York Times
Popular Post
-
Have been learning up NUnit nowadays and trying to use it for my Paladin project. It is a nice tool and I strongly encourage you to use it...
-
Have been hooked on Zuma lately (an online game provided by MSN). Never imagined that such a simple game can be so addictive. Previously, I...
-
Have you ever been handled over an abandoned system where you have no idea of it and asked to maintain or complete it? Lately, there were s...
-
The task of delivering software solutions on-time and on-demand has become a great challenge for many project teams nowadays with businesses...
-
"Too many cooks spoil the broth" As the famous saying goes but will too many developers spoil the code ? It actually depends on ...
-
Just received an e-mail from a friend containing the following wonderful thoughts: It's not what you want in life... It's knowing ...
-
Have you ever wished to be able to work from home? You know like, sitting on that nice comfy chair (or slumber on the bed), listening to the...
-
Is it Hunting Season again? Everyone I know seems to be looking (or have looked) for greener pastures nowadays. I was so surprised to find ...
-
Finally, no engine failures, no gear-box problems, no blow-ups and all those nasty stuff for Kimi Raikonnen (a.k.a. Iceman). It has been a t...
No comments:
Post a Comment