JMU's Pham to Testify on Human Rights Crisis in Horn of Africa

From: Public Affairs

October 1, 2007

HARRISONBURG — Dr. J. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University, is scheduled to testify Tuesday, Oct. 2, at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives.

The 11-member subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Donald M. Payne, is conducting a hearing on "Ethiopia and the State of Democracy: Effects on Human Rights and Humanitarian Condition in the Ogaden and Somalia." The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

Pham, an associate professor of justice studies, political science, and Africana studies, is the author of several books and numerous articles on African political and security affairs and writes a weekly column on security issues affecting that continent and American interests, "Strategic Interests," which is distributed by the "World Defense Review." Pham has consulted for a number of government agencies, including the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Defense, and testified before Congress, most recently on Aug. 2, when he appeared before the Africa Subcommittee to speak on the unified combatant command for Africa (AFRICOM).

Also scheduled to appear as witnesses at the hearing are Dr. Jendayi E. Frazier, assistant secretary of state for African affairs; Saman Zia-Zarifi, Washington advocate with Human Rights Watch; Fowsia Abdulkadir, founding member of the Ogaden Human Rights Committee of Canada; Bertukan Mideksa, vice chair of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy in Ethiopia; and Dr. Berhanu Nega, a former Ethiopian political prisoner.

JMU Public Affairs contact: Janet Smith, 540-568-8008 or smithjl@jmu.edu.

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