Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Nomads Abyei Sudan Security Situation - Misseriya and Rizeigat tribes fighting in Kass region NW of Nyala, S. Darfur

YESTERDAY [Monday, 23 August 2010], after nearly five days, fighting between the Misseriya and Rizeigat tribes reportedly continued in the Kass region, located approximately 90 kilometers northwest of Nyala, South Darfur. Mediation efforts were attempted by the Deputy Wali (Governor) of South Darfur over the weekend. A UNAMID verification mission is underway to provide an assessment on the situation, including the number of casualties.

Gunshots were heard last night [Monday, 23 August 2010] in one sector of the Kalma internally displaced person (IDP) camp, located on the outskirts of Nyala, South Darfur. A UNAMID patrol immediately proceeded in the direction of the shooting. At the site, four RPGs were found, as well as more than 100 spent cartridges.

A UNAMID verification patrol is scheduled today [Tuesday, 24 August 2010] in the Kass region, located approximately 90 kilometers northwest of Nyala, South Darfur. The exact number of casualties following inter-tribal fighting remains unknown, as only the Misseriya tribe has declared their figures, while Rizeigat casualty figures remain unconfirmed.

A committee has been established at the state level to resolve the renewed conflict between Misseriya and Rizeigat tribes which began on Monday 16 August 2010. The body has since met with the leaders of the two groups and presented them with recommendations to cease the fighting.

UNAMID continues to conduct day and night confidence building patrols within the Kalma IDP camp. Access continues to be granted to humanitarian NGOs for entry into Kalma by the Humanitarian Aid Commission. No new population movements within and out of the camp have been reported. Submersible pumps in the most populated parts of Kalma continue to function.

UNAMID military forces conducted 78 patrols including routine, short-range, long-range, night and humanitarian escort patrols covering 63 villages and IDP camps. UNAMID police advisors conducted 116 patrols in villages and IDP camps.

West Darfur
Yesterday [Monday, 23 August 2010] UNAMID Joint Special Representative, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, concluded a two-day visit to El Geneina and Zalingei, West Darfur where he met with Mission personnel, UN Agencies and the humanitarian community. He was briefed on the security and humanitarian situation in the respective area.

The visit included meetings with local government officials and security committee members, during which he reiterated his call to the government to apprehend those committing criminal acts against UNAMID peacekeepers. Government officials reassured the Mission and international aid workers of their commitment to safety and security. The JSR further stressed the need for UNAMID to adopt more robust patrols in and around the IDP camps.

Professor Gambari also visited Mournei (IDP) camp located about 48 kilometers south of El Geneina.

UNAMID’s new Police Commissioner takes up duties
Mr. James Oppong Boanuh of Ghana arrived at the Mission’s headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur, this week to take up his duties as UNAMID’s Police Commissioner. He succeeds Mr. Micheal Fryer of South Africa who left in April after serving since the Mission’s inception in January 2008.

Ghana is currently the largest police contributing country to UNAMID with a total of 500 police officers.

Senegal adds to Formed Police Units
Yesterday [Monday, 23 August 2010] UNAMID received its second Senegalese Formed Police Unit (FPUs). The units, consisting of 140 personnel, will be deployed in El Geneina, West Darfur. The new arrivals, brings the total number of FPU officers in the Mission to 1,959.

SOURCES:
Daily Media Brief - Monday 23 August 2010 from UNAMID (United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur) EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan/via APO.

Daily Media Brief - Tuesday 24 August 2010 from UNAMID (United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur) EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan/via APO.
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"FINE WORDS BUTTER NO PARSNIPS"

Click here for:
Briefing to the UN Security Council on the Humanitarian Situation in Darfur
Statement by John Holmes
Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Monday 23 August 2010
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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MISSERIYA COUNT LOSSES AT 88 DEAD, 32 INJURED

Misseriya count losses at 88 dead, 32 injured in clashes near Kass, Darfur
Report from Radio Dabanga - Monday 23 August 2010:



(KASS) - A leader of the Misseriya tribe said the clashes around Kass have resulted in 88 dead and 32 injured from the Misseriya while he did not know the exact number of killed and wounded on the side of the Rizeigat. Violence between the two Arab tribes broke out last week after nearly two months of relative calm following a reconciliation deal signed in late June.

The Misseriya tribal leader, Izz-Al-Din Issa Mandil, appealed over Radio Dabanga for the belligerent parties to stop hostilities and convene a peace conference. He also called on the state government to do its duty to stop the violence.

Nuwayba clashes with Misseriya spread from Kass into West Darfur
Report from Radio Dabanga - Friday 20 August 2010:



(WADI SALIH) - The tribal clashes between the Nuwayba Rizeigat and the Misseriya spread from South Darfur to West Darfur. According to reports from the areas of Tanaku and Duraysa in Wadi Salih, there were dozens of dead and wounded in fresh clashes.

Sources in West Darfur said that a joint force of army and police were directed to go to the areas of events. Meanwhile, clashes continued between the parties in Kass Locality for a fourth day in a row along the Wadi Milla and west of Jabal Awda. Witnesses said that there were a number of new dead and wounded in the clashes on Thursday. The Governor of South of Darfur, Hamid Musa Kasha, reportedly arrived in the areas of events to calm the situation and control the response.

Before these latest reports, sources had already put the number of dead at about 50. The fighting between the two tribes follows nearly two months of relative peace after a reconciliation deal in late June.

50 dead in Misseriya-Nuwayba clashes near Kass, S. Darfur
Report from Radio Dabanga - Thursday 19 August 2010:

(KASS) - The number of people killed in continuing clashes between the Misseriya and the Nuwayba section of the Rizeigat tribe in Kass Locality rose yesterday to an estimate of 50. Sources in the area told Radio Dabanga that fighters have been using Land Cruiser to clash in the villages of the Maleh valley. One local official said that people are busy with 70 dead and wounded.
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NOMADS NOT GUARANTEED VOTING RIGHTS?

Arab nomads settling in contested Sudan region: official
Report from AFP by Guillaume Lavallee – Sunday 01 August 2010:


(KHARTOUM) - Members of an Arab nomadic tribe are settling in a contested region straddling north and south Sudan, hoping to vote in referendum next year that will define its status, a Sudanese official said on Sunday.

Members of the Misseriya tribe, who are accused by southerners of being close to the Khartoum government, are said to be moving into parts of Abyei, the chief administrator of the region Deng Arop Kuol told reporters in the Sudanese capital.

"The issue that is concerning the people of Abyei and troubling them very much is the issue of settlement that is taking place within the boundaries of Abyei," Kuol said.

"It is the Misseriya who are settling in those areas. The target is to settle in 20 locations in the area north of Abyei and they already started to settle in those areas now," he said.

"We are getting information that they intend to settle 25,000 families in those areas and the number of people will go up to 75,000 in those areas. We believe it is something organised," Kuol added.

As south Sudan holds its referendum on independence in January, residents of the oil-rich Abyei region will simultaneously vote on whether they want to belong to north or south Sudan.

Abyei's referendum law gives the right of vote to members of the southern Dinka Ngok tribe and it is up to the referendum commission to decide which "other Sudanese" are considered residents of the region and can therefore vote.

The law has angered the Arab Misseriya -- a nomadic tribe that migrates each year to the Abyei region looking for pastures for their cattle -- because it does not guarantee them voting rights.

The referendum commission for Abyei has not yet been formed, because representatives of north and south Sudan have failed to agree on who will head it -- leaving the question of Misseriya eligibility still open.

"The Misseriya... are in no way meant to vote in the Abyei referendum because they are not residents. They are meant to be nomads," said Kuol.

Deadly clashes in May 2008 in Abyei had raised fears of a return to civil war between north and south Sudan. Both parties decided to take the matter of the sensitive border to arbitration in The Hague.

Last year, the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague refined the borders of Abyei, leaving the Heglig oil fileds out of the Abyei region, the heartland of the Dinka Ngok.

Both north and south authorities had accepted the ruling, which was criticised by the Misseriya.

The Hague decision was not "fair" and "definitive" and has not enabled both parties to resolve their differences, said Salah Cos, adviser to President Omar al-Bashir for security matters, in a statement over the weekend.

Sudan produces 500,000 barrels of oil per day and has reserves estimated at six billion barrels.

Most of it lies on the border between north and south.
ABYEI'S REFERENDUM LAW DOES NOT GUARANTEE VOTING RIGHTS TO ARAB MISSERIYA?

Sudan: Oil threatens South’s independence
Report from afrik-news.com by Konye Obaji Ori - Monday 02 August 2010:
Northern Sudan has been accused of settling Arab nomadic tribes in oil-rich Abeyi region where votes are required to influence whether or not the oil-rich Abyei would belong to North or South Sudan, ahead of a January 2011 referendum.

The chief administrator of the disputed oil-rich Abyei region, Deng Arop Kuol told reporters in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, that members of the Khartoum-backed Arab Misseriya tribe were moving into parts of Abyei, in order to vote in next year’s referendum that will define the status of the oil-rich region.

“The issue that is concerning the people of Abyei and troubling them very much is the issue of settlement that is taking place within the boundaries of Abyei. It is the Misseriya who are settling in those areas. The target is to settle in 20 locations in the area north of Abyei and they already started to settle in those areas now," Kuol was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The oil-rich Abyei region overlaps between North and South Sudan. And the January referendum on independence in South Sudan would require residents of the oil-rich Abyei region to simultaneously vote on whether they want to belong to north or south Sudan.

"We are getting information that they intend to settle 25,000 families in those areas and the number of people will go up to 75,000 in those areas. We believe it is something organized," Kuol said.

According to reports, Abyei’s referendum law, however, does not guarantee voting rights to the Arab Misseriya — a nomadic tribe that migrates each year to the Abyei region looking for pastures for their cattle.

Even though the settling Arab Misseriya tribe are not allowed to vote according to the referendum law, South Sudan authorities remain suspicious of their influx to Abyei, a region responsible for most of Sudan’s 500,000 barrels of oil production per day.

With an estimated six billion barrels of oil in the region, the economies of either North Sudan or an independent South Sudan would be affected by the outcome of votes in Abyei come January 2011. "The Misseriya... are in no way meant to vote in the Abyei referendum because they are not residents. They are meant to be nomads," Kuol adds.

Last year, the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague refined the borders of Abyei, leaving the Heglig oil fileds out of the Abyei region, and both the North and South authorities had accepted the ruling.

Deadly clashes in May 2008 in Abyei had raised fears of a return to civil war between North and South Sudan. And while both authorities decided to take the matter of the sensitive border to arbitration in The Hague, a forthcoming referendum for secession is threatening the fragile peace that has existed over the oil-rich region.

With the issue of Arab Misseriya’s voting eligibility still unresolved, and the referendum commission for Abyei not yet established, because Sudan’s Northern and Southern authorities have failed to agree on who should head it, questions of a peaceful and smooth separation of Sudan remains unanswered.
NCP SAYS MISSERIYA NOMADS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO VOTE, SPLM SAYS NO?

Unrest feared as Sudan talks stall
Report from Al Jazeera - Upated on Monday, 02 August 2010 22:43:
The ruling party in Sudan has sought to play down concerns about potential violence after talks between officials from the north and the south stalled over a referendum in the disputed oil-producing Abyei region.

A senior member of the National Congress Party (NCP) told Al Jazeera on Monday that there was no reason that the collapsed talks should escalate into a new conflict.

"I think the Abyei problem will be solved and I don't think there is any war to be expected," Rabie Abdul Atti said.

As South Sudan holds a referendum on a possible return to independence in January, Abyei will simultaneously vote on whether the region should belong to the north or the south.

But the NCP and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which governs the south, cannot agree on who will be eligible to vote.

"The issue of the Abyei referendum has come to a standstill," Deng Arop, a SPLM representative who heads Abyei's administration, told reporters on Sunday.

"This has the potential to ... cause a regional and international conflict."

More than two decades of bitter war between north and south Sudan left an estimated two million people dead. A peace deal signed in 2005 created a federal unity government that shared power between the north's ruling party and the former southern rebels.

Tribe controversy

Abyei's referendum law gives the right of vote to members of the southern Dinka Ngok tribe and it is up to the referendum commission to decide which "other Sudanese" are considered residents of the region and therefore eligible to vote.

The ruling NCP says the Misseriya, a big pro-unity nomadic tribe which grazes its cattle in the south during the dry season, should also vote.

The SPLM says the tribe as a bloc should not be allowed to vote, but that individuals with long-term residence in the region should be able to do so.

"The Misseriya ... are in no way meant to vote in the Abyei referendum because they are not residents. They are meant to be nomads," Arop said.

He said Misseriya had begun to settle 75,000 people in the north of Abyei to change the demographic of the region and influence the vote.

Arop estimated there were about 100,000 original Abyei residents excluding the Missiriya.

He called on the NCP to stop the settlements.

"If the government is not supporting this then it should take action to stop it," he said.

Abyei has been a contentious issue between the SPLM and the NCP both before and after the 2005 peace deal.

Border arbitration

Deadly clashes between the Sudanese army and the SPLM in Abyei in May 2008 raised fears of a return to war between north and south Sudan. Both parties decided to take the matter of the sensitive border to arbitration in The Hague.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration refined the borders, leaving the Heglig oil fields in the north, out of the Abyei region.

Both north and south authorities have accepted the ruling, but it was criticised by the Misseriya tribe.

Douglas Johnson. a former former member of the Abyei Boundaries Commission, told Al Jazeera that the threat of renewed violence in Abyei is "very serious".

"There have been clashes on the border, there have been clashes within Abyei, and this latest report of movement in large scale of Misseriya into northern areas of is very worrying," he said.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Click into above report to view video: Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazely explains the complexity of the Abyei issue.
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IN DEPTH from Al Jazeera
Q&A: Sudan's Abyei dispute



Grazing and land rights are key issues for those who live in Abyei [EPA]

Abyei tribes fear losing land



Both the African Dinka and Arab Misseriya tribes say Abyei belongs to them [EPA]
Click on Abyei label here below, and keep on scrolling, to read reports in the archives of Sudan Watch.

Monday, August 23, 2010

IAEA visits Khartoum - Egypt and Sudan move forward on "peaceful" nuclear plans - LRA spreading terror in S. Sudan



Technicians load the Bushehr nuclear plant this week in Iran. (ISNA)
Hat tip: gatewaypundit.firstthings.com - Sunday, August 22, 2010. Check out comments.

Sudan plans nuclear program
Report by JPOST.COM STAFF (via Jerusalem Post)
Sunday, 22 August 2010 - excerpt:
Sudan plans to build a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes by 2020, the SUNA state news agency reported Sunday.

Sudan has noted economic and political ties with Iran, which has been facing increasing sanctions and international pressure over its nuclear program.

Like Iran, Sudan is under US sanctions, and has been since 1997.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is planning to travel to Sudan on August 23 to discuss importing a nuclear reactor for “research purposes.”

SUNA said Sudan began plans to develop a nuclear program early this year.

Although Sudan has built dams along the Blue and White Nile Rivers, large parts of the country do not have regular electricity, Reuters reported.

Muhammad Ahmed Hassan el-Tayeb, director-general of the Sudanese Atomic Energy Agency, was quoted as saying “The Ministry of Electricity and Dams has already started preparing for the project to produce power from nuclear energy in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and is expected to build the first nuclear power plant in the year 2020.”
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News from The New York Times -

Headlines Around the Web

What's This?
GATEWAY PUNDIT

AUGUST 22, 2010

It's OnĂ¢€¦ Egypt and Sudan Move Forward

on "Peaceful" Nuclear Plans

SUDAN: THE PASSION OF THE PRESENT

AUGUST 22, 2010

Another New Update on RSS Feeds--Plus

Additional Odds 'n' Ends

SUDAN WATCH

AUGUST 22, 2010

S. Sudan Rhino City photo - Bileel area and

southern areas of Nyala selected to be the

alternative IDP camps instead of Kalma

camp, S. Darfur

AFP

AUGUST 22, 2010

LRA spreading reign of terror in south

Sudan

CNN

AUGUST 20, 2010

Southern Sudan unveils plans to build

animal

More at Blogrunner »

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News from Google's Sudan newsreel
Monday, 23 August 2010 at 09.40 AM GMT UK

Sunday, August 22, 2010

S. Sudan Rhino City photo - Bileel area and southern areas of Nyala selected to be the alternative IDP camps instead of Kalma camp, S. Darfur

SOMEONE once said 17 years is the average life of a refugee camp. Not sure if it is true. Kalma camp in South Darfur, western Sudan, is already at least 6 years old. Plans are underway for it to be relocated within South Darfur to Bileel area and southern areas of Nyala to create two new camps, each housing 25,000 - 30,000 IDPs, provided with all basic services. The area of each residence will be 150 - 200 square meters.

How great it would be if the IDPs were given land rights to their new residences, and the IDPs and world-class volunteer Sudanese architects, village planners, environmentalists, historians and psychologists were consulted on the design of new camps in Sudan.

Imagine them pooling their skills and knowledge to create beautifully simple arty traditional African villages with access to solar power, microfinancing, education, training, employment and sports facilities. It need not involve a lot of money. People pulling together with decent leadership can work wonders. Think of the children of Sudan and those born in Kalma camp. For all we know, SLM and JEM rebel group leaders, who care only about their own skins, might continue on the warpath (a lucrative way of life for them) for the next 20 years.

See interesting Rhino City photo below, plus a news roundup, and a report saying UNAMID and the local South Darfur government have agreed to work together to construct a security trench which will span Nyala town’s perimeter. Note that the trench, measuring 2 meters deep and 2 meters wide, will span approximately 40 kilometers long and is expected to be completed within 4 to 5 weeks.

I say, imagine if they filled the trench with water, it could be a moat for security, a swimming pool for children and a watering hole for thirsty trees, birds and animals. An oasis. Dream on.

This photo reminds me of a 1960's aerial shot of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, before it became a city. Surely the Sudanese can find a way to turn their deserts and hot sunny weather to their advantage. Everyone loves Sudan.



Photo: "This is Kalma Camp. Believe it or not these kids are lucky, Kalma Camp is near the airport, close to Nyala, the closest thing I've seen to a modern city in Darfur and it has lots of access to aid organizations". (Photo and caption from bbs.keyhole.com by bit Cartographer/Google Earth)
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South Darfur Plans to Build Construct Two IDPs Camps
Report from Sudan Vision Daily
Sunday, 22 August 2010
(Nyala - smc) - SOUTH Darfur government directed the Engineering Department in the State to start the preliminary survey in Bilail area and the southern areas of Nyala selected to be the alternative IDPs camp instead of Kalma camp.

South Darfur Deputy Governor, Dr. Abdul Karim told (smc) that Kalma IDPs camp will be transferred to the new site in agreement with UNAMID, UN, NGOs and the IDPS themselves.

He said that Kalma IDPs camp became one of the security threats, expressing their intension to construct two big camps with 25 – 30 thousands IDPS capacity provided with all basic services adding the area of each residence will be 150 – 200 square meters.

He pointed out that the machineries of the work were directed to the new sites to start implementation, adding that all the NGOs working in the humanitarian activities in the State visited the new sites and expressed satisfaction with.

He said that the government shouldered all the construction expenses, affirming the IDPs movement to the new sites will not start unless the construction work is completed.

It is to be noted that Kalma IDPs camp witnessed in the recent days violations from armed groups which brought arms to the camp a matter that agitated chaos inside the camp.
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Darfur/UNAMID Daily Media Brief - Monday, 16 August 2010
Report from United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
El Fasher (Darfur), W. Sudan - via APO 16 August 2010:
Security situation update
THE situation in Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in South Darfur remains tense. Intensified patrols by UNAMID forces have led to a significant decrease in cases of gunfire overnight. UNAMID Deputy Joint Special Representative Mohamed Yonis, Force Commander Patrick Nyamvumba and Acting Police Commissioner Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi today travelled to Nyala to confer with state authorities concerning recent developments.

The majority of Kalma’s sectors have reported improvements in security, with IDPs returning to their homes and resuming normal activities.

UNAMID, Government dig security trench around Nyala
Responding to the increase in incidence of kidnappings and carjackings in Nyala, South Darfur, targeting the international community in particular, UNAMID and the local government have agreed to work together to construct a security trench which will span the town’s perimeter.

UNAMID’s Chinese Engineering Company began work on Sunday on the Mission’s half of the trench. The measure is designed to reduce the high incidence of criminality by regulating travel to and from the town. While limiting entry and exit through small roads, the town will remain fully accessible through major roads and highways.

The trench, measuring 2 meters deep and 2 meters wide, will span approximately 40 kilometers long and is expected to be completed within 4 to 5 weeks. Local authorities will provide 24 hour protection for UNAMID equipment and personnel until the project’s completion.

UNAMID patrols
UNAMID military forces conducted 87 patrols including routine, short-range, long-range, night and humanitarian escort patrols covering 69 villages and IDP camps.

UNAMID police advisors conducted 164 patrols in villages and IDP camps.
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Southern Sudan's Rhino City



Photo source: New Sudan Vision
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UPDATE Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Two more photos and captions, with thanks to Alan Boswell's blog post published 17 August 2010. Alan Boswell is an American freelance journalist currently based in Juba, South Sudan.

The “Rhino City” location in relation to Juba’s current layout:



Wau, South Sudan’s second-largest city, is set to turn into this awkwardly elongated beast:


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South Sudan Builds Juba’s Rhino City In PR Wars
Report from Anorak.co.uk
Friday, 20 August 2010
IN southern Sudan, the blueprints are unveiled for regional cities shaped as animals and fruits.

At a cost of $10bn (£6.4bn) Juba will be designed in the shape of a rhinoceros. Wau will become a giraffe. Yambio will be shaped like a pineapple.

Juba is the capital of the region – plans are to make if the capital of the new state of South Sudan. Guess where the office of the regional president will be situated. At the back? Somewhere down between the legs? No, it’s where the rhinoceros’s eye should be.

Over in Wau, the sewage treatment plant is appropriately placed under the giraffe’s tail.

All good stuff. But cities have a habit to sprawl and the rhino might well develop a tumour or just spread until it resembles Lagos, which from space resembles a dog squatting on a huge toilet…

The plans were unveiled by the Undersecretary for Housing and Physical Planning, Daniel Wani. The plan is earmarked to cost over £10bn. Southern Sudan’s total annual budget this year is less than $2 billion.

He says:
“Juba, as an example, is a slum city. So our plan is to create a nuclear city outside Juba,” he said. “We have been given land 15 kilometers west of Juba by the state, and we met the community, they are excited to give us this land. We call it Rhino City. And equally also we have been given land in the other nine capitals.”
The thing soon starts to look like a PR stunt to draw interest to a region bereft of funds and ravaged by a civil war that ended in 2005…
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News from The New York Times' Blogrunner

Headlines Around the Web

What's This?
REUTERS

AUGUST 16, 2010

US: Barclays to pay $298 million in

sanctions case

AFP

AUGUST 16, 2010

Darfur expels five aid workers

SUDAN WATCH

AUGUST 16, 2010

Sudan: New strategy - South Darfur

State sets a plan for illegal arms

collection - IDPs in Kalma camp not

allowed to practice military activities

SPERO NEWS - RELIGIOUS NEWS

AUGUST 14, 2010

Darfur: probe underway into

abduction of two UN-African Union

peacekeepers

HARRY'S PLACE

AUGUST 14, 2010

Girifna braves repression to

struggle for democracy in Sudan

More at Blogrunner »

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News from SRS - Sudan Radio Service:

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Last US combat brigade exits Iraq - Give Tony Blair credit for a truly magnanimous gesture

HISTORIC news just in from the BBC. The last US combat brigade in Iraq has left the country, seven years after the US-led invasion:
The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, began crossing by land into Kuwait in the early hours of Thursday [19 August 2010], a military spokesman said.

Some 50,000 US troops will remain until the end of 2011 to advise Iraqi forces and protect US interests.

A further 6,000 support troops will be in Iraq until the end of the month, when US combat operations will end.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said the US involvement in Iraq was far from over, but that it would be less intrusive and more civilian focused.

"We are ending the war ... but we are not ending our work in Iraq. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq," he told MSNBC.

The 50,000 soldiers who will remain will be armed, but will only use their weapons in self-defence or at the request of the Iraqi government.
Full story: BBC - Last US combat brigade exits Iraq - Thursday, 19 August 2010; Last updated at 09:43 - excerpt:
Analysis
Hugh Sykes
BBC News, Baghdad

US policies early on opened the door to al-Qaeda setting up a branch in Iraq. An insurgency grew, a sectarian conflict - all this directly or indirectly because the Americans disbanded the entire Iraqi armed forces in 2003. An American soldier crossing the border said "We've won, it's over." Well, no and no.

There isn't really an Iraqi government, there is a transitional Iraqi government. The armed forces are running themselves. General Zebari, the chief of staff of the Iraqi army said the other day that it was premature for the Americans to leave by the end of next year.

The country does not collapse because there is not a government, but it is a situation in which instability is more likely to grow. Al-Qaeda in Iraq have been pretty active, there was an appalling bomb in Baghdad just two days ago. Some analysts believe they are growing stronger again.
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Tony Blair to donate proceeds of his memoirs to help rehabilitate injured personnel
From The Royal British Legion's website - Monday, 16 August 2010:
The Royal British Legion is pleased to announce Tony Blair will be donating all of the proceeds from his forthcoming memoirs, A Journey, to the Battle Back Challenge Centre, a Legion funded project that will provide state-of-the-art rehabilitation services for seriously injured Service personnel.



The Legion has now committed £25m over 10 years to support the MoD’s Personnel Recovery Centre (PRC) programme which was announced earlier this year. The charity’s funding support covers the running of the 4 PRCs and all the capital and civilian running costs of the Battle Back Challenge Centre - a major part of the programme which aims to help seriously injured personnel using sport and outdoor activities to help physical rehabilitation and confidence building. The innovative project will help injured service personnel fulfil their potential and get back to active duty or civilian life.



The Royal British Legion’s Battle Back Challenge Centre is due to open in summer 2012. The Legion expects that most injured personnel who are able to return to active duty will go through the Battle Back Centre as part of their recovery. The Centre, which will be open to personnel across the Armed Forces, will provide accommodation and a state-of-the-art gym and training facility.

Chris Simpkins, Director General of the Royal British Legion, said:

"The Legion is delighted to accept this very generous donation which gives an excellent start to our fundraising target of £12m for the Battle Back Challenge Centre and a total of £25m as our contribution to the provision of the world class service for injured personnel for the next 10 years. The culture of the Centre will very much be about what users of the service can do rather than what they can't but some of the servicemen and women are likely to need the Legion's support for the rest of their lives. Mr. Blair's generosity is much appreciated and will help us to make a real and lasting difference to the lives of hundreds of injured personnel."

A spokesman for Tony Blair said:

"Tony Blair decided on leaving office that he would donate the proceeds of his memoirs to a charity for the Armed Forces as a way of marking the enormous sacrifice they make for the security of our people and the world. The Royal British Legion is just such a cause.

"In making this decision, Tony Blair recognises the courage and sacrifice the armed forces demonstrate day in, day out. As Prime Minister he witnessed that for himself in Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Kosovo. This is his way of honouring their courage and sacrifice.

"We have been consulting with a number of people and organisations to decide the best support he can give. There is one project consistently highlighted: The Royal British Legion’s Battle Back Challenge Centre.

"As Tony Blair said to the House of Commons on his last day in office:

"'I believe that they [the Armed Forces] are fighting for the security of this country and the wider world against people who would destroy our way of life. But whatever view people take of my decisions, I think that there is only one view to take of them: they are the bravest and the best.'”
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Give Tony Blair credit for a truly magnanimous gesture
From telegraph.co.uk blogs
By Con Coughlin*
Monday, 16 August 2010


Tony Blair answers questions at the Iraq Inquiry in January (Photo: Reuters)

His detractors will inevitably call it Tony Blair’s “blood money”. But personally I applaud the former prime minister’s magnanimous decision to donate all the proceeds from his forthcoming memoirs to a sports centre for badly injured soldiers.

Whatever you might think of Mr Blair, he always had the courage of his convictions when it came to defending our freedoms, whether it was confronting genocidal maniacs like Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic, or tackling the modern curse of Islamist terrorism. Mr Blair went to war not because he was trigger happy, but because he believed it was the right thing to do. As a result hundreds of British service personnel have been killed or suffered serious injury, a burden that weighs heavily on Mr Blair’s conscience.

It is a measure of the man that, despite the huge amount of money that he will receive from publication of A Journey next month, he is donating all of it to the Royal British Legion, the biggest single donation the organisation has received in its history.

Cynics will claim that Mr Blair is making the donate to assuage his feelings of guilt over leading the nation during so many conflicts. But I prefer to take at face value that he has taken this decision as his way of honouring the courage and sacrifice of all those who have fought in Blair’s wars.
*Con Coughlin, the Telegraph's executive foreign editor, is a world-renowned expert on the Middle East and Islamic terrorism. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books. His new book, Khomeini's Ghost, is published by Macmillan.

Further Reading

Tony Blair's memoirs A Journey will be released on September 1, 2010
Pre-order now. Dispatched from and sold by Amazon



http://www.tonyblairjourney.co.uk/

Tony Blair to donate proceeds of memoirs to Royal British Legion’s Battle Back Challenge Centre
From The Office of Tony Blair - Monday, 16 August 2010

Iraq Inquiry Rebuttal Service From the Independent's John Rentoul (scroll to end of each page and click on "Previous 10" and keep scrolling to reach the beginning)