Darfur sliding into anarchy says UN - Darfur death toll 400,000 - ICC has 51 Darfur war criminals on its list

To date, 400,000 people have died from all causes in Darfur. This is roughly half the total of deaths in Rwanda.

On 5 November 2005, the Scotsman noted once again that Darfur has deteriorated back into a state of anarchy and bloodshed, hampering humanitarian work, according to senior United Nations officials. Excerpt:

"Thousands of people have arrived at the region's sprawling aid camps after rebels and government-backed Janjaweed militia stepped up attacks during the past six weeks.

And the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that November's harvest will be disrupted if the violence continues."

Regular readers here at Sudan Watch may recall the afternoon of 7 April 2005 when International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Deputy Prosecutor (investigations) Serge Brammertz, Deputy Prosecutor (prosecutions) Fatou Bensouda and Chef de Cabinet Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi in a meeting at the site of the ICC opened a sealed list of 51 individuals named by the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry as suspects of grave international crimes in Darfur.

Surely, to keep fear of war crimes trials real and effective, it really is necessary to prosecute these people along with the Tojos, Milosovichs, and Saddams of this world. See why, in this post by Curzon at ComingAnarchy.com and be sure to read the 26 comments:

"In yesterday's war crimes post (thanks for so many great comments), I suggested that war crimes tribunals could be counterproductive to ending war:

The threat of war crimes trials could even encourage violence, or a stubborn refusal to surrender, if the leaders know they will be tried, executed, and relegated to perpetual historical infamy if they lose.

The film Hotel Rwanda suggests otherwise, at least in regard to the boots on the ground in control of the situation. See the abridged clip here:



In the scene, hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina is in the process of bribing a general and must return to his hotel to be with his family and more than 1,200 refugees he is hiding. The general is reluctant - he wants to get to his headquarters and hide until the chaos dies down. He's neither a war criminal nor a hero, just a military man in a position of power who doesn't want to stick his neck out.

Rusesabagina hands the last of his whiskey to bribe the general, only to see him have second thoughts. Let's just go to my headquarters, he says. Rusesabagina has nothing left to bargain with and is at the mercy of this general. Desperate, he tells him the only thing that will scare him into action:

You are a marked man, sir... You are on a list. The Americans have you on their list as a war criminal... Are you stupid, General? How do you think these people operate? You sit here with five stars on your chest. Who do you think they are coming after?

The threatened general is a cosmopolitan man who enjoys real malt whiskey, European travel, and golf on the highlands of Scotland. The threat of war crimes prosecution genuinely terrified him, and helped keep Rusesabagina alive, along with his family and more than a thousand refugees.

To keep that fear real and effective, perhaps it really is necessary to prosecute the Tojos, Milosovichs, and Saddams of this world."

Further reading

Haris Aziz posts review of talk on the London Bombings: An Islamic Perspective, 19 October 2005 Warwick University, UK - excerpt:

"... in Islam, no Muslim is allowed to take the law in his own hands. Even in the case of a murder, the murderer has to go through a trial. Indiscriminate killing to make a political statement is then the exact anti-thesis of Islam. Aided by supporting references in the Holy Quran and Sunnah (example of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him), he explained that suicide is forbidden in Islam. He then questioned that how the last action of a true Muslim can be one which is most abhorred by God Almighty.

The theme was on the moderate nature of Islam. He stressed that Islam is the middle path and the Quran designates Muslims as the ummatan wasata - the middle community. Any form of extremism is to be utterly and completely rejected. He also pointed out that anger is forbidden in Islam."

Geek of All Trades says civil war is anything but.
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Upgrading of Sudan's slavery watch status angers activists

The State Department, headed by Rice, has upgraded Sudan's slavery watch status from Tier 3 to Tier 2, meaning the problems with enslavement in the country will be monitored on the same scale as Switzerland, Israel, Chile, Hungary and Greece. The upgrading came as a result of the nation's promise to end aspects of slavery, according to a Sept. 21 State Department memorandum explaining the president's determination. [via whatsakyer? with thanks]