JOSEPH Kony, leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) terrorist organisation, is hiding in Sudan's Darfur region after fleeing a pursuit by the Uganda army in Central African Republic (CAR), the army said on Friday.
"Joseph Kony is no longer in Central African Republic. He crossed into Sudan a few days ago but some elements of LRA commanded by Dominic Ongwen are still in CAR," Felix Kulayigye, defence ministry spokesman told a news conference.
An International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee, Kony often escapes into Sudan whenever he's pursued in CAR because the Ugandan army lacks the mandate to operate there, the army said.
Andrew Natsios, former U.S. special envoy to Sudan, on Tuesday said that elements within the Sudanese government loyal to the Islamist opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi are seeking to derail the January 2011 referendum in order to avert what appears to be the likely separation of the South.
Natsios [U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan in 2006-7] who just returned from a trip that took him to South Sudan said that while president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and his 2nd Vice president Ali Osman Taha are "moderates", he pointed fingers at pro-Turabi figures within the regime who do not want the South to separate.
(KAMPALA) - Joseph Kony, leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, is hiding in Sudan's Darfur region after fleeing a pursuit by the Uganda army in Central African Republic (CAR), the army said on Friday.
The rebel group, which has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years, was ejected from northern Uganda in 2005 and has since roamed remote jungle straddling the borders of Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
The LRA is known for chilling violence including hacking body parts off victims, the abduction of young boys to fight and young girls to be used as sex slaves.
"Joseph Kony is no longer in Central African Republic. He crossed into Sudan a few days ago but some elements of LRA commanded by Dominic Ongwen are still in CAR," Felix Kulayigye, defence ministry spokesman told a news conference.
An International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee, Kony often escapes into Sudan whenever he's pursued in CAR because the Ugandan army lacks the mandate to operate there, the army said.
"We cannot pronounce ourselves on whether Kony receives any support from the Sudanese authorities but what we can confirm is that (the Sudanese) are aware of his presence on their territory and they've not done anything to chase him," he said.
The Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) has a forward operating base in Obo, CAR, where it has been fighting the LRA with U.S. backing since September 2009.
According to rights groups, the LRA has abducted hundreds of people in central Africa over the past 18 months and killed many of them, often by crushing their skulls with clubs.
Separately, Kulaigye said the army, the UPDF was committed to remaining neutral in Uganda's forthcoming presidential poll.
President Yoweri Museveni, a former guerrilla, has in the past been accused of using the army to intimidate the populace to vote for him and soldiers to facilitate vote rigging.
The commander of armed forces, Lt. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, was quoted earlier this year in the local media as saying the army would crush the opposition if they engaged in violence.
"The job of ensuring security in elections is for the Uganda Police and the UPDF recognises that Uganda is a multi-party democracy and respects all the political parties and their leaders. We take no sides at all," said Kulaigye. (Editing by David Clarke and Myra MacDonald)
Photo: Mbonih Ndele Mari was abducted by the LRA outside Niangara and left for dead by them after they cut off her lips and her ears. She is now in a hospital in Niangara. Her children are being looked after by family close by. Source: pulitzercenter.org/Joe Bavier & Marcus Bleasdale
Photo: The Chief and elders of the village of Daqua perform local rituals to exorcise the spirits from former child soldiers. The children complain of aggressive dreams and nightmares involving fantasies and killing. They want to get any help possible to stop these thoughts. The local chief and witch doctors know there is stronger medicine and help available but as no NGO work in the area to help the children they do what they can to help. Image by Marcus Bleasdale. Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010.
Photo: South Sudanese children displaced by attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the town of Mundri, Western Equatoria state, where some 8,000 Sudanese have gathered fleeing the guerrilla raids. Credit: Photo by Peter Martell/IRIN - - -
INTERVIEW: Former U.S. special envoy says Turabi’s loyalists seeking to undermine referendum Source: Sudan Tribune online Date: Thursday, 28 October 2010 - excerpt:
October 27, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The former U.S. special envoy to Sudan on Tuesday said that elements within the government loyal to the Islamist opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi are seeking to derail the January 2011 referendum in order to avert what appears to be the likely separation of the South.
Andrew Natsios who just returned from a trip that took him to South Sudan said that while president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and his 2nd Vice president Ali Osman Taha are "moderates", he pointed fingers at pro-Turabi figures within the regime who do not want the South to separate. [...]
He also warned that any move to delay the vote by more than two weeks "could bring violence" to the region. Furthermore, he said that the Obama administration should be prepared to use its air force should the North attempt to invade the South or take over the oilfields.
Sudan has not been included in meetings to discuss ways to fight back against the Lord's Resistance Army. This is a missed opportunity, says Ledio Cakaj, a guest blogger from the Enough Project. ...
CORRECTION: Enough learned that in fact the Sudanese embassy in Bangui sent representation to the meeting but that no high-ranking officials from Khartoum attended.
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Copy of insightful comment by Ibrahim Adam posted at above:
Ledio: you're simply poo-stirring against the Sudanese government, vis-a-vis the LRA regional insecurity issue, aren't you not? If not, care to explain this patently absurd and contradictory statement in your post below? "simply to press for potential Sudanese support to the LRA to end." Thought not.
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Note from Sudan Watch Editor: Heh. Poo-stirring. Well said, Mr Adams. I enjoy reading your comments. - - -
Photo: Villagers who have formed a local self defense force move during a training session in the village of Bangadi in northeastern Congo February 18, 2009. In the face of attacks and massacres by Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, who have slaughtered some 900 Congolese civilians since December, villagers in Bangadi have formed a self-defense force with locally made weapons and have twice repelled LRA attacks in recent months. (Credit: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters/CSMonitor.com/Enough Project, 27 Oct 2010)
Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (C), First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit (L) and Vice President Ali Osman Taha sit for a presidency meeting before al-Bashir left for Chad, in Khartoum, Wednesday, 21 July 2010. Chad said on Wednesday it would not arrest al-Bashir who arrived in the country for his first visit to a full member state of the world court which is demanding his arrest for genocide. (Reuters /Mohamed Nureldin Abdallh)
Photo: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir walks towards his plane at the airport in Khartoum, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 as he prepares to leave for Chad to attend the summit of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States. An international row raged on Thursday over the presence of genocide accused Bashir of Sudan as he took his place among African leaders at a regional summit in Chad. (AFP/Ebrahim Hamid)
Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (2nd R) walks with First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit (L) as he prepares to leave for Chad, in Khartoum, Wednesday, 21 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallh)
Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (R) shakes hands with First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit as he prepares to leave for Chad, in Khartoum, Wednesday, 21 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallh)
Photo: First Vice President Salva Kiir waits to meet Sudanese opposition leaders in Khartoum Thursday, 22 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
(Khartoum) – The first Vice President and President of Southern Sudan government, Salva Kiir, met with the leaders of northern opposition parties in Khartoum on Thursday.
The SPLM deputy secretary general-northern section, Yasir Arman, spoke to the press after the meeting.
[Yasir Arman]: “The meeting discussed the invitation by the chairman of the NCP, President al-Bashir, to meet with the political forces on Saturday. After extensive negotiations, the participants agreed that the intended meeting should be a comprehensive meeting in viewing Sudan’s issues. The first and most important issue to be discussed is availing freedoms as an entrance to discuss all the issues facing Sudan. Secondly, the importance of conducting a free and fair referendum as scheduled, and with the support and participation of all political forces in order to have the referendum done in a peaceful manner in case of unity or separation. The meeting also tackled the importance of a comprehensive and just peace in Darfur.”
After the April elections, the leaders of the opposition parties rejected to participate in the current government, claiming that the NCP rigged the elections.
Photo: First Vice President Salva Kiir (L) welcomes leader of the opposition Umma Party and former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi in Khartoum, Thursday, 22 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
Photo: First Vice President Salva Kiir (R) talks to the leader of the Islamic opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan al-Turabi during a meeting with opposition leaders in Khartoum, Thursday, 22 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
Bashir's meeting with opposition postponed indefinitely ACCORDING to a report published by SRS on Monday, 26 July 2010, the meeting between the National opposition parties and the ruling the National Congress Party has been postponed until further notice. The Minister of Information in the national government, Dr. Kamal Obeid, said that the meeting has been postponed to give time for more preparations. Obeid spoke to SRS from Khartoum on Sunday, 25 July 2010. Click here to visit SRS and read full story.
Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir steps off the plane from Chad, in Khartoum, Friday, 23 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nurdldin Abdallh)
Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (R) is welcomed by First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit (L) as he steps off the plane from Chad, in Khartoum, Friday, 23 July 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nurdldin Abdallh)
[...] Bashir arrived in Khartoum at 8:20 pm (1720 GMT) after a two-day visit to Chad seen as a breakthrough after years of proxy warfare between the two countries in Darfur.
He left for Sudan after talks with his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby Itno, whose villa he had stayed at near Ndjamena airport protected by an impressive security detail.
The summit backed Bashir on Thursday, saying it rejected "all accusations" against him, while Deby called on regional leaders to support the peace process in Sudan and help solve the Darfur crisis.
"Darfur continues to be a source of concern. CEN-SAD refutes all accusations against President Bashir. These accusations do not contribute to bringing peace to this part of Sudan," said CEN-SAD chief Mohamed al-Madani al-Azhari.
"We declare our total support and our solidarity to Sudan and its people," he added, speaking to an audience that included 13 heads of state including Bashir.
The ICC, which has no police and relies on states that support it to carry out arrests, in March last year accused the veteran Sudanese leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, and issued a further arrest mandate for genocide earlier this month.
Chad was strongly criticised by the European Union and human rights groups for its refusal to arrest Bashir.
On Thursday, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton had urged Chad to arrest him and hand him over to the court based in The Hague to face the charges.
The United States urged Chad to consider "its responsibilities." [...]
The African Union called for the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir to be suspended while the continental body carries out a probe into alleged genocide in Darfur.
The Hague-based court earlier this month charged al-Bashir with three counts of genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. The court had issued a warrant against al-Bashir in March for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We have decided to establish our own mechanism,” AU President Bingu wa Mutharika told reporters today in Kampala at the end of a three-day summit of African leaders. “We are asking the United Nations to suspend for the period of 12 months” the arrest warrants against al-Bashir, he said. [...]
The AU questioned whether the United Nations-backed court has the authority to prosecute al-Bashir. Sudan is not a signatory to the 1998 Rome Statute under which the court was established.
“Let us look at the position of the ICC,” Mutharika said. “Do they have a right to try Sudan which is not a member of the ICC? I think it is something we have to look at.”
Although African countries don’t “condone impunity,” they should carry out their own investigations other than relying on reports by a body which is based outside the continent, he said. [...]
To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.net.
FURTHER READING
Briefing on the African Union summit Click here to read a briefing from U.S. Department of State by Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs - and U.S. Ambassador to the African Union Michael Battle - via Teleconference in Washington, DC, Tuesday, 27 July 2010.
Visit to Darfur by U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Click here to read a report at the website of U.S. Department of State entitled 'Visit to Darfur' by U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration, Monday, 26 July 2010.
Sudan update - U.S. Department of State, 10 July 2010 Click here to read a report at the website of U.S. Department of State entitled “We Must Not, Will Not Lose Sight of Darfur” by U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration, 10 July 2010.
A Russian-owned helicopter that landed in the wrong place in Darfur has been recovered with all the passengers and crew except the Russian pilot, the top international envoy in the volatile Sudanese region said Tuesday.
Ibrahim Gambari, the joint representative of the United Nations and African Union, said peacekeepers from the U.N.-AU force in Darfur are working with the Sudanese government and rebel movements to locate the missing pilot and "see to his release."
The helicopter, which was assigned to the U.N.-AU force, disappeared Monday while transporting three members of the rebel Liberation Justice Movement from peace negotiations with the government in Doha, Qatar, to locations in South Darfur, Gambari said. He spoke with reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council in New York.
Early Tuesday, Gambari said, the peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, made contact with three of the four crew on the helicopter and an international staff member.
They reported that they were at a Sudanese government location south of Menawashi in South Darfur, he said.
Gambari said a UNAMID helicopter went to the site with another pilot who flew the helicopter, the crew and passengers to safety.
"Apparently, they landed in what was the wrong place, and it seems that it was a place not fully in control of the government," he said.
"The good news is the government took it very seriously and worked with us and we retrieved the helicopter and everybody except the captain," Gambari said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement earlier Tuesday that four Russians and five Sudanese nationals were aboard the helicopter, which it said had been seized Monday [26 July] by rebels. It said the men were not hurt.
Gambari told the Security Council on Tuesday that there has been "a spike in criminal acts and attacks against U.N. and humanitarian personnel" in Darfur.
In 2009, he said, UNAMID peacekeepers were attacked on 28 occasions resulting in 10 deaths and 26 injuries, and two UNAMID personnel and six humanitarian workers were kidnapped. [...]
(Moscow) - Russian airline UTair on Tuesday claimed that a helicopter belonging to the company that was previously reported to have been abducted by militants in Sudanese region of Darfur has returned to its permanent base.
"The helicopter with its crew on board returned to its permanent base, the community of Nyala, Sudan, at 7:39 p.m. Moscow time (1539 GMT) on July 27," said the company as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
"No one among the crew members and passengers has been harmed, and the aircraft has not been damaged," it added.
Earlier in the day Russian Foreign Ministry said Darfur militants abducted the helicopter with four Russian crew members and five Sudanese passengers on board on Monday.
The helicopter was on a joint peacekeeping mission of the United Nations and the African Union in Darfur.
However, according to the airline, the Mi-8MTV chopper was seized by Sudanese authorities after landing for a stopover on Sudanese territory.
"UN employees are investigating the incident. The UTair airline, along with the Russian Embassy and UN officials in Sudan, is taking the necessary measures to clarify the situation," said the company. Editor: yan
27 July 2010 - Two aid workers from the German government’s disaster relief organization, Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), have been released after 35 days in captivity. They were picked up safely today near Kabkabiya, North Darfur, by a UNAMID helicopter and taken to Nyala, South Darfur. Both are reportedly in good health.
In Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, five IDP sheikhs (leaders) who fled to UNAMID’s local police center on 25 July remain in the Mission’s facility at the camp. They had sought refuge after allegedly receiving threats for opposing the Doha negotiations.
Tensions are high in the camp after fighting broke out on 24 July between IDP representatives who attended the latest round of Doha talks and those who did not participate. One person was injured, but no fatalities were reported. Two suspects were also arrested by the Sudanese authorities for the attempted assault of a sheikh who attended the conference.
UNAMID has increased its presence in the camp and is working with community leaders and local authorities to help resolve the situation.
26 July 2010 - The situation in Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp is calm but remains tense following events on 24 July when gunmen identifying themselves as members of the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid faction (SLA-AW) began shooting indiscriminately, protesting the involvement of several IDP leaders in the Doha talks. Although no fatalities were reported, one person was injured. UNAMID has increased its presence in the camp and is working in collaboration with local authorities and community leaders to defuse tensions.
No further incidents have been reported in the past 24 hours.
25 July 2010 - Sporadic shooting was heard around midnight yesterday at Kalma Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, in South Darfur. According to UNAMID police, gunmen identifying themselves as members of the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid faction (SLA-AW) began shooting indiscriminately from about 0020 hours until 0130 hours.
Kalma camp has over 100,000 IDPs and is the second largest in the world after Graida camp in South Darfur. Tensions had been rising in the settlement since the conclusion of the latest round of Doha talks last week, with a number of IDPs claiming that they were not fully represented.
One person sustained a gunshot injury, but no fatalities have been reported. Two suspects have been arrested by the authorities for the attempted assault of a sheikh (tribal leader). Five sheikhs have sought refuge this morning at UNAMID’s nearby location, fearing for their lives. UNAMID peacekeepers have increased their patrols in the area and the Mission is currently negotiating with the camp’s leaders to prevent a further escalation of violence.
Two hundred and fifty representatives of Darfur’s civil society attended the negotiations, which began on 12 July. The 60 representatives of IDPs and refugees had been in Doha, Qatar, since 27 June to attend a separate two-day meeting held the next day aimed at addressing their concerns. All envoys were elected by their constituents after months of deliberation, gatherings and training workshops, many of which were facilitated by UNAMID.
25 July 2010 - Leaders in Ardamata IDP camp, near El Geneina, West Darfur, have approached UNAMID with reports that a number of residents who left the camps to cultivate crops on their lands were harassed by armed men.
IDPs claimed that they were physically assaulted in four locations less than 10 kilometers outside El Geneina. The armed men reportedly destroyed the seedlings and replanted the farmlands, having claimed them as their own.
With the beginning of the rainy season this month, IDPs all over Darfur have received seeds and farm tools and many felt safe enough to leave the camps regularly to farm their lands. UNAMID brought the matter to the attention of local authorities and will meet with them about helping to prevent similar incidents in the future in order to encourage IDPs to voluntarily return to their regions.
Sudanese singer and Darfur native, Omer Ihsas, performs the final match of the Nelson Mandela Cup, organized by UNAMID in El Fasher, Darfur, western Sudan
Photo: Football players from Abu Shouk playing the final match of the Nelson Mandela Cup, organized by UNAMID. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID)
Photo: Sudanese singer and Darfur native, Omer Ihsas, performs the final match of the Nelson Mandela Cup, organized by UNAMID in El Fasher. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID)
Photo: Football players from Abu Shouk playing the final match of the Nelson Mandela Cup, organized by UNAMID. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID)
GOOD NEWS. According to news reports published online yesterday (29 June), leaders from the Misseriya and Rizeigat groups signed a reconciliation deal in the West Darfur town of Zalingei on Monday (28 June), said UNAMID (United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur) in a statement.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Governor of Western Darfur state and nine leaders from different tribes. Fighting between the two communities began in February last year. The chairman of the reconciliation committee, who is the minister of education in Western Darfur state, Abdalla Khamis Mohammed, spoke to SRS (Sudan Radio Service) on Tuesday (red highlighting in this blog post is mine):
[Abdalla Khamis]: “Both parties should abide by the agreement and stop being hostile towards each other. They should open paths for each other, and the rule of law should be attained by stripping tribes of their weapons and ammunition, this will be done in the presence of the nine tribes. The Messiriya was represented by Algomi Al-Tahir Hamid, while Rizeygat was headed by Alhag Khadam Abdulkarim Mohamed.”
See further details and related reports here below, including a copy of Rebecca Hamilton's article regarding her interview with Sudanese Sheikh Musa Hilal, chief of the Rizeigat tribe. Although the interview took place in Sudan and the article was published last December, I held back from chronicling it here at Sudan Watch mainly because I took a dim view of its poor tabloid style content and crazy title: "The Monster of Darfur".
In my view, most of Ms Hamilton's writings on Sudan are dangerously naive and disrespectful. They make me cringe and my blood boil. To my mind, her irresponsible "reporting" and political activism is, like many other people on the Darfur bandwagon, driven by self interest. To be fair, Ms Hamilton is quite a talented writer. I wish I could write half as well as she does. Her training as a lawyer enables her to articulate in a manner that gives people the impression she really knows what she is talking about. If my memory serves me correctly, Ms Hamilton (pictured below) is a New Zealand-born Australian and was educated at Harvard in Boston, USA. According to her recent tweets on Twitter, she has just emigrated from Australia to the US. Incidentally, Sudan Watch receives a lot of visitors located in Australia.
For the record, here below is a sample of Ms Hamilton's tweets. Note that some of her tweets at Twitter have been deleted. After following her writings on Sudan over the past few years, I am amazed that she feels confident about visiting Sudan again. Why she expects to be permitted as a guest in Sudan is beyond my comprehension. Apart from the millions of lives and livelihoods at stake, what upsets me most about her writings is that they bring professional journalists (especially females) into danger and disrepute. Real war correspondents such as Julie Flint have risked their health and lives to report from Sudan. Any person can dub themselves a 'human rights activist' and think it is their right to say and do as they please. Unlike professional journalists, there is no code of conduct for 'human rights activists'. It seems to me that the business of human rights and its related activism is a cash cow concocted by and for lawyers and other opportunists who benefit from peoples misfortunes. Note who is making money from human rights issues and how terrorists and self proclaimed 'freedom fighters' are make a living. Most of them are feeding off the backs of illiterate poverty stricken people, like blood sucking leeches.
As a matter of fact, the Rebecca Hamilton's of this world are doing a disservice to the people of Sudan. Many thousands of officials and experts behind the scenes in and around Sudan know exactly what is going on but because Sudan is a tinder box of a war zone, and for the good of Africa and its residents, they wisely say the least. Surely, irresponsible people such as gobby Hamilton who are not professional war correspondents are either naive or stupid or foolish, or all three. Maybe it's a Harvard thing. It seems to me that when it comes to issues of democracy and human rights, Harvard educated people are brainwashed into a blinkered way of thinking. They all appear to think and speak in the same way, like robots produced in a factory. It reminds me of a sect, i.e. a faction united by common interests or beliefs. Interestingly, the best Western reporters on Sudan are all Brits.
Here is the copy of some of Hamilton's tweets. (Note that her bio on Twitter says "Currently writing book examining impact of advocacy on Darfur policy")
bechamilton: just sunk 2 hrs of my life into getting 2 ppl in kht who have each others ph #s to actually manage to talk Twitter / bechamilton 30 June 2010 18:07
bechamilton: on plus side, have had time to catch up with my favorite colonel from fasher who is now making the adjustment back to headquarters Twitter / bechamilton 29 June 2010 21:37
bechamilton: exploring our new country on roadtrip honeymoon. now in kentucky abt to go to bluegrass music festival. i leave for sudan in 4 days. Twitter / bechamilton 25 June 2010 15:38
Heading to airport. Immigrant visa in passport and brown envelope full of docs. Very excited to be immigrating to U.S. 10:30 PM 13 June 2010 via web
bechamilton: It's right to have sticks AND carrots available but #ICC Art 16 shld not be thought of as part of that toolbox: http://bit.ly/cKykfe #IJC Twitter / bechamilton 11 June 2010 14:48
bechamilton: Wondering what the protocol is for an ICC judge commenting on my blog that he is offended by my language . . http://bit.ly/9FUA0E #IJC Twitter / bechamilton 11 February 2010 09:26 *
Cool. My @TNR piece on Musa Hilal made the most viewed list.(Wld have prefered the one on services for rape survivors had instead though) 10:56 PM 04 December 2009 via web
*[Copy of comment at Rebecca Hamilton's blog - Posted by Cuno Tarfusser http://bechamilton.com/?p=1641#comments I had the opportunity to read your comment headed “No Criminal” on the Abu Garda decision of PTC I of the ICC and without going into the merits of the decision itself and your opinion about it, let me just say that I am astonished and I feel offended myself by the offensive language you used defining my colleagues, reducing what has been a serious and extensive legal debate between us to triviality. It is even worse that you present your debatable opinion as if it was mine “But to paraphrase:…”. Therefore I would like to express here my friendship, solidarity and esteem to my two colleagues, discussions with whom on legal issues and otherwise always have been and always will be informed by the utmost mutual respect.
Copy of reply comment - posted by Bec Hamilton: Dear Judge Tarfusser
I apologize for any implication that you do not have the greatest respect for your colleagues. My “para-phrase” was tongue-in-cheek (I am, at times to my detriment, the product of an Australian culture of irreverence) – the tone of which was inappropriate to impute to you.
For the record, please see amendment in post above.
Best Bec Hamilton ]
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RELATED REPORTS AND FURTHER READING
Copy of an extract from Wikipedia online, the free encyclopedia:
Janjaweed جنجويد Dates of operation: 1987 - present[1] Leader: Sheikh Musa Hilal Active region(s): Darfur, Sudan Ideology: Islamic fundamentalism Status: Active Size: Unknown (less than 25,000 est.) The Janjaweed (Arabic: جنجويد; variously transliterated Janjawid, in translation means "Devil on Horseback" ) is a blanket term used to describe mostly armed gunmen in Darfur, western Sudan, and now eastern Chad.[2] Using the United Nations definition, the Janjaweed comprised Arab tribes, the core of whom are from the Abbala (camel herder) background with significant Lambo recruitment from the Baggara (cattle herder) people. This UN definition may not necessarily be accurate, as instances of members from other tribes have been noted. In the past, they were at odds with Darfur's sedentary population overnatural grazing grounds and farmland, as rainfall dwindled and water became scarce. They are currently in conflict with Darfur rebel groups—the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. Since 2003 they have been one of the main players in the Darfur conflict, which has pitted the largely nomadic tribes against the sedentary population of the regionin a battle over resource and land allocation.[3]
KHARTOUM - Tuesday, 29 June 2010 (Reuters) - Two rival Arab tribes have signed a peace deal in Sudan's Darfur region, peacekeepers said on Tuesday, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed more than 200 people since March.
Leaders from the Misseriya and Rizeigat groups signed a reconciliation deal in the West Darfur town of Zalingei on Monday, said Darfur's U.N./African Union UNAMID mission in a statement.
The two groups have been caught in a cycle of revenge attacks since the killing of two members of the Misseriya group early in March.
UNAMID said hundreds of people had been forced to flee the fighting which one U.N. source has said may also have been based onan underlying struggle for control of fertile grazing land.
The deal came after weeks of meetings between the two groups and officials from the peacekeepers and local government. [...]
29 June 2010 - Two Darfur tribes, the Misseriya and Rezeigat Nouaiba, yesterday signed a reconciliation agreement in Zalingei, West Darfur. The ceremony, held at the local University, was attended by the Wali (Governor) of West Darfur, officials from the Sudanese Judicial and Legislative Council, senior military and police officials and members of the Native Authority, as well as officials from UNAMID.
Since the conflict began in early March between the two tribes, more than 200 people have died in clashes and hundreds have been displaced.
A reconciliation committee was established on 29 April involving native administrations and local leaders, with UNAMID and the Darfur Peace and Reconciliation Council (DPRC) in order to assist the tribes in reaching a lasting peace accord. A conference was organized last month in Zalingei aimed at addressing the causes of the conflict and to discuss ways in bringing the two tribes to a peaceful resolution.
[...] Sporadic clashes between the two groups first erupted in early March, with the most recent outbreak occurring last week in two villages not far from Zalingei. The latest fighting reportedly killed 20 people.
UNAMID, the Darfur Peace and Reconciliation Council and local leaders and native administrations set up a reconciliation committee earlier this year to try to end the fighting, and a conference was also held last month in Zalingei as part of efforts to tackle the root causes of the conflict.
Click on various labels at the end of this blog post to view related reports in the archives of Sudan Watch. - - -
The forgotten Arab victims of the Darfur Sudan Chad conflict
Among Arab leaders there is growing frustration that they are the forgotten people, accused of being Janjaweed when many families played no part in the conflict, or lost everything when they could ignore it no longer.
They accuse aid workers, celebrities and campaigners with the Save Darfur Campaign of concentrating efforts on the African tribes, neglecting the suffering of Arab communities.
Adam Mohammed Hamid, of the Nomad Development Council of Sudan in Khartoum, said: “People think they know who the Arabs are, but they don’t. They come to Sudan and speak to the African tribes, but no one speaks to the Arabs. Many are not fighting. Some are in the rebels. It is not what people think.”
Photo and caption from Sudan Watch archives May 2006: Musa Hilal, an Arab tribal chief accused by the United States of leading a dreaded militia in Darfur, rides his horse in Misitiriyha in north Darfur, Sudan, May 10, 2005. Musa told Reuters in an interview that he would not go to a court outside Sudan but would accept a fair trial in the country and added that if national trials for war crimes in the western region were unjust or political, he would fight this with all the means at his disposal. Picture taken May 10, 2005. (Reuters/Beatrice Mategwa Wed May 11, 2005; 2:47 PM ET)
Photo and caption from Sudan Watch archives May 2006: Musa Hilal, chief of Arab Rizeigat tribe in Mistiriyha, North Darfur, Sudan May 10, 2005 (Reuters/Taipei Times)
Photo and caption from Sudan Watch archives May 2006: Sudanese tribal leaders (from L to R) Ibrahim Abdalla Mohamed, Saeed Mahmoud Madibo, Mostafa Omer Ahmed, Ahmed Alsamani and Mohamed Adam Rijal wait to participate in a meeting with rebel groups during negotiations on a peace plan for Darfur in Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, 02 May 2006. The government of Sudan has accepted an 85-page draft settlement but three Darfur rebel factions refused to sign, saying they were unhappy with the proposals on security, power-sharing and wealth-sharing. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde)
Photo and caption from Sudan Watch archives May 2006: Sudanese tribal leaders attend the Darfur talks at the venue of the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday, 02 May 2006. (AP/ST)
Photo and caption from Sudan Watch archives 26 September 2004: Arab tribal leaders (from left) Ramadhan Daju Hassan, Mohammed Idris Maghrib and former member of parliament Obeid Habullah Dico calling for peace in West Darfur, Sudan. - - -
"THE MONSTER OF DARFUR" by Rebecca Hamilton
For the record, here is a copy of the article (mentioned above) by Rebecca Hamilton, published on The New Republic (http://www.tnr.com) 03 December 2009; 12:00 am:
The Monster of Darfur Musa Hilal has the blood of hundreds of thousands on his hands, but the Janjaweed leader claims he's just a peacemaker.
In late February 2004, Janjaweed militias and Sudanese government forces waged a three-day, coordinated assault on Tawila, a village in northern Darfur. Government aircrafts destroyed buildings, while the Janjaweed broke into a girls’ boarding school, forced the students to strip naked at gunpoint, and then gang-raped and abducted many of them. Video footage shows fly-covered corpses strewn among the village's smoldering ruins. And giving orders and distributing weapons during the siege, eyewitnesses say, was Sheikh Musa Hilal.
Hilal's name looms large on the list of perpetrators who’ve committed atrocities in Darfur since violence erupted there in 2003. At Khartoum's request, he organized the Janjaweed, predominantly Arab militias that have operated hand-in-glove with the Sudanese government to cleanse Darfur of its non-Arab population. Hilal, who is now almost 50 years old, is among those most responsible for the deaths of more than 200,000 people and the displacement of another 2.7 million. The U.S. government has sanctioned him, and the United Nations has issued a travel ban and asset freeze against him. In mid-2006, Hilal stopped giving English-language media interviews.
This past August, however, he agreed to meet with me--three years and two months since he had last spent time with a Western journalist. Sheikh Musa, as Hilal is known by his Mahamid clan, said that he wanted to correct the “misperceptions” the world has about him.
At his palatial villa in Khartoum, where paintings of Mecca and Medina adorn the walls, Hilal greeted me wearing a flowing white djellabya and a smile on his lightly freckled face. He escorted me and my translator across his porch, past a group of men sitting cross-legged on mats--Hilal’s relatives, who double as his bodyguards because he only trusts his tribe for security. As we settled into his lounge room, servants offered us chilled Coca-Cola and bottled water. Caramels with “Made in Poland” wrappers sat in small crystal bowls on the coffee tables.
Hilal was hospitable, even charming, as he discussed his career with me, insisting that he is anything but the cold-hearted criminal the world thinks he is. Since January 2008, he has worked as an adviser to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, so he spends his days in an air-conditioned office next to President Omar Al Bashir's Republican Palace on the edge of the Blue Nile. It's a far cry from the deserts of Darfur. But Hilal told me that he didn’t accept the offer of a bureaucracy position immediately. “I said to [the president], ‘I am the leader of my tribe. … I am a very rich man. I know there are some advisers who just sit here to get money, but I want to actually have a job--solving the problem of Darfur!’” he recounted, with a grandiose sweep of his arm. Hilal shifted his embroidered taqiyah, a skull cap, back from his forehead, revealing a receding hairline. “I said, ‘If all I do is sit here--well, I can sit with my tribe. Also, if you think I need this position to make me famous, I don’t. I am already known all over the world.’”
Hilal agreed to the new job when Al Bashir told him that he could be “useful” in Darfur. Leaning forward in his chair, to be sure he had my full attention, Hilal explained that "useful" is all he's ever wanted to be. "All my work," he said, "depends on struggling hard to make peace in Darfur."
Hilal became the leader of some 300,000 Mahamid, an Arab tribe in Darfur, in the late 1980s, as an influx of weapons was seeping into Sudan from Chad and Libya. This ignited Darfur’s troubles, Hilal said, because African tribes started demanding more government representation and support--and they suddenly had the means to fight for it. "They only cared about their own tribes--the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaleit. They started to attack the Arab tribes," Hilal said, pulling at his faint, graying goatee. "We Arab leaders told them that this way--fighting--was not a good solution.” (He didn't mention his involvement with the Libyan-supported "Arab Gathering," or Al Tajama al Arabi, an ethnically polarizing political movement described by Sudan expert Alex de Waal as “a vehicle for militarized Arab supremacism.”)
Tensions continued to mount over the next several years, and, in late 2002, the governor of North Darfur arrested Hilal because he hoped that removing him from the region would dissipate ethnic hostilities. While Hilal was under house arrest, however, rebel forces in Darfur attacked a Sudanese air base, and Khartoum asked the Mahamid leader to become an ally--specifically, to recruit and coordinate local Arabs to serve in proxy militias for the government. “We accepted this invitation of the government to be armed by them, and, from that time on, we stood with the government," Hilal said.
At the height of the atrocities in Darfur, the Janjaweed that Hilal recruited systematically terrorized, raped, and killed non-Arab civilians. As the militias surrounded villages, the Sudanese air force would destroy homes, schools, and markets with crude bombs. As villagers tried to flee, the Janjaweed were there to complete the destruction.
As Hilal describes it, however, his goal has always been “for all the people who fight to come and sit together to find peace.” When I brought up a 2004 memo that he wrote for Janjaweed commanders and the government’s security and intelligence services, stating his objective to “change the demography of Darfur” and to “rid Darfur of all African tribes,” Hilal scoffed. “False,” he said, claiming that he had never written it. "Why would I want to take the Africans out when I myself am African?” With a laugh, he said that alleging differences between ethnic groups in Darfur is "out of date. No one … today will say ‘I am Arab' or 'I am African.’”
The Sudanese government first promised to disarm the Janjaweed in 2004. But, after meeting Hilal, I traveled to Darfur and saw a group of the militiamen on the outskirts of Kalma, one of the region's largest displaced persons camp. (United Nations staff told me that the Janjaweed are often there.) When the women in the camp leave to collect firewood or seek work in town, they know that they risk being attacked. I was told of one woman who, while walking away from the camp just a few weeks earlier, was approached by a man she described as Janjaweed. He had a young boy with him. The man grabbed the woman, tore off her clothes, beat her, and raped her. When he finished, he said to the boy, “Now it’s your turn with the black woman.”
After my return from Darfur, Hilal agreed to meet with me for a second time. It was late at night and pouring rain. My driver, fearful that Sudan’s ubiquitous national intelligence and security agents might see his car stationed outside Hilal’s house, insisted on parking some blocks away. By the time I got to the front gate, I had waded ankle-deep through Khartoum's muddy streets. (One of Hilal's armed guards rinsed the mud from my feet with a garden hose.)
Hilal stood to greet me, and we entered his lounge-room once again, where servants offered freshly squeezed orange juice. This time, however, he had an English-speaking relative accompany him--presumably a safety net to make sure my translator didn't misconstrue any of Sheikh Musa’s words.
Hilal seemed genuinely slighted that I had traveled to Darfur without him. “Next time you go, I will pay for you to go with me!” he said, with a characteristic sweep of his hand. It was the same invitation he had made to Samantha Power when she was writing a piece for The New Yorker some five years earlier. Now, as then, Hilal also refused to take responsibility for the violence and despair in Darfur. Regarding President Omar Al Bashir's indictment by the ICC earlier this year, he said simply, “I object.” Asked if he is concerned about being indicted himself, he replied dismissively, “I feel the same as Bashir: This court is not our concern.” Still, he flinched the first time I said ICC, even before my question was translated. And he stopped accentuating his words with the open and confident gestures of a man accustomed to respect, instead assuming the closed, cross-armed posture of a man under attack.
Hilal soon steered the conversation back to the rehearsed lines from our first meeting, about how he hopes, particularly in his bureaucratic role, to create dialogue among the people of Darfur. President Al Bashir's decision to appoint Hilal as a formal adviser was likely a signal to the proxy Arab militias that, as the ICC began indicting people suspected of crimes in Darfur, the government wouldn't hang them out to dry. But having the Janjaweed leader on its formal payroll is also sure to be problematic as Sudan seeks to normalize relations with the West.
Hilal, however, is undeterred by such concerns. He told me that the world needs to recognize the real victims of the Darfur conflict: the Arabs. As Hilal explains it, Arabs were forced to flee their villages long before any “zurga” (literally “black,” a derogatory term for non-Arabs). But, he added scathingly, “[W]e would never go to a [displaced persons] camp and be seen as beggars." To solve the crisis in Darfur, Arabs have to be in charge, he continued. "We have the majority in the field. We have the majority of the livestock. There can be no solution without us”. He sat back in his chair and lit a cigarette. “I am not the leader of the Janjaweed. I am the leader of all the Arab tribes in Darfur,” Hilal said, his relaxed confidence returning.
Putting out his half-finished cigarette, Hilal indicated to my translator that the interview was over. I pushed for one more question, and asked if he has any regrets about his conduct in Darfur. He paused to think. “I have an idea for a solution in Darfur, but I have not been able to implement it on the ground," he said, offering no details. “This is the one thing I am sorry for."
Rebecca Hamilton is the author of the forthcoming book The Promise of Engagement. She is an Open Society Fellow and a visiting fellow at the National Security Archives.
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Announcing . . .
FIGHTING FOR DARFUR: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide
to be published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, Feb. 1, 2011
If you haven’t written a book before you’d be amazed at just how hard it is to nail down a title that both the author and the sales & marketing department can agree on – so it’s a relief to have reached this point. It’s not the most creative title in the world and I’m still rather partial to The Promise of Engagement (though have long conceded that the risk it poses of attracting those in the spousal market is a totally fair critique!) – however I’m satisfied that what we’ve settled on clearly signals what the book is all about, and am happy to have truth in advertising.
I’m still in editing lock-down, but hope to resume blogging again over the summer.
