In a statement posted on its website, the BBC said it hoped ongoing talks with the Sudanese authorities would allow local FM broadcasting to resume. The suspension has deprived the residents of northern Sudan of one of the country’s most important news outlets
Reporters Without Borders notes the announcement by the director-general of National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on 7 August that prior censorship of Sudan’s newspapers has been lifted. The government’s media department notified the national media of the decision, which most newspapers reported in their 8 August issues
Sudan government official recently demanded that the country's journalists must provide private information that includes their political views, friends, addresses, bank details and even the floor plans of their houses
(KHARTOUM, Sudan) - Reporters Without Borders notes the announcement by the director-general of National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) on 7 August that prior censorship of Sudan’s newspapers has been lifted. The government’s media department notified the national media of the decision, which most newspapers reported in their 8 August issues.
In a news conference on 7 August, the head of the NISS press office said prior censorship had been needed to combat the publication of false reports. Quoting the NISS director-general, he said some articles had aimed to destroy Sudan’s relations with its neighbours. Attempts to stir up division and inter-ethnic hatred had given the authorities no choice but to censor all newspapers, including the responsible ones, he said.
Announcing the lifting of prior censorship, the NISS spokesman thanked all the Sudanese print media on behalf of the director-general for their positive attitude towards the instructions they have received from the censors and for their cooperation with security personnel.
But he warned journalists to behave responsibly and to censor themselves on issues that could threaten national unity. And he added that the Sudanese authorities had a constitutional right to introduce partial or total censorship again whenever national stability and unity were threatened by newspaper articles.
Reporters Without Borders wonders which article of the constitution gives the security services the right they claim to impose censorship. This announcement was designed to make international observers think that press freedom is being restored in Sudan, but in fact it is a slap in the face.
Prior censorship may have been lifted, but the announcement has been accompanied by so many warnings that it is clear that nothing is going to change. The situation will remain the same and journalists will not be able to express themselves freely on key issues such as Southern Sudan’s autonomy.
Reporters Without Borders wrote recently to Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir calling for an end to censorship. Link to the letter: http://en.rsf.org/sudan-reporters-without-borders-writes-13-07-2010,37938.html.
In another example of how Sudanese journalists are kept under surveillance, the security services distributed a questionnaire to them last month with more than 20 detailed questions about such matters as their political affiliation, their home, the plans of their house, the names and professions of their close relatives and their car registration number.
Journalists who have been slow to cooperate have been summoned by security officials and questioned until they provided the required information.
The questionnaire is a serious violation of journalists’ civil liberties and is very intimidatory. When outspoken journalists are sought by the security services, they are now served up on a silver platter. They can be tracked down geographically, socially and politically. The security authorities know their car registration and the plan of their home. Reporters Without Borders is deeply shocked by this measure and worried for the safety of Sudan’s journalists.
This disturbing trend is confirmed by other recent developments. The government told the BBC on 9 August that an agreement allowing it to broadcast its Arabic-language service on local FM frequencies was being suspended until further notice. The BBC’s broadcasts were stopped the same day in four cities in northern Sudan (Khartoum, Port Sudan, Wad Madani and Al-Ubayad).
The authorities insisted that the suspension was the result of the BBC’s failure to comply with the terms of the agreement governing its local operations and had nothing to do with programme content.
In a statement posted on its website, the BBC said it hoped ongoing talks with the Sudanese authorities would allow local FM broadcasting to resume. The suspension has deprived the residents of northern Sudan of one of the country’s most important news outlets. Link to the statement: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10912871.
Sudan is ranked 148th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
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Sudan suspends BBC radio broadcasts Source: Roy Greenslade guardian.co.uk/Index on Censorship/CPJ Date: Thursday 12 August 2010 09.18 BST - - -
Noteworthy comment at above report from Guardian by Sosha, 12 Aug 2010, 11:43AM:
How do you suspend a radio station? This a good argument for keeping analogue alive? (Know nothing - just curious).
DREADFUL news just in from AFP and Reuters. Shortly after midnight, the BBC broadcasts on FM radio in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum could no longer be heard while other stations were operating normally:
"The government ... is stopping the BBC's FM service working in Khartoum, Port Sudan, Medani and el-Obeid and is suspending the agreement signed between the BBC and (the government) from August 9, 2010," said an Information Ministry statement published by the state news agency SUNA on Sunday.
The four locations mentioned are the main towns in the north and the measure would effectively end FM broadcasts in Arabic by the BBC in the north.
BBC Arabic in North Sudan still available on short wave, satellite or via the BBC website.
Full story below. I say, without a shadow of doubt, the Sudanese government is making a terrible mistake by even thinking of stopping any broadcasts by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Without the BBC, people in Sudan and surrounding areas would be forced to receive and share news from other sources that are not as trustworthy, accurate or professional which in the age of mobile phones and the internet could easily and quickly work against the best interests of the Sudanese people and their government.
I think it is of the utmost importance that the BBC is encouraged to broadcast throughout Sudan, southern Sudan and Chad and that all residents of IDP camps in Sudan and Chad are able to receive BBC news uninterrupted. In fact, I think that the Sudanese government ought to ensure, as a matter of urgency, that every Sudanese householder has access to a radio as soon as possible.
Nowadays, too much misinformation is flying around the airwaves and cyberspace which cannot be stopped. The only way to counteract misinformation and propaganda, and ensure there is a mechanism for averting chaos and panic, is to provide an easily accessible news service that is trusted by members of the public. The BBC is a reliable world class news source with expert translators which millions of people around the world trust and turn to for checking news reports and facts. In a war zone, radio is of paramount importance and is much more effective and efficient than television and the internet. In fact, radio, even during peacetime, is a lifeline for everyone.
As part of the preparations for Sudan's referenda and peace talks, I dearly wish that the Sudanese government would distribute, free of charge, a solar powered wind-up radio to each Sudanese householder residing in Sudan or Chad who needs a radio.
The BBC is a public service funded by the people of Britain, not the government. Each householder with a television or radio in Britain pays a compulsory annual license fee to the BBC or faces being fined or jailed. It is the only way we Brits can be sure of having a public news service that is not in the pay of government or business owners with vested interests. I have just checked my bank statement and can confirm that £12.12 is deducted monthly from my bank account to pay for my BBC license. In Sudan, people would be receiving our incredible news service free of charge. The least the Sudanese government could do for its people is to work with the BBC to expand its services throughout Sudan and distribute radios in the name of peace. Think of the children of Sudan, it is their future that is being played with right now.
(Khartoum) - Sudan said Sunday it was suspending its agreement enabling the BBC to broadcast in Arabic on FM radio frequencies for reasons that have nothing to do with its newscasts, AFP reported.
In a statement carried by the official Suna news agency, the information ministry alleged that the British public broadcaster had imported technical equipment via diplomatic courier.
The suspension would take effect on Monday, it said, but it was unclear whether it would entail a halt to broadcasts.
(KHARTOUM) - Sudan halted Monday BBC broadcasts in Arabic on FM radio frequencies after suspending its agreement with the British public broadcaster for reasons it said had nothing to do with its newscasts.
In a statement carried by the official Suna news agency late on Sunday, the information ministry alleged that the BBC had imported technical equipment via British diplomatic courier.
Shortly after midnight, the BBC broadcasts on FM radio in the Sudanese capital could no longer be heard while other stations were operating normally.
The information ministry also took the BBC to task for training schemes in the absence of a "final agreement" with Khartoum, and for broadcasting in the southern Sudanese capital Juba without central government approval.
"The suspension has no connection at all with news broadcast by the BBC from Sudan," the statement said. With four broadcasting locations inside Sudan, plus shortwave services, the BBC is a major source of news in Sudan, the biggest country in Africa whose population of 40 million mostly speak Arabic.
BBC Arabic radio suspended in north Sudan Report from Reuters - Sunday, 08 August 2010 11:22pm BST (Reporting by Opheera McDoom; editing by Andrew Dobbie) - excerpt:
The BBC's licence to broadcast in Arabic on local frequencies in north Sudan will be suspended from Monday, the government announced, citing violations by the broadcaster such as smuggling in satellite equipment.
Many Sudanese, especially Darfuri refugees in camps in the war-torn west, rely on the Arabic-language service and the British broadcaster has a long history in Africa's largest country.
"The government ... is stopping the BBC's FM service working in Khartoum, Port Sudan, Medani and el-Obeid and is suspending the agreement signed between the BBC and (the government) from August 9, 2010," said an Information Ministry statement published by the state news agency SUNA on Sunday.
The four locations mentioned are the main towns in the north and the measure would effectively end FM broadcasts in Arabic by the BBC in the north.
Sudan has often clamped down on local media but generally does not censor foreign news organisations.
The government said the BBC had tried to smuggle in satellite equipment in a diplomatic pouch, that it was working in South Sudan without permission from the central authorities and that the BBC's charitable arm was working in the country without the correct permits.
Visiting journalists often complain Sudanese visas and travel permits to conflict zones once inside the country are difficult to obtain.
All foreigners resident in the country are subject to strict travel restrictions and must obtain permits to visit many of Sudan's regions.
The BBC has previously said it was in talks with the government to continue broadcasting.
"We would be very disappointed if the Sudanese people in northern Sudan were no longer able to access the impartial news and current affairs of BBC Arabic on FM radio," it said in a statement sent to Reuters earlier.
It added the station would still be available on short wave, satellite or via the BBC website.
On Saturday, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir warned foreign organisations including aid agencies they would be expelled if they failed to respect the authority of the government.
Last month Sudan expelled two aid workers from the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration. [...]
Photo: A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) satellite dish is seen behind houses in west London, October 18, 2007. Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville
Sudanese journalists welcome lifting of press gag Report from Sudan Tribune - Monday, 09 August 2010 by Muhammad Osman, August 8, 2010 (KHARTOUM) - A Sudanese journalist and a local watchdog of press freedom have welcomed the decision of the Sudanese authorities to lift pre-publication censorship against local newspapers but they both expected the practice to make a comeback soon...
August 8, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan Tribune journalist Manyang Mayom was awarded for his 'commitment to free expression and courage in the face of political ...
A report published here at Sudan Watch on Sunday, 01 August 2010 received many hits and tweets from people all over the world. The report by SRS (Sudan Radio Service) first published on 27 July 2010, announced that foreigners in southern Sudan who failed to register by August 4th will be arrested.
Today, SRS reported that the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) has extended the deadline for registration for another seven days, to August 12th. Here is a copy of the report in full:
Thursday, 05 August 2010 - (Juba) – The GOSS Ministry of Internal Affairs has extended the deadline for the registration of foreigners in southern Sudan for another seven days.
Speaking to SRS in Juba on Thursday, the Director of the South Sudan Migration Office, Brigadier Elia Kosta, said that the extension of the registration period was because some of the foreigners have not yet registered.
[Elia Kosta]: “We announced that all the foreigners’ presents in Juba should come for registration within a two week period. The two weeks ended yesterday and we found that some foreigners were still coming for registration because there were some documents that we need from them. So they went to bring those documents. That is why we decided to extend the period for seven more days. This is to enable them finish their registration process. So far we have registered more than 2 thousand people.”
Kosta warned legal action would be taken against people who do not register by Thursday 12th August.
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UPDATE: Report by Radio Miraya - Wednesday, 04 August 2010 20:17:
S Sudan immigration office extends registration of foreigners The southern Sudan Immigration and Passport office has extended days for registration of foreigners for one more week. The deadline expired on Wednesday; the extension is to give more time for all foreigners to register.
Speaking to Radio Miraya the Director of Immigration and Passport, Colonel Elia Costa Foustino, said that over two thousand foreigners have registered between January and August this year. Foustino said those who fail to register within the extended days will be arrested and deported.
After the signing of the CPA, the government of southern Sudan opened up the region to investors, but some GOSS officials have expressed disappointment over the contribution of the private sector to the lives of southern Sudanese.
Speaking to Sudan Radio Service by phone from Yirol on Wednesday, the commissioner of Yirol East county, Atien Majak Malou, said that the attack occurred in Yalli payam.
The EU commission for Humanitarian Aid is appealing for an additional 40 million Euros to respond to the worsening food crisis in the Sahel and Sudan.
Speaking to SRS from Brussels on Wednesday, the head of unit in charge of Sudan and the Central Africa, Andrea Koulaimah, confirmed that the commission has made a request to the EU budgetary authorities.
The chairperson of the National Congress Party in Lakes state Thomas Buai Malek and about 30 party members have defected to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
The SPLM has strongly criticized a statement made by the presidential adviser Salah Gosh, doubting the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration concerning the Abyei boundary.
Over the weekend, Gosh told SUNA that the ruling made by the PCA to redefine the boundaries of Abyei area did not resolve the dispute.
The minister of cabinet affairs in the national government says that the remaining period towards the referendum will be the most crucial time in Sudan’s history.
Doctor Luka Biong made the statement in a press conference in Khartoum on Monday.
He urged the media to play its role in educating the people of southern Sudan.
The senior policy advisor in the ministry of commerce and industry in the GOSS is calling on the regional government to stop employing foreigners in government offices.
The 21-year old civil war has left the region with lack of proper manpower to develop the south since 2005.
Isaac Bior told SRS in Juba last week that employment of the foreigners is against the constitution of the country and threatens stability.
The 2nd vice president of the republic, Ali Osman Taha, says that the possible independence of southern Sudan will create havoc and chaos.
In response, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement said that secession is a much better choice for southern Sudanese who lost about 2.5 million people when the country was united.
The Ng’ok Dinka from the oil-rich area of Abyei have said that they will resort to the Security Council of the United Nations to ask them to intervene and demarcate the Abyei boundary.
The Abyei Chief Administrator, Arop Deng Arop Kuol addressed a press conference in Khartoum on Sunday.
The government of Sudan has warned that if UNAMID goes against the rules and regulations of the country, movement restrictions will be imposed on them.
However, the advisor to the minister of information in the government, Doctor Rabie Abdulaati, says that an agreement was reached between the government and UNAMID.
At least 9 people were killed in Cueibet county in Jonglei state after clashes erupted on Friday.
Speaking to SRS on Monday from Cueibet, the county commissioner, Madhang Majok, said that the killings came as a result of revenge attacks between different communities.
Six UN peacekeepers died on Sunday when the land cruiser they were driving in was involved in a head-on collision with a tanker carrying gas in Nyala, the capital of south Darfur.
Nyala police director, General Fateh el-Rahman Osman confirmed the accident to SRS from Nyala on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses say that the tanker was coming from the opposite direction when it collided with the UNAMID landcruiser.
The Government of Southern Sudan has announced three days of mourning following the death of Agriculture minister Dr Samson Kwaje in Nairobi on August 1.
The late Samson Kwaje died after he went into coma for three weeks after suffering kidney and lung complications.
The late Dr. Samson Kwaje will be remembered for the key role he played as one of the negotiators of the Sudan peace talks in Kenya that successfully culminated in the signing of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005.
"America has placed enormous obstacles in the way of its own students and academics learning about Sudan, and in the process has created an impoverished intellectual environment that has lowered the bar on who can be considered an “expert” or “authority” on the country in the media and among policymakers. Of all the self-inflicted wounds of the U.S. policy of sanctions and isolation, this is the most remarkable. A doctoral student looking for a supervisor will have a better chance in the Norwegian town of Bergen than in New York, Massachusetts or California." - Alex de Waal, Making Sense of Sudan, 02 July 2010
In my dealings with American universities, I am often struck how there is a missing generation of scholars on Sudan. There is an older generation of academics who studied, taught and worked in Sudan in the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s, many of them now either in retirement or approaching that age. And there is a cadre of younger scholars, in doctoral or post-doctoral programmes, who are producing a new English-language literature on Sudan. But there are very few of us in-between.
One reason for the scarcity of foreign scholarship on Sudan is the combination of war and the self-imposed isolation of the country in the 1990s, when visas of any kind were hard to get and the Arabicization of higher education discouraged Anglophone academics from joining Sudanese universities as faculty. For many would-be scholars of Sudan, the point of entry was the NGO sector, especially those working in southern Sudan.
Another reason is the U.S. policy of sanctions, which extends to educational cooperation. America has placed enormous obstacles in the way of its own students and academics learning about Sudan, and in the process has created an impoverished intellectual environment that has lowered the bar on who can be considered an “expert” or “authority” on the country in the media and among policymakers. Of all the self-inflicted wounds of the U.S. policy of sanctions and isolation, this is the most remarkable. A doctoral student looking for a supervisor will have a better chance in the Norwegian town of Bergen than in New York, Massachusetts or California.
Sudanese scholarship has suffered too. Sudanese academics have suffered from isolation, from scarcity of resources, from lack of scholarships and fellowships, and because their expertise is too infrequently recognized abroad. Southern Sudanese have suffered as much as their northern counterparts; the peace studies departments of Darfur’s young universities have been shortchanged.
This will surely change. A good start would be for the U.S. to reverse its sanctions policy.
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.
