South Sudan: Grieving Sudanese confront Swedish oil giant Lundin for its "complicity in grave war crimes"

IN November 2021 the Swedish Prosecution Authority (SPA) charged two executives of Lundin Energy, a Swedish oil exploration and production company, for "complicity in grave war crimes" in Sudan from 1999 to 2003. 

Lundin Oil was a key player in war-torn Sudan between 1991 and 2003, when it exited Block 5A. It quit the country fully in 2009, two years before the country split into South Sudan — which holds most of the oil — and Sudan, through which the south's oil is exported. 

Military forces from the south were originally charged with providing security around Lundin Oil's assets when the company started operations in 1997, said the SPA, claiming that a militia group allied to the Khartoum government tried to take control of Block 5A, but failed, although its attacks led to "great suffering" among civilians. Read more in four reports below.

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From The Observer, Sweden
By MIRANDA BRYANT in Stockholm
Dated Sunday, 31 December 2023, 05.00 GMT - here is a copy in full:

They attacked us. They displaced us: grieving Sudanese confront Swedish oil giant over their days of slaughter

A historic trial, which will call on 61 witnesses worldwide, is expected to set a precedent for global corporations in foreign jurisdictions

George Tai Kuony George, centre, attends a meeting in Juba, Sudan, with victims of the Lundin Oil’s exploration. Photograph: Handout

Before the arrival of Lundin Oil in the town of Leer, now part of South Sudan, life there was peaceful, says George Tai Kuony. His childhood was that of a “typical village boy”, driving cattle, helping his family and going to school. But in June 1998, when he was 15, armed forces entered the town and changed his life for ever.

He fled, became separated from his family and hid for seven days before he was able to return. “When we got there, Leer wasn’t the town I had left seven days ago,” says the 40-year-old lawyer and human rights defender. “Everything was burned down, everything was destroyed. I could see the bodies of dead people lying in the street.” As a result of the conflict, he lost his father, and later his mother and one sibling.

At the time, he says, the community had no idea why people were fighting. They had never heard of the Swedish oil company. Now, a quarter of a century later, Kuony hopes that he and the other victims will get justice as two former executives of the company go on trial in Stockholm accused of aiding and abetting war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003.

In Sweden’s largest-ever trial, Ian Lundin, a Swede, and Alex Schneiter, who is Swiss, stand accused of asking Sudan’s government to make its army and allied militia responsible for security at one of Lundin Oil’s exploration fields. This led to aerial bombings, civilian killings and the burning of entire villages, according to the prosecution. Both men deny the charges.

The trial, which follows a decade-long investigation, hundreds of interviews and an 80,000-page report by the prosecution, started in September. But its most significant moments are expected in 2024, when 61 witnesses – including victims, Lundin employees, former UN staff and high-profile politicians – are due to appear. They include Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, who sat on the company’s board for five years until becoming the country’s foreign minister.

Sudanese rebel soldiers march to the front close to newly-developed oil fields in the south of Sudan. Photograph: Reuters

“My life has never been the same,” says Kuony, speaking to the Observer from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, where he now lives. “Oil came to our area: it should have been a blessing. It should have been for the benefit of the community.” Instead, there was “a massacre. They wanted us dead. They wanted us to go away.”

Kuony has been trying to get justice since 2006, when the group unsuccessfully sought redress at a court in Sudan. He hopes the trial, whatever its outcome, will set a new legal precedent for global corporations working in foreign jurisdictions, sending a “very strong message” that they cannot act with impunity. “That one day they will be prosecuted in the same way.”

But the victims have already been dealt a significant blow. Ebony Wade, a legal adviser at Stockholm-based human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, said Stockholm district court’s decision in November to separate the plaintiffs’ damage claims from the criminal trial would make it “significantly harder” – if not impossible – to have their cases heard, and would considerably delay the justice process.

While the plaintiffs’ testimonies were still expected to be included in the criminal trial, she said, this could push the civil claims back until the criminal trial was over, which would not be until February 2026. However, May 2024 will be a historic moment: for the first time the court will hear the experiences of plaintiffs and victims from South Sudan.

“It’s incredibly rare for corporate executives to be held accountable for grave human rights violation,” says Wade. “For the first time, the leadership of a multinational company is being put on trial in a European country on allegations that they were complicit in war crimes in the conduct of their business activities.”

She adds: “There are very few opportunities for victims of grave international crimes to seek redress, so in that sense this is an incredibly important trial.”

‘What made me sorry is that people came to the church seeking safety and were not able to get it’: Reverend James Ninrew Dong outside the district court building in Stockholm.

Rev James Ninrew Dong, of the Presbyterian Church in South Sudan, fled Leer after religious buildings were targeted. The priest, who is a witness and a plaintiff in the case, said he felt compelled to testify: “They attacked us. They displaced us. What made me sorry is that people came to the church seeking safety and were not able to get it. They were also displaced.”

For him, the case demonstrates the different standards applied by European companies operating in Africa. “Sweden is the champion of peace in the whole of Europe and this is where the Nobel prize is always done,” he says. “We were surprised to see that some citizens of the same country do not even care and do not even listen to what the history is.”

For the case to finally be in court is a relief, he adds. “Can they do that in Norway? Can they do that in Sweden? Can they do that in any of the European countries? Of course no – the answer is no.”

View original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/31/sudanese-confront-swedish-oil-giant-over-their-days-of-slaughter 

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Related Reports

Sudan Watch - November 20, 2021

'Complicity' in war crimes alleged: Top Lundin Energy executives charged over Sudan legacy

The Swedish Prosecution Authority (SPA) has laid criminal charges, including "complicity in grave war crimes", against Lundin Energy chairman Ian Lundin and director Alex Schneiter, related to the company's legacy operations in Sudan. 

Pictured in 2009: The Thar Jath oilfield lies in Block 5A in South Sudan. It was discovered in 2001 before South Sudan's independence and before Lundin Energy sold its stake in the block Photo: AFP/SCANPIX

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2021/11/complicity-in-war-crimes-alleged-top.html

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Sudan Watch - November 19, 2021

Swedish oil executives charged with complicity in Sudan war crimes

SWEDEN has charged two executives (pictured below) of a Swedish oil exploration and production company for complicity in the military's war crimes in Sudan from 1999 to 2003. Full story here below. 

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2021/11/swedish-oil-executives-charged-with.html

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Sudan Watch - June 04, 2019

Military takeover in Sudan: 

A timeline of key events in Sudan’s unfinished revolution

Click on this USAID 2001 Sudan Oil and Gas Concessions Map to see Block 5A in Unity State, South Sudan.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2019/06/military-takeover-in-sudan-timeline-of.html

ENDS

URGENT: South Sudan army says it and UN unable to protect civilians in Jonglei State. Western powers are worried the violence will escalate into full civil war. (UPDATE 1: Added YouTube video link)

• Fighting in South Sudan cuts off 100,000 people from aid

• South Sudan army says it and UN unable to protect civilians in Jonglei

• Fighting in South Sudan forces thousands into bush

• South Sudan fails to protect civilians in east, US say

• Western powers are worried the violence will escalate into full civil war   

Note by the Editor of Sudan Watch:
HERE below is an alarming news report by Agence France Presse (AFP), published online yesterday (Wednesday 17 July 2013).  If the report is true and accurate, and considering what happened between the Lou Nuer and Murle people in December 2011 (reportedly, thousands were massacred), it could be a dreadful warning that many people in South Sudan are about to lose their lives. 

The AFP report copied below is followed by a few news reports.  I selected the reports for this blog post.  Note that one of the reports by Reuters ends by saying:  "A cycle of tribal violence has killed more than 1,600 people in Jonglei since South Sudan's secession, hampering plans to explore for oil with the help of France's Total and U.S. firm Exxon".

Finally, here are a few points taken from some of the other news reports, particularly regarding tribal clashes in Jonglei State, South Sudan:

• Western powers are worried the violence will escalate into full civil war   

• UN humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos said the new fighting made it impossible to supply some 100,000 people in Pibor county in Jonglei State with "life-saving assistance.  The fighting is threatening the lives of ordinary people," Amos said in a statement.   The United Nations did not have enough helicopters to deliver aid to Jonglei where overland travel is impossible in the rainy reason, she said.  

• Medicins sans Frontiers (MSF), one of the few aid groups operating in Jonglei, said more than 120,000 people had been forced to flee clashes between the army and Yau Yau rebels.

• Last week, the United States, South Sudan's biggest ally, said Juba was not doing enough to protect civilians and urged the army to stop attacking U.N. staff and looting aid agencies.

• Separate tribal clashes were also reported in Unity state, site of several oilfields

South Sudan army says it and UN unable to protect civilians:  Minister
Wednesday 17 July 2013 - JUBA, South Sudan (Agence France Presse (AFP)) - South Sudan's deputy defence chief has said neither his troops nor United Nations peacekeepers are able to protect civilians in conflict-wracked Jonglei, where thousands of rival ethnic militiamen are fighting.

Video footage from eastern South Sudan's Jonglei shot by UN officials and seen by AFP show columns of heavily armed fighters from the Lou Nuer people marching past, watched on by a small force of government troops and UN peacekeepers.

"Much as we believe in the ideals of the responsibility to protect, our mandate as the government and the mandate of the UN cannot match with resources that are there," South Sudan's deputy minister of defence Majak D'Agoot told AFP late Tuesday.

The video was shot Sunday in the village of Manyabol in Pibor County, when the UN went to support the pickup of some 200 wounded fighters -- casualties from almost two weeks of fighting in the latest round of reprisal attacks sparked by age-old ethnic rivalry and cattle raiding.

The video shows fighters apparently returning towards their homelands, some leading stolen cattle.

The numbers of fighters suggest attacks on a scale comparable to those of December 2011, when some 8,000 Lou Nuer marched on Pibor, home town of their long-term rivals, the Murle people.

The UN later estimated more than 600 people were massacred in those attacks, although local officials reported the figure to have been far higher, while killings continued in a series of reprisal attacks.

D'Agoot said that in Manyabol the army had only one company, alongside a handful of UN peacekeepers, and that they were vastly outnumbered by as many as 7,000 militia gunmen.

Taking action in those circumstances would have been "suicidal", he said.

Hilde Johnson, head of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), said she had not seen the video her force had shot, but said that peacekeepers had sighted Lou Nuer forces and were "verifying that they were moving north on their return home".

Tit-for-tat cattle raids and reprisal killings are common in this severely under-developed state, awash with guns left over from almost two decades of civil war.

But recent attacks are on larger scale, with organised and well armed forces fighting.

South Sudan's rebel-turned-official army has also been fighting in the region to crush a rebellion led by David Yau Yau, who comes from the Murle people, since 2010.

View original report reprinted at:
http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=news&id=148596
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RELATED NEWS REPORTS

Fighting in South Sudan cuts off 100,000 people from aid
Wednesday 17 July 2013 - JUBA, South Sudan (By Andrew Green, Reuters) - Fighting between government forces, rebels and rival tribes has cut off 100,000 people from urgently needed food and medical aid in South Sudan's east, U.N. and aid officials said on Wednesday.

South Sudan's army is facing a rebellion from local politician David Yau Yau in the vast Jonglei state, and new clashes have broken out between the rival Lou Nuer and Murle tribes.

Western powers are worried the violence will escalate into full civil war, undermining stability in the young African country, where weapons are plentiful after decades of conflict with Khartoum that led to its secession from Sudan in 2011.

U.N. humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos said the new fighting made it impossible to supply some 100,000 people in Pibor county in Jonglei State with "life-saving assistance".

"The fighting is threatening the lives of ordinary people," Amos said in a statement. The United Nations did not have enough helicopters to deliver aid to Jonglei where overland travel is impossible in the rainy reason, she said.

Medicins sans Frontiers (MSF), one of the few aid groups operating in Jonglei, said more than 120,000 people had been forced to flee clashes between the army and Yau Yau rebels.

A United Nations source said armed Lou Nuer youth had attacked several Murle villages in the past two weeks. Fighters loyal to Yau Yau, who is popular with his Murle tribe, had come to help fight back.

Separate tribal clashes were also reported in Unity state, site of several oilfields. In one incident, attackers apparently burnt a hut in a village with a woman and three children inside, said a U.N. source, asking not to be named.

The United Nations has not published any casualty figures of the Jonglei fighting despite a large presence of peacekeepers. Critics say the world body does not want to embarrass the government.

South Sudan accuses Khartoum of supplying Yau Yau with weapons. Diplomats say the claims are credible but South Sudan's army is also fuelling dissent with abuses such as rape, killings and torture committed during a state disarmament campaign.

Last week, the United States, South Sudan's biggest ally, said Juba was not doing enough to protect civilians and urged the army to stop attacking U.N. staff and looting aid agencies.

South Sudan has struggled to turn its army, a loose group of former guerrillas formed during the civil war, into a professional force.

Tribal violence has killed more than 1,600 people in Jonglei since South Sudan's secession, hampering plans to explore for oil with the help of France's Total and U.S. firm Exxon.
(Reporting by Andrew Green in Juba and Ulf Laessing in Cairo; Editing by Michael Roddy)

View original report at:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/17/uk-southsudan-fighting-idUKBRE96G11N20130717
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Fighting in South Sudan forces thousands into bush
Sunday 14 July 2013;  12:17pm EDT - JUBA, South Sudan (By Andrew Green, Reuters) - Fighting between South Sudan's army, rebels and rival tribes has sent thousands of people fleeing into the bush in the east of the country, U.N. and aid officials said on Sunday.

South Sudan's army is facing a rebellion from local politician David Yau Yau in the vast Jonglei state, and new clashes have broken out between rival Lou Nuer and Murle tribes.

Western powers are worried the violence will escalate into full civil war, undermining stability in the young African country, which is awash with arms after decades of conflict with Khartoum that led to its secession from Sudan in 2011.

The United Nations said thousands of people were hiding in the bush outside Pibor town in Jonglei to escape from conflict between the army and Yau Yau, who says he is fighting corruption, army abuses and one-party rule in South Sudan.

"The communities are in urgent need of medical attention," Toby Lanzer, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, said in a statement.

At least 200 wounded people had arrived in the Jonglei town of Manyabol after fleeing clashes between the Lou Murle and Murle, the U.N. said. Bringing in aid was difficult as the rainy season had made overland travel impossible.

A United Nations source said armed Lou Nuer youth had attacked at least three Murle villages in the past two weeks. Fighters loyal to Yau Yau, who is popular with his Murle tribe, had come to help fight back.

South Sudan's army spokesman Philip Aguer confirmed there had been new fighting in Jonglei but gave no details.

South Sudan accuses Khartoum of supplying Yau Yau with weapons. Diplomats say the claims are credible but South Sudan's army is also fuelling dissent with abuses such as rape, killings and torture committed during a state disarmament campaign.

Last week, the United States, South Sudan's biggest ally, said Juba was not doing enough to protect civilians and urged the army to stop attacking U.N. staff and looting aid agencies.

South Sudan has struggled to turn its army, a loose group of former guerrillas formed during the civil war, into a professional force.

A cycle of tribal violence has killed more than 1,600 people in Jonglei since South Sudan's secession, hampering plans to explore for oil with the help of France's Total and U.S. firm Exxon.

(Writing by Ulf Laessing in Cairo; Editing by Andrew Roche)

View original report at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/14/us-southsudan-fighting-idUSBRE96D08120130714
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South Sudan fails to protect civilians in east, U.S. says
Wednesday 10 July 2013 - JUBA, South Sudan/KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) - The United States issued a rare criticism of South Sudan on Wednesday, saying the African state was failing to protect civilians in the east where the army is fighting an insurgency.

Western powers have long urged Juba to find a peaceful solution to fighting involving the army, a rebel group and rival tribes in the vast Jonglei state but have so far mostly refrained from criticizing the government.

A United Nations source said new fighting erupted a week ago between the rival Lou Nuer and Murle tribes in the Pibor area in Jonglei, killing an unknown number of people.

More violence was expected as armed youths from both sides were amassing forces in the area, the source said. A U.N. team visiting the town said that most civilians had left Pibor, contrary to government figures, the United Nations said in a report.

The United States, South Sudan's biggest ally, said it was "deeply disappointed" that the army, or SPLA, had failed to protect civilians in vulnerable areas in Jonglei.

"The lack of action to protect civilians constitutes an egregious abdication of responsibility by the SPLA and the civilian government," the U.S. embassy in Juba said in a statement.

Washington urged the government to prevent "SPLA attacks on U.N. staff and humanitarian assets". It gave no details but soldiers had looted compounds of U.N. agencies and aid agencies in Pibor in May, according to aid sources.

South Sudan has struggled to turn its army, a loose group of former guerrillas formed the civil war with Khartoum, into a professional force since seceding from Sudan in 2011 under a 2005 peace deal. The U.S. was a driving force in pressuring Khartoum into allowing an independence vote.

The army has faced a rebellion by militia leader David Yau Yau but diplomats say the SPLA is fuelling dissent with abuses such as rape and torture committed during a state disarmament campaign.

A cycle of tribal violence has killed more than 1,600 people in Jonglei since South Sudan's secession, uprooting tens of thousands of civilians and hampering plans to explore for oil with the help of France's Total and U.S. firm Exxon.

Analysts say the roots of the tribal violence and cattle raids go back to South Sudan's failure to start development in Jonglei and elsewhere in the vast country due to corruption.

(Reporting by Andrew Green and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Michael Roddy)

View original report at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-southsudan-fighting-idUSBRE96910E20130710
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Click on labels at the end of this post to see previous reports in the archives of Sudan Watch re:  Jonglei, Pibor, Lou Nuer, Murle, Yau Yau, Unity State - at the end of each page click on the hyperlink entitled "Click HERE to scroll down" and keep on scrolling down, page by page.

This blog post was published on Thursday 18 July 2013 at 6:03pm GMT, England, United Kingdom.

UPDATE ON FRIDAY 19 JULY 2013: 
Here is a link to the above mentioned video.  The video was published (source unknown) at YouTube on Thursday 18 July 2013 together with the following title and text:

"UN and SPLA do nothing as thousands of government supported militia go by
Shocked UN peacekeeper in South Sudan village of Manyabol, Jonglei on July 14 2013 narrates video of "thousands and thousands" of member of a government supported militia thought to be returning home from ethnic violence in Jonglei state marching past them and government troops with stolen cattle after violent clashes which have already led to hundreds of wounded. No action was taken to stop them or even to make this sighting public."



Here is a link to the above video, title and text:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_fFxBIJWzw

ICC: Darfur rebel leaders charged with war crimes and slaying of peacekeepers at Haskanita, N. Darfur, W. Sudan

ON Friday 22 October 2010, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a statement confirming that Darfur rebel group leaders Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo) are charged with, quote:

three war crimes (violence to life, in the form of murder, whether committed or attempted; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, materials, units, and vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission; and pillaging) allegedly committed during an attack carried out on 29 September, 2007, against the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), a peace-keeping mission stationed at the Haskanita Military Group Site, in the locality of Umm Kadada, North Darfur. It is alleged that the attackers killed 12 and severely wounded 8 soldiers, destroyed communications facilities and other materials and appropriated property belonging to AMIS.

Confirmation of charges hearing in the case against Banda and Jerbo to start on 8 December, 2010. The hearing was initially scheduled to start on 22 November, 2010.

Full story below.



Photo: Jerbo and Banda © ICC-CPI/ Toussaint Kluiters

Darfur rebel figures will not contest charges of killing AU peacekeepers: ICC
Source: Sudaneseonline.org /Sudan Tribune
Date: Wednesday, 20 October 2010. Excerpt:

(WASHINGTON) – Two Sudanese rebel leaders who stand accused of leading a deadly attack on African Union (AU) peacekeepers more than three years ago will not contest the charges at the confirmation hearing scheduled for next month, the prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) said today.

Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus each face three counts of violence to life in the form of murder, war crime of attacking a peacekeeping mission and pillaging.

The two men allegedly commanded a 1,000-strong rebel force in the Sept. 29, 2007 attack, on the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) base in Haskanita in North Darfur. They looted the camp of 17 vehicles, refrigerators, computers, mobile phones, ammunition and money.

The attack killed twelve soldiers and severely injured eight others who were mainly from Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Botswana. It was the deadliest single attack on the peacekeepers since they began their mission in late 2004.

Banda was a senior military commander in Darfur’s rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) before he was dismissed during a bitter split among the movement’s governing elite in mid-2007. He went on to form a rival faction, the JEM Collective Leadership, with former JEM vice president Bahar Idriss Abu Garda. The latter appeared voluntarily before the ICC to answer charges relating to the same attack but the court declined to pursue those charges in February citing insufficient evidence to prove his criminal responsibility.

Jerbo on the other hand was a leading figure in the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)-Unity faction before being removed later for unknown reasons.

The two suspects surrendered voluntarily to the ICC last June, almost a year after a summons of appear was issued for them in secrecy and appeared before a judge to be formally notified of the charges. Presiding judge Sylvia Steiner from Brazil set November 22nd as the date for a hearing to confirm the charges against the two men — a requirement before the case can go to trial.

The weekly briefing issued by the prosecutor on Wednesday revealed that his office and the defense made a joint filing before the Pre-Trial Chamber informing the judges of an agreement between the parties which may allow for a shortened confirmation hearing if the judges so decide.

"The parties agreed that the facts contained in the document containing the charges, which the judges are encouraged to consider, as being proven for the purpose of the confirmation hearing.....the Defence waived its rights to challenge the prosecution evidence, present its own evidence or contest the charges during the hearing. The approach agreed by the parties will involve a limited oral presentation by the Prosecution and the Legal Representatives for Victims as may be ordered by the Chamber," said the prosecutor’s office.

The prosecution described this approach as a "novel" one for the ICC and if approved by the judges "could save judicial time and resources".

"This agreement by the parties is limited to the confirmation hearing. In the event the Pre-Trial Chamber confirms the case for trial, the Defence may at that stage contest any of the charges".

Officials at the prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the new development when contacted by Sudan Tribune. [...]



Photo: Karim Khan (L), the lawyer for Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (C) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (R), both suspected of having committed war crimes in Darfur, speaks at the International Criminal Court in The Hague June 17, 2010 (Reuters/ST)

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Confirmation of charges hearing in the case against Banda and Jerbo to start on 8 December, 2010
Source: International Criminal Court (ICC) /ReliefWeb/APO
Date: Friday, 22 October 2010
ICC-CPI-20101022-PR588
Situation: Darfur, Sudan
Case: The Prosecutor v. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus

Today, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to reschedule the confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo) to Wednesday, 8 December, 2010, in light of developments that have occurred in the composition of Chambers and of the Court schedule, as well as of the number of courtrooms which are available to the Court. The hearing was initially scheduled to start on 22 November, 2010.

The confirmation hearing is held to ensure that no case goes to trial unless there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that the person committed the crime with which he or she has been charged. The suspects have the right to attend the hearing or, in their absence, be represented by counsel. Pre-Trial Chamber I decided that, should the suspects intend to waive their right to be present at the confirmation hearing, the written request to the Chamber in this regard must be submitted no later than Monday, 8 November, 2010.

Mr Banda and Mr Jerbo are charged with three war crimes (violence to life, in the form of murder, whether committed or attempted; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, materials, units, and vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission; and pillaging) allegedly committed during an attack carried out on 29 September, 2007, against the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), a peace-keeping mission stationed at the Haskanita Military Group Site, in the locality of Umm Kadada, North Darfur. It is alleged that the attackers killed 12 and severely wounded 8 soldiers, destroyed communications facilities and other materials and appropriated property belonging to AMIS.

This case is the fourth in the situation in Darfur after the cases of The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun (Ahmad Harun) and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (Ali Kushayb), The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir and The Prosecutor v. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda.

The suspects (Harun and Kushayb, and Al Bashir) in the first two cases remain at large. Abu Garda appeared voluntarily before the ICC on 18 May, 2009. The confirmation of charges hearing took place from 19 to 29 October, 2009. On 8 February, 2010, Pre-Trial Chamber I declined to confirm the charges against him.

The situation in Darfur was referred to the International Criminal Court by United Nations Security Council resolution 1593 on 31 March, 2005, under article 13(b) of the Rome Statute.

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Associate Legal Outreach Officer, on +31 (0)70 515-9152 or at fadi.el-abdallah@icc-cpi.int

The ICC's activities can also be followed through YouTube and Twitter

Maanweg 174, 2516 AB The Hague, The Netherlands – Maanweg 174, 2516 AB La Haye, Pays-Bas
Telephone – Téléphone +31(0)70 515 85 15 / Facsimile – Télécopie +31(0)70 515 85 55
www.icc-cpi.int

Note from Sudan Watch Editor: I say, well done to the ICC for staying on the case and getting at the truth. Any attack on peacekeepers constitutes a war crime. Click on Haskanita label below to view related reports and photos in Sudan Watch archive.
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TOP ICC INVESTIGATOR DIRK FREIMANN

Top ICC investigator jets back, meets team
Source: The Standard, Kenya by Ben Agina and Cyrus Ombat
Date: Friday, 08 October 2010. Snippets:

Top International Criminal Court investigator, Dirk Freimann, a 43-year-old German, joined ICC in 2007 after serving his country’s police for 22 years and has led investigations in Georgia and Bosnia Herzegovina.

He was team leader for investigations against a rebel leader Idriss Abugarda of the United Resistance Front, who was accused of killing peacekeepers in Haskanita in Darfur, Southern Sudan, in 2007.

Abugarda was the first suspect to voluntarily appear before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber 1 in 2009. He was, however, acquitted for lack of evidence.

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Further Reading

DARFUR CRIMES ATTORNEY ASSURES TO BRING PERPETRATORS TO JUSTICE

Report from: Radio Miraya
Date: Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:15

The General Persecutor of Darfur Crimes Justice, Adbul-Daim Zamrawi, has announced resuming investigations over all crimes committed in the region in the period between 2003 and 2010. In press statements after arrival in the town of Al-Fashir, Northern Darfur State; Zamrawi affirmed the commitment of the Ministry of Justice and achieve righteousness as it's imperative for security and stability.

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RADIO SILA IN GOZ BEIDA, EASTERN CHAD



Photo: Women in the Djabal camp in Eastern Chad listen in groups to Women's Crossroads on Radio Sila, a program produced by Internews. (Photo by United Nations)

1. Internews - Articles - Radio Sila, Radio for Darfuri Refugees ...

   4 Jun 2007 ... One of them is Radio Sila in Goz Beida, and it broadcasts in Arabic and French, the two languages spoken by Chad's literate communities. ...
   Radio Sila, Radio for Darfuri Refugees, Broadcasts in Zaghawa, Masalit Dialects...

   Fiacre Munezero, an employee at Radio Sila. said that while he was in Goz Beida, the refugees in the camp would run after the car shouting in Arabic, “Radio! Radio!” ”We did not understand what they meant because they usually ask for food, medicine, clothes, and blankets,” he said. “We later learned that they wanted to listen to Radio Sila which is broadcast in the Masalit dialect, and they are looking for transistors,” added Munezero.

   www.internews.org/.../20070604_asharqalawsat_darfur.shtm - Cached - Similar

2. In Chad, Locals Celebrate their Radio Station's Official Inauguration

   Officials at Radio Sila's inauguration. From left to right, the Sultan of ...
   Broadcasting from a container studio, Radio Sila is located in the trading city of Goz Beida, surrounded by the sprawling Djabal refugee camp and numerous IDP sites. Soon after its first broadcast, Radio Sila became the only means of mass communication and socialization for humanitarian organizations delivering aid and protection to populations fleeing the conflict in neighboring Darfur or border Chadian villages.
   www.internews.org/prs/2010/20100316_chad.shtm - Cached

Doha: Sudan's government and a collection of Darfur rebel groups have signed a three-month cease-fire deal

Sudanese vice-president Ali Osman Taha (L), Qatar's crown prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Khalifa Al Thani (C) and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani attend a truce ceremony in Doha Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Sudan signed a three-month ceasefire deal with a second Darfur rebel group on Thursday, a diplomatic source close to the negotiations said, part of a government push to end the conflict in the western Sudanese region before elections. (Reuters/Mohammed Dabbous)



Ghazi Salah Eddin (L), adviser to Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, shakes hands with Al-Tijani Al-Sissi of the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) after signing a truce in Doha March 18, 2010. (Reuters/Mohammed Dabbous)



Sudan's government representative Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani, left, and rebel leader Al-Tijani Al-Sissi hold the documents after signing a truce in Doha Thursday March 18, 2010. Sudan's government and a collection of Darfur rebel groups have signed a cease-fire, opening the way for political negotiations ahead of a full peace agreement. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)



Al-Tijani Al-Sissi of the Liberation and Justice Movement (L), Youssef Ezzat, secretary of the Movement of the United Revolutionary Force (C), and Mahjoub Hussein, secretary-general of the Sudan Liberation Movement Revolutionary Forces, talk at the truce ceremony in Doha. March 18, 2010. (Reuters/Mohammed Dabbous)



Mahjoub Hussein, secretary-general of the Sudan Liberation Movement Revolutionary Forces, attends a truce ceremony in Doha March 18, 2010. (Reuters/Mohammed Dabbous)
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JEM, five rebel factions agree to coordinate toward unity

From Sudan Tribune, Thursday 18 March 2010 - extract:
JEM, five rebel factions agree to coordinate toward unity

March 17, 2010 (KHARTOUM) - Twenty four hour before the signing of a second framework agreement between the government and another rebel group in Doha, the Justice and Equality Movement with other five groups agreed to coordinate their positions and work for unity.

Besides JEM, the unity agreement is signed by the Sudan Liberation Movement Unity Command (SLM-Unity), SLM Juba-Unity, the United Revolutionary Forces Front, the Democratic Justice and Equality Movement and breakaway commanders from SLM- Abdel Wahid Al-Nur. These groups were part of Addis Ababa Roadmap group sponsored by the US envoy Gration.

The signatories reiterated the need to reunite the resistance in order to get the rights of Darfur people and extended the invitation to all the forces keen to reach that goal, stressing no just peace deal can be reached without unity.

Related report
UN News Centre, Thursday, 18 March 2010:
As another Darfur ceasefire deal is signed, UN envoy voices hope

S. Kordofan: Heglig, the biggest oil field in Sudan, could be a source of potential conflict between SPLM and NCP

Heglig, the biggest oil field in Sudan, could be a source of potential conflict between the SPLM and the NCP. Sudan Radio Service spoke to political analyst Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh from Khartoum on Monday who explained that:

"As long as Unity state is one of the ten southern states it means that Heglig belongs to the south. The ABC report said Heglig is part of Abyei, the PCA said it is not part of Abyei. The southerners are saying if the PCA has removed Heglig from the Abyei area, it should be part of Unity state. The north is saying no, it should be included in Southern Kordofan state. This is the situation now. There is no confusion in the PCA’s verdict regarding Heglig oil field, the PCA’s decision has redrawn the eastern boundary of Abyei which was stipulated in the ABC report. It arbitrates on a certain longitude which excludes Heglig out of Abyei province. The SPLM says it is out of Abyei province but it lies inside Unity state, and Unity state is a southern state. So these are new disagreements and have nothing to do with Abyei.” 

Full story from Sudan Radio Service, Monday, 27 July 2009: Where is Heglig? An Analyst Explains

(Khartoum) – Heglig, the biggest oil field in Sudan, could be a source of potential conflict between the SPLM and the NCP, following the verdict by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which has placed Heglig and Bamboo oil fields outside the Abyei boundaries. Sudan Radio Service spoke to political analyst Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh from Khartoum on Monday. [Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh]: “There is no confusion in the PCA’s verdict regarding Heglig oil field, the PCA’s decision has redrawn the eastern boundary of Abyei which was stipulated in the ABC report. It arbitrates on a certain longitude which excludes Heglig out of Abyei province. The SPLM says it is out of Abyei province but it lies inside Unity state, and Unity state is a southern state. So these are new disagreements and have nothing to do with Abyei.” Since the two partners have reaffirmed their satisfaction with the PCA’s verdict regarding the Abyei boundaries, Mahjoub explains the source of the disagreements. [Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh]: “The south thinks that it (Heglig) belongs to Unity state according to a previous decree made by the former late president Jafar Nimery. Since he had established Unity state he decreed that Heglig becomes part of Unity state. It was named Unity because it had united the south and the north together, that was the logic. But they are saying that as long as Unity state is one of the ten southern states it means that Heglig belongs to the south. The ABC report said Heglig is part of Abyei, the PCA said it is not part of Abyei. The southerners are saying if the PCA has removed Heglig from the Abyei area, it should be part of Unity state. The north is saying no, it should be included in Southern Kordofan state. This is the situation now.” The SPLM said it is prepared to refer the issue of the Heglig oil fields to the PCA, if necessary. However Mahjoub says that the PCA has already announced its final decision regarding Abyei issue. [Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh]: “The court has no other business regarding this issue, it had announced its arbitration as the case was presented by the two parties, and both of them have accepted and welcomed the verdict, finish.” Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh, a political analyst, was speaking to Sudan Radio Service from Khartoum.

- - - USAID 2001 Sudan Oil & Gas Concessions Map Click here to view large version of the following map from Wikipedia.  Click, once or twice, on image at Wikipedia to see full screen size. Heglig, the largest oil field in Sudan

Click here to view Heglig pin pointed on the following map from Wikipedia. Heglig Location in Sudan Coordinates: 11°59′N 27°53′E Country: Sudan State: South Kurdufan Heglig (also spelled Heglieg) is a small town in South Kurdufan state in central Sudan, near the border with Southern Sudan. The area was contested during the Sudanese Civil War. The South Sudanese Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels attacked the oil rigs of Heglig to damage this important source of revenue for the Sudanese government. Heglig oil field Heglig is situated within the Muglad Basin, a rift basin which contains much of Sudan's proven oil reserves. The Heglig oil field was first developed in 1996 by Arakis Energy (now part of Talisman Energy).[1] Today it is operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company.[2] Production at Heglig is reported to have peaked in 2006 and is now in decline.[3] The Heglig oil field is connected to Khartoum and Port Sudan via the Greater Nile Oil Pipeline. (Source: Wikipedia) Click here to view larger image of map above showing Sudan's pipeline, North-South boundary, Abyei and oil concessions. Image source: www.stratfor.com