Note this copy of a post April 6, 2005, by Gene at Harry's Place in the UK titled "What you can do about Darfur":
Here are a couple of practical ideas for anyone looking for ways to help stop the genocide in Darfur:
-- If you live in the US, urge your represenatives in Congress to support the 'Darfur Accountability Act' (S 495), which calls for a new UN Security Council resolution with sanctions, accelerated assistance to the African Union mission and a military no-fly zone in Darfur.
If you live in another country, see about supporting similar legislation in that country or in the EU.
-- Support divestment from Sudan at whatever level you can. As I posted last December, China is putting billions of dollars into investment, oil revenue and weapons which help sustain the Sudanese government's genocidal policies. I don't expect everyone to stop buying Chinese-made goods (the earnings from which provide those billions), but companies in China and elsewhere are strengthening the Sudanese government's ability to support the Darfur massacres.
Thanks to petitions and protests by students, Harvard University agreed to sell $4.4 million worth of shares in PetroChina -- a subsidiary of state-owned China National Petroleum -- which has invested more than $1 billion in the Sudanese government to secure oil outputs. According to divestsudan.org PetroChina is one of 83 publicly-traded companies doing business in Sudan.
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Note, here is a copy of a comment I left at Gene's post today:
Hello and thanks to Gene and Sonic and others on this thread: it's refreshing for me to see a UK blog posting on what one can do about Darfur. I am in England and have posted almost daily on Darfur - along with Jim Moore and friends at http://passionofthepresent.org - since April of last year. Jim, as far as I am aware, was the first blogger to put the spotlight on Darfur and stay with it all the way. In August I started up a blog called Sudan Watch as a place in which to log events unfolding in Darfur and file my posts on UK/European news/blogs re Darfur at Jim's site because my main personal blog became swamped with Sudan posts from April-August. Over the past year, I've spent many an hour searching for British/European bloggers posting on Darfur. Disappointingly, they have been few and far between. Please, if any blogger outside the US posts on Darfur/Sudan do let me know and I will point to their post and link them in my sidebar.
Gene, do you, or any of your readers know of UK/European initiatives or how we in the UK can support similar legislation to the type you mention in your post? Apart from contacting various MPs - including my own - several times I've only found American initiatives to support.
I'd be pleased to spread the word on any info re UK/European initiatives, blogs, websites - or any news out of UK/Europe - concerning Darfur/Sudan. Please feel free to email me anytime or leave a comment at http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com
Thanks again. I have put a link to this post in my sidebar at Sudan Watch.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Raids on Darfur food aid trucks leave drivers dead, wounded - UN WFP says Sudan will face a new catastrophe unless more food gets there fast
Yesterday, April 5, the UNs World Food Programme (WFP) said they do not have enough food to provide for 5.5 million Sudanese people in need and that Sudan will face a new catastrophe unless more food gets there fast. WFP told ENS newswire:
"In West Darfur, areas to the north of the capital of El-Geneina remain "no go" for UN agencies, although security restrictions on some other areas have been lifted.
On March 11, WFP staff and other UN and nongovernmental organization personnel were pulled back to the state capital, following three days of attacks by armed bandits on clearly marked humanitarian vehicles. The attacks and the impact on relief operations have been raised with local authorities in West Darfur.
"We are doing everything we can to get food to those who need it," said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, WFP Sudan country director. "But banditry, conflict and insecurity make this an uphill battle."
"We are dispatching assessment teams to the worst-hit areas to find out by mid April how many more people need food aid in the months ahead," said Lopes da Silva.
"But so far, WFP doesn't have enough food to provide for the 5.5 million people who need assistance in 2005 in the east, transitional areas, the south and Darfur. If the numbers continue to rise, Sudan will face a new catastrophe unless more food gets here fast."
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Raids on Darfur food aid trucks leave drivers dead, wounded
The UNs WFP reported April 5 that shootings, attacks on drivers and thefts of trucks carrying food aid are creating a climate of fear that is hampering the delivery of essential food to millions of displaced people in Darfur. Excerpt:
Why such large convoys of food trucks are not escorted by police and helicopters is incomprehensible. Khartoum ought to be made responsible for escorting the aid safely to its destination, or they get no development funding. 10,000 aid workers are doing a tremendous job for the Sudanese people while risking their own lives. They and the aid must be protected. Khartoum and the rebels have their own security forces. What about everyone else? Who is protecting them? African Union soldiers do not have the necessary mandate to act as a protection force. The African Union has its own Security Council that does not need to go through the UN Security Council to get a mandate for AU troops. Why the 53-member bloc African Union is not insisting on a full mandate for Darfur is mind boggling. One can only conclude they are sympathetic to the regime in Khartoum, regardless of everyone else.
What exactly is the Sudan anyway - is it an African nation or an Arab nation? It comes under the umbrella of both the Arab League and the African Union. It seems (to me anyway) the Sudan has an identity crisis that cannot be resolved unless Khartoum comes out and makes clear Sudan is an Arab nation. Africans and Arabs who wish the freedom to choose their own religion and not be subjected to Islamic law ought to be able to live in South Sudan and Darfur with a government that represents the needs and wants of citizens.
Trouble is, there is oil in South Sudan and Darfur. North Sudan is loathe to lose that - Khartoum included. Wherever you turn to work out the root problem in Sudan, it always leads you to the northern region of Sudan which has always given itself preferential treatment, never mind the rest. Nomads - like the gypsies here in England who are shunned by mainstream communities - live on the fringes of society. They have their own customs and traditions and take it upon themselves to draw on the resources that surround local communities such as land, water and other facilities while not heeding licensing laws or paying full taxes like everyone else.]
Photo: Every day, hundreds of WFP trucks and planes are on the move to deliver food aid. (Photo by Laura Melo courtesy WFP)
The UNs WFP says in crowded camps throughout the three states of Darfur and across the border in Chad, two million people who have fled their homes rely on food aid to survive. It is estimated that a monthly average of 2.3 million people will need food assistance in the Darfurs over 2005, rising to 2.8 million during the rainy season months. In February, WFP fed 1.6 million people in Darfur, the highest monthly total since its emergency operation began in April 2004. Bravo to all involved.
UPDATE April 6, 2005: Relief workers have reported an upsurge in severe malnutrition among Sudanese refugees from Darfur at three camps in eastern Chad. See Severe Malnutrition on the Rise - via Coalition for Darfur [with thanks].
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Darfur aid workers under threat
There are 1,000 international aid workers on the ground, assisted by 9,000 Sudanese workers but its never explained how the local workers are selected or where they are from. We don't really know what is going on half the time. There is still no further news on what happened to the route to Darfur via Libya that was offered by the Libyan leader several months ago. In a recent interview, US Defence Secretary Rice mentioned "problems" with the Libyan route over the past few months and the need to keep pressing Khartoum on the issue.
On April 5 Human Rights Watch said the Sudanese government has sought to intimidate humanitarian relief agencies in Darfur by arbitrarily arresting or detaining at least 20 aid workers since December - and in several incidents rebels in Darfur have also detained or attacked aid workers. Sudanese authorities and rebels must not impede relief efforts, they said.
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Danish Refugee Council has withdrawn aid workers
The banditry is part of a deteriorating security situation across Darfur including attacks on humanitarian teams from WFP partner organizations, says the UNs WFP April 5.
The Danish Refugee Council has temporarily withdrawn from the Jebel Marra region after two of its aid workers were abducted from a vehicle on March 20. The two were released, but the vehicle is still missing.
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US aid workers returned to UN representative
An AGI report from Rome, Italy, April 4 says Italian negotiators succeeded in brokering the release of three US aid workers kidnapped last December in Sudan.
The three were members of ADRA (Adventist development and relief agency) and had been kidnapped by anti government factions whilst their aid convoy travelled from Khartoum to Darfur.
Italian UN envoy Barbara Contini actively brokered the release. After lengthy negotiations the three were returned released without payment of a ransom.
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UN turning a blind eye to Darfur deaths, says Straw
Gethin Chamberlain, the Scotsman's correspondent who covered news on Darfur from the Chad-Sudan border last year, reports today, April 6, that Britain yesterday accused other members of the UN Security Council of turning a blind eye to the atrocities in Darfur.
In a strongly worded statement, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said they had put commercial or political interests above their commitments under the UN charter.
Britain has worked to get other members of the UN Security Council "to recognise the gravity of the situation and, for some of them, to appreciate that their obligations under the UN Charter must take precedence over their immediate commercial or political interests with the government of Sudan", he said.
"There are still members of the so-called international community, members of the Security Council and others, who are turning a blind eye from clear atrocities which have taken place in Darfur," Mr Straw said.
[No doubt he was thinking of China, Russia and Algeria that have blocked any concrete action by the Security Council against Sudan]
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Ireland: Darfur top of agenda as Minister Lenihan travels to Sudan
Irish news says the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is back on the Irish Government's agenda ahead of an international meeting to discuss relief efforts in the region.
On April 3, Ireland's Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan, departed for Darfur.
Minister Lenihan said that he supports the UN call to bring the killers to justice: "I think the UNs overview is the right one and I think it is very important now that people who have been perpetrating these killings and bringing death to everyone's door are brought to justice through the International Criminal Court."
[Irish aid agency GOAL has been doing a tremendous job for many years in the Sudan]
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Straw Calls for International Consensus on Sudan
April 5 2005 report by Nick Mead, PA Political Staff, at Scotsman - excerpt:
"Speaking at Commons questions, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the resolution "sent a very clear message that there is now no hiding place for those committing crimes against humanity".
Shadow foreign minister Mark Simmonds called on the UK and the rest of the international community to ensure perpetrators of war crimes are brought to justice, enforce a "no fly" zone over Darfur and impose oil and arms sanctions.
Mr Straw replied: "We have always argued for the toughest possible action but achieving that depends on gaining agreement inside the Security Council.
"We have to gain a consensus. It involves international engagement, even with our European partners.
"Where we've got to is not where we would wish to get to but it is infinitely better than where we would have got to under a Conservative government."
Sir Menzies Campbell, for Lib Dems, called for the African Union force in Sudan to be increased from 2,500 to 10,000 and for its mandate to be strengthened to allow for peacekeeping rather than simply monitoring.
The Foreign Secretary said the UK was giving the African Union technical and logistical support to get the available troops effectively deployed."
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30 million in emergency aid for Sudan
A Minister from The Netherlands (Jan Pronk's home country) returned home this week following her 4-day visit to the Sudan.
Here is a copy of a April 5, 2005, press release outlining the conclusions she reached. [Note, the Minister observed that where the African Union is present in Darfur, the situation improves. I can find no report that explains why it is taking so long for even 1,000 extra AU troops to arrive in Darfur to make the full numbers approved. The European Union has committed a few hundred million dollars to the African Union. AU officials themselves have said money is not an issue but that "accommodation" for the troops in Darfur is the problem]. Here is the press release:
In Darfur too many people still have to get by without water, food supplies are insufficient, aid convoys are being attacked, the security situation for refugees and aid workers is alarming and women are being intimidated and sexually assaulted. These are the conclusions that the Minister for Development Cooperation, Agnes van Ardenne, drew at the end of her four-day visit to Sudan. The Netherlands will donate 30 million euros through international aid organisations to alleviate human suffering in Sudan. "But that is not nearly enough," says Van Ardenne. "I call upon other donors to make their contributions. That way we can show that a human life in Darfur is just as valuable as a human life in the tsunami impacted regions."
Van Ardenne expressed dismay that no progress has been made on the implementation of the North-South peace agreement. The accord has not been used in any way to resolve the conflict in Darfur. It is of vital importance for a new government to be formed immediately. Van Ardenne: "With the UN Security Council adopting three resolutions, the African Union enlarging its membership, and extensive humanitarian aid efforts being made, the international donor community is doing what can be expected. There are no more obstacles to prevent the Sudanese government and the rebels from sitting down at the negotiating table in Abuja and finding a political solution for Darfur." The violence in Darfur must be stopped, for the sake of the people there, for peace in all of Sudan and, not least, for the success of the Donors' Conference on Sudan to be held in Oslo next week. The Netherlands has set aside 100 million euros for the reconstruction of Sudan, but will not release the funds until Darfur is stable.
The minister observed in Darfur that where the African Union is present, the situation improves. The AU mission is making good use of three helicopters deployed with financial support from the Netherlands. To further improve security in Darfur, the AU mission needs to be expanded quickly. Van Ardenne believes that the current pledge of 3,200 African troops should be doubled and that the AU mission is insufficiently equipped. It lacks adequate transport vehicles, communication equipment and reliable information services. Van Ardenne informed the AU that, if necessary, the Netherlands would be willing to contribute more than the eight million euros it has made available thus far.
In Darfur, she spoke with the African Union, the Sudanese government, the SLA rebels and representatives of aid organisations. In the refugee camps, she spoke with several women and aid workers in emergency hospitals. "In my contact with Sudanese women," she says, "I was again moved by their resilience. Despite their harrowing stories, they want to focus on the future and are already getting to work, for example, making wicker baskets. They hope to earn an income selling them on the local market." Van Ardenne was also impressed by the courage and perseverance of the aid workers, who often have to do their work under the most difficult of circumstances.
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Darfur war crimes evidence driven overnight from Geneva to The Hague
A report in the Scotsman April 6 quotes British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as saying it was too early to say when the ICC might issue indictments or arrest warrants over Darfur and added he hoped the Sudanese government would help with the investigation. "We hope there will be constructive co-operation. We will co-operate with international institutions and governments to collect as much information as we can," he said.
His comments came as the International Criminal Court in the Hague took delivery of boxes of documents gathered last year by a UN commission. The boxes were driven overnight from Geneva to the court in The Hague, in the Netherlands.
Photo: Boxes of documents have been delivered to the court. See BBC report UN sets Darfur trials in motion.
On April 5 at UN HQ in New York, Kofi Annan, handed the ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, a sealed envelope holding a list of 51 people the commission recommends should stand trial. UN officials have said the list includes Sudan government and army officials, militia leaders and rebel and foreign army commanders but the ICC will not reveal the content of the list and will only decide later who it wants to indict.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that he would analyse the material, assess the alleged crimes and the admissibility of the cases. He urged those with information on Darfur to provide it to his office. "We all have a common task - to protect life, ending the culture of impunity," he said.
His deputy at The Hague, Serge Brammertz, said yesterday prosecutors would decide if the case fell within the court's jurisdiction and merited formal investigation and that the court would not necessarily follow the UNs findings, either in terms of suspects or crimes to be prosecuted. He said it was too early to say when a formal investigation would begin and that he hoped the Sudanese government would cooperate with prosecutors. "We will now proceed with the analysis of the documents and prepare a work. We will put together a team of analysts and investigators," he said.
Sources within the ICC told the Associated Press last week that about two dozen prosecution investigators were preparing to travel soon to Sudan.
Photo courtesy ICC: Mr. Serge BRAMMERTZ, Deputy Prosecutor of the ICC (Investigations), Mr. Luis MORENO-OCAMPO, Chief Prosecutor, and Mrs. Fatou BENSOUDA, Deputy Prosecutor (Prosecutions)
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1,000 Teso children in captivity
April 4, 2005 AllAfrica report by Samuel Okiror in Kampala - copy:
ARROW group coordinator Musa Ecweru on Friday said 1,028 Teso children abducted by LRA rebels in 2003 are still under rebel captivity in southern Sudan.
"We have confirmed that the children are being traded for guns and uniforms for the rebels," he said in an interview.
Ecweru, the Soroti RDC, said LRA leader Joseph Kony was selling the children to the governments of Sudan and Somalia. He said the people of Teso would appeal to the international community to trace the children.
Ecweru said about 5,000 children were abducted in Teso by the rebels in 2003 but the UPDF and Arrow boys rescued only 3,000.
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Further reading:
April 1, 2005: Darfur is now a household name in Britain, but a year ago, when I was among the first aid workers to be sent to this remote province of western Sudan, even old Africa hands might have been hard pushed to place it on the map. I was part of a UNHCR team charged with setting up the first refugee camps in the Sahel scrubland on the border with eastern Chad, where the number of displaced and traumatised Darfurians was growing rapidly. Full Story "On the edge of existence" by Katherine Grant, Financial Times, April 1, 2005.
April 2, 2005: The destruction and killing visited on Darfur might best be understood as ethnic cleansing along the lines seen in Kosovo, rather than the spasm of violence that gripped Rwanda. That means stopping the killing and the flight of an estimated 2 million people from the region will be messy and time-consuming. The best solution remains an African one: more support for the African Union, and encouragement for it to send larger peacekeeping forces. The sooner that is done, the better for Darfur. Full Story "Saving Darfur" Guardian UK, April 2, 2005.
April 3, 2005: In the six months I spent in Darfur as a "ceasefire observer", I saw entire villages burned down with Sudanese locked inside their huts. I saw villagers with their eyes or ears plucked out, or men who had bled to death after being castrated. I interviewed women who had been gang-raped while out collecting firewood. I saw evidence of summary executions. I walked through a field where it was impossible to move without stepping on human bones. Full Story "I walked through a field filled with human bones" by American Captain Brian Steidle, The Independent UK. Captain Brian Steidle was a ceasefire monitor in Darfur with the African Union, where he watched helplessly as a genocide unfolded. The former US Marine is the first observer to go public on the atrocities in the region.
April 4, 2005: But above all Sudan needs international commitments of aid for those displaced in Darfur and elsewhere in the vast country, concrete plans to return them home and assurances that political pressure will be kept up to ensure these agreements are followed through. This is a huge and demanding agenda which has been kept in the public eye mainly by aid agencies. Governments must now act on it with sustained pressure on all concerned. Full Story, Welcome break in Darfur impasse" The Irish Times.
April 5, 2005: "We're proud of what we do," said Kenny Gluck, the operations director based in the Netherlands for Medecins Sans Frontieres. "But people's villages have been burned, their crops have been destroyed, their wells spiked, their family members raped, tortured and killed - and they come to us, and we give them 2,100 kilocalories a day." In effect, Gluck said, the aid effort is sustaining victims so they can be killed with a full belly. Full Story "Hypocrisy on Darfur" by Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times.
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Sudan stages 'million-man' march against UN war crimes trial
The Sudanese government has been accused of seeking to intimidate humanitarian relief agencies in Darfur by arresting or detaining at least 20 aid workers since December. Human Rights Watch, which has campaigned against the genocide, said that rebels had also detained or attacked aid workers. The group called on all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers and enable them to reach Sudanese civilians in need of assistance.
"The Sudanese authorities are using the same strong-arm tactics against aid workers that they have used against human rights defenders," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Donor governments should condemn Khartoum's attempts to intimidate aid workers and others assisting civilians in Sudan."
On April 5, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Khartoum - not for any concern over the humanitarian crisis and the scorched earth campaign waged by the government against the rebels that has left more than 350,000 dead and 2.4 million people displaced - but because of the UNs demands for war crimes suspects, including high officials, to be handed over for trail by the International Criminal Court.
Photo: Sudanese protestors carry placards and banners during a protest march in Khartoum April 5, 2005. (Reuters)
Reuters reported that protesters directed much of their anger against British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French and US presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, but they also had harsh words for UN chief Kofi Annan. "Death to Bush, death to Blair, death to Chirac," chanted the demonstrators, many of whom travelled in from the provinces for the rally and arrived hours ahead of the start. State television had given extensive advance publicity to the march and carried live footage on the day. Traffic came to a standstill in the capital, as the protestors marched from the republican palace to UN headquarters, calling for Annan to resign.
"If it does not comply by surrendering the suspects to the ICC, (it) will open the door to punishments that will go beyond sanctions to the use of military force," said Abdel Qadir Bakash of the Beja Congress, an ethnic minority rebel group active in eastern Sudan.
He said the regime had two options -- "either to destroy itself and the Sudan as well by refusing to cooperate with the international community, or to agree to participate in a national conference of all opposition political forces ... to establish a broad-based government that will implement the Naivasha peace accords." Full Story via Sudan Tribune.
Photo: Radio stations and newspapers urged people to join the protest. The state-owned mobile phone company MobiTel had publicised the protest march through a text message to many subscribers on Monday evening.
Sudan has said it will refuse to hand over its citizens to face trial abroad, preferring to rely on local justice, but it is not clear if they know the trials will be held a lot closer to home. The ICC is mobile and prepared to hold court in order to gather evidence and witnesses. Sudan's President al-Bashir swore "thrice in the name of Almighty Allah that I shall never hand any Sudanese national to a foreign court", he is quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
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Sudanese tribes reject UN resolution on Darfur
April 5 Arabic News says the legal advisor of the UN mission in Sudan cited Sunday an ample opportunity for Khartoum to hold transparent and fair trials of Darfur war criminals. He said that if Khartoum puts such criminals on trial the ICC will not intervene. Excerpt:
The council of Sudanese tribes Sunday slammed UN Security Council resolution 1593 on Darfur as "unjust." A statement by the council called on all tribes to stand united against such an "insulting" resolution.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese government formed a committee to look into the repercussions of the resolution at the political, legal and diplomatic levels.
Reaffirming Khartoum's stance rejecting the resolution, Sudanese Information and Communications Minister designate Abdel Bassit Sidrat said the cabinet branded the resolution as a violation of Sudanese sovereignty.
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Egyptian news says UN resolution racist
Excerpt from Arab press roundup at World Peace Herald by UPI April 6, 2005:
Egypt's al-Gumhouriya commented in its editorial on what it described as the "justice of the new world order," saying the UN Security Council resolution to try suspected Sudanese officials on war crimes in Darfur was "reeking with racism."
The semi-official mass-circulation daily said the decision sought to try the officials in an international tribunal that was set up by the legitimacy of the new world order to punish anyone in the world "except those with noble American blood." It said the resolution, other than being a blatant interference in Sudan's internal affairs, was racist in nature because "it distinguishes between Americans and Sudanese and others."
The paper opined there appeared to be two types of justice, one that judges Muslims and Arabs, and another that judges "the noble Americans ... and all in the name of the illegitimate international legitimacy."
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Australia applauds UN decision to refer Darfur war crime to ICC
Associated Press April 6 says Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday applauded the UN decision to refer allegations of atrocities in Darfur to an international war crimes tribunal. Excerpt:
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government strongly supported the decision.
"This is an essential step to ending the atrocities in Darfur," Downer said in a statement.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said the moves were "a major step toward justice and peace for the people of the Sudan after 21 years of civil war and internal conflict."
He said the court's investigation into the Darfur atrocities "hopefully" would act to deter further crimes being committed.
"In West Darfur, areas to the north of the capital of El-Geneina remain "no go" for UN agencies, although security restrictions on some other areas have been lifted.
On March 11, WFP staff and other UN and nongovernmental organization personnel were pulled back to the state capital, following three days of attacks by armed bandits on clearly marked humanitarian vehicles. The attacks and the impact on relief operations have been raised with local authorities in West Darfur.
"We are doing everything we can to get food to those who need it," said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, WFP Sudan country director. "But banditry, conflict and insecurity make this an uphill battle."
"We are dispatching assessment teams to the worst-hit areas to find out by mid April how many more people need food aid in the months ahead," said Lopes da Silva.
"But so far, WFP doesn't have enough food to provide for the 5.5 million people who need assistance in 2005 in the east, transitional areas, the south and Darfur. If the numbers continue to rise, Sudan will face a new catastrophe unless more food gets here fast."
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Raids on Darfur food aid trucks leave drivers dead, wounded
The UNs WFP reported April 5 that shootings, attacks on drivers and thefts of trucks carrying food aid are creating a climate of fear that is hampering the delivery of essential food to millions of displaced people in Darfur. Excerpt:
"The security situation is so bad that many drivers are now refusing to move through sections of the road corridors to the three Darfur states," said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, World Food Programme (WFP) Sudan country director.[As if the rebels will take heed. They, like all the other bandits in Sudan, seem to survive by looting and stealing trucks, petrol and food. How else are they supporting themselves? If bandits are travelling in UN trucks, and there is no UN security to stop them, it can't come as a surprise to the UN that their trucks are being attacked and cargoes failing to reach their destination.
Mr Lopes da Silva said some WFP contract truck drivers are refusing to move out onto the increasingly dangerous roads. They halted a 37 truck convoy in Ed-Daien last week for security reasons. In March, a driver was shot and wounded, another had his hands broken, and others were severely beaten. A total of 13 WFP contracted trucks are still missing after a string of raids; eight of these are known to be held by the Darfur rebel group SLA.
"These attacks are completely unconscionable. They create a climate of fear that together with truck seizures pose a real threat to our ability to deliver food to the Darfurs," said Lopes da Silva. "These attacks must stop, and the trucks must be returned - it is as simple as that," he said.
Why such large convoys of food trucks are not escorted by police and helicopters is incomprehensible. Khartoum ought to be made responsible for escorting the aid safely to its destination, or they get no development funding. 10,000 aid workers are doing a tremendous job for the Sudanese people while risking their own lives. They and the aid must be protected. Khartoum and the rebels have their own security forces. What about everyone else? Who is protecting them? African Union soldiers do not have the necessary mandate to act as a protection force. The African Union has its own Security Council that does not need to go through the UN Security Council to get a mandate for AU troops. Why the 53-member bloc African Union is not insisting on a full mandate for Darfur is mind boggling. One can only conclude they are sympathetic to the regime in Khartoum, regardless of everyone else.
What exactly is the Sudan anyway - is it an African nation or an Arab nation? It comes under the umbrella of both the Arab League and the African Union. It seems (to me anyway) the Sudan has an identity crisis that cannot be resolved unless Khartoum comes out and makes clear Sudan is an Arab nation. Africans and Arabs who wish the freedom to choose their own religion and not be subjected to Islamic law ought to be able to live in South Sudan and Darfur with a government that represents the needs and wants of citizens.
Trouble is, there is oil in South Sudan and Darfur. North Sudan is loathe to lose that - Khartoum included. Wherever you turn to work out the root problem in Sudan, it always leads you to the northern region of Sudan which has always given itself preferential treatment, never mind the rest. Nomads - like the gypsies here in England who are shunned by mainstream communities - live on the fringes of society. They have their own customs and traditions and take it upon themselves to draw on the resources that surround local communities such as land, water and other facilities while not heeding licensing laws or paying full taxes like everyone else.]
Photo: Every day, hundreds of WFP trucks and planes are on the move to deliver food aid. (Photo by Laura Melo courtesy WFP)
The UNs WFP says in crowded camps throughout the three states of Darfur and across the border in Chad, two million people who have fled their homes rely on food aid to survive. It is estimated that a monthly average of 2.3 million people will need food assistance in the Darfurs over 2005, rising to 2.8 million during the rainy season months. In February, WFP fed 1.6 million people in Darfur, the highest monthly total since its emergency operation began in April 2004. Bravo to all involved.
UPDATE April 6, 2005: Relief workers have reported an upsurge in severe malnutrition among Sudanese refugees from Darfur at three camps in eastern Chad. See Severe Malnutrition on the Rise - via Coalition for Darfur [with thanks].
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Darfur aid workers under threat
There are 1,000 international aid workers on the ground, assisted by 9,000 Sudanese workers but its never explained how the local workers are selected or where they are from. We don't really know what is going on half the time. There is still no further news on what happened to the route to Darfur via Libya that was offered by the Libyan leader several months ago. In a recent interview, US Defence Secretary Rice mentioned "problems" with the Libyan route over the past few months and the need to keep pressing Khartoum on the issue.
On April 5 Human Rights Watch said the Sudanese government has sought to intimidate humanitarian relief agencies in Darfur by arbitrarily arresting or detaining at least 20 aid workers since December - and in several incidents rebels in Darfur have also detained or attacked aid workers. Sudanese authorities and rebels must not impede relief efforts, they said.
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Danish Refugee Council has withdrawn aid workers
The banditry is part of a deteriorating security situation across Darfur including attacks on humanitarian teams from WFP partner organizations, says the UNs WFP April 5.
The Danish Refugee Council has temporarily withdrawn from the Jebel Marra region after two of its aid workers were abducted from a vehicle on March 20. The two were released, but the vehicle is still missing.
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US aid workers returned to UN representative
An AGI report from Rome, Italy, April 4 says Italian negotiators succeeded in brokering the release of three US aid workers kidnapped last December in Sudan.
The three were members of ADRA (Adventist development and relief agency) and had been kidnapped by anti government factions whilst their aid convoy travelled from Khartoum to Darfur.
Italian UN envoy Barbara Contini actively brokered the release. After lengthy negotiations the three were returned released without payment of a ransom.
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UN turning a blind eye to Darfur deaths, says Straw
Gethin Chamberlain, the Scotsman's correspondent who covered news on Darfur from the Chad-Sudan border last year, reports today, April 6, that Britain yesterday accused other members of the UN Security Council of turning a blind eye to the atrocities in Darfur.
In a strongly worded statement, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said they had put commercial or political interests above their commitments under the UN charter.
Britain has worked to get other members of the UN Security Council "to recognise the gravity of the situation and, for some of them, to appreciate that their obligations under the UN Charter must take precedence over their immediate commercial or political interests with the government of Sudan", he said.
"There are still members of the so-called international community, members of the Security Council and others, who are turning a blind eye from clear atrocities which have taken place in Darfur," Mr Straw said.
[No doubt he was thinking of China, Russia and Algeria that have blocked any concrete action by the Security Council against Sudan]
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Ireland: Darfur top of agenda as Minister Lenihan travels to Sudan
Irish news says the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is back on the Irish Government's agenda ahead of an international meeting to discuss relief efforts in the region.
On April 3, Ireland's Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan, departed for Darfur.
Minister Lenihan said that he supports the UN call to bring the killers to justice: "I think the UNs overview is the right one and I think it is very important now that people who have been perpetrating these killings and bringing death to everyone's door are brought to justice through the International Criminal Court."
[Irish aid agency GOAL has been doing a tremendous job for many years in the Sudan]
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Straw Calls for International Consensus on Sudan
April 5 2005 report by Nick Mead, PA Political Staff, at Scotsman - excerpt:
"Speaking at Commons questions, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the resolution "sent a very clear message that there is now no hiding place for those committing crimes against humanity".
Shadow foreign minister Mark Simmonds called on the UK and the rest of the international community to ensure perpetrators of war crimes are brought to justice, enforce a "no fly" zone over Darfur and impose oil and arms sanctions.
Mr Straw replied: "We have always argued for the toughest possible action but achieving that depends on gaining agreement inside the Security Council.
"We have to gain a consensus. It involves international engagement, even with our European partners.
"Where we've got to is not where we would wish to get to but it is infinitely better than where we would have got to under a Conservative government."
Sir Menzies Campbell, for Lib Dems, called for the African Union force in Sudan to be increased from 2,500 to 10,000 and for its mandate to be strengthened to allow for peacekeeping rather than simply monitoring.
The Foreign Secretary said the UK was giving the African Union technical and logistical support to get the available troops effectively deployed."
- - -
30 million in emergency aid for Sudan
A Minister from The Netherlands (Jan Pronk's home country) returned home this week following her 4-day visit to the Sudan.
Here is a copy of a April 5, 2005, press release outlining the conclusions she reached. [Note, the Minister observed that where the African Union is present in Darfur, the situation improves. I can find no report that explains why it is taking so long for even 1,000 extra AU troops to arrive in Darfur to make the full numbers approved. The European Union has committed a few hundred million dollars to the African Union. AU officials themselves have said money is not an issue but that "accommodation" for the troops in Darfur is the problem]. Here is the press release:
In Darfur too many people still have to get by without water, food supplies are insufficient, aid convoys are being attacked, the security situation for refugees and aid workers is alarming and women are being intimidated and sexually assaulted. These are the conclusions that the Minister for Development Cooperation, Agnes van Ardenne, drew at the end of her four-day visit to Sudan. The Netherlands will donate 30 million euros through international aid organisations to alleviate human suffering in Sudan. "But that is not nearly enough," says Van Ardenne. "I call upon other donors to make their contributions. That way we can show that a human life in Darfur is just as valuable as a human life in the tsunami impacted regions."
Van Ardenne expressed dismay that no progress has been made on the implementation of the North-South peace agreement. The accord has not been used in any way to resolve the conflict in Darfur. It is of vital importance for a new government to be formed immediately. Van Ardenne: "With the UN Security Council adopting three resolutions, the African Union enlarging its membership, and extensive humanitarian aid efforts being made, the international donor community is doing what can be expected. There are no more obstacles to prevent the Sudanese government and the rebels from sitting down at the negotiating table in Abuja and finding a political solution for Darfur." The violence in Darfur must be stopped, for the sake of the people there, for peace in all of Sudan and, not least, for the success of the Donors' Conference on Sudan to be held in Oslo next week. The Netherlands has set aside 100 million euros for the reconstruction of Sudan, but will not release the funds until Darfur is stable.
The minister observed in Darfur that where the African Union is present, the situation improves. The AU mission is making good use of three helicopters deployed with financial support from the Netherlands. To further improve security in Darfur, the AU mission needs to be expanded quickly. Van Ardenne believes that the current pledge of 3,200 African troops should be doubled and that the AU mission is insufficiently equipped. It lacks adequate transport vehicles, communication equipment and reliable information services. Van Ardenne informed the AU that, if necessary, the Netherlands would be willing to contribute more than the eight million euros it has made available thus far.
In Darfur, she spoke with the African Union, the Sudanese government, the SLA rebels and representatives of aid organisations. In the refugee camps, she spoke with several women and aid workers in emergency hospitals. "In my contact with Sudanese women," she says, "I was again moved by their resilience. Despite their harrowing stories, they want to focus on the future and are already getting to work, for example, making wicker baskets. They hope to earn an income selling them on the local market." Van Ardenne was also impressed by the courage and perseverance of the aid workers, who often have to do their work under the most difficult of circumstances.
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Darfur war crimes evidence driven overnight from Geneva to The Hague
A report in the Scotsman April 6 quotes British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as saying it was too early to say when the ICC might issue indictments or arrest warrants over Darfur and added he hoped the Sudanese government would help with the investigation. "We hope there will be constructive co-operation. We will co-operate with international institutions and governments to collect as much information as we can," he said.
His comments came as the International Criminal Court in the Hague took delivery of boxes of documents gathered last year by a UN commission. The boxes were driven overnight from Geneva to the court in The Hague, in the Netherlands.
Photo: Boxes of documents have been delivered to the court. See BBC report UN sets Darfur trials in motion.
On April 5 at UN HQ in New York, Kofi Annan, handed the ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, a sealed envelope holding a list of 51 people the commission recommends should stand trial. UN officials have said the list includes Sudan government and army officials, militia leaders and rebel and foreign army commanders but the ICC will not reveal the content of the list and will only decide later who it wants to indict.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that he would analyse the material, assess the alleged crimes and the admissibility of the cases. He urged those with information on Darfur to provide it to his office. "We all have a common task - to protect life, ending the culture of impunity," he said.
His deputy at The Hague, Serge Brammertz, said yesterday prosecutors would decide if the case fell within the court's jurisdiction and merited formal investigation and that the court would not necessarily follow the UNs findings, either in terms of suspects or crimes to be prosecuted. He said it was too early to say when a formal investigation would begin and that he hoped the Sudanese government would cooperate with prosecutors. "We will now proceed with the analysis of the documents and prepare a work. We will put together a team of analysts and investigators," he said.
Sources within the ICC told the Associated Press last week that about two dozen prosecution investigators were preparing to travel soon to Sudan.
Photo courtesy ICC: Mr. Serge BRAMMERTZ, Deputy Prosecutor of the ICC (Investigations), Mr. Luis MORENO-OCAMPO, Chief Prosecutor, and Mrs. Fatou BENSOUDA, Deputy Prosecutor (Prosecutions)
- - -
1,000 Teso children in captivity
April 4, 2005 AllAfrica report by Samuel Okiror in Kampala - copy:
ARROW group coordinator Musa Ecweru on Friday said 1,028 Teso children abducted by LRA rebels in 2003 are still under rebel captivity in southern Sudan.
"We have confirmed that the children are being traded for guns and uniforms for the rebels," he said in an interview.
Ecweru, the Soroti RDC, said LRA leader Joseph Kony was selling the children to the governments of Sudan and Somalia. He said the people of Teso would appeal to the international community to trace the children.
Ecweru said about 5,000 children were abducted in Teso by the rebels in 2003 but the UPDF and Arrow boys rescued only 3,000.
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Further reading:
April 1, 2005: Darfur is now a household name in Britain, but a year ago, when I was among the first aid workers to be sent to this remote province of western Sudan, even old Africa hands might have been hard pushed to place it on the map. I was part of a UNHCR team charged with setting up the first refugee camps in the Sahel scrubland on the border with eastern Chad, where the number of displaced and traumatised Darfurians was growing rapidly. Full Story "On the edge of existence" by Katherine Grant, Financial Times, April 1, 2005.
April 2, 2005: The destruction and killing visited on Darfur might best be understood as ethnic cleansing along the lines seen in Kosovo, rather than the spasm of violence that gripped Rwanda. That means stopping the killing and the flight of an estimated 2 million people from the region will be messy and time-consuming. The best solution remains an African one: more support for the African Union, and encouragement for it to send larger peacekeeping forces. The sooner that is done, the better for Darfur. Full Story "Saving Darfur" Guardian UK, April 2, 2005.
April 3, 2005: In the six months I spent in Darfur as a "ceasefire observer", I saw entire villages burned down with Sudanese locked inside their huts. I saw villagers with their eyes or ears plucked out, or men who had bled to death after being castrated. I interviewed women who had been gang-raped while out collecting firewood. I saw evidence of summary executions. I walked through a field where it was impossible to move without stepping on human bones. Full Story "I walked through a field filled with human bones" by American Captain Brian Steidle, The Independent UK. Captain Brian Steidle was a ceasefire monitor in Darfur with the African Union, where he watched helplessly as a genocide unfolded. The former US Marine is the first observer to go public on the atrocities in the region.
April 4, 2005: But above all Sudan needs international commitments of aid for those displaced in Darfur and elsewhere in the vast country, concrete plans to return them home and assurances that political pressure will be kept up to ensure these agreements are followed through. This is a huge and demanding agenda which has been kept in the public eye mainly by aid agencies. Governments must now act on it with sustained pressure on all concerned. Full Story, Welcome break in Darfur impasse" The Irish Times.
April 5, 2005: "We're proud of what we do," said Kenny Gluck, the operations director based in the Netherlands for Medecins Sans Frontieres. "But people's villages have been burned, their crops have been destroyed, their wells spiked, their family members raped, tortured and killed - and they come to us, and we give them 2,100 kilocalories a day." In effect, Gluck said, the aid effort is sustaining victims so they can be killed with a full belly. Full Story "Hypocrisy on Darfur" by Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times.
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Sudan stages 'million-man' march against UN war crimes trial
The Sudanese government has been accused of seeking to intimidate humanitarian relief agencies in Darfur by arresting or detaining at least 20 aid workers since December. Human Rights Watch, which has campaigned against the genocide, said that rebels had also detained or attacked aid workers. The group called on all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers and enable them to reach Sudanese civilians in need of assistance.
"The Sudanese authorities are using the same strong-arm tactics against aid workers that they have used against human rights defenders," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Donor governments should condemn Khartoum's attempts to intimidate aid workers and others assisting civilians in Sudan."
On April 5, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Khartoum - not for any concern over the humanitarian crisis and the scorched earth campaign waged by the government against the rebels that has left more than 350,000 dead and 2.4 million people displaced - but because of the UNs demands for war crimes suspects, including high officials, to be handed over for trail by the International Criminal Court.
Photo: Sudanese protestors carry placards and banners during a protest march in Khartoum April 5, 2005. (Reuters)
Reuters reported that protesters directed much of their anger against British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French and US presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, but they also had harsh words for UN chief Kofi Annan. "Death to Bush, death to Blair, death to Chirac," chanted the demonstrators, many of whom travelled in from the provinces for the rally and arrived hours ahead of the start. State television had given extensive advance publicity to the march and carried live footage on the day. Traffic came to a standstill in the capital, as the protestors marched from the republican palace to UN headquarters, calling for Annan to resign.
"If it does not comply by surrendering the suspects to the ICC, (it) will open the door to punishments that will go beyond sanctions to the use of military force," said Abdel Qadir Bakash of the Beja Congress, an ethnic minority rebel group active in eastern Sudan.
He said the regime had two options -- "either to destroy itself and the Sudan as well by refusing to cooperate with the international community, or to agree to participate in a national conference of all opposition political forces ... to establish a broad-based government that will implement the Naivasha peace accords." Full Story via Sudan Tribune.
Photo: Radio stations and newspapers urged people to join the protest. The state-owned mobile phone company MobiTel had publicised the protest march through a text message to many subscribers on Monday evening.
Sudan has said it will refuse to hand over its citizens to face trial abroad, preferring to rely on local justice, but it is not clear if they know the trials will be held a lot closer to home. The ICC is mobile and prepared to hold court in order to gather evidence and witnesses. Sudan's President al-Bashir swore "thrice in the name of Almighty Allah that I shall never hand any Sudanese national to a foreign court", he is quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
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Sudanese tribes reject UN resolution on Darfur
April 5 Arabic News says the legal advisor of the UN mission in Sudan cited Sunday an ample opportunity for Khartoum to hold transparent and fair trials of Darfur war criminals. He said that if Khartoum puts such criminals on trial the ICC will not intervene. Excerpt:
The council of Sudanese tribes Sunday slammed UN Security Council resolution 1593 on Darfur as "unjust." A statement by the council called on all tribes to stand united against such an "insulting" resolution.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese government formed a committee to look into the repercussions of the resolution at the political, legal and diplomatic levels.
Reaffirming Khartoum's stance rejecting the resolution, Sudanese Information and Communications Minister designate Abdel Bassit Sidrat said the cabinet branded the resolution as a violation of Sudanese sovereignty.
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Egyptian news says UN resolution racist
Excerpt from Arab press roundup at World Peace Herald by UPI April 6, 2005:
Egypt's al-Gumhouriya commented in its editorial on what it described as the "justice of the new world order," saying the UN Security Council resolution to try suspected Sudanese officials on war crimes in Darfur was "reeking with racism."
The semi-official mass-circulation daily said the decision sought to try the officials in an international tribunal that was set up by the legitimacy of the new world order to punish anyone in the world "except those with noble American blood." It said the resolution, other than being a blatant interference in Sudan's internal affairs, was racist in nature because "it distinguishes between Americans and Sudanese and others."
The paper opined there appeared to be two types of justice, one that judges Muslims and Arabs, and another that judges "the noble Americans ... and all in the name of the illegitimate international legitimacy."
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Australia applauds UN decision to refer Darfur war crime to ICC
Associated Press April 6 says Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday applauded the UN decision to refer allegations of atrocities in Darfur to an international war crimes tribunal. Excerpt:
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government strongly supported the decision.
"This is an essential step to ending the atrocities in Darfur," Downer said in a statement.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said the moves were "a major step toward justice and peace for the people of the Sudan after 21 years of civil war and internal conflict."
He said the court's investigation into the Darfur atrocities "hopefully" would act to deter further crimes being committed.
Sudan Civil Society Forum in Oslo - For a just and lasting peace - 7-9 April 2005
Sudan's future to be discussed in Oslo 7-9 April 2005. See the following copy of a recent Press Release:
More than 50 representatives from Sudanese organisations are to come together in Oslo from April 7, 9 to discuss ways in which civil society can contribute to a lasting peace in their homeland.
Minister for Development Hilde Frafjord Johnson will open the conference on Thursday 7th April at 18:00. Representatives from the parties who signed Sudan's peace agreement in January this year, the government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), will be holding opening addresses.
Conference participants will represent a broad spread of political, cultural and religious groups both from northern and southern Sudan, and roughly half of the participants are women. The conference is a rare opportunity for civil society to meet and discuss common challenges for the years ahead.
The conference is open to the press, and there will be the opportunity to meet participants in person.
Participants are to elect four delegates to represent the voice of Sudanese civil society at the international Donors' Conference for Sudan that is to be held in Oslo 11, 12 April, which both Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be attending.
The Sudan Civil Society Forum in Oslo has arranged by Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian Peoples' Aid and Sudan Support Group. On Sunday, April 10 a press conference will be held giving details of the conference's findings. An invitation to this press conference will follow.
For more information, contact:
Stein Erik Horjen, Special Adviser - Peace and Reconciliation, Norwegian Church Aid
Tel. +47 22 09 28 43, Mob. +47 93 88 14 41
Email: stein-erik.horjen@nca.no
Laurie MacGregor, Press Officer, Norwegian Church Aid
Tel. +47 22 09 27 32, Mob. +47 47 41 31 15
Email: laurie.macgregor@nca.no
Ivar Christiansen, Press Officer, Norwegian People's Aid
Tel. +47 22 03 77 62 Mob. +47 91 61 08 73
Email: ivar.christiansen@npaid.org
Website http://english.nca.no/
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100 Days of Action drumming up support and awareness for Darfur
From the Coalition for Darfur: 100 Days of Action.
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Spotlight on Darfur Week April 4-8, Harvard University, USA
From Jim at Sudan: The Passion of the Present: Spotlight on Darfur Week April 4-8, Harvard University. A distinguished panel will discuss "Darfur: Can the World Stop the Horror?"
Important UPDATES from Jim Moore at Passion of the Present April 6:
Harvard sells PetroChina stake
Dear Abby, Sudan could use your help..
PRESS CONFERENCE: 100 DAYS OF ACTION
Personally, I believe the Genocide Intervention Fund is the most important initiative now. Don't kid yourself -- NGO aid organizations can not stop the killing. Killers can only be stopped by some form of on-the-ground policing. And the GIF, sponsored by Swarthmore students and now being picked up by many many others, is the ONLY initiative truly focused on policing. Here is the announcement of their big event today: Today's kickoff for the Genocide Intervention Fund
Jim
- - -
From Jocelyn Hanamirian at The Daily Princetonian: Drumming up support and awareness for Darfur.
Photo by Willie Poor. Students watch a drum circle on the south lawn of Frist Campus Center on Monday afternoon as the first in a series of events to raise money for Darfur.
Students heading to late meal walked to a different beat last night, as a circle of students jammed on African drums on the south lawn of Frist Campus Center. Led by New Jersey-based artist Dorothy Sikora, about 20 students made the campus resound with the first sounds of Embracing Darfur, a week of events organized by the Princeton Darfur Action Committee (PDAC).
The week was scheduled to coincide with the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, which began April 7, 1994. In November, PDAC organized An Evening for Darfur, a night of dance and vocal performances that raised more than $5,000 for Oxfam.
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Canadian students taking a stand for Darfur
April 7 Canadian Jewish News excerpt:
"Many McGill students were relieved to discover that attention is finally being paid to the crisis in Dafur, and STAND members were thrilled with the number of McGill students eager to join their group.
But this enthusiasm was not unanimous among students. Many responded with apathy, refusing to sign the petition, or even to pick up the information sheets being distributed. Several group members said that disinterest has been the group's biggest obstacle.
"Apathy has been our biggest challenge," STAND representative from Concordia, Josh Fisher, said. "Some people don't care because they don't know what's going on. Others don't care because they live in a country where their security is a given, and can't be bothered to help those who don't share that liberty."
To combat this feeling of apathy among students, STAND and Hillel Montreal are holding a benefit concert called Give It Up For Darfur, to raise awareness about the crisis and money for the victims. It takes place on April 7 at Just for Laughs Cabaret.
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USA: Harvard Divests From PetroChina Stock
Excerpt from an April 5 article at the Harvard Crimson by Daniel J Hemel:
"Harvard announced yesterday that it will sell its stake in PetroChina, bowing to pressure from students and faculty members who had denounced the Beijing-based oil company for its ties to the Sudanese government.
The Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR) said in a statement yesterday that the decision "reflects deep concerns about the grievous crisis that persists in the Darfur region of Sudan," where government-backed militiamen have killed tens of thousands of black Muslim villagers."
Photo: Crimson/Mitra Dowlatshahi. Chimnomso K. S. Kalu '07, Alexander D. Rafael '07, Felipe A. Tewes '06, and Vikram Viswanathan '06, along with 150 other students walked to Loeb House yesterday in a silent protest organized by the United Front for Divestment. Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.
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USA: Darfur Action Group
Darfur Action Group is "an independent body that began as an umbrella organization to link different human rights sub-groups on Harvard's many campuses.
It has expanded beyond this original definition to offer its services to all Northeastern campuses in the US. By communicating through Darfur Action Group, the many student organizations coordinate and support each campus group's initiative to bring awareness of the Darfur conflict to their campus community. It is our hope that the unity of the organizers and organizations pushing to create an awareness and indignation of Darfur in their respective communities, will eventually reach the critical mass necessary to create the powerful hand of popular outrage and action to influence Congress and the world.
If your organization is in the Northeastern US and you would like to disseminate your information and activities to college campuses, please contact us. We will do our best to incorporate you into our community and together we will reach our communities and stop the killing."
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MTV brings Nobel laureate to students
Elie Wiesel talks about genocide in Sudan. By Megha Garg. Published April 5, 2005 at University of Miami Hurricane online. Here is an excerpt:
When students walked into the seminar room at the Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic studies on Tuesday, they knew class was going to be a little different than usual. Professors Sherri Porcelain and Miriam Klein Kassenoff had combined their classes and moved them to a different location, and there were cameras all over the room when students took their seats.
But when 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel walked in, the collective "Oooh!" displayed the awe and shock of the students sitting in the room.
"The class before we were talking about his book Night [Wiesel's autobiographical novel about his experiences during the Holocaust] and all of a sudden he just walks in there," Rajiv Nijhawan, sophomore, said. "It was totally unexpected."
Wiesel's visit was arranged by and taped for the mtvU series Stand-in, in which celebrities make a surprise appearance and take the place of the professor for the class.
Wiesel focused on the worldwide indifference toward the mass genocides occurring in Sudan and Rwanda, relating them to his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust.
"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference," Wiesel said. "An ethical person is one who is not indifferent."
He talked about suffering through the Nazi regime and finding out that the world was aware of what was happening.
"When we learned that people knew, it was easy to give up on humanity," Wiesel said.
Wiesel' advice to college students was simple."
"When you read about an injustice, always take the side of the victims," he said. "Your silence or indifference will never hurt the killer, only the victim."
- - -
Lost Boys of Sudan relate survival stories
Two men recall war, horrors of Sudan life. By JJ Hensley at The Arizona Republic, April 5, 2005. Copy:
How do you quiet an auditorium full of rambunctious high schoolers in the grip of spring fever? Tell them one of the most enthralling stories they have ever heard.
Teachers at Dobson High School pulled off that feat last week with the help of two of the Lost Boys of Sudan, the name given to the hundreds of Sudanese children orphaned by war who spent years walking through southeast Africa and waiting to immigrate to the United States.
The Lost Boys are young men now, many in college, working to support themselves and raising money and awareness about their plight.
"Every time we share what we went through, it's a part of the process of healing for what we went through," said Jany Deng, one of about 500 Lost Boys living in the Phoenix area.
More than 600 Dobson students in a crowded auditorium experienced that catharsis Wednesday, though it was hard to predict that from the way the presentation started.
As the students watched a CBS-TV 60 Minutes piece on the Lost Boys, there were pockets of laughter when a frame of a Sudanese boy with a crooked smile flashed across the screen.
The boy had damaged teeth, but the air went out of their laughter when they realized how it got that way: It was the result of a decade-long diet of mainly of mud and meal.
From that point on, the students were eating out of the Lost Boys' scarred hands, sitting in silence as the video detailed a journey colored with war and famine the boys began at an age when many of these students were learning their ABC's.
"We didn't know where we were going, we just prayed to God," said Deng, 26, who started his trek when he was 6 years old. "If this person (dies), you just step over them and keep on walking."
Anecdotes like that shook the hundreds of high school students in attendance, drawing a collective gasp from the audience.
"To see everything they went through, it puts everything in perspective. It teaches you humility," Dobson senior Brodie Phillips, 18, said after the presentation.
Many of the more interesting aspects of their journey, from fighting off jungle animals and crocodiles, to learning to use a can opener and drive a car, were detailed in the video, but seeing two of the survivors in person made the experience more tangible, Phillips said.
"Most school assemblies, it's a joke. It's an excuse to get out of class," he said. "I think the story is just so powerful that you can't help but be amazed by it."
Despite the serious circumstances that brought the students together, there were some lighthearted moments, particularly when Deng and his counterpart, Gabriel Majok, 25, took questions from the crowd.
"When you came to America did you think we were, like, the fattest people ever," asked one observant student, noting the slim build of the Sudanese emigrants.
"It didn't surprise me that much," Deng said.
Their journey here had taken them through parts of Europe where residents were at least as hefty as Americans, he said. In a follow-up question, the student asked about his favorite food. It's pizza, for the record, a response that drew cheers and applause.
But the biggest response came at the end of the presentation, when the Lost Boys got a standing ovation.
"The message I wanted them to get from it is about how valuable education is, something that we take for granted," said Kim Klett, the English teacher who set up the assembly. "I am hoping that since spring fever has set in and many students aren't thinking so seriously about school, that this will rejuvenate them and make them realize how important school is."
- - -
The Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan
Please click here for the full text of "The Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan" signed by Sudanese vice president and the chairman of the SPLM/A, on Sunday, January 9, 2005.
More than 50 representatives from Sudanese organisations are to come together in Oslo from April 7, 9 to discuss ways in which civil society can contribute to a lasting peace in their homeland.
Minister for Development Hilde Frafjord Johnson will open the conference on Thursday 7th April at 18:00. Representatives from the parties who signed Sudan's peace agreement in January this year, the government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), will be holding opening addresses.
Conference participants will represent a broad spread of political, cultural and religious groups both from northern and southern Sudan, and roughly half of the participants are women. The conference is a rare opportunity for civil society to meet and discuss common challenges for the years ahead.
The conference is open to the press, and there will be the opportunity to meet participants in person.
Participants are to elect four delegates to represent the voice of Sudanese civil society at the international Donors' Conference for Sudan that is to be held in Oslo 11, 12 April, which both Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be attending.
The Sudan Civil Society Forum in Oslo has arranged by Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian Peoples' Aid and Sudan Support Group. On Sunday, April 10 a press conference will be held giving details of the conference's findings. An invitation to this press conference will follow.
For more information, contact:
Stein Erik Horjen, Special Adviser - Peace and Reconciliation, Norwegian Church Aid
Tel. +47 22 09 28 43, Mob. +47 93 88 14 41
Email: stein-erik.horjen@nca.no
Laurie MacGregor, Press Officer, Norwegian Church Aid
Tel. +47 22 09 27 32, Mob. +47 47 41 31 15
Email: laurie.macgregor@nca.no
Ivar Christiansen, Press Officer, Norwegian People's Aid
Tel. +47 22 03 77 62 Mob. +47 91 61 08 73
Email: ivar.christiansen@npaid.org
Website http://english.nca.no/
- - -
100 Days of Action drumming up support and awareness for Darfur
From the Coalition for Darfur: 100 Days of Action.
- - -
Spotlight on Darfur Week April 4-8, Harvard University, USA
From Jim at Sudan: The Passion of the Present: Spotlight on Darfur Week April 4-8, Harvard University. A distinguished panel will discuss "Darfur: Can the World Stop the Horror?"
Important UPDATES from Jim Moore at Passion of the Present April 6:
Harvard sells PetroChina stake
Dear Abby, Sudan could use your help..
PRESS CONFERENCE: 100 DAYS OF ACTION
Personally, I believe the Genocide Intervention Fund is the most important initiative now. Don't kid yourself -- NGO aid organizations can not stop the killing. Killers can only be stopped by some form of on-the-ground policing. And the GIF, sponsored by Swarthmore students and now being picked up by many many others, is the ONLY initiative truly focused on policing. Here is the announcement of their big event today: Today's kickoff for the Genocide Intervention Fund
Jim
- - -
From Jocelyn Hanamirian at The Daily Princetonian: Drumming up support and awareness for Darfur.
Photo by Willie Poor. Students watch a drum circle on the south lawn of Frist Campus Center on Monday afternoon as the first in a series of events to raise money for Darfur.
Students heading to late meal walked to a different beat last night, as a circle of students jammed on African drums on the south lawn of Frist Campus Center. Led by New Jersey-based artist Dorothy Sikora, about 20 students made the campus resound with the first sounds of Embracing Darfur, a week of events organized by the Princeton Darfur Action Committee (PDAC).
The week was scheduled to coincide with the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, which began April 7, 1994. In November, PDAC organized An Evening for Darfur, a night of dance and vocal performances that raised more than $5,000 for Oxfam.
- - -
Canadian students taking a stand for Darfur
April 7 Canadian Jewish News excerpt:
"Many McGill students were relieved to discover that attention is finally being paid to the crisis in Dafur, and STAND members were thrilled with the number of McGill students eager to join their group.
But this enthusiasm was not unanimous among students. Many responded with apathy, refusing to sign the petition, or even to pick up the information sheets being distributed. Several group members said that disinterest has been the group's biggest obstacle.
"Apathy has been our biggest challenge," STAND representative from Concordia, Josh Fisher, said. "Some people don't care because they don't know what's going on. Others don't care because they live in a country where their security is a given, and can't be bothered to help those who don't share that liberty."
To combat this feeling of apathy among students, STAND and Hillel Montreal are holding a benefit concert called Give It Up For Darfur, to raise awareness about the crisis and money for the victims. It takes place on April 7 at Just for Laughs Cabaret.
- - -
USA: Harvard Divests From PetroChina Stock
Excerpt from an April 5 article at the Harvard Crimson by Daniel J Hemel:
"Harvard announced yesterday that it will sell its stake in PetroChina, bowing to pressure from students and faculty members who had denounced the Beijing-based oil company for its ties to the Sudanese government.
The Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR) said in a statement yesterday that the decision "reflects deep concerns about the grievous crisis that persists in the Darfur region of Sudan," where government-backed militiamen have killed tens of thousands of black Muslim villagers."
Photo: Crimson/Mitra Dowlatshahi. Chimnomso K. S. Kalu '07, Alexander D. Rafael '07, Felipe A. Tewes '06, and Vikram Viswanathan '06, along with 150 other students walked to Loeb House yesterday in a silent protest organized by the United Front for Divestment. Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.
- - -
USA: Darfur Action Group
Darfur Action Group is "an independent body that began as an umbrella organization to link different human rights sub-groups on Harvard's many campuses.
It has expanded beyond this original definition to offer its services to all Northeastern campuses in the US. By communicating through Darfur Action Group, the many student organizations coordinate and support each campus group's initiative to bring awareness of the Darfur conflict to their campus community. It is our hope that the unity of the organizers and organizations pushing to create an awareness and indignation of Darfur in their respective communities, will eventually reach the critical mass necessary to create the powerful hand of popular outrage and action to influence Congress and the world.
If your organization is in the Northeastern US and you would like to disseminate your information and activities to college campuses, please contact us. We will do our best to incorporate you into our community and together we will reach our communities and stop the killing."
- - -
MTV brings Nobel laureate to students
Elie Wiesel talks about genocide in Sudan. By Megha Garg. Published April 5, 2005 at University of Miami Hurricane online. Here is an excerpt:
When students walked into the seminar room at the Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic studies on Tuesday, they knew class was going to be a little different than usual. Professors Sherri Porcelain and Miriam Klein Kassenoff had combined their classes and moved them to a different location, and there were cameras all over the room when students took their seats.
But when 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel walked in, the collective "Oooh!" displayed the awe and shock of the students sitting in the room.
"The class before we were talking about his book Night [Wiesel's autobiographical novel about his experiences during the Holocaust] and all of a sudden he just walks in there," Rajiv Nijhawan, sophomore, said. "It was totally unexpected."
Wiesel's visit was arranged by and taped for the mtvU series Stand-in, in which celebrities make a surprise appearance and take the place of the professor for the class.
Wiesel focused on the worldwide indifference toward the mass genocides occurring in Sudan and Rwanda, relating them to his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust.
"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference," Wiesel said. "An ethical person is one who is not indifferent."
He talked about suffering through the Nazi regime and finding out that the world was aware of what was happening.
"When we learned that people knew, it was easy to give up on humanity," Wiesel said.
Wiesel' advice to college students was simple."
"When you read about an injustice, always take the side of the victims," he said. "Your silence or indifference will never hurt the killer, only the victim."
- - -
Lost Boys of Sudan relate survival stories
Two men recall war, horrors of Sudan life. By JJ Hensley at The Arizona Republic, April 5, 2005. Copy:
How do you quiet an auditorium full of rambunctious high schoolers in the grip of spring fever? Tell them one of the most enthralling stories they have ever heard.
Teachers at Dobson High School pulled off that feat last week with the help of two of the Lost Boys of Sudan, the name given to the hundreds of Sudanese children orphaned by war who spent years walking through southeast Africa and waiting to immigrate to the United States.
The Lost Boys are young men now, many in college, working to support themselves and raising money and awareness about their plight.
"Every time we share what we went through, it's a part of the process of healing for what we went through," said Jany Deng, one of about 500 Lost Boys living in the Phoenix area.
More than 600 Dobson students in a crowded auditorium experienced that catharsis Wednesday, though it was hard to predict that from the way the presentation started.
As the students watched a CBS-TV 60 Minutes piece on the Lost Boys, there were pockets of laughter when a frame of a Sudanese boy with a crooked smile flashed across the screen.
The boy had damaged teeth, but the air went out of their laughter when they realized how it got that way: It was the result of a decade-long diet of mainly of mud and meal.
From that point on, the students were eating out of the Lost Boys' scarred hands, sitting in silence as the video detailed a journey colored with war and famine the boys began at an age when many of these students were learning their ABC's.
"We didn't know where we were going, we just prayed to God," said Deng, 26, who started his trek when he was 6 years old. "If this person (dies), you just step over them and keep on walking."
Anecdotes like that shook the hundreds of high school students in attendance, drawing a collective gasp from the audience.
"To see everything they went through, it puts everything in perspective. It teaches you humility," Dobson senior Brodie Phillips, 18, said after the presentation.
Many of the more interesting aspects of their journey, from fighting off jungle animals and crocodiles, to learning to use a can opener and drive a car, were detailed in the video, but seeing two of the survivors in person made the experience more tangible, Phillips said.
"Most school assemblies, it's a joke. It's an excuse to get out of class," he said. "I think the story is just so powerful that you can't help but be amazed by it."
Despite the serious circumstances that brought the students together, there were some lighthearted moments, particularly when Deng and his counterpart, Gabriel Majok, 25, took questions from the crowd.
"When you came to America did you think we were, like, the fattest people ever," asked one observant student, noting the slim build of the Sudanese emigrants.
"It didn't surprise me that much," Deng said.
Their journey here had taken them through parts of Europe where residents were at least as hefty as Americans, he said. In a follow-up question, the student asked about his favorite food. It's pizza, for the record, a response that drew cheers and applause.
But the biggest response came at the end of the presentation, when the Lost Boys got a standing ovation.
"The message I wanted them to get from it is about how valuable education is, something that we take for granted," said Kim Klett, the English teacher who set up the assembly. "I am hoping that since spring fever has set in and many students aren't thinking so seriously about school, that this will rejuvenate them and make them realize how important school is."
- - -
The Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan
Please click here for the full text of "The Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan" signed by Sudanese vice president and the chairman of the SPLM/A, on Sunday, January 9, 2005.
AU report says Sudan's Darfur force should be 7,000 by August
In Darfur at the moment there are some 2,200 African Union soldiers. At least 3,000 were promised several months ago, but no clear explanation has been given for the hold up. AU officials went on the record last year saying money was not a problem. They merely cited "accommodation" problems and mentioned the delay was due to American contractors. It is unclear if they meant "shelter" issues or access problems, i.e. Khartoum up to its usual tricks and delaying tactics.
Years ago, the British Army, even with the most primitive of equipment could mobilise and set up tents and hospitals in the middle of a desert, along with accommodation for thousands of soldiers, within a matter of 24 hours. The European Union alone has committed a few hundred million dollars for African Union troops. Why politicians are not providing an explanation for the delay in deploying a further 1,000 African Union troops is beyond me.
An AFP report April 5 mentions the UK is giving the AU technical and logistical support to get the available troops effectively deployed. By the end of May, the AU plans to have boosted the number of soldiers in Darfur to 3,200 but still no reason has been reported for the delay.
AFP also says an AU report has called on the 53-member bloc to double the size of its military force in Darfur over the next four months. The AU report, compiled by officials from the AU, European Union and the UN who toured Darfur last month, recommends that the AU mission be expanded to 6,000 troops by August, sources said.
"It proposes that from June to August, the AU mission be doubled to 6,000 soldiers and some 1,000 police officers," an AU diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The AU report, the findings of which must still be approved by the AU's Peace and Security Council, must authorize such an expansion, and also says the pan-African body should decide in September whether to increase the mission even further to 12,000 troops, a diplomat said.
Early last month, UN Humanitarian Affairs Secretary General Jan Egeland called for an urgent troop reinforcement to curb the rising number of refugees fleeing violence from the area.
Egeland said a 10,000-strong force was needed to ease security risks that he said could lead to the number of refugees rising to between three and four million.
Photo: General Festus Okonkwo, African Union commander in Darfur. (Reuters).
- - -
Pan-African Parliament wants AU soldiers to protect civilians in Darfur
An AFP report April 5 says the Pan-African Parliament Tuesday urged the African Union to extend the mandate of its soldiers to include the protection of civilians in Darfur, a spokesman said.
Photo: A Rwandan soldier operating under the African Union mandate plays with children outside the AU base in Kab Kabiya, north west of El-Fasher, Sudan. (AFP)
"The mandate of the protectors in the ceasefire commission must be enhanced to go beyond protection of military observers," said PAP spokesman Khuitse Diseko.
This plea forms part of the recommendations of a PAP report on a fact-finding mission presented before the parliament at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Johannesburg. The report said the mandate of the AU soldiers should include the protection of the population in the Darfur region.
"All the necessary institutions and resources should be mobilised to ensure that ceasefire agreements are observed," said Diseko.
"The PAP delegates appealed for ceasefire agreements to be observed, as there was still a low scale war going on in the region," said Diseko.
"This problem is not only depressing but continues to hold us back as a continent geared on making the 21st century an African century. We want to build roads and telecommunication lines to develop Africa," said Diseko.
PAP sent its fact-finding mission to Sudan last November with a mandate to examine what was happening on the ground in Darfur. The PAP recommendations follow an internal AU report calling on the 53-member bloc to double the size of its military force in Darfur over the next four months.
The AU has some 2,200 troops in Darfur protecting AU observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between Khartoum, its proxy militia and two rebel groups who have been fighting the government for two years. By the end of May, the AU plans to have boosted that number to 3,200 soldiers.
Established in March by the African Union, the PAP has no powers to pass laws and has no budget for this year although the 265-seat assembly plans to evolve into a law-making body around 2009.
- - -
African Union unable to fund Darfur peace?
In an interview published April 3 at All Africa, a Sudanese official says the African Union do not have enough money to provide adequate security in Darfur.
it is interesting to read in the interview that a Sudanese official says "we are to build a new Sudan on democracy and political stability and good governance". But it is disappointing to see [yet another] Sudanese official being dismissive of the world's efforts to provide humanitarian aid and help to end the suffering and bring stability and prosperity to Sudan. It's no wonder many people around the world have no appetite for African news reports. The attitudes of Sudanese officials - and most other African officials - stink. You have to feel sorry for aid workers, Western diplomats and others that have to be respecful, friendly and polite to these people.
Note in the interview, when asked "What is the Sudanese government opinion on the deployment of AU peacekeepers from Rwanda and Nigeria?", the reply came back as: "We thank these countries for sharing with us our problems. They did a lot; the African Union did a lot. But they (AU) need assistance especially the financial assistance. The AU has limited resources to address all the necessary needs of these troops. So, the international community, which already has its own interests in Sudan, can assist the African Union to control and to observe the situation in Darfur." It goes to show, they are capable of showing appreciation.
But they are two faced and speak with forked tongue. African Union officials have made clear in the press that it is not short of funds. They've said the reason for the slow troop deployment is because of "accommodation" problems for the soldiers in Darfur. The European Union alone has committed a few hundred million US dollars. It could be that the AU are deploying their troops to hotspots elsewhere within Africa which would mean they (conveniently) do not have enough left for Darfur. Khartoum always rails against more "foreign" troops entering Sudan and does everything to thwart AU soldiers in Darfur. Khartoum speaks approvingly of African Union troops because the soldiers are hamstrung without a full mandate to protect. Note Khartoum gives no credit to the Europeans and Americans for funding the AU and helping to make it a reality.
A few decades ago, Pope John Paul II visited the Sudan. I wonder what he thought about the regime in Khartoum when he read about the catstrophe in Darfur. My hopes are that the new Pope will be from Nigeria. There has been three African Popes before, but that was a long time ago. Millions of people across Africa loved John Paul II. See what some have to say at the BBC's What is the Pope's legacy to Africa?
- - -
Sudan 'too risky' for Japan
April 6 South Africa news report excerpt:
"Japan has decided Sudan is too risky for it to contribute to UN peacekeeping troops, ruling against a mission that would have marked a new breakthrough for the officially pacifist country, reports said on Wednesday.
Japan, which sent a team to Sudan last month to study a possible deployment, decided that security in the vast African country was uncertain and that Japan would be stretched thin in light of its mission in Iraq, Kyodo News said."
Years ago, the British Army, even with the most primitive of equipment could mobilise and set up tents and hospitals in the middle of a desert, along with accommodation for thousands of soldiers, within a matter of 24 hours. The European Union alone has committed a few hundred million dollars for African Union troops. Why politicians are not providing an explanation for the delay in deploying a further 1,000 African Union troops is beyond me.
An AFP report April 5 mentions the UK is giving the AU technical and logistical support to get the available troops effectively deployed. By the end of May, the AU plans to have boosted the number of soldiers in Darfur to 3,200 but still no reason has been reported for the delay.
AFP also says an AU report has called on the 53-member bloc to double the size of its military force in Darfur over the next four months. The AU report, compiled by officials from the AU, European Union and the UN who toured Darfur last month, recommends that the AU mission be expanded to 6,000 troops by August, sources said.
"It proposes that from June to August, the AU mission be doubled to 6,000 soldiers and some 1,000 police officers," an AU diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The AU report, the findings of which must still be approved by the AU's Peace and Security Council, must authorize such an expansion, and also says the pan-African body should decide in September whether to increase the mission even further to 12,000 troops, a diplomat said.
Early last month, UN Humanitarian Affairs Secretary General Jan Egeland called for an urgent troop reinforcement to curb the rising number of refugees fleeing violence from the area.
Egeland said a 10,000-strong force was needed to ease security risks that he said could lead to the number of refugees rising to between three and four million.
Photo: General Festus Okonkwo, African Union commander in Darfur. (Reuters).
- - -
Pan-African Parliament wants AU soldiers to protect civilians in Darfur
An AFP report April 5 says the Pan-African Parliament Tuesday urged the African Union to extend the mandate of its soldiers to include the protection of civilians in Darfur, a spokesman said.
Photo: A Rwandan soldier operating under the African Union mandate plays with children outside the AU base in Kab Kabiya, north west of El-Fasher, Sudan. (AFP)
"The mandate of the protectors in the ceasefire commission must be enhanced to go beyond protection of military observers," said PAP spokesman Khuitse Diseko.
This plea forms part of the recommendations of a PAP report on a fact-finding mission presented before the parliament at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Johannesburg. The report said the mandate of the AU soldiers should include the protection of the population in the Darfur region.
"All the necessary institutions and resources should be mobilised to ensure that ceasefire agreements are observed," said Diseko.
"The PAP delegates appealed for ceasefire agreements to be observed, as there was still a low scale war going on in the region," said Diseko.
"This problem is not only depressing but continues to hold us back as a continent geared on making the 21st century an African century. We want to build roads and telecommunication lines to develop Africa," said Diseko.
PAP sent its fact-finding mission to Sudan last November with a mandate to examine what was happening on the ground in Darfur. The PAP recommendations follow an internal AU report calling on the 53-member bloc to double the size of its military force in Darfur over the next four months.
The AU has some 2,200 troops in Darfur protecting AU observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between Khartoum, its proxy militia and two rebel groups who have been fighting the government for two years. By the end of May, the AU plans to have boosted that number to 3,200 soldiers.
Established in March by the African Union, the PAP has no powers to pass laws and has no budget for this year although the 265-seat assembly plans to evolve into a law-making body around 2009.
- - -
African Union unable to fund Darfur peace?
In an interview published April 3 at All Africa, a Sudanese official says the African Union do not have enough money to provide adequate security in Darfur.
it is interesting to read in the interview that a Sudanese official says "we are to build a new Sudan on democracy and political stability and good governance". But it is disappointing to see [yet another] Sudanese official being dismissive of the world's efforts to provide humanitarian aid and help to end the suffering and bring stability and prosperity to Sudan. It's no wonder many people around the world have no appetite for African news reports. The attitudes of Sudanese officials - and most other African officials - stink. You have to feel sorry for aid workers, Western diplomats and others that have to be respecful, friendly and polite to these people.
Note in the interview, when asked "What is the Sudanese government opinion on the deployment of AU peacekeepers from Rwanda and Nigeria?", the reply came back as: "We thank these countries for sharing with us our problems. They did a lot; the African Union did a lot. But they (AU) need assistance especially the financial assistance. The AU has limited resources to address all the necessary needs of these troops. So, the international community, which already has its own interests in Sudan, can assist the African Union to control and to observe the situation in Darfur." It goes to show, they are capable of showing appreciation.
But they are two faced and speak with forked tongue. African Union officials have made clear in the press that it is not short of funds. They've said the reason for the slow troop deployment is because of "accommodation" problems for the soldiers in Darfur. The European Union alone has committed a few hundred million US dollars. It could be that the AU are deploying their troops to hotspots elsewhere within Africa which would mean they (conveniently) do not have enough left for Darfur. Khartoum always rails against more "foreign" troops entering Sudan and does everything to thwart AU soldiers in Darfur. Khartoum speaks approvingly of African Union troops because the soldiers are hamstrung without a full mandate to protect. Note Khartoum gives no credit to the Europeans and Americans for funding the AU and helping to make it a reality.
A few decades ago, Pope John Paul II visited the Sudan. I wonder what he thought about the regime in Khartoum when he read about the catstrophe in Darfur. My hopes are that the new Pope will be from Nigeria. There has been three African Popes before, but that was a long time ago. Millions of people across Africa loved John Paul II. See what some have to say at the BBC's What is the Pope's legacy to Africa?
- - -
Sudan 'too risky' for Japan
April 6 South Africa news report excerpt:
"Japan has decided Sudan is too risky for it to contribute to UN peacekeeping troops, ruling against a mission that would have marked a new breakthrough for the officially pacifist country, reports said on Wednesday.
Japan, which sent a team to Sudan last month to study a possible deployment, decided that security in the vast African country was uncertain and that Japan would be stretched thin in light of its mission in Iraq, Kyodo News said."
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Darfur: U.N. Sudan Situation Report 4 April 2005
The following is a copy in full of an email received this morning giving the latest situation report by United Nations personnel on the ground in Sudan:
Key Developments:
SRSG Pronk met with Foreign Minister Mustafa on 3 April to exchange views on the recently adopted Security Council Resolutions (1590, 1591 and 1593). The meeting clarified some of the questions raised by the Government, including issues related to Darfur.
A UNHCR mission to Tine, west Darfur, found that some 300 persons had returned from Chad rather than the 6,000 which has been repeatedly stated by the GoS.
Security Issues:
North Darfur: Some 800 IDPs from the Abu Shouk camp staged a demonstration, protesting the continuing insecurity and high level of rapes around the camp, claiming that the organizations responsible are not properly executing their mandate. IDPs were throwing stones at GoS soldiers while marching. OCHA and UNMIS representatives addressed the situation meeting with representatives of the demonstration, explaining the roles and responsibilities of the various actors operating in the location. Despite the large crowd the situation remained under control with no injuries reported. Cooperation between UN and AMIS was good throughout.
A demonstration took place this morning in El Fasher, organised by students from the University of El Fasher in support of the GoS to protest against the UN, specifically the SCR 1593. A similar peaceful demonstration has taken place in Nyala.
South Darfur: On 2 Apr., a group of armed tribesmen entered several sections of the Kalma camp throughout the day, harassing the camp population. The local police, claiming no evidence of wrongdoing, did not take any action against the group. At around 1400 hrs the AU CivPol decided to intervene after requests from humanitarian organizations and the armed men left the camp.
The Nyala town police continue to demand 'incentives' in the forms of fuel and food for carrying out security patrols around IDP gatherings in the area, despite a clear understanding that this is the responsibility of the GoS.
In the reporting period, tension and sporadic violence continued between rebels and Arab militia north of Ed Daein town in the areas around Muhajarija. However, intensity has decreased in the last days.
West Darfur: All roads north of El Geneina have resumed status as GO areas. Similarly, the NMRD has assured that all areas under their control are safe for UN and humanitarian travel.
A spiritual leader from the Leek clan was killed on 3 April in Bentiu by an unknown assailant. This has led to tension in the town between the Leek and Bul clans.
The security situation in Juba remains calm with no new reports of LRA activities in the past three days. However, a UN chartered plane bringing fuel to Juba was shot at on 2 April. The incident happened north of Juba while the plane was approaching the airport. It is not known who is responsible for the shooting.
Protection Issues:
West Darfur: Four women collecting firewood outside the Hamidiya camp were attacked by armed men. Three women were abducted while one managed to flee. OCHA and the AU were informed. Three were later released, one reported she had been raped, a claim which was backed by the subsequent medical examination. Reportedly, the HAC instructed the police to arrest the culprit but no information has surfaced as to whether this has taken place.
Humanitarian Affairs:
Food/NFIs
South Darfur: The INGO Tearfund has publicized preliminary findings from a nutritional survey conducted in the Ed Daein locality, carried out together with UNICEF, SUDO and the MoH from 14-18 Mar. The results reveal alarming malnutrition rates among children under five, with GAM of 25.2 and SAM of 4.3, the former being well above the emergency threshold. Various issues have affected the food-security situation the area with insecurity being the key factor influencing harvests, population displacements, access and availability of health care, as well as water and sanitation facilities.
Prevalence of diarrhoea across the state is also a serious concern, especially in Ed Daein. Occurrences increased with severity of malnutrition with 86% of severely malnourished children reported having had diarrhoea in the past 2 weeks. Less than 20% of families reported having soap available in the household.
Tearfund is planning to conduct a one month blanket feeding to all children under five in the IDP camps Khor Omer, El Firdous, El Neem, Abu Matariq and Abu Jabra, to be followed by targeted feeding to moderately malnourished and pregnant/lactating mothers for host and IDP populations together with out and in-patient therapeutic feeding to severely malnourished under 5, using Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC) protocols to commence as soon as possible.
West Darfur: Interagency assessments are scheduled to go to Tendelti and Um Shalaya on 4 and 7 Apr., respectively. Medair is working in both locations and will participate in the assessment together with WFP, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF and WHO Medair reports that Um Shalaya, a non-displaced village northeast of Mornei, has only harvested 30% of its normal harvest and that their food needs will soon become acute.
GAA began distributing seeds (sorghum, maize, millet, cowpeas and rice) to IDPS in Rubkona to avoid delays before the onset of the rainy season.
Water and Sanitation
North Darfur: A WES/UNICEF geophysical survey identified three possible sites in the Gallab IDP camp for increasing water pumps in the location responding to an inter-agency assessment in February which found that the population of reportedly 14,000 IDPs is sharing two hand-pumps with limited capacity to cover their needs. The deployment of a drilling-rig to commence boring will take place shortly.
Assessments
North Darfur: An inter-agency assessment to the Arab Damrats in the Kutum administrative unit is currently taking place, expected to return to El Fasher on 4 Apr.
West Darfur: On 29-30 Mar., UNHCR conducted a mission to Tine to investigate reports of a recent returnee influx. The mission found that there were 250-300 people who had returned from Chad, not 6,000 as has repeatedly been stated by the local authorities. The GoS is said to be providing them with food and NFIs. UNHCR will follow up on their assistance needs. The town remains largely uninhabited, notwithstanding GoS claims that several thousand people have returned to the area. A local branch of the GoS Compensation Committee has been formed and is reportedly processing 500 cases. Officials said that the Committee members are currently in Khartoum collecting funds to distribute to claimants. UNHCR will monitor the progress of this initiative.
FAO and WFP conducted an agricultural survey in Kosti and Al-Jebalain during the past three days. The mission has also been informed about IDPs in Al-Jebalain that included 350 households in Al-Jebalain Town, 40 households in Makhalief, 70 households in Um Kwika and 120 houseolds in the extension area of Sheluk.
A team of enumerators from HAC, ADRA and OCHA who travelled from Kosti are attending a training session arranged by IOM in Khartoum. The enumerators will be participating in the surveys which were agreed upon by HAC, UNHCR, OCHA, IOM and other agencies in Khartoum and would be carried out sometime in April 2005.
The Deputy Humanitarian Aid Commissioner met with OCHA to request international agencies to conduct an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Galashal, southeast of Malakal on the Sobat river corridor between Baliet and Ulang. GoS police/ military forces moved around 200 families from Ulang to Galashal on 14 March due to tribal fighting between Nuer Jukany and Louu factions. GoS said that the measure was taken for the families' safety and to calm the situation. The Deputy Commissioner now claims there are 1500 people in the area. WFP wrote a letter to HAC on 18 March requesting clarification of the matter. WFP and OCHA are yet to receive a response.
Key Developments:
SRSG Pronk met with Foreign Minister Mustafa on 3 April to exchange views on the recently adopted Security Council Resolutions (1590, 1591 and 1593). The meeting clarified some of the questions raised by the Government, including issues related to Darfur.
A UNHCR mission to Tine, west Darfur, found that some 300 persons had returned from Chad rather than the 6,000 which has been repeatedly stated by the GoS.
Security Issues:
North Darfur: Some 800 IDPs from the Abu Shouk camp staged a demonstration, protesting the continuing insecurity and high level of rapes around the camp, claiming that the organizations responsible are not properly executing their mandate. IDPs were throwing stones at GoS soldiers while marching. OCHA and UNMIS representatives addressed the situation meeting with representatives of the demonstration, explaining the roles and responsibilities of the various actors operating in the location. Despite the large crowd the situation remained under control with no injuries reported. Cooperation between UN and AMIS was good throughout.
A demonstration took place this morning in El Fasher, organised by students from the University of El Fasher in support of the GoS to protest against the UN, specifically the SCR 1593. A similar peaceful demonstration has taken place in Nyala.
South Darfur: On 2 Apr., a group of armed tribesmen entered several sections of the Kalma camp throughout the day, harassing the camp population. The local police, claiming no evidence of wrongdoing, did not take any action against the group. At around 1400 hrs the AU CivPol decided to intervene after requests from humanitarian organizations and the armed men left the camp.
The Nyala town police continue to demand 'incentives' in the forms of fuel and food for carrying out security patrols around IDP gatherings in the area, despite a clear understanding that this is the responsibility of the GoS.
In the reporting period, tension and sporadic violence continued between rebels and Arab militia north of Ed Daein town in the areas around Muhajarija. However, intensity has decreased in the last days.
West Darfur: All roads north of El Geneina have resumed status as GO areas. Similarly, the NMRD has assured that all areas under their control are safe for UN and humanitarian travel.
A spiritual leader from the Leek clan was killed on 3 April in Bentiu by an unknown assailant. This has led to tension in the town between the Leek and Bul clans.
The security situation in Juba remains calm with no new reports of LRA activities in the past three days. However, a UN chartered plane bringing fuel to Juba was shot at on 2 April. The incident happened north of Juba while the plane was approaching the airport. It is not known who is responsible for the shooting.
Protection Issues:
West Darfur: Four women collecting firewood outside the Hamidiya camp were attacked by armed men. Three women were abducted while one managed to flee. OCHA and the AU were informed. Three were later released, one reported she had been raped, a claim which was backed by the subsequent medical examination. Reportedly, the HAC instructed the police to arrest the culprit but no information has surfaced as to whether this has taken place.
Humanitarian Affairs:
Food/NFIs
South Darfur: The INGO Tearfund has publicized preliminary findings from a nutritional survey conducted in the Ed Daein locality, carried out together with UNICEF, SUDO and the MoH from 14-18 Mar. The results reveal alarming malnutrition rates among children under five, with GAM of 25.2 and SAM of 4.3, the former being well above the emergency threshold. Various issues have affected the food-security situation the area with insecurity being the key factor influencing harvests, population displacements, access and availability of health care, as well as water and sanitation facilities.
Prevalence of diarrhoea across the state is also a serious concern, especially in Ed Daein. Occurrences increased with severity of malnutrition with 86% of severely malnourished children reported having had diarrhoea in the past 2 weeks. Less than 20% of families reported having soap available in the household.
Tearfund is planning to conduct a one month blanket feeding to all children under five in the IDP camps Khor Omer, El Firdous, El Neem, Abu Matariq and Abu Jabra, to be followed by targeted feeding to moderately malnourished and pregnant/lactating mothers for host and IDP populations together with out and in-patient therapeutic feeding to severely malnourished under 5, using Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC) protocols to commence as soon as possible.
West Darfur: Interagency assessments are scheduled to go to Tendelti and Um Shalaya on 4 and 7 Apr., respectively. Medair is working in both locations and will participate in the assessment together with WFP, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF and WHO Medair reports that Um Shalaya, a non-displaced village northeast of Mornei, has only harvested 30% of its normal harvest and that their food needs will soon become acute.
GAA began distributing seeds (sorghum, maize, millet, cowpeas and rice) to IDPS in Rubkona to avoid delays before the onset of the rainy season.
Water and Sanitation
North Darfur: A WES/UNICEF geophysical survey identified three possible sites in the Gallab IDP camp for increasing water pumps in the location responding to an inter-agency assessment in February which found that the population of reportedly 14,000 IDPs is sharing two hand-pumps with limited capacity to cover their needs. The deployment of a drilling-rig to commence boring will take place shortly.
Assessments
North Darfur: An inter-agency assessment to the Arab Damrats in the Kutum administrative unit is currently taking place, expected to return to El Fasher on 4 Apr.
West Darfur: On 29-30 Mar., UNHCR conducted a mission to Tine to investigate reports of a recent returnee influx. The mission found that there were 250-300 people who had returned from Chad, not 6,000 as has repeatedly been stated by the local authorities. The GoS is said to be providing them with food and NFIs. UNHCR will follow up on their assistance needs. The town remains largely uninhabited, notwithstanding GoS claims that several thousand people have returned to the area. A local branch of the GoS Compensation Committee has been formed and is reportedly processing 500 cases. Officials said that the Committee members are currently in Khartoum collecting funds to distribute to claimants. UNHCR will monitor the progress of this initiative.
FAO and WFP conducted an agricultural survey in Kosti and Al-Jebalain during the past three days. The mission has also been informed about IDPs in Al-Jebalain that included 350 households in Al-Jebalain Town, 40 households in Makhalief, 70 households in Um Kwika and 120 houseolds in the extension area of Sheluk.
A team of enumerators from HAC, ADRA and OCHA who travelled from Kosti are attending a training session arranged by IOM in Khartoum. The enumerators will be participating in the surveys which were agreed upon by HAC, UNHCR, OCHA, IOM and other agencies in Khartoum and would be carried out sometime in April 2005.
The Deputy Humanitarian Aid Commissioner met with OCHA to request international agencies to conduct an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Galashal, southeast of Malakal on the Sobat river corridor between Baliet and Ulang. GoS police/ military forces moved around 200 families from Ulang to Galashal on 14 March due to tribal fighting between Nuer Jukany and Louu factions. GoS said that the measure was taken for the families' safety and to calm the situation. The Deputy Commissioner now claims there are 1500 people in the area. WFP wrote a letter to HAC on 18 March requesting clarification of the matter. WFP and OCHA are yet to receive a response.
Monday, April 04, 2005
UN list of Darfur war crimes suspects to ICC tomorrow - Khartoum must act quickly to avert a perilous threat
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to give a list of 51 Darfur war crimes suspects to the International Criminal Court tomorrow. Let's hope the regime in Khartoum get to hear of - and read - the latest editorial at The Daily Star Lebanon that warns the Sudanese government must act quickly to avert a perilous threat. Here is a copy:
The Sudanese government is right to say that their country is under threat. The UN Security Council has agreed that there have been serious human rights violations in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and tortured by government forces and militias. In passing Resolution 1593, the Security Council has affirmed that crimes of such a horrific magnitude are unacceptable in this day and age and that such grave offenses will no longer go unpunished.
While it is true that countless massacres in Africa have been ignored in the past (including those caused by the hands of colonizing forces), the international community is slowly progressing to a point where it will no longer sit idly by and watch as thousands of innocent people are slaughtered. And although the world has been slow to respond to the crisis in Darfur, it has done so with a resounding clarity and commitment to justice: the Security Council's resolution seeks the prosecution of 51 suspects, including senior government officials, in the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
In light of this resolution, it is not the international community that is posing the greatest threat to Sudan, but rather, the Sudanese government's own obstinance. At such a crucial point in Sudan's development, the government cannot afford to disregard international consensus and thereby jeopardize its budding economy by subjecting itself to the threat of tougher sanctions. Doing so would be perilous for the regime. The country's existence and progress depends on its continued integration into the global economy and on international assistance in the form of aid, loans and debt relief. Ignoring the international community now will only serve to weaken the government of Sudan. It is also in Sudan's interests to do what is best for its citizenry by demonstrating a commitment to justice and the rule of law. Such moves will not only bolster the government's standing at home, they will also improve the country's standing among international investors and aid donors.
For now, it seems Sudan has opted to go on a collision course with the UN, vehemently defending capability to prosecute war criminals at home. There is every reason for the government to reconsider its stance. For surely an international role in chaperoning justice is not an infringement on the Sudan's sovereignty, but rather, a contribution to its development.
The Sudanese government is right to say that their country is under threat. The UN Security Council has agreed that there have been serious human rights violations in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and tortured by government forces and militias. In passing Resolution 1593, the Security Council has affirmed that crimes of such a horrific magnitude are unacceptable in this day and age and that such grave offenses will no longer go unpunished.
While it is true that countless massacres in Africa have been ignored in the past (including those caused by the hands of colonizing forces), the international community is slowly progressing to a point where it will no longer sit idly by and watch as thousands of innocent people are slaughtered. And although the world has been slow to respond to the crisis in Darfur, it has done so with a resounding clarity and commitment to justice: the Security Council's resolution seeks the prosecution of 51 suspects, including senior government officials, in the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
In light of this resolution, it is not the international community that is posing the greatest threat to Sudan, but rather, the Sudanese government's own obstinance. At such a crucial point in Sudan's development, the government cannot afford to disregard international consensus and thereby jeopardize its budding economy by subjecting itself to the threat of tougher sanctions. Doing so would be perilous for the regime. The country's existence and progress depends on its continued integration into the global economy and on international assistance in the form of aid, loans and debt relief. Ignoring the international community now will only serve to weaken the government of Sudan. It is also in Sudan's interests to do what is best for its citizenry by demonstrating a commitment to justice and the rule of law. Such moves will not only bolster the government's standing at home, they will also improve the country's standing among international investors and aid donors.
For now, it seems Sudan has opted to go on a collision course with the UN, vehemently defending capability to prosecute war criminals at home. There is every reason for the government to reconsider its stance. For surely an international role in chaperoning justice is not an infringement on the Sudan's sovereignty, but rather, a contribution to its development.
"It's over now, they have to talk," says UN envoy for Sudan: Egypt calls Darfur summit April 20
Stalled Darfur peace talks could restart in April because a UN resolution referring war crimes in Darfur to the ICC has removed rebel reasons not to negotiate, the top UN envoy in Sudan said on Sunday.
- - -
Egypt calls summit - of African states - April 20 to contain Darfur crisis
This sounds interesting but Darfur rebel group SLM/A are rejecting it [they weren't invited anyway - you have to wonder if they really appreciate what it takes, and the politics involved, to get access and food aid to millions of people in Sudan and Chad who have been displaced because of the fighting]:
Egypt is calling a five-way summit of African leaders to give the African Union the chance to deal with Darfur, says a report by AFP April 4, 2003.
The meeting would be the follow-up to a gathering of Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt, Chad and Libya, held in Tripoli in October. It would aim "to give the African Union, strengthened by the efforts of the international community, the chance to contain the crisis in a pure African framework," Egypt's presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said. It will also aim to avoid the "internationalisation" of the crisis, he added.
The date announced for the Summit is April 20. African leaders are set to visit Egypt on April 18 and 19 for a meeting of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) - one week after the international donors meeting in Oslo, Norway. Khartoum says it needs something like 8 billion US dollars for development of infrastructure. Most of this could come from oil revenues but a large chunk will need to come from the international community. There has been talk by the World Bank of cancelling Sudan's debt which would help get it on a better financial footing.
[Note, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has called the latest Security Council resolution involving the ICC a blatant violation of Sudanese independence. For several months now, Colonel Gaddafi has worked hard behind the scenes to help mediate the warring parties of Darfur. Last year he offered to open up a route from Libya leading to Darfur for international aid trucks to get through but recent statements in the press by US Defence Secretary Rice indicate that there has been a hold-up over the past 2-3 months with the arrangement. Dr Rice mentioned something about continuing to put pressure on Khartoum in this regard]
- - -
Darfur rebels call on SPLM/A to initiate steps
One of the main rebel groups in Darfur, SLM/A issued a press release from Eritrea, April 2, 2005. The last paragraph states:
With regard to the wider national front and in the view of the on folding circumstances, the SLM/A would like to call on the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to initiate in taking steps and in consultation with all the political forces in the country to form all inclusive transitional government of national unity to deal with the unfolding situation address all the outstanding issues including sincere and effective implementation of the Naivasha agreement.
- - -
Germany welcomes UN resolution on Darfur war crimes
The German government on Friday welcomed the adoption of a UN resolution to try war criminals from the conflict in Sudan's violence-wracked western region of Darfur at the International Criminal Court. - AFP Berlin April 1, 2005.
Photo: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (L) with his Sudanese counterpart Mustafa Ismail in Khartoum, July 12, 2004. (AFP)
- - -
Denmark welcomes UN resolution on Darfur
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller welcomed on Friday the UN agreement to try Darfur war criminals at the International Criminal Court. "It is a very significant step on the road to installing the international criminal court as a permanent criminal court," he said in a statement.
Moeller also said that Denmark, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, would send 45 soldiers to Sudan to help set up headquarters for a 10,000 strong UN multinational force in Sudan. - via AFP Copenhagen April 1, 2005.
- - -
Netherlands commits 65 million US dollars on condition of Darfur peace
Speaking in Khartoum to reporters on Sunday, visiting Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation Agnes Van Ardenne voiced her country's concern about stability and security in Darfur.
The minister said the Netherlands was committed to offering 50 million euros (65 million US dollars) after the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups signed a peace agreement
She said that of the total, 30 million euros (39 million dollars) will be allocated to affected states, while calling on the international community to help the African Union's mission to Darfur restore peace there.
Agnes arrived in Khartoum Friday on a four-day visit to Sudan for discussions on the Oslo donors conference due on April 11-12. - via China View Khartoum April 3, 2005.
- - -
Taha, Garang to participate in donors conference in Oslo
First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and SPLM/A chairman John Garang will participate in the donors conference, the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said today.
- - -
Sudanese foreign minister postpones European tour
The minister of foreign affairs, Mustafa Osman Ismail, has postponed an European tour, which he was due to begin Monday to Poland and Italy, for a later date. In a statement to SUNA, the minister attributed the delay of his European tour to the recent developments in Sudan following the resolutions of the Security Council against Sudan. - via (SUNA) Khartoum, April 3, 2005.
- - -
Sudan animated cartoon by Mark Fiore
Mark Fiore is a political cartoonist currently living in San Francisco. His animated political cartoons appear on various media websites and are seen by millions. Formerly the staff political cartoonist for the San Jose Mercury News, Fiore now focuses exclusively on political animation.
The Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism recently presented Mark with the Online Journalism Award for commentary. He has also received an award from the National Cartoonists Society for his work in animated political cartoons.
See why by clicking into a cartoon by Mark Fiore at Waging Peace Darfur.
- - -
UK Protect Darfur Campaign film clips
View Protect Darfur's 4 minute film.
Plus short video clip "Not on my watch" from UK Aegis Trust with soundtrack by Annie Lennox.
- - -
An African and International Civil Society Action for Darfur
The Darfur Consortium Press Release April 2, 2005 - and more about the Consortium:
In September 2004, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held its third extraordinary session in Pretoria, South Africa. The session was dedicated to examining the situation in Darfur and, in particular, to considering the findings of a mission by Commission members to the region. On the fringes of that meeting, a group of over twenty representatives of Africa-focused and Africa-based NGOs came together with members of Darfur civil society to identify ways of finding a solution to the deepening human rights crisis in Darfur.
The meeting ended with a strong commitment on the part of those assembled to work together and help shift the contours of the policy debate. This was reflected formally in the creation of the Darfur Consortium. The Consortium hopes to reflect the unique perspective of African civil society and provide a forum for unified action, particularly through sustained engagement with the institutions of the African Union. Since Pretoria, additional NGOs have joined the Consortium. The Consortium continues to advocate for a solution to the ongoing crisis.
The Darfur Consortium can be contacted at: Box 7785, Kampala, Uganda . E-mail: darfur@darfurconsortium.org
- - -
Worldwide Zande Community Network
Azande tribe Press Statement April 1st 2005 - excerpt:
How can we again marginalise the second largest tribe in Southern Sudan and then tell the world the CPA belongs to the Sudanese people? The Azande had been at the heart of SPLM/A, sustaining the movement over difficult years and contributing thousands of troops and they want their equal share and not marginalisation.
The Azande within the SPLM/A are now asking one of their leaders and NLC representative, Hon. Charles Kisanga, to put together a delegation and a petition to appeal to the SPLM chairman so that every Southern Sudanese can receive inclusiveness, fairness and equality during the implementation of the CPA and this have to start right now. The petition is being prepared and a delegation will soon approach the SPLM/A Chairman and Commander in Chief, to seek an audience with him to hand in the petition and seek some explanation of continued Azande marginalisation in SPLM/A.
"It's over now, they have to talk," Jan Pronk told reporters in Khartoum. "There's no reason anymore to fight, you don't have any reason anymore not to negotiate.'He added the government was willing to resume African Union-sponsored talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja. "It's really possible now that such talks really could start in April," Pronk said, adding rebel demands that the UN Security Council take human rights abuses in Darfur seriously had been met with the resolution passed late on Thursday night.
- - -
Egypt calls summit - of African states - April 20 to contain Darfur crisis
This sounds interesting but Darfur rebel group SLM/A are rejecting it [they weren't invited anyway - you have to wonder if they really appreciate what it takes, and the politics involved, to get access and food aid to millions of people in Sudan and Chad who have been displaced because of the fighting]:
Egypt is calling a five-way summit of African leaders to give the African Union the chance to deal with Darfur, says a report by AFP April 4, 2003.
The meeting would be the follow-up to a gathering of Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt, Chad and Libya, held in Tripoli in October. It would aim "to give the African Union, strengthened by the efforts of the international community, the chance to contain the crisis in a pure African framework," Egypt's presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said. It will also aim to avoid the "internationalisation" of the crisis, he added.
The date announced for the Summit is April 20. African leaders are set to visit Egypt on April 18 and 19 for a meeting of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) - one week after the international donors meeting in Oslo, Norway. Khartoum says it needs something like 8 billion US dollars for development of infrastructure. Most of this could come from oil revenues but a large chunk will need to come from the international community. There has been talk by the World Bank of cancelling Sudan's debt which would help get it on a better financial footing.
[Note, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has called the latest Security Council resolution involving the ICC a blatant violation of Sudanese independence. For several months now, Colonel Gaddafi has worked hard behind the scenes to help mediate the warring parties of Darfur. Last year he offered to open up a route from Libya leading to Darfur for international aid trucks to get through but recent statements in the press by US Defence Secretary Rice indicate that there has been a hold-up over the past 2-3 months with the arrangement. Dr Rice mentioned something about continuing to put pressure on Khartoum in this regard]
- - -
Darfur rebels call on SPLM/A to initiate steps
One of the main rebel groups in Darfur, SLM/A issued a press release from Eritrea, April 2, 2005. The last paragraph states:
With regard to the wider national front and in the view of the on folding circumstances, the SLM/A would like to call on the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to initiate in taking steps and in consultation with all the political forces in the country to form all inclusive transitional government of national unity to deal with the unfolding situation address all the outstanding issues including sincere and effective implementation of the Naivasha agreement.
- - -
Germany welcomes UN resolution on Darfur war crimes
The German government on Friday welcomed the adoption of a UN resolution to try war criminals from the conflict in Sudan's violence-wracked western region of Darfur at the International Criminal Court. - AFP Berlin April 1, 2005.
Photo: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (L) with his Sudanese counterpart Mustafa Ismail in Khartoum, July 12, 2004. (AFP)
- - -
Denmark welcomes UN resolution on Darfur
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller welcomed on Friday the UN agreement to try Darfur war criminals at the International Criminal Court. "It is a very significant step on the road to installing the international criminal court as a permanent criminal court," he said in a statement.
Moeller also said that Denmark, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, would send 45 soldiers to Sudan to help set up headquarters for a 10,000 strong UN multinational force in Sudan. - via AFP Copenhagen April 1, 2005.
- - -
Netherlands commits 65 million US dollars on condition of Darfur peace
Speaking in Khartoum to reporters on Sunday, visiting Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation Agnes Van Ardenne voiced her country's concern about stability and security in Darfur.
The minister said the Netherlands was committed to offering 50 million euros (65 million US dollars) after the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups signed a peace agreement
She said that of the total, 30 million euros (39 million dollars) will be allocated to affected states, while calling on the international community to help the African Union's mission to Darfur restore peace there.
Agnes arrived in Khartoum Friday on a four-day visit to Sudan for discussions on the Oslo donors conference due on April 11-12. - via China View Khartoum April 3, 2005.
- - -
Taha, Garang to participate in donors conference in Oslo
First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and SPLM/A chairman John Garang will participate in the donors conference, the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said today.
- - -
Sudanese foreign minister postpones European tour
The minister of foreign affairs, Mustafa Osman Ismail, has postponed an European tour, which he was due to begin Monday to Poland and Italy, for a later date. In a statement to SUNA, the minister attributed the delay of his European tour to the recent developments in Sudan following the resolutions of the Security Council against Sudan. - via (SUNA) Khartoum, April 3, 2005.
- - -
Sudan animated cartoon by Mark Fiore
Mark Fiore is a political cartoonist currently living in San Francisco. His animated political cartoons appear on various media websites and are seen by millions. Formerly the staff political cartoonist for the San Jose Mercury News, Fiore now focuses exclusively on political animation.
The Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism recently presented Mark with the Online Journalism Award for commentary. He has also received an award from the National Cartoonists Society for his work in animated political cartoons.
See why by clicking into a cartoon by Mark Fiore at Waging Peace Darfur.
- - -
UK Protect Darfur Campaign film clips
View Protect Darfur's 4 minute film.
Plus short video clip "Not on my watch" from UK Aegis Trust with soundtrack by Annie Lennox.
- - -
An African and International Civil Society Action for Darfur
The Darfur Consortium Press Release April 2, 2005 - and more about the Consortium:
In September 2004, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held its third extraordinary session in Pretoria, South Africa. The session was dedicated to examining the situation in Darfur and, in particular, to considering the findings of a mission by Commission members to the region. On the fringes of that meeting, a group of over twenty representatives of Africa-focused and Africa-based NGOs came together with members of Darfur civil society to identify ways of finding a solution to the deepening human rights crisis in Darfur.
The meeting ended with a strong commitment on the part of those assembled to work together and help shift the contours of the policy debate. This was reflected formally in the creation of the Darfur Consortium. The Consortium hopes to reflect the unique perspective of African civil society and provide a forum for unified action, particularly through sustained engagement with the institutions of the African Union. Since Pretoria, additional NGOs have joined the Consortium. The Consortium continues to advocate for a solution to the ongoing crisis.
The Darfur Consortium can be contacted at: Box 7785, Kampala, Uganda . E-mail: darfur@darfurconsortium.org
- - -
Worldwide Zande Community Network
Azande tribe Press Statement April 1st 2005 - excerpt:
How can we again marginalise the second largest tribe in Southern Sudan and then tell the world the CPA belongs to the Sudanese people? The Azande had been at the heart of SPLM/A, sustaining the movement over difficult years and contributing thousands of troops and they want their equal share and not marginalisation.
The Azande within the SPLM/A are now asking one of their leaders and NLC representative, Hon. Charles Kisanga, to put together a delegation and a petition to appeal to the SPLM chairman so that every Southern Sudanese can receive inclusiveness, fairness and equality during the implementation of the CPA and this have to start right now. The petition is being prepared and a delegation will soon approach the SPLM/A Chairman and Commander in Chief, to seek an audience with him to hand in the petition and seek some explanation of continued Azande marginalisation in SPLM/A.
UK sends a further 470 vehicles for the African Union Mission in Darfur
Excerpt from a letter March 9, 2005, by Chris Mullin MP to Rebecca Tinsley of Waging Peace, in reply to her letter January 12, 2005:
Waging Peace
Vote4Peace is an independent campaign helping elect pro-peace UK MPs in the forthcoming general election. They are supporting mainstream candidates in marginal constituencies where a few votes will make a difference. Excerpt from their website:
"Vote4Peace is an independent non-party campaign for the next UK general elections. We aim to help elect a slate of mainstream MPs committed to peace and legitimacy: to gather volunteers in target constituencies, raise donations for under-funded prospective candidates, and build support for a constructive politics of peace and democracy. We are disillusioned by the Iraq war and the party machines, and inspired by the campaigns of MoveOn and other independent platforms in the US.
Vote4Peace is a campaign of Waging Peace, a mainstream organisation committed to building a safer and more democratic world. Waging Peace is registered as a third party with the Electoral Commission."
Waging Peace Campaign
Waging Peace is a mainstream, progressive, non-partisan political advocacy group, based around the Internet. The site states, "at a time when faith in old political structures has collapsed, we aim to influence decision-makers on such matters as war and peace, defending and extending democracy, the environment and human rights. We also seek to help elect Members of Parliament who share our values."
Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a member of the British Parliament, and former BBC-journalist Becky Tinsley visited Darfur in November. On their return they set up Waging Peace, a campaign urging Western governments to put increased pressure on the government of Sudan. Read their Campaign News and article at Sudan Tribune March 29, 2005, titled Look who's playing nice with Sudan. Here is a copy:
Look who's playing nice with Sudan
On April 27, 2004, at the height of the state-sponsored killing in Darfur, British ambassador to Khartoum Ambassador William Patey delivered an official, London-cleared speech on Sudan, saying, "We are, and wish to remain, true friends of Sudan."
British trade with Sudan was up 25 percent and set to rise, the ambassador said. The African nation, Patey continued, is "on the threshold of a new era."
In Sudan, a military junta has killed more than 2 million of its own people in the last 20 years because of their skin color and religion. The regime has caused so much terror within its own borders that 6 million people are internally displaced.
The oil-rich dictatorship spends $1 million a day (the same sum it earns from its oil exports) on arms purchases for internal repression. It keeps its black African citizens in such poverty that their roads, housing and hospitals are primitive even by African standards.
So, what can explain Patey's unseemly enthusiasm?
European oil companies are busy signing deals with the Sudan People's Liberation Army whose representatives will be governing the south of the country under the recently signed peace deal.
Naturally, the Europeans are not the only ones falling over their principles to be best pals with Khartoum: the South Africans, Chinese, Russians and Malaysians are all salivating over Sudan's oil reserves. And many of the same nations continue to sell the regime arms.
The U.N. Security Council met in New York Thursday and once more its members deliberately chose to ignore events in Darfur. Instead they voted to send 10,000 peacekeepers to southern Sudan. A cynic might suggest they were protecting their oil interests.
The decision to refer Darfur's war criminals to an internationally-recognized court, such as the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague has once more been deferred until the end of this month.
Observers believe the Security Council is deadlocked on Darfur, and so the diplomatic games are likely to continue while the wretched people of Darfur face their attackers on a daily basis, unprotected, hungry and forgotten.
Meanwhile, the United Nation's special envoy to Darfur, Jan Egeland, believes 180,000 have died there in the last 18 months. Egeland agrees with the World Health Organization estimate that 10,000 civilians in Darfur die every week.
To make matters worse, the U.N. has announced it is withdrawing staff from parts of Darfur following threats from the Sudan government-backed Janjaweed militia. They join the exodus of other similarly intimidated charities from Darfur.
Five months ago, the Security Council set up a commission to decide whether genocide was happening in Darfur. Conveniently for all those members of the Security Council who have oil interests in Sudan, they decided it wasn't. However, back in September the then-Secretary of State, Colin Powell determined genocide was indeed occurring, and that the government of Sudan and its proxies, the Janjaweed, were to blame.
In the wake of the U.N. report the U.S. and Canadian governments stood by their earlier determination while the rest of the world has looked away, disinterested.
Seasoned Sudan-watchers point out that the commission was politically compromised from the start because securing peace with the oil-rich south of Sudan remains of paramount importance.
Despite the fact that the Sudanese government continues to bomb its own villages, the international community has again found a way to avoid discussing stopping the bloodshed.
So, while 14 people die every hour in Darfur, we discuss what to do with the people who are murdering them, after the war criminals have finished their business, that is.
For years, Sudan's skilled soldiers-turned-politicians have run rings around the West during exhaustive peace negotiations to prevent further slaughter in southern Sudan. In the last two decades, Khartoum has actively directed and supported both its own armed forces and militia groups in killing 2 million black, Christian Africans in the south. They have displaced a further 4 million. Khartoum has repeatedly broken promises to the West. Yet, so desperate is the international community that they continue to embrace the Sudanese government as their partners in peace (rather as they cozied up to Slobodan Milosevic in the architect of the destruction of former Yugoslavia).
Under massive pressure from the Bush administration and its Christian backers, the Sudanese have recently begun to retreat, signing a power-sharing deal with the southern rebels. One would assume that rudimentary poker tactics, or the rules of the playground, would dictate that this is the precise moment we should be demanding more from Khartoum, pressuring them to stop the "Rwanda in slow motion," as Darfur is described. But evidently, not many diplomats play cards.
At an international conference in Norway on April 11, Sudan will ask donors to provide $8 billion to rebuild its war-shattered country. Oddly, no one in the international community is suggesting we should attach strings (such as stopping killing civilians in Darfur, and ending impunity) to any payments made to the Sudanese junta.
American taxpayers may ask why our diplomats are so naïve and gullible, or perhaps there is more than oil at stake here after all.
How much worse could the Sudanese regime get? They sheltered Osama Bin Laden for five years, and regularly hosted an annual gathering with guests who made it look like the Davos of terrorism and jihad. Sudan's National Islamic Front junta is also a strong proponent of pan Arabism that claims all African culture and progress is thanks to its Arab population, and by inference, is nothing to do with the black people who live there.
Sudan has slavery, extreme Sharia law, no free press or freedom of speech, no elections, and the place is crawling with secret police. In addition, virtually every eight-year-old girl is sexually mutilated. All Khartoum lacks is weapons of mass destruction.
If ever there were a candidate for "regime change," surely Sudan qualifies.
So, if apartheid-era South Africa was a pariah state, then why isn't Sudan? And why aren't we treating the Sudanese regime in the same way, applying strict sanctions, breaking off aid and economic ties, and throwing them out of international institutions until they stop killing their own citizens?
Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a member of the British Parliament, and former BBC-journalist Becky Tinsley visited Darfur in November. On their return they set up WagingPeace.info, a campaign urging Western governments to put increased pressure on the government of Sudan.
The UK has been one of the strongest supporters of the African Union mission in Darfur since it first deployed in May 2004. Since this time the UK has committed over £14 million to the mission, from which we have provided significant logistical support, including delivery of 143 vehicles and a further 470 are due to arrive soon. A UK officer also provides planning support and a UK military observer is with the mission. We are also instrumental in securing 92 million euros in funding from the EU. We remain in close contact with the AU, and our partners in the international community, about what further assistance we may be able to provide. I am copying this letter to Mr Marsha Singh MP, Clare Short MP, Alex Salmond MP, Barbara Follett MP, Peter Ainsworth MP, Geoffrey Robinson MP and Rob Marris MP as I notice you have sent the identical letter to all these MPs.- - -
Waging Peace
Vote4Peace is an independent campaign helping elect pro-peace UK MPs in the forthcoming general election. They are supporting mainstream candidates in marginal constituencies where a few votes will make a difference. Excerpt from their website:
"Vote4Peace is an independent non-party campaign for the next UK general elections. We aim to help elect a slate of mainstream MPs committed to peace and legitimacy: to gather volunteers in target constituencies, raise donations for under-funded prospective candidates, and build support for a constructive politics of peace and democracy. We are disillusioned by the Iraq war and the party machines, and inspired by the campaigns of MoveOn and other independent platforms in the US.
Vote4Peace is a campaign of Waging Peace, a mainstream organisation committed to building a safer and more democratic world. Waging Peace is registered as a third party with the Electoral Commission."
Waging Peace Campaign
Waging Peace is a mainstream, progressive, non-partisan political advocacy group, based around the Internet. The site states, "at a time when faith in old political structures has collapsed, we aim to influence decision-makers on such matters as war and peace, defending and extending democracy, the environment and human rights. We also seek to help elect Members of Parliament who share our values."
Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a member of the British Parliament, and former BBC-journalist Becky Tinsley visited Darfur in November. On their return they set up Waging Peace, a campaign urging Western governments to put increased pressure on the government of Sudan. Read their Campaign News and article at Sudan Tribune March 29, 2005, titled Look who's playing nice with Sudan. Here is a copy:
Look who's playing nice with Sudan
On April 27, 2004, at the height of the state-sponsored killing in Darfur, British ambassador to Khartoum Ambassador William Patey delivered an official, London-cleared speech on Sudan, saying, "We are, and wish to remain, true friends of Sudan."
British trade with Sudan was up 25 percent and set to rise, the ambassador said. The African nation, Patey continued, is "on the threshold of a new era."
In Sudan, a military junta has killed more than 2 million of its own people in the last 20 years because of their skin color and religion. The regime has caused so much terror within its own borders that 6 million people are internally displaced.
The oil-rich dictatorship spends $1 million a day (the same sum it earns from its oil exports) on arms purchases for internal repression. It keeps its black African citizens in such poverty that their roads, housing and hospitals are primitive even by African standards.
So, what can explain Patey's unseemly enthusiasm?
European oil companies are busy signing deals with the Sudan People's Liberation Army whose representatives will be governing the south of the country under the recently signed peace deal.
Naturally, the Europeans are not the only ones falling over their principles to be best pals with Khartoum: the South Africans, Chinese, Russians and Malaysians are all salivating over Sudan's oil reserves. And many of the same nations continue to sell the regime arms.
The U.N. Security Council met in New York Thursday and once more its members deliberately chose to ignore events in Darfur. Instead they voted to send 10,000 peacekeepers to southern Sudan. A cynic might suggest they were protecting their oil interests.
The decision to refer Darfur's war criminals to an internationally-recognized court, such as the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague has once more been deferred until the end of this month.
Observers believe the Security Council is deadlocked on Darfur, and so the diplomatic games are likely to continue while the wretched people of Darfur face their attackers on a daily basis, unprotected, hungry and forgotten.
Meanwhile, the United Nation's special envoy to Darfur, Jan Egeland, believes 180,000 have died there in the last 18 months. Egeland agrees with the World Health Organization estimate that 10,000 civilians in Darfur die every week.
To make matters worse, the U.N. has announced it is withdrawing staff from parts of Darfur following threats from the Sudan government-backed Janjaweed militia. They join the exodus of other similarly intimidated charities from Darfur.
Five months ago, the Security Council set up a commission to decide whether genocide was happening in Darfur. Conveniently for all those members of the Security Council who have oil interests in Sudan, they decided it wasn't. However, back in September the then-Secretary of State, Colin Powell determined genocide was indeed occurring, and that the government of Sudan and its proxies, the Janjaweed, were to blame.
In the wake of the U.N. report the U.S. and Canadian governments stood by their earlier determination while the rest of the world has looked away, disinterested.
Seasoned Sudan-watchers point out that the commission was politically compromised from the start because securing peace with the oil-rich south of Sudan remains of paramount importance.
Despite the fact that the Sudanese government continues to bomb its own villages, the international community has again found a way to avoid discussing stopping the bloodshed.
So, while 14 people die every hour in Darfur, we discuss what to do with the people who are murdering them, after the war criminals have finished their business, that is.
For years, Sudan's skilled soldiers-turned-politicians have run rings around the West during exhaustive peace negotiations to prevent further slaughter in southern Sudan. In the last two decades, Khartoum has actively directed and supported both its own armed forces and militia groups in killing 2 million black, Christian Africans in the south. They have displaced a further 4 million. Khartoum has repeatedly broken promises to the West. Yet, so desperate is the international community that they continue to embrace the Sudanese government as their partners in peace (rather as they cozied up to Slobodan Milosevic in the architect of the destruction of former Yugoslavia).
Under massive pressure from the Bush administration and its Christian backers, the Sudanese have recently begun to retreat, signing a power-sharing deal with the southern rebels. One would assume that rudimentary poker tactics, or the rules of the playground, would dictate that this is the precise moment we should be demanding more from Khartoum, pressuring them to stop the "Rwanda in slow motion," as Darfur is described. But evidently, not many diplomats play cards.
At an international conference in Norway on April 11, Sudan will ask donors to provide $8 billion to rebuild its war-shattered country. Oddly, no one in the international community is suggesting we should attach strings (such as stopping killing civilians in Darfur, and ending impunity) to any payments made to the Sudanese junta.
American taxpayers may ask why our diplomats are so naïve and gullible, or perhaps there is more than oil at stake here after all.
How much worse could the Sudanese regime get? They sheltered Osama Bin Laden for five years, and regularly hosted an annual gathering with guests who made it look like the Davos of terrorism and jihad. Sudan's National Islamic Front junta is also a strong proponent of pan Arabism that claims all African culture and progress is thanks to its Arab population, and by inference, is nothing to do with the black people who live there.
Sudan has slavery, extreme Sharia law, no free press or freedom of speech, no elections, and the place is crawling with secret police. In addition, virtually every eight-year-old girl is sexually mutilated. All Khartoum lacks is weapons of mass destruction.
If ever there were a candidate for "regime change," surely Sudan qualifies.
So, if apartheid-era South Africa was a pariah state, then why isn't Sudan? And why aren't we treating the Sudanese regime in the same way, applying strict sanctions, breaking off aid and economic ties, and throwing them out of international institutions until they stop killing their own citizens?
Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a member of the British Parliament, and former BBC-journalist Becky Tinsley visited Darfur in November. On their return they set up WagingPeace.info, a campaign urging Western governments to put increased pressure on the government of Sudan.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Tony Baldry MP, Chair of Parliamentary report "Darfur, Sudan" in African contract inquiry
A copy of the 93-page "Darfur, Sudan" Parliamentary report featured in an earlier post here is freely available online at International Development Committee - Houses of Parliament.
- - -
Blair all talk on 'moral responsibility' to end Darfur genocide says Conservative Press Release
Conservative MP Michael Ancram QC recently issued a press statement saying Sudan must be "compelled" to halt its genocide and allow the people it has chased into camps to return to their homes.
Mr Ancram does not explain how this can be achieved. In a Press Release he suggests the UN should establish an oil embargo on Sudan to give it an incentive to comply, but he fails to mention countries with interests in the Sudan, like China and Russia, that sit on the UN Security Council and make it known they will block sanctions and an oil embargo.
In the press release Mr Ancram says, "After 7 security council resolutions, 10 reports to the security council, two million displaced Darfuris, and 300,000 deaths why is the international community still taking baby steps towards a solution for the people of Darfur? But instead of answering the question to educate readers, Mr Ancram takes a cheap shot at Tony Blair by saying, "Mr Blair's self proclaimed 'moral responsibility' to act to end this genocide is all talk."
Either he and his colleague, Shadow International Development Secretary Alan Duncan MP do not know what they are talking about [which I find hard to believe] - or they do, but have ulterior motives. Commenting on the publication of the International Development Committee's report "Darfur, Sudan" Mr Duncan said:
"This report makes shocking reading. It details the collective failure of the international community to stop the genocide in Darfur. Mr Blair should have pressed for a UN resolution requiring Sudan to accept a larger African Union force with a mandate to protect civilians, establishing a no-fly zone over Darfur, and imposing an oil embargo on Sudan. His failure to do so makes a mockery of his rhetoric on helping Africa," he said.
Mr Duncan goes on to accuse Mr Blair of being 'all talk', and says "Instead of ending genocide in Darfur, Mr Blair's only determination is to walk on by on the other side. His only urgency to utter another promise he will not keep."
As far as I am aware [and I have followed the news on Darfur very closely over the past year and have a good idea of just how much the British Government has done for Darfur and Africa as a whole] Messrs Ancram and Duncan have not said much before in the press about Darfur over the last year. Both of them call for an oil embargo knowing that China, Russia and Algeria would block it. Note also, Ancram praises the no-fly zone and Duncan criticises the lack of no-fly zone.
Note too, how loudly they speak out about Darfur in the press now that there is a General Election in the offing - along with Conservative MP Tony Baldry, chair of a House of Commons select committee responsible for releasing the report "Darfur, Sudan" in an attempt, it would appear, to score political points before an election. Clare Short MP, a former international development secretary, serves on the same committee. Ms Short resigned from the Cabinet because she was against the war in Iraq. Her outspoken remarks, and attempts to bring down Tony Blair, became an embarrassment to the Government and this country.
Since these MPs have not before made a concerted effort to speak up strongly about Darfur over the past year, the unleashing of their March 30, 2005 report "Darfur, Sudan" and media campaign gives the impression they are using Darfur against Tony Blair for their own political gain. Shame on them.
- - -
Sunday Times Insight: Top Tory in African contract inquiry
It was disappointing to see Conservative MP Tony Baldry, who chairs the international development committee responsible for the above report "Darfur, Sudan", featured in an article in today's Sunday Times. Here is a copy:
A SENIOR MP used his parliamentary position to lobby an African government over the award of a lucrative aviation contract to a company in which he is a big shareholder.
Tony Baldry, the Conservative MP for Banbury, Oxfordshire, could now face censure for exploiting his position in the Commons to further his business interests.
The Sunday Times has seen a series of letters sent on Commons notepaper by Baldry to Vice-President Solomon Berewa in Sierra Leone discussing the privatisation of the country's failed national airline.
He attempts to arrange meetings with Angel Gate Aviation, a British-registered company that is keen to schedule flights from London to Freetown, the capital of the west African state.
Companies House records show that Baldry owns 439,000 shares in Angel Gate, although he makes no mention of this in any of the letters. The firm has paid him £30,000 in the past year as its chairman.
Val Collier, Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commissioner, criticised Baldry's intervention. He said last week that Baldry was "immoral" in using his position as an MP to promote his own business.
"(The airline approach) has nothing to do with House of Commons matters," he said. "You cannot use high office to influence business negotiations. It's morally wrong and a bad example to countries like ours."
The revelations will increase the pressure on Baldry, a former minister in the Foreign Office. Last week, Insight revealed that he has been paid by Milestone Trading, a mining company, to lobby the Sierra Leone government for valuable diamond concessions.
He stands to make a substantial amount of money out of the deal. This is despite the fact that his business with Sierra Leone - a war-torn country heavily dependent on British aid - presents a potential conflict of interest for someone in his position.
As chairman of the Commons international development committee, Baldry is responsible for scrutinising the millions in government aid spent in countries such as Sierra Leone. Fellow committee members point out that their job is to help alleviate Third World poverty rather than try to profit from it.
Baldry also used Commons notepaper to write to Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, on behalf of Milestone.
The matter has been referred to Sir Philip Mawer, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, by George Foulkes, the Labour MP and former international development minister.
After seeing the latest letters lobbying for the aviation firm, Foulkes said: "This appears to show that his (Baldry’s) business activities and his position as chairman of the select committee have become inextricably mixed in a way which appears to be a conflict of interest and breach of parliamentary rules.
"As a result, he should consider whether it is possible for him to continue as chairman of the committee."
In the letters to Berewa, Baldry says he has been negotiating with Abdul Turay, the country's privatisation commissioner, for Angel Gate Aviation to take over from the country's national airline.
"We have agreed the way forward for the airline project and I hope it may be possible for Mr Turay to meet (Angel Gate director Ramy Lakah) to finalise details of the proposed agreement, which can then be passed to the respective lawyers to draw up the necessary contracts," wrote Baldry.
"We fully understand that 'speed is of the essence' on this matter and that the government of Sierra Leone is anxious to see a viable airline operating between London and Freetown as soon as possible."
Although he declares his directorships and shareholdings in the register of members' interests, Baldry's letters give the impression his involvement is neutral. His shareholding in the firm is not even alluded to.
As it turned out, his lobbying for the company failed as the contract was awarded to another operator. He did, however, have more success when acting on behalf of Milestone.
Last year the company was blacklisted in Sierra Leone pending an investigation into links between one of its directors and two mafia figures wanted in Europe and South Africa. A report by Collier confirmed that Gershon Ben-Tovim, a partner in Milestone, had business links to Vito Palazzolo, a known mafia figure wanted in Italy. Milestone and Ben-Tovim reject the significance of those links.
Baldry wrote to Berewa on October 4 last year dismissing the links as "tangential".
The intervention undermined the objections made by Collier and cleared the way for Milestone to receive new mining licences. In return the MP's company, Red Eagle Resources, received a $75,000 payment, and the promise of a potential £1.5m shareholding in Milestone.
Baldry is now being asked to explain himself in front of his Commons committee. John Barrett, a Liberal Democrat member of the select committee, said: "If the allegations of a conflict of interest between business dealings and the work on the select committee are proved, then he should resign. I would certainly advise him to make a statement to the select committee on Tuesday."
Baldry is also to be interviewed by the commissioner for standards. Last week he declined to comment further until the investigation has been completed.
- - -
Blair all talk on 'moral responsibility' to end Darfur genocide says Conservative Press Release
Conservative MP Michael Ancram QC recently issued a press statement saying Sudan must be "compelled" to halt its genocide and allow the people it has chased into camps to return to their homes.
Mr Ancram does not explain how this can be achieved. In a Press Release he suggests the UN should establish an oil embargo on Sudan to give it an incentive to comply, but he fails to mention countries with interests in the Sudan, like China and Russia, that sit on the UN Security Council and make it known they will block sanctions and an oil embargo.
In the press release Mr Ancram says, "After 7 security council resolutions, 10 reports to the security council, two million displaced Darfuris, and 300,000 deaths why is the international community still taking baby steps towards a solution for the people of Darfur? But instead of answering the question to educate readers, Mr Ancram takes a cheap shot at Tony Blair by saying, "Mr Blair's self proclaimed 'moral responsibility' to act to end this genocide is all talk."
Either he and his colleague, Shadow International Development Secretary Alan Duncan MP do not know what they are talking about [which I find hard to believe] - or they do, but have ulterior motives. Commenting on the publication of the International Development Committee's report "Darfur, Sudan" Mr Duncan said:
"This report makes shocking reading. It details the collective failure of the international community to stop the genocide in Darfur. Mr Blair should have pressed for a UN resolution requiring Sudan to accept a larger African Union force with a mandate to protect civilians, establishing a no-fly zone over Darfur, and imposing an oil embargo on Sudan. His failure to do so makes a mockery of his rhetoric on helping Africa," he said.
Mr Duncan goes on to accuse Mr Blair of being 'all talk', and says "Instead of ending genocide in Darfur, Mr Blair's only determination is to walk on by on the other side. His only urgency to utter another promise he will not keep."
As far as I am aware [and I have followed the news on Darfur very closely over the past year and have a good idea of just how much the British Government has done for Darfur and Africa as a whole] Messrs Ancram and Duncan have not said much before in the press about Darfur over the last year. Both of them call for an oil embargo knowing that China, Russia and Algeria would block it. Note also, Ancram praises the no-fly zone and Duncan criticises the lack of no-fly zone.
Note too, how loudly they speak out about Darfur in the press now that there is a General Election in the offing - along with Conservative MP Tony Baldry, chair of a House of Commons select committee responsible for releasing the report "Darfur, Sudan" in an attempt, it would appear, to score political points before an election. Clare Short MP, a former international development secretary, serves on the same committee. Ms Short resigned from the Cabinet because she was against the war in Iraq. Her outspoken remarks, and attempts to bring down Tony Blair, became an embarrassment to the Government and this country.
Since these MPs have not before made a concerted effort to speak up strongly about Darfur over the past year, the unleashing of their March 30, 2005 report "Darfur, Sudan" and media campaign gives the impression they are using Darfur against Tony Blair for their own political gain. Shame on them.
- - -
Sunday Times Insight: Top Tory in African contract inquiry
It was disappointing to see Conservative MP Tony Baldry, who chairs the international development committee responsible for the above report "Darfur, Sudan", featured in an article in today's Sunday Times. Here is a copy:
A SENIOR MP used his parliamentary position to lobby an African government over the award of a lucrative aviation contract to a company in which he is a big shareholder.
Tony Baldry, the Conservative MP for Banbury, Oxfordshire, could now face censure for exploiting his position in the Commons to further his business interests.
The Sunday Times has seen a series of letters sent on Commons notepaper by Baldry to Vice-President Solomon Berewa in Sierra Leone discussing the privatisation of the country's failed national airline.
He attempts to arrange meetings with Angel Gate Aviation, a British-registered company that is keen to schedule flights from London to Freetown, the capital of the west African state.
Companies House records show that Baldry owns 439,000 shares in Angel Gate, although he makes no mention of this in any of the letters. The firm has paid him £30,000 in the past year as its chairman.
Val Collier, Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commissioner, criticised Baldry's intervention. He said last week that Baldry was "immoral" in using his position as an MP to promote his own business.
"(The airline approach) has nothing to do with House of Commons matters," he said. "You cannot use high office to influence business negotiations. It's morally wrong and a bad example to countries like ours."
The revelations will increase the pressure on Baldry, a former minister in the Foreign Office. Last week, Insight revealed that he has been paid by Milestone Trading, a mining company, to lobby the Sierra Leone government for valuable diamond concessions.
He stands to make a substantial amount of money out of the deal. This is despite the fact that his business with Sierra Leone - a war-torn country heavily dependent on British aid - presents a potential conflict of interest for someone in his position.
As chairman of the Commons international development committee, Baldry is responsible for scrutinising the millions in government aid spent in countries such as Sierra Leone. Fellow committee members point out that their job is to help alleviate Third World poverty rather than try to profit from it.
Baldry also used Commons notepaper to write to Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, on behalf of Milestone.
The matter has been referred to Sir Philip Mawer, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, by George Foulkes, the Labour MP and former international development minister.
After seeing the latest letters lobbying for the aviation firm, Foulkes said: "This appears to show that his (Baldry’s) business activities and his position as chairman of the select committee have become inextricably mixed in a way which appears to be a conflict of interest and breach of parliamentary rules.
"As a result, he should consider whether it is possible for him to continue as chairman of the committee."
In the letters to Berewa, Baldry says he has been negotiating with Abdul Turay, the country's privatisation commissioner, for Angel Gate Aviation to take over from the country's national airline.
"We have agreed the way forward for the airline project and I hope it may be possible for Mr Turay to meet (Angel Gate director Ramy Lakah) to finalise details of the proposed agreement, which can then be passed to the respective lawyers to draw up the necessary contracts," wrote Baldry.
"We fully understand that 'speed is of the essence' on this matter and that the government of Sierra Leone is anxious to see a viable airline operating between London and Freetown as soon as possible."
Although he declares his directorships and shareholdings in the register of members' interests, Baldry's letters give the impression his involvement is neutral. His shareholding in the firm is not even alluded to.
As it turned out, his lobbying for the company failed as the contract was awarded to another operator. He did, however, have more success when acting on behalf of Milestone.
Last year the company was blacklisted in Sierra Leone pending an investigation into links between one of its directors and two mafia figures wanted in Europe and South Africa. A report by Collier confirmed that Gershon Ben-Tovim, a partner in Milestone, had business links to Vito Palazzolo, a known mafia figure wanted in Italy. Milestone and Ben-Tovim reject the significance of those links.
Baldry wrote to Berewa on October 4 last year dismissing the links as "tangential".
The intervention undermined the objections made by Collier and cleared the way for Milestone to receive new mining licences. In return the MP's company, Red Eagle Resources, received a $75,000 payment, and the promise of a potential £1.5m shareholding in Milestone.
Baldry is now being asked to explain himself in front of his Commons committee. John Barrett, a Liberal Democrat member of the select committee, said: "If the allegations of a conflict of interest between business dealings and the work on the select committee are proved, then he should resign. I would certainly advise him to make a statement to the select committee on Tuesday."
Baldry is also to be interviewed by the commissioner for standards. Last week he declined to comment further until the investigation has been completed.
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