Sudan's Soba massacre, or the unwise Khartoum State land policy - IMF chief visits Chad

Sudan's police ordered a printing house to stop printing Saturday's edition of the Khartoum Monitor, Sudan's only English-language newspaper, after the editor refused to change an article and an editorial that criticised the government's treatment of displaced people.

The newspaper reported eyewitnesses saying 33 people were killed and that police had fired into the crowd. The report did not include the government version of the story, which said no weapons were fired.

Sudan has a history of suspending newspapers and detaining journalists. The government has officially lifted state censorship of newspapers but press restrictions continue.



Photo: An armed Sudanese policeman contains women and men as they wait to receive food staples at a distribution point in the Internally Displaced Camp (IDP) of Mourni, the largest in West Darfur. At least 17 people were killed in clashes between refugees and police in a squatter area some 10 kilometres (six miles) east of the Sudanese capital, police said.(AFP/File/Cris Bouroncle)
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Lone woman on a mission



Photo (ADF) Squadron Leader Ruth Elsley, 36, is looming as a legend in Khartoum. She is the first woman to become the head of an Australian Defence Force's overseas contingent, leading Australia's 15-person team as part of the United Nations' peacekeeping mission, Operation Azure.

And to date, Squadron Leader Elsley is the only woman officer in Khartoum among some 170 males from about 40 countries who comprise the headquarters staff. - Full Story at Air Force News.
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Mine clearing course for Sudanese

May 20 AllAfrica report says military personnel from Sudan will be trained at a recently opened centre for education in mine clearing. Excerpt:

The Sh500 million International Mine Action Training Centre will drill the soldiers on de-mining and neutralising landmines in their country in line with the recent peace agreement and plans to resettle refugees.

There are about 80,000 Sudanese refugees at Kakuma camp in Turkana District, near the border with Sudan.

The soldiers will join 100 Kenyan military engineers already training at the centre located in Embakasi, Nairobi, before being deployed at home. They will be followed by a 75-strong company from Sudan's integrated forces.

The Sudanese will be expected to complete their training and return home to clear the landmines, especially in the south, before the more than 200,000 refugees in Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia are repatriated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

On Tuesday, the UNHCR's local representative, Mr George Okoth-Obbo, announced he expected to conclude the Sh7.3 billion repatriation job by October. It would include awareness programmes on landmines and Aids.
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International Monetary Fund chief visits Chad



Photo: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Rodrigo Rato visits a medical centre in tent at Oure Cassoni camp, Chad May 20, 2005. The camp on the Chad-Sudan border is home to over 26,000 refugees. (Reuters/IMF/Stephen Jaffe/Handout) Full Report.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa Ruth+Elsley Chad IMF

Sudanese govt still supporting Ugandan rebel group LRA

A news report from Uganda says accusations have emerged that the Sudanese government still supports the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. The new claims emerged at meeting of civil society groups in Juba by the head of the Anglican Church in Lomega, Rev. Paul Jugusuku.

"The Sudan government is still supporting the LRA," Rev. Jugusuku told the BBC's Network Africa adding, "Every night I have been in Juba the antonov comes and drops food and ammunition to the LRA."

The accusations come two days after the Sudan government renewed the protocol allowing Ugandan forces to operate in south Sudan to fight the LRA rebels. Full Report by The Monitor via Sudan Tribune, May 20. 2005.



Photo: Joseph Kony, leader of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels (ST)

Sudan Tribune report May 21 says John Garang calls for reconciliation and unity among southern Sudanese.

Note, the report makes no mention of Khartoum recently renewing its agreement with Uganda to allow Ugandan troops into southern Sudan to fight the LRA group of Ugandan rebels that many say are supported by Khartoum.

However, it does say some critics, who say SPLM/A leader John Garang essentially acts in the interests of his Dinka people - the largest ethnic group in southern Sudan - warn that militia groups opposing him could move in, once Sudanese government troops withdrew from their southern positions in August.

Read more on LRA at Uganda Watch and Sudan Watch.
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Militia blocks aid delivery in Southern Sudan

Part of a major UN aid operation in Sudan has been suspended and is under review after a militia leader blocked the delivery of food, reports the BBC.



Photo: A barge carrying tonnes of food aid leaves New Fanjak in southern Sudan May 18, 2005. The UN. has suspended an aid operation after a pro-government militia leader blocked the delivery of food. The aid operation is now being re-evalauted, following security concerns after the assistance was rejected, May 18, 2005. (Reuters/ST)



Photo: Southern Sudanese men carry bags of food back onto a barge carrying food aid in New Fanjak in southern Sudan May 18, 2005. Distribution did not place as planned but is expected to restart on Saturday.

The barge convoy has been delivering humanitarian aid which includes food, farm implements fishing equipment seeds and educational material for schools to populations living along the Nile river. Reuters/Beatrice Mategwa

Full Story by Jonah Fisher, BBC, southern Sudan May 18, 2005.
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Report to UN Security Council on UN assistance to the AU Mission in the Sudan

Excerpt from the Secretary-General's report to the United Nations Security Council 3 May 2005:

"AMIS has been a groundbreaking initiative for the African Union and its supporters within the international community. The Mission has accomplished a remarkable amount in a very short time and despite significant constraints. Those constraints have been identified in the report of the AU-led assessment mission. It is now critical for all concerned to do their part. States members of the African Union must now identify personnel to join AMIS; the AU Commission must strengthen planning and management capacity in order to support an expanded mission; and partners must provide the African Union with the means required to carry out a costly and challenging task."

Tags: Darfur Sudan Uganda United+Nations

NATO on alert to provide help in Darfur Sudan

Further details relating to the following report by the Guardian's diplomatic editor, Ewen MacAskill, are in yesterday's post here below entitled NATO and African Union set out plans for Darfur action:

Nato ordered its planners yesterday to begin urgently drawing up proposals to help out in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million displaced.

Nato's 26 ambassadors, meeting in Brussels, approved a request for help from the African Union, the pan-continental organisation, which has 2,600 troops on the ground.

This is the African Union's first peace operation and it is struggling, partly because of the scale of the crisis, partly because of a lack of experience, but mainly because of a lack of logistical support.

The AU, until now, has been reluctant to admit it is unable to cope, or to ask Nato for assistance.

The crisis in Darfur began two years ago when the Sudanese government, engaged in a conflict with rebels, used a combination of its own military and militia groups to attack isolated villages.

The UN assistant secretary general, Hedi Annabi, briefed the UN earlier this month that attacks on civilians, rape, kidnapping and banditry were on the increase. He said the attacks had been carried out by the militia.

International military involvement has grown rapidly from 12 months ago, when there were no international forces on the ground. In June last year, the AU had 10 monitors on the ground.

Soon afterwards, the AU put in 300 troops to protect them. The force has grown to 2,409 troops and 244 police. This is expected to rise to a total of about 3,200 by the summer, increasing to 7,700 in September.

A Nato official said yesterday that the organisation would not be putting troops on the ground and it should not be seen as comparable to Nato involvement in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The priority for Nato in Darfur is to provide a team to help the AU with planning, co-ordination, communications and training.

Among the AU's requirements are helicopters, a necessity for operating in an area where roads are frequently im passable and where fast deployment is imperative in a conflict dealing with marauding militia bands.

A Canadian government representative offered at the Nato meeting to provide helicopters, and a British official said that if the US also offered to help with the airlift, that should be taken up.

A British official expressed hope that the AU force could be expanded further, to about 12,000. In addition, the UN is deploying 10,000 peacekeepers elsewhere in Sudan to maintain a ceasefire in the north-south civil war. The official suggested that eventually the two forces could merge into one UN peacekeeping force.

If it had been suggested at the outset that a UN peacekeeping force of that size, supported by Nato, would be put in place, the Sudanese government would have blocked it, the official said.

The AU presence is intended to reduce the violence and create a safe enough environment to encourage the million-plus people who have fled to camps to return home. The AU force is too small to cope with an area the size of France, and villages continue to be burned and refugees besieged in their camps. The militias have also become more difficult to deal with.

Nato only became involved in Darfur last week, when a team of two was sent from headquarters on a reconnaissance mission to the region.

The request for Nato help was made by the AU president, Alpha Oumar Konare, on Tuesday. "It is important we get the security situation under control very quickly," he said in Brussels. The Nato secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said: "The principle should be that the AU is principally responsible. Nato has no ambition to be the gendarme of the world."

The AU has also asked the EU to help, but the British official said yesterday that it did not have the heavy airlifting capacity that Nato has. Details are to be worked out at a meeting next Thursday in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia, attended by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and representatives of the AU, Nato and the EU.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa African+Union European+Union NATO

2nd Roundup: NATO and African Union set out plans for Darfur action

Further to today's Sudan Watch post African Union President visits NATO HQ Brussels, here is a second roundup up via Brussels/Tripoli (Deutsche Presse Agentur) via ReliefWeb May 17, 2005:

NATO and the African Union on Tuesday agreed joint action to end the crisis in Darfur, with the 26-nation western military alliance providing vital logistical support to African troops in the region.

A formal NATO decision on helping the AU is expected within the coming days, said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer after talks with Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the AU Commission.

Scheffer said he would be going to AU headquarters in Addis Abeba to discuss details of NATO's first mission in Africa.

Konare, who met NATO envoys in Brussels, told reporters his organisation needed help in transporting and housing African troops in Darfur as well as support in the communication sector.

But he insisted that the mission would be under AU leadership, with only African troops deployed in Darfur.

The AU wanted a "non-exclusive partnership" with NATO, Konare insisted, adding: "The AU will lead the mission (in Darfur) and will be in control."

"There will no non-African troops," he insisted. Scheffer said the alliance was planning a swift response to the AU request, saying he was confident NATO's decision-making council would agree to help AU in the coming days.

He promised "full transparency" with the European Union which is also working to help AU troops in Darfur.

NATO diplomats said the alliance could also provide equipment to AU forces struggling to bring peace to the war-ravaged region.

The United States is pressing for quick NATO assistance for the AU but France has so far been wary of alliance involvement in Africa.

Paris is expected to give the go-ahead to NATO aid for African troops but is insisting that the alliance should remain in close contact with the E.U. and the United Nations.

The E.U. has sent military advisers to help the African peacekeeping mission and is spending about 120 million dollars to cover some of the costs of the operation.

In Tripoli earlier, a meeting of representatives of seven Arab and African countries on Darfur agreed that negotiations should be resumed at the end of May in Abuja, Nigeria.

The African Union-sponsored negotiations held in the Nigerian capital broke down last December. Consecutive rounds had brought together representatives of the Sudanese government and rebel factions to discuss settling the conflict that began in February 2003.

The Tripoli gathering, hosted by Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, was attended by the presidents of Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Nigeria, Eritrea and the vice-president of Gabon. Representatives of the rebel factions were invited to the meeting, but did not attend.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose country chairs the African Union, said at the opening of the meeting late Monday that a solution to Darfur needed to come from within Africa, and that "any delay would only encourage foreign intervention in African affairs".

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustapha Othman Ismail, at a news conference in Tripoli late Monday, reiterated the government's position that any trials for crimes committed in Darfur would be held in Sudan with assistance by African legal advisers, reported MENA, Egypt's official news agency.

Ismail's comment came in response to a question about whether the government would respond to the request by the International Criminal Court in April to turn over persons suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa African+Union European+Union NATO

Sudan: African Union President visits NATO HQ Brussels

Further to Sudan Watch post April 29, 2005 entitled NATO's role in Darfur - AU commission chairman will visit NATO headquarters May 17 here is a copy of NATO's report via ReliefWeb on what happened yesterday, the first visit by a senior official of the African Union to NATO:

Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare, the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, visited NATO HQ on 17 May to discuss possible Alliance support for the African Union's peacekeeping operation in Darfur.

He met for talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and addressed the North Atlantic Council, the Alliance's principal decision-making body.

African Union in the lead

Mr. Konare outlined the current situation in Darfur, the African Union's plans for strengthening its peacekeeping operation in the region and the support the Union would require.

The visit was a follow-up to a letter sent by Mr. Konare to the Secretary General on 26 April, suggesting discussions on the possibility of NATO providing logistical support to the African Union's peacekeeping operation in Darfur.

NATO has agreed to open exploratory talks, and the NATO Council will now discuss Mr. Konare's request, to see what support the Alliance could provide. NATO will also engage in close co-ordination with the European Union and the United Nations.

The support Mr. Konare requested included transport, training and communications.

"It is the African Union which is leading this mission," the Secretary General told reporters at a joint press point with President Konare, "It is the African Union which asked for our support."

The Secretary General was also invited by President Konare to attend talks on international support for the African Union's operation in Darfur in Addis Ababa on 26 May.

This was the first visit by a senior official of the African Union to NATO.
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Sudan: NATO to explore Darfur options

For future reference, here is a copy of a further NATO report via ReliefWeb May 18, 2005:

On 18 May the North Atlantic Council agreed to task the Alliance's military authorities to provide, as a matter of urgency, advice on possible assistance NATO could offer to the African Union in Darfur.

This advice will be prepared in full consultation and transparency with the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations.

The decision by the North Atlantic Council follows a request on 26 April by the African Union for consideration by NATO of the possibility of providing logistical support to the African Union's peacekeeping operation in Darfur.

On 17 May, Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare, the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, visited NATO, providing details on the kinds of assistance that the African Union would require.

The Secretary General is due to attend talks on international support for the African Union's operation in Darfur in Addis Ababa on 26 May.
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Briefing on current issues by the NATO Spokesman

NATO Spokesman James Appathurai looks back on the key events of April. He talks about a request by the African Union for logistic support from NATO for the Union's peacekeeping operation in the Darfur region of Sudan. He then goes to preview an important Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council security forum, due to be held in May in Sweden.

Click here to download NATO Speech: Monthly briefing by the NATO Spokesman 29 April 2005 - Windows Media Player and view "Support for African Union in Darfur" or transcript. Here is an excerpt:

"Talks are beginning between NATO and the African Union but also between NATO and the European Union and the United Nations to ensure that we know what the requirements of the African Union are, what is already being provided, as I say, by the European Union, by the United Nations and on a bilateral basis, and where NATO can add value because that is absolutely the important thing here -- NATO should add value to what is already being provided to the requirements of the African Union.

So this work is going forward, the [UN] Secretary General is of course in direct contact with his counterparts in the other international organisations and the staffs at the working level are already in contact as well. We will see where this goes forward, an African Union delegation is expected in Brussels later in May and that will be an important time for discussions on how and whether- whether and how NATO can provide support to the AU in a pragmatic way in support of and in partnership with the other relevant organisations and countries that are providing support."

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa African+Union European+Union NATO

Darfur peace talks to resume within two weeks - Sudanese president

According to various news reports today, the mini-summit on Darfur held in Tripoli ended with an agreement to resume peace talks between rebels and Khartoum on May 30/June 1.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ismail is quoted as saying the next round of Darfur talks should be final.

At the summit, leaders of Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, Eritrea and Chad reviewed the situation in Darfur, saying the conflict should be resolved within the framework of the African Union.

Full Report.



Photo: Libyan leader Col Gaddafi (C) attends an African mini-summit on Darfur in Tripoli, Libya. (AFP/Osama Ibrahim)

Note, Eritrea has good relations with all the major opposition movements in Sudan, many of them armed groups that have openly pledged from Asmara in Eritrea to overthrow the government in Khartoum.

Sudan has demanded that Eritrea not harbour armed Sudanese opponents or offer them assistance as a condition for normalising relations, Foreign Minister Ismail said. (AFP/File/Yasser al-Zayyat)

Cihan News Agency Istanbul report May 18 on summit says Sudanese Embassy Press Attache in Ankara Abdurrahim Omer Muhiddin visited Zaman Newspaper and Cihan News Agency on Tuesday. Excerpt:

Muhiddin said the genocide never took place in the region and defined the Darfur issue is an issue of the "immigrants and the locals". The issue has been distorted in the international arena claimed the Sudanese official emphasizing that the problem became an issue due to an ongoing struggle between the immigrant Arabs and Negro locals. According to Muhiddin, such points of view were absolutely erroneous. The Sudanese official said: "It is very difficult to make the distinction between the Arabs and Negroes in The Sudan. Two societies mingled with each other like finger and a finger nail."



Photo: Sudanese President Lt. Gen. Omar el-Bashir attends the 3rd African summit to discuss the Darfur crisis late Monday night May 16, 2005, in Tripoli, Libya. (AP).

"The Abuja negotiations should be resumed by the end of the month", President Bashir told reporters.

"All the countries represented at the summit agreed to send delegations to attend the Abuja talks and contribute in narrowing the views between the negotiators," he said. Full Report AFP May 17, 2005.
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Four killed as refugees near Khartoum clash with Sudanese forces

May 17 Reuters report - four people killed [Update via Reuters Sudan says 17 dead] - and dozens injured when Sudanese police and soldiers clashed with refugees from southern Sudan in a camp near Khartoum, witnesses say. Excerpt:

Slums and camps surrounding the sprawling capital are home to more than two million people from all over Sudan, but most of them are southerners who have fled two decades of civil war.

The areas have little or no running water or electricity, and aid agencies have found it difficult to fund assistance to them. Khartoum authorities say they want to demolish the slums to relocate residents to permanent, planned housing plots.

The governor of Khartoum insists the relocations are done with the consent of the people and their leaders. But the UN has criticised the policy, saying the relocations of the residents are not carried out in consultation with the people, and they are moved to desert areas miles out of the capital where there are no services.

One UN official at the scene said hundreds of people were fleeing the fighting. "It is not possible to move around inside still," the official said.

The UN sent representatives to the area to try to calm the situation.



Photo: Refugees near Khartoum clash with Sudanese forces

"The troops, army and police came in this morning and they shot at the civilians," said Majak Machar, a resident of the camp in Soba Aradi, about 30 km (19 miles) south of Khartoum.

"They wanted to take the people to another area and the people fought them because they didn't want to go."

"The civilians then attacked the police and have killed at least two of them" said Majak Machar, a resident of the camp in Soba Aradi.

May 18 update: Governor of Khartoum responds



Photo/Report Associated Press: Governer of Khartoum state, Dr Abdul Haleem Mutaafi, right, tells a press conference in Khartoum Wednesday, May 18, 2005 that a major political party which he declined to name had incited refugees of the Soba Aradi area leading to violence.

Sitting beside him in military fatigues is Tareq Mahgoub, Police director of Khartoum state. Many of the estimated two million war refugees camped around Khartoum are opposing forced relocation away from the capital. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)



Photo: Southern Sudanese refugees leave the camp in Soba Aradi, about 30 km (19 miles) south of the capital Khartoum, May 18, 2005. At least 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in clashes which erupted when Sudanese police tried to relocate refugees mainly from southern Sudan away from a camp near Khartoum on Wednesday, officials said. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin
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Sudan allows Ugandan forces to operate in Sudan

There has been no word in the press from John Garang and his former SPLM rebel group on the news that Sudan's President and Uganda's defence minister discussed Ugandan forces' deployment in Sudan under a UN mandate - and also renewed their agreement permitting Ugandan troops to continue to hunt the Ugandan LRA in Sudan.

The new agreement extends the Ugandan forces' stay in Sudan to June 30, 2005.

Presumably, the report at AllAfrica relates to South Sudan - it says the agreement, originally signed in April 2001, yielded tremendous results for Uganda. It has been renewed repeatedly since then and last expired on December 31, 2004.

"The agreement between Khartoum and SPLA has changed the entire scenario in southern Sudan," a source said.

Full Report May 17, 2005.
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Note: SOAT alert May 18 reports further arrests and detention of alleged SLA sympathisers.
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The Irish Government May 18 welcomed the release of Sudanese human rights worker Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam who was arrested in Kharthoum, ahead of his trip to Ireland to receive the inaugural Front Line award from President Mary McAleese.
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Sudan and Uganda sending troops to Somalia

Somali.net report May 16 says Sudan and Uganda are sending one battalion each to Somalia in the coming days.

Other African nations will take part in logistics and transportation of troops and equipment. These soldiers will help the new government relocate to Somalia from Nairobi, Kenya where it is temporarily located now.

Sudan and Uganda share a long border and often accuse each other of arming and training rebels.
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5,000 people in southern Sudan flee from Ugandan rebels

At least 5,000 people in southern Sudan have fled food shortages and attacks by the rebel LRA and sought refuge in northwestern Uganda since January, the UN High Commission for Refugee agency (UNHCR) said.

"[Some] said they were running away from LRA attacks, while the majority have fled their camp of Nimule in southern Sudan to Arua in Uganda due to food shortages, as relief supplies to the camp stopped some time back," UNHCR spokeswoman Roberta Russo, told IRIN on Saturday.

Full Report IRIN May 16, 2005.
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Update on Canada

Darcey in Canada explains the latest re Canadian troops for Darfur. More from Darcey later as and when there is news.

Update: Here is some: Kilgour speaks. Thanks Darcey.
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UN website for Sudan mission

Thanks to Coalition for Darfur for finding the new website of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS).
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Let's all be hummingbirds

Warm thanks to Ansel in America for this Japanese story, courtesy of Wangari Maathai:

When the forest where the hummingbird lived went up in flames, the other animals ran out to save themselves. But the hummingbird stayed, flying to and from a nearby river with drops of water in its beak to pour on the fire.

From a distance, the other animals laughed and mocked it. "What do you think you are doing?" they shouted. "This fire is overwhelming. You can't do anything."

Finally, the hummingbird turned to them and said, "I'm doing what I can."

[We can all be like the hummingbird, doing whatever we can says Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is Kenya's deputy minister for environment, a member of parliament for the Tetu constituency, and founder of the Green Belt Movement.]

Tags: Darfur Sudan Libya Eritrea

Europeans Offer To Back Africa in Darfur - Queen's Speech

May 17 report by Lorne Cook, Agence France-Presse, Brussels via DefenseNews.com:

The European Union and NATO offered military support but no troops May 17 to an African peacekeeping mission in Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, downplaying signs of tension over who should help.

Speaking after talks with visiting African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, the EU's executive commission proposed training police, offering strategic airlift and air observation support, and providing logistical help.

"The African Union (has) drawn our attention to the need for greater logistical support, particularly for transporting troops, particularly for housing troops, equipping troops," said EU aid commissioner Louis Michel.

"So, we have taken careful note," he told reporters.

The Darfur conflict, which pits rebels against pro-government militia, has resulted in the deaths of between 180,000 and 300,000 people and forced some 2 million others to flee their homes.

Last month, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Jan Egeland said there was an urgent need to expand the AU's mission to prevent the number of displaced Darfur residents from rising to 3 million or 4 million.

The fighting began in February 2003 after black African groups rebelled against what they saw as persecution from Khartoum's Arab-led government.

The African Union hopes to have almost 8,000 troops in Darfur by the end of September, but EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana sought to allay any concerns that Brussels would send troops.

"The soldiers will be African Union," he said after his own brief round of talks with Konare. "The only thing the European Union is going to do is provide planners, these will be in the tens, not in the thousands."

Konare insisted that the AU wants to be in full control of the mission and that it is only seeking logistical help and support of a more general manner.

Providing support has, indirectly, been a source of tension between the EU and NATO; more precisely, between France and the United States.

France is opposed to a NATO role in Sudan - playing "the world's policeman" in the words of French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier - and Solana and NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer were clearly aware of the problem.

"There will be a meeting later in the month of all the contributors, the European Union and NATO, the member states ... meeting in Addis [Ababa, Ethiopia] to see how things can be done better," Solana said.

De Hoop Scheffer, for his part, said the alliance is looking into how it might be able to help Darfur in "full transparency with the European Union."

"I'm confident that NATO will be able to answer the call," he said, alluding potentially to what would effectively be the first alliance mission in Africa.

"NATO does not have the ambition of being the world's policeman," he went on, and said it would be possible "to imagine a certain division of responsibilities."

"Who would do what, is a little early to say," de Hoop Scheffer added.
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Full text of the Queen's Speech

FT.com publishes the full text of the Queen's speech at the state opening of parliament on May 17, 2005.

Note, it includes the line: "My Government will continue to push for a resolution of the conflict in Darfur."

Tags: Darfur Sudan Chad Africa NATO European Union African Union

UNICEF estimates the number of people in Darfur camps will increase to more than 3,000,000 in coming month

Now that online shopping and donating to humanitarian causes is so easy, I have decided to only shop at charities for cards and gifts. One of my favourites for children is the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF.

A few weeks ago, I did most of my Christmas shopping at UNICEF's online shop. Loads of cards. Good quality wooden children's toys and other nice gifts. Plus I ordered 20 Make Poverty History white bangles to drop inside greetings cards and Christmas stockings for children.

Within a few days of placing the order online, a neatly packed box was delivered direct to my door with a note saying the bangles are out of stock but would follow by mail in a few weeks.

Please read this excerpt from a report on Darfur by UNICEF UK May 10, 2005:

Signs of drought are everywhere. Whole villages are being abandoned as residents seek stable and safe access to water. The situation is even worse for displaced people living in the camps. UNICEF estimates that in the upcoming months the population in the camps will swell by an additional half million, bringing the total number of displaced people in Darfur to above 3,000,000.

The scenes at wells are equally chaotic. In Musbat, thousands will wait in line before sunrise for access to the only hand-pump in the town. Children are often pushed aside while waiting to fetch water. "These kids are probably expending more than a third of their daily calorie intake on water collection," said Brendan Doyle, a water and sanitation consultant for UNICEF. "They're returning to their families carrying containers of water outweighing themselves."

Photo: A UNICEF handpump has been positioned between the Al Riyad camp and El Geneina, enabling both communities to share access and interact. This also helps reduce potential friction between the two groups. (UNICEF UK/Kathryn Irwin)
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Darfur's children drop out of school in search of water

Bad news. Another emergency within an emergency. Darfur's children are dropping out of school to search for water.

See UNICEF's report on Darfur May 10, 2005. Excerpt:

Abdallah Hurry, a teacher at the Musbat elementary school in North Darfur, is losing students. Malnutrition and ongoing conflict have contributed immensely to the problem. These days, however, Abdallah is also losing students due to the lack of sufficient safe drinking water.

Extreme thirst is forcing students at Musbat and other schools in the area to spend their days trudging through the parched landscape. Besides dehydration, excursions into the surrounding landscape to find water expose children to other dangers, including sexual abuse from marauding rebel militias.

Across the North Darfur region, access to water is becoming scarce. Very little rainfall has caused scores of watering holes to dry up, while other wells have been poisoned by carcasses of dead animals. In addition, Government neglect of the water infrastructure has rendered half the area's pumps inoperable.

"What's happening here is an emergency within an emergency," warned Keith Mackenzie, UNICEF's Special Representative for the Darfur Crisis. "We've seen large scale displacement because of the conflict. Now it's happening because of the lack of food and water."

Photo: A man teaches a large group of children at a UNICEF-assisted school in the Kounoungo camp for Sudanese refugees. (UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt)



Photo: Children, accompanied by their teachers, wave UNICEF-supplied notebooks at their temporary school in an IDP camp in the town of Kass. Some 30,000 IDPs have taken refuge in the town - doubling its population. (UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt)
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Martin Bell reports direct from Darfur

A report [not dated] at UNICEF's website says UNICEF UK Ambassador for Humanitarian Emergencies and former BBC Correspondent Martin Bell travelled to Darfur to document the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Martin sent a video report from a camp near the town of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.

Click here for Martin's latest video report.

[Note, I am a Mac user without the right application to view the video.]



Photo: An emaciated 16-month-old boy, Wayel, who is suffering from severe malnutrition, drinks from a glass held by an adult, at the UNICEF supported El Fasher Teaching Hospital in North Darfur. (UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt)
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Support to humanitarian organisations on the ground is vital

UNICEF says lack of food and water may also cause health problems and malnutrition and is concerned for the 1.5 million children under the age of 18 currently being affected.

"Support to humanitarian organisations on the ground is vital to ensure that they have the resources to fulfil their mandate", said Keith McKenzie, UNICEF's Special Representative in Darfur.

With 160 staff on the ground, UNICEF is supporting the following:

Education is a key intervention that provides a protective environment for children. Currently there are 180,000 children in school of the 450,000 school aged children, this is the highest enrolment rate in 30 years. In addition UNICEF supports child friendly spaces and provides training for troops, humanitarian and government workers on the protection of children.

Nutrition: UNICEF is responsible for providing supplies as well as technical assistance to therapeutic feeding centres.

Health: Providing essential drugs and training to 170 health centres

Water: Providing clean water and sanitation facilities.



Photo: Refugee children and women walk amidst their makeshift shelters in the Touloum camp, 80 kilometres from the Chad-Sudan border. The camp hosts an estimated 5,800 refugees from Darfur. (UNICEF/Hugues Laurenge)

Note UNICEF activities in Sudan and Chad.



Photo: A woman, Kaltoom Haj Tahir, feeds one of her seven children in the Abu Shouk IDP camp near El Fasher. The Abu Shouk camp shelters more than 30,000 IDPs. UNICEF is supporting the provision of health services, safe water and plastic sheeting in the camp. (UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt)
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UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow and son visit Sudan

Last November, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow and her son Seamus visited IDP camps in Darfur.

16-year-old Seamus is a UNICEF Youth Ambassador and is concerned about the effect of the conflict on boys and young men. He spoke with a number of teenagers and says they run the risk of joining armed groups.

"For the boys my age, the problem is they have nothing to do," he says. "They are really just stagnating in these communities. It's a big problem in that they are being recruited into local militias and resorting to banditry because they can't make their usual living, which is farming the land and pursuing business."



Photo: Mia Farrow and son Seamus review drawings made by children in a 'Safe Play Centre' in the Kalma camp for displaced people, near the city of Nyala. UNICEF helped to build the centre. (UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani)
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Vaccination campaign against meningitis planned in West Darfur

An IRIN report today May 17 says a vaccination campaign against meningitis is to be carried out in the Abu Seroj IDP camp in West Darfur after the UN World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed an outbreak of the disease there, health officials said.

"We moved the vaccines from Khartoum to El Geneina [the capital of West Darfur] on Monday and expect to start the vaccinations in two to three days," Gouido Sabatinelli, WHO Representative in Sudan, told IRIN on Tuesday.

"The next few days will be critical," Sonja Nieuwenhuis, senior health manager in West Darfur for the Swiss-based humanitarian organisation Medair, said in a statement.
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UN food agency warns of looming aid shortage

The UN World Food Programme said today May 17 it would soon have to reduce rations to refugees in Africa unless donors came up quickly with the $315 milllion it needed.

It still needs to 'pre-position' food for 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad and 60,000 Eritreans in Sudan before the onset of the rainy season in July.

[Note, If 60,000 Eritreans need to be in camps in the Sudan, things must be pretty bad in Eritrea.]

Tags: Darfur Sudan Chad Africa UNICEF

Blogging The Darfur Collection - UK Commission for Africa - Open Source Radio

Warm thanks to Catez in New Zealand at Allthings2all for putting together The Darfur Collection which brings together various bloggers who share a common concern for the people of Sudan, particularly Darfur.

The Darfur Collection was just published a few minutes ago. More on this at a later date. Thank you to Catez for featuring a post from the November archives of Sudan Watch.
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A Postcard from Khartoum

'Every place has a story; it's just that some stories are harder to tell then others. The Sudan is one of those places whose story is really hard to tell,' writes Lachlan Harris in a web magazine article entitled 'A Postcard from Khartoum.'


Photo: Khartoum

Excerpt from A Postcard from Khartoum May 16. 2005:

"It is not just the cuisine that is so limited; the entire country seems to be lacking the basic hallmarks of organisation and investment that are the calling cards of modern life. Outside the capital there are no traffic lights, bridges, signs announcing city names, or indications of directions. In fact, in the North, which is harsh desert country, there are no roads at all between the major towns, with drivers simply pointing their vehicles across the desert towards the next town, while trying to avoid the drifts of soft sand that trap any vehicle unlucky enough to drive into them.

Linking the towns and the capital is a maze of truck, bus, and minibus transport that, even to the locals, is mind-bogglingly chaotic. Transport simply arrives and leaves when it arrives and leaves. If you want to catch this bus, or that truck, then you must wait at a loosely defined meeting point until it arrives, otherwise it will simply leave without you. Cynical about the magnitude of this disorganisation, I was quickly disavowed of this naïve doubt by a two-day wait for a bus in the border town of Whadi Halfa. After this, it took me almost another week to make the 1500 kilometre journey to Khartoum.

As well as heavily limiting where you can travel in the Sudan (nowhere South of Khartoum, or about 50% of the country), the police simply do not let visitors take photos. Even in the remotest of towns, removing your camera from your bag is sure to attract the attention of the police. If you're lucky you're told to put it away, unlucky and you're dragged to the police station for interrogation until you disprove the suspicion you are a foreign spy."
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Map courtesy of Will in Uganda


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UK Commission for Africa

Prime Minister Tony Blair has made Africa one of his top international priorities during 2005 when the UK has Presidency of the G8 says Downing Street May 11, 2005.

In a recent speech he said there was 'no excuse, no defence, no justification' for the plight of the continent.

He set up the Commission for Africa to tackle some of the biggest problems head on. Its report was published in March and will be discussed at the G8 summit in Scotland this July.


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Open Source. It'll be a radio show. May 30, 2005

Here is a don't miss, must-do: listen to Open Source's pilot on podcasting and bloggers without borders. Hear phone interviews and discussions with Rebecca and Ethan of Global Voices, and several other bloggers, hosted by smooth (and thankfully not-so-fast) talking American Christopher Lydon at Harvad's Berkman.

Historic stuff. Keep it for your archives.



See Ethan's follow-up post On hold with Chris Lydon.


Photo: Christopher Lydon At Creative Commons Anniversary 2003 (Courtesy Joi Ito/Jonas M Luster December 15, 2003)

Note also GlobalCoordinate.com Geo-Community. Click on the map to zoom in. You can add your own comments, stories, or photos at any location.
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Update May 17, 2005

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC RADIO
IN THE AGE OF PODCASTING:
Anybody can create their own public radio online

Note Rebecca MacKinnon's post linking to a live webcast from Harvard's Berkman Center today, May 17, 2005.

Jake Shapiro of the Public Radio Exchange will talk about the future of public radio in the age of podcasting, which enables anybody to create their own public radio online.

This is history in the making. Keep it for your archives.

Tags: Podcasting Radio Audioblogging MacKinnon Shapiro Berkman Harvard Zuckermann Blair Darfur Sudan Africa

Media fast for Mojtaba

Excerpt from a post at Committee to Protect Bloggers Thursday, May 19, 2005:

The CPB is asking bloggers and other concerned people to observe next Thursday, May 26 as a Media Fast for Mojtaba.

Mojtaba Saminejad, a blogger from Iran, has declared a hunger strike. He is being held at Tehran's Gohar Dashat prison, which has a reputation for mistreatment of detainees. He is being held in the general population, the overwhelming majority of which are common criminals.

Mojtaba was arrested for reporting the earlier arrest of three of his fellow Iranian bloggers. (Iran has arrested over 20 bloggers over the last year.) Iranian bloggers who have been released have reported being the victims of torture.

Read full story at Committee to Protect Bloggers: MEDIA FAST FOR MOJTABA.

[Note: this post was published here on May 19 and has moved to here so that bloggers from Iran can see the above item about podcasting]

[via Curt with thanks] Tags: Tehran Iran Mojtaba Blog Bloggers Committee+to+Protect+Bloggers

Aid to Sudan depends on peace in Darfur says EU

The European Union parliament has resolved to bypass the Sudanese government with its financial aid until significant progress to return peace to Darfur has been achieved.

The EU recently decided to release E450 million for Sudan after the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the southern rebels that ended 22 years of conflict on 9 January.

The parliament, however, said the aid intended for Sudan should be granted gradually and must be managed as much as possible by humanitarian organisations operating in the country.

The Sudanese government should not benefit from it until it ends any form of violence in Darfur and accepts to cooperate with the ICC on the abuses that have taken place in the western region, the parliament said.

The European deputies also denounced the arrrest of two Sudanese human rights organisation officials. - via PANA Brussels, Belgium May 14, 2005


Photo: Mudawi Adam

Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam was arrested on Sunday and charged with photographing military buildings and with crimes against Sudan. He remains in police custody.

See SOAT alert May 14, 2005 "Sudanese rights activist Mudawi Ibrahim facing Death Penalty."
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EU president to meet with head of AU to discuss Darfur

On Tuesday, May 17 the President of the European Union, Jose Manuel Barroso, will meet with the head of the African Union to discuss the EUs role in managing the Darfur crisis.

Note, an African Union team has arrived in Khartoum to verify the positions of government troops and rebels in Darfur, an AU spokesman in Sudan said.

The team held talks with the head of the AU mission in Sudan (AMIS), Baba Gana Kingibe, and is due to travel to Darfur on Monday to start on the verification mission. The team is led by the chairman of the joint ceasefire committee, General Mahamet Ali.
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Six-way Libya summit to discuss Darfur crisis

On Monday, May 16 a six-way African summit will be held in the Libyan capital Tripoli to probe means of solving the Darfur crisis.

The summit will be attended by leaders from Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, Chad, Gabon and Eritrea.

Sudanese Foreign Minister said Saturday that the aim of the conference was to "set the stage for reaching a quick solution to the Darfur crisis."

The summit will discuss consequences of a UN Security Council resolution calling for war crime suspects in Darfur to be tried before the International Criminal Court. The Sudanese government rejected the resolution as infringing on its sovereignty.

As a leading mediator of the Darfur issue, Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa was also invited to attend the summit.

In statements to the press before heading for Libya, Moussa said that the league's participation in the summit will be the first for the pan-Arab body at such a level, though not the first time for the league to attend meetings on Darfur.

Full Report via Xinhua Cairo, May 15, 2005.

Note, Libyan leader Col Ghaddafi has invited Darfur's two main rebel groups SLM and JEM to participate in the talks. But an AFP report May 15 says they are staying away. [That's OK, Col Gaddafi is handling their interests]
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Eritrean president leaves for Libya to participate in Darfur summit

President Isaias Afwerki left for Libya Sunday morning upon an invitation extended to him by the Libyan leader Col Gaddafi to participate in the Darfur summit.


Photo: Eritrean President Afwerki
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US to help AU in Darfur, but opposes tougher action against Sudan

The Bush administration has offered Air Force transport planes and crews to airlift thousands of additional African peacekeeping troops into Darfur this summer, State Department officials say.

The airlift proposal is part of a larger effort, including at least $50 million in U.S. aid and offers of equipment and military advisors from other members of NATO, to help African countries more effectively enforce an unstable cease-fire in Darfur, the officials said in recent days.

Full Report LA Times May 12, 2005.
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Do something ... But what?

The new AU deployment won't stop the genocide in Darfur. But what other options are there? See must-read by Bradford Plumer, assistant editor of the Mother Jones website, May 11, 2005.
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German military observers fail to get visas for Sudan

Deployment of German military observers to southern Sudan may be delayed. So far, the Sudanese government has issued entry visas to hardly any of the soldiers who are supposed to help with monitoring the peace agreement in the African country as of mid-May.

According to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the reason for the delay is occasionally seen in the pressure exerted by German diplomacy.

Germany had pilloried the human rights violations in the crisis region of Darfur early and contributed to making the brutal civil war an issue in the UN Security Council, which adopted sanctions.

The UN in New York has now noticed that other Western members of the UN mission have not received the entry visas necessary for southern Sudan, either.

This makes it difficult for the UN to station 10,000 soldiers in Africa's largest country as soon as possible.

One of a total of some 50 German soldiers has meanwhile arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, another four are in Nairobi, Kenya, for preparations. - BBC via Sudan Tribune Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2005.
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Kofi Annan describes what happened at Khor Abeche

Note neat monthly report to UN Security Council by the Secretary-General 10 May, 2005. It explains about the recent attack on Khor Abeche.

Mr Annan says in April, the number of conflict-affected persons rose to 2.45 million, of whom 1.86 million are internally displaced. Extracts:

Despite existing agreements on unimpeded access for humanitarian workers, non-governmental organizations continued to be harassed by the local authorities, particularly in Southern Darfur. In Northern Darfur there were repeated incidents of harassment of humanitarian staff, including some who were temporarily detained by SLA.

The World Health Organization is preparing for the second retrospective mortality survey of conflict-affected persons in Darfur. The survey will be conducted in May, and the results are expected to be available in June.

In Saraf Omra, Northern Darfur, a blanket meningitis vaccination campaign covered approximately 80 per cent of the targeted population in response to the outbreak detected in Northern Darfur in March 2005.

Local government is contravening the letter and the spirit of the agreements on voluntary return, for example by offering incentives to internally displaced persons to return or relocate.
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Protesters urge more British action on Darfur crisis

In London, Survivors of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and the war in Bosnia joined a protest on Sunday calling for Britain to help stop violence in Darfur.

About 200 demonstrators held a rally near the gates of Downing Street, where Prime Minister Tony Blair lives. Some protesters unloaded a coffin symbolising the victims of unrest in Darfur from a hearse.

Full Report AP May 15, 2005.


Photo: Protesters and refugees from Darfur, Sudan lay in the street to symbolize the dead outside 10 Downing Street in central London, Monday May 2, 2005 (AP).
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Darfur Peace and Development Organization

Darfur Peace and Development's Board of Directors includes Dr. Eric Reeves of Smith College.
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Bill Gates donates

Bill Gates has kindly given Lutherans $539,000 for Sudan relief work, reports Religion Journal May 9, 2005.

U.N. WFP: Walk the World June 12 - Play free video game

Take the first step right now. Click here to feed one child for one day, then see the Walk the World events near you.

For every person who clicks above, TNT Global Express, Logistics & Mail will sponsor the cost of feeding one child for one day through the United Nations World Food Programme's Global School Feeding campaign.

Note, their blog says, as of 21:00 GMT today, 2345 children will be fed for a day through visitors clicking into the site.
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Fight Hunger: find a walk near you

"Fight Hunger: Walk the World" is a global annual event to raise the awareness and the funds needed to help end child hunger.

Last year, 40,000 people walked on 20 June in over 70 countries, and raised enough money to fund school meals for over 30,000 school children in developing countries.

Join the U.N. World Food Programme on Sunday June 12, 2005 as they 'walk the world' in 24 hours and across 24 time zones.

Visit www.fighthunger.org to find a walk near you - or start one.

Right now, there are 213 "Fight Hunger: Walk the World" events in 71 countries.

[If I were well enough, I'd participate. I used to be a rambler and have many fond memories of great walks along the south west coast of England. If anybody goes on a walk June 12, as a result of reading this post, please let me know and I will write about it here. It would make me feel like I'd virtually participated.]
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WFP launches "Food Force" - the first humanitarian video game

WFP unveils a children's video game with a difference - teaching kids how to get food fast to the site of a humanitarian crisis.



Rome, 4 May 2005 - Food Force, the free educational video game launched by WFP last month, continues to spark strong demand and positive feedback from both children and teachers alike.

The game, which aims to teach kids about the issue of global hunger, has already been downloaded 750,000 times, and players around the world have been posting their comments at www.food-force.com



Food Force video game using PC or Mac, is available as a free internet download from www.food-force.com

Tags: Darfur Sudan Chad Africa UN

U.N. WFP says 3.25m people in Darfur will now need food

The UN World Food Program says there has been a spate of attacks this month which is making it difficult to get food to people who need it.

Willing drivers are also becoming extremely difficult to find.

November estimates predicted that 2.8 million people would need to be fed in Darfur this wet season, but it appears that up to 3.25 million people will now need food, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, WFP's Country Director in Sudan, said in a statement on Thursday.



Photo: With vast distances to cover, severe transport constraints and large quantities of both food and non-food items that need to be delivered, airlifts and airdrops are effective, if expensive, ways to move aid quickly to those in need. (Photo by Julie Stewart courtesy WFP) See ENS news report.



Photo: At El Obeid, a WFP contract truck driver stands beside his load of donated food before heading for a delivery point in Darfur. (Photo by Julie Stewart courtesy WFP)
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Aid agency slams Darfur drivers' murders

Violence and lawlessness in Darfur is threatening to disrupt aid deliveries and deprive people of food, the U.N. World Food Programme said yesterday.

The warning came after two of its drivers were shot and killed and the drivers' assistant on one of the trucks was shot and wounded on Sunday.

The two drivers were killed in separate incidents while transporting food aid between Ed-Daen and Nyala in south Darfur before transportation is made difficult by rains.

They are believed to have been killed by "bandits".



Photo: WFP convoy of 21 trucks. WFP 6x6 all-terrain trucks stuck along the road from El Obeid in central Sudan to El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, last August 2004. (WFP)

"WFP strongly condemns these attacks and extends its condolences to the families of the victims. Such attacks only make drivers extremely reluctant to transport food aid in Darfur and are making it very difficult to deliver enough food before the rains," said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, WFP's Country Director in Sudan.
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Killings put Darfur aid at risk

BBC news report says pro-government militias are still burning villages in Darfur.



Photo: These containers are lined up in preparation for a water distribution. Because water is scarce in many camps, trucks haul it from other regions. In some camps refugees rely on the same contaminated water sources used by the local population.

Aid workers fear that conflicts may erupt over water. (Photo courtesy of Howard G. Buffet for World Vision - link via Tim with thanks)
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Darfur refugees clash with Chad security forces, one killed

Refugees from Darfur clashed with Chad's security forces, killing one gendarme, a UN official said Thursday.

Aid workers pulled out of the Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad because it became unsafe after the clashes Wednesday, said Ginette Le Breton of the U.N. refugee agency.

Two refugees, two aid workers and another gendarme were seriously injured in the clashes, she said.

The confrontation occurred a day after paramilitary gendarmes guarding the 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad tried to prevent refugees from selling plastic sheeting they were given by the U.N. refugee agency, she said.

The gendarmes on Tuesday arrested three refugees, prompting others to protest by burning down the community center in a nearby village, she said.

It was unclear why the gendarmes sought to prevent refugees from selling their plastic sheeting, Breton said.

"They sell the sheeting to get some extra money to buy a few things not provided by aid agencies," she said.

"We are talking with the leaders to see what we can do in order to calm down the situation, restart the work in the camp and resume the protection work for the refugees," Breton said.

At least 200,000 Sudanese live in awful conditions in eastern Chad after fleeing violent conflict in Darfur, the scene of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.



Photo: A soldier of the Chad National Army rests in a position in the wadi Tine, the empty bed of a seasonal river that marks the border between Tine Chad and Tine Sudan. (AFP Geneva May 12)
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World Vision Relief in Sudan and Chad



Photo: Some 120,000 refugees call camps like this home. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees supports these camps and partners with organisations like World Vision and the WFP to provide food, water, and shelter. These organisations, along with many others, are now working to extend aid to more of the Sudanese refugees as the rainy season sets in. (World Vision - link via Tim)
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GOAL in Sudan

In Darfur the Janjaweed have implemented a reign of terror over the past two years, murdering, raping and looting with impunity. Over 400,000 people have already been killed and millions have lost their homes and livelihoods. Many more - in danger from malnutrition and disease - languish in makeshift camps scattered across the inhospitable terrain, waiting in vain for the international community to come to their rescue.

As the people of Darfur have had their homes and communities systematically destroyed, there has been no planting of crops and as a result of this, starvation and famine are imminent.

GOAL is currently implementing a life saving primary health care programme and food and non -food distribution programme in the Kutum and Jebel Mara districts of Darfur, including supplementary feeding programmes, a water and sanitation programme, well construction, the provision of shelter and the distribution of seeds. At this crucial time, the people of Darfur desperately need our support.

Source: GOAL May 12, 2005 via ReliefWeb.



Photo: Refugee women gather to collect food. Over the next six months, World Vision will work with WFP to provide more than 3,000 tons of food to 26,000 refugees in Chad

On June 13, 2004 World Vision airlifted 49 tons of emergency relief supplies to Chad and delivered them to refugee camps. The airlift contained 5,000 plastic sheets, 8,000 water containers, 2,000 kitchen sets, and 300,000 water purification tablets. These supplies benefit up to 100,000 refugees. (World Vision - link via Tim)
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Medair responds to meningitis outbreak in West Darfur

Report by Ivor Morgan, Country Director of Medair, May 12, 2005:

The population of Abu Suruj, a once sleepy little village in a remote part of West Darfur, has swelled by nearly 50% to 5,000 people in recent months. People driven from their homes by the ongoing conflict have gathered in 'Kuma Camp' on the outskirts of the town.

Most of the displaced population live in temporary shelters made of straw -- inadequate to protect against either the harsh sun or the dust storms. The increased population means there is not enough drinking water to go around, and as a result many rely on dirty water collected from the wadi, a seasonal riverbed.

The Swiss-based humanitarian organisation Medair has been providing health-care for people in the area since 2001, and has been supporting the clinic in Abu Suruj since May 2004. In recent weeks, the clinic staff in Abu Suruj reported an alarming increase in cases of suspected meningitis and of 'acute jaundice syndrome', also known as hepatitis E. A Medair Outbreak Response Team was despatched to the area to investigate the situation.

Meningitis is a disease of the central nervous system, spread through droplet inhalation (for example, from coughing). Hepatitis E is an infection of the liver, spread through dirty drinking water. Both diseases are potentially fatal, particularly in the crowded, unsanitary living conditions in Abu Suruj. Fortunately, an effective vaccination against meningitis exists, and while hepatitis E cannot be treated, it can be prevented by using clean water and good hygiene practices.

Laboratory tests have recently confirmed 5 cases of meningitis in 1 week, exceeding the threshold for an outbreak, according to international guidelines. To limit the spread of this dangerous disease, Medair will be vaccinating 19,000 people during the coming week, within a 50 km radius of Abu Saruj.

"The next few days will be critical," said Sonja Nieuwenhuis, Medair's Senior Health Manager in West Darfur. "We have trained staff, and we will work closely together with the Ministry of Health, WHO and Unicef to vaccinate nearly 20,000 people. But we need to move fast, to stop this outbreak spreading further."

Medair's Emergency Water Team is seeking to improve hygiene and provide increased quantities of safe drinking water in Abu Suruj, by constructing an additional water storage system in the village. Medair will continue to train local hygiene promoters, who are essential in any outbreak response.

"We've kept water tanks, pipe and taps in store, for just such occasions as this," explains Wim Mauritz, Medair's Senior Water & Sanitation Manager. "We can set a system up in a couple of days, to provide water for 12,000 people."

Medair's response to this outbreak has been quick and comprehensive, and is expected to save many lives. Meningitis occurs in countries across the Sahelian belt of sub-Saharan Africa, most commonly between December and June. The last outbreak in Sudan, in 1999, reportedly killed over 2,000 people.

Medair is an international non-governmental organization (NGO), based in Switzerland. It has worked in Sudan since 1995, and is the longest-serving international NGO presently in West Darfur, having worked there since 2001. Medair's activities in Darfur are funded by a number of donors including the British and Swiss governments.

Elsewhere in Sudan, Medair works with war-displaced people in Khartoum; supports health-care rehabilitation in the Nuba Mountains; is preparing a post-conflict rehabilitation programme in Upper Nile; and provides emergency medical and water assistance in Southern Sudan.
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Photo: Refugees wait in line for food in Darfur (AFP) May 12, 2005.
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Britain welcomes Canada aid to Darfur, pledges more support

London, May 13, 2005 (AFP): Britain praised Canada's pledge of aid to boost African peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, saying London was also ready to offer further assistance.

"We warmly welcome the Canadian announcement of extra support for the African Union (AU) in Darfur. The crisis still remains a top priority for the British government," said joint a statement from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Development Secretary Hilary Benn.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said Thursday his country would give 136 million US dollars (107 million euros) over two years to Darfur, adding to 72 million US dollars Ottawa committed last month in support of a peace deal which ended the longer-lasting civil war in southern Sudan.

Canada also is to supply planes, helicopters and material for African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, as well as 100 of its own troops for both southern Sudan and Darfur.

Britain has given 14 million pounds (26 million dollars, 21 million euros) of assistance to the African Union mission observing a ceasefire between rebels and government-backed forces in the vast western region, and said it was preparing to give more this year.

Its total pledge for aid to Sudan and eastern Chad, which is dealing with the refugee exodus from neighboring Darfur, is 100 million pounds for 2005.

"The AU is preparing a list of further needs for the international community to support. We will respond positively to this," Straw and Benn said Friday.

As many as 300,000 may have died in the more than two years of violence in Darfur, which began when rebels rose up against the government in February 2003 and were put down with the help of pro-government militias.

More than two million people have been displaced, many into squalid and dangerous camps that are still targeted by the militias, known as Janjaweed.



Photo: Canadian Premier Minister Paul Martin (L) with his British counterpart Tony Blair in October 2004.
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Photo: Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin (R) and Senator Romeo Dallaire comment on the situation in the war-torn Sudan, in Ottawa, May 12, 2005. (Reuters)

Canada dismisses Sudanese protest over Darfur aid

Heh. Read between the lines of this [edited] Reuters report, May 13, 2005:

Canada said on Friday it would go ahead with plans to send military advisors to Darfur despite Khartoum's insistence that it did not want the troops to enter the country.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said Canada would send up to 100 military experts to help a African Union force in the region.

This angered Sudan, which said it would reject the deployment of non-African troops in Darfur and complained it had not been properly consulted about the Canadian plan.

Martin spokeswoman Melanie Gruer said Canada needed the approval of the African Union for the troops' deployment rather than that of Sudan.

"There is no change to the plan. We will send what we said we were going to send," she said.

"We consulted Khartoum as a courtesy. It's up to the African Union to get Sudan's approval."
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True to form, Khartoum had a swift response. Here's an excerpt from a later Reuters report May 13, 2005:

Sudan rejects Canada's offer of military advisors

Sudan has rejected a Canadian plan to send military advisors to Darfur, saying Ottawa had not consulted Khartoum on its plan, the Sudanese embassy said on Friday.

In a press release dated Thursday, the Sudanese embassy complained that Khartoum had not been consulted in advance about the plan.

"(We) would like to affirm that the unwavering position of the Sudanese government ... is categorically rejecting (sic) any deployment of non-African military personnel in the Darfur region. Any logistical and financial support is most welcomed," said the release, which was sent to Reuters on Friday.

"It is to be as well stated that any future efforts or plans on Darfur should be worked out and finalized with the satisfaction and full approval of the Sudanese government."

No one from Martin's office or the Canadian foreign ministry was immediately available for comment.
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AU, UN delegations in Sudan discuss bilateral cooperation

Saturday May 14th, 2005.

AFRICAN UNION-AFRICAN MISSION IN SUDAN

Press Release Khartoum - May 13, 2005.
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Sudan: A Nation Divided

Excellent archive at BBC News In Depth Sudan provides a great resource and overview of the Sudan crisis to date.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Chad Africa

Sudan's Darfur rebels to resume peace talks with Khartoum

Darfur rebel groups SLM and JEM announced on Friday in Rome they were willing to resume Darfur peace talks with the Khartoum government, dropping their previous conditions for new negotiations.

"We are committed to resuming the negotiations in Abuja (the Nigerian capital), under the aegis of the African Union, without preconditions," the SLM and JEM said in a joint press statement issued in Rome.

The two groups have held secret talks in Rome, Italy with the African Union at the Community of Sant'Egidio, founded in 1968, which has brokered a number of African peace treaties.

The Darfur rebels had already said they were prepared to resume talks after a meeting early in May with Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Community of Sant'Egidio is the U.N. of Trastevere

No date was set for new talks, but the rebel groups said they hoped the various parties would get together "in the coming days" at Sant'Egidio to try to strengthen the peace process.

The SLA and JEM announcement came just three days before the leaders of Egypt, Sudan, Chad and Nigeria are due to meet in Libya to discuss the Darfur crisis.

The Community of Sant'Egidio is a Roman Catholic movement of lay people who strive to broker peace around the world.

Nicknamed "the U.N. of Trastevere" for the Rome neighbourhood where it is based, Sant'Egidio scored its greatest diplomatic success in 1992 when it helped build a deal to end 16 years of civil war that killed 1 million people in Mozambique.



Photo: Peace-broker St. Egidio community spokesman Mario Marazziti, right, shakes hands with Ismael Omer a representative of one of the main Darfur rebel groups, the SLM at a joint press conference with the JEM, at the community HQ in Rome, Friday May 13, 2005.

Seated at the table are from left are the SLM's Ismael Omer, Abdolgabar Dosa, and chairman Abdolwahid Mohamed Ahmed. Marazziti announced the groups are 'available to resume peace talks as soon as possible and without any preconditions' in an effort to end the two-year Darfur conflict. (AP/Plinio Lepri)
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Darfur rebel groups sign "Tripoli Declaration" pledging cooperation

On Wednesday May 11, 2005 Darfur's two main rebel groups signed a declaration Wednesday pledging to adhere to a ceasefire and help facilitate the flow of humanitarian relief aid.

The "Tripoli Declaration" was part of a drive by Libya to mediate in the Darfur crisis.

"We announce in front of Colonel Gaddafi that we are completely committed to a ceasefire," Khalil Ibrahim, senior official of the JEM, said to a round of applause from a gathering of about 200 political, tribal and military personalities attended by the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi and Sudan's State Minister for Humanitarian affairs, Mohammed Youssef.

Representatives from the two groups said on Monday that they would resume negotiations with the government without preconditions.

The declaration said the local rulers would be neutral while dealing with issues arising from the crisis and a permanent mechanism would be established to facilitate contacts between the concerned parties and to ease the movement of the relief teams.

"On hearing this agreement, the world should respect the Sudanese people and realize that they need no international custody to solve their problems," Gaddafi said.



Photo: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is greeted by rebel, tribal and opposition Sudanese leaders from Darfur at his tent in Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday, May 11, 2005. (AP/Yousef Al-Ageli)
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Local leaders demand Darfur peace talks moved to Libya

The source of this report is the French news site Sudan Tribune. It is copied here for future reference. [Note, the Darfur summit and Darfur peace talks are two different conferences]

TRIPOLI, May 10, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) --Leaders of the local administration in Darfur have called for a change in the venue of the upcoming talks between the government and the Darfur rebels from Abuja to Tripoli under the direct supervision of the Libyan leader.

According to Al-Ray al-Amm newspaper, they also demanded a major role for the local administration in resolving the Darfur issue.

Lashing out at the Darfur rebels, the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Qadhafi, described the rebels' motives for taking up arms as "non-objective and dishonourable".

At a meeting with the local administration leaders and delegations of the two rebel movements, headed by the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Khalil Ibrahim, and a member of the political office of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), Osman Bashri, Al-Qadhafi said the war was not justifiable and the conflict in Darfur was "primitive and senseless", and could lead Sudan into an international trusteeship.

He further said such problems could be resolved through negotiations and dialogue and not through rebellion.

"Those who started the war in Darfur have no respect for rights and are irrational. If their target was the Sudanese government, they should have gone to Khartoum," he added.

He however noted that the rebel demands were objective and acceptable but this did not call for an armed rebellion. He said there were some quarters who had exploited the conflict in Darfur and strengthened it further.

Al-Qadhafi said Sudan People's Liberation Movement leader John Garang himself sought to exploit the Darfur conflict to weaken the position of the government at the Naivasha peace talks.

He stated that without the disarming of the pro-government Janjawid militias and the rebels, we could not be able to restore peace.



Photo: Libya's leader Col Gaddafi smokes a cigarette
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Darfur rebels ask Libya's Gaddafi to defend their interests at Darfur summit

A rebel delegation from Darfur asked Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi on Monday May 9, to defend their interests at an African mini-summit next week to which they have not been invited.

On Monday, May 9, Col Gaddafi received representatives of Darfur rebel groups SLA and the JEM at his tent in the Al-Azizia district of the capital, an AFP correspondent witnessed. AFP report excerpt:

The rebels asked the Libyan leader for financial support of seven million dollars and funds to compensate their ethnic minority supporters for the ravages of the Sudanese security forces and their Arab militia allies.

They also asked him to look after their interests in Sunday's mini-summit which will gather Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and his counterparts from Chad, Egypt and Nigeria alongside Kadhafi.

The press was excluded from the reception before Kadhafi responded to the rebel delegation.

Full report AFP May 9, 2005.



Photo: Libyan leader Col Gaddafi leads noon prayers with a Sudanese delegation from Darfur before their meeting in his traditional tent in Tripoli, Libya, Monday May 9, 2005.

The first flight taking food from Libya directly into Darfur in western Sudan took place Saturday as the U.N.'s food agency launched a campaign to reach nearly 2 million people during the rainy season. (AP/Yousef Al-Ageli)

Tags: Darfur Sudan Chad Africa