UNHCR uses White Nile ferry to start major return of Sudanese IDPs

Good news. The long awaited return to South Sudan has started. The UNHCR-assisted return operation to South Sudan has begun.

The first large group of internally displaced Sudanese that UNHCR has helped home stepped ashore in the riverside town of Bor last Sunday ending sixteen years in exile.

Full report February 6, 2006.



Photo: UNHCR starts the large-scale return of internally displaced Sudanese, using a ferry on the White Nile. (UNHCR/T.Pike)

Dinkas sang joyfully when they stepped ashore in Jonglei State

Darfur must not be allowed to go on for twenty years.

UNHCR report from Bor 7 Feb, 2006 excerpt:

After a journey along the White Nile, a double-decker ferry docked in the South Sudan town of Bor with 376 returnees, part of efforts by humanitarian agencies to help internally displaced South Sudanese return home after many years of displacement.

The group on the ferry was mainly composed of women, children and the aged, while returning men went by foot, escorting their half a million cattle from Western Equatoria back to Bor.

The passengers, all from the Dinka ethnic group, were singing joyfully when they stepped ashore in the riverside town in Jonglei State on Sunday and were met by jubilant relatives and friends. They had left Juba 14 hours earlier as 375 internally displaced persons (IDPs) but a baby girl was born during the trip.

"The moment you stepped off the ferry, you became citizens of Bor, you are IDPs no longer," said the acting governor of Jonglei State. "There is plenty of land waiting for you and you will be able to rebuild your communities and educate your children."

Photo: Hundreds of south Sudanese refugees were recently helped by UNHCR to go back to their country. Tens of thousands are due to follow. Many of them have lived outside their country for decades. For them 2006 will surely be a year of change.

Return to South Sudan

More than 21 years of civil war displaced four million people within the country and forced another 500,000 into neighbouring countries.

Millions will soon return home. UNHCR will help them return to their villages. Find out more on UNHCR special sub-site "South Sudan Operation" and don't miss their uplifting eyewitness account on short video clip entitled South Sudan: New Year, New Life.

To make sure refugee and returnee children get an education, UNHCR is building Yari Secondary school 10km South of Yei in southern Sudan.



Photo: "The South Sudanese really prize education," says Timothy Brown, a UNHCR education expert in Yei, with decades of experience in the field. "Their thought is always to go further, to get more education." (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)



Photo: Sudanese women learn tailoring. Refugees and returnees need to find work once they return home. Training people and helping them start a small business is a step in the right direction. (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)



Photo: In Yei, South Suden returnees take UNHCR-sponsored carpentry classes at the Vocational Training Centre. Courses at the centre include building, information technology, carpentry and tailoring.



Photo: Thousands of bullet holes riddle the facade of this school and remind returnees in Yei of their painful past. In South Sudan, UNHCR is funding projects that benefit entire communities, not just returning refugees. (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)



Photo: Clearing landmines to make way for trucks bringing refugees home is a top priority in South Sudan. (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)



Photo: Young Sudanese relax outside of their school before class starts. (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)



Photo: School children study English at school in Yei. (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)



Photo: Lucy Agnes (22) learns how to make bricks at a UNHCR-sponsored building course at the Vocational Training Centre, in Yei, South Sudan (UNHCR/M.Pearson (September 2005)



Photo: Sudanese teenagers play basketball during a break from their studies. (UNHCR/M.Pearson Sep 2005)

The Dinka's epic trek across South Sudan continues - 250,000 cattle have arrived so far in 34 cattle camps around Bor

You've got to love this story. It's about the fabulous Dinka heading home with up to 1.5 million cattle in an epic trek across South Sudan.

Authored by Helene Caux in Juba and Yei, South Sudan, it was first published on 8 December 2005.



Imagine the skill of the herdsmen and logistics involved in feeding, watering 1.5 million cattle.
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Dinka IDPs arrive at a transit facility in Juba earlier

Feb 7, 2006 IRIN report says some 376 IDPs from Sudan's Dinka ethnic group have returned to the southern town of Bor from the regional capital, Juba, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said. Excerpt:

The returnees, who arrived in Bor by ferry on Sunday, were part of about 4,800 IDPs who had been staying at UNHCR's Lologo way station near Juba, UNHCR spokesman Mans Nyberg said.

"Sixteen years ago, as the ravages of the civil war reached their home region, these Dinkas fled Bor and settled around Maridi in Western Equatoria State," he added.

12 ferry trips planned for the next two months

Nyberg said Sunday's movement was the first of 12 ferry trips planned for the next two months.

Southern Sudan was until recently engulfed in 21-year a war between the former rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army and the Khartoum-based government.

The war displaced about four million people and forced another 550,000 to flee to neighbouring countries.

"The signing of the peace agreement in January 2005 finally created the possibility for them to return to Bor," Nyberg said. "After the end of the rainy season in November last year, they started to return on foot."



The dinka's incredible journey is still going on

"With their half a million head of cattle they crossed the White Nile at Juba, and continued north along the east bank of the river," he added. "That trek is still going on; 250,000 cattle have arrived so far and are now in 34 cattle camps around Bor."

He said a second group of 4,600 Dinkas from Bor, displaced in December to Yei, would be assisted to return once all the IDPs from Juba were back. The Yei group fled inter-ethnic conflict in Western Equatoria, where they had been displaced until then.

UNHCR has established a way station at Bor where the UN World Food Programme, the UN Children's Fund and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International are providing returnees with food, medicine and medical care.

"The general situation in Bor remains difficult, with very little infrastructure and few services," Nyberg said. "Many villages in the surrounding countryside are hard to reach because of landmines in roads and fields."

"Despite these challenges, the only wish of the IDPs in Juba and Yei is to return home," he added. - via UNICEF

Array of amoral governments and rebel groups: Beijing is a key villain in Darfur's tragedy - Russia is also to blame

Land at any airport in Darfur and you see rows of Russian helicopter gunships, bristling with rockets and cannon, ready to raid villages in coordination with the Janjaweed, writes David Blair in the Daily Telegraph 8 February 2006.

David Blair recently visited Darfur where he witnessed the aftermath of a Janjaweed raid that displaced 55,000 people a fortnight ago. In today's article he says Darfur bleeds in the great scramble for Sudan's oil:

"Every village has been wrecked, burned or abandoned and every inch of the vast African plain is devoid of life. For mile after mile, there are no people. The huts they once inhabited are blackened shells. The fields they once worked are empty. There will be no harvest this year, just as there has been no harvest since the outbreak of war. Then, amid desolation and solitude, it becomes brutally obvious where the people are. Kalma refugee camp, with 96,000 inhabitants, teems with life. These are the survivors of the carnage, now reduced to living in shacks made of plastic sheets with "UNHCR" stamped on them.

There are 1.8 million refugees in Darfur and another 200,000 in neighbouring Chad. The unpalatable truth is that they have fallen victim to unscrupulous regimes around the world. During the Cold War, they would have been caught between the two superpowers. Today, China, Russia and a host of African countries are the authors of this tragedy - though primary responsibility must rest with Sudan's regime. ...

Beijing is a key villain in Darfur's tragedy. Russia is also to blame."

Set an example by facing moral responsibility

David Blair thinks what can be done about it is this:

"First, we must give more aid. Aid agencies are scaling down operations because donations are drying up. Secondly, we must send a fully fledged UN peacekeeping force, with a robust mandate and proper logistical support.

But these are only palliatives. We must also face our own moral responsibility. Every time the Janjaweed destroy a village, they shame Britain, America and every country that sat in the council chamber and voted for all those UN resolutions without any apparent intention of enforcing their grand phrases."

Cynical games keep the insurgency alive and fuels the war

Also note he says the Darfur rebels are just as bad as the Janjaweed:

"Amid all the justified outrage over the Janjaweed, Darfur's rebels have escaped much of the blame they deserve. They are just as brutal as the Arab militias. Wrecked villages, all destroyed by the rebels, litter parts of Darfur. The insurgents get their guns from Chad, Libya and Eritrea, which have long-standing grievances against Khartoum. They arm Darfur's rebels as a convenient means of retaliation. This cynical game keeps the insurgency alive and fuels the war.

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Anyone who helps China with energy is a friend

Note, I found this excerpt while looking for factoids showing how much China depends on Sudan for its oil requirements. David Blair quotes the dependency as being 7%. He may be right, I thought it had increased to 20%.

From the Washington Post July 13, 2005 Big Shift in China's Oil Policy by Peter S Goodman:

"No matter if it's rogue's oil or a friend's oil, we don't care," said an energy adviser to the central government who spoke on the condition he not be identified, citing the threat of government disciplinary action. "Human rights? We don't care. We care about oil. Whether Iran would have nuclear weapons or not is not our business. America cares, but Iran is not our neighbor. Anyone who helps China with energy is a friend."

The reason I have posted the excerpt is to say I believe Western companies should be doing business with countries like the Sudan as it may enable them to help locals and give them more leverage with the UN Security Council.

UN says Eritrea, Libya, Chad supply arms to Sudan's Darfur rebels and SPLM/A provided training and arms to SLM/A

Sudan Tribune article links to the full text of a UN report out today that says Eritrea, Libya, Chad supply arms and ammunition to rebel groups in Darfur and southern Sudan's SPLM/A rebel group provided training and supplied arms and ammunition to Darfur rebel group SLM/A.

The article says the report, authored by a UN Panel of experts monitoring arms embargo imposed by resolutions 1556 (2004) and 1591 (2005), points out that the SPLM/A seem to have stopped its official support when it appeared a peace agreement for southern Sudan would be finalised.

Also, regarding the Janjaweed militias the report says it is not possible to deny arms to these militias:

"Because the militias are already formally part of the Government security organs or incorporated into those organs, especially the Popular Defence Force (PDF), the border intelligence guard, the central reserve police, the popular police and the nomadic police."

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Eritrea denies UN charges over Darfur rebel support

AFP report via Sudan Tribune says Eritrean government on Wednesday February 8, 2006 angrily denied charges by a UN panel that it is providing weapons and military support to rebel groups in Darfur in violation of an arms embargo.

Information Minister Ali Abdu said the panel’s conclusion that Eritrea is helping the two Darfur rebel groups was false, accusing the UN of inept ineffectiveness and UN chief Kofi Annan of being corrupt.

"The report is totally groundless," he told AFP. "Instead of pointing futile fingers at others, the UN should question itself, its role in keeping peace and stability in different regions.

[Heh. "Pointing futile fingers". Interesting turn of phrase.]
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Joint border patrols? Sudan and Chad to discuss tension

This should be interesting, especially considering the timing of the above UN report. Today, the BBC says leaders of Chad and Sudan are due to meet in Libya at a regional mini-summit to try to defuse rising tensions between them

"The presidents of the two countries will meet to try to find a way to end the escalating crisis, under the brotherly gaze of Colonel Gaddafi, says the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Khartoum.

"We are meeting... to go beyond the tension between Chad and Sudan and reach practical solutions to overcome the negative issues between the two countries," Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said.

One proposal on the table is thought to be joint border patrols, including forces from the Central African Republic."

[Heh. "Brotherly gaze". Jonah Fisher has a dry sense of humour]

UK White Nile to prospect oil in South Sudan's Block B

Questions over the ownership of oil-rich Ba area of Southern Sudan was put to rest last week when Paul Mayom Akech, legal adviser of the government of Southern Sudan, officially launched oil explorations jointly with British oil and gas exploration company White Nile Ltd in Padak in Jonglei State.

Full report by Philip Ngunjiri, The East African February 7, 2006 via AllAfrica.

Note, Sudan Watch entry April 3, 2005 "Oil found in South Darfur" contains copy of report "Oil issues threaten to derail Sudan hopes for peace." [See below news reports of violence in South Darfur]
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Fighting in Jonglei, South Sudan

Sudanese presidency asks SPLA to explain Jonglei fighting - Khartoum has demanded an explanation from the SPLM re incidents it said occurred in the Jonglei area in South Sudan at the end of last week. - Sudan Tribune Feb 7.
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Further reading on South Darfur, Western Sudan:

Feb 7, 2006 Controlled anarchy at Kalma camp in South Darfur

Feb 4, 2006 South Darfur: Mershing's entire population of 55,000 fled to Menawashi after raids by Janjaweed

Feb 3, 2006 AU says SLA attacks in Shearia and Golo provoked Sudanese forces and prompted reprisal attacks by Janjaweed

Feb 1, 2006 South Darfur: Janjaweed attack IDP camps Kele, Silo, Tege, Um Gozein, Ton Kittir - Mass exodus from Mershing - Joint Sudan/AU forces to patrol?

Jan 29, 2006 Major escalation of violence in Jebel Marra Darfur forces aid agencies to evacuate - UN condemns attack by SLA on Golo

Jan 19. 2006 Firewood patrols for IDPs at Kalma Camp, South Darfur

May 15, 2004 Khartoum wants control over Darfur. The reason is simple: a possible oil pipeline through Darfur. See essay by Dr R.S. O'Fahey, professor of African history at University of Bergen, Norway, and African studies program at Northwestern University" W. Sudan: a complex ethnic reality with a long history

Controlled anarchy at Kalma camp in South Darfur, Sudan

35 year old Andrew Heavens (pictured below) is a journalist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Meskel Square is his weblog about Ethiopia.

Here are some photos Andrew took during a three-day press trip to El-Fashir in Northern Darfur and Nyala in Southern Darfur with the African Union.

Text is from report by Refugees International Feb 6, 2006 about women in Kalma camp, Darfur by Advocates Sally Chin and Sarah Martin who visited Darfur in December.



Photo: Andrew Heavens (right) with media on African Union helicopter from El-Fashir to Nyala in Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)

"Controlled anarchy" is how one humanitarian worker described Kalma camp, in South Darfur. Located 17 kilometers outside of Nyala, Kalma camp is also one of Darfur's largest, with nearly 90,000 inhabitants.

Most have lived there for nearly two years, fleeing the fighting between rebel groups and government-sponsored Janjaweed militias.



Photo: African Union soldier at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)

There is no Sudanese government presence or police in Kalma camp. After the government police attempted to arrest of one of the sheikhs, the angry population chased the police and the government camp managers out, burning down their offices. So the police are now stationed a few kilometers outside the entrance to the camp.



Photo: African Union soldier from Nigeria at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)



In retaliation for being thrown out of the camp, the Sudanese government has cracked down hard on Kalma, blocking all commercial trade to the camp for months.

Recently, the African Union set up a police station inside the camp, bringing some modicum of security. AU civilian police, however, have only a couple of vehicles and one translator at each camp, making routine patrolling difficult.



Photo: African Union soldier controlling crowd at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)

In addition to the commercial blockade which has depleted the market in the camp, the World Food Program didn't distribute food for months due to an internal dispute over registration. The displaced at Kalma camp depend almost exclusively on international assistance for their subsistence. They are far from their planting fields, their main source of livelihood before the conflict.



Photo: African Union soldiers at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)

The women from Kalma venture out of the camps to gather firewood, both for their own use and to sell. They also collect the long grass that grows in the desert to feed their donkeys and to braid mats and rugs. Outside the camps they are at risk of attack from bandits and other armed groups. Rape is common. They also come into conflict with nomads who also depend on the same grass for their cattle and other animals.



Photo: Crowd at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)

At other camps around Nyala, the African Union had set up a regular system of firewood patrols. They hadn't done so yet at Kalma, because of the lack of presence of government of Sudan police. "Since Ramadan," Khadija told RI, "I have only seen the African Union once. He spoke to us and told us to finish up our gathering and go back."



Photo: African Union soldier at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)



Photo: African Union soldier at Kalma camp for internally displaced people near Nyala, southern Darfur, Sudan. The placard reads: "We need international forces to protect us." (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)



Photo: View of desert outside El-Fashir, northern Darfur, Sudan from African Union helicopter (Courtesy Andrew Heavens)

Sudan reiterates opposition to UN peacekeepers for Darfur

Sudanese officials have portrayed plans for UN involvement as part of a Western plot to weaken Sudan, reports Associated Press Feb 7, 2006:

"There are some invisible hands that continue to manipulate the question of Darfur for tearing up the unity of Sudan in preparation for controlling and looting its resources," President Omar al-Bashir was quoted by the Sudan Media Center as saying on Tuesday. The agency said the president made the remarks at the opening of a regional medical meeting in his capital.

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US Will Move "Fast" And "Far" On Darfur

See US Department of State report February 6, 2006 entitled Sudan: U.S. envoy Bolton says US will move "fast" and "far" on Darfur - via ReliefWeb.
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Two UNHCR officials briefly abducted in Chad

Reuters Feb 7 says two UNHCR officials were briefly abducted in Chad by gunmen and driven towards Darfur, but were freed when their vehicle got a puncture, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.

One of the world's most wanted men: Ugandan LRA terrorist group chief Joseph Kony flees Southern Sudan into DR Congo - UN calls NGOs into Kony hunt

On October 3, 2005 the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrrest warrant for Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA. Ugandan LRA leaders have been named by the ICC as the world's most wanted men.

Today, UN Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) reports that Kony has fled his hideout in southern Sudan and crossed the White Nile heading to the DR Congo.

Associated Press report says Kony crossed into lawless northeastern Congo on Sunday afternoon - and may be heading to Central Africa - and that he passed through Congo's Garamba National Park.

Also today 6 Febuary 2006, All Africa says the UN Security Council is soliciting NGOs working in northern Uganda to help in the hunt for Kony.



Photo: Joseph Kony, leader of LRA. The US government sees LRA a terrorist group. Click on image for report on LRA attack on a civilian truck at Teretenye village near Ikotos in southern Sudan, an indication that the rebels want to destabilise the peace in southern Sudan. The LRA use child soldiers and have caused unbelievable misery for millions of people in Northern Uganda, DR Congo and Southern Sudan. Read 6 Feb 2006 Shocking Ordeal of Child Soldiers.

Note, the US government views the LRA as a terrorist organisation.

For information on the LRA glance through archived posts at Uganda Watch and Congo Watch, some listed here below.



Photo: Gulu victim. The LRA use torture to instil fear. Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has become synonymous with torture, abductions and killings. Click into image for further details. (BBC Sudan Watch archive)

Further reading:

July 31, 2005 Garang warns Kony

Sep 24, 2005 Ugandan LRA rebel chief 'in DR Congo'

Sep 24, 2005 Who are the LRA? Q&A: Uganda's northern rebellion

Oct 2, 2005 Uganda's LRA attempting to close road between Juba and Yei?

Oct 3, 2005 ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Joseph Kony

Oct 4, 2005 UN mission in DR Congo has said it intends to use all means necessary to drive out the LRA

Oct 4, 2005 UN airlifts Congo troops to deal with Uganda's LRA rebels

Oct 8, 2005 Uganda rebel leaders named by ICC as world's most wanted men

Jan 16, 2006 by David Blair: Joseph Kony: A monster at large

Jan 29, 2006 UN urged by Uganda to rout out LRA from Sudan, DRC

More on Joseph Kony's LRA in archives at Uganda Watch and Congo Watch (see sidebar here).

LRA murdered UN peacekeepers in E Congo



Photo: Workers in Uganda offload caskets holding bodies of eight Guatemalan UN peacekeepers murdered in East Congo by Vincent Otti's group on January 23, 2006. Otti is Kony's deputy.

Daily Telegraph's Africa Correspondent David Blair witnesses and blogs the silent terror of Darfur's refugees

David Blair, Africa Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, has just returned from his third trip to Darfur. He is based in Johannesburg and first visited Darfur in August 2004. In his blog entry February 3, 2006 he says of Darfur:

"In practice, of course, the war will not end. In fact, it has recently intensified with the rebels fracturing along tribal lines and the pro-regime Janjaweed militia going on the march again. This bears all the hallmarks of a mess that will take decades to solve.

Remember that round one of the civil war in Southern Sudan lasted for 17 years and round two lasted 21 years. I hope to be proven wrong, but unless things change drastically, my hunch is that Darfur's agony will be just as protracted."

Sudan Watch has same hunch, the war could go on for years. Too many bandits benefiting from fighting, none are gainfully employed. More will join in the fray, like bees to a honeypot while millions of defenceless Sudanese women and children continue to suffer.



David Blair (pictured above) in his report on Darfur in the Telegraph 6 February 2006, notes Darfur's nomadic Arab tribes are fighting over scarce water and pasture because the war restricts the area over which they can roam with their flocks.



Photo: Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, leader of a rival faction of Darfur rebel group SLA at Darfur peace talks in Abuja 4 February 2006. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde/Yahoo)

What is more important to the Darfur rebels, oil or water? Fighting for a share in Sudan's wealth gets them uniforms, guns, satellite phones, jet setting lifestyles and shiny new Western style ties and suits.

Surely there is more to this war than meets the eye. Who is funding them? Why are rebel bases in Europe? After nearly two years of blogging Darfur, I still say we do not know half of what is really going on.
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Repeated violences cast doubts on Darfur peace talks - AU mediator

At the Darfur peace currently going on in Abuja, the AU and UN urged warring parties from Darfur to stop the conflict spreading into neighbouring Chad, which has 200,000 Darfur refugees on its territory.



Photo: Jan Pronk, top UN envoy in Sudan at Darfur peace talks in Abuja 4 February 2006. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde/Yahoo)

Feb 6, 2006 Darfur rebels accuse Sudan of destabilising Chad with incursions - "Destabilization of Darfur means destabilization of Chad," said Izzedin Abdul, co-founder of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) office in Khartoum. "The next step is for the UN to send troops to Darfur. Otherwise people will die," he added. [Dafur rebels have always insisted on UN troops in Darfur]

US urges NATO to help in Darfur - Russia offers 200 peacekeepers and helicopter strike force as part of UN's Darfur mission

The Scotsman 6 February 2006 says the US yesterday urged NATO to play a bigger role in helping peacekeeping efforts in Darfur amid reports of daily cross-border raids by Janjaweed into neighbouring Chad. Excerpt:

Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, said NATO could offer more logistics, intelligence and planning assistance to the 7,000-strong African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, including the deployment of a small number of experts on the ground.

Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defence minister, said his country was willing to send 200 peacekeepers and a helicopter strike force to Darfur as part of a UN mission, which could take a year to deploy.

AU troops rely on donor nations - UN troops with guaranteed budget would support AU troops already in Darfur

Reuters says Sudan softens resistance to UN peacekeepers in Darfur.

The report says Sudanese minister al-Samani al-Wasiylah voiced suspicions a UN force would do more than just monitor a ceasefire agreement and said a UN force would cost four to five times as much as the AU needed to continue its work. "If they can make this (cash) available why can they not make this available now for the African Union to continue?" he told reporters in Khartoum.

He said the fact the international community was willing to fund a UN rather than AU force raised questions of whether there were "other intentions" behind it. Sending a new mission to Darfur to try and understand the complex tribal divisions and factionalism among the rebel groups would also worsen the security situation, he added.

Note, the report explains that U.N. peacekeeping missions are paid for from the guaranteed budget of the world body whereas the AU relies on donor nations; UN sources have said any takeover would take the form of an integrated force with additional UN troops being sent to support those AU troops already on the ground.

Sudan has probably "softened" its resistance to these extra troops because it will probably take until next year to become a reality. Meanwhile, life goes on as usual. Tribes fighting and killing and getting away with murder. Savagery continues. Anarchy reins.

AU envoy warns of global scepticism over Darfur peace talks

German news report quotes the African Union's special envoy to the peace talks in Darfur on Sunday as saying the international community was growing increasingly sceptical about the peace process:

"The international community is drawing the conclusion that Darfur is lawless and the parties are not serious about making peace.

Even worse, there is an imagined perception in the world that neither the government nor the rebel groups sufficiently care for their people.

We must have an immediate cessation of hostilities".

Photo: Salim Ahmed Salim
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Darfur: It's not about religion or race. It's about greed

Op-ed on Darfur by Jane Stillwater. Excerpt:

Why is one faction butchering the other?

Greed. Resources. Land. To create chaos. Wherever there is chaos and lawlessness, those with the most guns win. So, race and religion have nothing to do with it apparently. It's all about who has the most weapons. And who can get into the country to acquire the resources of the ignorant, underdeveloped and poor.

It's the same old story -- governments that prey on their people. The powerful few get it all. ... It's a time-tested formula -- create chaos and then take over. Seize the resources. Buy off the army.

Libya to host mini-sumit on Sudan-Chad crisis

Libya to host mini-summit. This time it is about the on Sudan-Chad crisis. One day, Colonel Gaddafi's efforts might lead to a break through. Diplomats are sceptical but he has worked hard to help broker peace for Darfur and has been helpful in opening up new routes into Darfur for aid trucks and air routes for UN WFP to increase food flow to Darfur.

Further reading:

Oct 29, 2004 Summit in Tripoli closed with emphasis on getting aid to the refugees - Sudan hints at Darfur power share - JEM says Libya can play a very vital role

April 3, 2005 Libyan leader Gadhafi receives John Garang's delegation

May 11, 2005 Janjaweed still attacking inside Chad - Libya opens route for UN aid to Darfur

Sep 27, 2005 Darfur Sudan: Mini Mubarak and Gadhafi summit in Cairo

Sep 29, 2005 Chadian president in Libya to meet Gaddafi

Dec 30, 2005 African leaders to meet in Libya Jan 4 on Darfur

Jan 19, 2006 Libya proposes to deploy AU soldiers on Chad-Sudan border.

Jonglei, S Sudan: 7 killed in conflict over water and cattle

Today, Reuters says the UN claims there have been clashes between SSDF and SPLM but the SSDF denies involvement, claiming it was just tribal conflict over water and cattle. Full report.

TEXT- Rebecca De Mabior Briefing in Washington on peace implementation

The late John Garang's wife, Madam Rebecca accompanied by Cdr. Pagan Amum and some delegation from GoSS government arrived to Washington DC on Tuesday 31 January, 2006.

Note TEXT of Rebecca De Mabior Briefing in Washington on peace implementation.

Peacekeeping waterpumps - East Africa a front in war on terrorism

Here's an idea: everyone in the Sudan should hand in their guns in exchange for waterpumps. In return, everyone in the West, who wants to see peace in the Sudan, would happily donate to pay for the pumps, installation and upkeep. Think about it: waterpumps could be the peacekeepers that are needed to stop tribes fighting over water holes, grazing rights, livestock and the farming of arable land.

East Africa a front in war on terrorism

Today, 5 February 2006, the Seattle Times publishes a report authored by Shashank Bengali of Knight Ridder Newspapers.

The report, first published by the Philadelphia Inquirer, was featured here at Sudan Watch on 30 January 2006, thanks to Captain Marlow.

It is about waterpumps and the war on terrorism that most Americans (and the rest of us) haven't heard of. It is a must-read.



Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Adam Reed, from Sidon, Miss., Jan. 17 with Somali farmers in Sankabar, Ethiopia, to check on the water pumps the U.S. military helped install in their fields. (Photo by EVELYN HOCKSTEIN courtesy Knight Ridder Newspapers) via Seattle Times, where you can click into a larger image.

Further reading

Jan 26, 2006 In Darfur, handpumps are on the frontline of peacebuilding

Jan 26, 2006 The children of Sudan are its future - Save the Children

Jan 30. 2006: The war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about

Janjaweed from Darfur 'targeting Chad' almost daily - HRW

Pro-government Janjaweed militiamen based in Darfur are carrying out almost daily cross-border raids on villages in neighbouring Chad, says Human Rights Watch.

HRW researchers said they had documented numerous attacks on villages just inside Chad by militias who had crossed over the border from Sudan. They said the militias killed civilians, burned villages and stole cattle.

Further excerpts from BBC report 5 February 2006:

The human rights agency's report found nearly half of the 85 villages in the Barotta region just inside Chad had been attacked and subsequently abandoned, with 16 villagers killed in a single month.

HRW said they were told by witnesses that those responsible were ethnic Arabs who wore Sudanese army clothing and spoke Sudanese Arabic.

Some attacks have also been carried out by Chadian rebels who operate from bases inside Darfur.

The report said most of the victims in Chad, as in Darfur, came from African ethnic groups and that the Arab civilians living in the same area were not harmed.

Human Rights Watch said tens of thousands of people in Chad had been internally displaced by the violence.

"Sudan's policy of arming militias and letting them loose is spilling over the border and civilians have no protection from their attacks, in Darfur or in Chad," said HRW's Africa director, Peter Takirambudde.

UK offers Sudan gov't 7-Point "Plan for Peace" in Sudan

Today, Asharq Alawsat.com reports one of the points in the British proposal 'Seven Steps for Peace in Sudan' is the Sudanese Government's compliance with the clauses of the peace agreement - and others are: disarmament of the Janjaweed forces, building of personal relations with the rebels' leaders, and the willingness to deploy UN forces in the country without the Sudanese Government imposing any conditions on them.

See Sudan Watch Feb 3: UK sets list of priority actions on Darfur for new Sudanese Government of National Unity.

UN urges Darfur enemies not to export conflict - Khartoum's exporting Janjaweed?

Many of the Sudanese rebels are convinced that Khartoum is backing Chadian rebels to oust Deby, despite the government's repeated denials.

Some delegates in Abuja accuse Khartoum of exporting the Janjaweed militias that have fought in Darfur into Chadian territory.

Senegalese peacekeeper shot in east Chad -minister

A Senegalese soldier from the African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur has been seriously injured in eastern Chad after being shot by a Chadian soldier, Chad's foreign minister said on Saturday.

South Darfur: Mershing's entire population of 55,000 fled to Menawashi after raids by Janjaweed

On Aug 31, 2004 Sudan Watch noted the UN's quiet diplomacy not working on Sudan - not one Janjaweed camp has been closed.

Here we are in February 2006, still filing reports of Janjaweed attacks affecting tens of thousands of Darfuris, mostly defenceless women and children.

Yesterday, exhausted internally displaced Darfuris were building ramshackle shelters in a dry river bed after 55,000 fled a raid mounted by Janjaweed gunmen reports David Blair, Telegraph correspondent in Menawashi, South Darfur 4 Feb 2006. Excerpts:

The flight took place as President Omar al-Bashir was assuring 53 African leaders gathered for a summit in Khartoum of his desire for peace in Darfur.

Evidence suggests that Sudan's security forces colluded with the Arab raiders.

The first assault took place around noon. Abdul Majid Hassan, 28, was herding cattle with his brother, Tibin, 30, when five Arab gunmen approached on horseback.



Photo: The Janjaweed

"They said, 'Give us your cattle,' " Mr Hassan said. "I told Tibin, 'Give them our cattle to save our lives.' But my brother refused. The Janjaweed raised their guns and I ran."

As he fled, Mr Hassan heard a burst of automatic gunfire. He turned to see that his brother had been shot.

"I went back and found him lying on the ground. There was a bullet in his back. He said, 'I know I am dying. I ask one thing, please take care of my family.' "



Photo: Arab militiamen, known as Janjaweed, said to be responsible for much of the ethnic cleansing and herd raiding in Darfur, check on their cattle. (Photo by Ron Haviv/Courtesy UNICEF. Sudan Watch archive 3 Oct 2005)

About 400 Janjaweed gunmen raided a refugee camp in Mershing, riding among the shelters, beating up or firing on anyone who crossed their path. They returned about eight hours later, attacking the town and looting the market.

Mershing's entire population of 55,000 fled the next morning to Menawashi, 10 miles away. Panic-stricken refugees stampeded, trampling to death about 13 infants. Another 220 children disappeared during the flight.

The surviving members of Tibin Hassan's family had been forced to flee once before when the Janjaweed destroyed their home village in 2004.

Keltoum Adam Ibrahim, 25, was also fleeing with her five terrified children for the second time. "I went to Mershing because I thought the government is there, the police are there, they will protect us," she said. "Now I don't trust them. I saw the police sitting and eating with the Janjaweed before they attacked us."

All the refugees in Menawashi are black Africans, and the Arab-dominated regime views them with deep suspicion.

Evidence suggests that the Janjaweed were unleashed to clear the black Africans from a strategically vital road. Paramilitary police were seen talking to Arab gunmen.



Further reading:

Jan 26, 2005 Terrible things are happening today in Darfur - renewed fighting last week uprooted more than 9,000. 8,000 fled to nearby Menawashi and 1,250 to Mershing, both in South Darfur state.

May 3, 2005 ABC's Interview with Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal in Sudan

May 8, 2005 Janjaweed leader preaches peace in Darfur - Some Darfur tribes agree local settlement



Photo: Musa Hilal - Arab tribal leader and 'leader' of the Janjaweed

Jan 24, 2006 Sudan's SLA rebels launch attack in Golo, West Darfur

Jan 25, 2006 Splintering of rebel groups? Nur's forces captured aid workers? UN helicopter crashes near Golo, West Darfur

Feb 1, 2006: South Darfur: Janjaweed attack IDP camps Kele, Silo, Tege, Um Gozein, Ton Kittir - Mass exodus from Mershing - Joint Sudan/AU forces to patrol?

Feb 1, 2006 Southern Sudan's SPLM/A and SSDF provoke attacks on Yuai, Central Upper Nile

Feb 1, 2006 6,100,000 IDPs in the Sudan - 770,000 fled elsewhere

Feb 2, 2006 AU says no evidence Sudan backing Chadian rebels

Feb 3, 2006 New Janjaweed attacks force more Darfuris into Chad camps

Feb 3, 2006: AU says SLA attacks in Shearia and Golo provoked Sudanese forces and prompted reprisal attacks by Janjaweed



Photo: Chad's camel guards patrol on the Sudan-Chad border in Abulu Kore (Darfur), Eastern Chad, in 2004. (AFP/Thomas Coex/Yahoo - Sudan Watch archive 28 Sep 2005)

Muslim anger spreads round the world - and it is not about Muslims and children perishing in Darfur, Sudan

The Financial Times today says Muslim anger is spreading round the world.

Hey, guess what, they are not outraged at fellow Muslims and children perishing and suffering atrocities in Darfur - they are angry over some cartoons!

As Margaret Thatcher once said, "It's a funny old world".

Today, the BBC says Annan urges calm in cartoon row - the Danish paper's editor told the BBC his intention was to show Muslims they were not exempt from satire.

More on this Muslim outrage at Captain Marlow's in Europe where Marlow links to a post encouraging us to buy Danish as "Muslim countries have chosen to pressure liberal little Denmark in order to teach the media and governments, which stand by them, a lesson which does not bode well for free speech or satire."

UK journalist Melanie Phillips, in Cartoon jihad, says "It is worth reminding ourselves at this juncture what the issue was about from the start of the affair. Gratuitous offensiveness towards Islam or any other religion is not to be approved of. But not only is censorship of such offensiveness another matter, and violence and intimidation arising from it another matter still, this was not in any event gratuitous offence."

Feb 3 ComingAnarchy post authored by Chirol, an American studying in Germany, says We Are All Danes Now and notes that, "The Tension has some rather disturbing images of Muslim protesters with signs reading "Europe learn from 9/11," "Massacre those who insult Islam" and more. You have to see it to believe it. The longer this goes on, the more pessimistic I become about the Middle East's ability to fix its failing culture."

Thomas at Contango in Norway writes An elaboration and some questions saying it is likely the row will continue to escalate, possibly with violent acts to follow and, "Let there be no doubt that the paper obviously is in its right to publish these drawings. There cannot be limits to freedom of speech."

Marcus at UK blog Harry's Place writes Two Minute Hate saying "this Danish cartoon business is rapidly turning into mainland Europe's version of the Satanic Verses affair - the wave of protest was triggered by Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, head of the International Association of Muslim Scholars, who last night called on Muslims all over the world to observe "an international day of anger for God and his prophet"."

UK journalist Stephen Pollard says Danish humour may be no laughing matter, but it must be defended - "They [the cartoons] are certainly offensive to a large number of Muslims, as this week's turmoil shows. But so what? Rather more offensive, one might think, than some mocking cartoons is some Muslims' desire to murder me as a Jew."

And, he goes on to say, "Europe is not part of the Caliphate, whatever some Muslims wish. One of the defining qualities of Western civilisation is that, while religions of all kinds are tolerated, their beliefs and practices must be subject to secular laws. The idea that any religion should be above those laws is anathema to Western civilisation."

This blog author agrees with Stephen when he says Denmark's reputation has not been tarnished but enhanced and that all the Danes can and should do now is carry on standing up for the basic Western value of free speech, and hope that other nations do the same.

Helmut, a professor of philosophy, public policy, and international affairs, who blogs out of Washington DC at Phronesisaical, says it's a cartoon world and he is letting the irony of the photos do the talking for him. Heh.

Through The Looking Glass: The Danish Cartoons - Does one have the right to make fun of religion? Where is the line between freedom of speech and censorship? And what are the appropriate responses? asks Sheila Musaji, February 4, 2006 at almuslim.com.



Photo: A child joins demonstrators in Belgrave Square, London. via Telegraph UK 5 Feb 2006: Muslim protests are incitement to murder, say Tories [via Captain Marlow]

Feb 4, 2006: English Lord of the blog says Cartoons should not have been published because present situation is too volatile - it is time for us here in Britain to say we are proud of our multi cultural society and our history of a free and fair society and we are going to keep it that way.

Feb 4, 2006 Normblog Prophet and loss: "The front page of the Guardian today reports a remark from the foreign secretary that would be worrying if he'd said it: "Jack Straw... denounced the decision to republish the cartoons, saying press freedom carried an obligation not "to be gratuitously inflammatory"." But this seems to be the result of sloppy editing. What Straw acually said, according to the report here, was: "There is freedom of speech, we all respect that, but there is not any obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory."

Feb 6, 2006 American Atheists at NoGodBlog received 70 comments at Apology withdrawn: "I earlier said "sorry for the cartoon", referring to the Moslem ordeal (there are sooo many), but I then read this article, and I'm retracting that sentiment. Nobody who demands the death of a human just because of what he writes, says, or believes is deserving of any respect at all.

See "Freedom go to hell" and "Europe take some lessons from 9/11" photos at The Artyom Reader.

See more photos just in from London at Michelle Malkin's: "Be prepared for the REAL holocaust!" "Europe you will pay. Your 9/11 is on its way!!" "Behead those who insult Islam" "Slay those who insult Islam" "Butcher those who mock Islam" "Exterminate those who slander Islam" "Massacre those who insult Islam" "Annihilate those who insult Islam" (Hat tip: UK blogger John Holroyd of Towards a Free World Cartoon Debate - The case for mocking religion "We cannot possibly adjust enough to please the fanatics, and it is degrading to make the attempt.")

The Common Room blog has a round up news and views of Islam in the Cartoons.

AU says SLA attacks in Shearia and Golo provoked Sudanese forces and prompted reprisal attacks by Janjaweed

The African Union says Janjaweed still continue to burn, kill and rape on an ever escalating scale in Darfur. Note this excerpt:

Baba Gana Kingibe, head of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) noted that Sudanese government troops had showed restraint, even in situations where they were clearly provoked, citing recent attacks by the SLA in Shearia, South Darfur on 16 January and Golo West Darfur on 23 January, 2006.

Both attacks in the mountainous Jebel Marra region in central Darfur resulted in high casualties and further displacement of people, he said, and prompted reprisal attacks by the Janjawid militia.

"These reprisal attacks, in fact, took further toll of human life, most of whom were innocent, unarmed villagers," he added.

Photo: Baba Gana Kingibe, head of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Courtesy IRIN.

Note, excerpt from Eric Reeves' latest analysis 4 Feb 2006:

"This replicates the basic pattern of genocidal behavior that has been in evidence for almost three years: rather than attack the rebel forces directly, Khartoum and its Janjaweed proxies have attacked defenseless civilians. By destroying what it deems the civilian base of support for the insurgency movement -- children, women, and men defined simply in terms of their ethnicity -- Khartoum hopes to crush the will and ability of the rebels."

Further reading:

Oct 3, 2005 Sudan admits using helicopter gunships in attack on Shearia South Darfur.

New Janjaweed attacks force more Darfuris into Chad camps

Gaga camp in eastern Chad has received some 1,000 new refugees since the start of the year, says camp manager Milaiti Ruben of the aid agency Africare. And he expects no let-up. "The stream will continue because insecurity reigns along the border," he told IRIN. "And the simplest way for people to protect themselves is to flee."

Gaga is the newest of 12 refugee camps scattered up and down eastern Chad, and for the moment space is not a problem. "We're at about 7,000 people now," said Ruben. "But we have the capacity to house 30,000."

Raids and attacks along the Sudan-Chad border are not only creating new cases for the clinic, but they are also hampering the assistance aid workers can offer.

"Before, we used to send the severe cases of malnutrition to the hospital in Adre, but the insecurity has made it impossible to take them there now," Degoto explained, as hungry infants mewled in the background.

"At the camp we monitor them every hour, but when we leave for the night they're on their own until the morning."



Photo: Sudanese refugees wait to be registered at Gaga camp in eastern Chad. For many of the new arrivals, it is the second or third time they have been forced to flee. There are others who sought shelter in villages just inside Chad but soon found that the Kalashnikov-wielding Sudanese militia paid no heed to international boundaries, staging raids across the border on horses and camels. (Courtesy IRIN)



Photo: Ask Kaltouma Yaya Ato why three years into the Darfur conflict, she has only just decided to seek refuge in Chad, and the 80-year old says not a word. She simply rolls up the folds of her skirt to reveal traces of the Janjawid. Her left leg has swollen to twice its normal size - the result of a beating the Arab militiamen inflicted on the frail old woman using wooden clubs. Her crime? To be out looking for firewood at the wrong time. Her punishment? One month later, she cannot even stand, let alone walk. "They show no pity to anyone," she whispered. (Courtesy Claire Soares/IRIN)

UK sets list of priority actions on Darfur for new Sudanese Government of National Unity

News from the Press Association Feb 3 via the Scotsman says following talks in London with his counterpart from Khartoum, Dr Lam Akol, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw demanded action from the Sudanese government to help end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. See full report.

Update 5 Feb 2006:

Britain Rejects Darfur Rebels' Intransigence

According to ANDnetwork, Mr Straw announced during the meeting he held with Lam Akol in London that Britain opposes Darfur rebels' attitude in Abuja peaceful talks.

Note, the journalist cites Sudan Vision as his source, saying Mr Straw described the rebels as 'not serious to realise peace'.

See full article at ANDnetwork Journal 5 February 2006.
- - -

Britain presents seven points initiative for peace in Sudan’s Dafur

France based Sudan Tribune publishes an unsourced report 5 February 2006 saying this:

Straw however expressed the frustration that we feel because of the lack of progress in the peace process efforts in Abuja" where the warring forces are holding talks to reach a peace agreement in Darfur. Straw attributed the stalling of these efforts "to the lack of coherence by many of the rebel groups to be real partners in the talks with the government".

Photo: Sudanese Foreign Minister Lom Akol, right, shakes hands prior to a press conference with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in London, Feb 3, 2006, (AP/ST)

In presidential statement, Security Council asks Secretary-General to begin planning for possible transition from AU

Today's UN Security Council meeting began at 10:55 a.m. and ended five minutes later at 11 a.m.

Click here to read full text of presidential statement 3 Feb 2006 via ReliefWeb.

Note, various news reports quote the UN and AU as saying it will take many months before troops in Darfur are wearing blue UN hats. Six months minimum, going into next year. They expect a Darfur peace pact to be agreed before then.

Meanwhile, Sudanese civilians and security forces in Darfur are free to pillage, rape and kill. The Sudanese government made sure African troops are not a protection force with Chapter 7 mandate. Anarchy reins.

This could go on for 20 years, like it did in Southern Sudan where 22 years of anarchy cost two million lives.
- - -

Opinion piece by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Excerpt from Darfur Descending op-ed by Kofi Annan, 25 January 2006:

Let no one imagine that this crisis can be solved simply by giving the present A.U. mission a "U.N. hat." Any new mission will need a strong and clear mandate, allowing it to protect those under threat, by force if necessary, as well as the means to do so. That means it will need to be larger, more mobile and much better equipped than the current African Union mission. Those countries that have the required military assets must be ready to deploy them.

Such a force would take the UN months to deploy.

UN refugee agency begins repatriation of Sudanese in C.A.R.

UN News Centre report 2 Feb 2006 says the first flight of refugees was scheduled to take off this morning, bringing an initial group of Sudanese.

The first phase of the operation will be conducted by air, and is expected to bring back 5,000 refugees by April, with the organised return of the remaining refugees expected to be completed by the end of this year.

New pacts pave way for return of 20,000 Sudanese and Congolese refugees

UN News Centre report 1 Feb 2006 says about 20,000 refugees from the Sudan and DRC, including many living in exile for nearly four decades, will start returning home next month under pacts signed between the UNHCR and both African governments this week.

The two tripartite agreements signed on Monday laid out the legal framework for the return of 13,300 Sudanese refugees in the DRC and 6,800 Congolese refugees who have been calling Sudan home since the mid-1960s.

Security Council discusses planning for UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur, Sudan

UN News Centre reports that on speaking to the press after the consultations, Ambassador John Bolton of the United States, which currently holds the Council's rotating presidency, said: "We had a preliminary discussion on the draft presidential statement on planning for Sudan Darfur region peacekeeping activities."

AU says no evidence Sudan backing Chadian rebels

The African Union's special envoy in Sudan, Baba Gana Kingibe, said that Sudan had taken steps to deter the Chadian guerrillas, many of whom took refuge in the west of Sudan, from attacking its eastern neighbour.

"We have no evidence of the Sudanese authorities supporting the Chadian rebels ... direct or indirect," he told reporters in Khartoum.

Note, full text of AU report in next entry here below.

AU says Janjaweed still continue to burn, kill and rape on an ever escalating scale in Sudan's Darfur

See full text of the briefing of the Special Representative of the Chairman of the AU Commission in Sudan Amb. Baga Gana Kingibe distributed by the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Excerpt:

With or without SLA provocations, the Janjaweed/Arab militia continued to cause havoc on farmlands and crops ready to be harvested by farmers who were mostly what has been termed "agricultural commuters" from nearby IDP camps. The militia still continue to burn, kill and rape on an ever escalating scale.

Photo: SLA, Minni Menawi, right, and the AU representative to the Sudan, Baba Gana Kingibi, left, talk at a press conference in Muhagiria, south Darfur Friday, Nov. 18, 2005. (AP/Sudan Tribune).

South Darfur: Janjaweed attack IDP camps Kele, Silo, Tege, Um Gozein, Ton Kittir - Mass exodus from Mershing - Joint Sudan/AU forces to patrol?

A few days ago, Gillian Sandford, ACT-Caritas field communicator in Manawashi, Darfur said armed militias have driven more than 55,000 people from their homes in South Darfur, reports Reuters.

Excerpts from the report 31 January 2006:

Gunmen on camels and horses prompted the mass exodus after shooting and looting in the camps and the town of Mershing, local people said. Now tens of thousands of families huddle on exposed ground in the nearby town of Manawashi - with dwindling stocks of food and little shelter.

The mass exodus from Mershing began last Wednesday (25 January) when, according to local Sheiks, gunmen on camels and horses attacked and looted one of the camps for displaced people called Kele. The Sheiks alleged police complicity in the attack, saying they helped to carry out the looted goods in their vehicles and led the attackers out of town.

On the following days, there were reports of attacks in other camps - Silo, Tege, and Um Gozein camps - including one in which a man who had some gold was allegedly shot and killed after refusing to hand it over.

On Thursday (26 January) evening, the militia struck Ton Kittir camp, driving their camels and horses into the camp, firing their Kalashnikovs, and looting shops, said local Sheiks.

They are also reported to have attacked the market in Mershing town using hammers to open shops.

People fled in panic as the attacks and looting continued and when neither the local police nor the African Union peacekeeping force - based 80 kilometres away in Nyala - was able to halt the deterioration in security.

Staff from ACT-Caritas and their partner agencies, the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and the Sudan Development Organisation (SUDO) alerted both the African Union (AU) and the United Nations headquarters in Nyala to the ongoing crisis. The AU sent a patrol on Tuesday and Wednesday and promised local people to return with reinforcements, but did not do so. An AU spokesperson later told ACT-Caritas that they did not return because the Government of Sudan police were not ready to patrol the area with them, which is a requirement.

Local people said that relations between police and people in Mershing were good until about a fortnight ago, when six Government of Sudan police were killed in an ambush on the Mershing to Manawashi road. The following Sunday, armed gunmen on horseback and camels entered the market in Mershing town, shooting and looting animals, they said. Then the number of attacks escalated.

The local governor of South Darfur has visited the area and the Sudanese authorities have said they want the people to go back. They have agreed to withdraw the existing police force and say there could be joint patrols between the police and African Union forces within a week. But observers believe this timescale is highly optimistic.
- - -

Update 1 Feb 2006: IRIN reports that an estimated 70,000 people have been displaced in a series of recent attacks on IDP camps in South Darfur.

Southern Sudan's SPLM/A and SSDF provoke attacks on Yuai, Central Upper Nile

SSUDA/SSDF Press Release 27 Jan 2006, signed by spokesman David de Chand, says they wonder why the international press fails not to cover news of an SPLM/A attack on Yuai, killing 30 civilians.

Further reading:

Jan 21, 2006 Union of Nuer Community in North America (UNCONA) press release warns SSDF's negotiating team in Juba that whatever protocol they signed with SPLA needs to be ratified by SSDF's Leadership Council.

Jan 15, 2006 SSUDA/SSDF press release signed by spokesman Professor David de Chand says contrary to rumours and a release out of Juba of the Juba Declaration, the South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF) has not disbanded.

Jan 14, 2006 Reuters report says Sudan withdrew some 1,000 troops from an eastern rebel-held town, defusing a stand off between the Sudanese army and former southern guerrillas SPLM/A in the first test of a year-old peace deal.

Jan 14, 2006 Sudan SSDF militia denies merger with the SPLM/A - Kong

Jan 11, 2006 Sudanese army face off with SPLA in eastern Sudan

Jan 10, 2006 Juba Declaration on Unity and Integration between the SPLM/A and the SSDF.

TEXT- Abyei Boundary Commission Report

Via Sudan Tribune September 2005 Draft of Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan.

Full report with plans and photo available at Rift Valley Institute
http://www.riftvalley.net/inside/sreports.htm

6,100,000 Internally Displaced People in the Sudan - 770,000 fled elsewhere

UN World Food Programme Emergency Report 27 January 2006.

USAID Complex Emergency Situation Report 27 January 2006. Excerpt:

Internally Displaced People in Sudan
6,100,000 in total. From Southern Sudan: 4 million; in Darfur: 1.76 million.

Sudanese Refugees
220,000 in Chad plus 550,000 in Uganda, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Central African Republic, Egypt, and Eritrea.

Refugees in Sudan
170,000 from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, and others.

Darfur Salaam: BBC radio broadcasts for Darfur, Sudan

Links re Darfur Salaam are now in sidebar here at Sudan Watch. The lifeline radio service for Darfur is a very important initiative by the BBC.



If any Sudan Watch readers hear the service, please let us know and share any feedback here in the comments or via email. Thanks.



"It will be the survival guide for our listeners in the area. We view it as a continuation of our commitment to the region" - Hosam El Sokkari, Head of BBC Arabic service.

Sudan's expecting two new presidential boats

Marc Lacey's article in the NYT Jan 31 tells us Bashir's new yacht never made it for the AU summit in Khartoum. It's already damaged and looks old.

The article reveals another presidential boat, even larger than the first, is on its way and is Chinese made. The first one was made in Slovania. [via DXBNews]

5.2 m people will need relief assistance in Sudan in 2006 including 2.5 m in Darfur

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation says Sudan's aid needs 'remain immense' - 5.2 million people will need relief assistance in Sudan in 2006, including 2.5 million in Darfur, reports Sapa/AFP 30 January 2006.

Note, according to the article, agriculture, devastated by drought and civil war, remains the mainstay of Sudan's economy, where it comprises 45% of gross domestic product.

Sudan's Hassan al-Turabi harboured bin Laden

Hassan al-Turabi, a Sudanese intellectual with a British education who built Africa's first Islamist state when he dominated Sudan throughout the 1990s, says bin Laden is 'not dangerous', writes David Blair in the Telegraph 30 January 2006.

Also, see Telegraph Islamic Revolution loses grip in Sudan by Philip Smucker in Khartoum 07/03/2001.

The war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about

With few to fight, U.S. troops extend humanitarian help in East Africa. This is the war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about:

Full story at Captain Marlow's, by Shashank Bengali, Inquirer Foreign Staff, 30 January 2006.

Islamic jihad groups creating camps in Chad

Douglas Farah's blog entry Jan 26, 2006 entitled "The Africa Pipeline Expands, The Brotherhood Returns to Sudan" says his intelligence contacts are charting an alarming growth of global Islamic jihad groups creating camps in northern West Africa, particularly Mali and Chad and this is coupled with an unusual resurgence of visits of leaders of the international Muslim Brotherhood to Khartoum, Sudan on a regular basis. [via The Counterterrorism Blog]

Iran says "No" to foreign meddling in Darfur, Sudan

Today, Coalition for Darfur publishes BBC Monitoring's text [no date] of report by Sudanese newspaper Alwan claiming Iran says "No" to foreign meddling in Darfur. Excerpt:

"The Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr Ahmad al-Musawi, has said he cast doubts on the enemies' intentions towards the Darfur region.

In a press conference held at the Hilton hotel [in Khartoum] yesterday morning, he urged to end foreign interference in Darfur and let the Sudanese government work towards resolving the issue in a suitable way.

He further reiterated Iran's support for a Sudanese solution in this regard, and his trust in the mediation of the AU member states to resolve the crisis."

Note Sudan backs Iran's peaceful use of nuclear energy January 26, 2006.

Major escalation of violence in Jebel Marra Darfur forces aid agencies to evacuate - UN condemns attack by SLA on Golo

UN statement issued January 27, 2006 says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is seriously concerned by the major escalation of violence in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur, particularly the heavy fighting in the Golo and Shearia areas that has forced humanitarian agencies to evacuate.

The Secretary-General condemns the attack by Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) forces on Golo, and calls on all parties to immediately stop all hostility.

U.N. sounds Darfur warning in 42-page OHCHR report - U.S. condemns attacks by Sudan's SLA

A new detailed UN report [see summary here below] warns that killings, rapes and indiscriminate attacks are still forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in Darfur. Excerpt from The Scotsman January 28, 2006:

"A 42-page report said those carrying out the violence included soldiers who fired at civilians from helicopter gunships.

The report criticised the government of coup leader Omar el-Bashir, saying promises to end centuries of discrimination and marginalisation of black African minorities were marked by "token gestures" while murder and torture went unpunished."

- - -

42-page UN report sounds Darfur warning

On January 27, 2006 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a detailed report on dismal human rights conditions in Darfur and other parts of Sudan and called on Sudanese Government to take measures to end culture of impunity.

UN News Centre January 27, 2006 reports that while noting some progress since peace accords were signed last year, such as the lifting emergency law in certain areas, the OHCHR report says other initiatives have been inadequate, especially in Darfur, where any positive political measures were "overshadowed by an ineffective judiciary, an ongoing conflict, and widespread human rights abuses." Excerpt:

From September to November 2005 government forces, working with militia who were often described by witnesses as Janjaweed, carried out at least eight organised armed attacks on over a dozen camps or villages occupied by internally displaced persons (IDPs). The attackers killed and wounded civilians and destroyed their homes.

The report rejects Sudan's rationale that it was responding to rebel activities, stating that in most cases civilians were "deliberately targeted." It notes that State-sponsored offensives fan the flames of violence by irregular groups "The increase in large attacks on civilians by Government forces likely encouraged the militia to execute other abuses with impunity."

Examples of sexual violence are also described in the report, such as the case of an IDP who was collecting hay one morning when she was approached by three armed military men, "slapped in the face, kicked in the stomach, and accused of being a rebel. She was then raped by two of the men."

The Geneva-based OHCHR reported allegations of torture at the hands of the national security, military intelligence and police officials in Khartoum, and voices serious concern about the absence of fair trial guarantees as well as inhuman detention conditions.

The 42-page report, which bases its findings mostly on direct investigations and information collected from victims, witnesses, and government authorities, calls on the Government to cease its attacks on civilians in Darfur, disarm militias there, and install an effective law enforcement system.

Khartoum is also urged to end culture of impunity, strengthen the judiciary and revoke immunity laws protecting state agents. "The National Security Service should be stripped of it abusive and unchecked powers of arrest and detention," the OHCHR states in the report, which was prepared in cooperation with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

Noting that the conflict in Sudan was initially sparked in response to marginalisation and discrimination, the report recommends that resource allocation be fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, and involve the affected communities. The Government should also facilitate the humanitarian and development aid and allow civil society to function freely.

In January, 2005, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), ending a 21-year civil war which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2 million people and the displacement of some 4 million others.

- - -

Janjaweed attacks on refugee camps - OHCHR warns of impending "catastrophe"

See Displaced Populations in Darfur Increasingly Face Annihilation by Eric Reeves January 28, 2006 - Growing number of Janjaweed attacks on camps. UN High Commissioner for Refugees warns of impending "catastrophe" [via Coalition for Darfur]
- - -

US condemns rebels attacks in Darfur

Washington File January 27, 2006 says the U.S. condemns the rebel SLA's attacks on village of Golo and a police convoy in West Darfur on January 23, which killed and wounded a large number of Sudanese Armed Forces personnel.



Photo: Teenage SLA fighters wearing amulets (believed to bring good luck and protect against evil the person who wears them) look on while in the rebel held village of Bodong in North Darfur, March 3, 2005. (Reuters/ST)
- - -

Quote of the Day

"A lasting solution to this conflict can only be found through a negotiated settlement," he [UN Secretary-General] stressed.

Angelina Jolie and Bono at Davos Summit 2006 - China in Africa: CNOOC Nigerian oil deal

Click on image for further details and read more at Jewels in the Jungle.



Bono and Nigerian President Obasanjo at Davos Summit 2006

Grandiose Parlor says Bono wants Africa to be given a preferential treatment, and western economies to remove the subsidy on agricultural produce.



China in Africa: The CNOOC Nigerian Oil Deal

See Bill's blog entry on China in Africa: The CNOOC Nigerian Oil Deal and his readers' comments on the question of whether China's renewed interest and financial investments in Africa are good for the people of the continent or not.

Note, the State Council of China formed CNOOC in 1982 to conduct exploration and production in China's offshore areas, both independently and as the exclusive Chinese partner for foreign entities.

My thoughts are human rights activists got it wrong when they pressured Western companies to withdraw from Sudan as it left the market wide open for unscrupulous Asian companies. Western companies not doing business with Sudan means Sudanese oil is sold elsewhere. Perhaps if Western companies were located in the Sudan, they might have had leverage with the UN Security Council when it came to helping Darfur. We could have pressured them to send specialist lawyers to help settle land disputes; provide training for security forces to protect locals and aid workers; and arrange gainful employment for locals to help build schools, roads and handpumps for drinking water to help quell violent clashes over livestock and watering holes.

The Darfur genocide is now in its fourth year and as things stand now, 7,000 African Union soldiers are in Darfur at a cost GBP 10 million a month. God knows the financial cost of humanitarian aid and 11,000 aid workers or how many miles of roads and water pipes could have been built instead if it weren't for a handful of obstinate men in Khartoum. So far the cost in terms of human life alone is estimated as 400,000 and rising - half the number of the Rwandan genocide.

Sudan accuses Chad of shelling Arm Yakui, West Darfur - NMRD Darfur rebels attack Sudan army base in Arm Yakui

Whenever Darfur peace talks get close to an agreement the rebels fall out or split up and start killing to make headline news involving all sides. None are interested in peace. It's how they make a living. This could go on for years.

Today, Reuters correspondent Opheera McDoom reports the Darfur rebel group National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD) said they attacked a Sudanese military base in West Darfur January 28, 2006, killing 78 soldiers and accused Chadian insurgents of working alongside Sudan's armed forces.

NMRD (third group of Darfuri rebels) not in Darfur peace talks

Note, the report says the two other Darfur rebel groups, SLA and JEM, are in peace talks with Khartoum, but the NMRD are not and do not respect a ceasefire signed between those groups and the government in 2004. Further excerpts:

The Sudanese army source said the attack came from within Chadian territory. "This attack came suddenly from inside Chadian territory, and we returned fire with the same force using artillery," he said.

NMRD operate along Chad-Sudan border

The NMRD operate along the Chad-Sudan border. The long border between Chad and Sudan is porous and many tribes span the frontier. Deby himself took power in 1990 in an uprising he launched from Darfur.

Abdallah said Chadian rebels, led by Mahamat Nour, had fought alongside the Sudanese armed forces in the attack. "We don't understand why they are doing this. We have no problem with Mahamat Nour," he said.

United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) Chadian rebels, led by Mahamat Nour

Nour leads an alliance of Chadian insurgents called the United Front for Democratic Change, known as FUC. His group attacked the Chadian border town of Adre in December and are sworn to depose Deby.

Nour denied involvement in the clashes. "Our forces were nearby but they did not participate in the attack," he told Reuters by telephone from eastern Chad.

Sudan arrested 20 Chadian rebels in Khartoum last week, including one leader. Nour said they had been released and had left the Sudanese capital.

Sudan denies supporting the Chadian rebels. The rebels declined to say why they were in Khartoum, but Nour had written a letter requesting that his group be given an audience at an African Union summit in Khartoum on Monday.

- - -

Sudan accuses Chad of shelling Arm Yakui, W Darfur

Sudan accused Chad of bombarding an area in its western border state of West Darfur and said its army had retaliated January 28, 2006, reports SAPA:

"The area of Armankul northwest of the town of Geneina, capital of West Darfur state, came under artillery shelling that continued for an hour and a half from inside the Chadian territories," military spokesman Gen. Abbas Adul Rahaman Khalifa said in a brief statement carried by the official news agency, SUNA.

He did not specify whether the attack was carried out by Chadian soldiers or a rebel group. "Our armed forces have dealt with this aggression with a retaliation in preservation of the sovereignty of the national territories and safeguarding the lives of Sudanese subjects," Khalifa said.

Further reading:

Jan 24, 2006 Sudan's SLA rebels launch attack in Golo, West Darfur - Note Eric Reeves' analysis March 17, 2005 re third Darfuri rebel group NMRD

Jan 25, 2006 Hundreds of Sudanese flee upsurge of violence in West Darfur after unidentified armed men attacked the town of Guereda - UN Refugee Agency

Jan 25, 2006 Splintering of rebel groups? Nur's forces captured aid workers? UN helicopter crashes near Golo, West Darfur

Jan 29, 2006 ST/AFP Sudan alleges new Chad army incursion - Sudanese army spokesman General Al-Abbas Abdelrahman Khalifa said in a statement that a Chadian unit backed by artillery attacked a Sudanese position 40 kilometres (24 miles) northwest of Geneina in West Darfur state on Saturday.

AMIS African troops in Darfur cost GBP 10 million a month

According to an article in today's Guardian by diplomatic editor Ewen MacAskill, the African mission in Darfur (AMIS) costs ten million pounds a month:

"The UN said it wanted the US and European countries to help form a tough mobile force. But this has met with resistance so far in Washington and Europe and the preference is for a largely African force.

The AU, at its summit in Khartoum last week, exasperated western diplomats by failing to discuss in any detail the Darfur crisis. But it did agree a resolution supporting the take-over of the force by the UN. The AU said it was struggling to find the 10m a month needed to maintain it."

Imagine, if all the money used for Darfur aid and peacekeeping over the past three years had been spent on building water pumps, schools and roads in Darfur. By continuing to murder while refusing to reach a peace agreement, uneducated and unemployed gun toting men are making a living from ruining the Sudan, failing its children while getting away with rape and murder. What a waste. It's a crime against humanity.