"In my opinion, activist movements from across the spectrum of strategies and political beliefs have played the largest role in bringing Darfur to the forefront. But I don't really care if people agree with me or not, because the world is taking action, and this genocide will end."]More on Lawrence Summers' resignation at Jim Moore's Journal.
"I am not going to have a discussion with the government through the media," Pronk told reporters at the weekly U.N. press briefing Tuesday. "I can only say the following: the UN is acting within its own mandate.No doubt NATO have the technology. Why this monitoring technology is not part and parcel of a ceasefire agreement is beyond me. Whoever breaks the ceasefire agreement goes to jail. Darfur war criminals are continuing to get away with murder. Maybe the hold up on employing this technology in Darfur is due to the African Union not requesting the help offered by NATO? Or Khartoum stopping the African Union from requesting UN/NATO's help?
"We are not overstretching our mandate, and I have always been completely impartial," Pronk said.
Pronk said the AU forces hadn't managed to stop militia and rebels from killing civilians in Darfur, and that what we needed was advanced technology that could spot raiding parties approaching human settlements.
"I don't think African countries have that technology," he said.
"Of course with the curfew, the airport shut, there are some constraints because if we cannot move about in that hour we cannot know what the government is doing in that hour," said Collins Ihekire, head of the AU military mission in Darfur.
Ihekire said the government had been flying helicopters offensively, a breach of the ceasefire signed in April 2004, which has since been widely ignored. Last week rebels shot down a government helicopter in South Darfur and captured a pilot alive and are still holding him.
"Those were helicopter gunships supporting their troops fighting with the SLA (Sudan Liberation Army) ... offensive flying," he added of the two helicopters the government used in the attack.
The government has imposed a curfew in el-Fasher from 2100 until 0630, U.N. officials said. The AU also says the airport in el-Fasher, the force headquarters, is closed from 1800.
Benn urged the local state governor to lift the curfew. "I can see no justification for imposing a curfew on peacekeepers," he said.
A state minister, Adam Haribush, told Benn that rebels were seeping into the town at night and it was impossible to differentiate the AU forces from rebel troops.
"The rebels are even within the AU base and are taking their cars to go around the town at night," he declared in Arabic, but which the government translator did not repeat in English.
The AU's Ihekire told Benn the Sudanese army was also using white helicopters and vehicles, the same colour used by the AU peace monitoring force and aid agencies working in the vast region, which compromised their neutrality.
Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Kadhafi and Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade on Monday held a telephone conversation appreciating the efforts made at the African level to end the conflict in Sudan's western province of Darfur.See Feb 18 2006 Tony Blair hails Gaddafi's efforts for Darfur.
They also discussed the African Union's development process and consolidation towards the creation of the United States of Africa, official Libyan sources said here.
The sources said the conversation comprises part of the coordination and permanent consultations between the two African leaders. Source : Angola press"
"I saw the gas chambers. I saw the crematoria. I saw the open fires. I was on the ramp when the selections [for the gas chambers] took place," said Mr Groening, now in his 80s. "I would like you to believe these atrocities happened - because I was there."
But the Cardinal believes there is hope, with projects run by Sciaf and other charities providing crucial help to people whose lives remain devastated by the war.Full report by Julia Horton (Scotsman) 20 Feb 2006.
He says: "I saw women getting their hair done and their feet painted by hairdressers who are also trained psychologists.
"It is only when they get a woman's confidence when they are washing her hair that they can get her to communicate and reveal something of what has happened to her. These women have suffered multiple rapes, but under Sudanese law marital infidelity is a crime. Women also need four witnesses in any allegation of rape, and eight if the witnesses are women too."
"I believe the tipping point will come from people of African descent. I want it to be said that we did for the African people today what was not done for us 400 years ago.Wish I could find a woman of Arabian descent saying the same thing on behalf of Arabian folk, especially women and children.
"Latest journal from Peace Poultry Tororo, Uganda , January 3, 2006: This business has received loan money worth $300. The money has already been put in business to increase the stock."Source: Trey's blog.
Al-Bashir, who on Thursday [Feb 16, 2006] paid a visit to Juba and Rumbek towns, announced the government readiness to use the strategic stock in filling the food gap in South Sudan, directing the Armed Forces and SPLA to supply Rumbek and Juba with dura.
Upon his arrival in Juba, the President was received by the First Vice- President and President of South Sudan Government, Lt-Gen. Salva Kiir, members of South Sudan and Central Equatoria State Governments and Southern Sudan Parliamentarians.
"I'm in the process now of working with a variety of folks to encourage there to be more troops, probably under the United Nations," Bush said. "But it's going to require, I think, a NATO stewardship, planning, facilitating, organizing -- probably double the number of peacekeepers that are there now."AFP report Feb 17, 2006 says Washington had set a goal of using its presidency of the UN Security Council this month to push through a resolution setting out the size and terms of a UN force for Darfur. Mr Bush and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer discussed ways to respond to the worsening situation in Darfur, the White House said today.
"Just last night when I was driving home from work I got to thinking about Sudan. I was thinking about writing to my congressmen (who routinely ignore me anyway) and suggesting more help in the region. Then I started wondering how to support that region. I couldn't come up with any good answers.
Today I saw this link on Trey's site.
This project will provide food and medicine to save donkeys' lives in Darfur as they are vital to the population's survival and a key component of household wealth.
That's perfect for me. Darfur and donkeys. The day before I was thinking about Darfur I was talking at work about how much I love donkeys. I can only give a small amount right now but every little bit helps."
50,000 solar- and hand crank-powered radios are being distributed; USAID is helping to organize listening groups; regional resource centers are being set up in six areas to host the groups and provide meeting space and resources for civil society organizations.Note the BBC's new lifeline service Darfur Salaam.
USAID is also developing radio-based educational resources, such as classes and teacher trainings, that the listening groups can access.
"Our efforts to build state capacity continue in Sudan. The need for security is of the utmost importance to this effort, and the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) points the way forward. The CPA, which ended 22 years of North-South civil war in Sudan, is the framework for resolution of conflict throughout Sudan. The CPA created a Government of National Unity that shares power and wealth, and establishes elections at every level by 2009.[Via Coalition for Darfur with thanks]
Implementing the CPA is essential to ending the genocide in Darfur. The United States is appalled by the ongoing atrocities that have persisted in Darfur, and we continue to lead the ongoing international effort to aid the region's displaced people, assisting over 1.8 million internally-displaced persons and over 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad. I ask for your full support of the President's upcoming supplemental request, which will include support for the African Union and for transition to a UN Peacekeeping Mission to bring peace to this war-torn area. We are requesting $1.1 billion in the FY 2007 budget to transition to peace in Sudan, meet humanitarian needs, lay the foundations for economic development, and strengthen sustainable democratic institutions."
About 20 children gathered Tuesday to share their research on the country's people; they also brought blankets for the inhabitants of Sudan. They hope their actions will bring some comfort to the Sudanese.Since 1998 "Sudan Blankets of Love" project has collected more than a quarter of a million blankets. Teresa Hatler will be collecting blankets for another two weeks. Contact her at 212-5783, or hatler77@yahoo.com. For more information visit Voice of the Martyrs online: www.persecution.com.
"I thought it was good to give blankets," said Andrea Hatler, 12. "I didn't really know about where they lived, how they lived."
"A simple blanket is a night's rest. It is shade by day. It is a way to carry their infant or their few possessions, as well as a powerful reminder that someone in America loved them enough to send a blanket - just for them."
As the home-schooled children found out looking at the ongoing conflict in Darfur, what's going on is complicated.
"I was surprised they were burning down the buildings," said Malachi Hatler, 12. "I thought they would keep them and move some of their people there. I was also surprised that they were burning the food. . . . I thought that they would haul off the food to wherever they lived."
"The bad news--very bad--is that we learned a great deal about the limits of public opinion to change history, at least this history. We really did believe that we might be able to stop a genocide. As Ingrid reports, when we started the death toll was reported to be 10,000. Now it is at least 400,000. Probably more. The only thing that limits the actual death toll is that the victims are spread widely across a large geographical area, so they are difficult to completely exterminate. On the other hand, this same dispersal makes keeping an accurate count very diffcult, and terrible things can happen where no one but the victims and the criminals witness.
The good news is that many of us have concluded that we cannot stop particular genocides, but perhaps we can stop genocide. The Genocide Intervention Network has been born of this idea."
"I consider this as a victory for all, as a victory for the democratic transformation and the new system," Yasir Arman, the head of the SPLM parliamentary bloc said on Wednesday. He said the decrees were now to be debated as bills, which parliament could amend.I say, things are looking up. Sudan has so much going for it, apart from being beautiful. It is capable of pulling itself out of the dark ages, if only they'd all pull together and use their brains instead of fighting.
One of the decrees gave police and army officers immunity if they used deadly force against civilians and allowed any of Sudan's tens of thousands of largely uneducated police rank and file to use live fire at their own discretion.
Another decree regulated the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Sudan, requiring them to place their funds in accounts run by the government and allowing them to be ejected or shut down if they publicly disagreed with government policy.
"Mr. Straw will visit the venue of the talks in Abuja and will brief the parties, international partners and donors and observers during a plenary session," Nouredeen Mezni told AFP.[via Coalition for Darfur with thanks]
He said Britain's top diplomat will be received by the AU special envoy to Darfur, Tanzanian-born Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, at 10:00 am (0900 GMT).
"You know as a partner in the talks, it is appropriate that Mr. Straw share his experiences and makes his valuable contributions to get the talks going," he said.
"The UK has set out a series of milestones for this year which, if met, will see comprehensive plans across Africa for achieving free healthcare and schooling, and an African Union (AU) Standby Force ready to deploy 20000 personnel to conflict zones on the continent."Feb 22 Update: See Feb 10 2006 Reuters report NATO commander fears rapid-reaction force delay.
"Aides to President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo startled staff at the Palace hotel on Madison Avenue by pulling out wads of $100 notes to settle a bill for 26 rooms.Full story.
Sassou-Nguesso, who is chairman of the African Union, representing all the continent's governments, is negotiating with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cancel many of his country's debts on the grounds that it cannot afford to repay them. Yet the president spent a week last September in the Palace hotel, one of Manhattan's most prestigious addresses."
"Officials in the president's office explained that it was obvious the participants were pressured not to take part in the meeting. There was obvious pressure from a number of international organizations, the office explained, adding that UN reps also failed to show much enthusiasm for helping to bring about the meeting. The pressure on the warring sides included threats that their participation in negotiations in Slovenia could endanger the Abuja peace process, the office added.The article says according to Drnovsek's aides, additional diplomatic efforts are needed to ensure that a meeting takes place in Slovenia in the near future.
