Important BBC Four Radio Interview with Hilary Benn: Sudan's curfew hinders Darfur peacekeepers and aid workers

Thanks to a British Sudan Watch reader in the UK for posting the following comment and link to interview with Hilary Benn:

"The short-term incentive for other states to send peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur is of course missing. But a more serious problem is how to moderate the rights of a sovereign government.

A recent post here reports: Sudan is hindering the African Union's ability to monitor a ceasefire in Darfur by imposing a curfew and restricting airport access, the head of the mission said on Tuesday. . . [UK Cabinet Minister Hilary Benn] urged the local state governor to lift the curfew. "I can see no justification for imposing a curfew on peacekeepers".

The UK Minister talked this morning (22/2/06) about the possibility of a UN mission for Darfur. He said the Sudanese government may be failing to meet the obligations it has entered into for protecting its people. If this is the case, the international community should act. If it does, Sudan shouldn't be able to impose preconditions on such UN official missions as it is doing on the AU at present."

This morning, I started transcribing the interview but it is taking me too long to type. Here's what I have so far - will add more later if able to transcribe more:



Photo: Hilary Benn

BBC interviewer: A ceasefire was signed in Darfur in April 2004. It's been widely ignored. Raids by the Janjaweed militia are continuing despite the presence of African Union peacekeepers. A curfew imposed by the Sudanese government is intefering with the AU's ability to stop the atrocities that's something the Intenrational Development Secretary Hilary Benn says he'll puruse when he meets members of the Khartoum government today. His visit to the area comes as the US is increasing the pressure on the UN to pass a resolution before the end of this month authjorising UN peacekeepers to replace the AU forces. Well I spoke to Hilary Benn a little earlier and asked him first to describe the conditions for people in Darfur

Mr Benn: The conditions in the camps are OK, the huge humanatarian effort in darfur over last 2 years or so means the people are getting food and water I have to say the seucurity sistuion has deteriored compared with last june when I was in El-Fasher and I have been talking to the AU force commander about that. The rebels have been responsible for an increasing proportion of the attacks. The Arab milia are still at work. There are people in the second camp I visited this afternoon who'd fled recently from a town called Shearia where there's disturbances and violence going on as we speak and it really reinforces the point that we have to step up the international effort here in Darfur to protect people while at the same time putting pressure as Jack Straw did last week in Nigeria on those who are talking part in the talks in Abuja because only a political settlement is going to allow the people I spoke to in the camps to ...

BBC interviewer: Going back to the distressing news you bring are you saying the Sudanese government are colluding in that violence?



Further reading:

Feb 2 2006 US, UK move to get UN troops into Darfur

Feb 3 2006 UK sets list of priority actions on Darfur for new Sudanese Government of National Unity

Feb 4 2006 UK offers Sudan gov't 7-Point "Plan for Peace" in Sudan

Feb 13 2006 British PM Blair vows to keep up pressure on aid for Africa

Feb 13 2006 British PM Blair writes "Towards real action in Africa" - AU Standby Force of 20,000 personnel

Feb 13 2006 Britain's top diplomat Straw to attend Darfur peace talks

Feb 14 2006 Britain's top diplomat Jack Straw at Darfur peace talks - Warns of sanctions

Feb 14 2006 AU top mediator hails UK efforts to bring peace in Darfur

Feb 15 2006 TEXT: UK Foreign Secretary's speech to Darfur peace talks

Feb 16 2006 Darfur: Stop the killing, or pay the price warns Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

Feb 18 2006 Africa A New Agenda - How Africa Can Succeed, by UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw

Feb 20 2006 UK's Cardinal O'Brien with SCIAF in the Sudan sees hope amid horror of African nightmare

Feb 21 2006 UK urges lifting of Sudan curfew - AU says curfew hinders Darfur peacekeepers

Feb 21 2006 Benn: UK to provide 20 million pounds for African Union mission in Sudan

Feb 28 2006 Tony Blair hails Gaddafi's efforts for Darfur



Photo: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, pictured here in January 2006, called on his Sudanese counterpart Lam Akol to accept the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. (AFP/POOL/File/Carl De Souza)



Photo: A general view of a Sudanese internally displaced people camp housing over 730 families, December 3,2005. NATO allies would look kindly on new appeals for back-up help to African troops in Darfur, but rule out for now a major deployment of their own, NATO diplomats said on Tuesday. (Reuters/Antony Njuguna/Yahoo News)

See NATO ready to help in Darfur, but not with troops Feb 14 2006 (Reuters).



Photo: Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir shakes hands with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the presidential palace in Khartoum in Sudan, Oct 6, 2004. (AFP/Sudan Watch archive)

Bump up Darfur on NewsBump.net - where YOU decide what's important

Interesting new site NewsBump.net - where YOU decide what's important.

[Via a comment at The Little Green Blog's post on the resignation of Harvard's president, divestment and Darfur - excerpt:

"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.

UN can provide access to technology that could spot raiding parties approaching human settlements

Excerpt from Associated Press report 21 Feb 2006 UN envoy denies Sudan's accusation :

"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.

"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.

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?

Sudan's "Hakamaat" find their voice again - Modiba's Afropop Darfur benefit CD

Canadian Leslie Morris, a public health promoter for Oxfam in North Darfur explains that Oxfam has "enlisted the hakamaat -- traditional women storytellers -- to help to promote potentially life-saving public health messages, such as washing your hands and storing drinking water safely. These messages may seem simple, but in overcrowded camp conditions they can literally make the difference between life and death.



Hakamaat women, old and young, are prevalent in almost every village in Darfur and traditionally serve a very important role: to spread important news and to help mark and celebrate notable events. But they are also highly effective social mobilizers."

Read all about it - and the Afropop CD to benefit Kebkabiya, a small town in North Darfur where the hakamaat are back in business - at Patrick's blog The Horn of Africa: Darfur.

UK urges lifting of Sudan curfew - AU says curfew hinders Darfur peacekeepers

Reuters report 21 Feb 2006 by Opheera McDoom says Sudan is hindering the African Union's ability to monitor a ceasefire in Darfur by imposing a curfew and restricting airport access, the head of the mission said on Tuesday. Excerpt:

"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.

Benn: UK to provide 20 million pounds for African Union mission in Sudan

Press Release UK government 21 Feb 2006 via ReliefWeb:

Hilary Benn, International Development Secretary, today announced an additional 20 million pounds of UK support for the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) during a visit to El Fasher, Darfur.

Mr Benn discussed the current security situation and plans to hand over peacekeeping in Darfur to a UN 'blue-hatted' force with Major-General Ihekire (the AMIS force commander) and said:

"I have seen firsthand today how AMIS soldiers and police on the ground are making every effort in difficult circumstances to protect the lives of the people living in the Darfur camps. But talking to women who were forced to flee their homes, it is clear that they don't feel it is safe to go back.

"Funding for AMIS is running low, and the international community must do more to ensure the African Union can operate effectively, as preparations are made for a handover to the UN. Improving security must be the priority. This means predictable, sustainable support for AMIS and I am confirming that the UK will provide a further 20m pounds for this. The UK stands ready to provide equipment, fund essential expenses, for example fuel costs, and provide experts to strengthen AMIS headquarters and operations.

"I urge other donors, who along with the UK will be attending a pledging conference in early March, to join us in committing significant additional resources to ensure that AMIS gets the support it needs."

Notes to editors

1. The UK has already committed 19m pounds funding this financial year to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). This money is providing equipment, including over 900 vehicles, military and civilian policing advice, expertise and training, airlift of troops into Darfur, and further troop rotation. Today's announcement brings our total contribution to AMIS since its inception to almost 52m pounds.

2. The UK will work with AMIS to ensure the additional funding announced today is put to best use. While exact requirements are still unclear, we expect funding to provide support for core running costs and any additional experts required. As part of this support we will pay for AMIS' fuel requirements for their ground vehicles.

3. The AU has decided in principle that it will ask to hand over responsibility for peacekeeping to the UN. The AU's Peace and Security Council will meet on 3 March and is expected to agree formally the handover to the UN.

4. A pledging conference will take place in Brussels on 8 March. If a formal decision about handover has been made, the pledging conference will aim to remove uncertainty about AMIS funding until the transition to UN. Cash reserves are currently running critically low.

Sudan raps UN envoy Jan Pronk

Comments from UN secretary general Kofi Annan's representative Jan Pronk and his aides had "impaired the country's sovereignty and marred its image abroad" says Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Keerti. Naughty UN ;)

See BBC report Sudan attacks UN envoy on Darfur.

HRW has evidence of Sudanese Janjaweed attacks in Chad and calls for sanctions against Janjaweed leaders Hamid Dawai and Abdullah Abu Shineibat

Reuters report by Opheera McDoom 21 Feb 2006 says Chadian farmers are being beaten, harassed and killed in raids by Sudanese militia, at times with support from Sudanese army helicopters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report 21 Feb 2006. Excerpt:

The [HRW] report quoted dozens of interviews with some of the tens of thousands of Chadians who have fled their homes, flooding already overcrowded refugee camps along the long and porous Chad-Sudan border.

A 51-year-old Chadian farmer interviewed by Human Rights Watch said the Janjaweed were targeting non-Arab tribes.

"This is not your land. ... If you stay you will be killed, but if you run we won't kill you," he quoted the Janjaweed as saying when he fled his land.

HRW said it had evidence of Sudanese army involvement in the militia attacks and had documented at least four attacks by Sudanese armed forces on eastern Chadian villages.

"Witness accounts and physical evidence indicated that government of Sudan troops and helicopter gunships participated directly in attacks, while many people reported seeing Antonov aircraft approach from Sudan, circle overhead, then return to Sudan in advance of Janjaweed raids," the report said.

The New York-based rights group said Hamid Dawai and Abdullah Abu Shineibat, who they described as Janjaweed leaders with known links to the Sudanese government, were involved in the attacks and should be subject to a UN imposed travel ban and asset freeze.

One 50-year-old man interviewed by the rights group said he fled an attack on his village to a refugee camp in Darfur. Now he's fleeing insecurity from inside the camp.

"If they like your wife, they take her," he said of the Janjaweed in the camp. "Even the soldiers enter the camp and behave like the Janjaweed."



Image: Janjaweed - See HRW 21 Feb 2006 - Darfur Bleeds: Recent Cross-Border Violence in Chad
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Confronting War Crimes in Africa

Note this excerpt from the U.S. Hearing Before the Sub Committee on Africa of the Committee on International Relations House of Representatives June 24, 2004:

"Credible organizations have reported the following individuals of the Jingaweit bear responsibility for the atrocities that have occurred there. While we know there are others, the United States is working to determine their culpability and the culpability of others who support them. Some of the individuals are Musa Hilal, a Jingaweit coordinator; Hamid Dawai; Abdullah abu Shineibat; Omar Babbush; Omada Saef; Ahmad Dekheir; Ahmed Abu Kamasha. These people need to be investigated and brought to justice."

List of top wanted Janjaweed leaders - Who's who on Darfur (African Confidential)

Via Sudan Online Discussion Board 4/3/2005 - copy in full for future reference.

Quote: Who's who on Darfur (African Confidential)

The United Nations International Commission of Inquiry's report into the atrocities in Darfur names 51 individuals it recommends for prosecution at the International Criminal Court. The file has been sealed, to be opened only by a 'competent prosecutor'.

The names of many people involved in Darfur policy have been published by governments, the United States Congress, human rights organisations and the media since the genocide/ethnic cleansing got under way in earnest in early 2003.

A 2004 Congressional report lists Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha as at first in 'charge of the offensive in Darfur' and later 'the key player behind the scenes', according to 'US and regional officials'. Other policy-making officials listed here and elsewhere include:

Lieutenant General Nafi'e Ali Nafi'e, seen as second-in-command on Darfur: Federal Government Minister, ex-External Intelligence boss;
Major Gen. Salah Abdullah 'Gosh', as third-in-command on Darfur: intelligence chief;
Maj. Gen. (Air Force) Abdullah Ali Safi el Din el Nur: State (junior) Minister for Cabinet Affairs and ex-North Darfur Governor; described in Congress members' June 2004 letter to President George W. Bush as 'General Coordinator of Janjaweed';
Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Haroun: Minister, Internal Affairs, former People's Police Force chief;
Ali Ahmed Kurti, Minister, ex-head People's Defence Force militias;
El Tayeb Ibrahim Mohamed Kheir (El Tayeb 'Sikha': Iron Bar): Presidential Security Advisor, ex-Darfur Governor;
Gen. Mutref Sideeg: Foreign Affairs Under Secretary; The published part of the US State Department's List of Janjaweed commanders comprises:
Musa Hilal Musa: Janjaweed coordinator and Buffalo Brigade (Liwa el Jamous) commander;
Brigadier Hamid Dawai: Terbeba-Arara-Beida area leader;
Abdullah Mustafa Abu Shineibat: Habila and Foro Burunga area;
Omada Saef: Misterei area;
Omar Babbush: Habila and Foro Burunga area;
Ahmed Dekheir: Mornei area;
Ahmed Abu Kamasha: Kailek area;The US Congress members' letter names as 'supervising and controlling Janjaweed activities and operations' several of the above, plus:
Abdel Hamid Musa Kasha: Commerce Minister;
Gen. Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein: Internal Affairs and Police Minister;
Maj. Gen. Adam Hamid Musa: South Darfur Governor;
Brig. Mohamed Ahmed Ali: Director, Riot Police, which attacked Darfur displaced people in Khartoum in March 2004;
Mohamed Yussef Abdullah, State Minister, Humanitarian Affairs; The Congress letter names a 'Coordination and Command Council of Janjaweed':
Lt. Col. (Abdel Rahim Ahmed Mohamed) 'Shukratallah': El Geneina;
Ahmed Mohamed Haroun: see above;
Osman Yussef Kebir: Governor, N. Darfur;
El Tahir Hassan Abboud: National Congress Party (ruling NIF faction);
Mohamed Salih el Sanusi Baraka: National Assembly member;
Mohamed Yusef el Tileit: State Minister, Western Darfur;
Maj. Gen. Hussein Abdullah Jibril: National Assembly;As field commanders, along with Musa Hilal and Hamid Dawai, theCongress members list:
Brig. Abdel Wahid (Said Ali Said): Kebkabiya area;
Brig. Mohamed Ibrahim Ginesto;
Maj. Hussein Tangos;
Maj. Omer Baabas;Also potentially of interest in their military/political roles are:
Gen. Abdel Karim Abdullah: intelligence chief;
Gen. Awad Ibn Auf: Military Intelligence chief;

Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih: Defence Minister;

Lt. Gen. Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir: President

http://www.sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/sdb/2bb.cgi

Libya's Gaddhafi and Senegal's Wade discuss African solution to Darfur crisis - United States of Africa?

Angola Press report via Andnetwork .com 21 February 2006:

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.

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"

See Feb 18 2006 Tony Blair hails Gaddafi's efforts for Darfur.

Bolton chides Annan on UN planning for Darfur force

On 20 Feb 2006 US Ambassador John Bolton said that Secretary-General Kofi Annan should be pushing UN officials harder in planning a force in Darfur rather than just lobbying the US for contributions.

"It would be helpful, I think, if the secretary-general, in addition to prodding the US, could also be out there talking to the African Union and the Arab League, and in fact, even talking to his own peacekeepers about the importance of moving ahead here," Bolton told reporters.

When told of Bolton's remarks, Annan said, "I'm not going to answer that." But his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN "planning process was moving full speed ahead."

Full report (Reuters) by Evelyn Leopold 21 Feb 2006.

Also, see Feb 21 2006 Washington Post report by Sue Pleming: US tells UN to hurry up with Darfur planning

S Sudan's Salva Kiir says Sudanese army supports Ugandan LRA terrorists

African News Dimension Feb 21, 2006 reprint by Andnetwork .com:

Sudanese first-vice-president and president of southern Sudan government Lt. Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit said, for the first time, he believes that Sudanese army support Ugandan rebel Lord's resistance Army.

In an interview with the BBC Arabic service, Kiir reiterated an accusation already advanced by many southern responsible. He further said that Ugandan rebels receive support in the suburb of the Southern Sudan capital Juba.

Last December, the responsible of the SPLM intelligence service, Edward Lino, had accused in an interview with the Sudanese al-Sahafa the Sudanese army of supporting the Ugandan rebel LRA.

But, Kiir added he has no prove on the implication of the Sudanese army.

Sudanese Defence Minister Lt-Gen Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein denied last year receiving any official complaint from the SPLM regarding the involvement of elements of the Sudanese army in supporting the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army militias.

Sudan's Salva Kiir, had said Saturday on 4 October 2005 that he would hand Kony over to the International Criminal Court. But Kiir said he did not know Kony's whereabouts. The Sudanese government had provided bases for the LRA south of Juba, but after it began to withdraw its support the LRA began raiding and looting Sudanese villages for food, and killing Sudanese civilians.

On 13 October 2005, the ICC unsealed arrest warrants it issued three months earlier for five LRA commanders, including the leader, Joseph Kony.

While Sudan and the International Criminal Court (ICC) differ over Darfur, Khartoum is cooperating in the case of Joseph Kony, one of five top Lord's Resistance Army members named in a sealed indictment compiled by prosecutors of the permanent war crimes court. Warrants for their arrests have been distributed to Uganda, Congo and Sudan.

Sudan once backed the LRA, even as Uganda supported the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army in its civil war with the Sudanese government. But Sudan and Uganda normalized relations in 2001, Sudan's southern civil war ended in January and the SPLM joined a national unity government. Ugandan troops have since been allowed to operate in some parts of southern Sudan against the LRA.

Human rights groups say the Lord's Resistance Army has over the years abducted more than 30,000 children, forcing them to become fighters, porters or concubines. The rebels have killed thousands of civilians and forced more than a million to flee their homes, but appears to have no clear political agenda and little contact with the outside world.

Source : Sudan Tribune

Two Chadian army generals desert, join rebels

Two top Chadian army generals have deserted and joined insurgents sworn to ousting President Idriss Deby, rebels along the Sudan-Chad border said on Monday.

"General Sedi Aguid and General Ishaq al-Diar are in one of our camps on the border," said Mahamat Nour, the leader of an alliance of nine Chadian guerrilla groups, the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC).

"It's important to have them with us and important that the international community ... sees that this now confirms that Deby is finished, he has no men with him and they should warn him he should talk with us," Nour told Reuters by telephone from the border. Full report (Reuters) 20 Feb 2006.

Note, Feb 12 2006 Exclusive interview: Mahamat Nour the Chad rebel leader demands change, by force if needed.

Chad: Are Deby's days numbered?

IRIN report 10 Feb 2006 - excerpts:

The UN and other aid agencies in Guereda and Iriba pulled about a fifth of their humanitarian staff out of the two towns following the January abduction of government officials. They have yet to return.

Farther south around Adre, humanitarian agents' movement is restricted.

Convoys are required to travel certain routes and border areas are out of bounds for UNHCR officials, making it difficult for the agency to see if there are people needing assistance along the frontier.



Photo: Chadian soldiers patrol dirt roads near the Sudan border (Claire Soares/IRIN)

Medical groups like MSF-France are hunkered down in Adre hospital, having had to suspend their mobile clinic that travelled south along the border, treating people in hard-to-reach villages.

Another logistical headache brought on by a deterioration in security is in the far north, where two camps - Am Nabak and Oure Cassoni - are less than 50 kilometres from the frontier with Sudan, the minimum distance recommended for security reasons.

"We anticipate having to move those that are close to the border and which therefore may become more of a target," said Kingsley Amaning, the UN Resident Representative in Chad. "Rains come in July and we believe we have to do it before then."

This means finding a new shelter for some 46,000 refugees and the UN is talking to the Chadian government about building a new camp north of the town of Biltine.



Photo: A Chadian soldier on the streets of the border town of Adre (Courtesy IRIN) Adre is one of the few places where there is a tangible sense of how Deby perceives the threat to his reign. Eighteen months ago it was a sleepy, dusty outpost; now it is definitely a military town.

Armed soldiers idle by water points, pick-up trucks with roof-mounted machine guns pick their way among the donkeys and horse-drawn carts, and military patrols can be seen meandering down every other street.



Photo: A Sudanese boy in Chad refugee camp shows off his homemade kite. (IRIN)

Some diplomats saw Chad's hosting of a press conference late last year where the two main Darfur rebel groups pledged a united front as a warning shot fired by Deby with two audiences in mind.

Firstly to his own clan, as proof that he is sticking up for his Zaghawa kinsmen on the other side of the border who are allegedly being massacred by Arab militias. And secondly to Sudan and the wider international community that he can pollute the Darfur peace talks if he wants to.

"With mutual accusations and the increased concentration of troops on both sides of the border, the potential for an open confrontation between the two countries cannot be minimised," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in his latest report on Darfur.

Holocaust denier Irving is jailed

Quite rightly, British historian David Irving has been found guilty in Vienna of denying the Holocaust of European Jewry and sentenced to three years in prison. He had pleaded guilty to the charge, based on a speech and interview he gave in Austria in 1989. Full story (BBC) 20 Feb 2006.

Note, the fear that deniers could gain the upper hand led an SS camp guard, Oskar Groening, to break a lifetime of silence earlier this year in a BBC documentary, Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution.

"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."

UK's Cardinal O'Brien with SCIAF in the Sudan sees hope amid horror of African nightmare

'THE men had their ears cut off - cut right into the skull. One said he had been stripped and beaten. Another had also had his lips cut off, you could see the scars. He told me stories of other people who had had their lips padlocked. Man's inhumanity to man is quite startling."

Cardinal Keith O'Brien's frank and graphic response when asked what hit him hardest during a recent visit to Sudan brings home the horrific abuses suffered by thousands of people in the war-ravaged African country.

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.

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."

Full report by Julia Horton (Scotsman) 20 Feb 2006.

Gloria White-Hammond calls for aid to Darfur women

"The black community needs to assert itself politically and demand increased humanitarian aid for genocide victims in Darfur," the Rev Dr Gloria White-Hammond, a Boston pediatrician active in Sudan and chair of the Million Voices for Darfur campaign, said yesterday. Wholeheartedly, I agree with her, and when she says:

"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.

Note, Sudan means "land of the blacks" in Arabic, and for centuries black Africans were abducted in Sudan as part of the Arabian slave trade. Read more about slavery in Sudan and find out how you can help...



Photo: Rev Dr Gloria White-Hammond (Courtesy massbible.org)

My Sister's Keeper is a human rights initiative in Sudan founded by Gloria White- Hammond and Liz Walker.

Further reading:

Jul 4 2004 Jim Moore's Journal The Failure to Respond (Harvard panel and discussion)

Dec 26 2004 Jim Moore's Intention, Darfur, Sudan - If we look long-term at what we would hope for Sudan, it is that information, dialogue, constructive relationships would thrive among its citizens and those of the rest of the world.

Jun 30 2005 PoTP Speaker paints vivid picture of Sudan horror

PeaceWomen contacts Sudan.

Kiva: Loans that change lives - Sudan becomes attractive for Arab investments

Kiva website states it provides a new, sponsor a business option for individuals to connect with small enterprises in developing countries through flexible loans and invites readers to become a lender to a small business in Africa and be reimbursed for the loan.

Sounds like a good initiative. Not sure how it all works. According to the website, Kiva is experiencing a huge outpouring of support and cannot list businesses fast enough. Excerpt:

"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.
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Sudan becomes attractive for Arab investments

A Sudanese official has said holding meetings of the Arab Union for Engineering Industries for the first time in Sudan is an indication that Sudan has become an attractive area for Arab investments.

The official affirmed desire of the union for increasing of trade exchange between Sudan and the Arab states - and urged activation of Arab free trade agreement and COMESA agreement.

Full article (SUNA/ST) Feb 19, 2006.

US troops accounted for in crash off Djibouti - US long-term Africa intelligence base

AP report 19 Feb says 10 US troops who were reported missing after two Marine Corps transport helicopters crashed into the sea have been accounted for but it did not specify whether they had survived.

Update Feb 19 BBC: Ten killed in US Djibouti crash

US long-term Africa intelligence base

Djibouti hosts the only United States military base in sub-Saharan Africa and is a front-line state in the global war on terrorism. See report at afrol.com January 2004.

Tactical use of genocide in Sudan and the Five Lakes region

Opinion piece by John Bart Gerald Feb 17, 2006 GlobalResearch, excerpt:

"When food production is disrupted by war there are few defences to natural disaster. Interrelated wars of varying intensity continue in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Chad, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo. Much of East Africa is starving.

Amidst the terrible suffering we find the United States and its principle humanitarian organizations insisting that the Government of Sudan is committing genocide. This was officially decided in 2002 with the Sudan Peace Act 1, and the position is dutifully echoed by U.S. officials, many government funded NGO's, and the US news media."

Bush signals expanded NATO role in Sudan - NYT

After President Bush spoke on Friday, a senior State Department official said the US proposal continued to be "to strengthen the AU" until UN forces arrive late this year.

While Mr. Bush spoke of "a NATO stewardship," the American officials cautioned that NATO would command only logistical operations, not the AU troops.

They reiterated that Washington would send no American troops. In Congressional testimony this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "We are prepared to talk with our NATO counterparts about what more we can do to support" the AU forces "until we can get the UN forces" into Darfur.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Carpenter, said in Washington that no decisions had been made on NATO's role, but "NATO could potentially be a significant leader" in UN peacekeeping. Full report (NYT) via Sudan Tribune 19 February 2006.

Sudan sets up body for disarmament, demobilization

President Omer al-Bashir Saturday issued a republican decree forming the National Council for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Coordination (NCDDRC) to be chaired by Minister of Presidency Maj. Gen. Bakri Hassan Salih. Full report (SUNA) via Sudan Tribune 19 Feb 2006.
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Salva Kiir says partnership with NCP growing every day

According to the Sudanese Media Center (SMC) news service Lt Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit confirmed SPLM will not delay in appointing its reps to joint committees and commissions so that the peace agreement is fully implemented.

Salva Kiir hailed President Omar al-Bashir's visit to Juba and Rumbek last Tuesday 14 February. He added that the detailed explanation offered by the president on the issue of oil revenues had satisfied the regional government.



Photo: First Vice President Salav Kiir (left), Lake State governor John Lat (right) and President Omar al-Beshir in the center in Rumbek on 14 Feb 2006 (Manyang Mayom) Full report via ST.

Note, Kiir observed that southerners had waited for the visit for long as it kept on being postponed due to sudden changes to the president's programme. He added that southerners expressed their happiness with the visit by turning in large numbers to attend the rallies in Juba and Rumbek.

Sudan opposes International Criminal Court

The Sudanese government opposes the International Criminal Court, insisting it can prosecute any war criminals in its own courts. The ICC investigation is the first to be carried out against the will of the country where the alleged crimes occurred.

The ICC, which is based in the Netherlands, has a list of 51 suspects - including Sudanese government officials, pro-government militiamen and rebels - that was compiled by a UN panel which reported on the Darfur conflict last year.

Among the 51 names listed are "military and civilians about whom there is much convincing evidence", said Antonio Cassese, an Italian law professor, who led the United Nations commission of inquiry on Darfur crimes.

That evidence includes accounts from senior military officers that the Sudanese government "openly uses militia gangs, gives them weapons and salaries and tells them to kill and burn and it backs them up with planes and helicopters," Mr. Cassese said. "There is no restraint. More than 2,000 villages have been burnt. The scale of looting, raping and torture is horrible." Full report (Sudan Tribune) 19 February 2006.

Sudan rejects US claim of ongoing Darfur genocide

"She (Rice) is biased because any authentic parties who are concerned with what's going on in Darfur have confirmed that this is not genocide," said Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jamal Ibrahim.

"This is a systematic policy of the U.S. administration ... of pressuring the Khartoum government," Ibrahim said, saying the US was responding to internal pressures from Congress and the African American lobby. Reuters via Sudan Tribune 18 Feb 2006.

Tony Blair hails Gaddafi's efforts for Darfur

AngolaPress says British Prime Minister, Tony Blair in a phone conversation with Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Gaddafi, has acknowledged the tireless efforts exerted by Col Gaddafi, toward finding a lasting peaceful solution to the crisis in Darfur.

Quite right too. Many Sudanese people appear to like, respect and listen to Colonel Gaddafi. Pity he's not mediating the Darfur peace talks, he speaks their language - in more ways than one.



Photo: Sudan's vice president Salva Kiir Mayardit (L) chats with Libyan president Mohammed Gaddafi during the official opening of the Sixth Ordinary Session of Assembly of the African Union capital Khartoum, January 23, 2006. Five African leaders asked Sudan to withdraw its bid to head the African Union because the appointment could sink Darfur peace talks and dent the group's credibility, an AU official and delegates said. Sudan, which is under fire for rights abuses, wanted to succeed Nigeria at the two-day summit in Khartoum. (Reuters/Antony Njuguna) Note, some news reports speculate Sudan has been promised the AU chair for next year.

Feb 8, 2006 UN says Eritrea, Libya, Chad supply arms to Sudan's Darfur rebels and SPLM/A provided training and arms to SLM/A

Photo: 8 Feb 2006 Chad and Sudan in Tripoli pact to end tension - The leaders of Chad and Sudan agreed on Wednesday to end to a crisis between their two countries, which have accused each other of backing insurgents, a Libyan official said. The Tripoli Agreement between Presidents Idriss Deby of Chad and Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan was reached at the end of mini-summit hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.



Feb 6, 2006 Libya to host mini-sumit on Sudan-Chad crisis

Jan 24, 2006 Chad welcomes Libyan initiative over row with Sudan - The Chadian Foreign Minister, Ahmat Allam-Mi , has declared his country's welcome of the Libyan mediation to settle the Sudan-Chad tension, according to the Sudan News Agency.

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

Nov 20, 2005 CIA met Gaddafi - Sudan rounded up extremist suspects for questioning by CIA



Sep 29, 2005 Chadian president in Libya to meet Gaddafi - Photo: Chadian President Deby arrived in Libya Thursday afternoon, Sept 29, 2005 at Sirte international airport where he was received by Major-General Alghwaldi Alhmeadi. (LJB)



Photo: Sep 27, 2005 Mini Mubarak and Gadhafi summit in Cairo - A video grab from the El-Masriyya satellite channel shows Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (L) shaking hands with Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi in Cairo. The two leaders held talks on how to prevent the failure of peace talks aimed at ending the conflict in Darfur. (AFP/El-Masriyya/Yahoo)

May 11, 2005 Libya opens route for UN aid to Darfur - UN's WFP began airlifting food aid from a new route directly from Libya to reach Darfur. Last November, a collaboration between the US and the Libyan governments allowed the transition of WFP food aid through Libya to reach Darfur refugees displaced by the fighting to camps in Chad. The new air route will boost the overland transport route - opened last April - of food aid through Chad. This opening of the ancient caravan route through Chad has so far allowed the delivery of 400 metric tonnes of food aid. WFP is expecting to deliver some 50,000 metric tonnes of food aid through air, land and rail transport



April 13, 2005 Photo: Libyan leader Mouammar Kadhafi and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo during Darfur summit in Tripoli last year. (AP)

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



Photo: Sudan asked Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi to "intervene personally" in the escalating crisis in Darfur, Libya's official JANA news agency reported in August 2004.

Oct 19, 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.



Photo: See Nov 11, 2004 report Britain drafts UN resolution on Sudan peace accord. Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir shakes hands with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the presidential palace in Khartoum in Sudan, Oct 6, 2004.( AFP).

Sudanese President al-Bashir directs the evacuation of LRA from South Sudan within one month

According to news from Sudan Vision, Sudanese President Al-Bashir has directed the evacuation of the Lord's Resistance Army from South Sudan within one month in order for the south to live in peace. Via Andnetwork.com:

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.

Photo: President al-Bashir reviews the Honor Guard during the arrival ceremony at Rumbek Airport, on his left First Vice President Salva Kiir Feb 14, 2006 (Manyang Mayom) via Sudan Tribune.

According to above SV report, at the rally held in Juba Salva Kiir introduced President Al-Bashir to the rally as the "maker of peace". Also, among other issues including seccession and oil revenues, the President highlighted the food security in the South, calling for: the provision of agricultural inputs and opening of roads for flow of movement and normalization of life, a university in Rumbek, converting Rumbek hospital into a specialized one, in addition to rehabilitation of Shambe post and opening of a vocational training centre.

Further reading:

Feb 18, 2006 Acholi king, S. Sudan Marchar discuss LRA's eradication - Acholi king David Onek Achana has held consultations with southern Sudan vice President Riek Machar to find a resolution to the ongoing LRA crisis.

Africa A New Agenda - How Africa Can Succeed, By UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has listed ten conditions, which he urged African countries to confront if they must succeed.

Delivering the 10th Annual Murtala Muhammed Memorial Lecture Feb 13, 2006 in Abuja entitled, 'Africa A New Agenda', Straw named the conditions to include poverty reduction and development, governance, peace and security, conflicts, terrorism, migration, crime and drug. Others are energy security, environment, Islam and China

Mr Straw traced the present predicament of most African countries to miss governance and expressed optimism that, 'If Africa pursues the right policies, tackles the right issues and gets the full support of the international community, this continent could be the success story of the 21st Century'.

He regretted that poverty in Africa is getting worse, not better and that, 'Unless growth accelerates and the fruits of growth are distributed more widely, by 2015 around 100 million more Africans than now will be living below the dollar-a-day poverty line'.

Full story This Day/AllAfrica February 15, 2006 by George Oji, Abuja.

US President, NATO Secretary General discuss Darfur

Photo: President Bush meets with generals and other high ranking military officials during his visit to the Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, February 17, 2006. (Reuters/Jason Reed)



Feb 17, 2006 Reuters report quotes Mr Bush as saying double the number of international troops were needed for peacekeeping efforts in Darfur:

"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.

Note, the AFP report quotes Dr Rice as saying "On Darfur, our policy is unchanged. It is our view that genocide was committed and in fact continues in Darfur."

Unchanged? Click here or here to see previous news reports listed under the heading of "further reading".

Note Jan 29, 2006 U.N. sounds Darfur warning in 42-page OHCHR report - U.S. condemns attacks by Sudan's SLA

6.7 million people in Sudan need aid despite good harvest

While Sudan was likely to reap a reasonably good harvest in 2005-2006, almost seven million people would still require food aid over the coming year, two UN food agencies said Friday.

in 2005, provision of seeds and tools by humanitarian agencies benefited a large number of needy farmers. A WFP road rehabilitation project in the south has increased trade, especially between Uganda and the state of Central Equatoria, and between Kenya and the state of Eastern Equatoria.

But attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army in the south/southeast remain a constant threat to any return to normal living and some key roads remain impassable thereby inhibiting large-scale trade.

WFP plans to mobilise and distribute 731,000 tonnes of food to more than six million people across Sudan in 2006. Full story (AKI) 17 Feb 2006.

Sudan's Darfur and donkeys - CIDI & GlobalGiving's Livestock Support Programme for Sudanese Families

Photo: Donkey Carcass near Geneina: Donkeys are essential to the livelihoods of the people of Darfur. Many donkeys are dying due to lack of fodder or abandonment during civilians' flight to safety. (USAID photo gallery)

14 Feb 2006 blog entry at Based On A True Story:

"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."

Photo: A young girl on a donkey with jerry cans of water which she has collected from the nearby pump. Her name is Isra and she is 7 years old - an Internally Displaced Person - forced from her home with her family when the fighting came too close for comfort. (Islamic Relief Darfur Photo Diary)

Help the people of Sudan restore their lives

Through CIDI and GlobalGiving, you can direct your contribution to Livestock Support Programme for Sudanese Families.

3.4 million people in Darfur depend on aid for survival

Oxfam report Feb 17, 2006 says the UN estimates nearly 3.4 million people in Darfur -- about half the region's total population -- are now dependent on international aid for their survival. Excerpt:

- About 13,500 aid workers are in the region struggling to meet the needs of this vast group.

- Estimates of the number of people who have lost their lives in the conflict range from 180,000 to 400,000.

- An African Union mission, sent to monitor a ceasefire that is now nearly two years old, is still significantly below its planned deployment of 7,757 troops and police officers. Even at full strength, the mission would not be large enough to adequately patrol an area the size of Texas.

For people stranded in the camps, often far from their villages, fields, and pastureland, life has become one long wait - for food rations, for limited amounts of water, for peace.

Oxfam is now providing critical water supplies and sanitation facilities for about 400,000 people in Darfur.

[via Coalition for Darfur with thanks]

July 2004 Q&A Interview: Sudan President Omar al-Bashir

On checking through my blog archives, I found Q&A: Sudan President Omar al-Bashir by Khalid Tigani for UPI dated 26 July 2004 and am cross-posting it to Sudan Watch for future reference.


Q&A: Sudan President Omar al-Bashir (UPI Science Report)
UPI Perspectives July 26, 2004
Tigani, Khalid | Copyright

Byline: KHALID TIGANI
KHARTOUM, Sudan, July 26 (UPI) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said Monday international pressure and military intervention would not solve the problem in the western region of Darfur where Amnesty International has charged that Arab militias, the Janjaweed, committed systematic, mass rapes.

Al-Bashir called for enough time to implement a joint plan with the United Nations to achieve security and stability in the troubled province.

He was speaking during an interview with United Press International at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum.
The Sudanese president appeared calm and refuted accusations that his ...

Sudan, AU agree Darfur should remain African Union issue

Darfur peace talks are deadlocked over power sharing. Chad says the African Union should impose a solution.

Feb 16 AFP report says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "genocide" was continuing in Darfur, but moves to bolster security with a UN force were held up pending a request from the African Union.

On Feb 15 Sudan's President and the Chairman of the African Union Commission agreed at a meeting held in Khartoum that resolving Darfur should remain an "African" initiative. In a press statement to the state-run SUNA at the end of the meeting, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said that the meeting reviewed situation in Darfur and the steps required on the ground as well as the Abuja peace negotiations.

Meanwhile, there appears to be no news of the Arab League's concern over Darfur. Where do the Arabs stand on the "African" issue in Darfur? Why are the Arab tribal leaders in charge of the Janjaweed not present at the Darfur peace talks?

Note the Arab League is scheduled to hold its summit in March in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, putting the US government in a tough spot.

Darfur chronic insecurity has led MSF to redefine activities

Dr Pauline Horrill, MSF's program manager for Sudan, and Fabrice Weissman, head of MSF's Darfur mission, offer an update report 16 Feb 2006.

[via Sudan Tribune 17 Feb 2006 with thanks]

US says "genocide" continues in Darfur and UN must act - UN demands US to shut down Guantanamo prison camp

The timing of these news reports, published today, is interesting:

(Reuters) Rice says genocide continues in Darfur, UN must act - "It is our view that genocide was committed and in fact it continues in Darfur," she said adding, "We are doing everything we can to deal with the impact of the situation in Darfur."

[Note, 16 Feb 2006 AFP report says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "genocide" was continuing in Darfur, but moves to bolster security with a UN force were held up pending a request from the African Union]

(BBC) Annan backs UN Guantanamo demand - The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has said the United States must shut down Guantanamo Bay prison camp "as soon as is possible". The White House has dismissed the UN report as "a discredit to the UN."
- - -

Further reading:

June 30, 2004 No genocide in Darfur: US government

Sep 9, 2004 BBC Powell declares genocide in Sudan - The BBC's state department correspondent Jill McGivering says the use of the word genocide does not legally oblige the US to act, but it does increase the moral and political pressure.

Sep 9, 2004 US Mission to the UN in Geneva Press Release on The Crisis in Darfur - Text of Secretary Colin L Powell Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Washington DC, Sep 9. 2004: "Mr Chairman, as I have said, the evidence leads us to the conclusion, the United States to the conclusion; that genocide has occurred and may still be occurring in Darfur. We believe the evidence corroborates the specific intent of the perpetrators to destroy "a group in whole or in part," the words of the Convention. This intent may be inferred from their deliberate conduct. We believe other elements of the convention have been met as well."

Jan 31, 2005 BBC UN 'rules out' genocide in Darfur.

July 3, 2005 BBC Panorama The New Killing Fields transcript: Chris Mullin MP (Foreign Office minister): "What we think is not an effective way of stopping the killings is the way that some people... is the suggestion that some people are urging upon us, that somehow there's some western force that could come riding over the hills and everything will be alright again, but it's not like that. And the odds are that if any western force did intervene it would become bogged down and that some new cause for all the Jihadists in the world would emerge and we'd find ourselves very quickly being shot at by all sides. Plus we would probably destabilise the whole of Sudan which is the size of Western Europe and the last thing we want is a failed state the size of Western Europe on our hands in Africa."

Feb 4, 2006 Eric Reeves says violence still displaces Daruris while US decides genocide no longer exist.

Feb 9, 2006 Eric Reeves asks why has the Bush administration chosen this moment to suggest that genocide is no longer taking place - read US State Department Dishonesty on Darfur.

Feb 16. 2006 UK Conservative Party Speech to the Johns Hopkins SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations in Washington DC by former leader William Hague mentions the words Genocide in Darfur ...

USAID distributing 50,000 radios throughout South Sudan

Sudan Man notes USAID's distribution of radios throughout southern Sudan:

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.

USAID is also developing radio-based educational resources, such as classes and teacher trainings, that the listening groups can access.

Note the BBC's new lifeline service Darfur Salaam.
- - -



Note Geekcorps Bottlenet and rugged computers for desert conditions.

Wanted: Superdiplomat and manager for 181 countries

No application form is needed and no interview is held for the position of secretary general of the United Nations. So how do you get the job - and who's in the running? Anne Penketh reports at the Independent UK.

Britain's PM Tony Blair is listed in the report as one of the front runners.

Darfur peace talks deadlocked over power sharing - Chad says AU should impose solution

AU Mission in Sudan said that Sudanese parties in Darfur peace talks have realised significant progress in the wealth sharing and security arrangements,. But it seems that the negotiations are deadlocked on the question of Power sharing.



Photo: Chad's Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmad Allam-mi speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in N'djamena, Chad Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006.

The Sudanese government and rebel groups in the Darfur conflict holding peace talks in neighboring Nigeria have taken too long to agree on a solution so the African Union should impose one, Allam-mi said Thursday. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

Darfur: Stop the killing, or pay the price warns Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

Outspoken article in the International Herald Tribune by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw published 16 February 2006 is similar to the stern warnings in the text he read out in person this week at the Darfur peace talks.

Ramstein airmen helping airlift Rwandan soldiers into Darfur

Stars & Stripes reports today about 15 airmen from Ramstein Air Base are in Rwanda helping transport peacekeeping troops to Darfur.

The airmen from the base's 86th Contingency Response Group arrived in the Rwanda capital of Kigali last weekend to help airlift 1,200 troops from two Rwandan battalions and their personal equipment from Kigali International Airport to Darfur.

An equal number is expected to rotate back to their home country, so it's not a case of additional troops for Darfur. More on this news at allAfrica.com.
- - -

Russian peacekeepers to be in South Sudan next April

Up to 200 soldiers, four Mi-8 transport and combat helicopters and 15 vehicles will be sent to peacekeep in South Sudan (not Darfur which is a separate conflict in western Sudan). An-124 Ruslan, An-22 Antei and Il-76 planes will make over 40 flights to airlift the personnel, hardware and 200 tonnes of various cargoes.



Photo: President al-Bashir reviews the Honor Guard during the arrival ceremony at Rumbek Airport, on his left First Vice President Salva Kiir Feb 14, 2006. It was the first time al-Bashir visited Rumbek since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 9 Jan 2005. (Manyang Mayom/Sudan Tribune article 16 Feb 2006)

US Secretary of State Rice speaks of "genocide in Darfur" - Sudan measure puts administration in tough spot

Note how US Department of State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, in a prepared statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, DC on February 15, 2006, uses the words "genocide in Darfur".

See excerpt from section in statement entitled "Building State Capacity":

"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.

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."

[Via Coalition for Darfur with thanks]



Photo: On Monday, UN chief Kofi Annan met with President Bush get support for peacekeepers in Darfur. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP via CSM report Urgent calls for more troops to Darfur)
- - -

Sudan measure puts Bush administration in tough spot

A bipartisan resolution denouncing both Sudan and the Arab League may place the White House in the difficult position of choosing between strategic and humanitarian interests. The resolution denounces Arab League for scheduling its March summit in Khartoum.

The White House will face tremendous pressure to support the measure, which expresses disapproval for the Arab League's holding its annual summit in Sudan, to bring attention to what has been deemed by many as genocide in the country's Darfur region. However, such support may undermine U.S. intelligence-sharing with Sudan as well as diplomatic efforts in Darfur and Iraq.

Full story by David Mikhail at The Hill, 16 February 2006.
- - -

Further reading:

June 30, 2004 No genocide in Darfur: US government

Sep 9, 2004 BBC Powell declares genocide in Sudan - The BBC's state department correspondent Jill McGivering says the use of the word genocide does not legally oblige the US to act, but it does increase the moral and political pressure.

Sep 9, 2004 US Mission to the UN in Geneva Press Release on The Crisis in Darfur - Text of Secretary Colin L Powell Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations CommitteeWashington DC Sep 9. 2004: "Mr. Chairman, as I have said, the evidence leads us to the conclusion, the United States to the conclusion; that genocide has occurred and may still be occurring in Darfur. We believe the evidence corroborates the specific intent of the perpetrators to destroy "a group in whole or in part," the words of the Convention. This intent may be inferred from their deliberate conduct. We believe other elements of the convention have been met as well."

Jan 31, 2005 BBC UN 'rules out' genocide in Darfur.

July 3, 2005 BBC Panorama The New Killing Fields transcript: CHRIS MULLIN MP (Foreign Office minister): "What we think is not an effective way of stopping the killings is the way that some people... is the suggestion that some people are urging upon us, that somehow there's some western force that could come riding over the hills and everything will be alright again, but it's not like that. And the odds are that if any western force did intervene it would become bogged down and that some new cause for all the Jihadists in the world would emerge and we'd find ourselves very quickly being shot at by all sides. Plus we would probably destabilise the whole of Sudan which is the size of Western Europe and the last thing we want is a failed state the size of Western Europe on our hands in Africa."

Feb 4, 2006 Eric Reeves - As violence still displaces Daruris, US decides genocide no longer exist.

Feb 16. 2006 UK Conservative Party Speech to the Johns Hopkins SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations in Washington DC by former leader William Hague mentions the words Genocide in Darfur ...

TEXT: UK Foreign Secretary's speech to Darfur peace talks

"Meanwhile the people of Darfur continue to suffer. Two million or so are now in camps. Many more are homeless or displaced. Innocent people are still being killed. Women and girls are being raped. Children - the children of those represented here - are dying.

This has to stop. And the people who must stop it - indeed the only people who can stop it - are you, the representatives of the parties to the conflict.

What the international community now wants to see is an end to the haggling and posturing and the start of real action by you to put Darfur back together again. So as a first step I call on you today to take five specific and immediate actions:

First: Declare your positions and deployments as you are committed to doing.

Second: Respect and observe the ceasefire in Darfur, which you signed up to and begin to rebuild security there. The Government of Sudan bears primary responsibility for the events in Darfur and for the failure to ensure the security of its citizens there. It needs to cease its own offensive operations and rein in the janjaweed militias. But at the moment it is the rebel Movements who have been most guilty of late in launching new attacks: they have got to stop and rein in their fighters.

Third: attacks on the AU force and humanitarian convoys has to stop;

Fourth: facilitate the work of the humanitarian agencies not undermine;

And fifth: the perpetrators of atrocities have to be brought to justice not hidden.

So much for action on the ground. We need to see action here in Abuja too. That means an agreement reached here that stops the conflict for good and provides the basis for lasting peace, prosperity and justice in Darfur."

Full text (Sudan Tribune) 14 Feb 2006.

Sudan Blankets of Love - Children's project shines spotlight on war-torn Sudan

On Valentine's Day, when most people were thinking of the person closest to their hearts, a group of local home-schooled children - and parents - tried to draw attention to the suffering people of war-torn Sudan, reports Julia Pecquet Staff Writer for Tallahassee Democrat:

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.

"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."

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.



Photo: Baby at ZamZam camp for internally displaced people near El-Fashir, northern Darfur, Sudan by journalist Andrew Heavens

Dr James Moore, one of America's top bloggers, put the world's spotlight on Darfur, Sudan

Photo: Dr James F Moore

Considering today's communication technology, the Internet and free blogging tools, Jim Moore, author of The Second Superpower, comments on the blogging of Darfur and, as insightful as ever, concludes:

"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."

Photo: An African Union soldier from Kenya at ZamZam camp for internally displaced people near El-Fashir in northern Darfur, Sudan (by journalist Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square blog)

Sudan oil output to double by end 2006

Sudan's oil output is expected to double from current levels of around 330,000 barrels a day by the end of this year, Oil Ministry and oil executives has said Today, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The increase in oil production capacity will come with the completion of the Petrodar project in blocks three and seven in southeast Sudan, originally scheduled to come on stream but subject to delays.
- - -

Olympic champion Cheek donates prize money to Darfur

US speedskater Joey Cheek will donate the 25,000 dollars he will receive from the US Olympic Committee for his victory to "Right to Play", an athlete-driven charity organization, with the money earmarked for Darfur.



"I knew if I ever did something like this, I wanted to be able to give something back," Cheek said. "The best way I can say thanks is to donate my money to help somebody else."

Cheek's role model is former Norwegian speedskater Johan-Olaf Koss, who made a similar contribution in 1994 when the program was called Olympic Aid.

"The things he has done for other people have been an inspiration for me," Cheek said. "It's my hope that I can assist some people and walk in his large shoes."

AFP photo via Yahoo news 14 Feb 2006.

Glimmers of democracy breaking out in the Sudan?

Today, Reuters confirms Sudan withdraws controversial presidental decrees:

"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.

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.

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.

SLA shot down gov't helicopter in Shearia, South Darfur

Today, while Darfur rebel groups SLA and JEM negotiate peace with the Sudanese government at talks in Abuja, Minni Minnawi, the leader of a SLA faction, says his group shot down a government helicopter and captured one surviving crew member, named as Captain Muawiya Zubeir.

What are government helicopters doing flying over Shearia, South Darfur? Why are the Janjaweed still attacking rebel held areas? Where are the African Union troops in all of this? It's always the same when the Darfur peace talks are in session. Why aren't the Janajaweed leaders at the peace talks?

Note Sudan Watch entry April 3, 2005 Oil found in South Darfur - Oil issues threaten to derail Sudan hopes for peace

Further reading:

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

Britain's top diplomat Jack Straw at Darfur peace talks - Warns of sanctions

"Progress in the talks has been far too slow," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told delegates on a visit to the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, adding that neither side had done enough to observe a ceasefire in Darfur, reports Reuters today:

He said Britain would add names to a list of people from both sides already before the U.N. Security Council's Sanctions Committee for consideration. "Nor do we rule out additional U.N. sanctions against either the government of Sudan or the (rebel) movements if they fail to make progress," Straw said.

Darfur rebels have been most guilty of recent attacks

Britain believes that, while the Sudanese government bears responsibility for the security of its citizens there, it is the rebels who have been most guilty of recent attacks. "Our patience is not unlimited," Straw said, adding that if no agreement is reached soon, Britain and other countries will start looking at alternatives.

"You may well find that such alternatives leave some of the parties here and the absent leaders with a smaller role to play," he said, referring to the rebel commanders who were not present at the talks.

Straw also announced that Britain will give a further 1 million pounds ($1.74 million) to the African Union for its work in supporting the peace process.

AU top mediator hails UK efforts to bring peace in Darfur

TEXT - AU top mediator hails UK efforts to bring peace in Darfur. Excerpt:

"The fighting, the banditry and the level of violence on the ground in Darfur, is impacting negatively on our Talks, which is why we need once more to call upon the Parties, particularly, those who feel that they can fight and talk peace at the same time, to immediately put an end to all offensive actions on the ground in Darfur, as a mark of their commitment to a negotiated settlement of the conflict."

Africa 'a base for terrorism'

News 24 South Africa, 14 Feb 2006 - excerpt:

UK foreign minister Jack Straw said on Tuesday Africa is an attractive base for militants looking to launch worldwide attacks and the risk is set to grow over the next decade.

"Nowhere in the world is immune from terrorism, but Africa is now at particular risk," said Straw, on a three-day visit to Nigeria.

"Africa's porous borders, stretched security forces and location in relation to the Middle East and Europe make it attractive to terrorists", he said. "Sadly we think that the terrorist threat to and from Africa is likely to grow over the next 10 years."

Flowers in Darfur, Western Sudan

Photo: Flowers in El-Fashir, northern Darfur, Sudan (by journalist Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square blog)

Quote of the Day

Annan and President Bush agree to 'work together' on Darfur:

"I'm very happy that we have agreed to work together on the Darfur issue, working with other governments from Europe, from Asia and other regions to ensure that we do have an effective security presence on the ground," Mr. Annan told reporters after meeting the President. - UN News Centre 13 Feb 2006.

Sudan: Interview with Daniel Toole, director, Office of Emergency Programmes of UNICEF

Q: So Darfur has a dire year ahead?

A: I think so. It is a key year for Darfur. If we can't get progress, people will be very used to being in camps. Whereas southern Sudan is important because people have to see progress for normalisation, in Darfur the people have to see progress so that they can start thinking of normalisation and start to move home. It is not looking very likely.

Read full interview 13 Feb 2006 courtesy IRIN/ReliefWeb.

Ministers underscore commitment to NATO Response Force

NATO Update - 13 Feb. 2006 - Ministers also discussed the way ahead for NATO's operations and missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Mediterranean, as well as the Alliance's assistance to the African Union in Darfur.

Edith Lederer blogs behind the scenes at the UN

UN Correspondent Edith M. Lederer writes a periodic blog about life behind the scenes at the U.N. headquarters in New York. - via AP 13 Feb 2006.

Britain's top diplomat Straw to attend Darfur peace talks

On February 3, 2006 the UK set a list of priority actions on Darfur for the new Sudanese Government of National Unity.

Today, AFP reports British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will address everyone at the Darfur peace talks tomorrow, February 14 during a visit, an African Union spokesman said today:

"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.

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.

[via Coalition for Darfur with thanks]



Photo: Jack Straw holds talks with Sudanese officials over Darfur during a two-day visit to Sudan (Islam Online August 24, 2004)

See BBC photos of Mr Straw's Darfur visit August 2004.

Update

Feb 13, 2006 Straw to underscore democracy in Nigeria.

Feb 13, 2006 Harold Doan.com Press Release Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Jack Straw, is expected to criticise the lack of progress in the Darfur peace talks taking place in Abuja, during his visit to Nigeria on 14 and 15 February. He will also deliver a keynote speech outlining the UK's agenda for Africa in 2006 and beyond.

In his address to the Darfur peace talks, Mr Straw will say that the commitments made by the participants to the talks have not been met and that both the Government of Sudan and the rebel movements have repeatedly violated the ceasefire.

British PM Blair vows to keep up pressure on aid for Africa

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is currently in South Africa for a summit of centre-left government leaders, reports Reuters today.

Mr Blair vows to keep up pressure on international help for Africa, saying the wealthy world still needs to make good its promises to give aid, trade and peacekeeping help.

Britain was on track to meet a goal of devoting 0.7 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to aid for poor countries and that other initiatives, such as a plan for near universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, were also making headway.

Full report (Reuters) 13 February 2006.

Further reading:

Feb 1, 2006 (Reuters) - At the UN, the US and Britain were drafting a Security Council statement for approval next week that would ask UN officials to draft plans for a Darfur force as a first step, council envoys said. But the diplomats did not expect council authorisation this month when US Ambassador John Bolton holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member body.

Oct 3, 2005 Message to Sudan: What happened to Tony Blair's 5-point plan?



Photo: British PM Tony Blair in Khartoum, October 2004: the first visit to Sudan by a British leader since Sudan gained its independence from Britain in 1956. See Oct 6, 2004 Blair arrives in Khartoum to press for Darfur peace - Blair outlines demands to Sudan.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair writes "Towards real action in Africa" - AU Standby Force of 20,000 personnel

Read Towards real action in Africa by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Excerpt:

"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.

BBC Arabic road show at Khartoum University, 6 March 2006

Today, Trade Arabia.com reports that BBC Arabic radio and online have launched an interactive road show of events in five locations across the Arabic-speaking world designed to involve young people and encourage them to debate the key issues which affect their daily lives and their long-term future: 'Your future, who decides it?' launches in Cairo February 20 with interactive booths and conversation-promoting materials at places young people meet and mingle, such as universities, shopping malls, gyms and coffee shops.

'Your future, who decides it?' debates are broadcast live on BBC Arabic and webcast live on bbcarabic.com at 15.00 GMT. Note:

Khartoum University, March 6: Sudanese youth and the search for identity. Guest speakers include Sudan media specialists, Ali Shamou and Ammar Ahmed Adam. BBC presenter Safaa Faisal.

Congo leader's GBP 169,000 hotel bill

Yesterday's Sunday Times article by Tony Allen-Mills says the leader of one of Africa's poorest countries paid more than GBP 100,000 in cash towards a GBP 169,000 hotel bill run up by his entourage during last year's UN summit in New York, according to court documents obtained by The Sunday Times:

"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.

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."

Full story.



Photo (Wikepedia): Jacques Chirac (R) and Denis Sassou-Nguesso president (1979-92, 1997-) of Congo (Brazzaville)

Jan 25, 2006 New AU chairman would welcome UN support for AU troops in Darfur: International force in Darfur must be African-led.

Jan 23, 2006 President of Congo (Brazzaville) to succeed Obasanjo as AU chair