Sudan renews its rejection of UN force to Darfur

Sudan renewed its opposition to the transfer of the African Union peacekeeping mission to the UN. It said that such takeover is not indicated in the signed deal with one rebel faction earlier in May. Full report Sudan Tribune 15 May 2006.

May 15 2006 UN News Centre: UN moves on several fronts to reinforce Darfur peace accord - Contrary to what had been reported, he [Egeland[ said the Sudanese Government had not yet agreed to a UN force and at present was discussing the proposal.

AU to transfer Darfur force to UN by September 2006

The African Union on Monday agreed to transfer its peacekeeping force in Darfur to the UN by the end of September or earlier.

Nigerian FM Olu Adeniji, chairing a ministerial meeting of the AUs Peace and Security Council, said the AUs 7,300-strong force in Darfur could leave before the Sept 30 deadline if the UN force was ready.

UN SGSR, Jan Pronk, told reporters in Addis Ababa after the meeting ended. "It is now high time to take very concrete steps towards a stronger force." Full report AP/ST 15 May 2006.

Darfur rebels given until end of May to sign peace deal

The African Union today gave two rebel groups (Khalil's JEM and Nur's SLA faction) a further two weeks to sign a peace deal, Reuters reported:

Nigerian FM Olu Adeniji, chair of AU Peace and Security Council, said the two hold-out rebel groups had been given more time to accept the peace accord.

"The extension of the signature for those who didn't sign the agreement will be laid open until the end of May, after which, failure to sign will indicate non-commitment to the peace process and the AU will take a decision," he said.

But one of Nur's close advisers said the international community should press Sudan's government to grant some extra concessions to make the deal more acceptable to the rebels.

"If we agree on this document as it stands because of pressure from the international community, we will not be able to return to our people," said Babiker Mohamed Abdallah.

"If the government is not serious, two weeks is not enough. If it is serious, even two days is enough," he told Reuters in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Photo: US Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, right, talks with Jendayi Frazer, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, and British Cabinet member Hilary Benn sitting far laft, while Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, behind, walks pass at the peace talks meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 5, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: Minni Arcua Minnawi (L), leader of main rebel group SLA and Ibrahim Khalil, leader of the smaller JEM rebel group participate in a meeting with Sudan government representatives during negotiations on a peace plan for Darfur in Abuja, Nigeria May 2, 2006.



Photo: Khatha Nanluho, who is a rebel with the SLA stands outside of the venue of the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday, May 2, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: Ahmed Tugod, the chief negotiator for Sudanese Justice and Equity Movement (JEM), gestures at the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, May 3, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: SLA rebels waiting at their bases in Gellab, North Darfur, Sudan, in 2004, during a meeting with Africa Union officers. (AFP/File/Marco Longari)



Photo: Rebel faction leaders appear at the exchange ceremony of the African Union (AU) draft peace agreement for Darfur in Abuja May 5, 2006.



Photo: Sudanese government delegation members rejoice inside the venue of the peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 5, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: SLA leader Minni Arcua Minnawi (L) is congratulated by Africa Union Commission President Alpha Oumar Konare after he signed the deal with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja May 5, 2006 to end three years of fighting that has killed many of thousands of people and forced 2 million to flee their homes. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde



Photo: An unidentified member of the SLA, reacts before they walk out of the peace talks meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 5, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: Abdel Wahid Nur of the SLA faction, second right, together with members of his group walks out of the peace talks meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May, 5 2006 refusing to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement. (AP Photo/George Osodi)

Chad's President Deby wins 3rd term, opposition cries foul

Idriss Deby won Chad's presidential elections with a substantial majority, according to Chadian election officials, but opposition parties that boycotted the ballot have denounced the process as a sham. - May 15 2006 IRIN.



Photo: A Chadian soldier stands next to a rocket launcher on Thursday, April 20, 2006 outside Parliament that was captured from rebels during a rebel attack on the capital N'djamena.

May 16 2006 Reuters Chad opposition rejects Deby re-election: Deby, 54, a French-trained pilot, has ruled Chad since his Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) rebel group seized power in a revolt from the east in 1990. He won elections in 1996 and 2001, though international observers noted irregularities both times.



Photo: A Chadian woman made homeless by warfare sits next to a fire on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 near the refugee camp Kou Kou Angarana in Chad, some 30 kilometers from the Sudan border. The election on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 came nearly three weeks after rebels who had gathered near the Chad-Darfur border launched a pre-dawn attack on the capital in a failed bid to oust President Idriss Deby, and after opposition parties called for a boycott of the vote. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide or ethnic cleansing (and what is the difference between the two) or civil war?

On 26 April 2006, Ben Lieberman emailed me via Sudan Watch, saying:



Subject: Re: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Hello,

Thanks for your useful blog. I was very interested to find this since I am teaching a class on African history, and I have written a history of ethnic cleansing in Europe and Western Asia.

I think your recent discussion of the definitions of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing was very clear. In practice, I think the two can merge together in that the methods used to expel a group can in some cases predictably lead to genocide.

Thanks for your work.
Ben Lieberman

Fitchburg State College
Fitchburg Massachusetts
- - -

I emailed the following reply to Ben 14 May 2006:



Subject: Re: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Dear Ben,

Thank you for your interesting email. Please forgive my delay in replying. I was pleased to hear from you, and started to reply right away but was unable to complete due to an avalanche of news reports appearing in the run up to the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement.

I thought of you today when I read an article in the Los Angeles Times (14 May 2006) entitled "It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide?" by Michael Clough, director of the Africa program at the Council on Foreign Relations from 1987 to 1996. He is the author of "Free at Last? United States Policy Toward Africa and the End of the Cold War."

To save you registering with the LA Times to read the piece, I am copying it in full, here below.

I'd like to publish an excerpt from the piece (probably the opening paragraph) at my blog Sudan Watch, along with the information in your email. Would you mind if I published your email in full?

If you do mind, I wonder if you would be kind enough to please send me a few lines (or however much you can manage) of text that would be OK to quote you on that explains what you mean when you say "In practice, I think the two can merge together in that the methods used to expel a group can in some cases predictably lead to genocide."

I'm having difficulty attempting to articulate in a short piece about why (when some critics see little difference between genocide and ethnic cleansing - and the findings of the UN's International Commission of Inquiry* on Darfur concluded the Sudanese government was NOT pursuing a policy of genocide in Darfur) some UN officials like UN SGSR Jan Pronk and others continue to refer to Darfur as ethnic cleansing.

My view is Darfur is not genocide or ethnic cleansing. It's civil war, no?

Here's some wishful thinking: I wish you could write a piece (and, if you can, get it published in mainstream press) that answers this question:

It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide or ethnic cleansing (and what is the difference between the two?) or is it civil war?

Thanks again for your email and kind words.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Ingrid (Jones)
England, UK
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com

*The International Criminal Court (ICC) - Summary [Apr 7 2006 UN assembly president calls Darfur violence "ethnic cleansing" - The International Criminal Court (ICC) Summary: The International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, chaired by the Italian judge Antonio Cassese, concluded in its report published on 31 January 2005 that crimes against humanity and war crimes such as killings, rape, pillaging and forced displacement have been committed since 1 July 2002 by the government-backed forces and the Janjaweed militia. It declared, however, that the government of Sudan was not pursuing a policy of genocide in Darfur]

Apr 8 2006 What is the difference between genocide and ethnic cleansing?

Apr 9 2006 Juan Mendez, UN Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide, tells press "definitely ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur"

Apr 9 2006 The Genocide Convention required States to prevent genocide - Mendez
- - -

Today, 15 May 2006, I received the following reply from Ben:



Subject: Re: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Dear Ingrid,

Thanks very much for your reply. The Michael Clough essay is indeed very interesting, though as you'll see I have doubts about his conclusions. Please feel free to post my original email or this new email--I've tried to improve my explanation.
Best regards,
Ben

Here's my (modeslty) extended explanation with a brief comment on the Clough op-ed.

In discussing Darfur or any other similar crisis it is important to keep in mind that crimes such as ethnic cleansing and genocide do not exist in a single form, but fall on a spectrum of violence. Ethnic cleansing can be defined as the removal, through violence and intimidation of an ethnic group from a given territory, but the victims may be defined by ethnic identity, race, religion, or by some combination of the three. In genocide, the goal is not removal of the group but extermination.

In practice, however, ethnic cleansing and genocide exist on a spectrum of violence. The goals of removal or extermination can be distinct, but ethnic cleansing and genocide can merge together because the methods used to expel a group can in some cases predictably lead to genocide. In the Armenian Genocide, for example, most of the Armenian population of Anatolia was deported, though many, especially men were massacred. However, it was predictable that a very large proportion of Armenian civilians deported south into the desert under the threat of continuous attack would die, and as I point out in my book Terrible Fate, contemporaries, included Germans who served a government allied with Turkey, knew that mass death was predictable.

Michael Clough is obviously extremely knowledgeable about Dafur, but some of the arguments in his Los Angeles Times op-ed may not apply to the issue of defining genocide.

First, the boundaries between the identity of victims and perpetrators in both genocide and ethnic cleansing can be malleable. There is often a paradox to ethnic cleansing. Many who witness violence are shocked not just at the horrors of killing and rape, but because they remember previously close or at least amicable relations between victims and perpetrators, but at the very same time they may stress a different picture of old tensions.

Secondly, a policy of combating insurgency by attacking villages and displacing civilians can be entirely consistent with ethnic cleansing if the goal of such a policy is to drive out large numbers of civilians and remake ethnic and or religious maps.
- - -



Photo: Historian Benjamin Lieberman is professor of history at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts and a graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago. His recent lecture at Clark University focused on the topic of his new book - the first comprehensive history of ethnic cleansing in Europe - entitled Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe (Ivan R. Dee, Publisher). He has also written From Recovery to Catastrophe, a study of Weimar Germany. He lives in Maynard, Massachusetts, USA.
- - -

It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide? The Sudanese government has targeted villagers, but not a whole race.
by Michael Clough
Los Angeles Times May 14, 2006

GENOCIDE IS not being committed in Darfur. This is not a popular position, I know. But to call what's happening there "genocide" when it's not is unlikely to help the people of Darfur - and could even make it harder to mobilize the public to respond to similar crises in the future.

For 25 years, I've studied and written about conflicts, human rights catastrophes and humanitarian emergencies in Africa. I'm all too familiar with the many official excuses for inaction that can be given while millions of civilians die. Sadly, one of the reasons I prefer working as an attorney for prisoners on death row, rather than as a foreign policy analyst, is that I find it far less depressing than trying to change U.S. policy toward Africa.

The debate about what to do in Darfur - and the use of anti-genocide rhetoric to arouse public concern - has only deepened my misgivings about the way the United States responds to African crises.

From September 2004 to July 2005, I worked as Human Rights Watch's interim advocacy director for Africa, helping to publicize the organization's findings in Darfur. Beginning in February 2004, Human Rights Watch researchers documented horrifying abuses and released evidence that the Sudanese government was responsible for them.

There are no reliable estimates of how many Africans have died in Darfur. Including those killed in attacks and those who have died from disease or malnutrition, the total could be as high as 200,000.

As with so many tragedies in Africa, no one had heard of Darfur until U.N. humanitarian organizations began reporting that hundreds of thousands of civilians had been driven out of their villages. If the world had noticed and responded in early 2003, when the Sudanese government first armed groups of Arab nomads, known as janjaweed, and ordered them to attack villages suspected of harboring antigovernment rebels, the question of genocide would have never arisen - and thousands could have been saved.

But it wasn't until December 2003 that U.N. relief officials warned about an impending humanitarian disaster in Darfur. Soon after, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported that janjaweed, in concert with Sudanese military units, were slaughtering and displacing villagers.

Both organizations immediately urged the United Nations, the U.S. and other major powers to pressure the Sudanese government to call off the attacks and provide relief to victims flowing into refugee camps in Chad. But lawyers and researchers within Human Rights Watch (and probably Amnesty International) concluded that the events in Darfur did not rise to the level of genocide, a legal designation in international law, because there was no proof of "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such."

That didn't stop activists - inspired in part by Samantha Power's book, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" - from invoking the emotive power of the word "genocide" to mobilize the international community. They buttressed their case by drawing attention to the fact that the atrocities in Darfur were coming to light as the world was holding ceremonies commemorating the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

In September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, after hearing from a team of lawyers and investigators sent to Darfur by the State Department, famously declared that "genocide has been committed in Darfur." Congress had already done so.

But the pattern of human rights abuses in Darfur is very different from what happened in Rwanda. As Alison Des Forges, a senior advisor to the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, and others have documented, the slaughter in Rwanda was carefully planned and ruthlessly carried out in a matter of weeks; the clear intent was to eliminate the Tutsi population of Rwanda. In all, 800,000 people were butchered.

In Darfur, the Sudanese government has targeted African villagers. But it is not clear that the government's intent is to wipe out these Africans. The assaults followed successful rebel attacks on some government military facilities. In unleashing janjaweed and targeting the rebels' base of support, the government used the same counterinsurgency tactics it employed in a decades-old war against southerners. (Darfur is in eastern Sudan.) The Sudanese government is certainly not the first to combat an insurgency by attacking sympathetic villages and displacing civilians.

Paradoxically, labeling the atrocities in Darfur genocide may exacerbate the underlying conflict and make it more difficult to create the conditions necessary for civilians to return and live in peace.

Alex De Waal, an activist, longtime expert on Darfur and advisor to the African Union, has written that ethnic, tribal and racial lines in Darfur have been far more malleable than the genocide characterization suggests. Before Darfur, there had been conflicts between janjaweed's nomadic Arabs and the African pastoral tribes that support the rebels. But these clashes were chiefly the result of environmental pressures and competition for land, not deep-seated ethnic or racial animosities. And, until 2003, Darfur was relatively peaceful.

BY CONTRAST, the genocide in Rwanda was presaged by a history of attempts by Hutus and Tutsis to slaughter each other. Even so, many scholars have attributed the tribes' antagonism to colonial policies that reinforced the ethnic dimension of economic and political competition.

Over the long run, peace in Darfur will require Africans and Arabs to live together. Calling their conflict "genocidal" won't make that easier. In Rwanda, for instance, the Tutsi government that came to power after the genocide now uses the rhetoric of genocide to rationalize political repression.

There is also a grave risk in raising the specter of genocide to galvanize a global response to the human rights abuses in Darfur - the international community may be less inclined to react to serious abuses that don't rise to the level of genocide. This could be truly tragic because the only way to prevent genocide is to act at the first sign of threats to civilians.

Of the many tragedies of Darfur, one is that it had to be mislabeled a genocide before politicians and activists were stirred to respond.

Further reading

May 15 2006 Genocide: Lessons from the 20th Century - by Dr Matthew Levinger, director of the Academy for Genocide Prevention at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, in OneWorld - via CFD blog.

May 17 2006 The Daily Star Genocide: a crime lost in definition - by Jerome Mayer-Cantu, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley who closely follows genocide and international law issues. - via CFD.

UK's Benn says "This is a moment for Darfur"

The international community should add to the pressure on rebel factions to sign a peace deal for Darfur, UK International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said today - Reuters' Daniel Wallis:

"If you have won in essence what you're looking for, what possible justification is there to carry on fighting and prolong the suffering of the people of Darfur, who have suffered far too much already?" Benn said.

"We must try, even now, to persuade the other two rebel groups, in particular Abdel Wahed, because during the signing ceremony in Abuja some of his delegation came and said 'We think we should be signing', Benn said.

"This is a moment for Darfur and there is no doubt it has been international pressure that has brought us to this point," he told Reuters in northern Uganda, where he is visiting camps for people displaced by a separate conflict.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM UN's EGELAND: Abuja pact only hope for Darfur

Reuters report, just in:

The Darfur peace deal signed in Abuja last week is the only hope to end the conflict in Sudan's vast west and if it is not enforced the region will spin out of control, the top UN humanitarian official said today:

"If it is implemented, we (the UN and aid agencies) could start planning for recovery and a return home of the more than 2 million refugees," said Jan Egeland, the UN under-secretary for humanitarian affairs.

"If it is not, it will mean a downward spiral which will get totally out of control and go into the abyss," he added.

Photo: Jan Egeland, the UN top emergency relief coordinator, says he is optimistic the agreement to end the conflict in Darfur can work. But he warns of serious consequences, if it is not implemented. The UN official also appealed to Sudan's government to approve deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. See VOA report by Lisa Schlein 15 May 2006. (AP photo)

Further reports

May 15 2006 Reuters Get on board Darfur peace deal or become irrelevant: "Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the Council should take appropriate measures ... including requesting the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against them," Chair of AU Commission said in a statement. AU chief Darfur mediator warned Nur he would become irrelevant unless he accepted an agreement already signed by his rival Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the biggest SLA faction. "In every situation where people have not been on board, eventually they will have to come on board or become irrelevant," Salim Ahmed Salim told Reuters.

May 15 2006 Sudan Tribune SLA's Nur urges AU to consider its demands: In a letter sent yesterday to the Chair of AU Commission Oumar Konare, the leader of a faction of the main rebel SLA Abdelwahid al-Nur called the AU to put pressure on the Sudanese government to sign a supplementary document related to their demands - and also indicated the three demands of the faction (see report to read demands)

May 15 2006 Reuters/ST Sudanese govt rejects Darfur SLA-Nur demands: "We received a response from the Sudanese government and it was not positive enough for us to go ahead and sign," said Ibrahim Madibo, a close adviser to Nur who is still in the Nigerian capital Abuja, where the peace talks took place. Nur wanted the government to meet his key demands in an annex accord, after which he would sign the broader peace deal.



May 15 2006 Sudan Tribune AU raises sanction against holdout rebels, urges Sudan to accept UN force: The AU gave two holdout Darfur rebel groups a 24-hour deadline to sign a peace deal with Sudanese government or face UN sanctions. Also it urged Sudan to accept a UN force in Darfur. AU commission chair Konare said AU would ask the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on the JEM and a faction of the SLA unless they signed the deal by Tuesday, when it is set to be implemented. "I call on them to hasten to append their signatures, without any conditions, to the document, before its implementation on 16 May 2006," he told a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council.

May 15, 2006 BBC (Jonah Fisher) Can Darfur's peace survive? - No-one was expecting Darfur's peace agreement to bring about an immediate transformation on the ground. But the short time since the deal in Abuja have shown the size of the challenge ahead. "We need to survive the next few weeks and that is through the African Union and humanitarian activities," Mr Egeland said. "It's not over. We all need to seize the opportunity now to enforce peace." Sudan has yet to approve the sending of UN peacekeepers while funding shortages mean that Darfur's food rations for May have been cut in half.

Get on board Darfur peace deal or become irrelevant

The African Union ratcheted up the pressure on two rebel factions today to sign a peace agreement for Darfur, threatening international sanctions if they did not come around, Reuters' Tsegaye Tadesse reported - excerpt:

Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union (AU) commission, urged a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to sign the deal unconditionally.

"Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the Council should take appropriate measures ... including requesting the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions against them," he said in a statement.

The warning came as the AU's Peace and Security Council met in Addis Ababa to discuss how to push forward the peace process in Darfur. Konare called for more AU troops to be sent to Darfur and urged Khartoum to produce a plan to disarm pro-government militias.

In another sign of a concerted drive by the AU to pull the rebels into the deal, its chief Darfur mediator warned Nur he would become irrelevant unless he accepted an agreement already signed by his rival Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the biggest SLA faction.

"In every situation where people have not been on board, eventually they will have to come on board or become irrelevant," Salim Ahmed Salim told Reuters.

Mubarak: Egypt stands ready to help turn DPA to a reality

In a letter of commendation sent to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt underlined the important role, that Nigeria and its leadership have played to resolve the crisis in Darfur, AND/ThisDay reported May 15, 2006 - excerpt:

[President Mubarak said] "I wish to congratulate you on the successful conclusion of Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja. In this occasion, I have the pleasure and honor to convey to you and Nigerian people, Egypt's deep appreciation to all the efforts you exerted in order to help the parties reach such a historical agreement, especially your Excellency's personal involvement and dedication at the final critical moments".

He said that the international community would continue to put the Abuja agreement into practical measures by building up confidence among all the parties concerned, and emphasized his country's determination to contribute to the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts and its willingness to take part in the peacekeeping forces which will be stationed in the region.

"Allow me to assure you of Egypt's full commitment to a speedy restoration of peace, stability, and prosperity in Darfur". "Egypt stands ready to allocate as much resources and capabilities as it can during the coming period, in order to turn Darfur peace agreement to a reality, and to bring peace stability back to the people of Darfur", Mubarak added.

Note, the report explains a meeting will be held this week in New York for Darfur friends, namely Nigeria, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo and Libya with the five permanent member states in the UN Security Council to notify the UNSC of the agreement officially.

Also, in another development, Egypt has submitted an educational initiative for the African countries. The initiative aims at providing advanced education in Africa by offering 200 scholarships annually over a period of four years in the Egyptian universities for African youths especially from west and central Africa and the Nile basin countries.

Annan says timing critical for Darfur aid

In an editorial in Monday's Financial Times, Annan said peace in Darfur was fragile and there was "no time to lose". He said the only guarantor of security there, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), needed immediate help, Reuters reported 15 May 2006.

The AU Peace and Security Council was to meet in Addis Ababa today to discuss the next step in Darfur. The UN and western nations want the AU to turn over the Darfur peacekeeping operation to UN troops.

Sudan to give $700 mln for Dafur rehabilitation fund

Sudan will give 700 million dollars for the Darfur rehabilitation fund, a Sudanese minister said, the official SUNA reported. In doing so, Sudanese government aims to encourage the donors to extend their contributions for the fund, said The State Minister at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, Lual Deng, Saturday. Full report (Khartoum May 13) Sudan Tribune May 15, 2006.

Rebel JEM commanders in South Darfur say they want peace

Sudan Tribune report (Khartoum) 15 May 2006 says South Darfur province commanders from the rebel JEM called on the group's leader Khalil Ibrahim to sign the peace deal that was agreed in Abuja on May 5.

"The agreement puts an end to the suffering of the people of Darfur, an objective we are striving to achieve," SUNA quoted Abdelrahim Adam Abu Rishah, JEM Secretary for South Darfur, as saying.

A number of JEM field commanders in South Darfur issued a statement declaring their joining of "the peace parade" by approving the peace agreement, the state-run news agency said.

The South Darfur-based faction said their approval of the agreement "was a result of the tribal reconciliation that have created a desire for tribal coexistence in the state."

SLA's Nur still unwilling to join Darfur peace deal - No let up in push for him to join

Efforts to persuade a rebel leader from Sudan's Darfur region to join a peace deal were likely to continue beyond Monday's deadline because his refusal to sign poses a serious threat to the accord, diplomats said. Full report by Estelle Shirbon (Reuters) May 14, 2006.

Also, see copy of petition in previous entry here below.

Petition by Darfur Daily News blog

Darfur Daily News blog claims to be, quote "a reliable source of news and information about what is going on in Darfur at the moment, located in The Hague."

The blog author of Darfur Daily News has organised a petition online targeted at UN, EU, AU, USA, UK, Civil Society, H Rights, International Community.

Entitled "Complete, Inclusive and Comprehensive Peace for Darfur", the petition has 82 signatures to date - goal is 400,000.

Message appears to be: "The door for comprehensive and complete peace in Darfur should be left open."

Note, at the moment Darfur Daily News' petition page hosted at thePetitionSite.com is temporarily unavailable, so I am copying the page of demands and publishing it in full at Ethiopia Watch, the sister blog of Sudan Watch.

If you are unable to view Darfur Daily News blog's petition at www.thepetitionsite.com, please click here.

Darfur's SLA rebel faction leader Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur receives a letter from US President George W Bush

Margaret Warner of America's News Hour reports from Sudan on the obstacles facing politicians and refugees before a peace deal can be achieved. She has been in Sudan for a week and reports on May 12, 2006 from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Click here to read or hear interview with:

MAJZOUB AL-KHALIFA, Presidential Adviser
SUDANESE CITIZEN (through translator)
HASSAN AL-TURABI, Leader, Popular National Congress
CAMERON HUME, U.S. Charge D'Affaires
AMIN ABDELLATIF, Foreign News Editor, Alwan

Snippets from interview:



MARGARET WARNER: Well, Ray, one of the groups, called JEM, is an Islamist group that always said they'll never sign a deal, so that's off the table.

But the other large group, which is lead by a fellow named Abdel Wahid Nur, even though it is not a heavily armed group -- and so, militarily, it's not hugely important -- the party's want him to sign on because he represents the largest tribe in Darfur, the Fur tribe. That's what Darfur means: Land of the Four.

And they are by far the most populous group. And anyone who's really looked at the situation out there feels that to have excluded the most populous tribe from the peace agreement just is a recipe for instability.

So Mr. Nur is down, apparently still in Nigeria, I'm told. The president of Nigeria is leaning on him very, very hard. He got this letter from President Bush saying: You know, I'll really be watching the implementation. I'll make sure it's implemented right.

He was apparently complaining about the letter. There wasn't enough. And someone told me today that -- Obasanjo, the president of Nigeria, said: I don't even get a letter from President Bush. You got a letter, and you still got questions?

But Nur apparently wants more assurances. So what's under discussion now is having the African Union, which has been mediating the deal, come up with yet another letter that has some assurances. But the parties are not willing to change the terms.

So I don't think we'll know -- I mean, we may know this weekend -- but Monday is D-Day. He's been invited to come to this big event in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia if he's ready or if he has signed the deal.

CAMERON HUME: I have a very strong feeling that, like most people, the leaders of the Sudanese government would rather be subject to less opprobrium and to be better accepted in the world.

President Bashir was not made the head of the African Union a few months ago because of concern among African countries over the consequences of the ongoing conflict in Darfur. And I think that kind of a setback has been troubling to this government, and they would rather not be the polecats of the world.

MAJZOUB AL-KHALIFA: We are making peace on the side. And to make violence, killing, rape and that, and directed by the government? What a government can do that. Nothing of that at all. But there is a crisis in Darfur that is true, but there is a tribal conflict.

HASSAN AL-TURABI: I mean, if there were negotiations going along, people can hold their arms for a while. But if they know that the negotiations are over, this is the settlement, the settlement is not satisfactory, there will be an eruption somewhere.

MARGARET WARNER: In the refugee camps, we found little evidence that residents have any faith in the promises made by the Sudanese government. Indeed, many refugees, even one listening to short-wave radio, were unaware that a peace deal had been reached.

SUDANESE CITIZEN (through translator): I don't know anything about it, nothing about it at all.

[via CFD with thanks]

Six killed in Darfur clashes

Six people have been killed after protesters in Darfur opposed to the recent peace deal between rebels and the Sudanese government clashed with police, Aljazeera (Agencies) reported May 14, 2006.

May 14 2006 Sudan's Turabi condemns Darfur Peace Agreement - Al Turabi Is a Chameleon

SLA's Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur refuses to join peace deal by May 15 deadline saying "at this stage we are not signing because we get nothing"

Reuters report (Estelle Shirbon) today says a rebel leader from Darfur has rebuffed the latest proposals from AU mediators for him to join a peace deal despite intense pressure by diplomats desperate to gain wider support for the accord. Excerpt:

Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) refused the peace settlement signed on May 5 by the Sudanese government and rival SLA factional leader Minni Arcua Minnawi to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

Nur says he will sign the peace deal, but only if first the government accepts some of his key demands in an annex accord.

The demands include greater compensation from Khartoum for Darfur war victims and greater SLA involvement in monitoring the disarmament of the Janjaweed and the return home of refugees.

"At this stage we are not signing because we get nothing, but we are trying to push the government to make some concessions ... If the government accepts and signs, then Abdel Wahed will sign," said close adviser Ibrahim Madibo on Sunday.

Note, the report explains this looks unlikely to happen before a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council in Ethiopia on Monday that is considered a deadline to add new signatures to the deal:

Early on Sunday, senior AU mediators who had been focusing full-time on Nur since May 5 left the Nigerian capital Abuja, venue of the peace talks that led to the accord.

But in a sign that intense efforts to gain Nur's acceptance would continue until the last minute, one of the mediators was called back into town as he was about to check into his flight to leave Nigeria. "I am here for another day," he said.

The mediators had argued that Nur should sign first and negotiate with the government later. They say the agreement cannot be renegotiated as two parties have signed it, but there is room for extra concessions during the implementation phase.

"Our fear is that if he signs, the government will not give anything afterwards," Madibo told Reuters.

This has made the last week of discussions involving Nur, Minnawi, Khartoum and international diplomats very delicate.

Sudan's Turabi condemns Darfur Peace Agreement - Al Turabi Is a Chameleon

The leader of the opposition Popular National Congress party (PNC), Hassan Abdellah al-Turabi, has condemned the Darfur Peace Agreement, Sudan Tribune reported today - excerpt:

In an interview with satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera Al-Turabi said the main rebel group in the region, SLA, signed the accord under US pressure and threats of prosecuting those who will not sign it.

Note, last Thursday the SLA's Minnawi contacted the press to disprove claims by rivals that he signed Darfur Peace Agreement under pressures.

I think blogger Sudanese Thinker hits the nail on the head with his blog entry saying Al Turabi Is a Chameleon - excerpt:

Turabi condemned the peace deal saying it wasn't in the interest of the Darfuris. Sure! Since when did Turabi care about anything besides himself?

For those of you who don't know much about Turabi, let me tell you this... He is the one person mostly responsible for all the problems Sudanese suffer from today. He's extremely smart, charismatic, manipulative and most importantly wicked!

I think the best decision Omar El-Bashir ever made was to put him on house arrest and keep him under control. Believe me folks, if Turabi was still in the picture no peace would have been possible with the south or now with the west.

May 11 2006 AU mediators issue Open Letter to Darfur rebels: May 15 deadline to sign DPA

May 12 2006 Sudan's top diplomat in Washington calls for international community to call for measures against those who attempt to undercut Darfur peace accord

May 12 2006 Nur's Darfur rebel SLA faction sees progress in peace talks

May 12 2006 Minnawi's SLA delegation arrives in northern Darfur to popularise peace accord

May 14 2006 Reuters (Opheera McDoom) Violence follows Darfur peace, Sudanese unhappy - "It is a big mess," said Bashir Adam Rahman, political officer in the opposition Popular Congress Party. "This is going to create more divisions and more fighting between the Darfurians," he said.

"They (the international community) want to hail themselves on paper regardless of what's happening on the ground -- they didn't do their homework," said Mariam al-Mahdi, spokesperson of the popular Umma Party whose traditional base is in Darfur. "That's why the Abuja peace deal is almost near to a catastrophe rather than a step towards a resolution."

Darfur food crisis: Khartoum's sitting on vast amounts of Sudan's grain that could save tens of thousands of Sudanese lives - Eric Reeves

Eric Reeves, an American English professor living and working in Boston, MA, USA, says the food crisis in Darfur could be averted if Khartoum were to make humane use of the 300,000-500,000 metric tons of grain within its strategic food reserve. Excerpt from his opinion piece at Sudan Tribune May 14, 2006:

Humanitarian logisticians estimate that it requires approximately 17,000 metric tons of food per million people in need per month. There are over 3 million people in need of food in Darfur, and many more just as acutely in need in eastern and southern Sudan. This enormous quantity of grain---which could save many tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Sudanese lives---is sitting idly at various locations in Sudan. Khartoum's National Islamic Front regime refuses to disperse it, or even to sell it at a reasonable price to the UN'S World Food Program. According to the US Agency for International Development, Khartoum sets a price so high that it is actually cheaper to procure food elsewhere and transport it to Darfur and other places of need.

To deny Sudanese civilians access to Sudanese food at time of critical need offers a powerfully revealing glimpse of what the National Islamic Front represents---and of what, most fundamentally, it means to be "marginalized" in Sudan.

- - -

Eric Reeves supported campaign to force Talisman Energy out of southern Sudan, accusing the company of complicity in genocide

Excerpt from "How the world shed light on Darfur" (Alan Freeman, May 13, 2006 Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada):

It was 1998 and Prof. Reeves was immersed in an earlier personal passion, wood turning. A skilled artisan, he created bowls from exotic African hardwoods and sold them at U.S. galleries with proceeds going to his favourite charity, Medecins sans frontieres.

He still recalls a discussion with Joelle Tanguy, head of the charity's U.S. wing, who told him that southern Sudan was the most ignored humanitarian disaster at the time. "I told her, I'll see what I can do. As it turns out, it became a life-defining moment."

Prof. Reeves soon was spearheading the campaign to force Talisman Energy to sell its extensive oil holdings in southern Sudan, accusing the Calgary company of complicity in what he called the genocide of the largely Christian and animist inhabitants of the region.

Over the next four years, Prof. Reeves was a key figure in pressuring major U.S. pensions into dumping their holdings, depressing Talisman's stock price and forcing it to sell out to an Indian oil firm in early 2003.

Some critics suggest that the Indian oil firm, along with its partners from China and Malaysia, are impervious to the kind of criticism that made a publicly held company like Talisman act with a higher sense of corporate responsibility.

"Talisman always claimed that it was a force for good and a force for moderation." Prof. Reeves said. "That's just horse crap."

Just as peace was arriving in southern Sudan in 2003, Darfur was exploding, so Prof. Reeves changed his focus. He travelled to Sudan to see the crisis first-hand. When he returned to Massachusetts, he was diagnosed with leukemia. It has been a long slog.

He has taken two semesters of medical leave in addition to three semesters of leave without pay for his Sudan work.

"My immune system got hammered by the last chemo so I'm continuing to take anti-bacterials and anti-virals. But I'm feeling great. My energy is where it normally is. Right now, I'm fully in remission. The battle will need to be fought again, but for now, I'm good."

As for Darfur, Prof. Reeves doesn't see the signing of the peace accord as any reason for celebration. He is not convinced the pact will hold and does not believe that Western countries will provide the needed soldiers and firepower to turn the weak African Union peace force into a robust UN-sponsored peacekeeping contingent.

"We are putting literally millions of people at risk. It's unconscionable that the world community watches while these people continue to face extraordinary security threats, extraordinary humanitarian shortcomings, which will only get worse as the rainy-season hunger gap gets worse."

"I'm terribly pessimistic. I think we can see more mortality in the next half year than we've seen to date. These people are so vulnerable. I am deeply dispirited. How can it be that we watch Rwanda unfold in slow motion before our eyes?"

- - -

May 6 2006 (Nicholas Kristof NYT - via CFD) Heroes of Darfur: For three gruelling years, Eric Reeves has been fighting for his life, struggling in a battle with leukemia that he may eventually lose. And in his spare time, sometimes from his hospital bed, he has emerged as an improbable leader of a citizens' army fighting to save hundreds of thousands of other lives in Darfur.

Sudanese Deputy FM Ali Ahmed Karti a no-show in Washington

The Malaysia Sun reported May 13, 2006 that a top Sudanese official failed to show up for a meeting on Friday in Washington with US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E Frazer who recently returned from Darfur peace talks in Abuja where, alongside US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, she helped broker the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement. Excerpt:

Sudanese Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti -- who had been scheduled to meet with Frazer at the State Department on Friday -- has been linked by human rights groups to violence in Sudan's Darfur region, The Washington Post reported.

Human rights groups say Karti was head of the Popular Defense Forces, a paramilitary group that fought alongside the Janjaweed militia during a campaign of terror that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Some experts have said Karti's name is on the secret list of 51 names referred by the United Nations to the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes prosecution. He has been a key public figure in rejecting the jurisdiction of the war crimes court.

UN draft resolution calls for dispatch before May 30 of UN and AU advance teams to assess Darfur

May 13, 2006 Gulf Times/dpa report excerpt:

UN Security Council members yesterday discussed a draft resolution demanding that Sudan and African rebel groups help speed up the start of a UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

The draft called for the dispatch before May 30 of UN and African Union advance teams to assess the situation in Darfur after last week's signing of a peace agreement in Abuja, Nigeria, to end the ethnic conflict in Darfur. - DPA

May 11 2006 UN Sudan Tribune May 12: US suggests May 30 deadline to start preparation for UN force takeover in Darfur

May 12 2006 Reuters (Irwin Arieff): Security Council pushes Sudan over UN Darfur force - The resolution would also urge the government and Darfur rebels to work with AU and UN officials "to accelerate transition to a United Nations operation. The council planned to wait to vote until after a Monday meeting in Addis Ababa of the AU Peace and Security Council, where a decision was due on whether -- and, if so, when -- to shift to a UN mission in Darfur, diplomats said.

May 12 2006 Reuters (Sue Pleming): US confident Sudan will agree to UN force

May 13 2006 Associated Press: US runs into strong resistance at UN over Sudan resolution - China and Russia, two veto-wielding members of the council, oppose that even the new draft is written under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which could make it legally binding and enforceable by sanctions.

Who benefits from Divest Sudan Campaign? Sudan-divestment draws attacks from business groups

Photo: A young Sudanese child is helped with a drink of clean water at the Abu Shouk refugee camp near El Fasher, in Darfur, Sudan, in August 2004. (AFP/Jim Watson/Sudan Watch archive)

As noted here at Sudan Watch several times before, I find it difficult to understand what good comes of divestment, unless it means funds that are divested are re-invested in companies that benefit impoverished people. Sudan is burdened by terrible debt and relies heavily on foreign revenue, particularly from oil, generated by companies operating in the Sudan:

Let's hope that Harvard and all the others who are divesting, re-invest in companies that specialise in beneficial services such as water and agriculture and encourage such firms to operate in the Sudan. That way, Sudan could diversify, develop and grow and would not need to rely so heavily upon its oil.

Excerpt from Wall Street May 3, 2006 via ST May 13, 2006:

American companies have been barred from operating in Sudan since 1997. But some of the most stringent new divestment policies could affect dozens of major US corporations.

"We have very large concerns about the Illinois bill," says Adam Sterling, national policy director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, a student group spearheading the nationwide effort. "We're afraid that it targets too many firms and that many of these firms may in fact be helping the people of Sudan."

The Sudan Divestment Task Force advocates "targeted divestment" that encourages cutting investments only in companies that provide revenue to Sudan's government, especially foreign oil companies.

Companies have heard from investors about Sudan, including Siemens, the German electronics and engineering company, which does business in Sudan. "Obviously it's a concern for us," says Siemens spokeswoman Paula Davis. But the company's work there, she added, is "helping the people of Sudan by providing critical infrastructure."

Sudan, for its part, opposes the campaign. Expressing "deep concern" last month, Sudan's ambassador to the US, Khidir Haroun Ahmed, said the campaign will "impede development [by] hampering foreign investment that is vital to rebuilding the country."

Note, Mar 23 2006 Harvard divests from stock held by HMC in China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corporation)

Drilling for Sudan's drinking water is more important than drilling for oil



Photo: Children try a new hand pump installed by UNICEF and ECHO. (Courtesy UNICEF Sudan/2006)

Feb 5 2006 Peacekeeping waterpumps - East Africa a front in war on terrorism

Feb 23 2006 Drilling for Sudan's drinking water is more important than drilling for oil



Photo: With adequate water sources, children can spend more time on education. (Courtesy UNICEF Sudan/2006)

Mar 17 2006 ADRA Water Capacity Improvement in Kulbus and Seleia localities, West Darfur - On February 28, Japan's Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) completed a water project that provides improved access to clean water for 35,000 people living near the capital of West Darfur, Sudan.

ADRA has drilled 19 successful boreholes for new wells and installed hand pumps for wells, providing better access to clean water for families in the region.

Pan African Parliament to send mission to Sudan's Darfur

Mama Mongella - the stability of Sudan is fundamental to the whole of the African continent - what has taken you so long? At long last, news of PAP, of which Gertrude Mongella is President:

People's Daily Online today May 13, 2006 says the Pan African Parliament (PAP) is to send a mission to Darfur to assess woman and children abuse there, it said after it concluded its fifth ordinary session on Friday - excerpt:

The parliament also called for increased efforts to speed up the peace process in Sudan while highlighting the situation in Darfur.

"The PAP resolves that it send a mission comprising of members of the Permanent Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability to the Darfur region and conduct gender assessment and report to the PAP sixth session," it said.

It also urged parties involved in the conflict to respect the recently signed Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja.

"The PAP recommends that all peace agreements should be signed and respected by all parties, especially the recent peace agreement signed in Abuja," it said. Source: Xinhua

- - -

April 27, 2006 PAP urges Sudanese to disarm Janjaweed - Gertrude Mongella, President of PAP

May 12 2006 BBC African Union parliament 'broke' - The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) may have to call off its next session because of a lack of funds from the African Union officials warn. Wycliffe Oparanya, chairman of the PAP's finance committee, blamed the shortfall on countries that had failed to pay their dues to the AU. He singled out Libya, Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt, which together with South Africa provide 75% of AU funds. - [via POTP with thanks - sorry permalinks still not wkg]

Sudanese president urges Darfur rebels to change position

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir on Friday called on Darfur rebel groups which refuse to accept a peace deal to change positions and participate in the peace process, People's Daily Online reported May 13, 2006 - excerpt:

Addressing the closing session of a ruling National Congress Party conference, Bashir said that those movements should choose peace.

"If they don't do that, Darfur citizens and the international society will overpass them," he warned.

He said that the government "does not want to leave anyone outside the peace agreement and it wants to take in everyone."

The president also reiterated the government's commitment to the complete implementation of the peace agreement, saying "it is important to stabilize the situations in Darfur."

He said that the government would do its best to keep good relations with Sudan's neighboring countries, especially Chad and Eritrea, adding that the peace agreement would be in danger if there is no stability in border areas.

Source: Xinhua

Sudan to set up 42 FM radio stations

The managing director of the Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, Amin Hassan Omar, has announced a plan to set up 42 FM radio stations, which will cover 42 towns in all the country's states. Full report ST May 13 2006.

US runs into strong resistance at UN over Sudan resolution

The US has run into strong resistance in its bid for a Security Council resolution that would give the UN immediate control over peacekeepers in Darfur, diplomats said Friday, AP/ST reported:

Objections from China, Russia and several African nations have forced several key concessions. For example, it asks only that a UN assessment team inspect the AU force "with a view to a follow-on UN operation in Darfur."

Several diplomats said objections remained. They portrayed the latest draft more as a US effort to show progress on Darfur than as a text that will move any closer to a UN-led mission there. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the draft publicly.

China and Russia, two veto-wielding members of the council, oppose that even the new draft is written under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which could make it legally binding and enforceable by sanctions.

The AU has asked that the council delay voting on the draft until after Monday, when its Peace and Security Council meets to endorse the Darfur peace deal and discuss the possibility of giving the UN authority over the AU force.

US confident Sudan will agree to UN force

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who helped AU mediators seal the deal in Abuja last week, said in a Reuters interview today she was confident Sudan will allow a UN force in Darfur, even though it has sent mixed signals on peacekeepers since signing an accord with rebels - Reuters (Sue Pleming):

Frazer predicted Sudan would give a clear message after a meeting of African Union ministers in Ethiopia on Monday, adding that Khartoum was coming under strong pressure from both its neighbours and members of the Arab League to agree.

Frazer said she was hopeful that Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur of the SLA would soon sign on and did not think an international force was needed in Chad. Once Darfur is secured, the instability in the border area with Chad will be resolved, she added.

Some analysts sceptical about Darfur Peace Agreement

May 12 2006 VOA says diplomats are calling the Darfur Peace Agreement an important step on the path to peace. Some analysts are sceptical, ie:

Roland Marchal, researcher and former editor of the French Revue Politique Africaine, calls the agreement "good news" because it means a significant number of Arab tribes would like to reach a settlement but "bad news" because Khartoum may use some tribes as scapegoats and blame them for the Janjaweed's murder of civilians and burning of villages. In addition, Mr Marchal notes that the rebels are "far from being organised." Furthermore, the international community is naive if it believes Khartoum will accept UN troops on the ground as a "direct consequence of this agreement."

Richard Crockett, Africa editor of the Economist magazine in London, wonders whether the accord can be implemented on the ground. Mr Crockett notes the government in Khartoum is not to be trusted. He points to their arming of the Janjaweed and says he thinks the only thing that will work is to get a UN force into Darfur to start monitoring a phased disarmament of the Janjaweed "at the point of a gun, frankly," because the Khartoum government is unlikely to follow through on its own.

Sudan's top diplomat in Washington calls for international community to call for measures against those who attempt to undercut Darfur peace accord

Sudan's top diplomat in Washington, Khidir H Ahmed, denounced the leaders of the JEM and a dissident faction of the SLA for rejecting the Darfur Peace Agreement agreement on Friday, Washington Times/CFD reported today:

"If they continue to balk at supporting the peace accord, we hope that the international community, particularly those in the US who called for peace and justice, will condemn them and call for measures against those groups and individuals that will attempt to undercutting the peace accord," Mr Khidir said. "Their refusal to participate is clearly an attempt to punish the victims in Darfur."

Mr Khidir noted that the government and the SLA made concessions to reach the deal after days of nonstop diplomacy by Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.

Khidir, in a statement this week, thanked Mr Zoellick, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mr Bush for their efforts to promote peace in his country. He said their "constructive engagement" contributed "a great deal to this significant achievement, and our people will remain grateful for that."

Mr Khidir added that the next test is the implementation of the agreement.

"We hope that responsible individuals in the US will demonstrate the same zeal in supporting the implementation of the peace agreement, bolstering the African Union mission in Darfur, funding food aid and other assistance projects and condemning those who refuse to support the peace process, as they did when they criticised my government and promoted actions that regularly undercut peace and reconciliation in Sudan," he said.

[Well said. Let's hope Khartoum and its Janjaweed will not undercut the peace accord either]

May 12 2006 VOA Analysts Are Skeptical About Darfur Peace Accord

Security Council pushes Sudan over UN Darfur force

The Security Council was expected to adopt a resolution next week increasing pressure on Sudan's government to allow a UN peacekeeping force into Darfur later this year, council diplomats said today - Reuters (Irwin Arieff):

UN diplomats said the 15-nnation Security Council, which authorises peacekeeping operations, was near consensus on a US draft resolution calling for UN military planners to be in Darfur within a week of the measure's approval.

The resolution would also urge the government and Darfur rebels to work with AU and UN officials "to accelerate transition to a United Nations operation."

The council planned to wait to vote until after a Monday meeting in Addis Ababa of the AU Peace and Security Council, where a decision was due on whether -- and, if so, when -- to shift to a UN mission in Darfur, diplomats said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has already written Sudanese President Lt Gen Omar Hassan al-Bashir about the planning team and expects the planners to be granted visas soon, UN chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"The expectation continues that we will have a joint planning team with the African Union on the ground in Darfur as soon as possible," Dujarric told reporters. "We would expect the government of Sudan to cooperate fully and let this team do its work."

Norway offers UN peacekeepers for Darfur plus $10m to AU - Darfur peace crucial for Africa says AU Chairman

Peace in Sudan and Darfur is crucial to the future of the entire African continent, the chairman of the African Union commission said Friday during a visit to Norway - Associated Press reported:

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere announced Friday that Norway was donating US$10 million (A7.8 million) to the Africa Union, in support of its continued peace efforts for Sudan.

He also said Norway was prepared to send peacekeepers - possibly a contingent of 150 to 200 - if the United Nations Security Council called from them. The troops would be under a U.N. mandate, providing they were invited by the Sudanese government.

Konare was to meet other Norwegian officials and a lecture on Africa at the Nobel Institute. (ST/AP)

EU to up pressure on Sudan for UN Darfur mission

The European Union will press Sudan on Monday to drop what diplomats see as growing resistance from Khartoum to a UN peace mission in Darfur, EU officials said on Friday, Reuters (Ingrid Melander) reported today:

The Sudanese government has said it would consider a role for the United Nations after a peace agreement. But EU officials say Khartoum is still reluctant to accept the UN mission despite the Abuja accord.

An EU official speaking on condition of anonymity said Sudanese resistance to a UN mission was, if anything, growing.

"More and more openly, since the peace agreement was signed in Abuja, they say (the U.N. mission) is not necessary," the official said.

"This is certainly not the position of the EU and the United States. ... It is not acceptable to us, we will continue to exert pressure."

According to a text drafted for a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, the 25-member bloc will stress that the transition to the UN force is "the only viable option for providing sustained stability and security in the long-term" in Darfur.

The EU's foreign ministers meeting in Brussels occurs on the same day African Union ministers meet in Addis Ababa to decide the next step toward bringing peace to Darfur, including transferring the mission to the United Nations.

The AU also hopes to gain support of two rebel factions who have yet to accept the Darfur peace deal.

Chadian refugees and donkeys in Darfur moved from insecure border to new camp

Despite delays caused by recalcitrant donkeys, the UN refugee agency managed Thursday to move nearly 500 Chadian refugees from unsafe areas along the Chad-Sudan border to a new refugee camp further inland in West Darfur, Reuters reported today:

A convoy of eight passenger trucks and one bus carried 494 Chadian refugees of Daju ethnicity from Habila, on the border, to Um Shalaya, southeast of El Geneina, capital of West Darfur.

Three additional trucks carried the refugees' possessions and four trucks carried their donkeys [! Wish I could find a photo :-)]

The convoy left some three hours late because the donkeys could not be persuaded to board the trucks in an orderly manner, and the convoy took six and a half hours to cover the 60 km to the camp. The African Union provided a military escort for the journey.

"We are working together with the International Organization of Migration to transport refugees from their border locations to the new camp," UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told journalists in Geneva. "We plan to move about 1,500 refugees per week to the camp in three separate convoys of about 500 people each."

The convoy was greeted at the camp by the camp manager, the umda (chief of a number of villages), local sheikhs and women who had prepared food as a welcome gesture.

Nur's Darfur rebel SLA faction sees progress in peace talks

Minni Minnawi, leader of the main Darfur rebel faction SLA, is confident the other factions will join peace deal, Associated Press reported:

"I think both movements will sign the agreement," Minnawi told the Associated Press today on the telephone from Chad.

"I'm expecting Abdelwahed al-Nur to sign the agreement in the days to come," said Minnawi. "As for the Justice and Equality Movement, it is quite likely to happen soon also," he added.

"When it happens, it will be a very big victory for Darfur," said Minnawi, who had just met with the Chadian president to discuss border security and a timetable for the repatriation of some 400,000 Darfur refugees living in Chad.

Reuters report by Estelle Shirbon - just in:

Nur wrote to African Union (AU) mediators late on Wednesday asking to reopen discussions with Khartoum and pledging to sign the accord if key demands were addressed in a separate document.

"There is a very positive reply from the AU and a positive reply from the government. This might lead to a breakthrough in the negotiations," said Ibrahim Madibo, a close adviser to Nur. They are still in the Nigerian capital Abuja, where the talks that led to the May 5 peace deal took place.

Nur's main demands are for more compensation funds for Darfur from Khartoum, greater political representation for his group, and greater involvement in mechanisms to enforce a ceasefire and disarmament plan foreseen in the accord.

"If there's a new development (on these demands) I'm ready to sign anywhere, anytime, ... But only if there is a clear supplementary document," Nur told Reuters at his hotel.

Note, the report also explains a reluctant Khartoum had said it would consider letting in UN troops if a peace agreement were signed in Abuja, but European Union officials in Brussels said Sudan's opposition to a UN mission had in fact increased since the deal was reached::

"Sudan has expressed reservations about a U.N. peacekeeping force, but negotiations are ongoing," said EU special representative to Sudan Pekka Haavisto in Helsinki on Friday.

"If we fail to have a credible peacekeeping operation in Sudan, the peace treaty will fail," Haavisto added.

Diplomats in Abuja say discussions involving Nur, Minnawi, the government and international mediators are under way to coax Nur into signing the deal but the situation was delicate.

"We're in the thick of it. It could go either way," said one diplomat who requested anonymity.

ETHNIC TENSIONS

Nur and Minnawi loathe each other but Minnawi wants Nur to sign because he does not want spoilers undermining the accord. However, it would be hard for him to swallow any concessions made to his rival after he has already signed the agreement.

Nur is weak militarily but his endorsement of the agreement is important because he is a member of the Fur tribe, Darfur's largest. Minnawi has more fighters but he is from the smaller Zaghawa ethnic group.

Hostility between ethnic groups in Darfur has fuelled the conflict.

Haavisto said those seen as impeding the peace process will likely face U.N. sanctions.

"If they (SLA/JEM rebel factions) don't sign, I have the feeling that the U.N. will not have pity towards them, as the political will for a peace deal is broad," Haavisto said.

(additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Brussels and Arild Moen in Helsinki)

Photo: Minni Minnawi, leader of Darfur rebel group SLA signs Darfur Peace Agreement May 5, 2006 (wcco.com)

Humanitarian Hijinks aka Sleepless in Sudan aka Catherine Jameson: Careless talk costs lives

Today, Coalition for Darfur points out a piece entitled President Deserves our Thanks by American journalist Nick Clooney, father of Hollywood movie star George Clooney.

Nick and George Clooney have a strong reputation for being Bush haters and anti-war in Iraq. Recently, both of them courted a lot of media attention calling for the Bush administration to stop "genocide" in Darfur even though the findings of the UN's International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur concluded the Sudanese government was NOT pursuing a policy of genocide in Darfur.

Why do so many people who follow news on the Sudan, claim to care about the wellbeing of people and push so hard for military intervention in Darfur? Invading the Sudan without a UN resolution would mean international personnel being dismissed from the country. How would aid be delivered to the 3.5 million people in need? War on the Sudan would be a bloodbath and defeat the object. I cannot understand why activists and writers like Nicholas Kristof, Eric Reeves and Samantha Power et al can't see this (and if they do, why they don't enlighten their readers).

The amount of propaganda in the media is far greater than I ever imagined before starting this blog. I nearly blew a gasket when I saw that Nick Clooney's piece had been published by The Cincinnati Post, readers of which, no doubt, take the piece as fact and not the opinion of one person. He singled out the US for praise on helping Darfur - that the US has given more than any other nation (why shouldn't it? it's the biggest - you can fit the United Kingdom into the State of Texas) - and had the audacity to write, quote:

"European response has been shockingly weak, especially given the longtime connections of France and Great Britain in the region."

[Please get your facts straight Mr Clooney and do your homework before making such ignorant statements]

Talking about propaganda, here is a copy of my response today to a piece at the Guardian's 'Comment is free' entitled Peace at last? authored by someone going by the name of Catherine Jameson aka Humanitarian Hijinks blog aka Sleepless in Sudan blog who also claims to care about the plight of the people of Darfur. I found it at Coalition for Darfur.

Note, Coventrian is the name of a person who posted a comment at the piece.

[Coventrian: I see. You want peace but oppose the peace treaty and want to send in the same troops that brought 'peace' to Iraq? I think you have a completely different agenda.]

Most insightful, Coventrian. Well said. Thank you.

Having followed the blog "Humanitarian Hijinks" (renamed "Sleepless in Sudan") from the start, my view is the author of the above piece seems to be either an irresponsible naive egotist looking to make a name as a writer or a propagandist onside with the Darfur rebels aiming to overthrow regime in Khartoum.

The Sudan is the size of Europe. Military intervention (an act of war) would bring out all the jihadists and set alight the tinder box of Africa, making Iraq look like a picinic.

African Union troops in Darfur do not have the mandate of a protection force. They are in Darfur - with Khartoum's permission - without firepower to monitor a ceasefire agreement while warring parties negotiate a peace agreement, afterwhich troops with a peacekeeping mandate can be deployed with firepower and equipment. Khartoum imposes a lot of restrictions on the AU troops, including night time curfews.

An agreed peace deal is the only way to work towards a political settlement and receive persmission from Khartoum to allow troops with peacekeeping mandate into Darfur.

The Darfur Peace Agreement signed on May 5, 2006 certainly does offer hope as it represents the start of the road to peace albeit, in all probability, a long one.

The men and women of the African Union Mission in Darfur have conducted themselves with great professionalism and diplomacy, representing the fledgling African Union well on its first mission and serving as good ambassadors of their home countries. See one small example how AU police officers build trust (for more reports on AMIS type in keywords "African Union" or "AU" into search box at top of Sudan Watch front page
female-au-police-officers-build-trust

Note, the Darfur rebels (who have bases outside of the Sudan and in Europe) are anti the African Union mediators and troops and use the media to denigrate and belittle the AU. The rebels want the international community (read money) and UN troops onside. The situation in Sudan is hugely complex. A lot is at stake. Propaganda is rife.

Before anyone here writes another word about Darfur or the Sudan, please read a most insightful piece entitled "Careless talk costs lives" by Daniel Davies (and the comments, in which Daniel so rightly says: 'People who now want to "speak out in defence of their fellow human beings" in Darfur are today just stroking their moral consciences in public, with probably quite serious consequences.')
"Careless talk costs lives"
commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/daniel_davies

Also by Daniel Davies:
"Sudan Watch: a plug"
This website ought to be compulsory reading for anyone planning to comment on the unfolding tragedy in Darfur. I don't think it's exaggerating to say that if there had been a website as good as Sudan Watch in the runup to the Iraq War, a lot of things might have become common knowledge a lot earlier which have in fact only really come out since the war.
commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/daniel_davies




Photo: Daniel Davies is an analyst and stockbroker working in London. He started his career working in the Bank of England and has been a stockbroker for ten years. He is a member of the Crooked Timber group blog and sporadically maintains d-squareddigest.blogspot.com and a small number of other projects.

Chad and the Darfur domino effect: Darfur conflict will suck in all its neighbours

Mail & Guardian by Katharine Houreld 8 May 2006 - excerpt: [sub-headings are mine]

Spillover from the Darfur conflict is in danger of destabilising the entire central African region say observers. Since the war in Sudan erupted, rebel groups have formed in neighbouring Chad and are beginning to emerge in the Central African Republic (CAR), which shares a border with both states.

Although many of the Sudanese rebels come from the same tribe as Chad's President Idriss Deby, for the first few years of the rebellion he tried to avoid antagonising his powerful neighbour by not openly supporting the rebels, while turning a blind eye if members of his government chose to do so. But relations between Chad and Sudan soured last year, with each country accusing the other of supporting rebel groups on each other's territories.

The situation is complicated by numerous defectors from Deby's inner circle, who have formed their own rebel group in Chad. They accuse Deby of not doing enough to support their kinsmen in Sudan.

Observers also say that they were angered by his decision to seek a third term in Wednesday's elections. Since Chad began exporting oil a few years ago, many of Deby's family has been eyeing the position.

United States of Africa?

"Chad's crisis is homegrown, but converging dangerously with the conflict in Darfur. These crises feed off of one another and, inevitably, civilians are caught in the middle. CAR is involved because northern CAR is essentially ungoverned and, therefore, a useful rear base for attacks on Chad," said Colin Thomas-Jenson of the International Crisis Group. "You cannot solve one conflict in the region without addressing the others."

Adam Rakiss, a 41-year-old who claims to be a colonel in the CAR, is one of about 235 rebels who were seized after they launched a major assault on Chad's capital a fortnight ago. He says Sudan promised the CAR fighters bases from which to launch their own rebellion if they helped topple Deby. "If we help [leader of the United Front for Change rebels] Mohamet Nour take power in Chad, Sudan will help us," he said, adding that he had arrived with about 20 fighters from the CAR.

Sudanese-backed rebels using CAR as base for incursions into Chad

A Chad-backed coup helped CAR President Francois Bozize into power three years ago. Last week, his foreign minister lodged an official complaint with Sudan regarding two planes that had allegedly landed in the north of the country carrying 100 mercenaries. Military observers believe that Sudanese-backed rebels are already using the CAR as a base for incursions into Chad.

One country sets an entire region afire

Olivier Bercault of Human Rights Watch says the availability of automatic weapons, porous borders and weak government means the Darfur conflict will suck in all its neighbours. "The dynamic is unfortunately something we know very well. One country sets an entire region afire. In western Sudan, eastern Chad and CAR, it's exactly the same pattern."



Photo: Sudanese children sit in their makeshift classroom in the refugee camp Kou Kou Angarana in Chad. (Photograph: AP)

Oil from Sudan makes up one-tenth of China's imported oil - China's invested $2bn in Sudan over last 10 years

Snippets from an opinion piece entitled "Digging for misery" by Tom Harper at Guardian's Comment is free May 12, 2006:

Sudan's oil has fuelled much of the country's desctruction. Its profits block the chance of many of its refugees returning home.

The Chinese economy is now growing at around 10% a year and needs feeding. Zhu Weilie, the director of Middle East and African studies at Shanghai International says: "Oil from Sudan makes up one-tenth of all of China's imported oil ... if we lose this source, how can we find another market to replace it? China has to balance its interests."

Corporation (CNPC), which produces 300,000 barrels a day; is involved in construction projects all over the country; and sells arms to the Khartoum government (one recent reported purchase of Shenyang fighter planes came to $100 million). All in all, China has invested roughly $2bn in Sudan over the last ten years.

China's economic ties to Khartoum have hindered international action on the matter. Since 2004 China, a permanent member of the UN security council, has abstained on six resolutions including one last month that, for the first time, imposed sanctions on four Sudanese accused of atrocities in Darfur, and another last March that proposed an oil embargo, cutting off at source the strongest card the Sudanese government can play.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports from Sudan-Chad border

In his report from Sudan-Chad border, CNN's Nic Robertson says a journalist can easily be shot for his or her automobile in Sudan or Chad, and explains:

As we've seen here in crowds, tensions can run high. A crowd can go from being sort of loud and peaceful to being angry and vengeful within a matter of seconds.

In Sudan, we saw two types of crowds. We saw a crowd that appeared to be organized by the government that was out to tell Jan Egeland that they didn't want the peace deal implemented by U.N. peacekeepers coming into the country.

And we've seen refugees in the Sudan camps who have been there two to three years, saying they do want international peacekeepers because they don't have faith in the African Union peacekeepers who are supposed to keep them safe right now.

They don't trust the Sudanese government. They say they get arrested when they go into town.

When you're in a crowd here, I think you really have to watch people's facial expressions, you have to watch their moods, you have to see if anything is changing their mood.

If one person turns in a crowd -- and this is the same in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other countries -- the whole mood of the crowd can shift in seconds. You have to be aware of that.

In Chad, the refugees, even those who have been here three years or more, are remarkably peaceful. They recognize and respect everything the international community is doing for them.

One of the refugee leaders in one of the camps told me today, "We know there's no one else out here who is going to provide security, who's going to help us and take care of us other than the international community."

[Note, many of the refugees are onside with the rebels. Darfur rebels are anti AU mediators and AU troops. Throughout the past few years they've wanted UN troops onside and UN to replace AU mediators at Darfur peace talks. Propaganda is rife]

US suggests May 30 deadline to start preparation for UN force takeover in Darfur

The US circulated a draft UN resolution that sets a May 30 deadline for deploying an assessment team to Darfur to prepare a UN takeover of the AU peacekeeping mission.

The new text, expected to be taken up by the 15-member Security Council during closed-door consultations Friday, calls on the parties to the Abuja accords to cooperate with the AU, the UN and member states "to accelerate transition to a United Nations operation, and ...calls for the immediate deployment of a joint African Union and United Nations technical assessment mission no later than May 30."

US has spent $1 billion feeding the hungry in Darfur

US Department of State report by Charles W. Corey, Washington File Staff Writer, 11 May 2006. Excerpt:

Between 2004 and 2006, the United States has spent more than $1 billion feeding the hungry in the crisis-gripped Darfur region of western Sudan, and remains committed to caring for distressed people in the area, a top U.S. government official told the U.S. Congress May 11.

"While we give a lot to WFP," the United States also has given $22 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC's) food distribution program and $8 million to five NGOs distributing food in Darfur, Hess said.

Additionally, even though WFP has been forced to cut daily food rations by 50 percent because of a severe shortfall in funding, Hess reassured Congress that the United States will continue contributing to supplemental feeding programs to ensure that those people who are most in danger of acute malnutrition will receive the support they need.

Dworken said Food for Peace has taken three key steps to help deal with the current WFP ration shortfall:

- Moving 2,850 tons of noncereal commodities to Port Sudan from pre-positioned stockpiles in Dubai and Lake Charles, Louisiana, for distribution in Darfur;

- Diverting 4,750 tons of food to Port Sudan that was being shipped to stockpiles in Dubai; and

- Procuring 40,000 tons of cereals valued at $36 million for rapid direct shipment to Sudan (an emergency action taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Dworken said those three steps add up to about 47,600 tons of food, valued at $48 million, which should be delivered from late May through late June.

Dana Ott, acting director of the Office of Sudan Programs at USAID, told the lawmakers that Sudan is the largest program in USAID's Africa Bureau -- which she attributed to the ongoing emergency food program. "Of the $850 million we spent in Sudan last year, easily $500 million was food assistance," she said, "and then a significant other portion was humanitarian nonfood assistance."

Ott predicted that USAID's new office will be opened in Khartoum in July and said USAID also is looking forward to the construction of a new consulate compound in Juba.

Minnawi's SLA delegation arrives in N Darfur to popularise peace accord

A delegation from Minni Minawi's faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army Movement arrived Thursday evening in Al-Fashir, capital of Northern Darfur State to start political activities in Darfur five days after signing a peace agreement with the government in Abuja, says SudanTribune report from Khartoum May 11, 2006:

The agreement raises hope that a UN force will be allowed into Darfur to help out the AU troops, as Khartoum has said it would consider such a force after a peace deal was signed.

On May 11, the leader of the SLM faction, Abdelwahed al-Nur, said he is willing to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement if Khartoum satisfy certains demands.

He said his key demands were for more compensation funds for Darfur from Khartoum, greater political representation for his group, and greater involvement in mechanisms to enforce a ceasefire and disarmament plan foreseen in the accord.

Displaced women in Sudan's Darfur are still being raped on a large scale says UN rights chief

Despite assertions by Sudan's Government, displaced women in that country's Darfur region are still being raped on a large scale, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said today.

Full report UN News Centre 11 May 2006. Excerpt:

Ms. Arbour said that there was no sign that sexual violence against the women of Darfur had receded or been brought under control in any way. During her first visit to Darfur in 2004, she met with groups of women in the camps who had been raped by the Arab militia called janjaweed.

She said she had been shocked to meet women this time who had subsequently given birth to the children of rape and who might later be ostracized by the community. After meeting groups of Darfur's women who had recently been raped, she said she told the Government the rapes were taking place "on a large and unattended scale."

"The Government asserted that it had taken many initiatives to address the question of sexual violence. The initiatives that I have been made aware of, as far as I am concerned, so far, continue to be paper initiatives. I saw no evidence on the ground that any of these committees that have been set up to look after these issues have made a dent in the problems," the High Commissioner said.