Al-Mahdi calls on Darfur rebels to adopt "civil jihad" to press Khartoum into convening all-inclusive conference - Unused water and Roseires Dam

Sadiq al-Mahdi is the last elected prime minister of Sudan. He led a coalition government until he was toppled in a coup in 1989. The man who overthrew him was military officer Omar al-Bashir, who is now Sudans president.

The below copied report quotes Sadiq Al-Mahdi as saying elevation of Roseires Dam would be the most viable project in Sudan as it would avail it of 4bn cubic metres of unused water. Unused water? How interesting. Horrendous fighting goes on in the Sudan over the shortage of water for drinking, farming and livestock. As noted here at Sudan Watch many times before, water is key to the future development of the Sudan. Excerpt from Small-hydro Atlas:

Sudan needs to implement new hydro projects to overcome energy shortages and to reduce dependence on imported oil. Integrated Nile Basin development would allow for better use of the water resources of the Nile, increasing, electricity production. An interconnected power grid, involving hydro plants in the Upper Nile basin and the Egyptian grid could solve problems of instability and insufficient capacity supplied to the country.

June 3, 2006 KHM report (Khartoum) Sudan Tribune. Copy:

Former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, told over a million of his supporters at the town of Sinja, Blue Nile State that everyone should work to rid the Sudan of its problems.

He called on Darfur rebels to adopt what he termed "civil jihad" in order to press Sudanese government into convening an all-inclusive conference to realize just peace and install a national government to conduct fair elections.

Al-Mahdi welcomed all peace agreements but said that the way these agreements were signed would create dissension and discord as they were not built on national base.

States should be given their shares in power and wealth and boundaries of the states should be demarcated in accordance with their existing boundaries in 1956, Al-Mahdi added.

He lashed out at the government's policy of lifting health subsides, its exploitation of power for partisan purposes and its agricultural and industrial policy which has led to unprecedented deterioration in agriculture and industry.

Al-Mahdi compared Sudan to Nigeria, "the government is replicating Nigeria's experience where people were deprived of the fruits of oil."

Elevation of Roseires Dam would be the most viable project in Sudan as it would avail it of 4bn cubic metres of unused water, he added.

Further reading

Jun 1 2005 DPA - Sudanese opposition leader to boycott interim government.

Apr 25 2005 Sudan Tribune - Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister called for a South African model: Sadiq Al-Mahdi is an Oxford educated economist and, at 31, was the youngest Prime Minister of Sudan and the last to be democratically elected. He says Sudan is at the stage that South Africa was when the former president FW de Klerk freed Nelson Mandela.

May 7 2006 Sudan Tribune - Sudanese opposition describes Darfur deal as flawed : Umma Party Secretary General Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said the Abuja deal "hinges on temptations" after failure of reaching agreement with the armed groups in Abuja noting that this deal should be discussed on a Darfur-to-Darfur negotiation table.

Sudan's Dinka back home after 20-year journey - 90,000 displaced southerners in Darfur, 25,000 have returned

June 3, 2006 UK Independent report by Tristan McConnell in Kiir Adem, South Darfur:

Joseph Dut is going home after years on the move. He fled his home in southern Sudan in 1983; now the cycle of violence is returning him once again.

He is one of thousands of southern Sudanese who escaped to the western province of Darfur during the 21-year civil war, only to flee south again now due to the fighting there.

The banks of the river Kiir have been home to thousands of southern Sudanese for the past few months as destitute and hungry people flee Darfur. They are predominantly Dinka people, traditionally cattle-herding Africans, but Sudan's wars robbed them of their cows long ago.

The Kiir's 100-yard-wide stream of swampy chest-deep water marks the difference between safety and danger in this disputed border area between north and south Sudan.

The trading centre of Kiir Adem is little more than a strip of dirt with a ramshackle collection of wooden frames and grass roofs. Here, Mr Dut sits on a small pile of his belongings. "When the Arab militias came to the town we were in, shooting, we ran," recalls Mr Dut. "They took everything, so we left."

In a continent of sometimes ungovernably large countries, Sudan is the largest. It has been torn apart by civil wars since independence from Britain in 1956. While the fighting in Darfur continued, the war between Khartoum and the south ended in January 2005, after 21 years and two million deaths.

People such as Mr Dut were pushed from pillar to post. For many, it is the first time they have returned in more than two decades.

"After leaving the south we lived for some time as refugees in Libya, and then we moved back to Sudan, to Darfur," says Mr Dut. In Darfur he - with his wife and five children - worked as a farmer on the arid land and slowly rebuilt their lives. Then the Janjaweed militia came earlier this year, shooting AK-47s, burning houses and looting. Again, Mr Dut was on the run.

Mr Dut is one of 11,000 southern Sudanese who have travelled from the state of South Darfur through Kiir Adem into the neighbouring state of Northern Bar el-Ghazal in the past three months, fleeing attacks by the Janjaweed militias blamed for the ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

The conflict in Darfur threatens an already shaky peace agreement in the south, monitored by a 10,000-strong UN force.

Next week, a UN Security Council delegation will visit southern Sudan, Khartoum and Darfur to assess the country's continuing troubles.

Nick Horne, a UN official in Aweil town in Northern Bar el-Ghazal, estimates that of the 90,000 displaced southerners in Darfur, 25,000 have so far returned. "Some of those returning now left because of the fighting, some because of the famine in 1987," he said.

This week, the migration of displaced people will all but stop as the rainy season begins in earnest. But for Mr Dut and his family, more than 20 years of fleeing conflict are at last over. Once again he will be starting to rebuild his life, but this time he is at home. "Home is always home. Even though there's nothing here, I am happy," he says.
- - -

June 4 2006 Scotland on Sunday - Sudan refugees seek home in Israel.

SLA's Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur rejects the whole Darfur Peace Agreement, wants UN mediation

This is what the Darfur rebels have wanted all along, for UN mediators to replace AU mediators and for the UN to take over the AU Mission in Darfur. The following report by Reuters points out what has been said by the UN all along, that the demand for UN mediated talks is unlikely to be met as the UN has supported the AU and the accord it brokered. Excerpt:

"The African Union mediation team has failed to realise peace in Darfur," said Nouri Abdalla, an adviser to Nur.

"The whole Darfur file, with regard to resolving the conflict in Darfur, we are asking the United Nations to take over the file," he told Reuters in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The demand is unlikely to be met as the United Nations has supported the AU and the accord it brokered.

"The SLA has decided that any extension to the deadline to sign the proposed DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement) is a waste of time and unacceptable," Abdalla said.

"We asked for supplementary documents to be attached to the proposed DPA, and if that happened, our key fundamental demand, we were going to sign it," Abdalla said.

"What we are saying right now is that we are rejecting the whole agreement altogether."

He said the AU had failed because it was selective in applying pressure on the rebels to sign the peace Darfur deal.

- - -

June 3 2006 Aljazeera/Agencies report - Darfur rebel faction rejects AU role: "The AU has absolutely and miserably failed in its efforts to mediate the fighting in Darfur," said Nouri Abdalla, an adviser to al-Nur. "It is time it hands over the whole Darfur mediation file to the United Nations."

NATO Update: UN's Jan Egeland visits NATO

NATO Update May 30, 2006 confirms UN aid chief Jan Egeland, discussed Darfur and the role of the military in disaster relief during a visit to NATO on 30 May:

Mr Egeland met NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to discuss NATO's continuing support for the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

NATO recently agreed to extend its assistance to the African Union until September this year. This Alliance is helping to airlift African Union peacekeepers in and out of Darfur and training its forces.



They also discussed likely NATO support for a possible UN-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur, after the mandate of the current African Union force ends in September.

[via News Blaze]

UN-AU mission leaves for Darfur in next few days

UN News Centre report June 2, 2006 - excerpt:

A joint United Nations-African Union team will head early next week to Darfur to assess the needs of the AU's peacekeeping mission there as well as the possible transition to a UN force, a senior United Nations official said today.

"This mission will be leaving in the next few days and will assemble in Addis in the first part of next week, it will then travel on to Khartoum as a joint team from UN-AU team," Hedi Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, told reporters after briefing the Security Council.

The mission will conduct consultations with the Sudanese Government before going to Darfur "to meet with the local authorities, establish contact with them, look into the requirements of AMIS (the AU Mission in Sudan) to enable that force to perform the additional tasks foreseen for AMIS under the Darfur Peace Agreement," he said.

"The mission will also conduct an assessment of the requirements of the transition to a UN peace operation" should such an operation be established, he added.

While the Government has agreed to the deployment of an assessment team to Darfur, it has not yet agreed to a transition to a UN operation. "I think that is it is understood that we are conducting the assessment mission without prejudice to the decisions that will need to be taken by the various actors involved - the Government of Sudan, the AU and the UN Security Council," Mr Annabi said.

"We have tried to make it clear to them that for us, the main purpose of that force would be to assist in the implementation of the provisions of the Darfur agreement," he noted. "In other words, a peacekeeping operation whose sole purpose would be to assist the parties who have concluded the agreement to bring back peace to that long-suffering region of Sudan."

Sudan to Establish Joint Integrated Forces With Ex-Rebels

The following copy of a news report features on the website of the Embassy of Sudan, Washington, D.C., USA.

NEWS STORY Monday, May 22, 2006

Text of report in English by Sudanese newspaper Khartoum Monitor website on 22 May

Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) chief of staff and deputy chairman of the Joint Defence Board (JDB), who is also the chairman of the current session of the JDB, General Oyay Deng Ajak, chaired the JDB's third meeting yesterday at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Khartoum.

The spokesperson for the JDB, Maj-Gen Majdhub Rahama, in a statement to Khartoum Monitor disclosed arrangements for preparing a 15,000 joint integrated forces shared equally by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the SPLA in order to function as an international force if required.

Rahama denied a dispute between the two parties saying there were only minor outstanding points which would be settled later. He explained that all matters related to the implementation of military provisions of the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) had been thoroughly discussed, adding that a committee has been formed for the redeployment of forces and the resolution of all their problem.

"The most important issue discussed in the meeting has been the building of trust among combatants," Rahama stated, confirming that implementation would be preceded by an integrated survey. The JDB meeting is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Source: Khartoum Monitor website, Khartoum, in English 22 May 06

Darfuris say peace deal incomplete - 'We stay for 100 years in camps'

Deutsche Presse-Agentur report June 2, 2006 El Fasher, Sudan.

Senior members and field commanders of JEM and Nur's SLM/A faction ask to sign Darfur Peace Agreement

June 2, 2006 IRIN report - just in:

Senior members of the two rebel groups that earlier refused to accept a peace deal aimed at ending hostilities in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur have now expressed interest in signing the agreement.

Around 40 delegates from Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur's faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - including field commanders and political officers - are in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to request the African Union (AU) to allow them to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), which their leaders failed to sign before the 31 May deadline.

Representatives of both rebel groups told journalists on Friday that they had decided to sign the peace agreement in order to end the crisis in Darfur.

"We have suffered a lot from the crisis. We came here to express our support for the peace agreement. We are not against our leaders' reasons not to sign the peace agreement, but we urge them to join the peace agreement," said JEM field commander Abdela Abdela Bakt.

While awaiting further instructions from the AU regarding the modalities that would allow them to sign the DPA, the two factions asked the pan-African body to give their leaders additional time to sign the agreement.

"We would like to ask the AU to give additional days for our leaders to put their signature. If they fail to do so again, we will sign the peace agreement," said Mohammed Adam Basi, political advisor to the SLM/A. "On our part, we are ready to sign it any time, as soon as the AU finalises the mechanisms."

AU says dissident rebels behind deterioration of security in Darfur - Faction of JEM ready to sign peace deal

Chair of AU Commission, Alpha Konare, blamed the two holdout groups of being behind what he described as the "progressive deterioration of the security situation in Darfur."

A dissident faction of the JEM merged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday, saying it accepted the peace agreement.

"We already discussed all of the decisions with the African Union and now we are ready to sign the Darfur peace agreement," said Col. Abdul Majid Hassan, who said he leads the movement's faction is South Darfur. It was not immediately clear how much support Hassan's faction enjoys. - AP report June 1 via ST June 2, 2006.

Darfur's JEM rebel leader says "We're going to have our own country"

Darfur rebel group JEM says independence is a valid alternative, Sudan Tribune reported June 2, 2006. Excerpt:

The head of one of the three rebel groups in Darfur has mentioned the possibility of his group seeking independence for the western Sudanese region after it failed to sign up to the recent peace deal, TV Slovenija reported.

Khalil Ibrahim, who took part in talks with Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek on Wednesday, told the Slovenian public broadcaster that his Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) would seek independence if there was no peace in Darfur.

"Now as the next step that means that we will ask for self-determination - we're going to have our own country," Khalil told TV Slovenija, which said that this is the first time he has mentioned the possibility of independence.

Moreover, Khalil believes it does not make sense to extend the deadline for JEM to sing on to the peace agreement since the mediators from the African Union and International partners refuse to accept JEM's demand that the people of Darfur be compensated for the damage caused during the civil war.

"The most important point is not to make extension but to make substantive changes and commitments," he said.

Moreover, he claimed that his movement was put under enormous pressure during the peace talks in Abuja. "You sign or we will kill you, this is what they told us," he said.

Photo: Khalil Ibrahim (Sudan Tribune)

Note April 1, 2006 report Sudanese rebel group JEM dismisses peace talks and calls for Darfur's sovereignty - excerpt:

The chair of Darfur rebels group JEM, Khalil Mohammed, on Wednesday dismissed Darfur peace talks as "a waste of time, energy and resources of stakeholders." He said the peace talks would not achieve any meaningful result as they were "merely going in circles."

Mohammed said that if the African Union's April deadline for peace in the region lapsed without success, "the people of Darfur will be left with no choice other than to ask for self-determination".

"If we do not get our own sovereignty, the only alternative is a forceful change of the government in Khartoum," Chairman of Darfur rebel group JEM threatened.

UN World Food Programme feeds 6.1m people across Sudan

Between 1 to 28 May, United Nations World Food Programme dispatched a total amount of 40,167 tons of food from logistical hubs to the Darfur region in Sudan. - WFP Emergency Report No. 22 of 2006.

The Executive Director of the UN WFP, James Morris, arrives in Khartoum today to visit the agency's largest emergency operation, which was hit recently by a severe shortage of funds to feed some 6.1 million people across Sudan.

After meetings with government ministers in the capital on Saturday, Mr. Morris will fly to South Sudan, where WFP feeds hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese returning home after 21 years of war.

The war displaced more than four million southern Sudanese inside the country and another 600,000 are scattered in refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

WFP's emergency operation in Sudan, with a budget of $746 million, was only half funded and contributions, especially cash, are needed to end ration cuts and cover requirements for the last quarter of 2006 and into 2007. - UN News Centre report June 2, 2006.

80,000 people now in Red Cross camp at Gereida, Darfur

While the Darfur insurgents bide their time, refusing to make peace, British Red Cross Society UK says an estimated 80,000 people are now living in the Red Cross camp at Gereida, Darfur - nearly a fourfold increase since 2004, Reuters June 1, 2006.

Britain urges SLM/A al-Nur to join Darfur peace deal

Official British source has urged the SLM/A faction led by Abdelwahid al-Nur which refused to sign the peace agreement in Darfur to sign the accord, Sudan Tribune reported June 2, 2006. Excerpt:

The spokesperson for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Barry Marston told Al-Arabiya TV that Abdelwahid al-Nur is wrong if he believes that there is a better deal waiting for him. He has a golden opportunity to lead the population of Darfur towards this future. The international community will not be sympathetic if he does not seize this opportunity.

"This agreement guarantees the Darfur population a real representation in the Sudanese government and institutions. It guarantees them compensation and aid from the central government. It guarantees them the disarmament of the militias and of the Janjawid and it guarantees them other things. We believe that the time has come for all parties to join ranks in order to help the people of Darfur who suffered enormously in recent years" he further said.

Marston said that Britain is the second biggest donor state as far as Sudan is concerned. For instance, in the last three years we donated more than 100m pounds as a humanitarian aid to this region.

Libya's Gaddafi warns of NATO intervention if Chad and Sudan don't return to normal

Libyan leader Col Gaddafi on Thursday urged Sudan and Chad to settle their differences in the name of African unity as he opened a summit of African leaders in Tripoli, SudanTribune reported June 1, 2006. Excerpt:

"The conflict between Sudan and Chad serves only the enemies of Africa," Gadhafi said at the opening of the two-day summit of Community of Sahel-Saharan states (CEN-SAD).

"Relations between Chad and Sudan must return to normal," Gadhafi said.

If the conflict between the two countries continues, "that would open the way for intervention by troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation," he said.

"We must send observers to Darfur and the Sudan-Chad frontier," Gadhafi added.

Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami on Wednesday urged fellow African states to exert pressure on Sudan over its alleged support for Chadian rebels.

The Sudanese minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Sammani al-Wassila, denied the charges of Sudanese interference in Chad, saying Khartoum was "ready to resolve this dispute"

Sudan's president pardons women home brewers

Sudanese President al-Bashir has decreed all women imprisoned for brewing illegal alcohol should be released, ending a vicious cycle affecting southern widows trying to feed their families in Khartoum. - Sapa-AFP/Mercury May 31, 2006.

Note, the report points out selling alcohol is the Sudan is illegal under Islamic sharia law. The president's decision was a show of good faith between the former north-south foes.

With Darfur rebels still not in peace pact, Annan to consult African leaders on next steps

Voicing concern that two factions in Darfur missed a deadline to sign a peace accord already endorsed by the largest rebel group, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said he would consult with African Union (AU) leaders on possible follow-up measures, UN News Centre reported June 1, 2006:

The Secretary-General strongly believes that the only way forward in addressing this devastating conflict is through the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, as well as the decisions of the African Union Peace and Security Council.

Assistant Secretary-General Hedi Annabi will brief the Security Council tomorrow on the mission he undertook last month with Mr Annan's Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for talks with Sudanese Government leaders talks on strengthening the current AU mission in Darfur (AMIS) and its possible transition to a UN peacekeeping force.

Sudan asks for more African troops in Darfur-Libya

Having followed news of Col Gaddafi's efforts to broker peace for Darfur, and logged reports here at Sudan Watch, this news just in from Reuters sounds most interesting:

Sudan asked on Thursday for more African troops to join the 7,000-strong African Union force monitoring a truce in the troubled region, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said.

"Sudan demanded forces from the Community of Sahel-Saharan States be dispatched to Darfur," Gaddafi told a meeting of the group in Tripoli.

"We discussed that demand raised by Sudan and we agreed upon that demand," Gaddafi added in his speech to leaders of the Community.

He did not say whether Khartoum had asked for a specific number of troops and did not give any details about what force the group might provide and when it might go to Darfur.

Gaddafi becomes Community chairman after the one-day gathering of heads of state of the group, which includes Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Mali, Niger, Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Tunisia.

Gaddafi, whose remarks were broadcast live on state TV, vowed to work to "extinguish fires" in Sudan, Ivory Coast and other trouble spots on the continent.

"Those who are creating troubles and problems in Africa must be treated like criminals because such problems divert attention and efforts from focusing on economic and social development in Africa," he said.

Gaddafi told African leaders to "count on Libya's resources and potential" to further cooperation and resolve conflicts and tensions across the continent.

Further reading

May 29 2006 Sudan proposes Libyan role in Darfur peace implementation

May 28 2006 Libyan leader Gaddafi to supervise Darfur Peace Agreement - this link leads to:

May 27 2006 Libyan leader receives AU Commission Chairman Konare

May 28 2006 Sudanese envoy al-Khalifa to meet in Libya with Col Gaddafi and SLM/A's Minnawi re Darfur peace process

"Save Darfur" movement comes across as a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army

Don't you wonder who funds and supplies the rebels in Darfur? I do. If you know, could you please share here. There are some clues within UN reports archived at this blog but it's all rather vague. For all the miles of news published on Darfur, I've yet to find anything that tells us about the Darfur rebel leaders and how they make a living and afford armies for three years.

Having tracked the news on Darfur pretty closely, on a daily basis for more than two years, I've noticed how at critical pressure points of peace negotiations - like now for instance, when Darfur peace talks are at their most sensitive - there appears to be slick, efficient, well organised campaigners in America that have a knack of issuing timely emails and press releases calling for military intervention (an act of war) by international/UN troops (what the rebels have wanted all along) whenever the rebels need to hear it most.

Here is an example of something issued today:

Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity's press release June 1, 2006 at Save Darfur.org - also circulated by Reuters:

62 Nobel Laureates Urge President Bush, Other World Leaders to push for UN peacekeeping force to implement Darfur Peace Accord. Also Urge Bush to appoint "Presidential Envoy for Peace in Sudan."

This concerted effort by what seems now like an army of American civilians must be affecting US foreign policy and drowning out the voices of those who are against military intervention but in favour of supporting the fledgling African Union and "African solutions to African problems".

The spinning of Darfur reminds me a little of the pumping-up of emotion in the run up to the US invasion of Iraq. As we all saw on TV, the American people and their troops were shocked to find they were not feted by the local - troops were not welcomed with open arms or strewn with flowers as they entered Iraq to liberate the people from their despicable tyrant.

SUDANESE SAY NO TO THREAT OF INTERVENTION



Photo: Aug 5, 2005 China Daily report: Sudanese say no to threat of intervention - Over 100,000 Sudanese protesters march to the HQ of the United Nations in Khartoum Wednesday, Aug 4, 2004 to protest at the possibility of Western military intervention to combat a humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur.

The following extracts and photos are from a blog entry March 5, 2006 by Jan Pronk, UN SGSR in the Sudan:

In February I had had difficult encounters with tribal and traditional leaders in Nyala and El Fashr. Most of them were strongly against a UN force in Darfur. They accuse the United Nations of being manipulated by the United States. They fear that Western countries and NATO want to re-colonize and occupy Sudan. They speak about a conspiracy against Islam and against Arab nations. They referred to Irak and Afghanistan. They threatened with a war to defend their territory.


Photo: No No For New Occupation (Jan Pronk Weblog/Paula Souverijn-Eisenberg copyright)

Banners against a potential UN peacekeeping force in Darfur at a public rally in Sheria, South Darfur, 25 February 2006.


Photo: Shearia Warns Pronk To Play With Fire (Jan Pronk Weblog/Paula Souverijn-Eisenberg copyright)

Vicious verbal attacks against the UN and Kofi Annan have not been answered by the authorities. This has added to a climate within which threats have become quite nasty: “we warn the ambassadors of the US and the UK and the Special Representative of the UN that they might be shot”, and “we are waiting for you, but please come with enough coffins”.


Photo: Demonstration in Nyala against a potential AMIS-UN transition (Jan Pronk Weblog/ Paula Souverijn-Eisenberg copyright)

I also try to make clear that the UN is exactly the opposite of what they are afraid for. Peace-keeping by the UN is a guarantee that the sovereignty of a nation is respected, that the protection of the people is the sole objective, that there is no second agenda or, at least, that the second agenda of other nations can be neutralized.

In Sheria and Gereida my thoughts went back to Srebrenica, 1995. Will we make the same mistakes, or other, with similar consequences?

Southern Sudan ex-rebels desperately need training-UN

James Ellery, southern region coordinator for the UN Mission in Sudan, said the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) guerrillas must be turned into an apolitical group that could fulfil their role in last year's peace agreement, Reuters Daniel Wallis reported June 1, 2006. Excerpt:

"This is crucial work that is yet to be done," Ellery told Reuters on Thursday at his headquarters in the southern capital Juba.

"The SPLA is not the right sort of army for peacetime, never mind a federal, or perhaps eventually a sovereign, setting."

But Ellery said he did not share criticism of the government of south Sudan, which is 80 percent controlled by the SPLA, most of whose leaders spent two decades in the bush.

"The task they face is gargantuan," he said. "This area has been astonishingly neglected and systematically excluded from development for 50 years."

Southern Sudan is one of the poorest places on earth, with vast mined areas, few tarmac roads and little infrastructure.

Analysts say the north has the capacity to implement the peace agreement, but has shown little political will, while the SPLA is committed, but is weak and disorganised.

Under the [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] deal, most of the northern troops in the south are to be withdrawn. Ellery said that was well under way.

"Most mornings you see them leaving from the airport," he said. "Khartoum has now pulled out 56 percent, and everybody accepts that figure, so they are well ahead of the 50 percent of troops they committed to withdraw before the start of July."

He said the peace agreement was "broadly on track". There remained significant differences between both sides over the future of disputed areas, he said, and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of combatants had not started.

He said the most problematic area included Upper Nile state, where nearly 50 people were killed in April in clashes between two factions of the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), which fought with Khartoum against the SPLA during the war.

One SSDF faction joined SPLA forces and the other joined the government army after the peace deal stipulated that armed groups had to join the army or the former rebels. Ellery said the area had been calm since.

"Things became unravelled there briefly, but now we can say that disarmament in the most difficult part of the country is going well, at the moment," Ellery said.

Talks continue to convince Darfur rebels to sign peace deal

June 1 2006 AP report via Sudan Tribune - excerpt:

"The African Union continues its intensive talks with the factions to convince them to sign, even after the deadline has passed," Khartoum-based AU spokesman Moussa Hamani said.

He added, however, "the agreement itself is not negotiable."

Another AU spokesman in the Sudanese capital, Noureddine Mezni, said that First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit, chairman of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, is mediating to bring the factions together in Juba, in the country's south, for further talks in coming few days.

Further reading

May 31 2006 The Sudanese Thinker blog by Drima: Strategic Victimhood In Sudan (A MUST READ)

May 31 2006 The Daily Telegraph correspondents in Addis Ababa: Deadline for Darfur peace deal passes - AU drawing up new document to allow dissident factions and commanders to sign peace deal and escape sanctions

Jun 1 2006 Sudan Tribune: Despite Slovene efforts, Darfur JEM refuses to sign peace

Jun 1 2006 Sudan Tribune: Sudan's ex-rebel Kiir to meet SLM/A's Minnawi and Nur (and maybe JEM leader) within 72 hours - SPLM

AU says "regrets" no deal with Darfur rebels

June 1, 2006 Reuters report by Opheera McDoom - excerpt:

In a statement, AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare noted "with deep regret" that last-minute efforts to get the two factions to sign the deal had failed.

It said the AU's Peace and Security Council will now decide what, if any, punitive measures are to be taken against the groups. The AU council will meet in the coming days although no date has been set.

"Future violations of the ceasefire agreement will not be tolerated," the AU statement said, adding the 7,000-strong AU force monitoring a truce in Darfur should be more "proactive" in self-defence and the protection of civilians.

(Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa and Marja Novak in Ljubljana)

See STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE AU COMMISSION, ALPHA OUMAR KONARE, ON THE STATUS OF THE DARFUR PEACE AGREEMENT (DPA) AND THE SITUATION IN DARFUR, Addis Ababa, 1st June 2006. - Reuters/ST

Yee-haw! Another warmongering American proposes illegal military invasion of the Sudan ... with private hired guns!

Is there something in the water in America or what? Most of the Darfur commentary that I'm coming across online is beginning to sound like it's written by a bunch of cowboys. Surely their aggressive gung-ho warmongering attitude is down to their upbringing, insularity, education (particularly history) and diet of Hollywood movies and TV. Considering America's short history (I have pottery older than the USA) and what goes on with American natives, Klu Klux Klan and other race relations, it's amazing to see American know-it-alls thinking they can sort the problems of ancient cultures and mindsets so far removed from their own they may as well be living on another planet.

Note this excerpt from an opinion piece by Max Boot in the LA Times June 1, 2006 - Send mercenaries to Darfur. Boot is a senior fellow at the Council on FOREIGN RELATIONS! Crikey. Gulp. Y'all have a nice day!

"....there is a way to stop the killing even without sending an American or European army. Send a private army. A number of commercial security firms such as Blackwater USA are willing, for the right price, to send their own forces, made up in large part of veterans of Western militaries, to stop the genocide.

We know from experience that such private units would be far more effective than any U.N. peacekeepers. In the 1990s, the South African firm Executive Outcomes and the British firm Sandline made quick work of rebel movements in Angola and Sierra Leone. Critics complain that these mercenaries offered only a temporary respite from the violence, but that was all they were hired to do. Presumably longer-term contracts could create longer-term security, and at a fraction of the cost of a U.N. mission.

Yet this solution is deemed unacceptable by the moral giants who run the United Nations. They claim that it is objectionable to employ -- sniff -- mercenaries. More objectionable, it seems, than passing empty resolutions, sending ineffectual peacekeeping forces and letting genocide continue.

From the weblog of Jan Pronk, UN SGSR in the Sudan, Dec 31, 2005:

There is hardly any country in the world which can point towards such a long history as Sudan. The first time I visited the National Museum in Khartoum, about thirty years ago, I was surprised to see beautiful pottery, older than what I had seen before in Egyptian musea. As a European, coming from a country with a history hardly longer than two millennia, I became quite modest when confronted with artifacts which had been crafted six to seven millennia ago. Sudan, and in particular North Sudan, has seen the rise and fall of empires and civilizations, wars and climatic changes, invasions from abroad. It has survived all that. This may explain the Sudanese attitude towards present conflicts and threats. Sudanese leaders, whatever region or tribe they belong to, display confidence in their own strength and do never haste. They seem to believe: 'history shows: time is on our side'.

Photos: In Meroe, 3 hours North of Khartoum, ancient buildings are testimony of past civilizations. (Jan Pronk Weblog/Paula Souverijn-Eisenberg Copyright) Click on the original images at Jan Pronk's blog entry for magnified view.
- - -

Some reactions

June 1 2006 Beltway Blitz - blog entry Boot: Send in the Mercenaries - Max says the UN is bound to fail again in the Sudan. Given its history, that's a fair prediction. But he notes that Western democracies aren't serious enough to send their own troops. His solution: mercenaries. I've secretly harbored this thought for a long time. Still don't know that I think it's a good idea. Is Mr. Boot crazy? Am I for even considering it? [Sudan Watch ed: Yes to both questions]

What's going on? AU Mission in Darfur costs $1 billion a year - SA troops in Darfur still waiting to be paid: EU said there was no delay in funding

If this story by Mike Cherney (IOL/The Star June 1, 2006) is true, it's outrageous. Imagine what it must be doing to troop morale. Journalists and activists ought to back the peacekeepers in Darfur and concentrate on what is really going on instead of churning propaganda, denigrating AU capability and feeding the guerillas by undermining the Darfur peace process. The only solution to the war in Darfur is for the guerillas to stop fighting and start negotiating after they have committed to a ceasefire peace agreement. If infighting and disregard of deadlines, ceasefires and peace agreements is how they conduct themselves outside of government, imagine how fit they are to govern and fairly represent "their" people. Ruthless, greedy power crazies - inexperienced in government - makes them seem worse than the regime they are fighting. Never mind the millions of displaced uneducated women and children they are using as expendable pawns in their power game. The rebel leaders who think they are fighting a noble cause are deluded gangsters. Even Hitler cared for "his" people. After three years of fighting and killing, and all of the work that has gone into the Darfur peace deal, the dissidents appear totally self serving with no care for anyone except themselves and what they can get: all or nothing. How else could they make a living and hit the jackpot big time? $1 billion a year for several thousand peacekeepers? Does that mean $2 billion a year for 14,000 troops? Imagine the number of water pumps and school books that could be purchased with such sums of money. If those guerilla faced cretinous lowlifes don't join the peace deal, they should be arrested and put on trial for crimes against humanity. Excerpt:

South Africa's peacekeepers in Darfur have not been paid - again.

It has been two months since any soldier with the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur has received a salary, Colonel Norman Yengeni, South Africa's military attache to the AU, said this week.

The force experienced another delay in salary payments last year, he said.

Officials were unclear as to why the salary payments were overdue, saying the AU's processing of funds from international donors was delayed.

The AU has about 6 200 troops and 800 civilian police in Darfur, where violence has killed 200 000 people and displaced 2,5-million since 2003. South Africa has contributed 376 soldiers and 126 police.

"The AU largely depends on donations," Yengeni said, adding that the salary delays had not affected the force's ability to function.

The peacekeeping operation in Darfur is largely dependent on donations from the United States, the European Union and elsewhere. From June last year until July this year, the mission is expected to cost nearly $1-billion (about R6,7-billion).

An AU official contacted by The Star did not respond to questions.

An SAPS officer who had served in Darfur and declined to be identified said South African officers working with the AU had not received payment for several months.

The officer also said some South African police had sustained injuries during riots at the displaced persons camps where they are based.

The officer said police were paid $90 (about R590) a day. The delays had also lowered morale, the officer said.

Dennis Adriao, a spokesperson for the SAPS, said there had been no reports of injuries, and he could not say when officers would get their salaries.

The AU mission, which began in 2004, was extended for another six months in April. Officials have been pushing for the mission to be taken over by the UN, which could provide better equipped troops and funding.

Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, said the AU could have extended the mission faster than Western donors approved more funding, causing the delay in salary payments.

"I don't think there is any foul play in this, it's just a question of waiting for funding," he said.

Dan Biers, a spokesperson at the US embassy in Pretoria, said the EU was responsible for paying the allowances of AU troops. But a spokesperson at the EU said there was no delay in funding.

"The commitment was made under a 'retroactivity clause' which permits funding, starting from the official date of the AU request, to ensure that no gap occurs," said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a spokesperson for the EU's commissioner for development and humanitarian aid.

"We encourage other donors to follow the EU Commission's example and provide the AU with additional funding to cover the extension of their mission."

United Nations Sudan Situation Report 31 May 2006

United Nations Sudan Situation Report 31 May 2006 - excerpts:

North Darfur
On 29 May, an NGO vehicle was carjacked by an unidentified armed man in Mallit (60 km Northeast Al Fasher) town. No further information is available.

South Darfur
Demonstration in Otash IDP camp results in one IDP killed. Two IDPs killed in shooting incident in Kalma IDP camp

West Darfur
From 26 to 29 May, repeated attacks by the Abbala nomads on villages. On 26 May, they attacked the Bagara tribes and left nine dead and others wounded. The Abbala tribe attacked the villages of Karegkereg, Ambara, Tama and Gimir. Reportedly, 14 people were killed; The Abbala nomads allegedly are continuing north towards Zalingei. In preparation for further clashes, Njumbeil villagers reportedly contacted their tribe clans in Zalingei.

On 28 May, UN agencies and NGOs met with the Khartoum HAC delegation currently in Geneina. The meeting focused on drafting an emergency three month plan related to the implementation of the DPA.

On 30 May, the IDPs in Zalingei held peaceful demonstrations for the fourth day denouncing the DPA.

Southern Sudan
SPLA Order for the disarmament and withdrawal of SPLA soldiers in Yei. On 30 May, UNMIS Nyala held a meeting with the recently appointed King of the Massaliet to discuss his inaccessibility to Gereida. The King explained that once he has access to his land and people, the people of Massaliet will have the chance to discuss issues freely and choose their own representative once peace is reached.

Khartoum and North Sudan
UNMIS monitors the recent organized returns of 900 returnees who arrived in Kadugli on 24 May, and about 300 returnees are yet to be transported to their final destinations.

Eastern Sudan
NSTR

Abyei, Blue Nile and South Kordofan
No casualties reported

Sudan's ex-rebel Kiir to meet SLM/A's Minnawi and Nur (and maybe JEM leader) within 72 hours - SPLM

June 1, 2006 Sudan Tribune report (Khartoum) June 1, 2006:

Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of SPLM at the National Assembly, Yasir Arman, said that the First Vice-President and Chairman of the SPLM, Salva Kiir, would meet within the coming 72 hours in Yei town in south Sudan with the leaders of SLM, Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, and Minni Minawi, in the presence of leaderships of Darfur.

He did not rule out participation of the leader of the JEM, Khalil Ibrahim, in Yei meeting.

Shortly before the deadline expired, the AU spokesperson Nourredine Mezni said efforts were still underway by southern Sudan ex-rebel chief, now Sudanese First Vice-President, Salva Kiir to "persuade those who did not sign" the pact to do so.

Despite Slovene efforts, Darfur JEM refuses to sign peace

June 1, 2006 SudanTribune article - excerpt:

The JEM leader, Khalil Ibrahim, thanked Drnovsek for his efforts, but said that the Abuja accord was unacceptable.

"The agreement is unacceptable for the people of Darfur and Sudan, for it undermines and ignores Darfur's identity," he said. Many big countries have backed it, not because it is good but because Darfur has become a playground for conflicting political and economic interests, Khalil added.

JEM is nevertheless willing to continue with talks and requests more concessions. "We urge the UN and the EU not to close the door to peace in Darfur; don't consider this document as something vital, something which cannot be changed," Khalil explained.

Drnovsek said he agreed with Khalil that the accord could be improved, but the fact of the matter is that the international community has set a deadline which expires at midnight, so he advised the JEM to sign the document despite its shortcomings.

Deadline for Darfur peace deal passes - AU drawing up new document to allow dissident factions and commanders to sign peace deal and escape sanctions

From The Daily Telegraph correspondents in Addis Ababa June 1, 2006:

A MIDNIGHT African Union deadline for holdout Darfur rebels to agree to a peace deal for the troubled western Sudanese region passed with no new signatories, AU officials said today.

"No one has called to say they will sign but they know how to reach us," a senior AU official said at the bloc's headquarters in Addis Ababa after the (7am Thursday AEST) deadline passed.

"We'll see what happens (Thursday) morning and consider it."

Noureddine Mezni, a spokesman for the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), said in Khartoum that AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare Konare would today "indicate the next steps to be taken".

Shortly before the deadline expired, Mr Mezni said efforts were still under way by southern Sudan ex-rebel chief, now Sudanese First Vice President, Salva Kiir to "persuade those who did not sign" the pact to do so.

A source close to the negotiations said Mr Kiir had received a delegation led by Konare's Sudan envoy, Baba Gana Kingibe, and that he would himself soon host talks between the AU and holdout rebels in the south of the country.

Yesterday, AU officials in Addis Ababa said a group claiming to represent a JEM splinter faction had arrived there to meet officials just hours before the deadline.

"We have been approached by a certain number of groups who are favourable to the DPA," AU Peace and Security Council commissioner Said Djinnit told reporters, referring to the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Diplomats in the Ethiopian capital said the alleged JEM dissidents were prepared to sign the deal even after a spokesman for the group said it could not agree unless substantial changes were made.

Mr Mezni said AU officials were drawing up a new document that would allow dissident factions and commanders to escape sanctions.

"We are finalising a different document, a mechanism will be put in place to receive the signatures of groups and individuals who have chosen the path of peace," he said.

A source close to the AU said seven field commanders from Abdel Wahid Mohammed al-Nur's holdout SLM faction had arrived in Addis Ababa to join the peace process "and before that many others did the same".

Mr Nur himself has said he will not sign unless Khartoum agrees to pay compensation and give his SLM wing a greater security role and a say in local and federal government.

Officials involved in the peace effort have warned Nur he risks becoming "irrelevant" if he does not sign, but his group's absence from the accord will likely plunge Darfur into further violence.

Strategic Victimhood in Sudan (by Alan Kuperman)

Note this extraordinary opinion piece in the New York Times May 31, 2006 by Alan J Kuperman, assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas and editor of "Gambling on Humanitarian Intervention: Moral Hazard, Rebellion and Civil War" - copied here below in full, with many thanks to Eric at Passion of the Present. I agree with every word of it. As I am no writer, it is comforting for me to at long last see such an eloquently written piece echoing what I have clumsily banged on about, alone here at Sudan Watch, for so long.

"Strategic Victimhood in Sudan" by Alan Kuperman

THOUSANDS of Americans who wear green wristbands and demand military intervention to stop Sudan's Arab government from perpetrating genocide against black tribes in Darfur must be perplexed by recent developments.

Without such intervention, Sudan's government last month agreed to a peace accord pledging to disarm Arab janjaweed militias and resettle displaced civilians. By contrast, Darfur's black rebels, who are touted by the wristband crowd as freedom fighters, rejected the deal because it did not give them full regional control. Put simply, the rebels were willing to let genocide continue against their own people rather than compromise their demand for power.

International mediators were shamefaced. They had presented the plan as take it or leave it, to compel Khartoum's acceptance. But now the ostensible representatives of the victims were balking. Embarrassed American officials were forced to ask Sudan for further concessions beyond the ultimatum that it had already accepted.

Fortunately, Khartoum again acquiesced. But two of Darfur's three main rebel groups still rejected peace. Frustrated American negotiators accentuated the positive - the strongest rebel group did sign - and expressed hope that the dissenters would soon join.

But that hope was crushed last week when the rebels viciously turned on each other. As this newspaper reported, "The rebels have unleashed a tide of violence against the very civilians they once joined forces to protect."

Seemingly bizarre, this rejection of peace by factions claiming to seek it is actually revelatory. It helps explain why violence originally broke out in Darfur, how the Save Darfur movement unintentionally poured fuel on the fire, and what can be done to stanch genocidal violence in Sudan and elsewhere.

Darfur was never the simplistic morality tale purveyed by the news media and humanitarian organizations. The region's blacks, painted as long-suffering victims, actually were the oppressors less than two decades ago - denying Arab nomads access to grazing areas essential to their survival. Violence was initiated not by Arab militias but by the black rebels who in 2003 attacked police and military installations. The most extreme Islamists are not in the government but in a faction of the rebels sponsored by former Deputy Prime Minister Hassan al-Turabi, after he was expelled from the regime. Cease-fires often have been violated first by the rebels, not the government, which has pledged repeatedly to admit international peacekeepers if the rebels halt their attacks.

This reality has been obscured by Sudan's criminally irresponsible reaction to the rebellion: arming militias to carry out a scorched-earth counterinsurgency. These Arab forces, who already resented the black tribes over past land disputes and recent attacks, were only too happy to rape and pillage any village suspected of supporting the rebels.

In light of janjaweed atrocities, it is natural to romanticize the other side as freedom fighters. But Darfur's rebels do not deserve that title. They took up arms not to stop genocide - which erupted only after they rebelled - but to gain tribal domination.

The strongest faction, representing the minority Zaghawa tribe, signed the sweetened peace deal in hopes of legitimizing its claim to control Darfur. But that claim is vehemently opposed by rebels representing the larger Fur tribe. Such internecine disputes only recently hit the headlines, but the rebels have long wasted resources fighting each other rather than protecting their people.

Advocates of intervention play down rebel responsibility because it is easier to build support for stopping genocide than for becoming entangled in yet another messy civil war. But their persistent calls for intervention have actually worsened the violence.

The rebels, much weaker than the government, would logically have sued for peace long ago. Because of the Save Darfur movement, however, the rebels believe that the longer they provoke genocidal retaliation, the more the West will pressure Sudan to hand them control of the region. Sadly, this message was reinforced when the rebels' initial rejection of peace last month was rewarded by American officials' extracting further concessions from Khartoum.

The key to rescuing Darfur is to reverse these perverse incentives. Spoiler rebels should be told that the game is over, and that further resistance will no longer be rewarded but punished by the loss of posts reserved for them in the peace agreement.

Ultimately, if the rebels refuse, military force will be required to defeat them. But this is no job for United Nations peacekeepers. Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia show that even the United States military cannot stamp out Islamic rebels on their home turf; second-rate international troops would stand even less chance.

Rather, we should let Sudan's army handle any recalcitrant rebels, on condition that it eschew war crimes. This option will be distasteful to many, but Sudan has signed a peace treaty, so it deserves the right to defend its sovereignty against rebels who refuse to, so long as it observes the treaty and the laws of war.

Indeed, to avoid further catastrophes like Darfur, the United States should announce a policy of never intervening to help provocative rebels, diplomatically or militarily, so long as opposing armies avoid excessive retaliation. This would encourage restraint on both sides. Instead we should redirect intervention resources to support "people power" movements that pursue change peacefully, as they have done successfully over the past two decades in the Philippines, Indonesia, Serbia and elsewhere.

America, born in revolution, has a soft spot for rebels who claim to be freedom fighters, including those in Darfur. But to reduce genocidal violence, we must withhold support for the cynical provocations of militants who bear little resemblance to our founders.
- - -

Some reactions

May 31 2006 A Newer World - Spinning Darfur: Professor Kuperman, are you being paid to spin for Sudan's theocratic dictatorship? Or are you just drunk on anti-interventionism? What gives?

May 31 2006 Drima of The Sudanese Thinker: Strategic Victimhood In Sudan (A MUST READ): The following is a superbly written article that I checked today on Sudan Watch. I absolutely love it. It explains everything that Sudan Watch, Passion of The Present and I myself have been trying so hard to get across. The damn media talks about the Darfur conflict like they know it all when infact they got so many of their "facts" wrong. At the end of the day it's you the readers who end up getting distorted information. Please read it and enlighten yourselves to what is truly happening. The rebels are neither heroes nor victims in this tragedy. They are a sick and greedy bunch of people whom the international community shouldn't sympathize them.

June 1, 2006 Coalition for Darfur - Theory vs. Reality: excerpts and links to responses by NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof and Jerry Fowler of VOICES ON GENOCIDE PREVENTION.

[Sudan Watch Ed: Note how Fowler belittles Kuperman as 'a young academic with an iffy academic theory'. Is Fowler saying we all have to be old academics with sound theories to be entitled to an opinion? Old non academic Kristof opines: "First, of course it's more complicated than it seems at first. There are layers and layers of complexity to Darfur (although it's not clear to me that the author has ever actually been to Darfur to try to peel them away)." Is Kristof saying we all have to visit Darfur to be entitled to have an opinion on the war?]

June 2 2006 Jerry Fowler's blog entry Avid Readers says Alan Kuperman's op-ed in the New York Times found one appreciative audience: the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. They've posted it on their home page.

June 1 2006 Bitter Lemon: Personally, I hold George Clooney Responsible for the Genocide: Save Darfur movement has not discussed resolving the political crisis in Darfur, but simply stopping the Sudanese government from slaughtering their own people.

May 31 2006 Random Voices: Kuperman has no kind words for the Darfur rebels.

May 31 2006 Tas of Louded Mouth - Alan Kuperman needs to be smacked: Hey Kupster, maybe if the United Nations and western powers had listened to the Save Darfur movement and taken the crisis as a serious problem sooner, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But the fact is that they didn't; nobody did.

May 31 2006 American Scream - Men With Guns: While I do have an objection to this piece because it obstinately argues that we should do nothing, and everything will magically work out, it does have a point.

May 31 2006 Minerva - Epistemic Conditions For Foreign Engagement: What is compelling about his answer I think is less that it is obviously the right solution (it doesn't sound bad to me) but that it is reversable and causes less damage than humanitarian intervention. It is cautious. If there's anything you should be when it comes to giving guns to a bunch of people and sending them to face off with other people with guns, it's cautious. [Edit] I remember NPR interviewing a woman--someone in Iraq, I can't remember when or how--and she predicted virtually the exact chain of events that left us where we are now. I'm not talking about an expert. I'm talking about someone who sounded frightened, someone very ordinary, maybe even uneducated. Much of what she said--the resentment of the occupation, the internal turmoil between Sunni and Shia, the descent into chaotic violence--were things that seemed to me likely to happen.

May 31 2006 dcat - Touring Africa: Alan Kuperman writes in a Times op-ed piece that Americans misunderstand the conflict in Darfur and thus our solutions are simplistic. While Kuperman is right about Americans, his own proposed solutions are both too sanguine and too wrong. [Edit] While he is correct in his assertion that most of the rebel groups are hardly rife with good guys, any military force worth its salt would go in with the goal of stopping violence on all sides without taking simplistic dualities of good guys and bad guys.

May 31 2006 Just World News by Helena Cobban - Countering Darfur's anti-humane rebels: Put simply, the rebels were willing to let genocide continue against their own people rather than compromise their demand for power. This is a very strong statement of a case I've been making -- in much more tentative terms -- here on JWN over the past few weeks. Kuperman's conclusion is, "Ultimately, if the rebels refuse, military force will be required to defeat them." I disagree with this. I still maintain that there are always alternatives to the use of violence! ... Kuperman conclusion is this: we should let Sudan's army handle any recalcitrant rebels, on condition that it eschew war crimes. I agree, in general, with the argument that Sudan has a right to exercise its own national soveriegnty. ... Kuperman also makes a very good longer-range argument regarding the direction of US foreign policy. ... I am just glad to see Alan Kuperman entering the debate on Darfur with this feisty and generally strongly reasoned article.

May 31 2006 Compartmentalizing: I haven't read it, but I bet it's very good. A NYT op-ed about Darfur by Alan J Kuperman.

May 31 2006 Empire of Dirt - The Nail On The Head: Alan J Kuperman On Darfur: Occasionally, I come across an article that seems to have resulted from the writer's actually doing some thinking, rather than just rehashing some well-worn facts and tired cliches. It doesn't happen very often because new ideas are just few and far between, it seems. Anyway, in today's New York Times, Alan J. Kuperman really made me think anew about the Darfur situation. I'm no expert, so I don't know whether Kuperman is right in his prescription, but I do know that this is the type of writing that makes me sit up and take notice, for Kuperman demonstrates a refusal to bow before sacred cows and an unashamed devotion to the search for truth. Such concern for inquiry is today in short supply and therefore valued all the more by your Emperor.

May 31 2006 LookSmart's Furl - Strategic Victimhood in Sudan - Gives a little history on the Darfur conflict, which apparently isn't quite so one-sided as Kristof et al have led one to believe.

May 31 2006 Greg's Opinion: Alan Kuperman goes contrarian, pointing out that the Sudanese rebel groups aren't the clean-cut innocents that some might wish them to be. Focusing on Kuperman's take, I think it's worth pointing out that many genocides involve combatants on two sides that are rarely combating angelically. The problem is that that does NOT negate the obviousness of genocide. It does nothing to make the case against humanitarian assistance, if not placing boots on the ground to prevent more killing. The current rise of contrarian thought on Sudan is a bit surprising, I don't pretend to know what to make of it. But I would hope that it gets relegated to the asterisk mark of human thought that it deserves.

June 1 2006 Global Paradigms by Dr Leon Hadar, Cato Institute - The road to hell is paved with good intentions: It was interesting to read an op-ed in the New York Times this week Strategic Victimhood in Sudan in which the author Alan J. Kuperman deconstructs Darfour-as-a-Morality-Play and explains what we libertarians have known for quite a long time, that when it comes to most of these civil war in Third World spots, it's all about power, stupid!

May 31 2006 Life's Not That Simple - choosing the lesser of two evils.: one thing i've learnt is that things are never so simple ... no wonder the African Union was reluctant to let UN peacekeeping forces take over..

Jun 2 2006 CJR Daily - =eporter's Layered, Nuanced Work from Darfur

Jun 2 2006 Aplia Econ Blog - News for Economics Students: The Economics of Genocide

Jun 3 2006 The Human Province - Kuperman and "provoking genocie"

June 12 2006 Sudan Tribune Bill Andress Strategic victimhood in Sudan - A response: Tribal conflict is a blemish on all of Sudan just as it is on much of the African continent, but it is not the main issue here. [Sudan Watch ed: What a load of twaddle. By the way, the Sudan Tribune published a response to Kuperman's piece but not the piece itself. Lately, I've found Sudan Tribune (France based, I think) to be subtley biased in its selection of reports: seems to me, Sudan Tribune editors are pro rebel]

Nasty Eric 'insurgent loving' Reeves uses his poison pen to hurl insults at David Rieff (and everyone else except the rebels)

Eric Reeves in A reply to David Rieff asks:

What would be the consequences of humanitarian intervention in Darfur, with all necessary military resources?

And answers twice, saying "there [is] much we simply cannot know in advance" ..."there is much that simply can't be known now about the consequences of intervention."

Mar 3 2006 Give peace a chance: Sending UN into Darfur is no solution - Janjaweed will be very tough to stop by force alone (Julie Flint)

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 23 2006 Rebels' rivalry subverts hope for Darfur peace

May 27 2006 Eric Reeves says only NATO military action can save Darfur

May 28 2006 Jan Pronk blogs the big question: Will the UN decide to send a peace keeping force?

May 30 2006 Misinformation about Darfur Peace Agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU peacekeepers - AU media campaign urges Darfuris to support peace

May 30 2006 UN's Egeland warns against Western military force in Darfur: "AU force has to be strengthened, it's them that we have to empower"

Apr 1 2006 Sudanese rebel group JEM dismisses peace talks and calls for Darfur's sovereignty: The chair of Darfur rebels group JEM, Khalil Mohammed, on Wednesday dismissed Darfur peace talks as "a waste of time, energy and resources of stakeholders." He said the peace talks would not achieve any meaningful result as they were "merely going in circles." Mohammed said that if the African Union's April deadline for peace in the region lapsed without success, "the people of Darfur will be left with no choice other than to ask for self-determination". "If we do not get our own sovereignty, the only alternative is a forceful change of the government in Khartoum," Chairman of Darfur rebel group JEM threatened.

May 2 2006 SLM/A Open letter to the World on Darfur Peace Agreement

May 31 2006 blog entry by Tas at Loaded Mouth: Alan Kuperman needs to be smacked

Norwegian Refugee Council returns to Darfur after eviction

Today NRC finalised the negotiations to regain access to perform humanitarian work in Darfur. On 5 April, NRC was forced to suspend all aid work in the region after being evicted by the Sudanese authorities.

For two months NRC has been hindered from distributing food to 50 000 people and co-ordinating Kalma, the largest camp in Darfur, which shelters approx. 100 000 internally displaced persons. - Reuters May 31, 2006.

German diplomat plays down military role in Sudan

Reuters report May 31, 2006 - excerpt:

"This is not a question that is being posed at the moment," Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler told Reuters in an interview, when asked whether Germany could send troops to Sudan as part of a possible UN peacekeeping force later this year.

Erler, who visited Darfur in recent weeks, said that before any discussion of troops could take place, it needed to be established whether a peace deal for the region had sufficient political and popular support.

He said his visit had given him the impression that support was lacking and suggested Germany could play a political role in helping Sudan -- by broadening support for a peace deal to help pave the way for a UN force.

AU looking at a way to accept signature of new JEM splinter faction wanting to sign Darfur Peace Agreement

African foreign ministers met Wednesday hours ahead of a deadline for holdout Sudanese rebels to sign an agreement meant to end the Darfur crisis, AP/ST reported today - excerpt:

Nigerian FM Oluyemi Adeniji, chairing a meeting of AU's Peace and Security Council, was cautious, saying he hoped the holdout insurgents would join the deal before the midnight (22:00 GMT) deadline.

"I hope they will consider signing the agreement," Adeniji said. "We will have to wait and see how the response is later today."

Representatives of Darfur rebel factions are in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, today, "but I'm not sure anything will happen before the end of the day," the AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit told The Associated Press.

According to an unsourced report at Sudan Tribune May 31, 2006 dissidents from JEM rebel group may sign the Darfur peace deal diplomats said Wednesday. Excerpt:

A group claiming to represent a splinter faction of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) arrived at AU headquarters here seeking to meet officials just hours before the midnight expiration of the deadline, they said.

AU Peace and Security Council commissioner Said Djinnit confirmed that a number of Darfur minority groups, including members of the JEM, had contacted the pan-African body to say they wanted to sign the deal.

"We have been approached by a certain number of groups who are favorable to the DPA," he told reporters, referring to the Darfur Peace Agreement.

"Until the expiration of the deadline, we are hopeful the leaders of the (holdout) rebel groups will sign the peace deal," he said.

The identities of the alleged JEM dissidents were not immediately clear but diplomats said they were ready to sign the May 5 peace agreement, which was already signed by a faction of Darfur's Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).

"The dissident faction members of the JEM came here to sign, but they cannot sign today unless their leaders come," an African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"If their leaders don't show up, they are hoping to sign tomorrow if the AU will accept their signature as a faction," a second African diplomat said. "The AU is now looking at some mechanism to accept the signature of the faction.

The diplomats said the leaders of the group - whose identities were also not immediately clear - were expected in Addis Ababa late Wednesday or Thursday.

Slovenia says JEM needs to stay in the Darfur peace process - JEM leadership will have to make a decision in Slovenia

Unsourced Sudan Tribune report Darfur rebel JEM seeks Slovenian mediation May 31, 2006 (LJUBLJANA) - excerpt:

The Slovenian president held talks here with the chief negotiator for the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Ahmed Tugod Lissan, and a former governor of Darfur Ahmed Diraige.

Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) needs to "stay in the game", in the Darfur peace process, President Janez Drnovsek told the press after meeting JEM representatives in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

According to the Slovenian president, it is difficult to say whether there will be any breakthrough tomorrow, as JEM maintains that it will not sign the proposed peace agreement to end the bloody three-year conflict.

"We will try to find a formula to prevent an increase in tensions," Drnovsek also said after the meeting, which is to resume on Wednesday.

The president held talks with the chief JEM negotiator, Ahmed Tugod Lissan, member of the JEM leadership Abdullahi Osman El-Tom, and Ahmed Diraige, the chairman of the Federal Democratic Alliance and former Darfur governor.

In Drnovsek's view, the only way for the JEM to sign the peace deal is for the group to say what reservations they have about the agreement. "The JEM leadership will have to make a decision in Slovenia," he stressed.

Diraige shared Drnovsek's view, labeling JEM’s participation in the peace process as crucial. Although Diraige as a representative of an all-Sudanese party is not directly involved in the Darfur peace process, he was pleased to have had an opportunity to talk to the JEM.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Drnovsek, Diraige expressed hope that the African mediators will extend the deadline for the signing of the peace accord, and find an acceptable solution which will not lead to increased tensions.

He used the opportunity to thank Slovenia for its support and help for the people in Darfur, and praised Drnovsek for his efforts.

Meanwhile, asked why representatives of the SLM al-Nur faction have not arrived for talks as announced, Drnovsek said that they were initially very interested in coming; yet, he has not heard anything from them since Monday.

The daily Dnevnik said yesterday that the absence of the SLM was a result of pressure from Great Britain and the US. The paper says that the special EU representative for Sudan, Marcel Le Roi, would also be present at the talks.

Drnovsek moreover explained that beside the JEM and the SLM, representatives of the Sudanese government were also invited to today's talks, however, they did not respond to the invitation.

The president's office said earlier today that the head of the JEM Ibrahim Khalil was expected to arrive in Slovenia on Wednesday.

UPDATE: May 31 2006 - JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim arrived in Slovenia today; Sudan Tribune report - Slovenia wants Darfur rebel JEM to sign peace deal - excerpt:

Drnovsek's recent interest in Darfur and efforts to present himself as an international champion of the weak and the poor have baffled some in Slovenia, once part of Yugoslavia. He left his party, the Liberal Democrats, and established his own Movement for Justice and Development.

His political shift over the last year coincided with other changes. He became a vegetarian, moved from the capital, Ljubljana, to a remote village where he follows a careful diet and bakes his own bread, and has traveled to India to study meditation.

Darfur SLM/A leaders Minnawi and Nur to meet Salva Kiir in South Sudan

According to the Sudan Tribune today, SLM/A faction leader al-Nur, who is currently in Nairobi, said he would be heading to southern Sudan in the next two days to meet the First Vice-President, Salva Kiir. Report excerpt:

Leaders of the Sudan Liberation Movement will meet the Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir in the capital of the southern Sudan Juba, a leader of a faction of the rebel movement said yesterday.

Al Nur said he received a personal invitation from him to discuss the Darfur issue as well as the SLM stance regarding the Abuja agreement.

He said that he received a telephone call from the first vice-president in which he invited him and Mani Arkoi Minawi to visit the south to discuss the Abuja agreement.

The rebel leader reiterated that his party would stick to its position not to sign the agreement if the inclusion of an additional paper to resolve the fundamental issues like resources and power and compensation and the borders of the region would not be added.

"We have already reached a peace agreement for Darfur and we are waiting to convince those who have not joined the agreement to sign," he told a crowd of supporters in Khartoum.

"I have telephoned Abdelwahid al-Nur to convince him to do so, and I will talk to him again," he said. "I’m going to approach all those who have not signed the agreement and I will seek assistance from the United Nations."

Kiir mediates talks with Darfur insurgents and seeks assistance from UN - AU hopeful peace deal will be signed

Hours before the expiry of a May 31 deadline by the African Union to Darfur rebel groups still holding out of a peace deal, the pan-African body said Tuesday it was hopeful the insurgents would beat the ultimatum.

"Until the May 31 deadline expires, we are hopeful that the parties that have not signed will sign the Abuja peace agreement," AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said.

Full report Sudan Tribune May 30, 2006 (Khartoum).

Also, the above report says:

Sudanese First Vice President Silva Kiir, himself a former southern rebel who heads the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said that he had spoken to the head of the SLM splinter movement to try to convince him to sign up.

"We have already reached a peace agreement for Darfur and we are waiting to convince those who have not joined the agreement to sign," he told a crowd of supporters in Khartoum.

"I have telephoned Abdelwahid al-Nur to convince him to do so, and I will talk to him again," he said. "I'm going to approach all those who have not signed the agreement and I will seek assistance from the United Nations."

An SLM field commander in Darfur, Moussa Morneh, hinted there was a possibility of the SLM coming on board.

"Maybe we will sign but until now we did not yet receive the message from the chairman (Nur) for signing tomorrow," he told AFP by satellite telephone.

Nur himself, currently in Nairobi, was uncontactable.

Djinnit said that if they fail to append their signatures on the Darfur Peace Agreement, the bloc's Peace and Security council would meet to discuss measures to take against them.

"We hope that they will exemplify a historic responsibility and to realise that the agreement is a good basis to achieve peace in Darfur," Djinnit said.

"If not, the Peace and Security Council will meet to see what measures to take ... measures will be taken."

The AU special representative in Sudan Baba Gana Kingibe said efforts were continuing to woo the holdouts to sign the agreement.

"Concerted efforts are still being made with a view to convincing the hesitating Darfur movements' leaders of the need to append their signatures to the agreement," Kingibe said in a statement.

No Darfur force transition to UN operation without consent of Government of Sudan - Parry

British Ambassador Sir Emyr Jones Parry, who is leading the UN Security Council meeting in Khartoum next week, along with French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said he was working on the presumption Khartoum would agree to a UN force, Reuters Evelyn Leopold reported today. Excerpt:

"The signals are slightly confused but the latest contacts I have had suggest there has been agreement to the transition," he told reporters earlier. "Our working assumption is that there will be a transition to a United Nations operation but we will do that with the consent of the Government of Sudan."

Annan seemed to agree. "I think the Council's visit should also further facilitate matters, not only with reference to the assessment mission, but the actual deployment of the mission."

Note, the report tells us the largest UN peacekeeping mission of 17,000 troops and civilians is in the Congo at a cost of $1 billion a year.

UN's Egeland warns against Western military force in Darfur: "AU force has to be strengthened, it's them that we have to empower"

Hallelujah! At long last! What took him so long to say this loud and clear?! -- UN aid chief Jan Egeland has warned against deploying a Western military force, as some politicians in the US have suggested, AP/CNN reported today:

"We have to be careful to calibrate the humanitarian and security response so it doesn't provoke a reaction," Egeland said. "I'd like to see the African Union and the UN play the lead role there, NATO and other organizations can complement and very usefully complement our efforts." AU force has to be strengthened "It's them that we have to empower," Egeland said.

"We either get good news in the next few weeks, or we have catastrophic news later," Mr Egeland said in a telephone interview.

He said a major international conference would be held in June somewhere in Europe to try to boost humanitarian aid and assistance for the peacekeepers.

Egeland was in Brussels to meet top officials at NATO and the European Union. He said military powers should provide more resources to improve transport, communications, logistics, training and planning for the African peacekeepers.

However, he warned against deploying a Western military force, as some politicians in the United States have suggested.

Egeland said the Africans need more trucks and helicopters to move swiftly around the vast region. He said African nations also needed to provide more and better-trained troops and said the African Union should urgently bolster the force's mandate so it could better protect the local population.

"The African Union force has to be strengthened, it's them that we have to empower," Egeland insisted. "What can be provided by military organizations, by member states of the U.N. and NATO is very welcome."

Egeland recently told the U.N. Security Council that the number of displaced people in South Darfur had tripled in the last four months to between 100,000-120,000. He complained local officials have blocked fuel deliveries and the movement of aid workers has been severely restricted.

- - -

THERE IS NO NEED TO FAIL THE AFRICAN UNION

May 30 2006 VOA report via Sudan Tribune - Sudan gives mixed signals on UN peacekeepers - excerpt:

With the peace agreement signed, the African Union says it wants the United Nations to take over peacekeeping responsibilities in Darfur. And so does the United States - the Bush administration wants an initial force of 14,000 UN peacekeepers to take up positions in Darfur. But in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, some government officials are saying not so fast. And they include the man who actually signed the peace agreement on the government's behalf.

Mazjoub Al Khalifa Ahmed says the only force bringing peace to Darfur should be an African one. "Let us come up with something workable and practical that will not jeopardize the sovereignty of the country, and will maintain peace on the ground. There is no need to fail the AU and make a transition from the AU to the UN."

Misinformation about Darfur Peace Agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU peacekeepers - AU media campaign urges Darfuris to support peace

Darfur violence increases as tomorrow's peace deadline nears, VOA Noel King in Khartoum reported today:

African Union (AU) spokesman Nourredine Mezni told VOA from Khartoum that misinformation about the peace agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU troops, although the AU is uncertain who the attackers are.

"There are some inciters from outside, from some parties, who are opposed to this peace agreement," said Mezni. "That is why we have these attacks against our troops in Darfur, because the population look at the troops as a symbol of the Darfur Peace Agreement. The attacks against humanitarian workers, attacks against AMIS [African Mission in Sudan] troops, demonstrations, because there is misinformation on this agreement."

Photo: African Union troops listen to the concerns of villagers in the village of Brikatouly in South Darfur, Sudan (VOA)

Mezni says the African Union is launching a media campaign to urge Darfuris to support the peace deal.

The AU Peace and Security Council is considering what actions to take if the two groups do not sign the agreement.

As noted here on May 18, 2006 JEM leader will have to leave Chad if he does not sign Darfur peace deal by May 31.

Photo: AU soldiers patrol the village of Kerkera, located between El-Fasher, the capital of northern Darfur and Kuma, further north, 18 May 2006. A Nigerian peacekeeper was killed in an ambush on Friday, and six others wounded. The same patrol was attacked again a day later, AU officials said. (AFP/File/Ramzi Haidar)

May 30 2006 Sudan Tribune report - AU briefs African, partner's envoys on Darfur peace implementation - excerpt:

The African Union held two meetings to enlighten African and AU partners Ambassadors in Khartoum on the implementation of Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). Chaired by Baba Gana Kingibe, the meetings involved African Ambassadors accredited to the Sudan led by their Dean the Libyan Ambassador Omar Khalifa Al Hamdy, as well as the representatives of the AU international partners.

The importance of explaining and popularising the DPA to the Darfurians on the main benefits of the Agreement which up to now have not been adequately presented to them was also highlighted.

UN force for Darfur must have clear mandate - Kiir

AFP report May 30, 2006 - excerpt:

Amid criticism of Khartoum for failing to agree to the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur to replace the under-manned African Union mission, Kiir said there had been "a misunderstanding".

"We did not refuse the UN force to come to Darfur," he said. "But they must come with a clear mandate."

He said the matter had been raised with UN troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi when he visited Sudan last week.

"Let us now have the dialogue... until UN forces will be prepared to take over from the African Union," he said.

Kiir said "the procedure they (the UN) took was rather wrong," referring to the fact the UN Security Council passed a resolution backing the Darfur mission that could be enforced militarily.

But President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, chief of the northern National Congress Party (NCP), said he had a different opinion, Reuters reported (Sudan ruling parties differ over UN Darfur force May 30, 2006 Opheera McDoom):

"We heard the words of Salva Kiir, and his opinion is different to mine," he told reporters late on Monday night. He declined to answer a question on why he opposed UN transition in Darfur.

Peace talks aimed at ending rebellion in eastern Sudan due to start in Asmara, Eritrea June 13

May 30 2006 AFP report Sudan ex-rebels show unity with Khartoum despite differences - excerpt:

Beshir also lambasted Washington for failing to lift sanctions imposed Khartoum's sponsorship of terrorism despite the signing of separate peace deals with the south and with one rebel group in the western Darfur region.

"They want to give us a new recipe, so they say now you have to solve the problem in the east," he said, referring to yet another Sudanese rebellion.

Talks aimed at ending that conflict are due to start in the Eritrean capital Asmara on June 13.

Interview with Dr Douglas H Johnson, expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission - Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal transferred to Darfur in 1960s

Click here to read IRIN's important interview May 29, 2006 with Dr Douglas H Johnson, an expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) and author of the book 'The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars'.



Photo: Dr Douglas H Johnson was a member of the Abyei Boundaries Commission (IRIN)

Note this excerpt from the interview:

There are many remaining border disputes. One is the Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal that was transferred to Darfur in the 1960s, which, by the terms of the CPA, and even by the terms of the Addis Ababa Agreement [which ended the first civil war] before, is supposed to be retransferred to Bahr El Ghazal.

And this excerpt from a blog entry I wrote August 2, 2004 while searching for reports online to try and understand what was going on in Darfur and why:

OIL AND MINERAL RICHES IN DARFUR
Uranium discovered in Hofrat Al Nihas:
France is interested in Uranium and has drilling rights in Sudan

At the moment I am searching for maps to pinpoint Hofrat Al Nihas. (Other names: Hofrat el Nahas, Hofrat en Nahas, Hufrat an Nahas, Hofrat en Nahas). I think it may be in South Darfur, maybe close to a border. Here's why:

Khaleej Times Online report (31 July 2004 by Amira Agarib and Charles Buth Diu - Sudan needs three years to disarm tribes) excerpt: "The oil and precious mineral resources such as uranium discovered in Hofrat Al Nihas have set off fierce competition between US and France. The US has started to invest in oil industry in Chad, France's former colony, while France Total company obtained drilling rights in Sudan."

Now I am wondering if Hofrat Al Nihas is the same place that Dr Johnson refers to as "Hofre Nahas." Just curious.

Further reading:

Aug 16 2005 Sudan: Abyei Boundary Commission report - Mistriyah in north Darfur, is the heartland of the powerful Arab Rizeigat tribe, of which Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal is the chief.

Sep 14 2005 TEXT- Abyei Boundary Commission Report

Mar 1 2006 Dr Douglas H Johnson Abyei Report - A test to Sudan peace deal (Dr Johnson can be reached at douglas@wendoug.free-online.co.uk. www.jamescurrey.co.uk)

Mar 30 2006 Mesirya tribe leader urges resolution of Abyei dispute

May 4 2006 Donald Petterson Abyei - A test of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement parties (Ambassador Donald Petterson was the Chairman, Abyei Boundaries Commission - American Ambassador, Ret.)

May 30 2006 Salient points of the first meeting of Sudan NCP-SPLM final communique

Dinkas say "Abyei belongs 100% to Southern Sudan"



Photo: About 50 Dinkas staged a demonstration outside the opening ceremony of the NCP-SPLM meeting on Saturday 27, 2006 in Khartoum, shouting their support for the peace deal and calling for a swift resolution of the Abyei issue. In the picture two demonstrators hold banner "Abyei belongs 100% to Southern Sudan".

May 30 2006 Sudan's Misariyah blame Abyei report for instability in the region - In a petition to the Sudanese presidency Misariyah Arab tribes in the disputed region of Abyei rejected the conclusions of Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) and blamed it for the administrative deterioration and security instability in the area. The petition warned that the commission's report inflamed disputes between the citizens of the area. In order to contain the disputes the petition said it was necessary to set up a new commission whose final decision would be taken by the people of Sudan. The International Crisis Group think-tank said in a recent report that "the NCP's actions regarding Abyei are a blatant violation of the CPA, creating perhaps the most volatile element of the entire agreement right now."
-- -

For further reports, click on Abyei label here below.