Perhaps there is hope through the European Union. The joint EU-ACP parliamentary assembly opened yesterday in The Hague with Sudan topping the agenda. It will have an urgent debate about the problems in Darfur and are expected to adopt a resolution on the matter on Thursday.
According to a draft compromise resolution obtained by AFP, the assembly will call for "a complete embargo on arms sales to all armed factions including the Sudanese army."
The draft also proposes to send a fact-finding mission of the joint assembly to assess the situation in Sudan.
In his opening speech, the assembly's co-president, pleaded with the representatives "not to lose sight of reason" when discussing Sudan. "With an urgent resolution we might as well condemn the government of Sudan. However, shouldn't we ask ourselves whether, by doing this, we will have changed the fate of the many displaced, starving and helpless people in Sudan?" he said.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
State of emergency declared in Sudan’s North Darfur
According to a report out of Khartoum today, Governor Osman Yusuf Kibir declared a state of emergency across north Darfur and a curfew in the wake of “a grave military escalation by the rebels.”
Lord Alton, the founder of the human rights campaign Jubilee, believes the international community has been "duped". He explained that the Sudanese government had been required by a United Nations mandatory resolution to disarm militia, and this had not been done. "There is a whiff of Munich about this," said Lord Alton, who last visited Sudan in September.
He said he backed a letter to a national newspaper from shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram, Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock, and Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell.
The trio is calling for better resources to provide for those affected by the war, a no-fly zone to be imposed over west Darfur, and targeted sanctions, including oil sanctions.
- - -
Oxfam UK says EU must take action
European Union foreign ministers faced a call yesterday to take tougher action in western Darfur as new violence has cut off aid supplies to over 150,000 people.
"The EU must immediately take robust action to force the warring parties in Darfur to comply with their commitments to protect civilians in Darfur," U.K.-based Oxfam International said in a statement.
The charity denounced deteriorating security on roads caused by bandits and warring factions, which were forcing it to use helicopters to fly aid to four towns in the western region of Sudan.
The EU is supporting an African Union plan to send more than 3,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, offering advisors and $100 million to cover almost half the costs of the operations.
The bloc has also considered sanctions such as a travel ban or asset freeze against Sudanese leaders. - Agencies
- - -
Save the Children UK aid workers flee violence
Yesterday, Save The Children, UK, said at least 30 of their workers and some other people were airlifted from the Tawilla area, in North Darfur state, where fighting between rebels and Arab militia has raged since Sunday.
UN spokesman George Somerwill, said 45 people were airlifted to safety by an AU helicopter after fleeing into bush areas.
He said a tribal dispute over livestock sparked the clashes and resulted in rebel SLA forces attacking the Janjaweed.
AU monitors said six civilians were killed during the clashes, which followed a ceasefire deal signed between rebels and the Sudanese government on November 9.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has said that reports of violence against women and children in and around IDP camps in Darfur appeared to be on the increase. A UNICEF statement said armed militias were raping girls and women in Darfur as a tactic to terrorise and humiliate individuals as well as families and communities.
Lord Alton, the founder of the human rights campaign Jubilee, believes the international community has been "duped". He explained that the Sudanese government had been required by a United Nations mandatory resolution to disarm militia, and this had not been done. "There is a whiff of Munich about this," said Lord Alton, who last visited Sudan in September.
He said he backed a letter to a national newspaper from shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram, Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock, and Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell.
The trio is calling for better resources to provide for those affected by the war, a no-fly zone to be imposed over west Darfur, and targeted sanctions, including oil sanctions.
- - -
Oxfam UK says EU must take action
European Union foreign ministers faced a call yesterday to take tougher action in western Darfur as new violence has cut off aid supplies to over 150,000 people.
"The EU must immediately take robust action to force the warring parties in Darfur to comply with their commitments to protect civilians in Darfur," U.K.-based Oxfam International said in a statement.
The charity denounced deteriorating security on roads caused by bandits and warring factions, which were forcing it to use helicopters to fly aid to four towns in the western region of Sudan.
The EU is supporting an African Union plan to send more than 3,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, offering advisors and $100 million to cover almost half the costs of the operations.
The bloc has also considered sanctions such as a travel ban or asset freeze against Sudanese leaders. - Agencies
- - -
Save the Children UK aid workers flee violence
Yesterday, Save The Children, UK, said at least 30 of their workers and some other people were airlifted from the Tawilla area, in North Darfur state, where fighting between rebels and Arab militia has raged since Sunday.
UN spokesman George Somerwill, said 45 people were airlifted to safety by an AU helicopter after fleeing into bush areas.
He said a tribal dispute over livestock sparked the clashes and resulted in rebel SLA forces attacking the Janjaweed.
AU monitors said six civilians were killed during the clashes, which followed a ceasefire deal signed between rebels and the Sudanese government on November 9.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has said that reports of violence against women and children in and around IDP camps in Darfur appeared to be on the increase. A UNICEF statement said armed militias were raping girls and women in Darfur as a tactic to terrorise and humiliate individuals as well as families and communities.
UN agencies to move from Kenya to southern Sudan
Jan Pronk, announced that all UN organisations working to end the southern Sudan civil war will be moved to southern Sudan, possibly to the city of Rumbek, from their current base in Kenya within six months.
UN Sends Kilometre-Long Food Convoy Across Sahara for Darfur Refugees in Chad
THE LONG PATH TO RELIEF
U.S. food takes 3 months to get to Chad
Above is a map of the long path to relief. After a month-long trip down the Mississippi River and across the Atlantic, U.S. food arrives on the coast of Cameroon.
From there it's 10 to 15 days to get it to Chad and at least a week until it makes it to the camps.
With delays, the entire trip can take 3 months.
- - -
UN Sends Kilometre-Long Food Convoy Across Sahara for Darfur Refugees in Chad
For the first time, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending United States food assistance through Libya along a 2,800-kilometre-long humanitarian corridor across the Sahara desert to reach nearly 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.
"This is by far the biggest WFP shipment through Libya to Chad," WFP Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East Mohamed Diab told a news conference today in the Libyan city of Al Kufra on the edge of the Sahara.
"A one kilometre-long convoy of trucks is an impressive sight, and we are very grateful to the Libyan authorities for allowing us to use this corridor."
Donated by the US Government, the food includes sorghum, cornmeal, lentils, vegetable oil and corn-soya blend, allowing WFP to provide the 200,000 refugees with almost all the commodities needed for their daily diet over a two-month period.
U.S. food takes 3 months to get to Chad

Above is a map of the long path to relief. After a month-long trip down the Mississippi River and across the Atlantic, U.S. food arrives on the coast of Cameroon.
From there it's 10 to 15 days to get it to Chad and at least a week until it makes it to the camps.
With delays, the entire trip can take 3 months.
- - -
UN Sends Kilometre-Long Food Convoy Across Sahara for Darfur Refugees in Chad
For the first time, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending United States food assistance through Libya along a 2,800-kilometre-long humanitarian corridor across the Sahara desert to reach nearly 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.

"This is by far the biggest WFP shipment through Libya to Chad," WFP Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East Mohamed Diab told a news conference today in the Libyan city of Al Kufra on the edge of the Sahara.
"A one kilometre-long convoy of trucks is an impressive sight, and we are very grateful to the Libyan authorities for allowing us to use this corridor."
Donated by the US Government, the food includes sorghum, cornmeal, lentils, vegetable oil and corn-soya blend, allowing WFP to provide the 200,000 refugees with almost all the commodities needed for their daily diet over a two-month period.
Monday, November 22, 2004
National Geographic video report: Shattered Sudan - Drilling for Oil, Hoping for Peace
"Hostilities in Sudan have dragged on for most of the past 50 years and claimed more than two milion lives. It's a fight for self-determination and control over resources, particularly oil. The government in the north is strafing, starving and abuducting populations in the south. Miraculously, the Nuba people find the courage to sing - even laugh - in the face of despair. Randy Olson and fellow photographer Meredith Davenport describe the conflict."
The above extract is from the opening page of this powerful video report at the National Geographic. It is not to be missed. The report is short. If you are on dial-up, it loads quickly. Please turn on your speakers and see what went on in Sudan BEFORE Darfur. And ask yourself if Darfur is any different, and how did they get away with genocide for so long?
Copyright Marco Longari / AFP
Above photo: Sudan Darfur Attack, 26 January 2003 - A soldier of the Justice and Equality rebel movement poses inside an empty house after an alleged government plane bombed the empty town of Tine-Sudan on the border with Chad.
Copyright Olivier Jobard / SIPA PRESS
Above photo: Chad - Refugees from Darfur, Sudan.
The above extract is from the opening page of this powerful video report at the National Geographic. It is not to be missed. The report is short. If you are on dial-up, it loads quickly. Please turn on your speakers and see what went on in Sudan BEFORE Darfur. And ask yourself if Darfur is any different, and how did they get away with genocide for so long?
Copyright Marco Longari / AFP
Above photo: Sudan Darfur Attack, 26 January 2003 - A soldier of the Justice and Equality rebel movement poses inside an empty house after an alleged government plane bombed the empty town of Tine-Sudan on the border with Chad.
Copyright Olivier Jobard / SIPA PRESS
Above photo: Chad - Refugees from Darfur, Sudan.
Band Aid 20: Do They Know It's Christmas... Band Aid Twenty Years After
Band Aid 20 "Do They Know It's Christmas" CD will be released Nov. 30 (on Universal Int'l) for the benefit of Darfur, Sudan. All proceeds will be spent on famine relief for Darfur.
Westcoastmusic blog features the following piece on Band Aid - Twenty Years After:
More than 13m have seen Band Aid debut video in United Kingdom. It was shown simultaneously on BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five.
The figures do not include Sky One or the other digital channels which showed it. Pop star Madonna, who does not appear on the track, urged fans to "feed the world" before Thursday's screening.
The single "Do They Know It's Christmas" is due to be released on Monday 29 November. BBC One was the most watched terrestrial channel while the video aired, with 3.9m viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.
ITV1 drew in 3.1m viewers and BBC Two was seen by 2.6m. Just over 1m tuned into Five and Channel 4 incorporated the screening into the end of the Richard and Judy programme, which attracted 2.6m people.
The video began with Coldplay's Chris Martin in the main hall of Air Studios, north London, where the song was recorded last week.
It also featured some stars whose voices did not appear on the song - including Sir Paul McCartney playing bass, Radiohead's Thom Yorke on piano and Blur's Damon Albarn, who served tea.
The video included footage of organiser Bob Geldof in the studio playing the stars a video of an emaciated young girl in the 1984 Ethiopian famine. The girl, now a young woman, was then introduced to the singers, many of whom were moved to tears.
The video included footage of organiser Bob Geldof in the studio playing the stars a video of an emaciated young girl in the 1984 Ethiopian famine. The girl, now a young woman, was then introduced to the singers, many of whom were moved to tears.
Photo: Hungry ... Live Aid revealed Birhan's starving face: Live Aid miracle girl Birhan Woldu
Birhan with Bob Geldof. She said later: "It was a very special to meet them both. I hope they can help Africa so that no one has to go through the pain I went through."
Madonna's introduction began: "Twenty years ago, I performed at Live Aid and the world watched. You saw me and my generation demanding a change. "Once again, here we are 20 years later," she said, over images of starving African children. "More people die of hunger in Africa than war and Aids put together.
"In a world of plenty, it is hard to imagine that most African children will go to bed tonight hungry.
"Bob Geldof and his friends are here to remind you that we can never forget. Not ever. Feed the world. I am honoured to introduce Band Aid 20."
The song, a remake of the 1984 original, was recorded on Friday, Saturday and Sunday by more than 50 artists including Joss Stone, Dizzee Rascal and The Darkness. It is tipped to be the Christmas number one, but bookmakers have shortened the odds on the track's long-term success after it received lukewarm reviews.
The single, which also features Bono, Sugababes and Will Young, was made available to download from the internet on Thursday from a number of music services that will donate proceeds to the cause.
It is also being launched as a charity mobile phone ringtone with proceeds going to the Band Aid Trust, which is supporting food aid to the Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
Click into Westcoastmusic blog to find out how to order the CD now.
Band Aid 20 - Who sings what?
Chris Martin (Coldplay) - It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid. At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
Dido - And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy. Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time.
Robbie Williams - But say a prayer, Pray for the other ones. At Christmas time it's hard, but when you're having fun.
Sugababes - There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear.
Fran Healy (Travis) - Where the only water flowing
Fran Healy and the Sugababes - Is the bitter sting of tears
Fran Healy and Justin Hawkins (The Darkness) - And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Bono (from U2) - Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you
Will Young and Jamelia - And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
Ms Dynamite and Beverly Knight - (Oooh) Where nothing ever grows, no rain nor rivers flow
Group of 10 and Joss Stone - Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Tom Chaplin (Keane) - Here's to you
Justin Hawkins - Raise a glass for everyone
Dizzee Rascal - Spare a thought this yuletide for the deprived, if the table was turned would you survive?
Busted - Here's to them
Justin Hawkins - Underneath that burning sun
Dizzee Rascal - You ain't gotta feel guilt just selfless, give a little help to the helpless
Joss Stone and Justin Hawkins - Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Tom Chaplin - Feed the world
Tom Chaplin and Chris Martin - Feed the world
Tom Chaplin, Chris Martin and Sugababes - Feed the world
Everyone - Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time again (repeated)
Fran Healy - Wooo
Group of 10 - Feed the world
Everyone - Feed the world (repeated to end)
Joss Stone - Ad-libs over outro
Band Aid 20 CD tracklisting:
1. 2004 Version - "Do They Know It's Christmas"
2. Original 1984 Version - "Do They Know It's Christmas"
Photo: Live Aid Girl, who changed Blair's life 20 years ago, hands Mr Blair a gift during his recent visit to Africa
- - -
BRITAIN TO TAKE LEADING ROLE IN EUROPEAN MILITARY FORCE
Here is a copy of a report by Stephen Castle in Brussels, 22 November 2004, Daily Telegraph UK:
The drive by the EU to become a military force will take a big step forward today when all 25 nations agree to create battle groups of elite troops able to reach trouble spots such as Darfur within 15 days.
The move, which means forging multinational teams of soldiers, is part of an ambitious agenda of boosting the EU's military and crisis intervention capabilities to give it more clout on the world stage.
Britain will play a leading role and, along with France, guarantee to make one of the battle groups - each of which will have around 1,500 troops - available and on standby for the first half of next year.
Today's deal underlines the progress made on EU defence since Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac agreed at a summit in St Malo in 1998 to push for military co-operation.
Initially viewed with extreme suspicion in Washington, the concept has now been accepted, with US policymakers aware of the benefit it will have in helping reduce over-stretched American military commitments. Next month the EU will take over its first big military operation, when it assumes the task of peacekeeping in Bosnia from Nato and takes control of around 7,000 European soldiers.
But the EU has also been working hard to forge an effective rapid reaction capability for crisis intervention and humanitarian tasks. The force is not being considered for a role in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East.
Originally the aim was to have 60,000 troops available, but that target has now been refined to try to ensure well-trained soldiers can be airlifted quickly to trouble-spots, particularly in Africa. One such EU operation, comprised largely of French soldiers, has been undertaken in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Each unit will have its own logistical support, including aircraft to transport them and communications and logistical backing to keep them in the field for between 30 and 60 days.
Every battle group will be associated with a headquarters in one of the member states which would run that particular operation, rather than the EU's embryonic military planning cell in Brussels.
Only the UK and France are able to provide this sort of quick reaction force, but Italy, Germany and Spain will develop the means to do the same.
Germany says it wants to make up to 8,000 troops available for the battle group concept, though some could also be called on for Nato's Response Force.
Meanwhile, the plan will mean that multi-national teams will be assembled and train together to create mixed-nationality battle groups.
One EU military official said: "All EU countries have armies with their own national battle groups ready to deploy on their soil. This is an acknowledgement that we need something that can conduct expeditionary operations, something that can, at short notice, mount flash to bang operations when the Council of Ministers says so."
With several neutral states taking part in the project, most diplomats assume that operations undertaken will be backed by a UN resolution.
- - -
Rwanda slams UN plan in DR Congo
Interesting report here from the BBC today re the multinational UN force deployed in eastern DR Congo..
The UN Security Council has received a scathing response from Rwanda about UN plans for voluntarily disarming Rwandan rebels with bases in DR Congo.
The Security Council is on a tour of Central Africa to try to end a decade of genocide and armed conflict that has killed at least 4.5 million people."
Westcoastmusic blog features the following piece on Band Aid - Twenty Years After:
More than 13m have seen Band Aid debut video in United Kingdom. It was shown simultaneously on BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five.
The figures do not include Sky One or the other digital channels which showed it. Pop star Madonna, who does not appear on the track, urged fans to "feed the world" before Thursday's screening.
The single "Do They Know It's Christmas" is due to be released on Monday 29 November. BBC One was the most watched terrestrial channel while the video aired, with 3.9m viewers, according to unofficial overnight figures.
ITV1 drew in 3.1m viewers and BBC Two was seen by 2.6m. Just over 1m tuned into Five and Channel 4 incorporated the screening into the end of the Richard and Judy programme, which attracted 2.6m people.
The video began with Coldplay's Chris Martin in the main hall of Air Studios, north London, where the song was recorded last week.
It also featured some stars whose voices did not appear on the song - including Sir Paul McCartney playing bass, Radiohead's Thom Yorke on piano and Blur's Damon Albarn, who served tea.
The video included footage of organiser Bob Geldof in the studio playing the stars a video of an emaciated young girl in the 1984 Ethiopian famine. The girl, now a young woman, was then introduced to the singers, many of whom were moved to tears.
The video included footage of organiser Bob Geldof in the studio playing the stars a video of an emaciated young girl in the 1984 Ethiopian famine. The girl, now a young woman, was then introduced to the singers, many of whom were moved to tears.
Photo: Hungry ... Live Aid revealed Birhan's starving face: Live Aid miracle girl Birhan Woldu
Birhan with Bob Geldof. She said later: "It was a very special to meet them both. I hope they can help Africa so that no one has to go through the pain I went through."
Madonna's introduction began: "Twenty years ago, I performed at Live Aid and the world watched. You saw me and my generation demanding a change. "Once again, here we are 20 years later," she said, over images of starving African children. "More people die of hunger in Africa than war and Aids put together.
"In a world of plenty, it is hard to imagine that most African children will go to bed tonight hungry.
"Bob Geldof and his friends are here to remind you that we can never forget. Not ever. Feed the world. I am honoured to introduce Band Aid 20."
The song, a remake of the 1984 original, was recorded on Friday, Saturday and Sunday by more than 50 artists including Joss Stone, Dizzee Rascal and The Darkness. It is tipped to be the Christmas number one, but bookmakers have shortened the odds on the track's long-term success after it received lukewarm reviews.
The single, which also features Bono, Sugababes and Will Young, was made available to download from the internet on Thursday from a number of music services that will donate proceeds to the cause.
It is also being launched as a charity mobile phone ringtone with proceeds going to the Band Aid Trust, which is supporting food aid to the Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
Click into Westcoastmusic blog to find out how to order the CD now.
Band Aid 20 - Who sings what?
Chris Martin (Coldplay) - It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid. At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
Dido - And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy. Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time.
Robbie Williams - But say a prayer, Pray for the other ones. At Christmas time it's hard, but when you're having fun.
Sugababes - There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear.
Fran Healy (Travis) - Where the only water flowing
Fran Healy and the Sugababes - Is the bitter sting of tears
Fran Healy and Justin Hawkins (The Darkness) - And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Bono (from U2) - Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you
Will Young and Jamelia - And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
Ms Dynamite and Beverly Knight - (Oooh) Where nothing ever grows, no rain nor rivers flow
Group of 10 and Joss Stone - Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Tom Chaplin (Keane) - Here's to you
Justin Hawkins - Raise a glass for everyone
Dizzee Rascal - Spare a thought this yuletide for the deprived, if the table was turned would you survive?
Busted - Here's to them
Justin Hawkins - Underneath that burning sun
Dizzee Rascal - You ain't gotta feel guilt just selfless, give a little help to the helpless
Joss Stone and Justin Hawkins - Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Tom Chaplin - Feed the world
Tom Chaplin and Chris Martin - Feed the world
Tom Chaplin, Chris Martin and Sugababes - Feed the world
Everyone - Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time again (repeated)
Fran Healy - Wooo
Group of 10 - Feed the world
Everyone - Feed the world (repeated to end)
Joss Stone - Ad-libs over outro
Band Aid 20 CD tracklisting:
1. 2004 Version - "Do They Know It's Christmas"
2. Original 1984 Version - "Do They Know It's Christmas"
Photo: Live Aid Girl, who changed Blair's life 20 years ago, hands Mr Blair a gift during his recent visit to Africa
- - -
BRITAIN TO TAKE LEADING ROLE IN EUROPEAN MILITARY FORCE
Here is a copy of a report by Stephen Castle in Brussels, 22 November 2004, Daily Telegraph UK:
The drive by the EU to become a military force will take a big step forward today when all 25 nations agree to create battle groups of elite troops able to reach trouble spots such as Darfur within 15 days.
The move, which means forging multinational teams of soldiers, is part of an ambitious agenda of boosting the EU's military and crisis intervention capabilities to give it more clout on the world stage.
Britain will play a leading role and, along with France, guarantee to make one of the battle groups - each of which will have around 1,500 troops - available and on standby for the first half of next year.
Today's deal underlines the progress made on EU defence since Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac agreed at a summit in St Malo in 1998 to push for military co-operation.
Initially viewed with extreme suspicion in Washington, the concept has now been accepted, with US policymakers aware of the benefit it will have in helping reduce over-stretched American military commitments. Next month the EU will take over its first big military operation, when it assumes the task of peacekeeping in Bosnia from Nato and takes control of around 7,000 European soldiers.
But the EU has also been working hard to forge an effective rapid reaction capability for crisis intervention and humanitarian tasks. The force is not being considered for a role in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East.
Originally the aim was to have 60,000 troops available, but that target has now been refined to try to ensure well-trained soldiers can be airlifted quickly to trouble-spots, particularly in Africa. One such EU operation, comprised largely of French soldiers, has been undertaken in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Each unit will have its own logistical support, including aircraft to transport them and communications and logistical backing to keep them in the field for between 30 and 60 days.
Every battle group will be associated with a headquarters in one of the member states which would run that particular operation, rather than the EU's embryonic military planning cell in Brussels.
Only the UK and France are able to provide this sort of quick reaction force, but Italy, Germany and Spain will develop the means to do the same.
Germany says it wants to make up to 8,000 troops available for the battle group concept, though some could also be called on for Nato's Response Force.
Meanwhile, the plan will mean that multi-national teams will be assembled and train together to create mixed-nationality battle groups.
One EU military official said: "All EU countries have armies with their own national battle groups ready to deploy on their soil. This is an acknowledgement that we need something that can conduct expeditionary operations, something that can, at short notice, mount flash to bang operations when the Council of Ministers says so."
With several neutral states taking part in the project, most diplomats assume that operations undertaken will be backed by a UN resolution.
- - -
Rwanda slams UN plan in DR Congo
Interesting report here from the BBC today re the multinational UN force deployed in eastern DR Congo..
The UN Security Council has received a scathing response from Rwanda about UN plans for voluntarily disarming Rwandan rebels with bases in DR Congo.
The Security Council is on a tour of Central Africa to try to end a decade of genocide and armed conflict that has killed at least 4.5 million people."
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Khartoum has an archbishop - where has he, and all the other religious leaders, been hiding?
After seeing the above National Geographic video report, and glancing through the archives of this site, you have to wonder where Cardinal Zubeir Wako, and all the other religious leaders, have been hiding.
Recently, the Sudan Tribune reported that Cardinal Wako criticised the indifference of the genocidal regime in Khartoum in the face of the "Janjaweed".
"I don't think there is a will of the Sudanese government to intervene to stop the janjaweed militias; otherwise they would have allowed the United Nations and the African Union to act with greater speed in Darfur," he lamented.
Cardinal Zubeir Wako with Pope John Paul II in Khartoum, February 1993.
Recently, the Sudan Tribune reported that Cardinal Wako criticised the indifference of the genocidal regime in Khartoum in the face of the "Janjaweed".
"I don't think there is a will of the Sudanese government to intervene to stop the janjaweed militias; otherwise they would have allowed the United Nations and the African Union to act with greater speed in Darfur," he lamented.
Cardinal Zubeir Wako with Pope John Paul II in Khartoum, February 1993.
New tribal clashes, banditry and troop movements - access blocked to 150,000 - trouble may loom in east, south and far north of Sudan
Recently, John Garang, the leader of the largest rebel group in South Sudan, was quoted as saying that people in eastern Sudan and the far north may soon begin to feel marginalised and start up conflicts in bid for a share of resources and power.
Trouble looming in southern Sudan
In blackspots like Shilluk in southern Sudan where there was large-scale violence this year, a stream of rainy season floodwater, too deep for a pick-up filled with troops to cross safely, runs between the opposing frontlines. Analysts fear that when the dry season comes, later this month, government forces will return with a vengeance and seek to retake the territory they have lost.
Note, whenever news of peace talks and agreements come about, reports of the terrifying Ugandan rebel group led by Kony never fails to emerge. A few days ago, Kony had ordered his men to dig up a stash of hidden rifles and meet him in southern Sudan where he was pillaging villages.
Sudan rebels co-ordinate conflicts using satellite phones
During the past seven months, it's seemed obvious the rebels in Sudan are keen on the international community imposing sanctions on the government of Sudan.
Rebel groups use satellite phones and admit they have their ears glued to BBC radio news. In a bid to weaken and unseat their government, no doubt they could easily stir up trouble and goad the Janjaweed into violent actions. This would account for government's ferocious fight back and refusal to be the first to disarm. The rebels have even gone as far as to lay mines. One killed two British aid workers. It's a wonder how they get kitted out and receive their supplies over years - and decades.
3,000 AU troops in Darfur by February 2005
Yesterday, Reuters report AU troops will increase from about 700 to more than 3,000 "in the coming months". Other reports have said extra AU troops will be in Darfur by the end of this month. 196 Gabonese troops who were due to reach El Fasher yesterday have been delayed because of conflict in Ivory Coast.
7,000 UN troops in Sudan by February 2005
The UN will deploy thousands, probably 7000 troops from different countries in south Sudan a month after the final peace deal is signed," said special envoy Jan Pronk in Khartoum yesterday. It's been known since last May that UN peacekeepers would enter Sudan to monitor the peace agreements, after they were signed. Back then, December was mentioned as the target date. The original plan has slipped by a month or two. It's not easy to see how this will help Darfur. Sudan is huge. Experts estimate 44,000 troops would be needed for Darfur, a region the size of France.
Incentives to delay peace agreement December 31
Over the past six months, Sudan's rebels have accused Khartoum of dragging their feet to make more money from oil. Both sides say they hope to sign a peace agreement on December 31, when Khartoum will have to share Sudan's oil revenues.
Khartoum have incentives to delay - they don't have to pay out and the land for oil business continues to be cleared of its inhabitants.
The rebels also have an incentive. The longer they can keep fighting and goading Sudan's forces and loyalist militias into violent actions, the more pressure they know the international community will bring to bear on Khartoum to disarm their militias or suffer sanctions.
If both sides run out of delaying tactics, they still have one issue that remains to be ironed out. John Danforth, referred to it as "a math problem": about which side pays for rebel fighters who do not join regular government forces after the peace settlement.
All of what's happened on the diplomatic front over the past 3-4 years would make sense if it turns out the international community are supporting the rebels in a bid to weaken or oust the genocidal dictatorship in Khartoum.
New tribal clashes, banditry and troop movements
Yesterday, UN and AU officials confirmed tribal clashes, banditry and troop movements are blocking crucial deliveries of food aid in North Darfur despite recent peace agreements.
The AU said it was investigating reports that 14 people had been killed in two separate incidents since Thursday near the town of Tawilla, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
Access blocked to 150,000 people in need of aid
Tawilla sits along the main transit corridor westwards from El Fasher, but two weeks of escalating banditry and fighting in the area has turned the route into a "no-go zone" on U.N. maps, blocking access to some 150,000 displaced people.
A WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying 250 tonnes of food was due to leave El Fasher on Monday, but was on hold until the situation improved, leaving many without their monthly rations of cereal, salt and other foodstuffs.
"It's a disaster to close that road because it prevents distribution of food to Tawilla and Kebkabiya, which are the main distribution areas for North Darfur," said Janse Sorman, an official with the U.N. World Food Programme in El Fasher.
Trouble looming in southern Sudan
In blackspots like Shilluk in southern Sudan where there was large-scale violence this year, a stream of rainy season floodwater, too deep for a pick-up filled with troops to cross safely, runs between the opposing frontlines. Analysts fear that when the dry season comes, later this month, government forces will return with a vengeance and seek to retake the territory they have lost.
Note, whenever news of peace talks and agreements come about, reports of the terrifying Ugandan rebel group led by Kony never fails to emerge. A few days ago, Kony had ordered his men to dig up a stash of hidden rifles and meet him in southern Sudan where he was pillaging villages.
Sudan rebels co-ordinate conflicts using satellite phones
During the past seven months, it's seemed obvious the rebels in Sudan are keen on the international community imposing sanctions on the government of Sudan.
Rebel groups use satellite phones and admit they have their ears glued to BBC radio news. In a bid to weaken and unseat their government, no doubt they could easily stir up trouble and goad the Janjaweed into violent actions. This would account for government's ferocious fight back and refusal to be the first to disarm. The rebels have even gone as far as to lay mines. One killed two British aid workers. It's a wonder how they get kitted out and receive their supplies over years - and decades.
3,000 AU troops in Darfur by February 2005
Yesterday, Reuters report AU troops will increase from about 700 to more than 3,000 "in the coming months". Other reports have said extra AU troops will be in Darfur by the end of this month. 196 Gabonese troops who were due to reach El Fasher yesterday have been delayed because of conflict in Ivory Coast.
7,000 UN troops in Sudan by February 2005
The UN will deploy thousands, probably 7000 troops from different countries in south Sudan a month after the final peace deal is signed," said special envoy Jan Pronk in Khartoum yesterday. It's been known since last May that UN peacekeepers would enter Sudan to monitor the peace agreements, after they were signed. Back then, December was mentioned as the target date. The original plan has slipped by a month or two. It's not easy to see how this will help Darfur. Sudan is huge. Experts estimate 44,000 troops would be needed for Darfur, a region the size of France.
Incentives to delay peace agreement December 31
Over the past six months, Sudan's rebels have accused Khartoum of dragging their feet to make more money from oil. Both sides say they hope to sign a peace agreement on December 31, when Khartoum will have to share Sudan's oil revenues.
Khartoum have incentives to delay - they don't have to pay out and the land for oil business continues to be cleared of its inhabitants.
The rebels also have an incentive. The longer they can keep fighting and goading Sudan's forces and loyalist militias into violent actions, the more pressure they know the international community will bring to bear on Khartoum to disarm their militias or suffer sanctions.
If both sides run out of delaying tactics, they still have one issue that remains to be ironed out. John Danforth, referred to it as "a math problem": about which side pays for rebel fighters who do not join regular government forces after the peace settlement.
All of what's happened on the diplomatic front over the past 3-4 years would make sense if it turns out the international community are supporting the rebels in a bid to weaken or oust the genocidal dictatorship in Khartoum.
New tribal clashes, banditry and troop movements
Yesterday, UN and AU officials confirmed tribal clashes, banditry and troop movements are blocking crucial deliveries of food aid in North Darfur despite recent peace agreements.
The AU said it was investigating reports that 14 people had been killed in two separate incidents since Thursday near the town of Tawilla, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
Access blocked to 150,000 people in need of aid
Tawilla sits along the main transit corridor westwards from El Fasher, but two weeks of escalating banditry and fighting in the area has turned the route into a "no-go zone" on U.N. maps, blocking access to some 150,000 displaced people.
A WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying 250 tonnes of food was due to leave El Fasher on Monday, but was on hold until the situation improved, leaving many without their monthly rations of cereal, salt and other foodstuffs.
"It's a disaster to close that road because it prevents distribution of food to Tawilla and Kebkabiya, which are the main distribution areas for North Darfur," said Janse Sorman, an official with the U.N. World Food Programme in El Fasher.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Bashir assured Annan at meeting today: Khartoum hopes to finish Darfur talks by end of year
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha, left, holds hands with Sudan People's Liberation Movement leader John Garang, right, Friday, November 19, 2004 during the U.N Security Council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP).
Quotes of the day
British charity Oxfam led the protests, dismissing the council's visit to Africa as little more than a jaunt.
"From New York to Nairobi a trail of weak resolutions on Darfur has led nowhere," said Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's regional director. "Travel agents will have more to show from this meeting than the people of Darfur."
That drew indignant responses from both Britain and the United States, who both insist that they will push for sanctions if Khartoum fails to rein in the attacks on civilians by Janjaweed, or continues to hamper the delivery of emergency relief.
"We came here not for a ceremony, not for a photo op, but for results," said John Danforth, the US representative to the UN. "I want to be very clear. The violence and atrocities being perpetrated in Darfur must end now."
Sir Emyr Jones Parry, the British ambassador, was even more blunt. "We repeat the message that we will come after you if you don't comply," he said.
"The violence and atrocities being perpetrated must end now," the US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, told Mr Taha and Mr Garang at the meeting. "You have heard this message clearly from the security council - heed it."
"The attacks and atrocities have got to stop now," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement following the adoption of Resolution 1574 by the UN Security Council at a special session in Nairobi.
"We are keen, we are fully committed, to give the people of Sudan and to give Africa and the whole international community the gift of an agreement for the end of the year," Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha told the Security Council.
John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the biggest southern rebel group, welcomed a resolution the council passed Friday demanding that the two sides sign a final agreement by Dec. 31. "We will do our best to fulfill our commitment," he said.
"With a bit of luck, and with the spirit that has been generated ... we might even be able and conclude with Darfur at the same time we will conclude in south Sudan. It's not impossible," Obasanjo told a news conference today.
Annan, speaking at a Tanzania summit on Africa's troubled Great Lakes region on Saturday, said he met Sudan's President and been assured Khartoum now hopes to speed the pace of talks on Darfur to finish them by the end of the year.
Rebel leader John Garang promised southern Sudanese good news for Christmas - sentiments remarkably similar to those made a year ago in front of former United States secretary of state Colin Powell.
While both sides have agreed on the wording of a peace deal, a final accord formally ending the war has been delayed three times.
United Nations officials hope the promise to reach an accord by year's end also will help quell a separate ethnic conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, but they warned against unwarranted optimism.
"We are very close to peace, but we have been close before," said John Danforth, who was Washington's special envoy to Sudan before becoming U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"Russia has been a consistent supporter of intra-Sudanese settlement all along, given the need to bring the situation in the country back to normal, to ensure national reconciliation while at the same time preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sudan, with whom Russia has traditionally been maintaining friendly relations," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said.
- - -
Declaration on the conclusion of IGAD negotiations on peace in the Sudan
Text.
Video of Security Council meeting [2hrs 34mins]
Sudanese parties sign peace pledge in Nairobi
- - -
Darfur talks to resume in Abuja next month
The Sudan government and Darfur rebel groups will resume their peace talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja next month, AFrican Union (AU) Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also president of Nigeria, said here Saturday.
The talks will resume on December 9, one month after both sides signed two protocols on security and humanitarian aid, Obasanjo told a press conference today.
- - -
FEBRUARY??
One can only hope the word "February" is a typo by Reuters when they say (btw this particular story was published several weeks ago), "the full AU force of 3,320 personnel, including 2,341 troops and 815 civilian police from various African countries, completes its deployment by February."
The German government said it would pledge around 200 soldiers plus air transport capabilities to the African Union's mission in charge of monitoring peace efforts in Sudan.
Quotes of the day
British charity Oxfam led the protests, dismissing the council's visit to Africa as little more than a jaunt.
"From New York to Nairobi a trail of weak resolutions on Darfur has led nowhere," said Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's regional director. "Travel agents will have more to show from this meeting than the people of Darfur."
That drew indignant responses from both Britain and the United States, who both insist that they will push for sanctions if Khartoum fails to rein in the attacks on civilians by Janjaweed, or continues to hamper the delivery of emergency relief.
"We came here not for a ceremony, not for a photo op, but for results," said John Danforth, the US representative to the UN. "I want to be very clear. The violence and atrocities being perpetrated in Darfur must end now."
Sir Emyr Jones Parry, the British ambassador, was even more blunt. "We repeat the message that we will come after you if you don't comply," he said.
"The violence and atrocities being perpetrated must end now," the US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, told Mr Taha and Mr Garang at the meeting. "You have heard this message clearly from the security council - heed it."
"The attacks and atrocities have got to stop now," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement following the adoption of Resolution 1574 by the UN Security Council at a special session in Nairobi.
"We are keen, we are fully committed, to give the people of Sudan and to give Africa and the whole international community the gift of an agreement for the end of the year," Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha told the Security Council.
John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the biggest southern rebel group, welcomed a resolution the council passed Friday demanding that the two sides sign a final agreement by Dec. 31. "We will do our best to fulfill our commitment," he said.
"With a bit of luck, and with the spirit that has been generated ... we might even be able and conclude with Darfur at the same time we will conclude in south Sudan. It's not impossible," Obasanjo told a news conference today.
Annan, speaking at a Tanzania summit on Africa's troubled Great Lakes region on Saturday, said he met Sudan's President and been assured Khartoum now hopes to speed the pace of talks on Darfur to finish them by the end of the year.
Rebel leader John Garang promised southern Sudanese good news for Christmas - sentiments remarkably similar to those made a year ago in front of former United States secretary of state Colin Powell.
While both sides have agreed on the wording of a peace deal, a final accord formally ending the war has been delayed three times.
United Nations officials hope the promise to reach an accord by year's end also will help quell a separate ethnic conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, but they warned against unwarranted optimism.
"We are very close to peace, but we have been close before," said John Danforth, who was Washington's special envoy to Sudan before becoming U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"Russia has been a consistent supporter of intra-Sudanese settlement all along, given the need to bring the situation in the country back to normal, to ensure national reconciliation while at the same time preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sudan, with whom Russia has traditionally been maintaining friendly relations," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said.
- - -
Declaration on the conclusion of IGAD negotiations on peace in the Sudan
Text.
Video of Security Council meeting [2hrs 34mins]
Sudanese parties sign peace pledge in Nairobi
- - -
Darfur talks to resume in Abuja next month
The Sudan government and Darfur rebel groups will resume their peace talks in Nigeria's capital Abuja next month, AFrican Union (AU) Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also president of Nigeria, said here Saturday.
The talks will resume on December 9, one month after both sides signed two protocols on security and humanitarian aid, Obasanjo told a press conference today.
- - -
FEBRUARY??
One can only hope the word "February" is a typo by Reuters when they say (btw this particular story was published several weeks ago), "the full AU force of 3,320 personnel, including 2,341 troops and 815 civilian police from various African countries, completes its deployment by February."
The German government said it would pledge around 200 soldiers plus air transport capabilities to the African Union's mission in charge of monitoring peace efforts in Sudan.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Oxfam says only travel agents gained from UN meeting - Taha, called on international community to help his government disarm fighters
Here below is a copy of a report from the Scotsman by Gethin Chamberlain entitled "Only travel agents will gain from UN meeting says Oxfam".
[Note Oxfam's Brendan Cox, who attended the UN Security Council meeting said, quote "The atmosphere at the meeting here in Nairobi is very flat. Nobody seems very concerned." - and note Mr Annan's statement, "When crimes on such a scale are being committed, and a sovereign state appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this council"]
ONE of the main aid agencies trying to help the victims of the genocide in Sudan yesterday accused the United Nations Security Council of doing nothing to help bring an end to the suffering.
Oxfam warned that information coming out of the Darfur region suggested that the increasing violence had left 200,000 people cut off from aid and at risk from lack of food and water.
As the Security Council met in a special session in Nairobi to discuss the situation in Sudan, the charity warned that the situation was deteriorating.
"There has been lots of talk over the last year, and commitments from all sides to end abuses, but security in Darfur has not improved. In fact, in the last two months it has started to deteriorate," Caroline Nursey, Oxfam’s regional director, said.
The charity’s Brendan Cox, who was attending the Security Council meeting, accused the UN of failing the people of Darfur. "The atmosphere at the meeting here in Nairobi is very flat. Nobody seems very concerned," he said.
"The only people who will benefit from this meeting are the travel agents and those people who will collect their free air miles. There is no optimism about the outcome of the meeting. We are expecting an even weaker draft resolution than before. It will probably be passed, but it will not make any difference.
"This is like Groundhog Day. You have got the same situation as before, worse even, and yet the UN Security Council keeps coming up with more and more watered-down resolutions."
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, told Security Council members that a swift conclusion of an agreement to end the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan was critical to solving the rest of the problems in Africa’s largest country.
But he went on: "I regret to report that the security situation in Darfur continued to deteriorate, despite the ceasefire agreement signed earlier."
Mr Annan urged the Security Council to issue "the strongest warning" to all the forces fighting in Sudan, adding that an agreement to end the war in southern Sudan would provide a basis for bringing peace to Darfur.
"When crimes on such a scale are being committed, and a sovereign state appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this council," he said.
The Security Council is today expected to pass another resolution on Sudan in which it will pledge to monitor the situation in the country and "take appropriate action" against any side that fails to support the peace process.
However, while previous resolutions have made veiled threats against the Khartoum government, John Danforth, the United States ambassador to the UN, admitted that this one would contain no element of coercion.
"There is nothing threatening about it," he said. "What we want to do is point out that the international community is going to be there for Sudan in the long run."
It is only the fourth time that the Security Council has met outside of New York, but dignitaries were spared the inconvenience of having to mingle with the residents of Kenya’s capital.
A fleet of Mercedes sedans whisked the VIPs between airport, five-star hotel and the manicured lawns of the local UN headquarters.
Gitau Warigi, a columnist for Nairobi’s Nation newspaper, said he was concerned that the delegates were being cocooned from reality. "My only fear is when people come over and do their business, they tend to forget the problem of poverty, and that is one that people should focus on," he said.
Sudan has agreed to allow in African Union troops to monitor a ceasefire between the government and rebels in Darfur, but this has been hindered by a shortage of transport.
George Foulkes, the Labour MP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley and a former development minister, revealed yesterday that Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, had appealed to parliamentarians to put pressure on governments to help the African Union monitors in Darfur.
Mr Foulkes said that, in particular, Mr Mbeki wanted Britain, France and the US to provide transport planes to support the monitoring effort because few African nations had such aircraft to spare.
Mr Foulkes said he had written to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, urging him to consider the South African president’s request.
The need for the African Union troops was highlighted yesterday by the aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières, which said attacks on people living in Darfur, and on aid workers, were continuing.
In a letter to the UN, it said: "Six months ago, Médecins Sans Frontières briefed the Security Council on the massive suffering and death in Darfur which had resulted from militia attacks on villages and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
"Despite several resolutions and pledges since then, neither the government of Sudan nor the international community has provided sufficient assistance and security to the people in Darfur. After over 18 months, people’s lives are still under daily threat."
At yesterday’s meeting, the Sudanese vice-president, Ali Osman Taha, called on the international community to help his government disarm fighters and begin reconstructing the country.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1331552004
[Note Oxfam's Brendan Cox, who attended the UN Security Council meeting said, quote "The atmosphere at the meeting here in Nairobi is very flat. Nobody seems very concerned." - and note Mr Annan's statement, "When crimes on such a scale are being committed, and a sovereign state appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this council"]
ONE of the main aid agencies trying to help the victims of the genocide in Sudan yesterday accused the United Nations Security Council of doing nothing to help bring an end to the suffering.
Oxfam warned that information coming out of the Darfur region suggested that the increasing violence had left 200,000 people cut off from aid and at risk from lack of food and water.
As the Security Council met in a special session in Nairobi to discuss the situation in Sudan, the charity warned that the situation was deteriorating.
"There has been lots of talk over the last year, and commitments from all sides to end abuses, but security in Darfur has not improved. In fact, in the last two months it has started to deteriorate," Caroline Nursey, Oxfam’s regional director, said.
The charity’s Brendan Cox, who was attending the Security Council meeting, accused the UN of failing the people of Darfur. "The atmosphere at the meeting here in Nairobi is very flat. Nobody seems very concerned," he said.
"The only people who will benefit from this meeting are the travel agents and those people who will collect their free air miles. There is no optimism about the outcome of the meeting. We are expecting an even weaker draft resolution than before. It will probably be passed, but it will not make any difference.
"This is like Groundhog Day. You have got the same situation as before, worse even, and yet the UN Security Council keeps coming up with more and more watered-down resolutions."
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, told Security Council members that a swift conclusion of an agreement to end the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan was critical to solving the rest of the problems in Africa’s largest country.
But he went on: "I regret to report that the security situation in Darfur continued to deteriorate, despite the ceasefire agreement signed earlier."
Mr Annan urged the Security Council to issue "the strongest warning" to all the forces fighting in Sudan, adding that an agreement to end the war in southern Sudan would provide a basis for bringing peace to Darfur.
"When crimes on such a scale are being committed, and a sovereign state appears unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens, a grave responsibility falls on the international community, and specifically on this council," he said.
The Security Council is today expected to pass another resolution on Sudan in which it will pledge to monitor the situation in the country and "take appropriate action" against any side that fails to support the peace process.
However, while previous resolutions have made veiled threats against the Khartoum government, John Danforth, the United States ambassador to the UN, admitted that this one would contain no element of coercion.
"There is nothing threatening about it," he said. "What we want to do is point out that the international community is going to be there for Sudan in the long run."
It is only the fourth time that the Security Council has met outside of New York, but dignitaries were spared the inconvenience of having to mingle with the residents of Kenya’s capital.
A fleet of Mercedes sedans whisked the VIPs between airport, five-star hotel and the manicured lawns of the local UN headquarters.
Gitau Warigi, a columnist for Nairobi’s Nation newspaper, said he was concerned that the delegates were being cocooned from reality. "My only fear is when people come over and do their business, they tend to forget the problem of poverty, and that is one that people should focus on," he said.
Sudan has agreed to allow in African Union troops to monitor a ceasefire between the government and rebels in Darfur, but this has been hindered by a shortage of transport.
George Foulkes, the Labour MP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley and a former development minister, revealed yesterday that Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, had appealed to parliamentarians to put pressure on governments to help the African Union monitors in Darfur.
Mr Foulkes said that, in particular, Mr Mbeki wanted Britain, France and the US to provide transport planes to support the monitoring effort because few African nations had such aircraft to spare.
Mr Foulkes said he had written to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, urging him to consider the South African president’s request.
The need for the African Union troops was highlighted yesterday by the aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières, which said attacks on people living in Darfur, and on aid workers, were continuing.
In a letter to the UN, it said: "Six months ago, Médecins Sans Frontières briefed the Security Council on the massive suffering and death in Darfur which had resulted from militia attacks on villages and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
"Despite several resolutions and pledges since then, neither the government of Sudan nor the international community has provided sufficient assistance and security to the people in Darfur. After over 18 months, people’s lives are still under daily threat."
At yesterday’s meeting, the Sudanese vice-president, Ali Osman Taha, called on the international community to help his government disarm fighters and begin reconstructing the country.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1331552004
UN Security Council gives Bashir, Taha, Garang and the Darfur rebels another 6 weeks
Today, the United Nations Security Council voted 15 to 0 to adopt a resolution giving Sudan more than $500 million in aid and deploying at least 10,000 UN peacekeepers to the oil-rich nation after its war ends.
The government of Sudan and South Sudan rebels (not to be confused with the Darfur rebels in West Sudan) today signed a memorandum committing them to reach an accord to end the 20-year war over the nation's oil by December 31, 2004.
Yesterday, after the security council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, US Ambassador John Danforth said, "They will sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow, committing themselves to completing their peace agreement and signing a peace agreement by the end of this year.''
What remains to be ironed out, said Mr Danforth, is limited to "almost a math problem" about which side pays for rebel fighters who do not join regular government forces after the peace settlement. "Sudan must become a nation that respects human rights and replaces violence with political dialogue,'' he said after the vote.
- - -
Note, During the past week, Mr Danforth referred to one sticking point in the peace talks as a "math problem". He makes it sound like a minor detail. As of today, it seems it has not been sorted. Also, he recently referred to previous agreements with Sudan as being written in disappearing ink. How can we believe Bashir, Taha and Garang?
One wonders how the Arab militias, Hilal and all the other perpetrators of atrocities fit in with the peace agreements. Not to mention east Sudan and the far north, where some reports say they soon may feel left out and marginalised. Fighting could start up any day in those regions as December 31 draws near. A few weeks ago, there were reports of fighting in east Sudan. Newly formed rebel groups could easily spring up out of nowhere or from over the border.
Naturally, any sign of peace for Sudan is great news but without tens of thousands of peacekeepers in place, it's bound to fall apart because the warring parties in Sudan have proved untrustworthy. It will take years before a decent government and proper law and order are in place. The children of Sudan are the key to the future - and education. Hopefully, the West will support Sudan for as long as possible and everything will be done to ensure Sudanese children received a good education.
Perpetrators of atrocities belong behind bars. It's estimated that at least 300 victims of Darfur are dying each day. While everyone waits for a "math problem" to be sorted, and for a handful of men to sign another piece of paper on December 31 (why the six week delay, is it to do with oil prices?) at least another 14,000 Sudanese people will be added to the death toll.
- - -
Quotes of the day
"We will do our best in order not to disappoint you, the Sudanese people, the international community,'' the rebel group's deputy leader, John Garang, told the Security Council. "We will do our best to fulfill our commitments and we also appeal to you to fulfill your commitments.''
Vice President Ali Osman Taha said the government will fully participate in the peace process.
"We are more committed than in other times that our people will reap the fruit of this process,'' Taha said. "Peace remains a strategic option to the government of Sudan. We have knocked on all doors and looked in all angles in search for peace.''
"In Darfur, chaos and atrocity remain the order of the day,'' John Danforth said. "The process of bringing justice to the oppressed people of Darfur must continue. I want to be clear. The atrocities perpetrated in Darfur must end now.''
- - -
Sanctions
Sudan's government-backed Arab militias have driven as many as two million black Africans from their villages in Darfur and caused as many as 300,000 deaths from violence or disease and hunger.
Today's UN measure makes no direct reference to sanctions, including against oil trading, threatened in UN resolutions adopted July 30 and September 18 unless the government ends abuses of villagers in Darfur.
China relies on oil from Sudan and cannot afford for its country to be affected by oil shortages. So oil sanctions are out.
- - -
UN SECURITY COUNCIL WILL TAKE ACTION
Against any party failing to fulfill its commitments
Today's UN resolution promises aid and "possible'' debt relief after a comprehensive peace agreement is signed "on the understanding that the parties are fulfilling their commitments'' to previous cease-fire and power-sharing accords.
The UN Security Council will "take action against any party failing to fulfill its commitments'' to stop what the U.S. has called genocide in Darfur.
Critics including Human Rights Watch said the measure doesn't go far enough to end violence in Sudan's western Darfur region.
I'm not sure that I agree. It sounds to me like this rather cleverly worded sentence achieved unanimous agreement. If they fail in their commitments, action (although unspecified could be anything from a slap on the wrist to military intervention) will be taken.
The Sudanese government has denied involvement in the atrocities, and council members Algeria, China, Pakistan and Russia have blocked imposition of sanctions.
The U.K. ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry, defended the resolution, saying it "hasn't been a dilution at all.''
The envoy said the U.K. will give Sudan 100 million pounds ($186 million) and the European Union will donate 400 million euros ($520 million) after the warring sides sign a truce.
"We will hold these guys to account,'' Jones Parry said.
The way the three UN resolutions have been worded, along with Tony Blair's five point plan - that he personally delivered to Khartoum (with an ultimatum of peace by January - or else - it's possible peacekeeping troops with an expanded manadate could go in by their thousands within the next 6 - 8 weeks.
If Sudan disregards the agreements (which surely they will, they can't help themselves, peace is not in their blood - other rebels groups will probably spring up) it is up to us to keep the pressure up on governments to give the money and support needed by the AU. AU have done a great job so far but if they can't get enough soldiers together in time, they need to be backed with UN peacekeepers holding Chapter 7 mandate.
- - -
Oil Production
Sudan produces about 345,000 barrels of crude oil a day, a figure that could reach 750,000 barrels by the end of 2006 if planned production expansion is completed, according to the U.S. Energy Department. China and India are the major buyers of the crude. Southern Sudan, the stronghold of the rebel force, has proven reserves of 563 million barrels.
The aid package would total at least $500 million, according to Carl Ulrich, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He said the Netherlands has pledged $130 million and the U.K. has pledged $186 million in development aid. Norway will host a donors' conference to raise more money for Sudan, Ulrich said.
"The issue of reconstruction of southern Sudan is of paramount importance and we will need and expect your assistance,'' Garang said. "The failure to manage diversity has led to these series of wars,'' he said. He said rebels must be helped to return to civilian life.
- - -
JUNE RESOLUTION AUTHORISES ANNAN TO SEND AN ADVANCE TEAM TO SUDAN -
To determine how many soldiers will be need to monitor a peace accord
The Security Council voted on June 11 to prepare for the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to Sudan after the civil war ends. The resolution authorises Kofi Annan to send an advance team to Sudan to determine how many soldiers will be needed to monitor a peace accord.
Any deployment would be larger than the 10,576-strong peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said Nick Birnback, spokesman for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aQ6w2TEYSAAM&refer=top_world_news
The government of Sudan and South Sudan rebels (not to be confused with the Darfur rebels in West Sudan) today signed a memorandum committing them to reach an accord to end the 20-year war over the nation's oil by December 31, 2004.
Yesterday, after the security council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, US Ambassador John Danforth said, "They will sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow, committing themselves to completing their peace agreement and signing a peace agreement by the end of this year.''
What remains to be ironed out, said Mr Danforth, is limited to "almost a math problem" about which side pays for rebel fighters who do not join regular government forces after the peace settlement. "Sudan must become a nation that respects human rights and replaces violence with political dialogue,'' he said after the vote.
- - -
Note, During the past week, Mr Danforth referred to one sticking point in the peace talks as a "math problem". He makes it sound like a minor detail. As of today, it seems it has not been sorted. Also, he recently referred to previous agreements with Sudan as being written in disappearing ink. How can we believe Bashir, Taha and Garang?
One wonders how the Arab militias, Hilal and all the other perpetrators of atrocities fit in with the peace agreements. Not to mention east Sudan and the far north, where some reports say they soon may feel left out and marginalised. Fighting could start up any day in those regions as December 31 draws near. A few weeks ago, there were reports of fighting in east Sudan. Newly formed rebel groups could easily spring up out of nowhere or from over the border.
Naturally, any sign of peace for Sudan is great news but without tens of thousands of peacekeepers in place, it's bound to fall apart because the warring parties in Sudan have proved untrustworthy. It will take years before a decent government and proper law and order are in place. The children of Sudan are the key to the future - and education. Hopefully, the West will support Sudan for as long as possible and everything will be done to ensure Sudanese children received a good education.
Perpetrators of atrocities belong behind bars. It's estimated that at least 300 victims of Darfur are dying each day. While everyone waits for a "math problem" to be sorted, and for a handful of men to sign another piece of paper on December 31 (why the six week delay, is it to do with oil prices?) at least another 14,000 Sudanese people will be added to the death toll.
- - -
Quotes of the day
"We will do our best in order not to disappoint you, the Sudanese people, the international community,'' the rebel group's deputy leader, John Garang, told the Security Council. "We will do our best to fulfill our commitments and we also appeal to you to fulfill your commitments.''
Vice President Ali Osman Taha said the government will fully participate in the peace process.
"We are more committed than in other times that our people will reap the fruit of this process,'' Taha said. "Peace remains a strategic option to the government of Sudan. We have knocked on all doors and looked in all angles in search for peace.''
"In Darfur, chaos and atrocity remain the order of the day,'' John Danforth said. "The process of bringing justice to the oppressed people of Darfur must continue. I want to be clear. The atrocities perpetrated in Darfur must end now.''
- - -
Sanctions
Sudan's government-backed Arab militias have driven as many as two million black Africans from their villages in Darfur and caused as many as 300,000 deaths from violence or disease and hunger.
Today's UN measure makes no direct reference to sanctions, including against oil trading, threatened in UN resolutions adopted July 30 and September 18 unless the government ends abuses of villagers in Darfur.
China relies on oil from Sudan and cannot afford for its country to be affected by oil shortages. So oil sanctions are out.
- - -
UN SECURITY COUNCIL WILL TAKE ACTION
Against any party failing to fulfill its commitments
Today's UN resolution promises aid and "possible'' debt relief after a comprehensive peace agreement is signed "on the understanding that the parties are fulfilling their commitments'' to previous cease-fire and power-sharing accords.
The UN Security Council will "take action against any party failing to fulfill its commitments'' to stop what the U.S. has called genocide in Darfur.
Critics including Human Rights Watch said the measure doesn't go far enough to end violence in Sudan's western Darfur region.
I'm not sure that I agree. It sounds to me like this rather cleverly worded sentence achieved unanimous agreement. If they fail in their commitments, action (although unspecified could be anything from a slap on the wrist to military intervention) will be taken.
The Sudanese government has denied involvement in the atrocities, and council members Algeria, China, Pakistan and Russia have blocked imposition of sanctions.
The U.K. ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry, defended the resolution, saying it "hasn't been a dilution at all.''
The envoy said the U.K. will give Sudan 100 million pounds ($186 million) and the European Union will donate 400 million euros ($520 million) after the warring sides sign a truce.
"We will hold these guys to account,'' Jones Parry said.
The way the three UN resolutions have been worded, along with Tony Blair's five point plan - that he personally delivered to Khartoum (with an ultimatum of peace by January - or else - it's possible peacekeeping troops with an expanded manadate could go in by their thousands within the next 6 - 8 weeks.
If Sudan disregards the agreements (which surely they will, they can't help themselves, peace is not in their blood - other rebels groups will probably spring up) it is up to us to keep the pressure up on governments to give the money and support needed by the AU. AU have done a great job so far but if they can't get enough soldiers together in time, they need to be backed with UN peacekeepers holding Chapter 7 mandate.
- - -
Oil Production
Sudan produces about 345,000 barrels of crude oil a day, a figure that could reach 750,000 barrels by the end of 2006 if planned production expansion is completed, according to the U.S. Energy Department. China and India are the major buyers of the crude. Southern Sudan, the stronghold of the rebel force, has proven reserves of 563 million barrels.
The aid package would total at least $500 million, according to Carl Ulrich, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He said the Netherlands has pledged $130 million and the U.K. has pledged $186 million in development aid. Norway will host a donors' conference to raise more money for Sudan, Ulrich said.
"The issue of reconstruction of southern Sudan is of paramount importance and we will need and expect your assistance,'' Garang said. "The failure to manage diversity has led to these series of wars,'' he said. He said rebels must be helped to return to civilian life.
- - -
JUNE RESOLUTION AUTHORISES ANNAN TO SEND AN ADVANCE TEAM TO SUDAN -
To determine how many soldiers will be need to monitor a peace accord
The Security Council voted on June 11 to prepare for the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to Sudan after the civil war ends. The resolution authorises Kofi Annan to send an advance team to Sudan to determine how many soldiers will be needed to monitor a peace accord.
Any deployment would be larger than the 10,576-strong peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said Nick Birnback, spokesman for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aQ6w2TEYSAAM&refer=top_world_news
Feet on the street - eyes in the skies - $50 - and the French Foreign Legion
For future reference, here is a copy of what I posted yesterday at the Passion. It was in response to a previous post featuring a heartwarming message from an American activist called Jay McGinley:
Thanks Jay, Sorry some of us are unable to be feet on the street but thanks to cyberspace we can be eyes in the skies working on sharing news, ideas and opinions that mainstream press aren't able to publish.
Are any feet on the street outside the UN building in New York calling for Kofi Annan's resignation? Or at the Chinese Embassy asking for 80,000 Chinese peacekeepers? What are feet on the street doing? It'd be interesting to hear more regular news.
Yesterday, I unexpectedly received a $50 refund that was originally a gift from the heart. Do you or any readers here have any suggestions on how it can be best used for Darfur?
I once heard of a Vicar who handed out £5 notes as a gift to each of the children in his congregation and asked them to go forth and make the cash multiply. Some of the children bought buckets and cloths and washed cars and windows to provide a paid service. Others bought seeds and grew plants and vegetables to sell. All did so well, they happily returned their original £5 to the vicar.
Obviously, I'm not expecting the $50 to be returned. I'm just giving an example of how a small sum of cash with a bit of imagination, creativity and effort can grow. From little acorns grow trees. If anyone has an idea they'd like to try out to help the people of Darfur, please email here with details on where I should send the $50 via PayPal.
Here's my idea, someone could let us know if they are willing to use the $50 to buy 7 copies of the new Band Aid 20 single (all proceeds for Darfur) and give them as a gift to 7 teachers at different schools who could use the song as a basis of a lesson (history, geography, music - whatever) and maybe inspire the children to think up and start a project to raise awareness on the streets (mock Darfur villages is a great example).
Or (Jim might like this idea) I could send the $50 to a fund for the French Foreign Legion who carry out peacekeeping duties. Africa is a regular destination of theirs :)
PS If no ideas are forthcoming, I shall donate the $50 to MSF (Doctors Without Borders). - Ingrid in UK
By the way, does anybody know why Sudan remains as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee?
- - -
Update: Note comment (see sidebar on right): "My wife and I have written and recorded a number highlighting the plight of the children of Sudan. Bill Latham (Sir Cliff Richards manager) has heard the number and felt it could be used as part of an appeal. With the recent re-release of 'Feed the World' maybe we could give an alternative from ordinary people...I would really like you to hear the number (c.d. copy available) if you think it could help...please let me know ...... Kind Regards Alan Fisher."
- - -
Kofi quotes of the day
Sudan is increasing its oil production from fields in the south of the country, in part with Chinese investments.
When asked today to comment on reports that the China and Russia's position might be linked to their commercial interests to oil-rich and arms-hungry Sudan, Kofi Annan stressed the importance of the common good.
"The Council as a whole should look at the broader interests of the international community," he told a news conference before the draft was finalised.
"National interests should not be a dominant issue," he said, otherwise "it is not good for the credibility of the Council."
"The strongest warning to all the parties that are causing this suffering is essential.''
Thanks Jay, Sorry some of us are unable to be feet on the street but thanks to cyberspace we can be eyes in the skies working on sharing news, ideas and opinions that mainstream press aren't able to publish.
Are any feet on the street outside the UN building in New York calling for Kofi Annan's resignation? Or at the Chinese Embassy asking for 80,000 Chinese peacekeepers? What are feet on the street doing? It'd be interesting to hear more regular news.
Yesterday, I unexpectedly received a $50 refund that was originally a gift from the heart. Do you or any readers here have any suggestions on how it can be best used for Darfur?
I once heard of a Vicar who handed out £5 notes as a gift to each of the children in his congregation and asked them to go forth and make the cash multiply. Some of the children bought buckets and cloths and washed cars and windows to provide a paid service. Others bought seeds and grew plants and vegetables to sell. All did so well, they happily returned their original £5 to the vicar.
Obviously, I'm not expecting the $50 to be returned. I'm just giving an example of how a small sum of cash with a bit of imagination, creativity and effort can grow. From little acorns grow trees. If anyone has an idea they'd like to try out to help the people of Darfur, please email here with details on where I should send the $50 via PayPal.
Here's my idea, someone could let us know if they are willing to use the $50 to buy 7 copies of the new Band Aid 20 single (all proceeds for Darfur) and give them as a gift to 7 teachers at different schools who could use the song as a basis of a lesson (history, geography, music - whatever) and maybe inspire the children to think up and start a project to raise awareness on the streets (mock Darfur villages is a great example).
Or (Jim might like this idea) I could send the $50 to a fund for the French Foreign Legion who carry out peacekeeping duties. Africa is a regular destination of theirs :)
PS If no ideas are forthcoming, I shall donate the $50 to MSF (Doctors Without Borders). - Ingrid in UK
By the way, does anybody know why Sudan remains as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee?
- - -
Update: Note comment (see sidebar on right): "My wife and I have written and recorded a number highlighting the plight of the children of Sudan. Bill Latham (Sir Cliff Richards manager) has heard the number and felt it could be used as part of an appeal. With the recent re-release of 'Feed the World' maybe we could give an alternative from ordinary people...I would really like you to hear the number (c.d. copy available) if you think it could help...please let me know ...... Kind Regards Alan Fisher."
- - -
Kofi quotes of the day
Sudan is increasing its oil production from fields in the south of the country, in part with Chinese investments.
When asked today to comment on reports that the China and Russia's position might be linked to their commercial interests to oil-rich and arms-hungry Sudan, Kofi Annan stressed the importance of the common good.
"The Council as a whole should look at the broader interests of the international community," he told a news conference before the draft was finalised.
"National interests should not be a dominant issue," he said, otherwise "it is not good for the credibility of the Council."
"The strongest warning to all the parties that are causing this suffering is essential.''
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Moscow says it does not supply weapons to Sudan
MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow does not supply weapons to Sudan, Foreign Ministry's spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said answering a question by Western journalists.
"Acting in compliance with the UN Security Council decision, President of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on measures to fulfil UN Security Council resolution 1556 of 30 July 2004," Mr. Yakovenko said. "This Decree stipulates that all state establishments, industrial enterprises, companies and private individuals under Russian jurisdiction shall be prohibited to sell or deliver weapons, munitions and military hardware to all non-governmental organisations, including the Janjawid militiants, operating in the North, South and West Darfour provinces of Sudan."
The spokesman pointed out that "this Decree is being unfailingly complied with; not a single instance of its violation has been registered." Being a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia is consistently advocating a peaceful political settlement in Sudan, including in Darfour, and is against any actions that could complicate the attainment of this goal.
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5106311&startrow=1&date=2004-11-19&do_alert=0
"Acting in compliance with the UN Security Council decision, President of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on measures to fulfil UN Security Council resolution 1556 of 30 July 2004," Mr. Yakovenko said. "This Decree stipulates that all state establishments, industrial enterprises, companies and private individuals under Russian jurisdiction shall be prohibited to sell or deliver weapons, munitions and military hardware to all non-governmental organisations, including the Janjawid militiants, operating in the North, South and West Darfour provinces of Sudan."
The spokesman pointed out that "this Decree is being unfailingly complied with; not a single instance of its violation has been registered." Being a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia is consistently advocating a peaceful political settlement in Sudan, including in Darfour, and is against any actions that could complicate the attainment of this goal.
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5106311&startrow=1&date=2004-11-19&do_alert=0
Sudanese militia leader Hilal accused of Sudan massacre speaks exclusively to ABC News
A tribal sheik named Musa Hilal is responsible for leading a massacre in Darfur, according to U.S. and U.N. officials. (ABCNEWS.com) - copy in full:
Nov. 18, 2004 - A Sudanese tribal chief accused of leading a massacre in the Darfur region of Sudan tells ABC News, in an exclusive interview, that the mass killings are the result of war, not genocide, as the United States has labeled it.
Nevertheless, the people of Darfur are survivors of an atrocity -- children, who'll be haunted for the rest of their lives by what they have seen; fathers, living with the guilt that they couldn't prevent it; and mothers, struggling to carry on.
A year and a half ago, the Sudanese government gave weapons to Arab militias known as the Janjaweed in order to suppress a rebellion by three black African tribes in Darfur. The Janjaweed -- the name means "evil horsemen" in Arabic -- have gone after the rebels, and their tribesmen, with cruel efficiency.
In July, the Janjaweed descended upon the village of Baraka in South Darfur and went on a rampage.
"About 100 horsemen surrounded us," said one eyewitness. "I heard one of them say, 'Kill them all. Kill all of the slaves.' "
The Janjaweed tied their hands before they shot them.
"They slaughtered 50 members of my family," said surviving villager Halima Ahmed. "Then they burned the bodies."
She alone must care for her only surviving grandson, in a hut that is no sturdier than a bird's nest.
"When the Janjaweed go in, they blow up the irrigation ditches so there is no way you can support yourself. It's an arid climate," said Andrew Natsios, director of the humanitarian organization USAID. "They dump the dead bodies in the wells to pollute the water so the people have nothing to drink. They destroy their crops."
A tribal sheik named Musa Hilal is responsible for the July attack, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.
"He is clearly one of the Janjaweed commanders," said Natsios.
The United States has demanded his arrest for war crimes. But the government of Sudan, the largest and least-visited country in all of Africa, has done nothing.
ABC News found Hilal living openly in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. When asked about the genocide accusations, Hilal told ABC News in Arabic, "It's not genocide. It's war. And in war, bad things happen. People die."
U.S. officials say the Janjaweed have destroyed some 400 villages and forced more than 1 million people into homelessness -- all with the blessing of the Sudanese government.
"They gang-rape the women, and they kill the men," said Natsios. "I think you could easily conclude that is genocide."
But according to Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, the Sudanese foreign minister, "what is going on in Darfur is not genocide. This is an American attempt to use a humanitarian situation for a political agenda."
Crisis in Refugee Camps
In Darfur, at least 200 people a day are dying in the refugee camps, despite the best efforts of relief organizations to help them. Malnutrition and disease are now the biggest killers.
In the camps themselves, there is little sense of safety. The Sudanese government has commissioned thousands of new policemen to keep the peace. The day they deployed to Darfur, they tore apart a live chicken as a show of strength.
But the refugees say many of the new policemen -- sent to protect them -- used to be Janjaweed.
Last week, some of the policemen in South Darfur were seen beating refugees. Aid workers could only stand by and watch.
"Where are our human values here?" said Mathina Mydlna of the International Medical Corps. "I really honestly appeal to the humanity in people to please give these people some of their dignity back."
Mydlna says it's not enough to call the crisis in Sudan genocide. Somebody, she says, has to stop it.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=264262
Nov. 18, 2004 - A Sudanese tribal chief accused of leading a massacre in the Darfur region of Sudan tells ABC News, in an exclusive interview, that the mass killings are the result of war, not genocide, as the United States has labeled it.
Nevertheless, the people of Darfur are survivors of an atrocity -- children, who'll be haunted for the rest of their lives by what they have seen; fathers, living with the guilt that they couldn't prevent it; and mothers, struggling to carry on.
A year and a half ago, the Sudanese government gave weapons to Arab militias known as the Janjaweed in order to suppress a rebellion by three black African tribes in Darfur. The Janjaweed -- the name means "evil horsemen" in Arabic -- have gone after the rebels, and their tribesmen, with cruel efficiency.
In July, the Janjaweed descended upon the village of Baraka in South Darfur and went on a rampage.
"About 100 horsemen surrounded us," said one eyewitness. "I heard one of them say, 'Kill them all. Kill all of the slaves.' "
The Janjaweed tied their hands before they shot them.
"They slaughtered 50 members of my family," said surviving villager Halima Ahmed. "Then they burned the bodies."
She alone must care for her only surviving grandson, in a hut that is no sturdier than a bird's nest.
"When the Janjaweed go in, they blow up the irrigation ditches so there is no way you can support yourself. It's an arid climate," said Andrew Natsios, director of the humanitarian organization USAID. "They dump the dead bodies in the wells to pollute the water so the people have nothing to drink. They destroy their crops."
A tribal sheik named Musa Hilal is responsible for the July attack, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.
"He is clearly one of the Janjaweed commanders," said Natsios.
The United States has demanded his arrest for war crimes. But the government of Sudan, the largest and least-visited country in all of Africa, has done nothing.
ABC News found Hilal living openly in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. When asked about the genocide accusations, Hilal told ABC News in Arabic, "It's not genocide. It's war. And in war, bad things happen. People die."
U.S. officials say the Janjaweed have destroyed some 400 villages and forced more than 1 million people into homelessness -- all with the blessing of the Sudanese government.
"They gang-rape the women, and they kill the men," said Natsios. "I think you could easily conclude that is genocide."
But according to Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, the Sudanese foreign minister, "what is going on in Darfur is not genocide. This is an American attempt to use a humanitarian situation for a political agenda."
Crisis in Refugee Camps
In Darfur, at least 200 people a day are dying in the refugee camps, despite the best efforts of relief organizations to help them. Malnutrition and disease are now the biggest killers.
In the camps themselves, there is little sense of safety. The Sudanese government has commissioned thousands of new policemen to keep the peace. The day they deployed to Darfur, they tore apart a live chicken as a show of strength.
But the refugees say many of the new policemen -- sent to protect them -- used to be Janjaweed.
Last week, some of the policemen in South Darfur were seen beating refugees. Aid workers could only stand by and watch.
"Where are our human values here?" said Mathina Mydlna of the International Medical Corps. "I really honestly appeal to the humanity in people to please give these people some of their dignity back."
Mydlna says it's not enough to call the crisis in Sudan genocide. Somebody, she says, has to stop it.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=264262
The genocide must be stopped
Copy in full of 18 November 2004 report from the Scotsman:
IN APRIL 1995, at a Rwandan refugee camp in a village called Kibeho, United Nations troops stood by while 4,000 Hutu men, women and children were literally butchered in front of their eyes. In July 1995, Dutch UN troops welcomed Serbian fascist bands into the town of Srebrenica and left them to murder 7,000 Bosnian refugees. Last week, police units fired tear-gas and beat up refugees in a UN-supervised refugee camp at El-Geer in the Darfur region of the Sudan. In time-honoured fashion, UN officials looked on.
Why is the UN so pusillanimous in the face of such repeated state violence? Because it has ceased to be a world policeman as designed by the victorious allies at the end of the Second World War. Instead, it has degenerated into a talking shop, largely dominated by Third World dictatorships. In addition, the smaller, self- centred western democracies have been happy to abandon the idea of contributing troops as genuine peace-keepers, with sufficient air and fire power to impose law and order against rogue regimes. Instead, the Blue Helmets only appear after the worst human-rights abuses are over; or else - as in Rwanda, Bosnia and now Darfur - they actually stand aside to let the violence take place.
We know all this, and still the world does nothing. Today, the UN Security Council convenes another round of meaningless talks on Sudan, theoretically with a view to halting the ethnic violence and restoring peace. The UN was forced to intervene in the Darfur crisis only after some 50,000 native African farmers had been massacred by the Arab Janjaweed gangs, doubtless used by the fundamentalist Khartoum regime with a view to exploiting Sudan’s oil riches. Chillingly, since May, when the UN first began to address various slaps on the wrist to Khartoum, another 35,000 innocent people have been massacred in Darfur by the Janjaweed and the Sudanese military. As we report today, when those dying of hunger are added to the casualty lists, the total to die since the UN got "involved" could be as high as 61,500 - that is one every five minutes.
So far, the only meaningful intervention in the crisis has been to record a Christmas pop song to raise money for Darfur refugees. The real need is to stop the genocide. If the West is not prepared to put troops into Darfur, it should at least pay the African Union to provide the military forces to stop the killings, and provide the air and logistical support to put them on the ground. In addition, sanctions should be imposed on Khartoum to stop the regime profiting from its oil revenues. As for the United Nations, there are now another 61,500 reasons why it needs reforming.
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1327182004
IN APRIL 1995, at a Rwandan refugee camp in a village called Kibeho, United Nations troops stood by while 4,000 Hutu men, women and children were literally butchered in front of their eyes. In July 1995, Dutch UN troops welcomed Serbian fascist bands into the town of Srebrenica and left them to murder 7,000 Bosnian refugees. Last week, police units fired tear-gas and beat up refugees in a UN-supervised refugee camp at El-Geer in the Darfur region of the Sudan. In time-honoured fashion, UN officials looked on.
Why is the UN so pusillanimous in the face of such repeated state violence? Because it has ceased to be a world policeman as designed by the victorious allies at the end of the Second World War. Instead, it has degenerated into a talking shop, largely dominated by Third World dictatorships. In addition, the smaller, self- centred western democracies have been happy to abandon the idea of contributing troops as genuine peace-keepers, with sufficient air and fire power to impose law and order against rogue regimes. Instead, the Blue Helmets only appear after the worst human-rights abuses are over; or else - as in Rwanda, Bosnia and now Darfur - they actually stand aside to let the violence take place.
We know all this, and still the world does nothing. Today, the UN Security Council convenes another round of meaningless talks on Sudan, theoretically with a view to halting the ethnic violence and restoring peace. The UN was forced to intervene in the Darfur crisis only after some 50,000 native African farmers had been massacred by the Arab Janjaweed gangs, doubtless used by the fundamentalist Khartoum regime with a view to exploiting Sudan’s oil riches. Chillingly, since May, when the UN first began to address various slaps on the wrist to Khartoum, another 35,000 innocent people have been massacred in Darfur by the Janjaweed and the Sudanese military. As we report today, when those dying of hunger are added to the casualty lists, the total to die since the UN got "involved" could be as high as 61,500 - that is one every five minutes.
So far, the only meaningful intervention in the crisis has been to record a Christmas pop song to raise money for Darfur refugees. The real need is to stop the genocide. If the West is not prepared to put troops into Darfur, it should at least pay the African Union to provide the military forces to stop the killings, and provide the air and logistical support to put them on the ground. In addition, sanctions should be imposed on Khartoum to stop the regime profiting from its oil revenues. As for the United Nations, there are now another 61,500 reasons why it needs reforming.
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1327182004
How the world's biggest corporations are fuelling genocide in Sudan
The following is a copy of report in full dated Friday November 19th, 2004 by JOHANN HARI, The Independent UK:
LONDON, Nov 19, 2004 -- The dazzlingly efficient herding of Jews, gay people and Gypsies into concentration camps by the Nazis was only made possible by the technological expertise of IBM. The corporation provided the Nazis with punch-card technology - revolutionary in the 1930s - that made it possible to classify the entire German population according to "race" and send them to their deaths. The IBM subsidiary Hollerith had two people stationed in every camp. The numbers tattooed on to the arms of prisoners were five-digit codes for IBM machines. As Edwin Black - the award-winning historian who spent five years exposing this fetid story - explains: "Without IBM's machinery, continuing upkeep and service, as well as the supply of punch cards, Hitler's camps could never have managed the numbers they did."
This isn't an arid history lesson. IBM has apologised and moved on, but another group of multinational corporations is making a holocaust possible today in Darfur.
This western region of Sudan has dropped down the news agenda. But remember: one person dies every five minutes, 2 million people have been driven from their homes, and the UN describes the situation as "the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world today". But the Arab majority is continuing to rape and slaughter the black African minority with near-impunity. One journalist offers a typical scene from the province: "I found a man groaning under a tree. He had been shot in the neck and jaw and left for dead in a pile of corpses. Under the next tree I found a four-year-old orphan girl caring for her starving one-year old brother. And under the tree next to that was a woman whose husband had been killed, along with her seven- and four-year old sons, before she was gang-raped and mutilated."
The unelected Arab supremacist government in Khartoum raises virtually nothing in taxation. Sudan has an annual per capita income of just pounds 220. So how have they managed to afford to fight a war and launch a genocide? In the south, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, they waged a vast war against the Christian population, killing 2 million of them and ethnically cleansing a further 4 million. In Darfur today, Khartoum is arming and whipping up the genocidal Janjaweed militias. They have enough cash to buy Mig- 29s, one of the most swish and deadly fighter aircrafts in the world.
How can they afford all this? Because multinational corporations have ignored the pleas of human rights groups and handed money to the Khartoum serial killers in exchange for Sudan's oil. The roll-call of companies who chose to do this is long and distinguished: Siemens AG from Germany, Alcatel SA from France, ABB Ltd from Switzerland, Tatneft from Russia and PetroChina.
Human Rights Watch states unequivocally: "Oil revenues have been used by the [Sudanese] government to obtain weapons and ammunition that have enabled it to intensify the war." The money paid by multinationals is not the cause of these programmes of mass slaughter, but it is an essential ingredient. Just as Hitler could not have operated such efficient gas chambers without IBM's technology, Khartoum could not be waging such effective and large-scale genocides without oil money.
Of course, these corporations do not actively seek genocide, just as IBM did not actively seek the murder of Jews. They simply have a morally neutral stance towards it. They clearly see the murder of human beings as irrelevant; the profit margin is all. This tells us something about the nature of corporations - now the dominant cultural and economic institution of our times.
Private business is an essential component of a free society because it generates wealth and enables individuals to be independent from the state. But its desire for profit must be kept in careful balance with other human necessities; too often, it is not.
Even within broadly democratic countries like the US, we can see how corporations try to buy up the institutions of a free society - politicians and the press - and encourage them to turn a blind eye to (or even deny) life-and-death issues such as man-made climate change.
But democratic citizens can, if they have the will, restrain them. When corporations operate outside democracies, they will acknowledge no moral limits, and nobody can make them. They will pursue profit at any price. Some will even enslave people in sweat-shops and effectively - as in the Holocaust and in Darfur - aid and abet murder.
Only one group has opposed the corporations facilitating the murder in Sudan with any success, at least when it comes to brokering a fragile peace in the south. This is difficult for me to write, because they have not been the forces I like - human rights groups and the internationalist left. No; the only group that has effectively lobbied against the genocidal regime in Khartoum has been the red-state Christian evangelicals in the US. They lobbied hard for an oil embargo against Sudan, so US dollars were not used to slaughter their fellow Christians. Uber-moralistic religion clashed with raw amoral markets, and - incredibly - the Bush administration sided with the evangelicals against the oil companies. As a result, since 2000, no US oil company has been allowed to operate within Sudan, to their fury. Peace has finally prevailed. This shows what can happen when the Sudanese government is subject to serious economic penalties for its crimes.
The US is lobbying hard for the UN to impose similar international oil sanctions to stop the genocide in Darfur. (The evangelicals are much less worried about slaughtered Muslims, but they believe the chaos might spill over into the south). This is being flatly opposed by China - which receives a quarter of its oil supplies from Sudan - and Russia. These two authoritarian governments are vandalising any attempt to deal with this genocide through the United Nations.
It seems nobody is prepared to choke off the corporate fuel for the holocaust in Darfur. The UN is rendered useless by its arcane structures, the African Union is too poor and disorganised to act, and an Anglo-US intervention is extremely unlikely in the wake of Iraq. So what do we do - lie back and watch the first genocide of the 21st century scythe through Darfur unhindered?
There is an alternative. Professor Eric Reeves is an expert on the murder of black Darfurians. He explains: "The only way to stop this genocide now is for a mass campaign to force multinationals to disinvest from Sudan. During the apartheid era in South Africa, the divestment movement was an immensely powerful force in breaking down this system of racial discrimination. We can do the same today."
Through our pensions plans, our universities and our stock portfolios, we in Europe own most of the companies providing the hard cash for this genocide. If our governments fail to act to end genocide, the responsibility falls to us. Go to www.divestsudan.org to find out how, practically, we can act to deprive the Janjaweed militias of money and arms, just as we throttled apartheid.
If you don't bother - if you're just too busy, or you think corporations will behave responsibly without your pressure - please, don't lower your head or indulge in a moment's pained silence on Holocaust Day next year. You will have learnt nothing and remembered nothing.
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=6570
LONDON, Nov 19, 2004 -- The dazzlingly efficient herding of Jews, gay people and Gypsies into concentration camps by the Nazis was only made possible by the technological expertise of IBM. The corporation provided the Nazis with punch-card technology - revolutionary in the 1930s - that made it possible to classify the entire German population according to "race" and send them to their deaths. The IBM subsidiary Hollerith had two people stationed in every camp. The numbers tattooed on to the arms of prisoners were five-digit codes for IBM machines. As Edwin Black - the award-winning historian who spent five years exposing this fetid story - explains: "Without IBM's machinery, continuing upkeep and service, as well as the supply of punch cards, Hitler's camps could never have managed the numbers they did."
This isn't an arid history lesson. IBM has apologised and moved on, but another group of multinational corporations is making a holocaust possible today in Darfur.
This western region of Sudan has dropped down the news agenda. But remember: one person dies every five minutes, 2 million people have been driven from their homes, and the UN describes the situation as "the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world today". But the Arab majority is continuing to rape and slaughter the black African minority with near-impunity. One journalist offers a typical scene from the province: "I found a man groaning under a tree. He had been shot in the neck and jaw and left for dead in a pile of corpses. Under the next tree I found a four-year-old orphan girl caring for her starving one-year old brother. And under the tree next to that was a woman whose husband had been killed, along with her seven- and four-year old sons, before she was gang-raped and mutilated."
The unelected Arab supremacist government in Khartoum raises virtually nothing in taxation. Sudan has an annual per capita income of just pounds 220. So how have they managed to afford to fight a war and launch a genocide? In the south, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, they waged a vast war against the Christian population, killing 2 million of them and ethnically cleansing a further 4 million. In Darfur today, Khartoum is arming and whipping up the genocidal Janjaweed militias. They have enough cash to buy Mig- 29s, one of the most swish and deadly fighter aircrafts in the world.
How can they afford all this? Because multinational corporations have ignored the pleas of human rights groups and handed money to the Khartoum serial killers in exchange for Sudan's oil. The roll-call of companies who chose to do this is long and distinguished: Siemens AG from Germany, Alcatel SA from France, ABB Ltd from Switzerland, Tatneft from Russia and PetroChina.
Human Rights Watch states unequivocally: "Oil revenues have been used by the [Sudanese] government to obtain weapons and ammunition that have enabled it to intensify the war." The money paid by multinationals is not the cause of these programmes of mass slaughter, but it is an essential ingredient. Just as Hitler could not have operated such efficient gas chambers without IBM's technology, Khartoum could not be waging such effective and large-scale genocides without oil money.
Of course, these corporations do not actively seek genocide, just as IBM did not actively seek the murder of Jews. They simply have a morally neutral stance towards it. They clearly see the murder of human beings as irrelevant; the profit margin is all. This tells us something about the nature of corporations - now the dominant cultural and economic institution of our times.
Private business is an essential component of a free society because it generates wealth and enables individuals to be independent from the state. But its desire for profit must be kept in careful balance with other human necessities; too often, it is not.
Even within broadly democratic countries like the US, we can see how corporations try to buy up the institutions of a free society - politicians and the press - and encourage them to turn a blind eye to (or even deny) life-and-death issues such as man-made climate change.
But democratic citizens can, if they have the will, restrain them. When corporations operate outside democracies, they will acknowledge no moral limits, and nobody can make them. They will pursue profit at any price. Some will even enslave people in sweat-shops and effectively - as in the Holocaust and in Darfur - aid and abet murder.
Only one group has opposed the corporations facilitating the murder in Sudan with any success, at least when it comes to brokering a fragile peace in the south. This is difficult for me to write, because they have not been the forces I like - human rights groups and the internationalist left. No; the only group that has effectively lobbied against the genocidal regime in Khartoum has been the red-state Christian evangelicals in the US. They lobbied hard for an oil embargo against Sudan, so US dollars were not used to slaughter their fellow Christians. Uber-moralistic religion clashed with raw amoral markets, and - incredibly - the Bush administration sided with the evangelicals against the oil companies. As a result, since 2000, no US oil company has been allowed to operate within Sudan, to their fury. Peace has finally prevailed. This shows what can happen when the Sudanese government is subject to serious economic penalties for its crimes.
The US is lobbying hard for the UN to impose similar international oil sanctions to stop the genocide in Darfur. (The evangelicals are much less worried about slaughtered Muslims, but they believe the chaos might spill over into the south). This is being flatly opposed by China - which receives a quarter of its oil supplies from Sudan - and Russia. These two authoritarian governments are vandalising any attempt to deal with this genocide through the United Nations.
It seems nobody is prepared to choke off the corporate fuel for the holocaust in Darfur. The UN is rendered useless by its arcane structures, the African Union is too poor and disorganised to act, and an Anglo-US intervention is extremely unlikely in the wake of Iraq. So what do we do - lie back and watch the first genocide of the 21st century scythe through Darfur unhindered?
There is an alternative. Professor Eric Reeves is an expert on the murder of black Darfurians. He explains: "The only way to stop this genocide now is for a mass campaign to force multinationals to disinvest from Sudan. During the apartheid era in South Africa, the divestment movement was an immensely powerful force in breaking down this system of racial discrimination. We can do the same today."
Through our pensions plans, our universities and our stock portfolios, we in Europe own most of the companies providing the hard cash for this genocide. If our governments fail to act to end genocide, the responsibility falls to us. Go to www.divestsudan.org to find out how, practically, we can act to deprive the Janjaweed militias of money and arms, just as we throttled apartheid.
If you don't bother - if you're just too busy, or you think corporations will behave responsibly without your pressure - please, don't lower your head or indulge in a moment's pained silence on Holocaust Day next year. You will have learnt nothing and remembered nothing.
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=6570
Darfur Attracting 'Undue' Attention - The Scotsman praised as media urged to keep Dafur in spotlight
Here is a copy of a report for future reference. It is an opinion piece by Peter Mwaura in Nairobi posted to the web at all africa on November 18, 2004 http://allafrica.com/stories/200411180837.html
As the Security Council meets in Nairobi for the second and final day today over the problems in Sudan and Somalia, one thing that has emerged is that Darfur is attracting more attention than the other problem areas.
That may be because of the nature of the Darfur conflict, which lends itself well to dramatisation. The fear-inspiring militia named Janjaweed, accusations of genocide, war crimes, atrocities, rape, murder and displacement of tens of thousands of people attract more media attention - and possibly donor-attention - than the more pedestrian issues of reconstruction, such as de-mining, building roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in the southern Sudan.
Mr Jan Pronk, the Special Representative of the UN secretary general, has also been very eloquent about the situation in Darfur, which he has recently characterised as devolving into anarchy and where parties must be held accountable and a sizeable force deployed. But while Darfur and Somalia have their share of problems, southern Sudan has the "mother of all problems", as Unicef says in a recent publication.
Darfur flared into conflict in February 2003 as a peace and wealth-sharing deal was being worked out for southern Sudan between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebels and the Khartoum government. The Darfur rebels, in turn, clearly saw an opportunity to get for themselves what the southern Sudanese were getting for themselves.
But the importance of the problems of southern Sudan go beyond the issue of mothering problems elsewhere. Southern Sudan, an area far much bigger than Kenya, has been a battleground for two civil wars since the independence of Sudan in 1956. In terms of almost all social and economic indicators, it is the most devastated and underdeveloped region in the world, perhaps only second to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Southern Sudan merits the greatest attention of the Security Council and the donor community in terms of post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation if peace in Sudan is going to be meaningful. But even for immediate needs, Darfur is attracting more donor aid than southern Sudan. For the period between April and December this year, Darfur has (comparatively) attracted confirmed contributions of $178 million and has only a shortfall of 13 per cent while for the same period southern Sudan has attracted only $368 million and has a shortfall of 35 per cent according figures provided by the World Food Programme.
It is clear from these figures that Darfur is the darling of the donor community, with the United States leading with contributions amounting to $115.6 million, followed by the European Community with $41.6 million. Yet southern Sudan's problems, even immediate ones, are far greater. For example, while the signing of a comprehensive agreement between the government of Sudan and the SPLM has yet to be finalised, nearly half a million returnees are back in the south from northern Sudan and from neighbouring countries. As many as half a million Sudanese internally displaced persons and refugees may also return to their places of origin or choice in 2005 if a comprehensive peace is signed.
For the returnees to resume normal lives in their villages, roads will have to be rehabilitated and mines cleared. In the meantime, the returnees will need emergency food. The mine clearance alone is expected to cost at least $32 million, but to date only $10 million has been obtained from the US.
The settlement of the refugees and displaced persons in southern Sudan should be a priority. And the time for the ground work is now, even as work remains to be done for the peace agreement between Khartoum and the SPLM to hold.
The southern Sudan is on the threshold of a new era if a comprehensive peace agreement is signed. The region, with a population estimated to be 7.5 million in 2003, needs massively increased aid if it is ever going to pull itself up from more 20 years of civil war.
The children of southern Sudan, for example, have the least access to primary education in the world, with a net enrolment ratio in primary school of 20 per cent. Equally, it has the lowest ratio of female to male enrolment of about 35 per cent. And most teachers in southern Sudan are untrained volunteers. Less than 10 per cent have received any type of formal training.
The economy of southern Sudan is one of the least developed in the world. The gross national income per capita is around $100 per year. But this is an overestimate as it takes into account oil revenues, which do not benefit the population in the south. Poverty in Sudan is absolute. The international poverty line, defined as "per cent of population with income below one dollar per day", is more than 90 per cent.
Southern Sudan's prospect for peace will be wasted if the international community cannot find sufficient aid to help the war-affected communities to reinvent their lives. This will be the real test in the post-conflict period, long after the extraordinary Security Council meeting in Nairobi is gone.
- - -
The Scotsman praised as media urged to keep Dafur in spotlight
Report by James Kirkup
POLITICIANS and aid agencies yesterday stressed the importance of the media in keeping the spotlight on the appalling human rights abuses taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said it was vital people were made aware of what was happening elsewhere in the world, and Oxfam - one of the aid agencies at the forefront of efforts to help victims of the genocide - said pressure had to be kept up on the United Nations Security Council.
The Scotsman has led the way in highlighting the crisis in Darfur and there was praise yesterday for the way in which this newspaper has refused to allow the issue to slip from the headlines.
Speaking at a press conference in London, the Prime Minister said: "The thing about human rights abuses is that unless there’s coverage of them, people don’t think they’re happening."
Brendan Cox, a spokesman for Oxfam, said it was vital that newspapers such as The Scotsman kept up pressure on the international community. He said: "It is massively important that the situation in Darfur is not allowed to slip from the public eye and it is up to the international media to ensure that this does not happen. Newspapers like The Scotsman are doing good work in ensuring that the world does not forget about Darfur and that the pressure is maintained on the Security Council."
George Foulkes, the Labour MP and former development minister who is lobbying for the UK to take a bigger role in alleviating the crisis, said he hoped that other news organisations would find room amid their coverage of Iraq to look at what was happening in Darfur.
"Because politicians and the media have been pre- occupied with Iraq, the enormity of what is happening in Darfur has been lost," he said.
"I would certainly commend The Scotsman for highlighting this issue. If other media outlets would do the same, we might get swifter government action.
"The international community needs to get serious about what is happening in Darfur and call it what is: genocide."
Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for international development, said it was important that people were made aware of what was happening.
"I would commend The Scotsman for the way you have worked to keep this in the public eye," he said.
Tony Baldry, the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons international development committee, was also impressed with the coverage. "It is a very difficult story to report - you have done your best to get this very serious issue across," he said.
Angus Robertson, SNP International Development spokesman, said: "The Scotsman is to be commended for its tenacious reporting of one of the most important issues of the day. The humanitarian catastrophe deserves the attention of everyone in Scotland and the world."
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1331462004
As the Security Council meets in Nairobi for the second and final day today over the problems in Sudan and Somalia, one thing that has emerged is that Darfur is attracting more attention than the other problem areas.
That may be because of the nature of the Darfur conflict, which lends itself well to dramatisation. The fear-inspiring militia named Janjaweed, accusations of genocide, war crimes, atrocities, rape, murder and displacement of tens of thousands of people attract more media attention - and possibly donor-attention - than the more pedestrian issues of reconstruction, such as de-mining, building roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in the southern Sudan.
Mr Jan Pronk, the Special Representative of the UN secretary general, has also been very eloquent about the situation in Darfur, which he has recently characterised as devolving into anarchy and where parties must be held accountable and a sizeable force deployed. But while Darfur and Somalia have their share of problems, southern Sudan has the "mother of all problems", as Unicef says in a recent publication.
Darfur flared into conflict in February 2003 as a peace and wealth-sharing deal was being worked out for southern Sudan between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebels and the Khartoum government. The Darfur rebels, in turn, clearly saw an opportunity to get for themselves what the southern Sudanese were getting for themselves.
But the importance of the problems of southern Sudan go beyond the issue of mothering problems elsewhere. Southern Sudan, an area far much bigger than Kenya, has been a battleground for two civil wars since the independence of Sudan in 1956. In terms of almost all social and economic indicators, it is the most devastated and underdeveloped region in the world, perhaps only second to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Southern Sudan merits the greatest attention of the Security Council and the donor community in terms of post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation if peace in Sudan is going to be meaningful. But even for immediate needs, Darfur is attracting more donor aid than southern Sudan. For the period between April and December this year, Darfur has (comparatively) attracted confirmed contributions of $178 million and has only a shortfall of 13 per cent while for the same period southern Sudan has attracted only $368 million and has a shortfall of 35 per cent according figures provided by the World Food Programme.
It is clear from these figures that Darfur is the darling of the donor community, with the United States leading with contributions amounting to $115.6 million, followed by the European Community with $41.6 million. Yet southern Sudan's problems, even immediate ones, are far greater. For example, while the signing of a comprehensive agreement between the government of Sudan and the SPLM has yet to be finalised, nearly half a million returnees are back in the south from northern Sudan and from neighbouring countries. As many as half a million Sudanese internally displaced persons and refugees may also return to their places of origin or choice in 2005 if a comprehensive peace is signed.
For the returnees to resume normal lives in their villages, roads will have to be rehabilitated and mines cleared. In the meantime, the returnees will need emergency food. The mine clearance alone is expected to cost at least $32 million, but to date only $10 million has been obtained from the US.
The settlement of the refugees and displaced persons in southern Sudan should be a priority. And the time for the ground work is now, even as work remains to be done for the peace agreement between Khartoum and the SPLM to hold.
The southern Sudan is on the threshold of a new era if a comprehensive peace agreement is signed. The region, with a population estimated to be 7.5 million in 2003, needs massively increased aid if it is ever going to pull itself up from more 20 years of civil war.
The children of southern Sudan, for example, have the least access to primary education in the world, with a net enrolment ratio in primary school of 20 per cent. Equally, it has the lowest ratio of female to male enrolment of about 35 per cent. And most teachers in southern Sudan are untrained volunteers. Less than 10 per cent have received any type of formal training.
The economy of southern Sudan is one of the least developed in the world. The gross national income per capita is around $100 per year. But this is an overestimate as it takes into account oil revenues, which do not benefit the population in the south. Poverty in Sudan is absolute. The international poverty line, defined as "per cent of population with income below one dollar per day", is more than 90 per cent.
Southern Sudan's prospect for peace will be wasted if the international community cannot find sufficient aid to help the war-affected communities to reinvent their lives. This will be the real test in the post-conflict period, long after the extraordinary Security Council meeting in Nairobi is gone.
- - -
The Scotsman praised as media urged to keep Dafur in spotlight
Report by James Kirkup
POLITICIANS and aid agencies yesterday stressed the importance of the media in keeping the spotlight on the appalling human rights abuses taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said it was vital people were made aware of what was happening elsewhere in the world, and Oxfam - one of the aid agencies at the forefront of efforts to help victims of the genocide - said pressure had to be kept up on the United Nations Security Council.
The Scotsman has led the way in highlighting the crisis in Darfur and there was praise yesterday for the way in which this newspaper has refused to allow the issue to slip from the headlines.
Speaking at a press conference in London, the Prime Minister said: "The thing about human rights abuses is that unless there’s coverage of them, people don’t think they’re happening."
Brendan Cox, a spokesman for Oxfam, said it was vital that newspapers such as The Scotsman kept up pressure on the international community. He said: "It is massively important that the situation in Darfur is not allowed to slip from the public eye and it is up to the international media to ensure that this does not happen. Newspapers like The Scotsman are doing good work in ensuring that the world does not forget about Darfur and that the pressure is maintained on the Security Council."
George Foulkes, the Labour MP and former development minister who is lobbying for the UK to take a bigger role in alleviating the crisis, said he hoped that other news organisations would find room amid their coverage of Iraq to look at what was happening in Darfur.
"Because politicians and the media have been pre- occupied with Iraq, the enormity of what is happening in Darfur has been lost," he said.
"I would certainly commend The Scotsman for highlighting this issue. If other media outlets would do the same, we might get swifter government action.
"The international community needs to get serious about what is happening in Darfur and call it what is: genocide."
Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for international development, said it was important that people were made aware of what was happening.
"I would commend The Scotsman for the way you have worked to keep this in the public eye," he said.
Tony Baldry, the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons international development committee, was also impressed with the coverage. "It is a very difficult story to report - you have done your best to get this very serious issue across," he said.
Angus Robertson, SNP International Development spokesman, said: "The Scotsman is to be commended for its tenacious reporting of one of the most important issues of the day. The humanitarian catastrophe deserves the attention of everyone in Scotland and the world."
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1331462004
Genocide pays
The Security Council is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a resolution that would offer Sudan at least $500 million in economic development and reconstruction aid, and more than 10,000 UN peacekeeping troops, after the civil war ends. Completing their peace agreement and signing a peace agreement by the end of this year, Council members have agreed on a text, Agence France-Presse reported.
The resolution also promises "possible'' debt relief. Sudan owes the World Bank and International Monetary Fund nearly $2 billion, spokesmen for the groups said.
The Netherlands has pledged $130 million and the U.K. has pledged $186 million in development aid, according to Carl Ulrich, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He said Norway was organizing a donors' conference to raise more money for Sudan.
"There is no time to waste,'' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a speech to the Security Council, according to a copy given to reporters at the UN in New York. "The speedy conclusion of the North-South talks would not only curb the further spread of conflict to other parts of the country, it would serve as a basis and a catalyst for the resolution of existing conflicts.''
The resolution also promises "possible'' debt relief. Sudan owes the World Bank and International Monetary Fund nearly $2 billion, spokesmen for the groups said.
The Netherlands has pledged $130 million and the U.K. has pledged $186 million in development aid, according to Carl Ulrich, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He said Norway was organizing a donors' conference to raise more money for Sudan.
"There is no time to waste,'' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a speech to the Security Council, according to a copy given to reporters at the UN in New York. "The speedy conclusion of the North-South talks would not only curb the further spread of conflict to other parts of the country, it would serve as a basis and a catalyst for the resolution of existing conflicts.''
British aid agency estimate Darfur death toll is now between 200,000 and 300,000
"The death toll has been notoriously difficult to tally, thanks, in large part, to the obstructiveness of the Sudanese government. A figure of 70,000 deaths has been mooted, but aid workers say that simply accounts for deaths as a result of military action. Yesterday, the British aid agency Save the Children took the plunge: its spokesman, Paul Hetherington, estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 people had died since the start of the Darfur conflict..
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, about 10,000 people are dying every month."
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, about 10,000 people are dying every month."
Genocide out of control yet still the UN refuses to act
When Mr Annan wrote to the Sudanese president in May, it was to warn him that the world was tiring of the killings. We must act, the UN said then, it is urgent.
When Mr Annan travelled to Khartoum in June, the message was the same. We must act, the UN said, it is urgent.
When the UN Security Council passed its resolution on 30 July, they were acknowledging that Darfur had become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. We must act, they said, it is urgent.
When they met again in September, they gave Sudan more time. But if it did not comply with their demands, they said, they would act.
So, what of today’s meeting? Today, they will say we must act. It is urgent. But they won’t. And in the time it took to read this, another person died.
See full report Genocide out of control yet still the UN refuses to act.
A Sudanese girl cradles her baby sister outside their hut in a refugee camp at Krinding, near the Chad border.
Picture: Getty Images
- - -
Note, China can't afford to approve sanctions that result in the running of its country being affected by a shortage of oil. So it seems sanctions are out. Why can't China, Malaysia, Pakistan and Russia tell Sudan they are sending 80,000 special police to guard the regions oil operations? China have highly trained forces. And at least a one million-strong army. Consider it as the price they have to pay for exploiting Sudan's oil and blocking the Security Council from imposing sanctions on oil. Countries ought not to be allowed to block a UN resolution without coming up with an alternative solution. Does anybody at the Passion know what happened to the petition calling for Kofi Annan's resignation?
- - -
Here is the rest of the above report from today's Scotsman, for future reference:
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, about 10,000 people are dying every month.
Since 13 May, when Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, wrote to Omer al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, urging him to disarm the Janjaweed militias, maintain the ceasefire, improve access for humanitarian workers and negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Darfur, 61,500 have died.
Since 30 June, when Mr Annan arrived in Khartoum for the start of a three-day visit to see for himself the extent of the crisis, 46,000 people have died.
Since 30 July, when the UN Security Council voted to take action against Sudan if it did not make progress on the pledges it had made to relieve the situation in Darfur, 36,000 people have died.
Since 6 October, when Tony Blair stopped off in Khartoum and confidently announced he had secured a pledge from the Sudanese government to clean up its act and accept a five-point plan for action, including a force of several thousand African Union troops, 14,000 people have died.
The situation in Darfur is spiralling out of control. Jan Pronk, Mr Annan’s special representative on Sudan, has warned the Security Council that the Khartoum government is losing control of its own forces and the Janjaweed militias that it used to do its dirty work.
"It co-opted paramilitary forces and now it cannot count on their obedience," he said. "The border lines between the military, the paramilitary and the police are being blurred."
Aid agencies say the UN must act swiftly and decisively if it is to halt the killing and turn around a situation that is slipping from its grasp. They also warn that the Sudanese government is continuing to defy the will of the UN. "The Sudanese government continues to terrorise its own citizens even in the face of the UN Security Council arriving in Africa," said Peter Takirambudde, the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa division.
"Unless the Security Council backs up its earlier ultimatums with strong action, ethnic cleansing in Darfur will be consolidated. And hundreds of UN personnel will be on the ground helplessly watching as it happens."
However, the chances of the Security Council taking decisive action against Sudan over the Darfur crisis are remote. China and Pakistan abstained from the original resolution. China relies heavily on Sudanese oil exports; in turn, it sells large quantities of arms to the African country. China has made it clear that it will veto any attempt to impose sanctions on the Khartoum regime. And, given that China is a permanent member of the Security Council, that veto will count.
Critics of the UN’s handling of the crisis - and there are many - say that it has failed to grasp the urgency of the situation in Darfur. They say that, as in Rwanda, the genocide will be over by the time the UN raises itself from its torpor.
Yet, this is how the UN works: the main purpose of today’s special meeting of the Security Council is not to address the crisis in Darfur; it is to try to reach a conclusion on Sudan’s north-south civil war, the longest in Africa, which has been raging for 21 years.
It has taken the UN more than two decades to get around to dealing with that crisis. What hope, its critics ask, can there be for those in Darfur? The UN says that if it sorts out the north-south situation, it will improve the circumstances for a solution to the Darfur crisis. Yet it offers no timetable for such action.
Aid agencies trying to pick up the pieces are at the end of their tether. CARE International, Christian Aid, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam International, Save the Children UK and Tearfund, all say violence and insecurity have escalated since the UN became involved. They say something has to give.
"Previous UN resolutions on Darfur have amounted to little more than empty threats, with minimal impact on the levels of violence," said Cynthia Gaigals, on behalf of the agencies. "The Security Council must now outline specific and time-bound compliance measures and agree to implement them if there is no clear and sustained progress. Idle threats from the Security Council have not, and will not, help the people of Darfur."
Yet, idle threats may be the best they can hope for.
When Mr Annan travelled to Khartoum in June, the message was the same. We must act, the UN said, it is urgent.
When the UN Security Council passed its resolution on 30 July, they were acknowledging that Darfur had become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. We must act, they said, it is urgent.
When they met again in September, they gave Sudan more time. But if it did not comply with their demands, they said, they would act.
So, what of today’s meeting? Today, they will say we must act. It is urgent. But they won’t. And in the time it took to read this, another person died.
See full report Genocide out of control yet still the UN refuses to act.
A Sudanese girl cradles her baby sister outside their hut in a refugee camp at Krinding, near the Chad border.
Picture: Getty Images
- - -
Note, China can't afford to approve sanctions that result in the running of its country being affected by a shortage of oil. So it seems sanctions are out. Why can't China, Malaysia, Pakistan and Russia tell Sudan they are sending 80,000 special police to guard the regions oil operations? China have highly trained forces. And at least a one million-strong army. Consider it as the price they have to pay for exploiting Sudan's oil and blocking the Security Council from imposing sanctions on oil. Countries ought not to be allowed to block a UN resolution without coming up with an alternative solution. Does anybody at the Passion know what happened to the petition calling for Kofi Annan's resignation?
- - -
Here is the rest of the above report from today's Scotsman, for future reference:
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, about 10,000 people are dying every month.
Since 13 May, when Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, wrote to Omer al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, urging him to disarm the Janjaweed militias, maintain the ceasefire, improve access for humanitarian workers and negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Darfur, 61,500 have died.
Since 30 June, when Mr Annan arrived in Khartoum for the start of a three-day visit to see for himself the extent of the crisis, 46,000 people have died.
Since 30 July, when the UN Security Council voted to take action against Sudan if it did not make progress on the pledges it had made to relieve the situation in Darfur, 36,000 people have died.
Since 6 October, when Tony Blair stopped off in Khartoum and confidently announced he had secured a pledge from the Sudanese government to clean up its act and accept a five-point plan for action, including a force of several thousand African Union troops, 14,000 people have died.
The situation in Darfur is spiralling out of control. Jan Pronk, Mr Annan’s special representative on Sudan, has warned the Security Council that the Khartoum government is losing control of its own forces and the Janjaweed militias that it used to do its dirty work.
"It co-opted paramilitary forces and now it cannot count on their obedience," he said. "The border lines between the military, the paramilitary and the police are being blurred."
Aid agencies say the UN must act swiftly and decisively if it is to halt the killing and turn around a situation that is slipping from its grasp. They also warn that the Sudanese government is continuing to defy the will of the UN. "The Sudanese government continues to terrorise its own citizens even in the face of the UN Security Council arriving in Africa," said Peter Takirambudde, the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa division.
"Unless the Security Council backs up its earlier ultimatums with strong action, ethnic cleansing in Darfur will be consolidated. And hundreds of UN personnel will be on the ground helplessly watching as it happens."
However, the chances of the Security Council taking decisive action against Sudan over the Darfur crisis are remote. China and Pakistan abstained from the original resolution. China relies heavily on Sudanese oil exports; in turn, it sells large quantities of arms to the African country. China has made it clear that it will veto any attempt to impose sanctions on the Khartoum regime. And, given that China is a permanent member of the Security Council, that veto will count.
Critics of the UN’s handling of the crisis - and there are many - say that it has failed to grasp the urgency of the situation in Darfur. They say that, as in Rwanda, the genocide will be over by the time the UN raises itself from its torpor.
Yet, this is how the UN works: the main purpose of today’s special meeting of the Security Council is not to address the crisis in Darfur; it is to try to reach a conclusion on Sudan’s north-south civil war, the longest in Africa, which has been raging for 21 years.
It has taken the UN more than two decades to get around to dealing with that crisis. What hope, its critics ask, can there be for those in Darfur? The UN says that if it sorts out the north-south situation, it will improve the circumstances for a solution to the Darfur crisis. Yet it offers no timetable for such action.
Aid agencies trying to pick up the pieces are at the end of their tether. CARE International, Christian Aid, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam International, Save the Children UK and Tearfund, all say violence and insecurity have escalated since the UN became involved. They say something has to give.
"Previous UN resolutions on Darfur have amounted to little more than empty threats, with minimal impact on the levels of violence," said Cynthia Gaigals, on behalf of the agencies. "The Security Council must now outline specific and time-bound compliance measures and agree to implement them if there is no clear and sustained progress. Idle threats from the Security Council have not, and will not, help the people of Darfur."
Yet, idle threats may be the best they can hope for.
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