UN and AU condemn 'premeditated' militia attack in Darfur - Commentary on Charles Snyder's interview - Why Nuba feel betrayed

An AFP report April 14 via Reuters says Khor Abeche, which was controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement, the main rebel group in Darfur, was reportedly attacked because the rebels refused to turn over the bodies of two assailants killed during an earlier militia raid on the village on March 9.

The attack that was launched on April 7 by some 200 militiamen on horseback led by Nasir al Tijani, backed up by a group of 150 people hailing from Niteaga, a joint statement by AU and UN envoys.

"We expect that Government authorities will also take appropriate action against Al Tijaniwho had in their very presence, repeatedly threatened the destruction of Khor Abeche until he finally did so on April 7," the two envoys said.

"The AU had prepared to deploy its troops in Niteaga and Khor Abeche since April 3, to deter precisely this kind of attack, but was prevented from acting by what can only be inferred as deliberate official procrastination over the allocation of land for the troop's accommodation," they added.

Note, the Darfur rebel group SLA agreed Monday to resume stalled peace negotiations with the government, retracting earlier conditions it had set for returning to the peace table. But it might not mean very much because the UN's situation report posted here recently says there are splits within JEM, the other main Darfur rebel group. Notice how the rebels split whenever they are pressed in a corner to negotiate? Scroll down here today to see what may be bubbling over in the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan.
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African Union protects women from attacks in North Darfur camp

Here is some good news. April 14 Reuters report says African Union (AU) personnel in North Darfur have started providing armed escorts for displaced women and girls to protect them from attacks, an AU official told IRIN on Wednesday.

"The women from Abu Shouk IDP [internally displaced person] camp in North Darfur are escorted by AU soldiers once a week, when they venture outside the camp to collect firewood," said Justin Thundu, AU's public information officer at El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Thundu said the AU considered these escorts an integral part of its protection mandate in Darfur. "Beside our daily patrols, it is one of the activities we carry out to promote confidence-building among the IDPs."

"We haven't heard of any harassment cases around Abu Shouk over the past weeks," Thundu added. "It has been a very successful exercise. We are doing it in a few other camps as well"
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Commentary on Charles Snyder's important interview

On April 11, 2005, I posted here a copy of AllAfrica's important interview with Charles Snyder, the leading U.S. negotiator for Sudan.

Here is a copy of a comment I bashed out and left at Eugene's post on the interview with Charles Snyder. I planned to write a post on the interview but since my comment covers most of what I would have written, it will act as the post for here:

Hello Eugene, I can't recall when I last read such an open in-depth interview with a politician currently involved with Sudan. You have to wonder about the reason for this interview. As you well know, they're usually not so forthcoming with details. Who knows, maybe it's for the benefit of the rebels - for them to accept Bashir's Nuba mountain type deal as a way to stop the fighting and spend the next year or two negotiating a peace deal. Jan Pronk recently said after the ICC resolution, the rebels have no need to fight anymore - that it's over.

See what Charles Snyder said about the delay in getting the AU troops there? He says it's not to do with lack of resources, but that everyone who wants to be there is there right now -- meaning: nobody else until May/June/July is willing to go (seems difficult to believe).

Perhaps the UN/AU strategy is to complete north-south deal, wait for Garang et al to be situated in Khartoum, get funding in place + 10,000 UN peacekeepers before offering again the 10,000 SPLM/A troops that Garang suggested for Darfur last year (to be matched with 10,000 Sudanese troops and 10,000 from the UN). Interesting too - and I haven't seen it reported elsewhere - the Nuba type deal that Bashir put on the table (why didn't he offer to corral the Janjaweed in the peace zones? No doubt the peace zones he offered to the rebels are not in the areas of Darfur where the oil and minerals lay).

Garang's team should have arrived in Khartoum within 2 weeks of the Jan 9 peace deal - they only arrived this weekend which means they are two months behind schedule. Why nobody has demanded a proper explanation for the delay in the long awaiting 1,000 AU troops is beyond me. I can never shake the feeling that there is a lot more going on than meets the eye - and we know only a fraction of what is happening behind the scenes. The media does so little investigative reporting.

It's interesting to see Charles Snyder giving Khartoum more than an A grade on the terrorism front - wonder what he meant by that - and who he meant by "the others" working alongside the Janjaweed. South Darfur seems like real trouble, ie the area where the latest big raid took place. You have to wonder what is the attraction of that particular area - the UN and AU say Sudanese officials have been delaying AU troops getting accommodation there (why the AU needs permission is amazing).

It was surprising and disappointing to see Egypt's Darfur summit cancelled for April 20 - there is a large meeting a few days before - I wonder how much involvement the Libyan leader has and what is behind the hold up on the opening up the route through Libya that he offered last year for aid trucks to get through into Darfur. Rainy season will be falling again soon. Note President Bush is meeting at the White House with Rwandan President April 15 re peacekeeping for Sudan and the Great Lakes region. Bye for now. Kind regards. Keep up the great blog. Ingrid | Homepage | 04.11.05 - 4:22 pm

Eugene's reply to the comment:

Your point about the inability to get AU troops to Darfur is a good one. As we all know, they are far short of their mandated strength right now and seem unable to get more troops into the region.

This raises an interesting point about calls to increase the size of the AU mission to Darfur to somewhere around 25,000 - 50,000 (at least that seems to be the necessary number, according to the few military people willing to talk about it.) If the AU can't even get 3,000 troops to the region after all this time, how are they going to get 50,000 there?

Talk of an expanded AU mission is all well and good, but if nobody wants to actually send troops, it is just a lot of empty talk.

Also, the issue of terrorism is one that seems important, but ignored. Eric Reeves' two latest anlysis pieces both hinted at the presence of Islamic terrorists in the region or some sort of tie between them and the Janjaweed. It is all rather vague thus far, but if Reeves is hearing about it from his sources on the ground it must mean something and it makes you wonder about Snyder's willingness to give Khartoum "a better than an 'A' grade." Eugene Oregon | Homepage | 04.11.05 - 5:08 pm

Note: Eugene has since posted some follow ups -- see April 13 post titled Lacking the Political Will and April 13 post on The Destruction of Khor Abeche.

Also, in an April 8 post highlighting a few key points from Eric Reeves' latest update, Eugene selected this excerpt:

[O]ne nongovernmental organization (NGO) that has had an especially important reporting presence in Darfur indicates confidentially that it received explicit threats from the Janjaweed and Khartoum officials in February 2005 to the effect that if there were an ICC referral from the UN, "there would be an explosion of violence against NGO and UN workers"; "Musa Hilal [the most notorious of the Janjaweed commanders] will join Osama bin Laden; the Janjaweed will become a branch of al-Qaeda --- these were the types of threats we heard."

A Darfuri in exile, with exceptionally good contacts on the ground in Darfur, also reports that in the wake of the UN's referral of Darfur war crimes to the ICC, there is a "feeling among the NGO and humanitarian aid community that the Janjaweed would escalate their attacks on foreigners." This source also refers to Khartoum's opening of "camps for training foreign Janjaweed and Arab mujahadeen from other countries to fight [foreigners]. These people may now target the foreign [humanitarian aid] community in Darfur."

[edit]

"Sudanese officials greet the ICC recommendation [by the UN Commission of Inquiry] with a combination of annoyance and arrogance. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail recently threatened the 800 to 1,000 international humanitarian workers in Darfur by warning that referrals to a criminal court could lead to 'a direct threat to the foreign presence... Darfur may become another Iraq in terms of arrests and abductions.' A [paramilitary Popular Defense Force] official told Refugees International that 'if the wanted on the list are penalized, it will not solve the problem. It will start war again.' His colleague added, 'There will be an explosion.'"

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After 21 years of fighting, the Nuba feel betrayed

Following on from the post above re Charles Snyder's interview, Mr Snyder spoke of a Nuba Mountain type deal the Sudanese President recently put on the table for the Darfur rebels to consider. The following report "Politics-Sudan After 21 Years of Fighting, the Nuba Feel Betrayed," authored by Darren Taylor in Nairobi, was published online April 6, 2005 [apologies for mislaid web link to original report]. Here is a copy, in full:

As nations from around the world scramble to secure lucrative contracts to develop southern Sudan following the signing of a peace deal in January, one of the war-torn country's minority groups is preparing for a fresh battle.

During the 21-year conflict between the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the Nuba people were anomalies: Muslim camel keepers who fought side by side with the black, largely Christian, cattle herders of southern Sudan against the repressive Islamic rulers in Khartoum.

Their homeland, the Nuba Mountains, is an isolated, arid wasteland in northern Sudan, on the border with the south, where only hardy brush, scorpions and tough nomads survive. The government branded the Nuba "traitors to Islam" for allying themselves with the SPLM/A. Yet the Nuba consistently refused to abandon the darker skinned peoples of the south.

For their 'betrayal', Sudanese government Antonov aircraft and helicopter gunships showered the Nuba with bombs and bullets. Schools were razed; water supplies destroyed. "Many, many killed in explosions; many died of hunger and thirst," said Saeed Anwar, an SPLM/A official in the Nuba Mountains.

The graves of Nuba people killed in government attacks line the region's hillsides. Perhaps rumours of vast oil and diamond deposits under the desert sands were responsible for both the southern forces and the northern government claiming the area as theirs. In any event, the deadlock over who would rule the Nuba Mountains in peacetime had for years prevented agreement being reached, and war persisted. But, under immense pressure from the United States especially, SPLM/A leader John Garang signed the deal Jan. 9 and, say analysts, effectively betrayed his erstwhile allies, the Nuba.

The praise singers point out that the peace agreement has won important concessions for the southern Sudanese: provision for wealth from resources such as oil to be shared by the previously opposing forces; the withdrawal of government troops from the south, and the right for southerners to vote, following a six-year interim period, for unity with, or secession from, the north. But the document is also clear that the Nuba Mountains will form part of the north and its people will continue to be subject to the government and its harsh Islamic sharia law.

Daudi Mohamed, 46, a former SPLA guerilla living in exile in Kenya, lamented: "Our women will still be taken like animals to Khartoum to be stoned (for alleged adultery) and to work as slaves in Arab homes. Our men are still going to be forced to join the northern armies. Any one of us accused of stealing, our hands will be chopped (off). I, like my people, am crying! "What have we fought for?" he shouted, his words cutting through the noise of a nearby metal grinder.

Mohamed was born, raised and taught how to launch rocket grenades in the Nuba Mountains. Instead of going to school, he went to war. "We have fought for nothing. Garang has sold us out," he scoffed, slouching in the doorway of his sparse, oil stained auto spares shop on the outskirts of Kenya's capital Nairobi.

Under the agreement, the Nuba, who fought alongside the SPLM/A for decades for self-determination and religious and economic freedom, will be denied the opportunity to vote for secession as the peace deal unequivocally defines them as 'northerners'.

And although president Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his government have committed themselves to what the agreement terms 'popular consultation' in the area, this would probably prove "meaningless because local government will be dominated by government delegates," said John Ashworth, a respected human rights monitor who has worked in Sudan since the war erupted in 1983.

According to the deal, only a few token seats in the Nuba legislature will be reserved for SPLM/A officials leaving them with little political power. "This is a very bad agreement for the Nuba Mountains; they've really got very, very little out of it. When I challenged some senior SPLM people there about what they would do about the situation, they said: 'well, then we'll go back to war'," Ashworth stated.

The SPLM/A governor of the Nuba Mountains, Abdul Aziz Hilu, was not available for comment, but one of his officials told IPS: "Our leaders were sidelined in the peace talks. But the feeling in the end was: let's sign the peace and see what happens. We can always rebel later. Let's have an imperfect peace rather than no peace at all. If we continue to be oppressed we will rise up and continue to fight."

But Ashworth feels that should the Nuba return to arms, "they'll be wiped out", because they can no longer count on Garang's guerillas, and sympathy from the world at large for this tiny ethnic minority - who are estimated to number around 1.4 million - will also be "thin" as they will be seen as "rebelling against peace".

For a diplomat who has watched the peace process unfold for the past three years, the sidelining of the Nuba came as no surprise. "Garang has always acted primarily in the interests of his Dinka people (the largest ethnic group in Sudan). He has therefore sacrificed his minority allies in order to secure peace for the majority," he reasoned.

Observers say the lesser ethnic groups of Sudan - most notably the Nuer, Shilluk and Beja - tolerated Garang for his ability as a fiery warmonger but are less likely to accept him as their political leader when he is confirmed soon as al-Bashir's Vice-President.

Tribal animosities have simmered under the SPLM/A's apparently united surface since the war began. The tension boiled over in 1991 when Garang's deputy, Riek Machar - a Nuer - and senior official Lam Akol - a Shilluk - rebelled against Garang. The insurrection resulted in a bloody war within a war that almost destroyed the liberation movement. But it is the Muslim minority groups of SPLM/A's northern allies, like the Nuba, who have been the biggest losers with the signing of the peace agreement.

"We are alone," Mohamed sighed. "We do not expect anyone to help us. It will be suicide to begin fighting again without the Commander's (Garang's) backing. We wanted to be part of the south; we wanted to feel the joy of voting for independence. But now we are back to being slaves."

And he returned to his spanners and drum of old oil.
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Closure of Libyan-Sudanese border devastates Darfur

"The currently limited prospects for migrant workers in Libya, combined with the threat of detention, the difficulties of return to Sudan, and the loss of contact with their families in Darfur and uncertainty about their fate, have created a sense of despair among many migrant Darfurians in Libya."

This was the conclusion of a report Darfur Livelihoods Under Siege, published by the Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts University in Massachussetts. The report was the subject of a discussion meeting held in London April 15, 2005, under the auspices of the Overseas Development Institute. Full story at Mathaba.Net News April 15, 2005.



Photo: www.masters-of-photography.com

Tanzania tells Sudan to act on Darfur militia - Kadhafi, Obasanjo discuss Darfur

A BBC news report April 12 says the Government of Sudan is being blamed for taking its time in giving permission to the African Union's Security Council to deploy peacekeepers to the area of the recent Janjaweed raid in south Darfur, in spite of the African Union wanting to do so. But as usual, there is no explanation why the AU needs permission from Khartoum for existing peacekeepers to access certain areas of Darfur - their deployment was negotiated and agreed by all concerned several months ago.

Here is a copy of the news report in full - material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service - via Sudan Tribune [Please note, Khor Abeche is in the region of South Darfur]:

"Tanzanian government is shocked that Sudan has been unable to take action against militia who attacked Khor Abeche village, in western Darfur, killing several people and injuring many, the official Radio Tanzania reported today.

According to a report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Tanzania is saddened that the Sudanese government has been unable to take any action against the 350 militiamen who attacked the village and killed innocent civilians.

The government of Sudan is also being blamed for taking its time in giving permission to the AU Peace and Security Council to deploy peacekeepers to the area, in spite of the AU wanting to do so.

The statement said Sudan has failed to implement the UN Security Council resolution which stipulates that those involved in killing people, breaking international humanitarian laws and impeding the peace process in Darfur be brought before the International Criminal Court to answers charges against them."

Photo: Sudanese army soldiers patrol on camels outside the Mornay camp in western Darfur, Sudan. (AFP).
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Kadhafi, Obasanjo discuss Darfur

A news report at Sudan Tribune April 12 says Libya'a leader talked about Darfur on the phone Tuesday to the African Union's President Obasanjo who is also president of Nigeria. But there is no more news about the reason for the long delay in the 1,000 AU troops promised for Darfur. Charles Snyder, U.S. negotiator for Sudan, said in a recent interview:

"There have been these persistent reports that the logistics was not ready for the troops, but that hasn't been the case for several months. Nobody that wants to be on the ground is not on the ground.

Also, there is still no news on what has happened to Libyan leader Col Kadhafi's offer last year of a route through Libya being opened for trucks to transport aid into Darfur. American academic and Sudan expert Eric Reeves, in his latest analysis The Destruction of Khor Abeche, South Darfur, April 7, 2005 writes:

"The total population in Chad in need of humanitarian assistance could reach to 500,000: 200,000 current Darfuri refugees; 150,000 local Chadians who have been overwhelmed by the presence of such a large refugee population in the impoverished border region; and another 150,000 Darfuris who may flee to Chad because of ongoing violence in Darfur, again of the sort witnessed in Khor Abeche.

This part of Chad is inaccessible from N'Djamena to the west during the rainy season, and the alternative supply route (overland from Libya) cannot possibly supply even the current refugee population. Extremely expensive airlifting of food will be the only alternative, and there is no such airlift capacity in the Darfur humanitarian theater. This is an extremely vulnerable refugee population."

Photo: Libyan leader Mouammar Kadhafi and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo during Darfur summit in Tripoli last year. (AP)
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Hundreds of Sudanese students protest France's backing of UN resolution

Hundreds of students staged a sit-in outside the French Embassy on Wednesday, protesting France's support for a U.N. resolution demanding international trials of war crime suspects in Sudan's Darfur conflict.

Full Story by Mohamed Osman (AP) April 13, 2005.


Photo: Sudanese riot police stand guard outside the French Embassy during a student's protest in Sudan's capital Khartoum, April 13, 2005. (Reuters).
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India announces aid for Sudan

On April 13 India announced a contribution of 10 million USD for phase one of Sudan's reconstruction besides concessional credit lines worth 100 million USD. This will be in addition to the bilateral assistance under the South-South Technical Assistance Programme.
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Interview with Caesar Mazzolari, bishop of Rumbek, south Sudan

A few weeks ago, after googling around to find out what the church and religious leaders in Sudan were doing, I started drafting a post on the Bishop of Khartoum, trying to make sense of what religious leaders - including the Muslim clerics - were saying about the situation in Sudan.

So yesterday morning, it was interesting to see, after billions of dollars were promised to Sudan, the Bishop of Rumbek, south Sudan, popping up in mainstream media.

Bishop Caesar Mazzolari of the diocese of Rumbek, south Sudan's designated capital, has been involved in pastoral and humanitarian work in the area for many years. In an interview in Gordhim, a town northwest of Rumbek, south Sudan, on 8 April, he told IRIN that the region was not yet ready to receive the returnees. He also said that southern Sudan needed as much help as [the western region of] Darfur, and appealed to Sudanese intellectuals to return from abroad.

Click here for excerpts of that interview and note the lack of dialogue between Sudan's leadership and the people. It seems there is a total lack of leadership from all sides [including the church]. What are the Muslim clerics saying? I've not found anything yet. But I have read some of what the Christian leaders in Sudan have been saying over the past five years. More later.


Photo (IRIN) Caesar Mazzolari, Bishop of Rumbek says:

"The infrastructure in southern Sudan does not exist. Miles and miles of roads have been abandoned all through the years, which is over 22 years. No wells have been dug, and those which existed were not maintained.

Education does not exist. Only 3 percent of women are literate in the south, and only 16 percent to 17 percent of men. The only real education structures that do exist are the ones provided by the church. There is not enough medicine.

The promotion of the peace project signed January 9, 2005, has not taken place. Plenty of pieces of paper on the situation abound but no structures or programmes for bringing the labour force to work in the field. This peace has to be accompanied by action sustained with both human and material resources to develop health centres, water sources [and] schools, but also to support those who will teach [and] those who will work in the hospitals.

South Sudan needs "the human resources of people who will come and say: 'We will stay for maybe six months or a year', to train our teachers, to help us develop the schools, to train our nurses. We need people who will come to train administrators for both health and education projects, so that our donors will know that we are accountable, because the moment we are not accountable the whole thing stops. We are just now scratching the surface, and our people are a bit disenchanted [and ask themselves] 'What are our leaders doing, and what are we to do?'

The other thing that militates against peace is the fact that disarmament is not taking place. Many commanders are still acting out of the power of the gun - they prevail over tribunals, they prevail over justice cases.

[There also a need for] the proclamation of a very clear law that governs civil society, and the training of a civil police force. We [should] put all the soldiers, all the commanders and all the military who are not supposed to be around away - which is in the plan but is not being done."

Darfur: U.N. Sudan Situation Reports 7-12 April 2005

The following is a copy in full of an email received today giving the latest situation reports by United Nations personnel on the ground in Sudan for 7, 10 and 12 April 2005:

7 April 2005 Key Developments:

Today in Khartoum, the UN Country team for the North and the South met jointly for the second time since the signing of the CPA. Discussions focused on common policies such as return and reintegration.

SRSG Pronk, PDSRSG Zerihoun, and FC Akbar met with an SPLM delegation that is part of the advance team that has arrived in Khartoum. The same team along with the Police Commissioner also met with a GoS inter-ministerial committee charged with evaluating Security Council resolutions (1590, 1591, 1593) and reporting to the Council of Ministers. In both meetings, discussions covered the UNMIS mandate and deployment issues, SOFA and model SOFA, freedom of movement and notifications, security in critical areas, and the return of IDPs.

Security Issues:

North Darfur: On 4 Apr, Jebel Si and Dali IDP camps near Tawilla reported heavy gunfire in their areas. Reportedly one child was killed and two people were wounded. As a result of the attack, the majority of residents of both camps have scattered. AMIS is investigating.

South Darfur: Armed tribesmen reportedly attacked several villages northeast and east of Thur since 31 March. On 4 Apr., several trucks with hundreds of Thur residents were seen arriving from Thur into Kass. No reports yet received on casualties.

An INGO reported that two of its vehicles, both clearly identified, were ambushed at Teiga, between Kindiger and Manawashi, on 6 Apr. at approximately 13:00. These vehicles were exiting SLA areas, moving back to Manawashi and Nyala. There were no casualties but one vehicle was hit. SLA and nomadic tribal militias had been engaged in fighting on this road the previous day (5 Apr.).

West Darfur: On 7 Apr., a pro-government demonstration took place in front of the OCHA compound in El Geneina, protesting the SC Resolution 1593. The demonstration was attended by 200 - 300 people with no incidents of aggression. A petition was delivered to the UN protesting the resolution.

Political/Civil Affairs:

On 5 Apr., UNMIS officials met with Emanwell Kur, the Church leader in El Fasher. The Church has 6000 members, and this year is the year of reconciliation and confidence building. The Church also has good relations with the Muslim Sufi community.

On 6 Apr., UNMIS officials held an introductory meeting in El Fahser with Muslim leaders from North Darfur, including the Director General of the Ministry of Social and Cultural Affairs. During the meeting, UNMIS explained its mandate in assisting civil society in reconciliation. All participants showed a willingness to cooperate, and scheduled further information sharing meetings for the near future.

Local Media: The local radio station in El Fasher announced that in a meeting with tribal leaders on 4 Apr., the Commissioner of El-Waha locality in El Fasher (a locality of nomadic tribes in North and part of South Darfur) rejected Security Council Resolution 1593, and proclaimed that El-Waha will be the Falluja of Sudan if any of its people are taken to the ICC.

Humanitarian Affairs:

Food/NFIs

North Darfur: FAO delivered a quantity of agricultural tools to villages around Shadad to allow them to prepare soils before the rains. This INGO COOPI is planning to deliver tools and seeds to 3000 households around Mallit and Malha. It also intends to carry out vaccinations and de-worming of animals, targeting 9000 households in Mallit, Sayeh and Malha.

Camp Planning

North Darfur: In Abu Shouk II, OCHA led a survey team composed of urban planning technicians on 6 Apr. for demarcation of land destined to host the extension of the Abu Shouk IDP camp. The Urban Planning Department has committed to endorse the use of the demarcated land in a written letter addressed to OCHA on 7 Apr. In addition, WES (with the support of UNICEF) has completed the drilling of two boreholes and the fixing of 2 hand pumps along Wadi belt. The four water sources will guarantee a sufficient amount of water for the new site.

Assessments

North Darfur: The team conducting the assessment on the Damrats in Kutum has successfully completed its assessment and met with the Al Waha (Commissioner for Nomads) on 5 April for a debriefing session.

General

South Sudan: The movement of people on the western side of the Nile River still continues. People coming from Yei on bicycles are now able to use the main road between Juba and Yei except for a small portion at 60 km where they have to go off-road to avoid land mines. However, it is difficult to identify whether these people have returned finally, or if they are visiting relatives or are business people.

In the sectoral meeting of water and sanitation this week, UNHCR pledged to fund the Swedish Free Mission to dig wells in Eastern Equatoria and other areas where there is guinea worm. However, there was a concern that the digging of bore wells in urban areas such as Juba does not provide a long-term solution given the growing population, fall in water levels and salty nature of the water.

A sectoral meeting on education took place on 5 Apr. and discussed problems facing returnee students. Among the problems were lack of classrooms and slow school registration due to change of policy. It has been reported that the President has declared free education in the Sudan. Some parents refused to pay the registration fees (SD 1,000) required by school administration. Schools are now planning to call for a meeting of parents. The representative of Ministry of Education in the meeting agreed to raise the issue of returnee and refugee students to the government.
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10 April 2005 Key Developments:

On 7 Apr., roughly 350 armed tribesmen attacked the village of Khor Abeche, northeast of Nyala in South Darfur. The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) has confirmed that approximately 90 percent of the village was destroyed in the attack, but casualty figures are not yet known. Please see joint AMIS-UNMIS communique for more details.

SRSG Pronk and DSRSG da Silva departed for Oslo on 9 Apr., to attend the donors' conference on Sudan.

A peaceful demonstration against UN Security Council resolution 1593 (2005) took place on 7 Apr. in Geneina, West Darfur. The demonstrators were principally from nomadic tribes. The three petitions presented by the demonstrators will be sent to the UN Secretary General through the appropriate channels. Deployment of GoS forces guaranteed the peaceful nature of the demonstration, but the market remained closed until the demonstration ended.

Security Issues:

South Darfur: There is growing concern that the departure of the GoS Army from Marla will allow rebel groups and Arab militia to engage in fighting, which would increase insecurity in the area. AMIS is expected to deploy troops in the area. Prior to any further humanitarian action into the Marla area, it was agreed that UN officials would assess the area. Meetings between groups in the area and agencies engaged in provision of assistance would follow.

On 8 Apr., an INGO reported that one of their vehicles travelling from Mershing to Manawashi was fired upon. No impact or damage was caused.

Protection Issues:

North Darfur: Reportedly, 234 individuals (mostly women and children) arrived at the Galab IDP site over the last three days, following attacks in Khor Abeche. These IDPs informed that more people are expected to move from that area as a result of increased insecurity.

South Darfur: Due to the continued harassment of IDPs in Kass, it has been reported that there is a renewed movement from Kass to Kalma camp, where five newly arrived families were registered on 9 Apr.

West Darfur: An INGO reported that 555 people (106 families) have moved to camps in Zalingei during Mar. from villages in Jebel Marra. Reportedly, many left due to insecurity and lack of food.

Political/Civil Affairs:

On 7 Apr., UNMIS met in El Fasher with the Women's Development Associations Network, which covers 21 women's associations from El Fasher and Kebkabiya localities, and has 5,000 members. Among some of its activities, the network provided meals and clothes to pregnant and lactating women and children, and trained 794 women in manufacturing and using improved cooking stoves in Abu Shouk IDP Camp. However, due to the security situation in the area, and the displacement of some of its members, the network was unable to implement its development projects.

Humanitarian Affairs:

General

North Darfur: On 8 Apr., an assessment of the Hamra area (the area surrounding the nomadic semi-permanent villages most recently assessed) commenced. The assessment is focused on the food situation in this area.

The situation and whereabouts of the IDPs from Tawilla following recent incidents in the area is still unclear. OCHA is due to conduct a field assessment on 10 Apr. to confirm the facts of the situation.

The demarcation for Abu Shouk II has been completed and the GoS Ministry of Planning issued confirmation that the land in question had been reserved and ready to use as an IDP camp. A task force meeting to plan concrete steps for assistance in the new site will be held 10 Apr.

West Darfur: The Interagency Assessment mission to Tendelti on 4 Apr. confirmed a population of approximately 1500 IDPs (225HHs), mainly displaced from Juruf village. The IDPs fled Tendelti approximately over a month ago as a result of heightened insecurity. There were also reports of population return from Chad. The IDPs' main needs are shelter, food and water assistance.

Food/NFIs

South Darfur: Agencies are gearing-up to measure and respond to the drought. A number of INGOs are in the process of establishing rain gauge stations for rainfall data collection with technical support from FAO.

Education

North Darfur: The Humanitarian Air Service intervened to deliver the Grade 8 examination papers to a number of examination centres in North Darfur. HAC expressed GoS deep appreciation for the assistance.

Returns

In Juba, the movement of people on the western side of river Nile is growing. This was reflected in the HAC registration of 90 students between 4 and 6 April. The registration shows that some families have returned to put their children in schools. According to HAC, non-students returnees are not registered because the movement is voluntary and there is nothing to offer to them. It is also difficult to identify where they live or whether they are visiting relatives, or business people.
231 returnees were registered passing through Kosti on 7 and 9 Apr.
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12 April 2005 Key Developments:

Reports indicate that a riot broke out on the campus of Dilling University in Nuba Mountains on 11 Apr. JMC confirms that at least one student was killed and 23 wounded, 3 of whom were flown to El Obeid for treatment. The cause of the riot was apparently disagreement over results of elections to the student council.

The Government of Chad has suspended its role as mediator in the Darfur peace process because of its allegations that the Government of Sudan is supporting Chadian rebel groups in Darfur.

The SRSG Pronk today attended the second and last day of the Oslo pledging conference for Sudan. On the margins of the conference today he met with EU representatives. The objective was to mobilize the EU countries to support the AU in its deployment in Darfur. The SRSG also met with Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick. They discussed the situation in Sudan and US support for AU deployment in Darfur.

Security Issues:

North Darfur: On 6 Apr., a truck hired by a WFP cooperating partner joined a WFP convoy travelling to Malha. The convoy was stopped at Cindi, between Mellit and Malha en route to Malha. All WFP marked vehicles were allowed to continue, however, the hired vehicle and driver were detained. The vehicle was loaded with 25 metric tonnes of consumables. Another convoy of 16 WFP and commercial trucks were also stopped by SLA in Mado area, between Malha and Mellit, on 11 Apr.

South Darfur: Following the cattle riding incident involving SLA and Fulani tribesmen, the SLA confirmed the presence of 75 Fulani tribesmen in Muhajarija as their guests, that SLA is 'looking for the stolen cattle' and that two "thieves" were arrested by the rebel movement. The rebels later informed the AU that 71 of the group and 17 cattle found went home, while four tribesmen decided to stay on in the rebel stronghold to look for their cattle.

West Darfur: The AU has reported that the situation in Um Shalaya, which has been tense due to a tribal conflict, is now calm. GoS authorities and police discussed the situation with the Amir of the Arab community. The group assured the AU and residents of Um Shalaya that no one would be attacked in retaliation for the incident between the police and the residents.

Protection Issues:

North Darfur: The fuel efficient stoves project in Kebkabiya has been positively received by the IDPs. So far, 2,000 women have been trained on the usage of the stoves. This has resulted in reduction of firewood consumption by 50% and has led to significant reduction of gender based violence cases reported in the area.

South Darfur: The HAC promised agencies to complete the preparatory works in the Hashaba site known as "Salam" for Kalma relocation by the end of the week. IOM is leading a Relocation Working Group to reassess the area and finalise the determination for appropriate and voluntary relocation. NGOs are planning to start their delivery of assistance as soon as possible.

Political/Civil Affairs:

Following the 7 Apr attack on Khor Abeche, South Darfur, GoS has announced that it will launch an investigation into the incidents in collaboration with the AU.

Accusations by the Chadian President, Idriss Deby that GoS was recruiting, training and arming Chadian rebels in order to destabilise his Government, has prompted GoS to announce it will investigate the allegations and send a delegation to Chad to hold talks with President Deby to clear the "misunderstanding." In the meantime, Chad has reportedly suspended its mediation efforts on Darfur.

Press reports suggest the JEM may split following a statement issued by 56 field commanders that they have relieved Chairman Khalil of his post.

SRSG Pronk is heading tonight for Paris for a two day working visit. He is expected to meet with senior French officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as senior officials from the Presidency, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Cooperation and Development. Mr. Pronk's visit is part of a series of visits he is undertaking to European capitals, in order to mobilize support for the AU Mission in Sudan, as well as to invite European countries to contribute military observers to UNMIS.

Humanitarian Affairs:

Assessments

During a visit in Tawila on 11 Apr., an OCHA delegation verified that the number of IDPs remaining in Dali and Jebel Si is negligible (between 30-40 individuals seen during the visit). IDPs sources indicate that the population may have fled to Sew Sewa, Gozbena, Tina west and into the mountains located to the south of Tawilla.

Food/NFIs

North Darfur: Following to the failure of the headcount process at Abu Shouk camp, a meeting between all the stakeholders, including IDPs representatives, was held on 9 Apr. It was agreed that the next registration exercise would be the last one, and IDP representatives agreed to cooperate to ensure that the next exercise is a success since future humanitarian assistance would be based on the figures obtained during the exercise.

Health

North Darfur: The State Ministry of Health conducted two phases of vector control campaigns for Abu Shouk and Zam Zam camps between 2 and 6 Apr. Following the spraying, the general health indicators have started to improve and levels of bloody diarrhoea, for example, have started to level off. An additional 48 new latrines and 30 showers have been constructed for the new arrivals at Abu Shouk camp.

South Darfur: The French NGO - Aide Medical International (AMI) has started providing mobile primary health care (PHC) services to IDPs and host communities in Umm Jana area in Edd Al Fursan locality. AMI has deployed vehicles with drugs, equipment and personnel for programme implementation. IDPs and the host community will be assisted twice a week. The possibility of expanding the programme within Umm Jana and other adjacent areas is being contemplated depending on gaps in needs in health care services.

One INGO announced its withdrawal from East Jebel Marra until the security situation improves. Another INGO left the area in early March, leaving no healthcare in SLA-controlled Jebel Marra. Other humanitarian organizations are seeking funds to take over activities.

Returns

Returnees from Sennar to western Kordofan have reported to the Nuba Mountains Organization in Rebec that they have been repeatedly asked to pay tax on some of their properties at different checkpoints between Sennar and Kosti.

240 returnees were registered passing through Kosti on 11 Apr. to various locations in south Sudan.

Returnees travelling to Bahr El Ghazal through Mayoum have expressed concern about the taxes they have to pay when crossing Mayoum's security checkpoint.

World leaders pledge $4.5 billion for Sudan while pressing for peace pact

Yesterday, Sudan was promised $US 4.5 billion. Seen any word of gratitude or thanks from Sudan? Me neither.

Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, told yesterday's donors conference that his government was committed to reaching a peace agreement with rebel groups in Darfur.

Former southern rebel leader John Garang, now a member of Sudan's new government, said everything, from roads to power, was needed in the south.

"Give me $10bn and I assure you, I will spend it," Garang said.

The $US 2.6 billion in Sudan's 2005-07 aid request was about a third of estimated initial needs of $US 7.9 billion. Most of the cash will come from Sudan's oil output of 320,000 barrels per day.

Warnings



U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick warned the Sudanese government but it took the warning simply as a message to work hard and move on Darfur. [Photo via Aljazeera.Net report 'Sudan pledges reach $4.5 billion']

Mr Zoellick said: "If the government of Sudan and all those in Darfur fail to act against the violence to help strengthen security and create a serious peace process, then my country and others will not be able to sustain the CPA fully."

Zoellick later clarified at a press conference that his country was interested at this stage in supporting Sudan's mostly Christian south and Darfur and that none of the pledged US funds would target northern areas where the current government is based.

"We want to try to support the north-south process but I've emphasised that it is difficult to work with the government in Khartoum," he also said. A national unity government including southern Sudan's former rebels is to be formed in the beginning of July.

Sudanese Vice President Ali Usman Taha played down Zoellick's warning while insisting that Khartoum needed to be encouraged rather than threatened with sanctions.

"I don't think the US statement this morning was meant as a strict condition, it was in my mind a message for us to work hard and move on Darfur," he said.

[He may be right. A report on the conference in the FT April 12 says: "The US has not expressly declared its pledges of aid conditional on resolution of the conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur, which is separate to the north-south conflict. The US has accused the Sudanese government and allied Arab militia of committing genocide against mainly African villagers there.]



Photo: The US has tied its funds to improvements in Darfur [via Aljazeera report 'Sudan pledges reach $4.5 billion']

Note this excerpt from April 12 FT report:

John Garang, a southern rebel leader who is to become vice-president of a transitional government under the power-sharing agreement, said it would be a mistake to link implementation of the accord and "peace dividend" to resolution of the Darfur crisis.

US sanctions, which are unlikely to be lifted unless dramatic progress is made resolving the Darfur crisis, prevent American development funds being spent in the north, where there is also widespread under-development. The US made clear that its aid would go directly to southern Sudan and not through Khartoum even after formation of the central coalition government, which has fallen behind schedule.

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World leaders pledge $4.5 billion for Sudan while pressing for peace pact

Report by Joel Brinkley April 12, 2005, New York Times. Copied here in full incase the link breaks:

OSLO, April 12 - Leaders from more than 50 nations pledged more than $4.5 billion for Sudan in a donors' conference here today, but one official after another warned that continuing violence in Darfur would undermine the peace agreement they were here to support.

The Sudanese government and rebels in southern Sudan reached a peace agreement in January after more than 20 years of warfare. But the violence in Darfur's western province - that has already claimed 300,00 lives - broke out anew while those negotiations were under way.

"This is time of choosing for Sudan," Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick said in an address to the conference this morning. "The leaders of Sudan must realize that the eyes of the world are on Sudan. The world knows what is happening in Darfur, and the government cannot escape the consequences of that knowledge."

German and Norwegian officials, among others, echoed that sentiment. The Norwegian prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, said, "There is no peace in Sudan until the situation in Darfur has been solved."

The United States pledged between $1 billion and $2 billion to support the north-south peace agreement. The monetary span results from uncertainty over how much Congress will approve of the administration's requests for Sudan.

A report by the United Nations and the World Bank found that Sudan needs $2.6 billion in outside aid to meet its $7.9 billion budget for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the south over the next two years.

The European Commission promised about $760 million. Britain offered $545 million and Norway, $250 million. Several officials speaking at the conference praised the donor nations for their pledges while urging them to make the actual payments. Pledges made at conferences like these are often followed by failure to make all of the payments promised.

In remarks to reporters on Monday and in his speech today, Mr. Zoellick said the United States and other countries would have trouble meeting their funding commitments if the government in Khartoum does not quell the violence in Darfur.

Sudan, he said today, "could slip back into the depths."

Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, told the conference that his government was committed to reaching a peace agreement with rebel groups in Darfur. However, the government in Khartoum has made such promises many times in the past year.

As Mr. Zoellick put it after Mr. Taha made his statement: "We'll have to follow up on that."

IRC: Sudanese civil society and NGOs recommend steps toward lasting peace in Sudan

Today's news from the IRC April 12 on the Sudan Civil Society Forum held in Oslo, Norway 7-9 April 2005:

More than seventy representatives from Sudanese civil society and international non-governmental organisations, including the IRC, today expressed deep concern about the lack of democracy and rule of law in Sudan.

In a statement presented on the second day of a major donor conference on Sudan's post-conflict reconstruction, the organizations also called for an end to the ongoing suffering and violence throughout the country, particularly in the troubled Darfur region.

The organizations said that the political, social and economic atmosphere in Sudan is not conducive to the transformation of the country into a democratic society. Fundamental and basic rights of the Sudanese people are not observed or protected by the state.

Among other things, the group called for immediate reforms of the legal system, press freedom and a transformation from military to civilian rule. The organizations said that civil society must play an integral role in the peace and the constitutional processes.

The April 11-12 meeting in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, brought together around 60 donor nations.
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April 12 -- Donors' pledged $2.6bn in aid for Sudan during the next three years. Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, announced a US commitment of $1.7bn (1.3bn euros, 899m GBP) intended to develop southern Sudan, though US Congress must still approve $900m of the sum. [More in previous post here below]
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Italy to send 220 troops by May as part of UN Mission in Sudan

April 12 -- Italy will send 220 soldiers to Sudan as part of a UN peace keeping mission in the east African country, Italian defence ministry under-secretary Giuseppe Drago announced on Tuesday, April 12.

Most of the troops who will arrive in Sudan by May will be stationed in the capital city Khartoum to guard the UN contingent's headquarters, while others will be deployed some 20 kilometres from the city at a telecommunications centre.

Other duties include maintaining security at Khartoum's international airport, particularly protection against terrorist attacks, Drago told Italian MPs in Rome.

The mission, dubbed 'Operation Nile' will be funded by the UN and is part of a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force sent to Sudan to oversee the transition following the end of a two-decades-long civil war between Khartoum's Muslim government and Christian and animist rebels in the country's south.

The Italians soldiers will remain in Sudan for six months and then be replaced by a contingent of Rwandan troops. Full Story via AKI April 12, 2005.
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There's more to ancient Nile culture than the Pharoahs

April 12 -- Think of the Nile river and people invariably think of the great Egyptian culture of the Pharoahs.

A major new exhibition, 'Sudan: Ancient Treasures', which can be seen at The Bowes Museum, at Barnard Castle, County Durham, UK, offers a unique insight into the lives and cultural history other ancient kingdoms of the Nile.

The exhibition is on tour from the Sudan National Museum, Khartoum via the British Museum, where it is has been shown to great acclaim.

It brings together many recent discoveries from excavations in Sudan, highlighting the extremely rich and diverse cultures which flourished in the country, which made it not only Egypt's rival, but even at times its ruler. Many of these treasures will go on public display for the first time outside Sudan.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa covering over 2.5 million square kilometres. For millennia it has been the zone of contact between Central Africa and the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern worlds.

'Sudan: Ancient Treasures' includes objects produced during all phases of human settlement from the Palaeolithic through to the Islamic period (from 200,000 years ago to AD 1885).

'Sudan: Ancient Treasures' runs until Sunday October 30. Open daily 11am-5pm. Visit www.bowesmuseum.org.uk or call 01833 690606.


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Camel Jockeys in the Middle East

April 12 -- The human and civil rights activist Ansar Burney, Advocate returned home today after visiting Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirate.

Mr. Ansar Burney, Advocate, was the first man to introduce true human rights in Pakistan over 24 years ago and is continuing to fight for this just cause ever since. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan on 14th August, 1956. He did his graduation, Master's and Law from Karachi University. Later he received an honorary degree of PhD. in Philosophy from Sri Lanka.

During his visit of three Middle Eastern countries he visited Camel Race Tracks to find out miseries of underage children working as bonded labour in the form of Child Camel Jockeys and living in private jails.

He also met the member of International Bar Association (UK), American Bar Association (USA) and Karachi Bar Association (Pakistan), said that these children, living wretched lives are abused and tortured daily.

They live and sleep in hot, crowded huts made from corrugated irons sheets, without electricity in the high desert temperatures of above 52 degrees centigrade. Years of abuse has led these children to have their upper legs flesh rubbed away, their bones and body structures being damaged and their sexual organs destroyed.

He also met the officials to discuss with them the human rights issue and the miserable conditions of the children whose ages are from two and a half to seven years only and working from 17 to 18 hours on slave labour. Mr Burney said the camel jockeys are mostly from Asian countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Yemen and Sudan working in the most miserable circumstances in Arab countries. Extract from Ansar Burney's website:



It is easier for the oil rich gulf countries to continue, as they have done for hundreds of years, to buy children from the poorer countries across across the gulf in the Indian subcontinent and to force them to work as camel jockeys.

The children go outside to play and never return

They children are kidnapped by local gangs who will deal in any commodity that makes money. The children will then be taken by adults who when questioned may claim to be the children's parents. They will then travel, perhaps along the ancient slave routes to Karachi, and across the Gulf.

Winning at any cost

When the camel belong to a sheikh, a trainer will always choose to break the rules if it gives the camel a better chance of winning. The trainer receives a small prize if his camel wins. The camel jockey receives nothing.
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Quotation

"We all have a common task to protect life, ending the culture of impunity."

-- Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court prosecutor who is investigating war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan gave the world court April 5 a list of 51 names of government officials, Arab militia and rebels suspected of slaughter, rape and pillaging.

[via National Catholic Reporter, April 15, 2005]

$2.6 billion aid goal for Sudan reached - Europe and U.S. say their pledges hinge on ending atrocities in Darfur

The UNs World Food Programme has warned that unless donations are rapidly forthcoming, nearly 200,000 refugees who have fled into Chad from Darfur risk going hungry in the months ahead. "We need food now," said WFP Chad Country Director Stefano Porretti.

"With the rains only a matter of two or three months away, it is absolutely imperative that we move food to the places where it will be needed later this year. This process has already begun but is far from complete."

"Once the rains begin, most of the camps become completely inaccessible by road. Getting supplies in place now will go a long way to avoid the necessity of expensive airlifts and air-drops further down the line. We need to get food here by road before it is too late," Porretti said.


Photo: Refugee camp in Sudan.

Note, there is still no news of what happened to the route Libya offered to open up to help aid trucks get through into Darfur. US Defence Secretary Dr Rice recently revealed 2-month long problems over this and said pressure was being put on Khartoum.
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Sudan spends $16.82 million on night vision equipment

Meanwhile, Business News Bangalore in India reports that Bharat Electronics Ltd., a leading defence company says they have bagged an export order valued at $16.82 million order for supply of communication and night vision equipment to Sudan.


Photo: Millions face starvation in Sudan over the coming weeks (via Swiss News/Keystone)
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Sudan donor conference reaches $2.6 bln aid goal

Today, donors promised at least $2.6 billion to help southern Sudan recover but the U.S. said their aid hinged on ending atrocities in Darfur.

"If conditions in Darfur do not improve, neither the U.S. nor other countries are going to be able to provide the financial assistance for the North-South accord," Mr Zoellick said, adding that the US could offer $1.7bn to Sudan.

"The world knows what is happening in Darfur and the government cannot escape the consequences of that knowledge," he told donors at at the conference.

Among major pledges yesterday, the European Commission promised about $765 million, Britain $545 million, Ireland 15 million euros, Norway $250 million, the Netherlands $220 million, Switzerland $63 million, Canada $90 million, to name a few.

The European Commission made clear that the resumption of cooperation will be progressive, taking into account "the effective implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the evolution of the situation in Darfur."


Photo: Donor conference for Sudan reaches $2.6 billion aid goal, triggering clapping around the conference hall in an Oslo hotel attended by 60 nations - including Sudan's Vice-President pictured here [praying or clapping that he's not in jail?]

Click here to read how he and former rebel John Garang were addressed by Kofi Annan at the conference in Oslo yesterday, attended by 60 nations.

News from Russia reports today April 12 that Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, speaking on the way to the conference, warned that the government in Khartoum stood at "a point of fundamental choice between an upward or downward spiral" that risked breaking Africa's largest country apart, reports FT News.

The US - the largest donor to Sudan - Europe and other donors would not be able to continue working with the government if the situation did not improve in Darfur, he said.
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Oil and Peace don't mix

Oil strategists plan for geopolitical drama as demand increases writes John Fialka in the WSJ April 11, 2005. Excerpt:

It's a small world after all -- with an even smaller oil supply. That's what U.S. energy experts, oil companies, and national security planners are concluding as they try to project America's and the world's oil demand versus declining supplies in coming years.

Military planners in particular, aware of the interconnectedness of, if not all things, at least oil markets, intend to spend millions on oil-price-stabilization projects in emerging oil regions like the Caspian Sea and West Africa. One project, to cost $100 million over the next decade, is the Caspian Guard -- a network of special-ops units and police intended to secure oil facilities in the region, though almost none of the Caspian oil will reach U.S. markets.

Most worrisome to strategists is the role China and India will play in increasing oil demand worldwide. Already, government-owned oil companies in the two countries are forging production partnerships with Iran and Sudan.
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NATO's spear reaches its target

Heh. Khartoum might get the wobblies if they see an April 11 report at Radio Netherlands re NATO's response force. Excerpt:

NATO's 'Noble Javelin 05' exercise - testing out the capabilities of the new NATO Response Force (NRF) - entered its second week with the evacuation of aid workers and refugees, and missions targeting armed rebels on the fictitious Dansu islands.

The initial stages of the exercise were played out largely at sea, but the main focus now is on land, namely the Canary Island of Fuerteventura which, in the 'Nobel Javelin' scenario, is part of the 'federal state of Dansu'.

As the focus shifts landward, so has the command over the exercise, which has transferred on shore from British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible. It's now housed in a barracks in the harbour town of Puerto del Rosario. Just as was the case at sea, there are four headquarters: one each for the ground forces, the air force and the navy, plus an umbrella 'Deployed Joint Task Force Headquarters'. In this context, 'joint' refers to the combined operations of navy vessels, the air force and ground troops; and such combined operations have been very much in evidence on Fuerteventura over the past few days.

Note, the report also says:

Dansu - if the letters of this fictitious state are rearranged, the word Sudan emerges. Some parts of the NRF exercise indeed display a remarkable similarity with the situation in Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region. However, Brigadier General Ton van Loon of the Dutch armed forces explains:

"That's coincidence. We are not here training for a specific situation. What we are trying to do increasingly is to hold exercises which could also be carried out in practice.

Command of the naval forces taking part in 'Nobel Javelin 05' will soon pass to Commodore J.W. Ort of the Dutch Royal Navy, who takes over from British Rear Admiral Charles Style.
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EU, African Union to enhance partnership in conflicts settlement

A report by China View Luxembourg April 11 says the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) agreed on Monday to consolidate and further develop their partnership in the area relating to peace and security in Africa.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told a press conference that he and his African counterparts had been looking for solution to the problems faced by the AU during today's discussions.

Visiting Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji, the current chairperson of the AU Executive Council, said that the EU is a faithful ally of African countries. "We need international cooperation and we appeal the EU to offer assistance that we required," he added.

In a communique issued after the fourth ministerial meeting between the EU and the AU, the ministers said that they exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, including those on specific conflict situations, terrorism and the progress made with regards to capacity building in the field of conflict prevention and crisis management.

Regarding Sudan, the ministers welcomed the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement between the government and the rebels, saying that the deal should pave the way for the promotion of peace, post conflict reconstruction and development of all parts of Sudan.

The ministers express their grave concern at the continuing conflict in Darfur. The two sides condemned the violation by all parties of the cease fire, particularly the assaults on the civilian population, humanitarian workers and on the personnel of the AU. The ministers also discussed the situation in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire Coast and Togo.
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East African states set up military intervention force

Note this Reuters report April 12, 2005 by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa:

Seven east African countries on Monday signed a deal to create a 3,000-troop standby brigade to intervene in crises like the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Somalia, Kenya and Rwanda signed the deal as part of the African Standby Force (ASF), initially expected to involve 15,000 African Union troops. These would initially be drawn primarily from the continent's military powers --South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia.

The force is chartered with a peace-building and humanitarian mission and could intervene unilaterally in the event of "war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, as well as a serious threat to legitimate order."

The memory of Rwanda's genocide figured greatly in the mission envisioned for the ASF, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the conference in the Ethiopian capital. "Africa and the whole international community were unable to do anything to prevent or stop the genocide in Rwanda," he said. "This underscores the need for us to move with resolve and speed to establish the mechanisms necessary to prevent such occurrences."

The East African Standby brigade is one of five regional units expected to be set up and deployed by the end of the year to create the ASF. The AUs ambition to build a reaction force, like many of its other efforts, is hampered by a lack of money from its members states. It has relied heavily on donor money to field its peacekeeping force of 3,000 in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

The east African unit will have an Ethiopian commander to start and an administrative budget of $2.5 million contributed by its members. The other four regions are in varying stages of finalising their teams. No immediate date for the deployment of the East African Standby brigade was given.
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Half of women in Arab world are illiterate

The Daily Star reports on April 12 via AFP that half of the women in Arab world are illiterate and more than 10 million children in the region don't go to school, according to a report released on Monday. Excerpt:

The report on the status of children and women, produced by the Arab League and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), said many Arab countries have made progress on child rights and protection, but that more still needs to be done.

"More than 10 million children in the Arab world are out of school, most of them in Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Sudan," said the report, although it gave no figures for the total number of school-age children in the region.

It said although many countries have established a basis for a child's right to education, they still fall short of the UNs millennium development goals for primary education, especially for girls.

"More than half of the women in the Arab world cannot read or write," said the report, arguing that this was preventing them from obtaining vital information on such issues as pre- and post-natal health, leading to high infant and child mortality rates.

Mortality rates among under-fives in the region stand at around 60 for every 1,000 births compared to just six in industrialized countries. Many of those deaths occurred in the first year primarily due to "pre-natal complications," exacerbated by ignorance.

"There is a dire need to invest in hospitals and clinics in order to provide care in cases of emergency delivery and to address the causes of pre- and post-natal complications," the report said.

Interview: Opportunity to jump-start Sudan may be lost over Darfur - U.S. Negotiator Charles Snyder

Note this interesting AllAfrica interview on Darfur with Charles Snyder, the leading U.S. negotiator for Sudan, April 11, 2005 - copied here in full for future reference:

After decades of neglect, world attention has recently focused on Sudan, Africa's largest country with a land area about one-quarter the size of the United States. A peace agreement has been signed between the government of President Umar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir in Khartoum, which dominates in the north of the country, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, headed by John Garang in the south.

A pledging conference attended by leading donor nations and institutions opened today amid hopes that new resources will become available to finance the country's reconstruction after 22 years of war. But the disastrous situation in the Darfur region threatens to overshadow and derail that process. Charles Snyder the leading U.S. negotiator for Sudan, discussed the problems and prospects in an AllAfrica interview. Excerpts:

What do you expect will come out of the donors conference in Oslo later this week?

The Oslo Conference has been a long time in the planning. It reflects a great deal of European interest in the Sudan issue going back over the last decade, and the idea of the Oslo conference was to reinforce and celebrate, if you will, the kind of good news of the comprehensive peace agreement.

Now Darfur of course has made that a more mixed story than it would have been. But the idea all along of the Oslo Conference was to pledge for the new development plan for the North, South and all of Sudan. There will now be some attention devoted to Darfur specifically but the idea is nonetheless to work on the joint assessment plans that the two Sudanese parties, North and South, have come up with for how do they develop over the next six years. The idea is to have the donors put their money where their political mouths have been. And we are still optimistic that, despite Darfur, we'll get fairly significant pledges.

The U.S. is hoping to make a substantial pledge, as you would expect, given our role there. But I am not going to steal the deputy secretary's thunder, and since he's going to Oslo. The Europeans, we expect, will do quite a lot. There are probably twelve development Ministers alone from Europe coming; Andrew Natsios [the USAID administrator] as well as our deputy secretary of state and a smattering of heads of state from Africa. It should be a significant conference.

The Sudanese government has rejected the UN Security Council resolution, which asked the International Criminal Court to try those whose are alleged to have committed war crimes and human rights abuses in Darfur. How will this impact the efforts to end the dying?

I think we all knew going into this Security Council vote that the Sudanese had said quite clearly that they didn't accept outside jurisdiction. It was their idea that their courts could do this. Barring that, of course, there was some talk about looking into an African tribunal or something that would be more African. They [indicated they] might consider that. But they had rejected from the beginning anything that was purely non-African so it is not a surprise.

It is not a difficulty yet because I think the big test will come as we see the ICC move forward, as we see the prosecutors examine the evidence. When presented with the facts in that regard, then we'll see if the Sudanese government is at all amenable to a rational process or not. And I think until we get there, for political reasons, they will continue to reject it. They don't know who is on the legendary list now of 51 people [recommended for trial]. They don't know whether this is going to be a political confrontation with them as opposed to a legal confrontation. And I think if those questions are answered in anything approaching a reasonable manner, we will be able to put a good deal of effective pressure on them. It's a little too soon to make a final judgment. It won't be easy, that's for sure.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has passed along the list of 51 names to the International Criminal Court. What is the origin of the list?

It comes from a Commission of Inquiry. When Congress passed that joint resolution last year calling the situation in Darfur genocide, Secretary Powell was already wrestling with this issue. He then decided actually to dispatch a team to Chad, including somebody from the American Bar Association and some people from other traditional NGOs that deal with legal and justice matters to see what the evidence was. They interviewed 1,136, I think it was, refugees. And they decided that there was intent, and therefore Powell made the declaration of genocide. That was the issue for us. It was not 'Were these crimes not horrendous and massive violations clearly aimed at an ethnic group?' But one of the conditions of the Geneva Convention is intent. And while there was clearly intent among some of the local parties, maybe some of the local leaders, the idea of intent as it went to the government wasn't clear-cut for us. After the refugee interviews, Powell decided that that was the case.

Then we had the problem of making this first declaration of genocide under the Genocide Convention. We have to be sure about the precedence and that we didn't open the door for this to turn into political foolishness of some sort. And so the secretary of state made the point that, if only the United States says it's genocide, just like it was only the United States for a long time sanctioning in many ways, it can be dismissed as the U.S with a political objective.

So we took it to the UN, and Kofi Annan decided to appoint a commission of inquiry, which went out and did its work. That resulted in a list of 51 names, which none of us have. The names have not leaked, although there is speculations that it includes some people from the government, some of the tribal leaders, some of the military, some of the rebels.

The United States government abstained from the Darfur resolution because the Bush adminstration opposes the International Criminal Court. What impact is this likely to have on implementation of the resolution?

I don't think as a practical matter it will. The ICC is a self-contained operation that has its own prosecutors, its own court space. Clearly, when presented with human rights violations - significant war crimes and human rights violations - we'd have to look at what we could do. I think we need to answer that question in practice as opposed to in theory. I don't see any impediment mechanically to us deciding to do what we can on a case-by-case basis.

What actions does the U.S. government want to see to stop the killing in Darfur?

It's the same thing we've been saying all along - that the primary responsibility is on the government to change things on the ground. Secondarily, it's up to the international community to facilitate those that are trying to solve the problem on a practical basis, the African Union in this case. We're saying to the Sudanese government: 'You've got to do more. You've got to arrest these perpetrators. You know who they are.' They took a small step in that direction by arresting 15 people, I think it was, the other day. It's too soon to say whether or not that was a political gesture, a false start or maybe the beginning of something more serious. We would hope it's the beginning of something more serious.

It doesn't bother me that they've seemed to have gotten 15 low-ranking people, because, if you're going to build a case in many instances like this, what you have to do is get the smaller fish to turn on the medium-sized fish to turn on the bigger fish. What indicates it might not be serious is the long, bad history of the Sudanese seeming to do everything with a lack of enthusiasm and a little late. We'll have to see how this turns out.

How would you evaluate what the African Union has been able to do to date and what more would you hope they could do?

The good news is that the African Union, despite its relative newness - since it just replaced the OAU two years ago - has stepped up to this problem. Where they are on the ground, they are making a difference. And that's the universal report. Jan Pronk [from the United Nations] has said that. Our own people who've gone out on the ground have said that. The Europeans say that. Where they've been on the ground, for instance, we've seen the violence dissipate, particularly this alarming growth in rapes and violence against women who are trying to gather firewood outside the camps.

Unfortunately, they're having a lot of teething pains and we in the international community are supporting them as best we can. The problem really is there are not enough of them. The real test will come when there's enough of them on the ground

One of the fears I've got, is that the Janjaweed and whoever else is doing this - and it's more than just them - still have plenty of free space to roam, and they may just be moving away from where the AU is. The violence and the rapes are still going on, but they're just not in the zone where the AU is. If we put more AU on the ground, we may finally find out if the Janjaweed are going to be more than a bandit problem, if they will push back. I don't think so. The history of this kind of operation is that it disappears when confronted with a superior force. But we're not there yet. And we haven't got a lot more time to wait.

People have been saying for a long time that more AU troops are needed. Why isn't that happening?

The AU is going through these teething pains and the support and logistics capability in a place that's the size of the United States east of the Mississippi with no infrastructure, no air fields, no roads to speak of - even the waterways are not particularly conducive to the rapid movement of anything, never mind a sophisticated military force - has slowed this down. The truth of the matter is, the AU has met the standard they set for themselves in terms of the protection force and by and large the observers.

What hasn't shown up is the police force. The AU has been unable to generate a sufficient number of policemen to get out there. The South Africans sent a police chief and better than 50 men. The Nigerians have done the same thing, so the number of police is over 100. But the police operation is much more complicated and potentially much more effective than the military one. We are now in the process of constructing things to facilitate police deployment so they'll be closer to the actual major refugee camps. And the South Africans and others have come up with renewed pledges for more police. So we're optimistic that between now and, let's say, the beginning of June, we'll finally see this police number close.

The South African police chief who is out there has impressed everybody. He may not have gotten out there as fast as we wanted him to get out there, but he's there and he's making a difference. And so I think we have reason to hope, but I think the hope has to be informed with a renewed sense of time.

If we get this police number closed, we may start to have a real impact on the criminal activity that we're seeing now. They'll be the ones in the camps, trying to reinforce and enhance the order in the camps. The police obviously can't stand up to well-armed groups like the Janjaweed, but they can stand up to the camp bullies and opportunistic banditry that's going on. And I think, based on the statistics I'm seeing on rapes and things like that, some of this around the major camps has become this more opportunistic thing, as opposed to more organized [activity] by a heavily armed group.

So there's reason to believe that police on the ground will make a difference. This needs to happen within the next few months. I don't think that we can afford to let this increase drag out over a year-and-a-half, which is what this has taken.

It is my impression that there been troops from a few African countries ready to go to Darfur but there hasn't been lift capacity to get them there?

There have been these persistent reports that the logistics was not ready for the troops, but that hasn't been the case for several months. Nobody that wants to be on the ground is not on the ground.

Overall, what is your assessment of the humanitarian situation in Darfur?

If you look back at where we were in August, it's much better. If you look at where we were in November, December, it's a little worse.

Why have conditions worsened since late last year?

Because the situation in the camps changed. As you keep people off their land longer, they become more dependent on aid streams. They're living in conditions that allow disease vectors to begin to catch up with them. You're getting the odd outbreak here and there of the usual diseases like cholera. The solutions are obvious - better water supplies and things, and that's being taken on. Vaccinations for measles are going on. We're in a race between the declining situation of the population and the humanitarian effort to turn that around, complicated by the continued violence and attacks. We had one of our own aid workers shot. We've had attacks on the occasional aid convoys, and we had the UN pull out of a sector for a period of a week because of the instability.

The April ceasefire, April a year ago, has never really taken practical effect. It's been very sporadic. The African Union has tried several times to breath life into this, but the parties need to do better, and that includes the rebels, as well as the Janjaweed and the government.

So we're back to the question of what the government in Khartoum needs to do about Darfur.

Khartoum needs to do more than it's doing. The arrival of the SPLM finally in Khartoum finally over the weekend may make the beginnings of some changes there. Their presence in the government, their presence in some of the ministries, may begin to turn some of these things around. Maybe John Garang will be taken up on offers of men to help in Darfur. It could be the presence on the ground as a new element in the new Sudanese government may begin to turn things around.

The rebels, Lord knows, have legitimate grievances and legitimate aspirations, but their lack of discipline on the ground is making it too easy for the other side - whether they're Janjaweed or government-supported Janjaweed - to do things and stop the international community from crying out as clearly as we would if we could be absolutely of the point of view that the rebels are not at fault in any of this. We're not there yet.

When the mediation meeting took place a month ago in Njamina [Chad], there was some hope that the Sudanese government would put some new items on the table, and they did. Bashir put a serious offer on the table, and he pulled the Antonov bombers out [of Darfur]. He restricted the use of helicopters, restricted reconnaissance. And we've not had any reliable reports they've done anything but that since then. They've been flying around, but it's been reconnaissance here and there or movement of supplies.

He offered to pull back to the December 8 lines. The rebels accepted that. He offered a Nuba mountain style ceasefire. The Nuba mountain ceasefire allows them to be in zones. He put that on the table. The rebels were not represented at a high enough level to take any of those things off the table, and so it deteriorated to another offer that failed.

We've pocketed it. We know what he said, and we keep saying to the rebels: 'This is on the table. You need to find a way to take it, because what we need from you is to make this ceasefire work. If we can make the ceasefire work, you can have a year or two years or whatever it takes to talk politically, but the ceasefire has to work because your people are being disadvantaged and frankly, we don't see any military advantage to persisting in this. Not when you could have a reasonable ceasefire.'

So in the coming weeks the SPLM will become real participants in the Sudanese government?

What they're there to do is, one, to prove there's reality to this comprehensive peace agreement. From a practical point of view, it's to begin interim constitution commission meetings. We've been hopeful that, once it started, it might only take six or eight weeks. They've been over this ground in the negotiation; they're not starting from scratch with this interim constitution process.

They are starting from scratch in terms of making it public and in reaching out to the other parties both in the south and in the north, to make this more acceptable to a broader Sudanese audience. So this will take some time to sell that, and maybe to change the last few words and rearrange the last few paragraphs.

The idea was to make this more than strictly an agreement between the National Congress Party [in Khartoum] and the Sudanese People Liberation Movement [in the south]. This is an agreement between a marginalized area and a center. That's really the problem in Sudan. Whether in Darfur or in the Beja, the problem has always been that power and wealth have been centered in Khartum and maybe 200 miles around it. The rest of the areas have been disadvantaged. The features that Garang negotiated - the power sharing, the wealth sharing, the federalism - are all answers to a marginalized periphery versus center problem.

Where the population really gets invested in this is when they do the election, which is between the third and fourth year. That's when, for the first time the old parties, and any new parties that emerge, including, I assume, some of these Darfurian rebels, will be able to demonstrate their popular support in a way that will change things in the legislatures - the legislatures in the provinces, but also in the center.

For a number of reasons, because of the six-year transition agreement, the presidency itself is held until the end, so that the top man, if you will, the man with the most to lose in a new Sudan to some degree, will be in place until a lot of this change takes place. But it's really possible if the DUP and the Yuma parties still have their old robustness, and the labor unions that used to be so significant in old Sudan, if they begin to reappear as political actors, there's every reason to believe that they can demonstrate that power. And then, the very last thing after the referendum for the south, they move on to a presidential election.

The last real election was '86, the last civilian government was thrown out in '89. These institutions have all atrophied over 14 years. They need the time to revitalize themselves. We in the West need time to help them revitalize. The Arab league needs the time, since a lot of these are Arab parties, to re-establish them as real parties. So the fact that this transition is slow, maybe slower than some want, has some good news hidden in it, and all that begins with this constitution process, flawed though it is. It's a way to take down a hard-line government, expand it and open it, in a fashion in which there may be a new Sudan when we're done, that will be less violent and a hell of a lot more prosperous. And hopefully begin to find a way to reconcile the huge number of ethnic groups inside Sudan in some kind of a system that represents them. Maybe not perfectly, but much more perfectly than now.

So that work is starting. What comes next?

Once the constitution is passed, ratified, then for the first time John Garang's position as the leader of the government of the Southern Sudan, and his position as vice-president exists. That's the moment in which the government really becomes a transition government. They've already begun discussing how they share the cabinet spaces and power, and they've learned from past agreements that failed. The old Addis agreement called for a universal sharing of all the cabinet positions. This one actually divides the cabinet positions up into five or six boxes, in which there are four or five cabinet offices. And they've agreed to split these positions more or less fifty/fifty in some of the key boxes.

I would hope that the smarter politicians would find a way to bring in to this coalition some of the other smaller parties, give them some of these seats, [looking ahead] to the fact that this government has to stand for a real election three or four years.

What is the time frame for getting the constitution and new government into place?

The 'pre-interim period', as we called it - the six months before the six years - was supposed to start from the day of the signatures - January 9. Theoretically they're supposed to be done by July 9 with the constitution and with Garang being in position and the transition government being in place. My guess is they're running about two months behind.

Even though the constitution-writing formation process is behind, the forming of the cabinet - since they're having these discussions anyway - could move rapidly [and] make up some of the time lost, though not necessarily all of it. I'm thinking we're not going to hit July 9, but I'd be unhappy if we didn't hit early September.

How will Darfur impact the Oslo conference?

Darfur has to some degree injected a large 'but' clause, with some donors now saying: 'I'm prepared to give "x" number of dollars, but I won't release some of the infrastructure money until I'm convinced that the Darfur situation is on the road to resolution.'

I doubt that anybody will take the view that it has to be resolved. That would be probably a bridge too far in Sudan in its current circumstances, but I think there has to be a clear sense its on its way to resolution. I think you'll see some serious pledging going on in the south, because there's no reason to believe with the peace and tranquility since that was a disadvantaged area, that some infrastructural projects couldn't proceed. But again unless you're approaching this holistically, including Darfur, and the northern part of the country, there are limits to what you can do to real infrastructural development, that doesn't risk making the situation even worse. You'll see a very mixed picture - good in terms of money pledged, but also some conditionality.

What role do you foresee for private sector involvement in Sudan?

The real tragedy of Sudan will be if we don't get Darfur under control and don't take advantage of this probably once-in-a-decade opportunity to jump-start Sudan, probably all the way into the lower middle-income class. The country is potentially rich, thanks to the oil wealth, and to some degree actually to its wealth in its people. Sudan is one of those places where there are refineries. Sudan is a country that can manufacture its own weapons and ammunition. Not that that's a good thing, but that kind of sophistication and technique can also be applied to manufacturing automobiles and other kinds of things.

Sudan can be a real success story, but what it needs is the kind of debt relief and World Bank assistance that it won't get unless Darfur is turned around and unless the abuse of the populations in the marginalized areas ceases. That's the big 'but' across the board.

We're the largest debtor to Sudan. We will not do anything about that until we're convinced that Darfur is headed on the way to success. And without that, a lot of the international financial institutions won't provide the funds to build another pipeline, double the size of the pipeline, put the port facilities back into shape, put in a road system.

Sudan could actually become the bread basket of the Middle East, never mind the oil merchant in the horn of Africa. There has not been a sophisticated assessment of the oil probably in 15 years, since Chevron left. I suspect the oil pool is larger than the current statistics everyone's using. So there's a reason to believe that the wherewithal to drive this is there.

How much of a factor, or how serious, is the HIV/Aids situation there?

It's a very mixed picture in Sudan. It's not a major problem in the north. Considering the population, it's not the kind of problem you would expect. It's not even as large a problem as you would expect in the south, given the chaos over the years. It's a case where a decent medical infrastructure being put in as part of this development project could actually help them get ahead of this crisis.

We still have a chance to get ahead of it, but it depends on getting pledges at the Oslo conference, getting the health and education sector empowered, getting the women's issues, and the empowerment of women, which we've found in many places to be one of the key things in to turning the HIV/Aids thing. All those development projects are really the answer, because it's not yet out of control in Sudan. We have a chance to do the right thing here.

You mentioned the constitution. How much consultation with civil society was done in its drafting?

It's based on the existing Sudanese constitution, which went through the fire in the '80s, was then modified when the Islamicists came in, who turned it into a more Islamic constitution. But many of the underlying features, many of the paragraphs, actually are still untouched.

There's never been anything wrong with the underlying Sudan constitution. The problem has always been the execution and implementation. The Islamic features are modified by the agreement that's been made, the comprehensive peace agreement. One of the first problems they solved is the Sharia problem, which now has to be codified and pieces of the constitution changed. That's what this interim committee is supposed to do.

Is state-sponsored terrorism still a problem in Sudan?

They've done almost everything we've asked them to do on the terrorist front. We're fairly well satisfied with that. From a practical point of view, in terms of international terrorism, I give them a better than 'A' grade. But again, you've got that "but" problem. With Darfur not being resolved in a satisfactory fashion, there's a question mark over the whole counter-terrorism thing.

Snyder, who heads the Office of Sudan Programs in the State Department, served previously as principal deputy assistant secretary for Africa and then as acting assistant secretary in late 2003 and early 2004.

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