A row has erupted over Sudan's attempt to chair the 53-nation African Union summit in Khartoum on 23 January. South African analysts are deeply alarmed by reports that their country's President, Thabo Mbeki, intends to support Sudan's bid. - via The Observer January 15, 2006.
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Note Captain Marlow's blog entry: "Is the African Union awakening from its lethargy? (Translation: have they understood that the world has almost given up on Africa?)"
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Interview with Bob Turner, UNMIS head of Returns, Reintegration and Recovery
A year after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Sudanese government on 9 January 2005, the repatriation of about 4 million southerners who were displaced during the 21-year civil war remains a big challenge.
Bob Turner is the director of the Returns, Reintegration, and Recovery unit of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). IRIN asked him to assess the return process over the past year, as well as his expectations for 2006.
Click here to read excerpts from the interview via IRIN January 12, 2006.
Photo: Bob Turner, head of the UNMIS Returns, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Unit of UNMIS. (Shannon Egan/IRIN)
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Sudanese President holds aloft a bird symbolising peace
On January 10, 2005 with a peace treaty in hand (that he did not personally sign) Sudan's president Omar el-Bashir began a triumphant tour of his country, greeted by thousands of revellers.
A report in the Guardian described how the president, wearing a long, white chieftain's shirt over his safari suit, stopped and restarted his speech several times when onlookers regularly broke into deafening applause and began waving white pieces of cloth in signs of peace.
"Our ultimate goal is a united Sudan, which will not be built by war but by peace and development," el-Bashir said.
"You, the southerners, will be saying, 'We want a strong and huge state, a united Sudan."
"The money which we have been spending on war will now be spent on services and development in the south," he said from his heavily guarded podium.
Photo: Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir holds aloft a bird symbolising peace at a rally in Juba, Sudan Monday, Jan. 10, 2005. He visited the southern town of Malakal as part of a tour of the region to publicise the deal. He told more than 10,000 local people who packed the stadium to celebrate the end of a war: "From now on, there will be no more fighting, but development and prosperity." (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
Material from Sudan Watch January 2005 archive: Sudan peace deal 'bad' for Darfur.
Bob Turner is the director of the Returns, Reintegration, and Recovery unit of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). IRIN asked him to assess the return process over the past year, as well as his expectations for 2006.
Click here to read excerpts from the interview via IRIN January 12, 2006.
Photo: Bob Turner, head of the UNMIS Returns, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Unit of UNMIS. (Shannon Egan/IRIN)
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Sudanese President holds aloft a bird symbolising peace
On January 10, 2005 with a peace treaty in hand (that he did not personally sign) Sudan's president Omar el-Bashir began a triumphant tour of his country, greeted by thousands of revellers.
A report in the Guardian described how the president, wearing a long, white chieftain's shirt over his safari suit, stopped and restarted his speech several times when onlookers regularly broke into deafening applause and began waving white pieces of cloth in signs of peace.
"Our ultimate goal is a united Sudan, which will not be built by war but by peace and development," el-Bashir said.
"You, the southerners, will be saying, 'We want a strong and huge state, a united Sudan."
"The money which we have been spending on war will now be spent on services and development in the south," he said from his heavily guarded podium.
Photo: Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir holds aloft a bird symbolising peace at a rally in Juba, Sudan Monday, Jan. 10, 2005. He visited the southern town of Malakal as part of a tour of the region to publicise the deal. He told more than 10,000 local people who packed the stadium to celebrate the end of a war: "From now on, there will be no more fighting, but development and prosperity." (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
Material from Sudan Watch January 2005 archive: Sudan peace deal 'bad' for Darfur.
Chinese security forces in Sudan driving Sudanese people from their homes in upper western Nile oil fields, S Sudan
At a Sudanese refugee camp in Cairo, Egypt David Morse witnessed the desperation behind the protests -- and eventual slaughter -- of African refugees in Egypt. Here is an excerpt from his Jan 13, 2006 report Murder from Darfur to Cairo [via Eugene Oregon at Coalition for Darfur, with thanks] -
Equally disturbing, and perhaps even more telling of the pressures on Sudanese refugees, is the fact that some 5,000 newcomers have arrived at Kakuma camp in Kenya since Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in January 2005.
Some are fleeing new conflicts, such as one in the oil fields of the upper western Nile, where Chinese security forces are said to be driving people from their homes to make way for drilling, pipelines and road building being carried out by China's National Petroleum Corp.
Some of this is reportedly with the approval of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which is eager to partake in the region's oil wealth, as provided under the peace agreement. China has been the most aggressive of the foreign suitors seeking to tap Sudan's oil reserves.
Equally disturbing, and perhaps even more telling of the pressures on Sudanese refugees, is the fact that some 5,000 newcomers have arrived at Kakuma camp in Kenya since Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in January 2005.
Some are fleeing new conflicts, such as one in the oil fields of the upper western Nile, where Chinese security forces are said to be driving people from their homes to make way for drilling, pipelines and road building being carried out by China's National Petroleum Corp.
Some of this is reportedly with the approval of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which is eager to partake in the region's oil wealth, as provided under the peace agreement. China has been the most aggressive of the foreign suitors seeking to tap Sudan's oil reserves.
Crisis in Kakuma camp Kenya - UN reports alarming rates of malnutrition Nov 2005
At a Sudanese refugee camp in Cairo, Egypt David Morse witnessed the desperation behind the protests -- and eventual slaughter -- of African refugees in Egypt. Note this excerpt from his account dated Jan 13, 2006 "Murder from Darfur to Cairo" - [via Eugene Oregon at Coalition for Darfur, with thanks]
Kakuma camp is larger than most actual towns in Kenya. Home to 73,000 refugees, it is a sprawling expanse of huts organized along tribal lines, its perimeter fenced with concertina wire, and surrounded by desert. The camp, once regarded as temporary, is now 14 years old.
Sudanese make up the majority of the camp's inhabitants. Most fled their homeland some years ago during Africa's longest-running civil war -- the 21-year-old struggle between the Islamist government centered in Khartoum, in the north, and the marginalized black African rebels in the south fighting under the banner of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
Among the refugees I interviewed, some had survived attacks from government troops and helicopters. Others had fled the SPLM and the bloody tribal violence and famine that followed a split within its leadership. When I asked Daniel Mathiang, a 25-year-old Dinka tribesman, about the crisis that had forced him from his home in south Sudan, he responded with irony in nearly perfect English. "Do you want to know about the crisis so many years ago, or do you want to know about the crisis right now in Kakuma?"
"Our daily ration of water is 1 liter per person," he continued. "This is for drinking, cooking and washing." As a visitor who was drinking 3 to 5 liters per day to stay hydrated, I found this difficult to believe. But others corroborated Mathiang's claim. Food was also severely rationed. The weekly allotment of maize was 3.5 kilograms per person; .2 kilos of beans, and .25 of rice. Milk and sorghum were more abundant. The couple dozen people gathered around me, mostly children born in the camp, showed none of the grosser signs of malnutrition that I could observe, but all were thin.
Their complaints were borne out in testimony given in June 2002 before the U.S. Senate by Jason Phillips, director of the International Rescue Commission's program in Kenya. The IRC's role is chiefly to supplement the meager daily rations in the case of young children and lactating women. Refugees rarely receive the 2,168 calories considered the daily minimum, Phillips said. He called attention to a "dangerously high rate of malnutrition in Kakuma representing a complete abandonment of minimum international humanitarian standards for food assistance." Chronic shortages in the World Food for Peace pipeline were creating a "downward spiral" at Kakuma. Cutting back on food, he concluded, was "neither cost-effective nor humane."
Phillips' warning came more than three years ago. Inaction and the past two years of drought in northern Kenya and Ethiopia are expected to triple the rate of malnutrition among children under 5. Not surprisingly, last November the U.N. World Food Program Emergency Report cited "alarming rates of malnutrition" in Kakuma. In December, to make matters worse, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton succeeded in putting a cap on the U.N.'s annual spending. In short, the food deficit at Kakuma and other camps is increasing, not shrinking.
Kakuma camp is larger than most actual towns in Kenya. Home to 73,000 refugees, it is a sprawling expanse of huts organized along tribal lines, its perimeter fenced with concertina wire, and surrounded by desert. The camp, once regarded as temporary, is now 14 years old.
Sudanese make up the majority of the camp's inhabitants. Most fled their homeland some years ago during Africa's longest-running civil war -- the 21-year-old struggle between the Islamist government centered in Khartoum, in the north, and the marginalized black African rebels in the south fighting under the banner of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
Among the refugees I interviewed, some had survived attacks from government troops and helicopters. Others had fled the SPLM and the bloody tribal violence and famine that followed a split within its leadership. When I asked Daniel Mathiang, a 25-year-old Dinka tribesman, about the crisis that had forced him from his home in south Sudan, he responded with irony in nearly perfect English. "Do you want to know about the crisis so many years ago, or do you want to know about the crisis right now in Kakuma?"
"Our daily ration of water is 1 liter per person," he continued. "This is for drinking, cooking and washing." As a visitor who was drinking 3 to 5 liters per day to stay hydrated, I found this difficult to believe. But others corroborated Mathiang's claim. Food was also severely rationed. The weekly allotment of maize was 3.5 kilograms per person; .2 kilos of beans, and .25 of rice. Milk and sorghum were more abundant. The couple dozen people gathered around me, mostly children born in the camp, showed none of the grosser signs of malnutrition that I could observe, but all were thin.
Their complaints were borne out in testimony given in June 2002 before the U.S. Senate by Jason Phillips, director of the International Rescue Commission's program in Kenya. The IRC's role is chiefly to supplement the meager daily rations in the case of young children and lactating women. Refugees rarely receive the 2,168 calories considered the daily minimum, Phillips said. He called attention to a "dangerously high rate of malnutrition in Kakuma representing a complete abandonment of minimum international humanitarian standards for food assistance." Chronic shortages in the World Food for Peace pipeline were creating a "downward spiral" at Kakuma. Cutting back on food, he concluded, was "neither cost-effective nor humane."
Phillips' warning came more than three years ago. Inaction and the past two years of drought in northern Kenya and Ethiopia are expected to triple the rate of malnutrition among children under 5. Not surprisingly, last November the U.N. World Food Program Emergency Report cited "alarming rates of malnutrition" in Kakuma. In December, to make matters worse, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton succeeded in putting a cap on the U.N.'s annual spending. In short, the food deficit at Kakuma and other camps is increasing, not shrinking.
Sudanese refugees in Kenya reluctant to go home
Rob Haarsager of Sudan Man says an article in the Sudan Tribune January 13, 2006 "Sudanese refugees in Kenya reluctant to go home" reflects a lot of what he hears from Sudanese in Kenya.
Note, the article says Kenya's Immigration Minister Gideon Konchellahis is quoted as saying of the southern Sudan refugees in Kenya: "If you don't want to return, then Kenyans will flood southern Sudan in search of business opportunities created by peace."
Further reading:
Feb 18, 2005 Sudan's 'lost girls' fear repatriation after peace deal: UN official
Note, the article says Kenya's Immigration Minister Gideon Konchellahis is quoted as saying of the southern Sudan refugees in Kenya: "If you don't want to return, then Kenyans will flood southern Sudan in search of business opportunities created by peace."
Further reading:
Feb 18, 2005 Sudan's 'lost girls' fear repatriation after peace deal: UN official
Saturday, January 14, 2006
China and Qata blocks report to UN Security Council re illegal arms flow to Darfur Sudan
Don't miss report by Irwin Arieff for Reuters Jan 10, 2006.
Note the part that says 'Khartoum "may be preparing for or anticipating expanded military operations in Darfur."
Note the part that says 'Khartoum "may be preparing for or anticipating expanded military operations in Darfur."
UN claims Russia, China delay peacekeepers for Sudan
Moscow News today says a UN official was quoted by Reuters as saying Russia and China have delayed promised helicopters and medical units to a UN peacekeeping force in Sudan, thereby causing other countries to postpone sending troops. Full story (Moscow News) 14 Jan 2006.
British troops may join UN Darfur force
The UN is to ask Britain to provide troops for a beefed-up peacekeeping force to tackle an upsurge of violence in Darfur.
British military sources said yesterday that Britain would "actively consider such a request."
See full report by Gethin Chamberlain, Chief News Correspondent at the Scotsman who was one of the first journalists reporting on Darfur from the field two years ago.
Note the report says "UN sources told The Scotsman that the UK would be expected to be "instrumental" in bringing to bear political pressure for such a mission and in providing components of the force."
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Blair to replace Kofi Annan at UN?
Good news. BBC report January 14, 2006 says Clinton backs Blair as UN chief.
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Support in the Security Council for a UN takeover
UK based anti-genocide watchdog Aegis Trust, in a Press Release 13 January 2006, hails movement toward UN mandate for Darfur. Excerpt:
Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said there was support in the Security Council for a UN takeover. "We're quite clear that's what we need to do if the African Union agrees," he said after Thursday's lunch with the Secretary General. "But the African Union must be brought to agree."
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AU backs UN plan for Sudan force
BBC January 14 says AU backs UN plan for Sudan force. Excerpt:
"The government of Sudan obviously cannot be the one to make a choice about this," deputy chairman of the AU Commission, Patrick Mazimphaka, told the BBC. He said the AU mission in Darfur and observers on the ground were better placed to assess what was needed.
The BBC's Africa editor Martin Plaut says that if this position is backed by the African heads of state, it will mark a very real change in the status of the AU itself.
Note the report states, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told the BBC the UN had no business proposing a new force without Khartoum's approval.
British military sources said yesterday that Britain would "actively consider such a request."
See full report by Gethin Chamberlain, Chief News Correspondent at the Scotsman who was one of the first journalists reporting on Darfur from the field two years ago.
Note the report says "UN sources told The Scotsman that the UK would be expected to be "instrumental" in bringing to bear political pressure for such a mission and in providing components of the force."
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Blair to replace Kofi Annan at UN?
Good news. BBC report January 14, 2006 says Clinton backs Blair as UN chief.
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Support in the Security Council for a UN takeover
UK based anti-genocide watchdog Aegis Trust, in a Press Release 13 January 2006, hails movement toward UN mandate for Darfur. Excerpt:
Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said there was support in the Security Council for a UN takeover. "We're quite clear that's what we need to do if the African Union agrees," he said after Thursday's lunch with the Secretary General. "But the African Union must be brought to agree."
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AU backs UN plan for Sudan force
BBC January 14 says AU backs UN plan for Sudan force. Excerpt:
"The government of Sudan obviously cannot be the one to make a choice about this," deputy chairman of the AU Commission, Patrick Mazimphaka, told the BBC. He said the AU mission in Darfur and observers on the ground were better placed to assess what was needed.
The BBC's Africa editor Martin Plaut says that if this position is backed by the African heads of state, it will mark a very real change in the status of the AU itself.
Note the report states, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told the BBC the UN had no business proposing a new force without Khartoum's approval.
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan stands firm, but more international support needed, UN Security Council told
UN News Centre report dated 13 January 2006 provides a link to Council Briefings by Jan Pronk and Salim Ahmed Salim 13 January 2006.
Note, Mr Jan Pronk is the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in the Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission there. Mr Salim Ahmed Salim is Special Envoy of the African Union for the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on the Conflict in Darfur.
Sudan: UN envoy says Security Council must enforce sanctions
Excerpt from above UN News Centre report:
Note, Mr Jan Pronk is the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in the Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission there. Mr Salim Ahmed Salim is Special Envoy of the African Union for the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on the Conflict in Darfur.
Sudan: UN envoy says Security Council must enforce sanctions
Excerpt from above UN News Centre report:
UN Security Council must enforce its sanctions against belligerents and human rights violators in Sudan or lose credibility, the head of the UN Mission in the country (UNMIS) said.
"If even weak sanctions are not going to be implemented, the Security Council doesn't take itself seriously and they have to," Jan Pronk told reporters after briefing UN Security Council on January 13, 2006.
"They have to because otherwise the people on the ground are just laughing."
Sudan's bid to chair AU likely to fail - Nigeria's President could stay in chair
Reuters report Jan 14 says Sudan's bid to lead the African Union will probably fail through conflict of interest and a decision on who is to chair the AU is not likely at its summit in Khartoum on Jan. 23.
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Jan 14, 2006 SAPA report says Sudan's bid to chair the African Union has put the continent's leaders in a tough position because of the country's poor human rights record and the conflict in Darfur.
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Jan 14, 2006 SAPA report says Sudan's bid to chair the African Union has put the continent's leaders in a tough position because of the country's poor human rights record and the conflict in Darfur.
UN envoy in Sudan calls for up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers to disarm militias in Darfur
Associated Press report Jan 14 reprinted by Khalee Times says Jan Pronk, the top UN envoy in Sudan, declared on Jan 13 that efforts to bring peace to Darfur have failed and called for a robust UN peacekeeping force of up to 20,000 troops to disarm marauding militias and provide security so over 2 million displaced people can return home.
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Pronk admits peace strategy to halt "cleansing in Darfur" has failed
Unsourced report January 13 reprinted by Sudan Tribune says on briefing the UN Security Council Jan 13 on latest developments in Sudan, top UN envoy Jan Pronk also called for sanctions against those responsible for the violence.
Further reports at Passion of the Present.
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Pronk admits peace strategy to halt "cleansing in Darfur" has failed
Unsourced report January 13 reprinted by Sudan Tribune says on briefing the UN Security Council Jan 13 on latest developments in Sudan, top UN envoy Jan Pronk also called for sanctions against those responsible for the violence.
Describing the security situation in Darfur as "chaotic," he said: "looking back at three years of killings and cleansing in Darfur we must admit that our peace strategy so far has failed."- - -
"Terror continues. At least once a month groups of 500 to 1000 militia on camel and horseback attack villages, killing dozens of people and terrorizing the others," he added.
Further reports at Passion of the Present.
Friday, January 13, 2006
US supports UN sending troops to help in Darfur
The United States supports augmenting African Union forces in Darfur with UN peacekeepers but has not offered its own troops for such a mission, US officials said on Friday January 13, 2006.
Sudan says UN peace force in Darfur unwelcome
Quelle surprise. Sudan is not ready for a proposed UN peace force in Darfur, its foreign minister has told the BBC today, January 13.
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Sudan does not want another force on the ground
Latest report from Reuters says Sudan on January 13 rejected a suggestion by UN head Kofi Annan that US and European troops be sent to Darfur, saying the international community should give more cash to African forces already on the ground. Extracts from the report:
"We think that the African Union is doing a good job and so far they have not said they are unable to do that job," [Sudanese] Foreign Minister Lam Akol told Reuters.
"Naturally what should happen is to give them the money they want, not to complicate matters by involving another force on the ground," he said.
Darfur rebels would welcome foreign troops
One of two main Darfur rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said it would welcome U.S. troops.
"If the Americans came they would be preferable to the African Union who so far have failed in their duties to protect civilians," SLA Vice President al-Raya Mahmoud Juma'a said.
"They (the African Union) have enough forces and equipment, but they still cannot do their job and stop the attacks," he told Reuters from Darfur.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said the nationality of the force did not matter. But JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein said more troops were needed with a stronger mandate to protect civilians.
End of March decision on AU Darfur Mission handover to UN
The AU, in a statement on Friday, said it "expresses its support, in principle, to a transition from (an AU) to a UN operation".
It added it planned to meet before the end of March to make a final decision on any future handover to the United Nations.
What peace to keep and monitor?
[Sudanese Foreign Minister] Akol said the AU was a peace monitoring force and Sudan did not need the military power of the United States in Darfur.
"What would they do other than what the African forces can do?" he said. "We are not looking for a force who is going to fight," he added.
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Responses from bloggers
Note comment at this blog entry from unknown author of a new blog Genocide au Darfour, saying:
From the UK, Mick Hartley blogs a must-read executive summary of PHR Report on Darfur.
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Sudan does not want another force on the ground
Latest report from Reuters says Sudan on January 13 rejected a suggestion by UN head Kofi Annan that US and European troops be sent to Darfur, saying the international community should give more cash to African forces already on the ground. Extracts from the report:
"We think that the African Union is doing a good job and so far they have not said they are unable to do that job," [Sudanese] Foreign Minister Lam Akol told Reuters.
"Naturally what should happen is to give them the money they want, not to complicate matters by involving another force on the ground," he said.
Darfur rebels would welcome foreign troops
One of two main Darfur rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said it would welcome U.S. troops.
"If the Americans came they would be preferable to the African Union who so far have failed in their duties to protect civilians," SLA Vice President al-Raya Mahmoud Juma'a said.
"They (the African Union) have enough forces and equipment, but they still cannot do their job and stop the attacks," he told Reuters from Darfur.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said the nationality of the force did not matter. But JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein said more troops were needed with a stronger mandate to protect civilians.
End of March decision on AU Darfur Mission handover to UN
The AU, in a statement on Friday, said it "expresses its support, in principle, to a transition from (an AU) to a UN operation".
It added it planned to meet before the end of March to make a final decision on any future handover to the United Nations.
What peace to keep and monitor?
[Sudanese Foreign Minister] Akol said the AU was a peace monitoring force and Sudan did not need the military power of the United States in Darfur.
"What would they do other than what the African forces can do?" he said. "We are not looking for a force who is going to fight," he added.
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Responses from bloggers
Note comment at this blog entry from unknown author of a new blog Genocide au Darfour, saying:
"The commander in charge of the massacres in Darfur is called MAHAMAT NOUR ABDELKRIM.- - -
The "captain" Mahamat Nour, ex-officer of the chadian army, has commanded the Jandjawids with the sudanese logistic. He has been the principal planner of the genocide in Darfur. Thanks to his chadian nationality, he was used as an alibi by the Sudanese government."
From the UK, Mick Hartley blogs a must-read executive summary of PHR Report on Darfur.
UN's Annan wants US, Europe to consider force to police Darfur - AU considers Darfur Mission hand over to UN
Reuters report Jan 12 says the African Union is considering handing over its Darfur Mission to the United Nations because of lack of funds:
The Reuters report quotes Secretary-General Kofi Annan as saying on Wednesday the UN is considering a tough mobile force to police Darfur and hopes the US and European military will help stop the bloodshed, rape and plunder.
But here's the catch [over the past two years, Sudan has refused an expanded mandate for AU peacekeepers and all offers of other foreign troops as it would be seen as occupation - and forced entry as an act of war - was supported on this stance by China, Russia and many African leaders]: Mr Annan said that first the Sudanese government, the 15-member UN Security Council and the 53-member African Union, which has sent the only foreign troops to Darfur, had to agree to a UN operation:
Annan said Darfur rebels now were also attacking people and warned them to take seriously negotiations now being held with the Khartoum government in Abuja, Nigeria.
Sudanese president wants to chair African Union
Note the report quotes Mr Annan as saying any AU handover would take months. Also, it explains a decision on the future of the AU's Darfur Mission is to be taken at summit in Khartoum Jan 23-24. [The summit is where the Sudanese president, listed in a magazine poll last year as the world's worst dictator, will find himself between a rock and a hard place under the world's media spotlight, when decisions on Darfur are made as he hopes to be voted Chair of African Union - voting takes place during the summit.]
Photo: Sudanese President al-Bashir.
Designate Sudan as sponsor of terrorism is a mistake - Bashir
Sudan has been on the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism since August 1993. Following a thorough intelligence review, Sudan's Islamist government was found to be providing sanctuary, safe passage, military training, financial support and office space in Khartoum to officials of international terrorist and radical Islamic groups at that time.
On the first November 2005, US President George W. Bush has extended for one year sanctions against Sudan, a country the United States considers a sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced in a statement.
African Union have resources until March
Jan 12, 2006 UN News Centre UN weighs options for Darfur as funds for African Union force run low - "From what I know, they (the AU) have resources up till March," Mr. Annan told journalists after his monthly luncheon with the 15 Security Council members. [via Coalition for Darfur]
"The time has come to make a pronouncement on the future of the AU Mission in Darfur and the ways and means to adapt it to the present challenges, including the hand over to the United Nations at the appropriate time," said a report by the AU Peace and Security Council, obtained by Reuters.UN's Annan wants US, Europe to consider force to police Darfur
The Reuters report quotes Secretary-General Kofi Annan as saying on Wednesday the UN is considering a tough mobile force to police Darfur and hopes the US and European military will help stop the bloodshed, rape and plunder.
But here's the catch [over the past two years, Sudan has refused an expanded mandate for AU peacekeepers and all offers of other foreign troops as it would be seen as occupation - and forced entry as an act of war - was supported on this stance by China, Russia and many African leaders]: Mr Annan said that first the Sudanese government, the 15-member UN Security Council and the 53-member African Union, which has sent the only foreign troops to Darfur, had to agree to a UN operation:
"We need to get the (Sudan) government to work with us in bringing in an expanded force with troops from outside Africa, because until recently it has maintained that it will only accept African troops," Annan told reporters. "But I think we have gone beyond that now."Annan warns Darfur rebels
"Obviously the international community cannot allow that situation to go unaddressed, and in all likelihood will have to look at other options, including possibly the U.N. working with the African Union to address the situation."
Annan said Darfur rebels now were also attacking people and warned them to take seriously negotiations now being held with the Khartoum government in Abuja, Nigeria.
Sudanese president wants to chair African Union
Note the report quotes Mr Annan as saying any AU handover would take months. Also, it explains a decision on the future of the AU's Darfur Mission is to be taken at summit in Khartoum Jan 23-24. [The summit is where the Sudanese president, listed in a magazine poll last year as the world's worst dictator, will find himself between a rock and a hard place under the world's media spotlight, when decisions on Darfur are made as he hopes to be voted Chair of African Union - voting takes place during the summit.]
Photo: Sudanese President al-Bashir.
Designate Sudan as sponsor of terrorism is a mistake - Bashir
Sudan has been on the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism since August 1993. Following a thorough intelligence review, Sudan's Islamist government was found to be providing sanctuary, safe passage, military training, financial support and office space in Khartoum to officials of international terrorist and radical Islamic groups at that time.
On the first November 2005, US President George W. Bush has extended for one year sanctions against Sudan, a country the United States considers a sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced in a statement.
African Union have resources until March
Jan 12, 2006 UN News Centre UN weighs options for Darfur as funds for African Union force run low - "From what I know, they (the AU) have resources up till March," Mr. Annan told journalists after his monthly luncheon with the 15 Security Council members. [via Coalition for Darfur]
Physicians for Human Rights Report "Our most revealing and authoritative portrait of genocide in Darfur"
A short summary by Eric Reeves in today's Sudan Tribune describes the new report by Physicians for Human Rights as an extraordinarily powerful and authoritative anatomy of genocide in Darfur and our most revealing and authoritative portrait of genocide in Darfur. [via POTP Tonight's Reminders]
You cannot say you did not know
Jan 11, 2006 - Click here and turn up your sound. Spend a few minutes watching short film clips of what been going on in the Sudan for more than two decades at a cost of 2.5m lives. Be sure to watch the flash movie on Darfur by Physicians for Human Rights.
You cannot say you did not know
Jan 11, 2006 - Click here and turn up your sound. Spend a few minutes watching short film clips of what been going on in the Sudan for more than two decades at a cost of 2.5m lives. Be sure to watch the flash movie on Darfur by Physicians for Human Rights.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Sudanese troops disguising themselves as African peacekeepers - AU
In a report to be submitted to the AU's Peace and Security Council on Thursday, AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare said the Sudanese troops were painting their vehicles white, the colour of AU peacekeepers' vehicles "to disguise their identities and launch surprise attacks on their opponents".
Full story 12 Jan 2006 News 24 SA.
Full story 12 Jan 2006 News 24 SA.
The El Multaga resettlement site - Sudan's Chinese backed Merowe Dam is for the greater benefit of Sudan
Note Telegraph article 8 Jan 2006 - Race to save first kingdoms in Africa from dam waters - excerpt:
"Archaeologists have come under pressure to down tools from campaigners against the dam, who claim that their activity lends the project legitimacy.
Derek Welsby, the deputy keeper of the British Museum's department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, who is currently excavating near the village of ed Doma, rejected this. "The dam is going ahead whether we are here or not and it would not benefit anybody if we were not working here," he said.
He admitted that it was sad to witness the end of a lifestyle that has continued, unchanged in many ways, since it was first depicted in the ancient rock etchings.
"You sense continuity from Neolithic times with their representations of elephants, giraffes and ostriches, to the cattle drawings of the Kerma period, and followed by drawings of camels, horses and fighting men," he said.
Ali Yousef, a date palm farmer in ed Doma, voiced fears that the artificially irrigated desert land offered in government resettlement pledges might not be as fertile as that on the Nile's banks, but added: "We have to accept that the dam is for the greater benefit of Sudan."
[Link via Egyptology News: Flooding Nubia - again]
- - -
The El Multaga resettlement site
Telegraph article above says environmental groups estimate the Merowe Dam project will lead to the displacement of about 50,000 people - small farmers and their families, who have tilled the Nile's fertile banks for centuries.
According to International Rivers Network (IRN), Sudan intends to assess four potential hydropower sites in South Sudan, which could result in a sizable hydropower investment program beginning as early as 2007.
Photo (IRN): The El Multaga resettlement site, where some of those being resettled for Merowe Dam (also known as Hamdab or Hamadab Dam) have been moved, is a barren stretch of desert.
IRN says "the 174-km-long reservoir will inundate an area rich in history and antiquities dating back 5,000 years. Project planning has been non-transparent, and people who will be directly affected by it have not had their voices heard. Dissent has been met with harsh government repression." Full story.
Further reading:
Jan 4, 2006: Nubians will be displaced from ancient seat by lake built for Merowe Dam
May 2, 2005: Sudan: The Merowe/Hamadab Dam Project
"Archaeologists have come under pressure to down tools from campaigners against the dam, who claim that their activity lends the project legitimacy.
Derek Welsby, the deputy keeper of the British Museum's department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, who is currently excavating near the village of ed Doma, rejected this. "The dam is going ahead whether we are here or not and it would not benefit anybody if we were not working here," he said.
He admitted that it was sad to witness the end of a lifestyle that has continued, unchanged in many ways, since it was first depicted in the ancient rock etchings.
"You sense continuity from Neolithic times with their representations of elephants, giraffes and ostriches, to the cattle drawings of the Kerma period, and followed by drawings of camels, horses and fighting men," he said.
Ali Yousef, a date palm farmer in ed Doma, voiced fears that the artificially irrigated desert land offered in government resettlement pledges might not be as fertile as that on the Nile's banks, but added: "We have to accept that the dam is for the greater benefit of Sudan."
[Link via Egyptology News: Flooding Nubia - again]
- - -
The El Multaga resettlement site
Telegraph article above says environmental groups estimate the Merowe Dam project will lead to the displacement of about 50,000 people - small farmers and their families, who have tilled the Nile's fertile banks for centuries.
According to International Rivers Network (IRN), Sudan intends to assess four potential hydropower sites in South Sudan, which could result in a sizable hydropower investment program beginning as early as 2007.
Photo (IRN): The El Multaga resettlement site, where some of those being resettled for Merowe Dam (also known as Hamdab or Hamadab Dam) have been moved, is a barren stretch of desert.
IRN says "the 174-km-long reservoir will inundate an area rich in history and antiquities dating back 5,000 years. Project planning has been non-transparent, and people who will be directly affected by it have not had their voices heard. Dissent has been met with harsh government repression." Full story.
Further reading:
Jan 4, 2006: Nubians will be displaced from ancient seat by lake built for Merowe Dam
May 2, 2005: Sudan: The Merowe/Hamadab Dam Project
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Darfur genocide Physicians for Human Rights' new report
Via Physicians for Human Rights January 11, 2006:
Just days before Sudanese leaders responsible for orchestrating ongoing acts of violence in Darfur host the African Union summit in Khartoum, a new report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) reveals, in unprecedented detail, the underreported catastrophic elimination of traditional livelihoods in Darfur, Sudan.
The report, Assault on Survival: A Call for Security, Justice and Restitution, spotlights the obliteration of the means of survival and the way of life in three villages by the Government of Sudan (GOS) and its proxy militia, the Janjaweed.
Note, PHR says the international community should press for a UN Security Council resolution to immediately authorize a multinational intervention force in Darfur under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. This "blue helmeted" international force would supplement the AU's current troop level of 7,000.
Just days before Sudanese leaders responsible for orchestrating ongoing acts of violence in Darfur host the African Union summit in Khartoum, a new report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) reveals, in unprecedented detail, the underreported catastrophic elimination of traditional livelihoods in Darfur, Sudan.
The report, Assault on Survival: A Call for Security, Justice and Restitution, spotlights the obliteration of the means of survival and the way of life in three villages by the Government of Sudan (GOS) and its proxy militia, the Janjaweed.
Note, PHR says the international community should press for a UN Security Council resolution to immediately authorize a multinational intervention force in Darfur under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. This "blue helmeted" international force would supplement the AU's current troop level of 7,000.
Darfur genocide - You cannot say you did not know
Time to watch some short films as a reminder of what has really been going on.
Please turn up your sound and click into Physicians for Human Rights powerful flash movie on Darfur: Lives Destroyed.
The movie was produced early 2005 when Darfur's death toll was estimated at 300,000. The number has now increased to more than 400,000 and rising.
Never again is turning into "Oh no, not again". You cannot say you did not know. We must not remain silent.
Warring parties attending Darfur peace talks must not be allowed to break from negotiations until a consensus is reached on land rights and disarmament. The lives of millions of defenceless Sudanese women and children depend on it. The stability of Sudan is fundamental to the whole of the African continent.
A Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Southern Sudan was signed 9 January 2005 after 2 million Sudanese people had perished in a 21 year long war. See how in National Geographic's incredible flash movie "Shattered Sudan - Drilling for Oil, Hoping for Peace".
Don't miss Protect Darfur's 4 minute film.
View short video Not on my watch from Aegis Trust with soundtrack by Annie Lennox.
And, if you need "cheering up" after digesting all of the above, tune in to Mark Fiore's clever insightful Cartoon that says it all.
Further reading
April 29, 2005 Children's Drawings from Darfur, Sudan
BBC Panorama documentary The new killing fields
PBS Frontline World special report on Sudan
BBC archive on Janjaweed Sudan's shadowy Arab militia
MSF (Doctors Without Borders) report The Crushing Burden of Rape Sexual Violence in Darfur. (PDF file)
BBC archive In Depth Sudan provides an excellent resource and overview of the Sudan crisis.
Update
Jan 13, 2006: Physicians for Human Rights Report "Our most revealing and authoritative portrait of genocide in Darfur"
Jan 15, 2006: Medpundit blogs an excerpt from PHR's grim report on Darfur.
Please turn up your sound and click into Physicians for Human Rights powerful flash movie on Darfur: Lives Destroyed.
The movie was produced early 2005 when Darfur's death toll was estimated at 300,000. The number has now increased to more than 400,000 and rising.
Never again is turning into "Oh no, not again". You cannot say you did not know. We must not remain silent.
Warring parties attending Darfur peace talks must not be allowed to break from negotiations until a consensus is reached on land rights and disarmament. The lives of millions of defenceless Sudanese women and children depend on it. The stability of Sudan is fundamental to the whole of the African continent.
A Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Southern Sudan was signed 9 January 2005 after 2 million Sudanese people had perished in a 21 year long war. See how in National Geographic's incredible flash movie "Shattered Sudan - Drilling for Oil, Hoping for Peace".
Don't miss Protect Darfur's 4 minute film.
View short video Not on my watch from Aegis Trust with soundtrack by Annie Lennox.
And, if you need "cheering up" after digesting all of the above, tune in to Mark Fiore's clever insightful Cartoon that says it all.
Further reading
April 29, 2005 Children's Drawings from Darfur, Sudan
BBC Panorama documentary The new killing fields
PBS Frontline World special report on Sudan
BBC archive on Janjaweed Sudan's shadowy Arab militia
MSF (Doctors Without Borders) report The Crushing Burden of Rape Sexual Violence in Darfur. (PDF file)
BBC archive In Depth Sudan provides an excellent resource and overview of the Sudan crisis.
Update
Jan 13, 2006: Physicians for Human Rights Report "Our most revealing and authoritative portrait of genocide in Darfur"
Jan 15, 2006: Medpundit blogs an excerpt from PHR's grim report on Darfur.
U.N. panel recommends sanctions against Sudan officials and rebels blocking peace in Darfur
This time might be for real. A U.N.-appointed panel accused the Sudanese government and rebels of blocking peace in Darfur, and recommended that the Security Council impose sanctions on key figures from all groups.
The panel's final report, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, also accused all parties to the conflict of committing widespread human rights violations, including torture. It said the government, the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, and militia groups "have shown least regard for the welfare of civilians."
New to U.N. Security Council, Qatar Sides With China
Excerpt from report today on UN news in New York Sun:
How often is the UN Veto used?
"There are five members of the UN Security Council: the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China. The People's Republic of China took the Republic of China's seat in the UN by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971. In 1991, the Russian Federation acquired the seat originally held by the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Union's former representation in the Security Council. How many times have these parties used the veto?" Find out at UK blog ComingAnarchy.
Also, from a recent blog entry at ComingAnarchy (sorry no direct link):
A Century of Genocide
Armenia (1915)
Ukraine (1932-1933)
Nazi Germany/Holocaust (World War II)
Bangladesh (1971)
Cambodia (1975-1979)
Countries in the former Yugoslavia (1990s)
Rwanda (1994)
Zimbabwe (2000)
[DR] Congo (Today)
Darfur (Today)
? (Tomorrow)
The panel's final report, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, also accused all parties to the conflict of committing widespread human rights violations, including torture. It said the government, the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, and militia groups "have shown least regard for the welfare of civilians."
New to U.N. Security Council, Qatar Sides With China
Excerpt from report today on UN news in New York Sun:
"When Qatar joined the U.N. Security Council January 1, some hoped the country's diplomats would be amenable to compromise on issues separating America and the Arab world. But in one of its first acts as a council member, Qatar this week joined China and allied with the government of Sudan on the issue of Darfur."- - -
How often is the UN Veto used?
"There are five members of the UN Security Council: the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China. The People's Republic of China took the Republic of China's seat in the UN by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971. In 1991, the Russian Federation acquired the seat originally held by the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Union's former representation in the Security Council. How many times have these parties used the veto?" Find out at UK blog ComingAnarchy.
Also, from a recent blog entry at ComingAnarchy (sorry no direct link):
A Century of Genocide
Armenia (1915)
Ukraine (1932-1933)
Nazi Germany/Holocaust (World War II)
Bangladesh (1971)
Cambodia (1975-1979)
Countries in the former Yugoslavia (1990s)
Rwanda (1994)
Zimbabwe (2000)
[DR] Congo (Today)
Darfur (Today)
? (Tomorrow)
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