UK sets list of priority actions on Darfur for new Sudanese Government of National Unity

News from the Press Association Feb 3 via the Scotsman says following talks in London with his counterpart from Khartoum, Dr Lam Akol, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw demanded action from the Sudanese government to help end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. See full report.

Update 5 Feb 2006:

Britain Rejects Darfur Rebels' Intransigence

According to ANDnetwork, Mr Straw announced during the meeting he held with Lam Akol in London that Britain opposes Darfur rebels' attitude in Abuja peaceful talks.

Note, the journalist cites Sudan Vision as his source, saying Mr Straw described the rebels as 'not serious to realise peace'.

See full article at ANDnetwork Journal 5 February 2006.
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Britain presents seven points initiative for peace in Sudan’s Dafur

France based Sudan Tribune publishes an unsourced report 5 February 2006 saying this:

Straw however expressed the frustration that we feel because of the lack of progress in the peace process efforts in Abuja" where the warring forces are holding talks to reach a peace agreement in Darfur. Straw attributed the stalling of these efforts "to the lack of coherence by many of the rebel groups to be real partners in the talks with the government".

Photo: Sudanese Foreign Minister Lom Akol, right, shakes hands prior to a press conference with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in London, Feb 3, 2006, (AP/ST)

In presidential statement, Security Council asks Secretary-General to begin planning for possible transition from AU

Today's UN Security Council meeting began at 10:55 a.m. and ended five minutes later at 11 a.m.

Click here to read full text of presidential statement 3 Feb 2006 via ReliefWeb.

Note, various news reports quote the UN and AU as saying it will take many months before troops in Darfur are wearing blue UN hats. Six months minimum, going into next year. They expect a Darfur peace pact to be agreed before then.

Meanwhile, Sudanese civilians and security forces in Darfur are free to pillage, rape and kill. The Sudanese government made sure African troops are not a protection force with Chapter 7 mandate. Anarchy reins.

This could go on for 20 years, like it did in Southern Sudan where 22 years of anarchy cost two million lives.
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Opinion piece by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Excerpt from Darfur Descending op-ed by Kofi Annan, 25 January 2006:

Let no one imagine that this crisis can be solved simply by giving the present A.U. mission a "U.N. hat." Any new mission will need a strong and clear mandate, allowing it to protect those under threat, by force if necessary, as well as the means to do so. That means it will need to be larger, more mobile and much better equipped than the current African Union mission. Those countries that have the required military assets must be ready to deploy them.

Such a force would take the UN months to deploy.

UN refugee agency begins repatriation of Sudanese in C.A.R.

UN News Centre report 2 Feb 2006 says the first flight of refugees was scheduled to take off this morning, bringing an initial group of Sudanese.

The first phase of the operation will be conducted by air, and is expected to bring back 5,000 refugees by April, with the organised return of the remaining refugees expected to be completed by the end of this year.

New pacts pave way for return of 20,000 Sudanese and Congolese refugees

UN News Centre report 1 Feb 2006 says about 20,000 refugees from the Sudan and DRC, including many living in exile for nearly four decades, will start returning home next month under pacts signed between the UNHCR and both African governments this week.

The two tripartite agreements signed on Monday laid out the legal framework for the return of 13,300 Sudanese refugees in the DRC and 6,800 Congolese refugees who have been calling Sudan home since the mid-1960s.

Security Council discusses planning for UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur, Sudan

UN News Centre reports that on speaking to the press after the consultations, Ambassador John Bolton of the United States, which currently holds the Council's rotating presidency, said: "We had a preliminary discussion on the draft presidential statement on planning for Sudan Darfur region peacekeeping activities."

AU says no evidence Sudan backing Chadian rebels

The African Union's special envoy in Sudan, Baba Gana Kingibe, said that Sudan had taken steps to deter the Chadian guerrillas, many of whom took refuge in the west of Sudan, from attacking its eastern neighbour.

"We have no evidence of the Sudanese authorities supporting the Chadian rebels ... direct or indirect," he told reporters in Khartoum.

Note, full text of AU report in next entry here below.

AU says Janjaweed still continue to burn, kill and rape on an ever escalating scale in Sudan's Darfur

See full text of the briefing of the Special Representative of the Chairman of the AU Commission in Sudan Amb. Baga Gana Kingibe distributed by the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Excerpt:

With or without SLA provocations, the Janjaweed/Arab militia continued to cause havoc on farmlands and crops ready to be harvested by farmers who were mostly what has been termed "agricultural commuters" from nearby IDP camps. The militia still continue to burn, kill and rape on an ever escalating scale.

Photo: SLA, Minni Menawi, right, and the AU representative to the Sudan, Baba Gana Kingibi, left, talk at a press conference in Muhagiria, south Darfur Friday, Nov. 18, 2005. (AP/Sudan Tribune).

South Darfur: Janjaweed attack IDP camps Kele, Silo, Tege, Um Gozein, Ton Kittir - Mass exodus from Mershing - Joint Sudan/AU forces to patrol?

A few days ago, Gillian Sandford, ACT-Caritas field communicator in Manawashi, Darfur said armed militias have driven more than 55,000 people from their homes in South Darfur, reports Reuters.

Excerpts from the report 31 January 2006:

Gunmen on camels and horses prompted the mass exodus after shooting and looting in the camps and the town of Mershing, local people said. Now tens of thousands of families huddle on exposed ground in the nearby town of Manawashi - with dwindling stocks of food and little shelter.

The mass exodus from Mershing began last Wednesday (25 January) when, according to local Sheiks, gunmen on camels and horses attacked and looted one of the camps for displaced people called Kele. The Sheiks alleged police complicity in the attack, saying they helped to carry out the looted goods in their vehicles and led the attackers out of town.

On the following days, there were reports of attacks in other camps - Silo, Tege, and Um Gozein camps - including one in which a man who had some gold was allegedly shot and killed after refusing to hand it over.

On Thursday (26 January) evening, the militia struck Ton Kittir camp, driving their camels and horses into the camp, firing their Kalashnikovs, and looting shops, said local Sheiks.

They are also reported to have attacked the market in Mershing town using hammers to open shops.

People fled in panic as the attacks and looting continued and when neither the local police nor the African Union peacekeeping force - based 80 kilometres away in Nyala - was able to halt the deterioration in security.

Staff from ACT-Caritas and their partner agencies, the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and the Sudan Development Organisation (SUDO) alerted both the African Union (AU) and the United Nations headquarters in Nyala to the ongoing crisis. The AU sent a patrol on Tuesday and Wednesday and promised local people to return with reinforcements, but did not do so. An AU spokesperson later told ACT-Caritas that they did not return because the Government of Sudan police were not ready to patrol the area with them, which is a requirement.

Local people said that relations between police and people in Mershing were good until about a fortnight ago, when six Government of Sudan police were killed in an ambush on the Mershing to Manawashi road. The following Sunday, armed gunmen on horseback and camels entered the market in Mershing town, shooting and looting animals, they said. Then the number of attacks escalated.

The local governor of South Darfur has visited the area and the Sudanese authorities have said they want the people to go back. They have agreed to withdraw the existing police force and say there could be joint patrols between the police and African Union forces within a week. But observers believe this timescale is highly optimistic.
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Update 1 Feb 2006: IRIN reports that an estimated 70,000 people have been displaced in a series of recent attacks on IDP camps in South Darfur.

Southern Sudan's SPLM/A and SSDF provoke attacks on Yuai, Central Upper Nile

SSUDA/SSDF Press Release 27 Jan 2006, signed by spokesman David de Chand, says they wonder why the international press fails not to cover news of an SPLM/A attack on Yuai, killing 30 civilians.

Further reading:

Jan 21, 2006 Union of Nuer Community in North America (UNCONA) press release warns SSDF's negotiating team in Juba that whatever protocol they signed with SPLA needs to be ratified by SSDF's Leadership Council.

Jan 15, 2006 SSUDA/SSDF press release signed by spokesman Professor David de Chand says contrary to rumours and a release out of Juba of the Juba Declaration, the South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF) has not disbanded.

Jan 14, 2006 Reuters report says Sudan withdrew some 1,000 troops from an eastern rebel-held town, defusing a stand off between the Sudanese army and former southern guerrillas SPLM/A in the first test of a year-old peace deal.

Jan 14, 2006 Sudan SSDF militia denies merger with the SPLM/A - Kong

Jan 11, 2006 Sudanese army face off with SPLA in eastern Sudan

Jan 10, 2006 Juba Declaration on Unity and Integration between the SPLM/A and the SSDF.

TEXT- Abyei Boundary Commission Report

Via Sudan Tribune September 2005 Draft of Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan.

Full report with plans and photo available at Rift Valley Institute
http://www.riftvalley.net/inside/sreports.htm

6,100,000 Internally Displaced People in the Sudan - 770,000 fled elsewhere

UN World Food Programme Emergency Report 27 January 2006.

USAID Complex Emergency Situation Report 27 January 2006. Excerpt:

Internally Displaced People in Sudan
6,100,000 in total. From Southern Sudan: 4 million; in Darfur: 1.76 million.

Sudanese Refugees
220,000 in Chad plus 550,000 in Uganda, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Central African Republic, Egypt, and Eritrea.

Refugees in Sudan
170,000 from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, and others.

Darfur Salaam: BBC radio broadcasts for Darfur, Sudan

Links re Darfur Salaam are now in sidebar here at Sudan Watch. The lifeline radio service for Darfur is a very important initiative by the BBC.



If any Sudan Watch readers hear the service, please let us know and share any feedback here in the comments or via email. Thanks.



"It will be the survival guide for our listeners in the area. We view it as a continuation of our commitment to the region" - Hosam El Sokkari, Head of BBC Arabic service.

Sudan's expecting two new presidential boats

Marc Lacey's article in the NYT Jan 31 tells us Bashir's new yacht never made it for the AU summit in Khartoum. It's already damaged and looks old.

The article reveals another presidential boat, even larger than the first, is on its way and is Chinese made. The first one was made in Slovania. [via DXBNews]

5.2 m people will need relief assistance in Sudan in 2006 including 2.5 m in Darfur

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation says Sudan's aid needs 'remain immense' - 5.2 million people will need relief assistance in Sudan in 2006, including 2.5 million in Darfur, reports Sapa/AFP 30 January 2006.

Note, according to the article, agriculture, devastated by drought and civil war, remains the mainstay of Sudan's economy, where it comprises 45% of gross domestic product.

Sudan's Hassan al-Turabi harboured bin Laden

Hassan al-Turabi, a Sudanese intellectual with a British education who built Africa's first Islamist state when he dominated Sudan throughout the 1990s, says bin Laden is 'not dangerous', writes David Blair in the Telegraph 30 January 2006.

Also, see Telegraph Islamic Revolution loses grip in Sudan by Philip Smucker in Khartoum 07/03/2001.

The war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about

With few to fight, U.S. troops extend humanitarian help in East Africa. This is the war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about:

Full story at Captain Marlow's, by Shashank Bengali, Inquirer Foreign Staff, 30 January 2006.

Islamic jihad groups creating camps in Chad

Douglas Farah's blog entry Jan 26, 2006 entitled "The Africa Pipeline Expands, The Brotherhood Returns to Sudan" says his intelligence contacts are charting an alarming growth of global Islamic jihad groups creating camps in northern West Africa, particularly Mali and Chad and this is coupled with an unusual resurgence of visits of leaders of the international Muslim Brotherhood to Khartoum, Sudan on a regular basis. [via The Counterterrorism Blog]

Iran says "No" to foreign meddling in Darfur, Sudan

Today, Coalition for Darfur publishes BBC Monitoring's text [no date] of report by Sudanese newspaper Alwan claiming Iran says "No" to foreign meddling in Darfur. Excerpt:

"The Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr Ahmad al-Musawi, has said he cast doubts on the enemies' intentions towards the Darfur region.

In a press conference held at the Hilton hotel [in Khartoum] yesterday morning, he urged to end foreign interference in Darfur and let the Sudanese government work towards resolving the issue in a suitable way.

He further reiterated Iran's support for a Sudanese solution in this regard, and his trust in the mediation of the AU member states to resolve the crisis."

Note Sudan backs Iran's peaceful use of nuclear energy January 26, 2006.

Major escalation of violence in Jebel Marra Darfur forces aid agencies to evacuate - UN condemns attack by SLA on Golo

UN statement issued January 27, 2006 says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is seriously concerned by the major escalation of violence in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur, particularly the heavy fighting in the Golo and Shearia areas that has forced humanitarian agencies to evacuate.

The Secretary-General condemns the attack by Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) forces on Golo, and calls on all parties to immediately stop all hostility.

U.N. sounds Darfur warning in 42-page OHCHR report - U.S. condemns attacks by Sudan's SLA

A new detailed UN report [see summary here below] warns that killings, rapes and indiscriminate attacks are still forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in Darfur. Excerpt from The Scotsman January 28, 2006:

"A 42-page report said those carrying out the violence included soldiers who fired at civilians from helicopter gunships.

The report criticised the government of coup leader Omar el-Bashir, saying promises to end centuries of discrimination and marginalisation of black African minorities were marked by "token gestures" while murder and torture went unpunished."

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42-page UN report sounds Darfur warning

On January 27, 2006 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a detailed report on dismal human rights conditions in Darfur and other parts of Sudan and called on Sudanese Government to take measures to end culture of impunity.

UN News Centre January 27, 2006 reports that while noting some progress since peace accords were signed last year, such as the lifting emergency law in certain areas, the OHCHR report says other initiatives have been inadequate, especially in Darfur, where any positive political measures were "overshadowed by an ineffective judiciary, an ongoing conflict, and widespread human rights abuses." Excerpt:

From September to November 2005 government forces, working with militia who were often described by witnesses as Janjaweed, carried out at least eight organised armed attacks on over a dozen camps or villages occupied by internally displaced persons (IDPs). The attackers killed and wounded civilians and destroyed their homes.

The report rejects Sudan's rationale that it was responding to rebel activities, stating that in most cases civilians were "deliberately targeted." It notes that State-sponsored offensives fan the flames of violence by irregular groups "The increase in large attacks on civilians by Government forces likely encouraged the militia to execute other abuses with impunity."

Examples of sexual violence are also described in the report, such as the case of an IDP who was collecting hay one morning when she was approached by three armed military men, "slapped in the face, kicked in the stomach, and accused of being a rebel. She was then raped by two of the men."

The Geneva-based OHCHR reported allegations of torture at the hands of the national security, military intelligence and police officials in Khartoum, and voices serious concern about the absence of fair trial guarantees as well as inhuman detention conditions.

The 42-page report, which bases its findings mostly on direct investigations and information collected from victims, witnesses, and government authorities, calls on the Government to cease its attacks on civilians in Darfur, disarm militias there, and install an effective law enforcement system.

Khartoum is also urged to end culture of impunity, strengthen the judiciary and revoke immunity laws protecting state agents. "The National Security Service should be stripped of it abusive and unchecked powers of arrest and detention," the OHCHR states in the report, which was prepared in cooperation with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

Noting that the conflict in Sudan was initially sparked in response to marginalisation and discrimination, the report recommends that resource allocation be fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, and involve the affected communities. The Government should also facilitate the humanitarian and development aid and allow civil society to function freely.

In January, 2005, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), ending a 21-year civil war which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2 million people and the displacement of some 4 million others.

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Janjaweed attacks on refugee camps - OHCHR warns of impending "catastrophe"

See Displaced Populations in Darfur Increasingly Face Annihilation by Eric Reeves January 28, 2006 - Growing number of Janjaweed attacks on camps. UN High Commissioner for Refugees warns of impending "catastrophe" [via Coalition for Darfur]
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US condemns rebels attacks in Darfur

Washington File January 27, 2006 says the U.S. condemns the rebel SLA's attacks on village of Golo and a police convoy in West Darfur on January 23, which killed and wounded a large number of Sudanese Armed Forces personnel.



Photo: Teenage SLA fighters wearing amulets (believed to bring good luck and protect against evil the person who wears them) look on while in the rebel held village of Bodong in North Darfur, March 3, 2005. (Reuters/ST)
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Quote of the Day

"A lasting solution to this conflict can only be found through a negotiated settlement," he [UN Secretary-General] stressed.

Angelina Jolie and Bono at Davos Summit 2006 - China in Africa: CNOOC Nigerian oil deal

Click on image for further details and read more at Jewels in the Jungle.



Bono and Nigerian President Obasanjo at Davos Summit 2006

Grandiose Parlor says Bono wants Africa to be given a preferential treatment, and western economies to remove the subsidy on agricultural produce.



China in Africa: The CNOOC Nigerian Oil Deal

See Bill's blog entry on China in Africa: The CNOOC Nigerian Oil Deal and his readers' comments on the question of whether China's renewed interest and financial investments in Africa are good for the people of the continent or not.

Note, the State Council of China formed CNOOC in 1982 to conduct exploration and production in China's offshore areas, both independently and as the exclusive Chinese partner for foreign entities.

My thoughts are human rights activists got it wrong when they pressured Western companies to withdraw from Sudan as it left the market wide open for unscrupulous Asian companies. Western companies not doing business with Sudan means Sudanese oil is sold elsewhere. Perhaps if Western companies were located in the Sudan, they might have had leverage with the UN Security Council when it came to helping Darfur. We could have pressured them to send specialist lawyers to help settle land disputes; provide training for security forces to protect locals and aid workers; and arrange gainful employment for locals to help build schools, roads and handpumps for drinking water to help quell violent clashes over livestock and watering holes.

The Darfur genocide is now in its fourth year and as things stand now, 7,000 African Union soldiers are in Darfur at a cost GBP 10 million a month. God knows the financial cost of humanitarian aid and 11,000 aid workers or how many miles of roads and water pipes could have been built instead if it weren't for a handful of obstinate men in Khartoum. So far the cost in terms of human life alone is estimated as 400,000 and rising - half the number of the Rwandan genocide.