NATO extends training for African peacekeepers in Darfur

NATO allies have extended a training program for African peacekeepers in Darfur until September, the alliance's operational commander said Monday.

The NATO training mission for officers of the African Union peacekeeping force had been due to end this month, but the 25 allies agreed late last week to extend the program, said US Gen James L Jones, NATO's supreme commander for operations.

Jones told reporters that alliance military experts are working on plans to increase training and "capacity building" to back up the 7,000-strong African peacekeeping force. NATO is also providing planes to fly in African peacekeepers.

Full report AP/ST Apr 24, 2006.

AU to end Darfur peace talks if no deal by April 30

Sam Ibok, head of the African Union team mediating peace negotiations between the Sudan government and rebels fighting in Darfur, said his team was still working toward a United Nations-backed deadline to achieve a final peace agreement by the end of the month.

"We will respect the deadline and if there are no indications that a deal is possible, we will wind up talks by April 30," Ibok said at the talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Representatives of the Sudanese government and the two Darfur rebel movements will be presented with the final draft agreement this week.

The document will represent a "just and acceptable compromise" to end the Darfur conflict if indeed the warring sides are interested in peace, the chief mediator says.

EAC to send peacekeeping troops to Darfur?

One week to go before we know the outcome of the Darfur peace talks. Short of invading Sudan and starting a massive war, the world has bent over backwards to help the people of Sudan and donated billions of Western taxpayers' dollars. Outsiders can't force the Sudanese to make peace within their own country but have helped put in place expertise, resources, manpower and mechanisms for political talks and peace agreements to replace the senseless violence.

After three years of war, it is now up to the Sudanese themselves to make peace.

Whatever is agreed, peacekeepers will be needed to monitor the complex security arrangements and disarmament. EAC (see below) has peacekeeping troops available to bolster the AU mission in Darfur (AMIS). NATO is helping AMIS with expertise and logistics. The UN has ongoing budget for the provision of peacekeeping missions and troops. The Egyptians have offered to help fund AMIS starting September 30. The Government of Sudan has proposed 10,000 troops. SPLM/A also has 10,000 troops available. Everybody (except bin Laden and his ilk) wants peace in Sudan.

Note the following excerpt from Sudan Watch blog entry dated August 29, 2004 EAC to send peacekeeping troops to Darfur:

The East African Community (EAC) Heads of States Summit resolved here Saturday to deploy troops to the troubled western Sudan region of Darfur to monitor a peace agreement between the government and rebel forces and not for interventionist purposes.

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said the three countries were awaiting the outcome of the Africa Union-led Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria under the chairmanship of the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to proceed with their plan.

"If there is any peace to be monitored, we shall be ready. There must be a process whose implementation we will follow. We are waiting for the outcome of the Abuja peace talks," Mkapa told journalists here Saturday.

P.S. If anyone thinks bin Laden is working in the best interests of the Sudanese and muslims (Darfur is almost all muslim), note this quote:

Apr 23 2006 New Sudan Vision Bin Laden rejects CPA saying "Let (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir and (US President George W Bush) Bush know that this agreement is not worth the ink in which it was written with and does not oblige us in the least."

Apr 24 2006 CNS report Bin Laden tries to put religious spin on Darfur conflict saying "I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur."

Imagine what John Garang and the two million other Sudanese people who perished in south Sudan would, if they could, say about such a crazy statement. How can anyone think of bin Laden as a good man? There are thousands of different religions. One cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. Governments should be separate from religion.

Note Feb 28 2006 UN envoy Jan Pronk cites Al-Qaeda threats to his own life and non-African UN troops deployed to Sudan's Darfur.

Darfur needs up to 60,000 troops - AU

Commander of the African Union (AU) Force in Darfur Maj Gen Collins Ihikere said Tuesday that the 7,000 troops in the troubled area were not sufficient and up to 60,000 troops more were needed.

Full report Apr 18, 2006 Xinhua via COMTEX, ST.

AU mediators present security arrangement for Darfur peace

On April 22, 2006 the AU Mediation presented to the warring Sudanese Parties - GoS, SLM/A and JEM - the "Final Status Security Agreement for Darfur", at a late night Plenary Session of the Security Arrangements Commission chaired by Ambassador Sam B Ibok.

Earlier, the Coordinator of the Security Arrangements Commission General Chris Garuba, made a brief presentation on the Document which provides for the disarmament of the Janjaweed; the Integration of former rebels into the Sudan Armed Forces and other National Security Institutions; their Assembly, Disarmament and Demobilization; and their Social and Economic Reintegration, among others issues.

Full report Sudan Tribune April 23, 2006.

Khartoum remains committed to peaceful settlement of Darfur crisis

"We are committed to finding a comprehensive settlement of the Darfur crisis through the negotiation currently underway in the Nigerian capital Abuja," Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told a forum of foreign diplomats in Sudan.

He said that the peace talks was "being strongly pushed by a visit of Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and his intensive meeting with the African Union (AU) mediators and negotiators of the two sides."

A big progress had been achieved in the peace talks, he added.

Turabi branded apostate for pro-women comments

Clerics proposed trying Hassan al-Turabi for apostasy following recent declarations by him that women were equal to men, had the right to marry a Christian or a Jew and could even lead prayers, AFP reported:

"Turabi should declare repentance or face the Sharia Hadd for heresy," said the statement by the Muslim Scholars Committee, which has the support of the government and controls many of the country's mosques.

Hadd is a word in Islamic law that applies to punishments inflicted for some of the most serious offenses. The traditional punishment for heresy or apostasy in Sharia law is the death penalty.

Ukranian plane chartered by Libya to fly food and medical aid to Chad crashes

Six people have died after a cargo plane carrying aid to Chad crashed in Cameroon after failing to land at an airport in Ndjamena, capital of neighbouring Chad.

Full report BBC 23 Apr 2006.

Chad rebel prisoners say Sudan recruited them

April 23 Reuters report says Sudan's security forces helped recruit rebels, including child soldiers, from refugee camps in Darfur for a revolt in neighbouring Chad, rebel prisoners told African Union investigators. Excerpt:

Meeting some of 200 captured rebel prisoners at N'Djamena's central police station, the AU investigators heard how rebel leaders met Sudanese intelligence officers in Khartoum.

"The Sudanese intelligence people were our contacts ... they were always dressed in civilian clothing," Colonel Adoum Maratis, a captured rebel commander who said he came from Central African Republic, told reporters.

"We were given transport, communications. We were well equipped," Maratis said, adding that around 1,200 fighters in 75 pick-up trucks were involved in the attack on N'Djamena.

Maratis said he was recruited four months ago in Khartoum at a meeting with rebel chief Mahamat Nour.

Nour, an ex-Chadian army capitain, leads the rebel United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) and was seeking experienced officers to launch a rebellion against Deby.

Maratis travelled to training camps in Sudan's Darfur region, where he said some 7,000 rebel fighters were gathered to wage rebellion against Deby's rule.

Some recruits trained were as young as 12 years old, Maratis said. Several of the prisoners were small boys, who looked dazed by their experience and said they had been recruited by force.

Maratis said the majority of rebel fighters were from Chad, although a few prisoners said they were Sudanese.

"I was recruited by Sudan. I was visiting my family in a refugee camp (in Darfur), when I was approached by Sudanese military authorities and recruited by force," said Said Ibrahim Isaac, dressed in military fatigues.

"We were told to get on the trucks. We were not told we were going to Chad," said another prisoner.

The FUC rebels raced 800 km (500 miles) in three days to attack the capital at dawn. Several hundred people were killed before the Chadian army repelled the assault.

Hassane Mostar Hassane, a Chadian FUC captain, said he was recruited three years ago in Sudan. "Our arms were provided by Sudan, lots of different kinds of arms," he said in Arabic via a translator.

Further reading

Sudan Watch archive date and post title:
4/14/2006 Khartoum armed Arab insurgents inside Chad and dispatched them to overthrow Deby?
4/13/2006 French Mirage fighter dropped bomb near Chadian rebels heading for N'Djamena
4/11/2006 Propaganda war in Chad aimed at sowing fear and panic
4/10/2006 FUC in eastern Chad mount fresh offensive to get to N'Djamena and oust Chadian President Deby
4/02/2006 Mohamat Nour's Chadian rebel United Front for Change (FUC) aims to depose Chadian president Deby
3/15/2006 Chad's President Deby was sponsored by Khartoum and helped into power by the French secret services
2/20/2006 Two Chadian army generals desert, join rebels
2/12/2006 Reuters exclusive interview: Mahamat Nour the Chad rebel leader demands change, by force if needed
1/28/2006 Sudan accuses Chad of shelling Arm Yakui, West Darfur - NMRD Darfur rebels attack Sudan army base in Arm Yakui
1/13/2006 Sudan says UN peace force in Darfur unwelcome

Nonsensical Bin Laden calls for jihad in Sudan's Darfur

Just as the final round of Darfur peace talks nears April 30 deadline set by the AU Peace and Security Council, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urges his followers to prepare for a long war against "Western would-be occupiers in Darfur", according to an audiotape attributed to him and aired on Sunday, Reuters reported Apr 23, 2006.

See text of nonsensical audio statement, purportedly from bin Laden, aired on Al Jazeera. The Telegraph reported:

In the tape broadcast on the Arabic TV station this afternoon, bin Laden calls on his followers in Sudan to fight a proposed UN force in Darfur.

"I call on Mujahedin and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan," said bin Laden, who was based in Sudan before it expelled him under threats from the US.

Apr 23 2006 Aljazeera Hamas distances itself from Bin Laden - "It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians" Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman.

Apr 23 2006 BBC - 'Bin Laden' accuses West - excerpts

Apr 23 2006 ST AP - "We are aware of the tape and a technical analysis of the recording is being conducted," a US intelligence official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Al-Jazeera news reader said bin Laden, in a portion of the tape not aired by the Qatar-based broadcaster, scoffed at Saudi King Abdullah for his calls for a "dialogue among civilizations" and blasted liberal-minded Arab writers for taking part in the Western cultural invasion of Muslim lands.

Apr 23 2006 New Sudan Vision Bin Laden rejects CPA saying "Let (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir and (US President George W Bush) Bush know that this agreement is not worth the ink in which it was written with and does not oblige us in the least."

Apr 23 2006 Guardian AP - "It's when people have kind of forgotten about him, when he's not been on the news, that the tapes emerge," Ayers said. "It's kind of his way of thumbing his nose at the US and saying, 'Hey, I'm still out here, and you haven't caught me and you can't.' That's what he's saying."

Apr 24 2006 Olberlin Times Prophet cartoon offenders must be killed - bin Laden: "Heretics and atheists, who denigrate religion and transgress against God and His Prophet, will not stop their enmity toward Islam except by being killed," the Saudi-born militant said.

Apr 24 2006 BBC Bin Laden call falls on deaf ears - A call attributed to Osama Bin Laden for Islamic holy war in Sudan and other Muslim states has been disowned by the Sudanese government and Hamas. Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim, Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman is quoted as saying: "We are not concerned with any mujahideen or any Crusade or any war with the international community."



Photo: Archival Footage of Osama bin Laden in Sudan - see Mar 26 2006 Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal says Sudanese government call to arms is carried out through tribal leaders

FUC, RaFD, SCUD - Chadian rebels had good contacts in W Darfur

The situation in Chad, Sudan's neighbour, is getting out of control, writes Jan Pronk, UN Secretary-General's Special Represenative in the Sudan, in his blog entry April 18, 2006. Excerpt:

There are various rebel movements with different interests, different tribal affiliations and with regional backgrounds.

One of them is the Front Uni pour le Changement et la Democratie (FUC), led by Mahamat Nour Abdelkrim, a Tama.

Another one is the Rassemblement des Forces Democratiques (RaFD), getting its support in particular from the Zaghawa.

A third is the Socle pour le Changement et l'Unite Democratique (SCUD), which started in Eastern Chad. It received the support from quite a few defectors from the Deby regime and got a base in Darfur as well. The various movements are not yet united and compete with each other. But together they form a serious challenge to the present regime.

Note, Mr Pronk explains Chadian rebels had good contacts in West Darfur - in both Darfur as well as in Chad, the root causes are domestic, rebel movements in Chad exist since many years.

Canadian Mounties heading to Sudan for UN mission

Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) members are heading to Sudan to assist the UN mission in southern Sudan, Canadian Press reported April 21, 2006.

RCMP Sgt. Richard Davis and Cpl. Barry Meyer are expected to arrive in Khartoum in late April, when they will begin training and supporting Sudanese police and, where possible, advising them on policing methods.

Photo: Constables of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, dressed in their traditional scarlet uniforms, stand their horses in parade formation in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1873 to maintain peace in the Canadian west, the Mounties became a cultural symbol of Canada. Nowadays they usually travel by car, boat, airplane, or snowmobile rather than on horseback. Paul Souders/CORBIS-BETTMANN

500 displaced Dinkas set to return home to southern Sudan from Darfur's Beliel camp

International Organization for Migration (IOM) news report 21 Apr 2006 says IOM is to organise over the next six weeks the voluntary, safe and orderly return of some 10,000 internally displaced Dinkas from three sites in South Darfur to their homes in Northern Bahr El Ghazal province. Excerpt:

A first group of some 500 displaced Dinkas is scheduled leave Beliel camp for the nearby state capital town of Nyala, where they will board an IOM chartered train on 24 April. The 100-mile journey east to El Daein will be the first leg of their long journey home. Other groups of displaced Dinkas are scheduled to leave Nyala town and the nearby Saman Al Naga camp over the coming weeks.

Upon arrival in El Daein, the returnees will overnight at a rest station before starting the second leg of their journey by bus to Samaha, where IOM has recently opened a way station to provide basic facilities such as water, sanitation, and shelter for the returning Dinkas. Health facilities are being provided by the NGO, Cordaid.

The displaced will then cross the river Kiir on board two boats chartered by the NGO Concern to arrive in Kiir Galama, a locality on the southern banks of the river. From there, the returnees will be transported by IOM to their final destinations in Northern Bahr El Ghazal province.

IOM and partners have recently provided emergency assistance to another group of some 2,300 displaced Dinkas who were stranded in Kiir Galama to help them return to their places of origin in the central highlands of Northern Bahr El Ghazal.

Note, the article tells us the Dinkas are part of a much larger group of tens of thousands of fellow tribes people who were displaced by conflict and drought in South Sudan to South Darfur 19 years ago and who were again displaced by the fighting in Darfur in 2003.

For further information, please contact: Louis Hoffmann IOM Juba Tel: +882 16433 38260 Email: lhoffmann@iom.int Anne Marie Linde IOM Khartoum Tel: +249 912 141 757 Email: amlinde@iom.int



Photo: IOM assists displaced Dinkas in Kiir Galama, Northern Bahr El Ghaszl province (Louis Hoffman/IOM 2006).

See Apr 13 2006 Difficult journey for displaced Dinkas in Darfur returning home to Sudan's Northern Bahr El Ghazal province



Photo: Doctors from the Bangladesh Contingent Medical Company treating patients from the local community. Juba, Bahr el-Jabel State, Sudan. UNMIS Photo/Arpan Munier, 21 February 2006

AU mission in Chad to probe Sudan role in attacks

An African Union delegation flew in to Chad on Friday to probe President Idriss Deby's accusations that neighbour Sudan is backing rebels bent on ending his nearly 16-year rule, Reuters report 21 Apr 2006 - excerpt:

Deby has accused Sudan of attacking his country and his government says it has abundant proof Khartoum equipped and armed the rebels, some of whom were captured and who residents say had to ask their way round N'Djamena when they arrived. Khartoum denies the charges.

"It is an information mission to ascertain where the responsibilities lie in the current crisis," Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi told Reuters. "We're ready to show them the prisoners we took and show them the equipment we seized during the fighting," he said.

African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, one of the continent's top diplomats, said this week the mission would have to establish the facts before the 53-member continental body could make any condemnation of "the aggressor".

Former colonial power France, which has more than 1,000 soldiers in Chad, has been flying reconnaissance missions across the vast country in what officials say are efforts to get to the bottom of Chad's accusations of Sudanese involvement.

Foreign diplomats said many of those captured during the fighting appeared not to speak Chadian dialects, while the arms seized and shown to journalists after the raid included Chinese munitions, which analysts said were likely to be from Sudan.

Libya funding AU observers to monitor Sudan-Chad border

African Union security experts have arrived in Darfur to monitor the border with Chad after N'Djamena accused Khartoum of supporting Chadian rebels.

AU observers are to set up posts along the border towns of Tina, Kulbus, Gineina, Khur Bernagah and Wadi Sair.

Libya, which has been a mediator in the conflict, had agreed to foot the bill for the operation.

Libyan Minister of African Affairs Ali al-Triki held talks with leaders in Khartoum on Monday in a bid to ease tensions with Chad, which broke off diplomatic ties with Sudan on Friday, a day after a rebel attack on N'Djamena.

Full report ST 21 Apr 2006.

Chad expels JEM rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim after occupation of Sudanese embassy

According to an unsourced report at the Sudan Tribune Apr 21, the Chadian authorities expelled the chairman of the rebel JEM, Khalil Ibrahim, and his group after they occupied the Sudanese embassy in the Chadian capital, N’djamena, for some hours and looted the properties of the embassy.

Note the report says Khalil Ibrahim has political asylum in France and that it seems he went to Libya after his forced departure from Chad. Full report.

AU chief mediator briefs UN Security Council on Darfur

Peace agreement for Darfur close Alarab Online report Apr 19 - excerpt:

"We are working full steam to meet this deadline," Salim Ahmed Salim, the AU special envoy and chief mediator for the inter-Sudanese talks in Abuja, said on Tuesday in his first Council briefing since January.

"As we enter the home stretch of this marathon negotiating session," he cautioned, however, "the anxieties of the parties are understandably intensifying." Concessions still need to be made on the sharing of wealth and power, security arrangements and other issues, he said.

The security arrangements will make or break the negotiations, he said, underscoring the complexity of both an immediate ceasefire and long-term final status arrangements.

"Darfur is home to a myriad of armed and dangerous militia, included the Janjaweed, the armed movements that are fragmenting, bandits of sorts, foreign combatants and tribal forces," he observed.

The mediation team, he said, had made proposals on the disengagement of forces, disarmament of the Janjaweed, the control and neutralization of militias, protection of displaced persons, security of nomadic migration corridors and the demilitarization of humanitarian supply routes.

The proposed Enhanced Ceasefire Agreement stipulates that the neutralization of the Janjaweed and "undisciplined militia" is a prerequisite for any peace agreement, he said.

As this, and all such steps, will have to be monitored by the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), he stressed that it was crucial to follow up any peace agreement, once signed, with maximum support to those forces, which are not even adequate to fulfil their current mandate.

"My plea to you in this esteemed Council is that you do not wait for the transition to take place from AMIS to a UN Force before strengthening the implementation mechanism of any agreement to be reached in Abuja," he said.

Militia in Darfur must be controlled to ensure peace, says AU

(IRIN Apr 20) Neutralisation of the Janjawid and "undisciplined militia" - stipulated under the "Enhanced Ceasefire Agreement" as put forward by the AU mediation team at negotiations in the Nigerian capital, Abuja - was a prerequisite for any peace agreement, AU chief mediator, Salim Ahmed Salim said. Security arrangements would make or break the negotiations:

The proposals included the disengagement and redeployment of the forces, disarmament of the Janjawid, the control and neutralisation of militias, protection of displaced persons, security of nomadic migration corridors and the demilitarisation of humanitarian supply routes, he said.

Despite these difficulties, Salim was optimistic about the recent progress the Sudanese government and the two main Darfurian rebel groups had made. He expressed hope that a deal could be reached by the 30 April deadline set by the AU. "We are working full-steam to meet this deadline," he said.

AU says Sudan negotiators progressing in peace talks

"We are in the final stretch of concluding the Darfur peace agreement. The mediation is ready, and we believe the time is right for the parties to move beyond arguments to decisions," the top African Union mediator said April 19.

Here's lighting a candle in hope of an enhanced ceasefire agreement being signed for the long suffering people of Darfur by April 30.



Image courtesy of a new blog Bloggers for Darfur.

Note another new blog Darfur - Call to Action.

Sanctions delay on two rebel commanders, Janjaweed leader and Sudan Air Force commander in Darfur

Both the US and Britain said none of the four men facing sanctions were involved in the two-year Darfur peace talks in Abuja.

"Actions would be against individuals responsible for gross violations of human rights or violations of the ceasefire, Deputy British Ambassador Adam Thomson said.

"It would have the incidental benefit of sending an indirect message to Abuja that the council is absolutely serious about returning peace to Darfur," he said.

The four Sudanese include two rebel commanders, a pro-government militia leader and a Sudan Air Force commander who had been in Darfur.

Full report (Reuters) 20 Apr 2006.