Sudan tops 'failed states index'

Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the world's most vulnerable states, according to a new study.

FAILED STATES 2006 - TOP 10
1. Sudan (3)*
2. DR Congo (2)*
3. Ivory Coast (1)*
4. Iraq (4)*
5. Zimbabwe (15)*
6. Chad (7)*
(Tie) Somalia (5)*
8. Haiti (10)*
9. Pakistan (34)*
10. Afghanistan (11)*

* Position in 2005 report

The report - compiled by the US Foreign Policy magazine and the US-based Fund for Peace think-tank - ranked nations according to their viability.

Judged according to 12 criteria, including human flight and economic decline, states range from the most failed, Sudan, to the least, Norway.

Eleven of the 20 most failed states of the 146 nations examined are in Africa.

Full report BBC May 2, 2006 [Hat tip to http://www.passionofthepresent.org so sorry, permalinks and newsfeed to the site are still not working here]

US, Britain push for Darfur deal - UK's Benn arrives in Abuja

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and Britain's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn arrived in Abuja today and diplomats said their presence could help jolt the rebels into signing, Estelle Shirbon (Reuters) reports:

"Despite all its shortcomings, this process has yielded a draft agreement which is the best the (rebel) movements will get ever," said Alex de Waal, an adviser to the African Union (AU), which is mediating the talks.

"They have to make the shift from criticizing the many injustices that they and their people have suffered, to seeing that a much better future can be grasped on the basis of this agreement."

The top two AU officials - Chairman Denis Sassou Nguesso and commission head Alpha Oumar Konare - are set to arrive in Abuja on Wednesday, which diplomats said could indicate that the deadline, already put back by 48 hours, will slip again.

Read more in full report at ABC May 2 2006 - excerpt:

The rebels took up arms in early 2003 in ethnically mixed Darfur, an arid region the size of France, over what they saw as neglect by the Arab-dominated central government.

Khartoum used militias, known locally as Janjaweed and drawn from Arab tribes, to crush the rebellion. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people while a campaign of arson, looting and rape has driven more than 2 million from their homes into refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.

Washington, which labels the violence in Darfur "genocide," is intensifying efforts to resolve the conflict.

Note, the report explains that under a U.S. proposal, a section of the AU draft that requires the government to disarm the Janjaweed before the rebels lay down their weapons would be amended to better suit the government. In return, Khartoum would accept a detailed plan for integration of specific numbers of rebel fighters into the Sudanese security forces. This is a key rebel demand.
- - -

May 2 2006 IRIN US, Britain urge Darfur factions to sign up to peace - AU deadline for signing peace deal expires midnight tonight. US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and Brtain's Development Secretary Hilary Benn have both travelled to Abuja to guard against further slippages.

Darfur rebels welcome U.S. support to get a better deal

Great reporting by Estelle Shirbon for Reuters - excerpt from her latest report:

"Despite all its shortcomings, this process has yielded a draft agreement which is the best the (rebel) movements will get ever," said Alex de Waal, an adviser to the African Union (AU), which is mediating the talks.

"They have to make the shift from criticising the many injustices that they and their people have suffered, to seeing that a much better future can be grasped on the basis of this agreement."

Note the report says Abdelrahman Musa Abakar, chief negotiator for one of the rebel factions, welcomed Zoellick's involvement.

"This means the U.S. government really cares ... They can put pressure so that we can get better terms," he told Reuters.

But other rebel delegates reiterated old complaints and diplomats said internal divisions were holding back progress. Decision-making is arduous for the rebels, who are split into two movements and three factions with a history of infighting.

Surely failure to get a deal now will lead to more bloodshed and suffering in Darfur. A collapse of the talks would also be a serious setback for the AU, which seeks African solutions to African problems.

UN radio station in Sudan sponsors debate in Khartoum on progress of press freedom in Sudan

UN radio station in Sudan is sponsoring a debate on press freedom in the Sharja Hall of Khartoum University Wednesday 3 May but Sudanese authorities have barred the station from broadcasting nationally from Khartoum, reports Sudan Tribune today.

Southern Sudan government has agreed to allow the station to broadcast from Juba, capital of Southern Sudan.

Feb 13 2006 BBC Arabic road show at Khartoum University, 6 March 2006

May 2 2006 BBC Arabic live debate from Khartoum Uni inspires young

BBC Arabic live debate from Khartoum Uni inspires young

Safaa Faisal, who presented the BBC's live debate from Khartoum, Sudan, said meeting with the young Sudanese to talk about one of the most sensitive issues they face, identity, was an eye-opening experience for her, Strategiy.com reported Apr 30, 2006:

"We had over 250 passionate, educated and opinionated young people, and many of them were very brave, debating in public an issue normally reserved for private discussions. We were keen to make sure every form of opinion was represented to the millions of our listeners across the Arabic-speaking world. In fact, it was the heart of the matter, the whole reason why we embarked on this debates road show: giving the youth a voice, listening to their untold stories."

Feb 13 2006 BBC Arabic road show at Khartoum University, 6 March 2006

May 2 2006 UN radio station in Sudan sponsors debate in Khartoum on progress of press freedom in Sudan

Sudan's Bashir receives phone call from US's Bush?

Nnsourced news report at Sudan Tribune today says Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir received a telephone call from US President GW Bush, who expressed his concern over Darfur amid a push by Washington to broker a deal with rebels at peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.

"President Bashir reiterated the national unity government's commitment and determination to reach a peace agreement and achieve stability in Darfur," the official SUNA news agency reported today.

UPDATE: May 2 2006 Associated Press Bashir Adigun Top U.S. Diplomat Joins Darfur Talks: The official Sudan News Agency reported Tuesday that Bush called Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday night about the importance of peace in Darfur, but White House aides said they were unaware of any call.

Annan urges Darfur rebels to intensify talks

"The situation in Darfur continues to be dire," Mr Annan warned through a statement issued by his spokesman today addressing the parties, especially the SLM/A and the JEM.

Pointing out that millions of civilians remain dependent for their survival on humanitarian assistance which is threatened by the continuing violence, he added: "The clear solution is for the parties to seize this historic opportunity to achieve peace and begin the task of recovery and reconstruction."

The Secretary-General pledged that the UN "stands ready to assist" in this endeavour. Full report UN News Centre May 1 2006.

Japan funds UN Joint Programme helping AU in Darfur

Over the weekend, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) together with other UN agencies, launched a training programme designed to strengthen the capability of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to restore the rule of law in Darfur, says UN News Centre report May 1 2006:

The programme, the very first UN Joint Programme in Darfur, is fully funded by the Government of Japan through the Human Security Fund and will cover a broad area of topics including, internally displaced persons, child rights and protection, gender-based violence, codes of conduct, the notion of voluntary return, and Sudanese legal and cultural frameworks, according to UNDP.

SLA/JEM not serving the people they claim to represent

The Daily Trust quotes SGSR Jan Pronk as saying yesterday:

"Too many objections are going right back to the start of the discussions. We can't start all over again and that is what JEM wants to do. Both SLM factions will be more able to sign but they cannot laugh at this deadline. They cannot repeat old positions.

"I have to present my report to the UN by the end of April. It is still just April, but it will be up to the Security Council to decide what should be done in terms of sanctions if there is no agreement.

"The rebels fight for more justice and equality but continuation of these talks leads to more injustice and more inequality. I hope the representatives of these groups will eventually be leaders in a peaceful Darfur but by prolonging this discussion, they are not serving the people they claim to represent."

[Link via Coalition for Darfur with thanks]

Darfur SLA/JEM joint statement on draft peace deal

SLA/JEM joint press release describes a proposed peace deal for Darfur as "an unfortunate offer by the African Union" and themselves as "in the course of a bold and noble struggle that has displaced millions of their people, thousands slaughtered and martyred and chaste ladies viciously raped."

[Noble? They started the war and refuse to end it! They are deluded and power crazy.]

Horror continues in Sudan's Darfur - BBC

BBC Correspondent Orla Guerin, who broke the news on the bombing of Joghana in southern Darfur, says the horror continues in Darfur:

"What we have found, touring through this area, is village after village burnt, destroyed or abandoned. By the end of March the count was 90 villages.

Two years after the international community woke up to the crisis in Darfur, the reality is that villages are still being torched and civilians are still being forced to flee.

Keeping watch is the AU's main role here. It came with a limited mandate, lacking both equipment and troops.

Baba Gana Kingibe, head of the AU mission, told the BBC the international community should have done a lot more for Darfur."

Zoellick travels to Darfur peace talks

The BBC's Alex Last, reporting from the peace talks in Abuja, says so far [17:22 GMT 18:22 UK] there has been no breakthrough and the prospects do not look good. Excerpt:

Chief AU mediator Salim Ahmed Salim told the BBC the rebels had come to the talks in Abuja with their minds made up, and had simply been repeating their demands.

"They [the rebels] will have to be reasonable and they have to pay also a price for this peace," Sudan's Justice Minister Muhammad Ali al-Maradi told the BBC.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will travel to Abuja [today] in a bid to hammer out an agreement before Tuesday's midnight deadline, AFP news agency reports.

The BBC's Africa Analyst Martin Plaut says the talks in Abuja are a last effort attempt to maintain the fading credibility of the AU, while preventing the flames of war from spreading beyond the borders of Sudan.

DARFUR DRAFT PEACE PLAN
Pro-government Janjaweed militia to be disarmed
Rebel fighters to be incorporated into army
One-off transfer of $300m to Darfur
$200m a year for the region thereafter

Note, Eugene at CfD links to Bloomberg report Zoellick Headed to Stalled Negotiations

SLA's game is up - Darfur rebels missed their big chance

Chances of a peace agreement for Sudan's Darfur region looked slim today despite a 48-hour extension to negotiations, observers said, citing rebel inflexibility, Estelle Shirbon (Reuters) tells us in her latest report. Excerpt:

AU mediators say the rebels insist certain demands, such as a vice president's post for a Darfurian and a new regional government, should be met in full which is just not possible.

"I think the chances are very slender. ... I don't think the movements realise they've missed their big chance. ... The only thing left is for Minni to realise that the game is up," said the diplomatic source.

Photo: Abdel Wahid Mohhamed al-Nur (L) and Minni Arcua Minnawi, leaders of one of the factions of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) talk during negotiations with Sudan government representatives in Abuja, Nigeria May 1, 2006. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Note, the above report says the leader of the other SLA faction, Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur, is isolated, while diplomats say the smaller JEM has been the most inflexible of all.

Also, a diplomat who is closely involved in the talks said Sudanese Vice President Taha has left Abuja because his latest meetings with rebel leaders had given him the impression they were not open to substantial talks.

"His meetings with the (rebel) movements yesterday were so bad. They were, frankly, so insulting to the government," said the diplomat, who described his mood as "depressed".

Observers say the rebels have squandered enormous international sympathy while the government, widely portrayed as the villain in the Darfur conflict, has played its diplomatic cards just right.

U.S. diplomats have come up with a list of suggested compromise solutions and government delegation spokesman Amin Hassan Omar said substantial changes were still possible on the issue of integration of rebel fighters.



Photo: Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) commmanders Mariam Abdallah (L) and Roda Mohamed Ahmed attend negotiations with Sudan government representatives in Abuja, Nigeria May 1, 2006. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

May 1 2006 Reuters FACTBOX- Contentious issues in Darfur draft peace agreement

Sudan's Darfur rebels scoff at deadline for peace Act

"The extension of the deadline does not have any meaning for us," said Saifaldin Haroun, spokesman of Darfur rebel group SLM - AFP report by Ade Obisesan May 01 2006:

"The AU peace proposal does not address our crucial demands," he told AFP. 'We know the Sudan government very well'

Ahmed Hussain of the JEM said the JEM was "more interested in the concessions the government of Sudan will or can grant us during the extension. This will be the basis on whether or not we would sign the agreement."

"We know the Sudan government very well," Hussain said Monday. "It does not respect agreements. So, we need very safe and firm guarantees from the government and the international community."

He added: "The Sudanese government should be held responsible for any failure at these Abuja talks."

Sudan's constitution permits only two vice presidents

Associated Press report - Darfur rebels, Sudan govt prepare to re-enter peace talks - quotes JEM spokesman Hahmed Hussein as saying today,

"We are not ready to sign until the Sudanese give concessions to our demands."

In rejecting the AU draft, he said he was speaking on behalf of both his JEM and the other main rebel group, the SLM. Excerpt:

The rebels, who went to war complaining that their impoverished region had been neglected by the national government, say the AU draft pact fails to meet their demands for autonomy or for what they see as adequate representation in the central government.

Mr Salim said his team tried to strike a compromise on autonomy, creating a transitional authority for the region that would include rebel representatives and proposing that the people of Darfur vote by 2010 on whether to create a single geographical entity out of the three current Darfur states. A unified Darfur would presumably have more political weight, and the rebels had demanded one be created by presidential decree.

The rebels had also demanded a third vice president, from Darfur, be added to the national government. The compromise draft called for the president to include a Darfur official, initially nominated by the rebels, among his top advisers.

Mr. Salim said the expert would have "all the attributes of a vice president, except the name," and noted Sudan's constitution, drafted under a treaty that ended an unrelated, 21-year north-south Sudan war last January, permitted only two vice presidents.

TEXT - AU Mediator describes draft, pushes rebels to conclude

Excerpt from Conclusion of an important and eloquent Statement by Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, AU Special Envoy and Chief Mediator, which he addressed last night (2240 GMT) to the warring parties at the talks:

The consequence of not signing this Agreement, first and foremost, will be a drastic and negative impact on the people of Darfur, whose suffering and death will continue for no reason.

By signing to this Agreement, you are not required to stop your political struggle, only to now pursue it by peaceful and democratic means. The opportunity is yours to gain through the ballot box what you cannot achieve at the negotiating table here in Abuja.

Let me finish by saying that, if we walk away from here without a peace deal, the world will not forgive us. There are no winners if this war continues. Everyone of us must share the blame and must live with the guilt of the lives that will be lost and the communities ruined because of the failure to make peace here.

[He deserves a medal]

May 1 2006 AP/ST GLANCE - A look at Sudan, its history and conflicts and draft peace deal.

Darfur enemies get extra 48 hours to make peace

Mediators from the African Union agreed in the early hours of Monday to give the warring parties from Darfur a 48 hour-extension to strike a peace deal after a midnight deadline expired. Full story by Estelle Shirbon, Reuters. Excerpt:

"To be frank, it has often been frustrating for all of us to deal with you," [chief AU mediator] Salim told the rebels during the plenary.

"The Abuja process has provided you with recognition and a platform ... Should you decide to walk away from Abuja without an agreement, you should not count on the same recognition and the same opportunities for political primacy," he said.

Note, the draft peace agreement requires the government to disarm the Janjaweed. The above report explains:

This provision is particularly problematic for the government because there are many tribal militias in Darfur that are considered legitimate by their communities, and Khartoum does not want to find itself having to disarm these. Also, there is some contention on how to verify Janjaweed disarmament.

The rebels want some of their fighters to be integrated into the Sudanese armed forces and they have complained that the AU draft does not meet this demand to their satisfaction.

See Apr 28 2006 Darfur's SLM/A rebels refuse to disarm until after end of six-year transition period

Darfur rebels demand changes to peace deal at 11th hour

The African Union set midnight (2300 GMT) April 30 as a deadline to conclude the talks and said it would not reopen substantial negotiations on the proposed text. It is now 23:18. The deadline has passed.

Reuters report just in by Estelle Shirbon, says the two Darfur rebel groups said they would refuse to sign a peace agreement in its current form. Excerpt:

The Sudanese government said it had decided to sign the Darfur peace deal despite "reservations", and diplomats said the biggest of those centred on disarmament arrangements.

"What this (agreement) means, in effect, is that the government has to disarm the Janjaweed at a time when the rebels will still have their forces fully deployed, albeit in defensive positions," said a diplomat closely involved in the talks.

Observers said a trade-off was still possible whereby the government would grant the rebels a few concessions in exchange for a watering down of the Janjaweed disarmament provision.

[Perhaps tomorrow morning we'll awaken to more hopeful news. Whatever, agreements are worth no more than the paper they are written on if there is no real commitment. The rebels have proved insincere and not interested in peace. God help the women and children of Darfur.]

Darfur rebels SLM & JEM reject peace deal, talks continue

The rebel SLM and the JEM have issued statements of a "joint position" not to sign the AU-brokered peace accord.

"This document is not acceptable to us, and we are not going to go by it or sign it," JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussain said.

AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni warned the mediators' assignment "is over at 12:00 midnight."

"A couple of hours' slip is no problem, of course, you can stop the clock and continue," Pronk said after the afternoon meeting.

"But the AU has set the deadline. I think the moment of truth is now. We have reached more or less the end of possibilities. (The rebels) have to sign tomorrow," he added.

"As mediators, the AU deadline and document will not change," the AU spokesman said earlier in reaction to the rebel statements.

"Our position is supported by the UN Security Council and if the agreement is not signed they know what to do," he added.

"I did remind the parties this afternoon on the need to sign the agreement, but you cannot continue day after day repeating the old positions. It is not a serious representation of the people who you claim to fight for," Pronk said.

"If the government of Sudan is willing to accept the pressure of the international community to sign, and the parties are not ready to do so, then they have to bear the brunt," he said.

"And these are political consequences which the UN Security Council will decide."

Pronk praised the behaviour in the talks of the Sudanese government. "They have taken a decision that they can sign the document though they said they did not like the document a hundred percent," he said.

Full report Sudan Tribune Apr 30, 2006.

Sudan rebels JEM refuse to sign Darfur peace deal

Sudan Darfur rebel group JEM said on Sunday it would refuse to sign a proposed peace agreement in its current form.

"We are not going to accept this document for signature unless there are fundamental changes made to the document," Ahmed Tugod, JEM chief negotiator, told Reuters.

The African Union set midnight (2300 GMT) on Sunday as a deadline to conclude the talks and said it would not reopen substantial negotiations on the proposed text.