Snow Patrol covers Lennon's hit 'Isolation' for Amnesty International's campaign calling for justice in Sudan

British band Snow Patrol have covered former Beatle John Lennon's hit 'Isolation' as part of Amnesty International's online campaign calling for justice in Sudan.

The cover is the soundtrack for a new video, which is calling for war criminals to be punished for the rape of thousands of women in Darfur.

The video can be viewed at noise.amnesty.org and the song can also be downloaded from Amnesty's site.

[As John Lennon was a real peace loving guy, I find it difficult to imagine him approving of his name being connected to such a campaign, the timing of which - during such a sensitive stage of crucial peace and disarmament talks, not to mention delicate negotiations for forces to protect the people of Darfur - I feel is not only poor judgement on Amnesty's part but wrong]

Translators needed in Darfur to help AU build trust - More "Mama Rosa's" needed too please!

Thanks to a reader for the following comment posted today at Sudan Watch entry "Female AU police officers build trust in Ardamata camp, West Darfur - More "Mama Rosa's" needed in Darfur please!":

One of the problems that women like Mama Rose face is that there are not many female translators and few of the police women speak Arabic. They need more translators!

Rebels recruit Darfur refugees in Chad as soldiers - UN

Sudanese rebels are recruiting thousands of men and boys from refugee camps in neighbouring Chad, where more than 200,000 Sudanese have fled to escape the Darfur conflict, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.

Some 4,700 men and boys were recruited or forced to join the rebels from the Breidjing and Treguine camps in March, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said citing reports from refugees. Recruitment has also been reported at the Goz Amir camp in April, the agency said. Full report AP May 16, 2006 via ST May 17, 2006.

US's Zoellick in UK to discuss Darfur peace deal

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick arrived in London May 16, 2006 for talks with UK officials, and to discuss a new peace deal agreed for Darfur, AP/ST reported.

Zoellick is to discuss implementation of the deal with UK Treasury chief Gordon Brown, part of a two-day visit.

Implementation of the agreement and planning for a UN peacekeeping force to take control of an AU-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur are expected to be discussed.

UN Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 1679 (2006) paving way for UN force in Darfur

May 16 2006 UN News Centre Security Council unanimously adopts resolution paving way for UN force in Darfur:

The Security Council took a major step forward today towards establishing a robust United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur rby unanimously adopting a resolution calling for the deployment on the ground of a joint UN-Africa Union (AU) team to pave the way for the operation, which would take over from the AU mission (AMIS) now monitoring the vast region.

Immediately welcoming the resolution's adoption in a statement issued by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said the UN "hopes to dispatch, as quickly as possible, a joint UN/AU Technical Assessment Team to Darfur, and towards that end, is in continuous consultation with the Government of National Unity" of Sudan.

May 16 2006 ReliefWeb: TEXT of Resolution 1679 (2006) adopted by the Security Council at its 5439th meeting, on 16 May 2006 (S/RES/1679)

S/RES/1679(2006) in several different languages, including Arabic and French.

Sudan offers 20,000 tonnes of extra food to UN WFP

On May 16, 2006 the UN Security Council voted unanimously to start the process which could lead to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. - BBC

The Council's resolution presses Sudan to let UN military experts into Darfur within a week to plan for deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in the region later this year. - Reuters.

Sudan is willing to discuss UN peacekeepers deployment in Darfur, Information Minister Zahawi Ibrahim Malek said May 16, 2006.

SUDAN TO ANNOUNCE NEW RULES FOR DARFUR AID GROUPS AND OFFERS 20,000 TONNES OF EXTRA FOOD TO WFP

Sudan to announce new rules for Darfur aid groups - VP Ali Taha said the government would allocate more money for aid to Darfur and offer 20,000 tonnes of extra food to the World Food Programme to cover a donor gap this year. - Reuters May 16 2006.

Sudan renews its rejection of UN force to Darfur

Sudan renewed its opposition to the transfer of the African Union peacekeeping mission to the UN. It said that such takeover is not indicated in the signed deal with one rebel faction earlier in May. Full report Sudan Tribune 15 May 2006.

May 15 2006 UN News Centre: UN moves on several fronts to reinforce Darfur peace accord - Contrary to what had been reported, he [Egeland[ said the Sudanese Government had not yet agreed to a UN force and at present was discussing the proposal.

AU to transfer Darfur force to UN by September 2006

The African Union on Monday agreed to transfer its peacekeeping force in Darfur to the UN by the end of September or earlier.

Nigerian FM Olu Adeniji, chairing a ministerial meeting of the AUs Peace and Security Council, said the AUs 7,300-strong force in Darfur could leave before the Sept 30 deadline if the UN force was ready.

UN SGSR, Jan Pronk, told reporters in Addis Ababa after the meeting ended. "It is now high time to take very concrete steps towards a stronger force." Full report AP/ST 15 May 2006.

Darfur rebels given until end of May to sign peace deal

The African Union today gave two rebel groups (Khalil's JEM and Nur's SLA faction) a further two weeks to sign a peace deal, Reuters reported:

Nigerian FM Olu Adeniji, chair of AU Peace and Security Council, said the two hold-out rebel groups had been given more time to accept the peace accord.

"The extension of the signature for those who didn't sign the agreement will be laid open until the end of May, after which, failure to sign will indicate non-commitment to the peace process and the AU will take a decision," he said.

But one of Nur's close advisers said the international community should press Sudan's government to grant some extra concessions to make the deal more acceptable to the rebels.

"If we agree on this document as it stands because of pressure from the international community, we will not be able to return to our people," said Babiker Mohamed Abdallah.

"If the government is not serious, two weeks is not enough. If it is serious, even two days is enough," he told Reuters in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Photo: US Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, right, talks with Jendayi Frazer, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, and British Cabinet member Hilary Benn sitting far laft, while Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, behind, walks pass at the peace talks meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 5, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: Minni Arcua Minnawi (L), leader of main rebel group SLA and Ibrahim Khalil, leader of the smaller JEM rebel group participate in a meeting with Sudan government representatives during negotiations on a peace plan for Darfur in Abuja, Nigeria May 2, 2006.



Photo: Khatha Nanluho, who is a rebel with the SLA stands outside of the venue of the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday, May 2, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: Ahmed Tugod, the chief negotiator for Sudanese Justice and Equity Movement (JEM), gestures at the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, May 3, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: SLA rebels waiting at their bases in Gellab, North Darfur, Sudan, in 2004, during a meeting with Africa Union officers. (AFP/File/Marco Longari)



Photo: Rebel faction leaders appear at the exchange ceremony of the African Union (AU) draft peace agreement for Darfur in Abuja May 5, 2006.



Photo: Sudanese government delegation members rejoice inside the venue of the peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 5, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: SLA leader Minni Arcua Minnawi (L) is congratulated by Africa Union Commission President Alpha Oumar Konare after he signed the deal with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja May 5, 2006 to end three years of fighting that has killed many of thousands of people and forced 2 million to flee their homes. Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde



Photo: An unidentified member of the SLA, reacts before they walk out of the peace talks meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 5, 2006. (AP Photo/George Osodi)



Photo: Abdel Wahid Nur of the SLA faction, second right, together with members of his group walks out of the peace talks meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May, 5 2006 refusing to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement. (AP Photo/George Osodi)

Chad's President Deby wins 3rd term, opposition cries foul

Idriss Deby won Chad's presidential elections with a substantial majority, according to Chadian election officials, but opposition parties that boycotted the ballot have denounced the process as a sham. - May 15 2006 IRIN.



Photo: A Chadian soldier stands next to a rocket launcher on Thursday, April 20, 2006 outside Parliament that was captured from rebels during a rebel attack on the capital N'djamena.

May 16 2006 Reuters Chad opposition rejects Deby re-election: Deby, 54, a French-trained pilot, has ruled Chad since his Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) rebel group seized power in a revolt from the east in 1990. He won elections in 1996 and 2001, though international observers noted irregularities both times.



Photo: A Chadian woman made homeless by warfare sits next to a fire on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 near the refugee camp Kou Kou Angarana in Chad, some 30 kilometers from the Sudan border. The election on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 came nearly three weeks after rebels who had gathered near the Chad-Darfur border launched a pre-dawn attack on the capital in a failed bid to oust President Idriss Deby, and after opposition parties called for a boycott of the vote. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide or ethnic cleansing (and what is the difference between the two) or civil war?

On 26 April 2006, Ben Lieberman emailed me via Sudan Watch, saying:



Subject: Re: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Hello,

Thanks for your useful blog. I was very interested to find this since I am teaching a class on African history, and I have written a history of ethnic cleansing in Europe and Western Asia.

I think your recent discussion of the definitions of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing was very clear. In practice, I think the two can merge together in that the methods used to expel a group can in some cases predictably lead to genocide.

Thanks for your work.
Ben Lieberman

Fitchburg State College
Fitchburg Massachusetts
- - -

I emailed the following reply to Ben 14 May 2006:



Subject: Re: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Dear Ben,

Thank you for your interesting email. Please forgive my delay in replying. I was pleased to hear from you, and started to reply right away but was unable to complete due to an avalanche of news reports appearing in the run up to the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement.

I thought of you today when I read an article in the Los Angeles Times (14 May 2006) entitled "It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide?" by Michael Clough, director of the Africa program at the Council on Foreign Relations from 1987 to 1996. He is the author of "Free at Last? United States Policy Toward Africa and the End of the Cold War."

To save you registering with the LA Times to read the piece, I am copying it in full, here below.

I'd like to publish an excerpt from the piece (probably the opening paragraph) at my blog Sudan Watch, along with the information in your email. Would you mind if I published your email in full?

If you do mind, I wonder if you would be kind enough to please send me a few lines (or however much you can manage) of text that would be OK to quote you on that explains what you mean when you say "In practice, I think the two can merge together in that the methods used to expel a group can in some cases predictably lead to genocide."

I'm having difficulty attempting to articulate in a short piece about why (when some critics see little difference between genocide and ethnic cleansing - and the findings of the UN's International Commission of Inquiry* on Darfur concluded the Sudanese government was NOT pursuing a policy of genocide in Darfur) some UN officials like UN SGSR Jan Pronk and others continue to refer to Darfur as ethnic cleansing.

My view is Darfur is not genocide or ethnic cleansing. It's civil war, no?

Here's some wishful thinking: I wish you could write a piece (and, if you can, get it published in mainstream press) that answers this question:

It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide or ethnic cleansing (and what is the difference between the two?) or is it civil war?

Thanks again for your email and kind words.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Ingrid (Jones)
England, UK
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com

*The International Criminal Court (ICC) - Summary [Apr 7 2006 UN assembly president calls Darfur violence "ethnic cleansing" - The International Criminal Court (ICC) Summary: The International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, chaired by the Italian judge Antonio Cassese, concluded in its report published on 31 January 2005 that crimes against humanity and war crimes such as killings, rape, pillaging and forced displacement have been committed since 1 July 2002 by the government-backed forces and the Janjaweed militia. It declared, however, that the government of Sudan was not pursuing a policy of genocide in Darfur]

Apr 8 2006 What is the difference between genocide and ethnic cleansing?

Apr 9 2006 Juan Mendez, UN Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide, tells press "definitely ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur"

Apr 9 2006 The Genocide Convention required States to prevent genocide - Mendez
- - -

Today, 15 May 2006, I received the following reply from Ben:



Subject: Re: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Dear Ingrid,

Thanks very much for your reply. The Michael Clough essay is indeed very interesting, though as you'll see I have doubts about his conclusions. Please feel free to post my original email or this new email--I've tried to improve my explanation.
Best regards,
Ben

Here's my (modeslty) extended explanation with a brief comment on the Clough op-ed.

In discussing Darfur or any other similar crisis it is important to keep in mind that crimes such as ethnic cleansing and genocide do not exist in a single form, but fall on a spectrum of violence. Ethnic cleansing can be defined as the removal, through violence and intimidation of an ethnic group from a given territory, but the victims may be defined by ethnic identity, race, religion, or by some combination of the three. In genocide, the goal is not removal of the group but extermination.

In practice, however, ethnic cleansing and genocide exist on a spectrum of violence. The goals of removal or extermination can be distinct, but ethnic cleansing and genocide can merge together because the methods used to expel a group can in some cases predictably lead to genocide. In the Armenian Genocide, for example, most of the Armenian population of Anatolia was deported, though many, especially men were massacred. However, it was predictable that a very large proportion of Armenian civilians deported south into the desert under the threat of continuous attack would die, and as I point out in my book Terrible Fate, contemporaries, included Germans who served a government allied with Turkey, knew that mass death was predictable.

Michael Clough is obviously extremely knowledgeable about Dafur, but some of the arguments in his Los Angeles Times op-ed may not apply to the issue of defining genocide.

First, the boundaries between the identity of victims and perpetrators in both genocide and ethnic cleansing can be malleable. There is often a paradox to ethnic cleansing. Many who witness violence are shocked not just at the horrors of killing and rape, but because they remember previously close or at least amicable relations between victims and perpetrators, but at the very same time they may stress a different picture of old tensions.

Secondly, a policy of combating insurgency by attacking villages and displacing civilians can be entirely consistent with ethnic cleansing if the goal of such a policy is to drive out large numbers of civilians and remake ethnic and or religious maps.
- - -



Photo: Historian Benjamin Lieberman is professor of history at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts and a graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago. His recent lecture at Clark University focused on the topic of his new book - the first comprehensive history of ethnic cleansing in Europe - entitled Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe (Ivan R. Dee, Publisher). He has also written From Recovery to Catastrophe, a study of Weimar Germany. He lives in Maynard, Massachusetts, USA.
- - -

It's hell in Darfur, but is it genocide? The Sudanese government has targeted villagers, but not a whole race.
by Michael Clough
Los Angeles Times May 14, 2006

GENOCIDE IS not being committed in Darfur. This is not a popular position, I know. But to call what's happening there "genocide" when it's not is unlikely to help the people of Darfur - and could even make it harder to mobilize the public to respond to similar crises in the future.

For 25 years, I've studied and written about conflicts, human rights catastrophes and humanitarian emergencies in Africa. I'm all too familiar with the many official excuses for inaction that can be given while millions of civilians die. Sadly, one of the reasons I prefer working as an attorney for prisoners on death row, rather than as a foreign policy analyst, is that I find it far less depressing than trying to change U.S. policy toward Africa.

The debate about what to do in Darfur - and the use of anti-genocide rhetoric to arouse public concern - has only deepened my misgivings about the way the United States responds to African crises.

From September 2004 to July 2005, I worked as Human Rights Watch's interim advocacy director for Africa, helping to publicize the organization's findings in Darfur. Beginning in February 2004, Human Rights Watch researchers documented horrifying abuses and released evidence that the Sudanese government was responsible for them.

There are no reliable estimates of how many Africans have died in Darfur. Including those killed in attacks and those who have died from disease or malnutrition, the total could be as high as 200,000.

As with so many tragedies in Africa, no one had heard of Darfur until U.N. humanitarian organizations began reporting that hundreds of thousands of civilians had been driven out of their villages. If the world had noticed and responded in early 2003, when the Sudanese government first armed groups of Arab nomads, known as janjaweed, and ordered them to attack villages suspected of harboring antigovernment rebels, the question of genocide would have never arisen - and thousands could have been saved.

But it wasn't until December 2003 that U.N. relief officials warned about an impending humanitarian disaster in Darfur. Soon after, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported that janjaweed, in concert with Sudanese military units, were slaughtering and displacing villagers.

Both organizations immediately urged the United Nations, the U.S. and other major powers to pressure the Sudanese government to call off the attacks and provide relief to victims flowing into refugee camps in Chad. But lawyers and researchers within Human Rights Watch (and probably Amnesty International) concluded that the events in Darfur did not rise to the level of genocide, a legal designation in international law, because there was no proof of "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such."

That didn't stop activists - inspired in part by Samantha Power's book, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" - from invoking the emotive power of the word "genocide" to mobilize the international community. They buttressed their case by drawing attention to the fact that the atrocities in Darfur were coming to light as the world was holding ceremonies commemorating the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

In September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, after hearing from a team of lawyers and investigators sent to Darfur by the State Department, famously declared that "genocide has been committed in Darfur." Congress had already done so.

But the pattern of human rights abuses in Darfur is very different from what happened in Rwanda. As Alison Des Forges, a senior advisor to the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, and others have documented, the slaughter in Rwanda was carefully planned and ruthlessly carried out in a matter of weeks; the clear intent was to eliminate the Tutsi population of Rwanda. In all, 800,000 people were butchered.

In Darfur, the Sudanese government has targeted African villagers. But it is not clear that the government's intent is to wipe out these Africans. The assaults followed successful rebel attacks on some government military facilities. In unleashing janjaweed and targeting the rebels' base of support, the government used the same counterinsurgency tactics it employed in a decades-old war against southerners. (Darfur is in eastern Sudan.) The Sudanese government is certainly not the first to combat an insurgency by attacking sympathetic villages and displacing civilians.

Paradoxically, labeling the atrocities in Darfur genocide may exacerbate the underlying conflict and make it more difficult to create the conditions necessary for civilians to return and live in peace.

Alex De Waal, an activist, longtime expert on Darfur and advisor to the African Union, has written that ethnic, tribal and racial lines in Darfur have been far more malleable than the genocide characterization suggests. Before Darfur, there had been conflicts between janjaweed's nomadic Arabs and the African pastoral tribes that support the rebels. But these clashes were chiefly the result of environmental pressures and competition for land, not deep-seated ethnic or racial animosities. And, until 2003, Darfur was relatively peaceful.

BY CONTRAST, the genocide in Rwanda was presaged by a history of attempts by Hutus and Tutsis to slaughter each other. Even so, many scholars have attributed the tribes' antagonism to colonial policies that reinforced the ethnic dimension of economic and political competition.

Over the long run, peace in Darfur will require Africans and Arabs to live together. Calling their conflict "genocidal" won't make that easier. In Rwanda, for instance, the Tutsi government that came to power after the genocide now uses the rhetoric of genocide to rationalize political repression.

There is also a grave risk in raising the specter of genocide to galvanize a global response to the human rights abuses in Darfur - the international community may be less inclined to react to serious abuses that don't rise to the level of genocide. This could be truly tragic because the only way to prevent genocide is to act at the first sign of threats to civilians.

Of the many tragedies of Darfur, one is that it had to be mislabeled a genocide before politicians and activists were stirred to respond.

Further reading

May 15 2006 Genocide: Lessons from the 20th Century - by Dr Matthew Levinger, director of the Academy for Genocide Prevention at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, in OneWorld - via CFD blog.

May 17 2006 The Daily Star Genocide: a crime lost in definition - by Jerome Mayer-Cantu, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley who closely follows genocide and international law issues. - via CFD.

UK's Benn says "This is a moment for Darfur"

The international community should add to the pressure on rebel factions to sign a peace deal for Darfur, UK International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said today - Reuters' Daniel Wallis:

"If you have won in essence what you're looking for, what possible justification is there to carry on fighting and prolong the suffering of the people of Darfur, who have suffered far too much already?" Benn said.

"We must try, even now, to persuade the other two rebel groups, in particular Abdel Wahed, because during the signing ceremony in Abuja some of his delegation came and said 'We think we should be signing', Benn said.

"This is a moment for Darfur and there is no doubt it has been international pressure that has brought us to this point," he told Reuters in northern Uganda, where he is visiting camps for people displaced by a separate conflict.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM UN's EGELAND: Abuja pact only hope for Darfur

Reuters report, just in:

The Darfur peace deal signed in Abuja last week is the only hope to end the conflict in Sudan's vast west and if it is not enforced the region will spin out of control, the top UN humanitarian official said today:

"If it is implemented, we (the UN and aid agencies) could start planning for recovery and a return home of the more than 2 million refugees," said Jan Egeland, the UN under-secretary for humanitarian affairs.

"If it is not, it will mean a downward spiral which will get totally out of control and go into the abyss," he added.

Photo: Jan Egeland, the UN top emergency relief coordinator, says he is optimistic the agreement to end the conflict in Darfur can work. But he warns of serious consequences, if it is not implemented. The UN official also appealed to Sudan's government to approve deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. See VOA report by Lisa Schlein 15 May 2006. (AP photo)

Further reports

May 15 2006 Reuters Get on board Darfur peace deal or become irrelevant: "Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the Council should take appropriate measures ... including requesting the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against them," Chair of AU Commission said in a statement. AU chief Darfur mediator warned Nur he would become irrelevant unless he accepted an agreement already signed by his rival Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the biggest SLA faction. "In every situation where people have not been on board, eventually they will have to come on board or become irrelevant," Salim Ahmed Salim told Reuters.

May 15 2006 Sudan Tribune SLA's Nur urges AU to consider its demands: In a letter sent yesterday to the Chair of AU Commission Oumar Konare, the leader of a faction of the main rebel SLA Abdelwahid al-Nur called the AU to put pressure on the Sudanese government to sign a supplementary document related to their demands - and also indicated the three demands of the faction (see report to read demands)

May 15 2006 Reuters/ST Sudanese govt rejects Darfur SLA-Nur demands: "We received a response from the Sudanese government and it was not positive enough for us to go ahead and sign," said Ibrahim Madibo, a close adviser to Nur who is still in the Nigerian capital Abuja, where the peace talks took place. Nur wanted the government to meet his key demands in an annex accord, after which he would sign the broader peace deal.



May 15 2006 Sudan Tribune AU raises sanction against holdout rebels, urges Sudan to accept UN force: The AU gave two holdout Darfur rebel groups a 24-hour deadline to sign a peace deal with Sudanese government or face UN sanctions. Also it urged Sudan to accept a UN force in Darfur. AU commission chair Konare said AU would ask the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on the JEM and a faction of the SLA unless they signed the deal by Tuesday, when it is set to be implemented. "I call on them to hasten to append their signatures, without any conditions, to the document, before its implementation on 16 May 2006," he told a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council.

May 15, 2006 BBC (Jonah Fisher) Can Darfur's peace survive? - No-one was expecting Darfur's peace agreement to bring about an immediate transformation on the ground. But the short time since the deal in Abuja have shown the size of the challenge ahead. "We need to survive the next few weeks and that is through the African Union and humanitarian activities," Mr Egeland said. "It's not over. We all need to seize the opportunity now to enforce peace." Sudan has yet to approve the sending of UN peacekeepers while funding shortages mean that Darfur's food rations for May have been cut in half.

Get on board Darfur peace deal or become irrelevant

The African Union ratcheted up the pressure on two rebel factions today to sign a peace agreement for Darfur, threatening international sanctions if they did not come around, Reuters' Tsegaye Tadesse reported - excerpt:

Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union (AU) commission, urged a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to sign the deal unconditionally.

"Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the Council should take appropriate measures ... including requesting the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions against them," he said in a statement.

The warning came as the AU's Peace and Security Council met in Addis Ababa to discuss how to push forward the peace process in Darfur. Konare called for more AU troops to be sent to Darfur and urged Khartoum to produce a plan to disarm pro-government militias.

In another sign of a concerted drive by the AU to pull the rebels into the deal, its chief Darfur mediator warned Nur he would become irrelevant unless he accepted an agreement already signed by his rival Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the biggest SLA faction.

"In every situation where people have not been on board, eventually they will have to come on board or become irrelevant," Salim Ahmed Salim told Reuters.

Mubarak: Egypt stands ready to help turn DPA to a reality

In a letter of commendation sent to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt underlined the important role, that Nigeria and its leadership have played to resolve the crisis in Darfur, AND/ThisDay reported May 15, 2006 - excerpt:

[President Mubarak said] "I wish to congratulate you on the successful conclusion of Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja. In this occasion, I have the pleasure and honor to convey to you and Nigerian people, Egypt's deep appreciation to all the efforts you exerted in order to help the parties reach such a historical agreement, especially your Excellency's personal involvement and dedication at the final critical moments".

He said that the international community would continue to put the Abuja agreement into practical measures by building up confidence among all the parties concerned, and emphasized his country's determination to contribute to the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts and its willingness to take part in the peacekeeping forces which will be stationed in the region.

"Allow me to assure you of Egypt's full commitment to a speedy restoration of peace, stability, and prosperity in Darfur". "Egypt stands ready to allocate as much resources and capabilities as it can during the coming period, in order to turn Darfur peace agreement to a reality, and to bring peace stability back to the people of Darfur", Mubarak added.

Note, the report explains a meeting will be held this week in New York for Darfur friends, namely Nigeria, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo and Libya with the five permanent member states in the UN Security Council to notify the UNSC of the agreement officially.

Also, in another development, Egypt has submitted an educational initiative for the African countries. The initiative aims at providing advanced education in Africa by offering 200 scholarships annually over a period of four years in the Egyptian universities for African youths especially from west and central Africa and the Nile basin countries.

Annan says timing critical for Darfur aid

In an editorial in Monday's Financial Times, Annan said peace in Darfur was fragile and there was "no time to lose". He said the only guarantor of security there, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), needed immediate help, Reuters reported 15 May 2006.

The AU Peace and Security Council was to meet in Addis Ababa today to discuss the next step in Darfur. The UN and western nations want the AU to turn over the Darfur peacekeeping operation to UN troops.

Sudan to give $700 mln for Dafur rehabilitation fund

Sudan will give 700 million dollars for the Darfur rehabilitation fund, a Sudanese minister said, the official SUNA reported. In doing so, Sudanese government aims to encourage the donors to extend their contributions for the fund, said The State Minister at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, Lual Deng, Saturday. Full report (Khartoum May 13) Sudan Tribune May 15, 2006.

Rebel JEM commanders in South Darfur say they want peace

Sudan Tribune report (Khartoum) 15 May 2006 says South Darfur province commanders from the rebel JEM called on the group's leader Khalil Ibrahim to sign the peace deal that was agreed in Abuja on May 5.

"The agreement puts an end to the suffering of the people of Darfur, an objective we are striving to achieve," SUNA quoted Abdelrahim Adam Abu Rishah, JEM Secretary for South Darfur, as saying.

A number of JEM field commanders in South Darfur issued a statement declaring their joining of "the peace parade" by approving the peace agreement, the state-run news agency said.

The South Darfur-based faction said their approval of the agreement "was a result of the tribal reconciliation that have created a desire for tribal coexistence in the state."

SLA's Nur still unwilling to join Darfur peace deal - No let up in push for him to join

Efforts to persuade a rebel leader from Sudan's Darfur region to join a peace deal were likely to continue beyond Monday's deadline because his refusal to sign poses a serious threat to the accord, diplomats said. Full report by Estelle Shirbon (Reuters) May 14, 2006.

Also, see copy of petition in previous entry here below.

Petition by Darfur Daily News blog

Darfur Daily News blog claims to be, quote "a reliable source of news and information about what is going on in Darfur at the moment, located in The Hague."

The blog author of Darfur Daily News has organised a petition online targeted at UN, EU, AU, USA, UK, Civil Society, H Rights, International Community.

Entitled "Complete, Inclusive and Comprehensive Peace for Darfur", the petition has 82 signatures to date - goal is 400,000.

Message appears to be: "The door for comprehensive and complete peace in Darfur should be left open."

Note, at the moment Darfur Daily News' petition page hosted at thePetitionSite.com is temporarily unavailable, so I am copying the page of demands and publishing it in full at Ethiopia Watch, the sister blog of Sudan Watch.

If you are unable to view Darfur Daily News blog's petition at www.thepetitionsite.com, please click here.