What's going on? AU Mission in Darfur costs $1 billion a year - SA troops in Darfur still waiting to be paid: EU said there was no delay in funding

If this story by Mike Cherney (IOL/The Star June 1, 2006) is true, it's outrageous. Imagine what it must be doing to troop morale. Journalists and activists ought to back the peacekeepers in Darfur and concentrate on what is really going on instead of churning propaganda, denigrating AU capability and feeding the guerillas by undermining the Darfur peace process. The only solution to the war in Darfur is for the guerillas to stop fighting and start negotiating after they have committed to a ceasefire peace agreement. If infighting and disregard of deadlines, ceasefires and peace agreements is how they conduct themselves outside of government, imagine how fit they are to govern and fairly represent "their" people. Ruthless, greedy power crazies - inexperienced in government - makes them seem worse than the regime they are fighting. Never mind the millions of displaced uneducated women and children they are using as expendable pawns in their power game. The rebel leaders who think they are fighting a noble cause are deluded gangsters. Even Hitler cared for "his" people. After three years of fighting and killing, and all of the work that has gone into the Darfur peace deal, the dissidents appear totally self serving with no care for anyone except themselves and what they can get: all or nothing. How else could they make a living and hit the jackpot big time? $1 billion a year for several thousand peacekeepers? Does that mean $2 billion a year for 14,000 troops? Imagine the number of water pumps and school books that could be purchased with such sums of money. If those guerilla faced cretinous lowlifes don't join the peace deal, they should be arrested and put on trial for crimes against humanity. Excerpt:

South Africa's peacekeepers in Darfur have not been paid - again.

It has been two months since any soldier with the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur has received a salary, Colonel Norman Yengeni, South Africa's military attache to the AU, said this week.

The force experienced another delay in salary payments last year, he said.

Officials were unclear as to why the salary payments were overdue, saying the AU's processing of funds from international donors was delayed.

The AU has about 6 200 troops and 800 civilian police in Darfur, where violence has killed 200 000 people and displaced 2,5-million since 2003. South Africa has contributed 376 soldiers and 126 police.

"The AU largely depends on donations," Yengeni said, adding that the salary delays had not affected the force's ability to function.

The peacekeeping operation in Darfur is largely dependent on donations from the United States, the European Union and elsewhere. From June last year until July this year, the mission is expected to cost nearly $1-billion (about R6,7-billion).

An AU official contacted by The Star did not respond to questions.

An SAPS officer who had served in Darfur and declined to be identified said South African officers working with the AU had not received payment for several months.

The officer also said some South African police had sustained injuries during riots at the displaced persons camps where they are based.

The officer said police were paid $90 (about R590) a day. The delays had also lowered morale, the officer said.

Dennis Adriao, a spokesperson for the SAPS, said there had been no reports of injuries, and he could not say when officers would get their salaries.

The AU mission, which began in 2004, was extended for another six months in April. Officials have been pushing for the mission to be taken over by the UN, which could provide better equipped troops and funding.

Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, said the AU could have extended the mission faster than Western donors approved more funding, causing the delay in salary payments.

"I don't think there is any foul play in this, it's just a question of waiting for funding," he said.

Dan Biers, a spokesperson at the US embassy in Pretoria, said the EU was responsible for paying the allowances of AU troops. But a spokesperson at the EU said there was no delay in funding.

"The commitment was made under a 'retroactivity clause' which permits funding, starting from the official date of the AU request, to ensure that no gap occurs," said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a spokesperson for the EU's commissioner for development and humanitarian aid.

"We encourage other donors to follow the EU Commission's example and provide the AU with additional funding to cover the extension of their mission."

United Nations Sudan Situation Report 31 May 2006

United Nations Sudan Situation Report 31 May 2006 - excerpts:

North Darfur
On 29 May, an NGO vehicle was carjacked by an unidentified armed man in Mallit (60 km Northeast Al Fasher) town. No further information is available.

South Darfur
Demonstration in Otash IDP camp results in one IDP killed. Two IDPs killed in shooting incident in Kalma IDP camp

West Darfur
From 26 to 29 May, repeated attacks by the Abbala nomads on villages. On 26 May, they attacked the Bagara tribes and left nine dead and others wounded. The Abbala tribe attacked the villages of Karegkereg, Ambara, Tama and Gimir. Reportedly, 14 people were killed; The Abbala nomads allegedly are continuing north towards Zalingei. In preparation for further clashes, Njumbeil villagers reportedly contacted their tribe clans in Zalingei.

On 28 May, UN agencies and NGOs met with the Khartoum HAC delegation currently in Geneina. The meeting focused on drafting an emergency three month plan related to the implementation of the DPA.

On 30 May, the IDPs in Zalingei held peaceful demonstrations for the fourth day denouncing the DPA.

Southern Sudan
SPLA Order for the disarmament and withdrawal of SPLA soldiers in Yei. On 30 May, UNMIS Nyala held a meeting with the recently appointed King of the Massaliet to discuss his inaccessibility to Gereida. The King explained that once he has access to his land and people, the people of Massaliet will have the chance to discuss issues freely and choose their own representative once peace is reached.

Khartoum and North Sudan
UNMIS monitors the recent organized returns of 900 returnees who arrived in Kadugli on 24 May, and about 300 returnees are yet to be transported to their final destinations.

Eastern Sudan
NSTR

Abyei, Blue Nile and South Kordofan
No casualties reported

Sudan's ex-rebel Kiir to meet SLM/A's Minnawi and Nur (and maybe JEM leader) within 72 hours - SPLM

June 1, 2006 Sudan Tribune report (Khartoum) June 1, 2006:

Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of SPLM at the National Assembly, Yasir Arman, said that the First Vice-President and Chairman of the SPLM, Salva Kiir, would meet within the coming 72 hours in Yei town in south Sudan with the leaders of SLM, Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, and Minni Minawi, in the presence of leaderships of Darfur.

He did not rule out participation of the leader of the JEM, Khalil Ibrahim, in Yei meeting.

Shortly before the deadline expired, the AU spokesperson Nourredine Mezni said efforts were still underway by southern Sudan ex-rebel chief, now Sudanese First Vice-President, Salva Kiir to "persuade those who did not sign" the pact to do so.

Despite Slovene efforts, Darfur JEM refuses to sign peace

June 1, 2006 SudanTribune article - excerpt:

The JEM leader, Khalil Ibrahim, thanked Drnovsek for his efforts, but said that the Abuja accord was unacceptable.

"The agreement is unacceptable for the people of Darfur and Sudan, for it undermines and ignores Darfur's identity," he said. Many big countries have backed it, not because it is good but because Darfur has become a playground for conflicting political and economic interests, Khalil added.

JEM is nevertheless willing to continue with talks and requests more concessions. "We urge the UN and the EU not to close the door to peace in Darfur; don't consider this document as something vital, something which cannot be changed," Khalil explained.

Drnovsek said he agreed with Khalil that the accord could be improved, but the fact of the matter is that the international community has set a deadline which expires at midnight, so he advised the JEM to sign the document despite its shortcomings.

Deadline for Darfur peace deal passes - AU drawing up new document to allow dissident factions and commanders to sign peace deal and escape sanctions

From The Daily Telegraph correspondents in Addis Ababa June 1, 2006:

A MIDNIGHT African Union deadline for holdout Darfur rebels to agree to a peace deal for the troubled western Sudanese region passed with no new signatories, AU officials said today.

"No one has called to say they will sign but they know how to reach us," a senior AU official said at the bloc's headquarters in Addis Ababa after the (7am Thursday AEST) deadline passed.

"We'll see what happens (Thursday) morning and consider it."

Noureddine Mezni, a spokesman for the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS), said in Khartoum that AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare Konare would today "indicate the next steps to be taken".

Shortly before the deadline expired, Mr Mezni said efforts were still under way by southern Sudan ex-rebel chief, now Sudanese First Vice President, Salva Kiir to "persuade those who did not sign" the pact to do so.

A source close to the negotiations said Mr Kiir had received a delegation led by Konare's Sudan envoy, Baba Gana Kingibe, and that he would himself soon host talks between the AU and holdout rebels in the south of the country.

Yesterday, AU officials in Addis Ababa said a group claiming to represent a JEM splinter faction had arrived there to meet officials just hours before the deadline.

"We have been approached by a certain number of groups who are favourable to the DPA," AU Peace and Security Council commissioner Said Djinnit told reporters, referring to the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Diplomats in the Ethiopian capital said the alleged JEM dissidents were prepared to sign the deal even after a spokesman for the group said it could not agree unless substantial changes were made.

Mr Mezni said AU officials were drawing up a new document that would allow dissident factions and commanders to escape sanctions.

"We are finalising a different document, a mechanism will be put in place to receive the signatures of groups and individuals who have chosen the path of peace," he said.

A source close to the AU said seven field commanders from Abdel Wahid Mohammed al-Nur's holdout SLM faction had arrived in Addis Ababa to join the peace process "and before that many others did the same".

Mr Nur himself has said he will not sign unless Khartoum agrees to pay compensation and give his SLM wing a greater security role and a say in local and federal government.

Officials involved in the peace effort have warned Nur he risks becoming "irrelevant" if he does not sign, but his group's absence from the accord will likely plunge Darfur into further violence.

Strategic Victimhood in Sudan (by Alan Kuperman)

Note this extraordinary opinion piece in the New York Times May 31, 2006 by Alan J Kuperman, assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas and editor of "Gambling on Humanitarian Intervention: Moral Hazard, Rebellion and Civil War" - copied here below in full, with many thanks to Eric at Passion of the Present. I agree with every word of it. As I am no writer, it is comforting for me to at long last see such an eloquently written piece echoing what I have clumsily banged on about, alone here at Sudan Watch, for so long.

"Strategic Victimhood in Sudan" by Alan Kuperman

THOUSANDS of Americans who wear green wristbands and demand military intervention to stop Sudan's Arab government from perpetrating genocide against black tribes in Darfur must be perplexed by recent developments.

Without such intervention, Sudan's government last month agreed to a peace accord pledging to disarm Arab janjaweed militias and resettle displaced civilians. By contrast, Darfur's black rebels, who are touted by the wristband crowd as freedom fighters, rejected the deal because it did not give them full regional control. Put simply, the rebels were willing to let genocide continue against their own people rather than compromise their demand for power.

International mediators were shamefaced. They had presented the plan as take it or leave it, to compel Khartoum's acceptance. But now the ostensible representatives of the victims were balking. Embarrassed American officials were forced to ask Sudan for further concessions beyond the ultimatum that it had already accepted.

Fortunately, Khartoum again acquiesced. But two of Darfur's three main rebel groups still rejected peace. Frustrated American negotiators accentuated the positive - the strongest rebel group did sign - and expressed hope that the dissenters would soon join.

But that hope was crushed last week when the rebels viciously turned on each other. As this newspaper reported, "The rebels have unleashed a tide of violence against the very civilians they once joined forces to protect."

Seemingly bizarre, this rejection of peace by factions claiming to seek it is actually revelatory. It helps explain why violence originally broke out in Darfur, how the Save Darfur movement unintentionally poured fuel on the fire, and what can be done to stanch genocidal violence in Sudan and elsewhere.

Darfur was never the simplistic morality tale purveyed by the news media and humanitarian organizations. The region's blacks, painted as long-suffering victims, actually were the oppressors less than two decades ago - denying Arab nomads access to grazing areas essential to their survival. Violence was initiated not by Arab militias but by the black rebels who in 2003 attacked police and military installations. The most extreme Islamists are not in the government but in a faction of the rebels sponsored by former Deputy Prime Minister Hassan al-Turabi, after he was expelled from the regime. Cease-fires often have been violated first by the rebels, not the government, which has pledged repeatedly to admit international peacekeepers if the rebels halt their attacks.

This reality has been obscured by Sudan's criminally irresponsible reaction to the rebellion: arming militias to carry out a scorched-earth counterinsurgency. These Arab forces, who already resented the black tribes over past land disputes and recent attacks, were only too happy to rape and pillage any village suspected of supporting the rebels.

In light of janjaweed atrocities, it is natural to romanticize the other side as freedom fighters. But Darfur's rebels do not deserve that title. They took up arms not to stop genocide - which erupted only after they rebelled - but to gain tribal domination.

The strongest faction, representing the minority Zaghawa tribe, signed the sweetened peace deal in hopes of legitimizing its claim to control Darfur. But that claim is vehemently opposed by rebels representing the larger Fur tribe. Such internecine disputes only recently hit the headlines, but the rebels have long wasted resources fighting each other rather than protecting their people.

Advocates of intervention play down rebel responsibility because it is easier to build support for stopping genocide than for becoming entangled in yet another messy civil war. But their persistent calls for intervention have actually worsened the violence.

The rebels, much weaker than the government, would logically have sued for peace long ago. Because of the Save Darfur movement, however, the rebels believe that the longer they provoke genocidal retaliation, the more the West will pressure Sudan to hand them control of the region. Sadly, this message was reinforced when the rebels' initial rejection of peace last month was rewarded by American officials' extracting further concessions from Khartoum.

The key to rescuing Darfur is to reverse these perverse incentives. Spoiler rebels should be told that the game is over, and that further resistance will no longer be rewarded but punished by the loss of posts reserved for them in the peace agreement.

Ultimately, if the rebels refuse, military force will be required to defeat them. But this is no job for United Nations peacekeepers. Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia show that even the United States military cannot stamp out Islamic rebels on their home turf; second-rate international troops would stand even less chance.

Rather, we should let Sudan's army handle any recalcitrant rebels, on condition that it eschew war crimes. This option will be distasteful to many, but Sudan has signed a peace treaty, so it deserves the right to defend its sovereignty against rebels who refuse to, so long as it observes the treaty and the laws of war.

Indeed, to avoid further catastrophes like Darfur, the United States should announce a policy of never intervening to help provocative rebels, diplomatically or militarily, so long as opposing armies avoid excessive retaliation. This would encourage restraint on both sides. Instead we should redirect intervention resources to support "people power" movements that pursue change peacefully, as they have done successfully over the past two decades in the Philippines, Indonesia, Serbia and elsewhere.

America, born in revolution, has a soft spot for rebels who claim to be freedom fighters, including those in Darfur. But to reduce genocidal violence, we must withhold support for the cynical provocations of militants who bear little resemblance to our founders.
- - -

Some reactions

May 31 2006 A Newer World - Spinning Darfur: Professor Kuperman, are you being paid to spin for Sudan's theocratic dictatorship? Or are you just drunk on anti-interventionism? What gives?

May 31 2006 Drima of The Sudanese Thinker: Strategic Victimhood In Sudan (A MUST READ): The following is a superbly written article that I checked today on Sudan Watch. I absolutely love it. It explains everything that Sudan Watch, Passion of The Present and I myself have been trying so hard to get across. The damn media talks about the Darfur conflict like they know it all when infact they got so many of their "facts" wrong. At the end of the day it's you the readers who end up getting distorted information. Please read it and enlighten yourselves to what is truly happening. The rebels are neither heroes nor victims in this tragedy. They are a sick and greedy bunch of people whom the international community shouldn't sympathize them.

June 1, 2006 Coalition for Darfur - Theory vs. Reality: excerpts and links to responses by NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof and Jerry Fowler of VOICES ON GENOCIDE PREVENTION.

[Sudan Watch Ed: Note how Fowler belittles Kuperman as 'a young academic with an iffy academic theory'. Is Fowler saying we all have to be old academics with sound theories to be entitled to an opinion? Old non academic Kristof opines: "First, of course it's more complicated than it seems at first. There are layers and layers of complexity to Darfur (although it's not clear to me that the author has ever actually been to Darfur to try to peel them away)." Is Kristof saying we all have to visit Darfur to be entitled to have an opinion on the war?]

June 2 2006 Jerry Fowler's blog entry Avid Readers says Alan Kuperman's op-ed in the New York Times found one appreciative audience: the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. They've posted it on their home page.

June 1 2006 Bitter Lemon: Personally, I hold George Clooney Responsible for the Genocide: Save Darfur movement has not discussed resolving the political crisis in Darfur, but simply stopping the Sudanese government from slaughtering their own people.

May 31 2006 Random Voices: Kuperman has no kind words for the Darfur rebels.

May 31 2006 Tas of Louded Mouth - Alan Kuperman needs to be smacked: Hey Kupster, maybe if the United Nations and western powers had listened to the Save Darfur movement and taken the crisis as a serious problem sooner, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But the fact is that they didn't; nobody did.

May 31 2006 American Scream - Men With Guns: While I do have an objection to this piece because it obstinately argues that we should do nothing, and everything will magically work out, it does have a point.

May 31 2006 Minerva - Epistemic Conditions For Foreign Engagement: What is compelling about his answer I think is less that it is obviously the right solution (it doesn't sound bad to me) but that it is reversable and causes less damage than humanitarian intervention. It is cautious. If there's anything you should be when it comes to giving guns to a bunch of people and sending them to face off with other people with guns, it's cautious. [Edit] I remember NPR interviewing a woman--someone in Iraq, I can't remember when or how--and she predicted virtually the exact chain of events that left us where we are now. I'm not talking about an expert. I'm talking about someone who sounded frightened, someone very ordinary, maybe even uneducated. Much of what she said--the resentment of the occupation, the internal turmoil between Sunni and Shia, the descent into chaotic violence--were things that seemed to me likely to happen.

May 31 2006 dcat - Touring Africa: Alan Kuperman writes in a Times op-ed piece that Americans misunderstand the conflict in Darfur and thus our solutions are simplistic. While Kuperman is right about Americans, his own proposed solutions are both too sanguine and too wrong. [Edit] While he is correct in his assertion that most of the rebel groups are hardly rife with good guys, any military force worth its salt would go in with the goal of stopping violence on all sides without taking simplistic dualities of good guys and bad guys.

May 31 2006 Just World News by Helena Cobban - Countering Darfur's anti-humane rebels: Put simply, the rebels were willing to let genocide continue against their own people rather than compromise their demand for power. This is a very strong statement of a case I've been making -- in much more tentative terms -- here on JWN over the past few weeks. Kuperman's conclusion is, "Ultimately, if the rebels refuse, military force will be required to defeat them." I disagree with this. I still maintain that there are always alternatives to the use of violence! ... Kuperman conclusion is this: we should let Sudan's army handle any recalcitrant rebels, on condition that it eschew war crimes. I agree, in general, with the argument that Sudan has a right to exercise its own national soveriegnty. ... Kuperman also makes a very good longer-range argument regarding the direction of US foreign policy. ... I am just glad to see Alan Kuperman entering the debate on Darfur with this feisty and generally strongly reasoned article.

May 31 2006 Compartmentalizing: I haven't read it, but I bet it's very good. A NYT op-ed about Darfur by Alan J Kuperman.

May 31 2006 Empire of Dirt - The Nail On The Head: Alan J Kuperman On Darfur: Occasionally, I come across an article that seems to have resulted from the writer's actually doing some thinking, rather than just rehashing some well-worn facts and tired cliches. It doesn't happen very often because new ideas are just few and far between, it seems. Anyway, in today's New York Times, Alan J. Kuperman really made me think anew about the Darfur situation. I'm no expert, so I don't know whether Kuperman is right in his prescription, but I do know that this is the type of writing that makes me sit up and take notice, for Kuperman demonstrates a refusal to bow before sacred cows and an unashamed devotion to the search for truth. Such concern for inquiry is today in short supply and therefore valued all the more by your Emperor.

May 31 2006 LookSmart's Furl - Strategic Victimhood in Sudan - Gives a little history on the Darfur conflict, which apparently isn't quite so one-sided as Kristof et al have led one to believe.

May 31 2006 Greg's Opinion: Alan Kuperman goes contrarian, pointing out that the Sudanese rebel groups aren't the clean-cut innocents that some might wish them to be. Focusing on Kuperman's take, I think it's worth pointing out that many genocides involve combatants on two sides that are rarely combating angelically. The problem is that that does NOT negate the obviousness of genocide. It does nothing to make the case against humanitarian assistance, if not placing boots on the ground to prevent more killing. The current rise of contrarian thought on Sudan is a bit surprising, I don't pretend to know what to make of it. But I would hope that it gets relegated to the asterisk mark of human thought that it deserves.

June 1 2006 Global Paradigms by Dr Leon Hadar, Cato Institute - The road to hell is paved with good intentions: It was interesting to read an op-ed in the New York Times this week Strategic Victimhood in Sudan in which the author Alan J. Kuperman deconstructs Darfour-as-a-Morality-Play and explains what we libertarians have known for quite a long time, that when it comes to most of these civil war in Third World spots, it's all about power, stupid!

May 31 2006 Life's Not That Simple - choosing the lesser of two evils.: one thing i've learnt is that things are never so simple ... no wonder the African Union was reluctant to let UN peacekeeping forces take over..

Jun 2 2006 CJR Daily - =eporter's Layered, Nuanced Work from Darfur

Jun 2 2006 Aplia Econ Blog - News for Economics Students: The Economics of Genocide

Jun 3 2006 The Human Province - Kuperman and "provoking genocie"

June 12 2006 Sudan Tribune Bill Andress Strategic victimhood in Sudan - A response: Tribal conflict is a blemish on all of Sudan just as it is on much of the African continent, but it is not the main issue here. [Sudan Watch ed: What a load of twaddle. By the way, the Sudan Tribune published a response to Kuperman's piece but not the piece itself. Lately, I've found Sudan Tribune (France based, I think) to be subtley biased in its selection of reports: seems to me, Sudan Tribune editors are pro rebel]

Nasty Eric 'insurgent loving' Reeves uses his poison pen to hurl insults at David Rieff (and everyone else except the rebels)

Eric Reeves in A reply to David Rieff asks:

What would be the consequences of humanitarian intervention in Darfur, with all necessary military resources?

And answers twice, saying "there [is] much we simply cannot know in advance" ..."there is much that simply can't be known now about the consequences of intervention."

Mar 3 2006 Give peace a chance: Sending UN into Darfur is no solution - Janjaweed will be very tough to stop by force alone (Julie Flint)

May 12 2006 Sudan's top diplomat in Washington calls for international community to call for measures against those who attempt to undercut Darfur peace accord

May 23 2006 Rebels' rivalry subverts hope for Darfur peace

May 27 2006 Eric Reeves says only NATO military action can save Darfur

May 28 2006 Jan Pronk blogs the big question: Will the UN decide to send a peace keeping force?

May 30 2006 Misinformation about Darfur Peace Agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU peacekeepers - AU media campaign urges Darfuris to support peace

May 30 2006 UN's Egeland warns against Western military force in Darfur: "AU force has to be strengthened, it's them that we have to empower"

Apr 1 2006 Sudanese rebel group JEM dismisses peace talks and calls for Darfur's sovereignty: The chair of Darfur rebels group JEM, Khalil Mohammed, on Wednesday dismissed Darfur peace talks as "a waste of time, energy and resources of stakeholders." He said the peace talks would not achieve any meaningful result as they were "merely going in circles." Mohammed said that if the African Union's April deadline for peace in the region lapsed without success, "the people of Darfur will be left with no choice other than to ask for self-determination". "If we do not get our own sovereignty, the only alternative is a forceful change of the government in Khartoum," Chairman of Darfur rebel group JEM threatened.

May 2 2006 SLM/A Open letter to the World on Darfur Peace Agreement

May 31 2006 blog entry by Tas at Loaded Mouth: Alan Kuperman needs to be smacked

Norwegian Refugee Council returns to Darfur after eviction

Today NRC finalised the negotiations to regain access to perform humanitarian work in Darfur. On 5 April, NRC was forced to suspend all aid work in the region after being evicted by the Sudanese authorities.

For two months NRC has been hindered from distributing food to 50 000 people and co-ordinating Kalma, the largest camp in Darfur, which shelters approx. 100 000 internally displaced persons. - Reuters May 31, 2006.

German diplomat plays down military role in Sudan

Reuters report May 31, 2006 - excerpt:

"This is not a question that is being posed at the moment," Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler told Reuters in an interview, when asked whether Germany could send troops to Sudan as part of a possible UN peacekeeping force later this year.

Erler, who visited Darfur in recent weeks, said that before any discussion of troops could take place, it needed to be established whether a peace deal for the region had sufficient political and popular support.

He said his visit had given him the impression that support was lacking and suggested Germany could play a political role in helping Sudan -- by broadening support for a peace deal to help pave the way for a UN force.

AU looking at a way to accept signature of new JEM splinter faction wanting to sign Darfur Peace Agreement

African foreign ministers met Wednesday hours ahead of a deadline for holdout Sudanese rebels to sign an agreement meant to end the Darfur crisis, AP/ST reported today - excerpt:

Nigerian FM Oluyemi Adeniji, chairing a meeting of AU's Peace and Security Council, was cautious, saying he hoped the holdout insurgents would join the deal before the midnight (22:00 GMT) deadline.

"I hope they will consider signing the agreement," Adeniji said. "We will have to wait and see how the response is later today."

Representatives of Darfur rebel factions are in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, today, "but I'm not sure anything will happen before the end of the day," the AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit told The Associated Press.

According to an unsourced report at Sudan Tribune May 31, 2006 dissidents from JEM rebel group may sign the Darfur peace deal diplomats said Wednesday. Excerpt:

A group claiming to represent a splinter faction of Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) arrived at AU headquarters here seeking to meet officials just hours before the midnight expiration of the deadline, they said.

AU Peace and Security Council commissioner Said Djinnit confirmed that a number of Darfur minority groups, including members of the JEM, had contacted the pan-African body to say they wanted to sign the deal.

"We have been approached by a certain number of groups who are favorable to the DPA," he told reporters, referring to the Darfur Peace Agreement.

"Until the expiration of the deadline, we are hopeful the leaders of the (holdout) rebel groups will sign the peace deal," he said.

The identities of the alleged JEM dissidents were not immediately clear but diplomats said they were ready to sign the May 5 peace agreement, which was already signed by a faction of Darfur's Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).

"The dissident faction members of the JEM came here to sign, but they cannot sign today unless their leaders come," an African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"If their leaders don't show up, they are hoping to sign tomorrow if the AU will accept their signature as a faction," a second African diplomat said. "The AU is now looking at some mechanism to accept the signature of the faction.

The diplomats said the leaders of the group - whose identities were also not immediately clear - were expected in Addis Ababa late Wednesday or Thursday.

Slovenia says JEM needs to stay in the Darfur peace process - JEM leadership will have to make a decision in Slovenia

Unsourced Sudan Tribune report Darfur rebel JEM seeks Slovenian mediation May 31, 2006 (LJUBLJANA) - excerpt:

The Slovenian president held talks here with the chief negotiator for the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Ahmed Tugod Lissan, and a former governor of Darfur Ahmed Diraige.

Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) needs to "stay in the game", in the Darfur peace process, President Janez Drnovsek told the press after meeting JEM representatives in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

According to the Slovenian president, it is difficult to say whether there will be any breakthrough tomorrow, as JEM maintains that it will not sign the proposed peace agreement to end the bloody three-year conflict.

"We will try to find a formula to prevent an increase in tensions," Drnovsek also said after the meeting, which is to resume on Wednesday.

The president held talks with the chief JEM negotiator, Ahmed Tugod Lissan, member of the JEM leadership Abdullahi Osman El-Tom, and Ahmed Diraige, the chairman of the Federal Democratic Alliance and former Darfur governor.

In Drnovsek's view, the only way for the JEM to sign the peace deal is for the group to say what reservations they have about the agreement. "The JEM leadership will have to make a decision in Slovenia," he stressed.

Diraige shared Drnovsek's view, labeling JEM’s participation in the peace process as crucial. Although Diraige as a representative of an all-Sudanese party is not directly involved in the Darfur peace process, he was pleased to have had an opportunity to talk to the JEM.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Drnovsek, Diraige expressed hope that the African mediators will extend the deadline for the signing of the peace accord, and find an acceptable solution which will not lead to increased tensions.

He used the opportunity to thank Slovenia for its support and help for the people in Darfur, and praised Drnovsek for his efforts.

Meanwhile, asked why representatives of the SLM al-Nur faction have not arrived for talks as announced, Drnovsek said that they were initially very interested in coming; yet, he has not heard anything from them since Monday.

The daily Dnevnik said yesterday that the absence of the SLM was a result of pressure from Great Britain and the US. The paper says that the special EU representative for Sudan, Marcel Le Roi, would also be present at the talks.

Drnovsek moreover explained that beside the JEM and the SLM, representatives of the Sudanese government were also invited to today's talks, however, they did not respond to the invitation.

The president's office said earlier today that the head of the JEM Ibrahim Khalil was expected to arrive in Slovenia on Wednesday.

UPDATE: May 31 2006 - JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim arrived in Slovenia today; Sudan Tribune report - Slovenia wants Darfur rebel JEM to sign peace deal - excerpt:

Drnovsek's recent interest in Darfur and efforts to present himself as an international champion of the weak and the poor have baffled some in Slovenia, once part of Yugoslavia. He left his party, the Liberal Democrats, and established his own Movement for Justice and Development.

His political shift over the last year coincided with other changes. He became a vegetarian, moved from the capital, Ljubljana, to a remote village where he follows a careful diet and bakes his own bread, and has traveled to India to study meditation.

Darfur SLM/A leaders Minnawi and Nur to meet Salva Kiir in South Sudan

According to the Sudan Tribune today, SLM/A faction leader al-Nur, who is currently in Nairobi, said he would be heading to southern Sudan in the next two days to meet the First Vice-President, Salva Kiir. Report excerpt:

Leaders of the Sudan Liberation Movement will meet the Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir in the capital of the southern Sudan Juba, a leader of a faction of the rebel movement said yesterday.

Al Nur said he received a personal invitation from him to discuss the Darfur issue as well as the SLM stance regarding the Abuja agreement.

He said that he received a telephone call from the first vice-president in which he invited him and Mani Arkoi Minawi to visit the south to discuss the Abuja agreement.

The rebel leader reiterated that his party would stick to its position not to sign the agreement if the inclusion of an additional paper to resolve the fundamental issues like resources and power and compensation and the borders of the region would not be added.

"We have already reached a peace agreement for Darfur and we are waiting to convince those who have not joined the agreement to sign," he told a crowd of supporters in Khartoum.

"I have telephoned Abdelwahid al-Nur to convince him to do so, and I will talk to him again," he said. "I’m going to approach all those who have not signed the agreement and I will seek assistance from the United Nations."

Kiir mediates talks with Darfur insurgents and seeks assistance from UN - AU hopeful peace deal will be signed

Hours before the expiry of a May 31 deadline by the African Union to Darfur rebel groups still holding out of a peace deal, the pan-African body said Tuesday it was hopeful the insurgents would beat the ultimatum.

"Until the May 31 deadline expires, we are hopeful that the parties that have not signed will sign the Abuja peace agreement," AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said.

Full report Sudan Tribune May 30, 2006 (Khartoum).

Also, the above report says:

Sudanese First Vice President Silva Kiir, himself a former southern rebel who heads the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said that he had spoken to the head of the SLM splinter movement to try to convince him to sign up.

"We have already reached a peace agreement for Darfur and we are waiting to convince those who have not joined the agreement to sign," he told a crowd of supporters in Khartoum.

"I have telephoned Abdelwahid al-Nur to convince him to do so, and I will talk to him again," he said. "I'm going to approach all those who have not signed the agreement and I will seek assistance from the United Nations."

An SLM field commander in Darfur, Moussa Morneh, hinted there was a possibility of the SLM coming on board.

"Maybe we will sign but until now we did not yet receive the message from the chairman (Nur) for signing tomorrow," he told AFP by satellite telephone.

Nur himself, currently in Nairobi, was uncontactable.

Djinnit said that if they fail to append their signatures on the Darfur Peace Agreement, the bloc's Peace and Security council would meet to discuss measures to take against them.

"We hope that they will exemplify a historic responsibility and to realise that the agreement is a good basis to achieve peace in Darfur," Djinnit said.

"If not, the Peace and Security Council will meet to see what measures to take ... measures will be taken."

The AU special representative in Sudan Baba Gana Kingibe said efforts were continuing to woo the holdouts to sign the agreement.

"Concerted efforts are still being made with a view to convincing the hesitating Darfur movements' leaders of the need to append their signatures to the agreement," Kingibe said in a statement.

No Darfur force transition to UN operation without consent of Government of Sudan - Parry

British Ambassador Sir Emyr Jones Parry, who is leading the UN Security Council meeting in Khartoum next week, along with French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said he was working on the presumption Khartoum would agree to a UN force, Reuters Evelyn Leopold reported today. Excerpt:

"The signals are slightly confused but the latest contacts I have had suggest there has been agreement to the transition," he told reporters earlier. "Our working assumption is that there will be a transition to a United Nations operation but we will do that with the consent of the Government of Sudan."

Annan seemed to agree. "I think the Council's visit should also further facilitate matters, not only with reference to the assessment mission, but the actual deployment of the mission."

Note, the report tells us the largest UN peacekeeping mission of 17,000 troops and civilians is in the Congo at a cost of $1 billion a year.

UN's Egeland warns against Western military force in Darfur: "AU force has to be strengthened, it's them that we have to empower"

Hallelujah! At long last! What took him so long to say this loud and clear?! -- UN aid chief Jan Egeland has warned against deploying a Western military force, as some politicians in the US have suggested, AP/CNN reported today:

"We have to be careful to calibrate the humanitarian and security response so it doesn't provoke a reaction," Egeland said. "I'd like to see the African Union and the UN play the lead role there, NATO and other organizations can complement and very usefully complement our efforts." AU force has to be strengthened "It's them that we have to empower," Egeland said.

"We either get good news in the next few weeks, or we have catastrophic news later," Mr Egeland said in a telephone interview.

He said a major international conference would be held in June somewhere in Europe to try to boost humanitarian aid and assistance for the peacekeepers.

Egeland was in Brussels to meet top officials at NATO and the European Union. He said military powers should provide more resources to improve transport, communications, logistics, training and planning for the African peacekeepers.

However, he warned against deploying a Western military force, as some politicians in the United States have suggested.

Egeland said the Africans need more trucks and helicopters to move swiftly around the vast region. He said African nations also needed to provide more and better-trained troops and said the African Union should urgently bolster the force's mandate so it could better protect the local population.

"The African Union force has to be strengthened, it's them that we have to empower," Egeland insisted. "What can be provided by military organizations, by member states of the U.N. and NATO is very welcome."

Egeland recently told the U.N. Security Council that the number of displaced people in South Darfur had tripled in the last four months to between 100,000-120,000. He complained local officials have blocked fuel deliveries and the movement of aid workers has been severely restricted.

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THERE IS NO NEED TO FAIL THE AFRICAN UNION

May 30 2006 VOA report via Sudan Tribune - Sudan gives mixed signals on UN peacekeepers - excerpt:

With the peace agreement signed, the African Union says it wants the United Nations to take over peacekeeping responsibilities in Darfur. And so does the United States - the Bush administration wants an initial force of 14,000 UN peacekeepers to take up positions in Darfur. But in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, some government officials are saying not so fast. And they include the man who actually signed the peace agreement on the government's behalf.

Mazjoub Al Khalifa Ahmed says the only force bringing peace to Darfur should be an African one. "Let us come up with something workable and practical that will not jeopardize the sovereignty of the country, and will maintain peace on the ground. There is no need to fail the AU and make a transition from the AU to the UN."

Misinformation about Darfur Peace Agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU peacekeepers - AU media campaign urges Darfuris to support peace

Darfur violence increases as tomorrow's peace deadline nears, VOA Noel King in Khartoum reported today:

African Union (AU) spokesman Nourredine Mezni told VOA from Khartoum that misinformation about the peace agreement has led to violent reprisals against AU troops, although the AU is uncertain who the attackers are.

"There are some inciters from outside, from some parties, who are opposed to this peace agreement," said Mezni. "That is why we have these attacks against our troops in Darfur, because the population look at the troops as a symbol of the Darfur Peace Agreement. The attacks against humanitarian workers, attacks against AMIS [African Mission in Sudan] troops, demonstrations, because there is misinformation on this agreement."

Photo: African Union troops listen to the concerns of villagers in the village of Brikatouly in South Darfur, Sudan (VOA)

Mezni says the African Union is launching a media campaign to urge Darfuris to support the peace deal.

The AU Peace and Security Council is considering what actions to take if the two groups do not sign the agreement.

As noted here on May 18, 2006 JEM leader will have to leave Chad if he does not sign Darfur peace deal by May 31.

Photo: AU soldiers patrol the village of Kerkera, located between El-Fasher, the capital of northern Darfur and Kuma, further north, 18 May 2006. A Nigerian peacekeeper was killed in an ambush on Friday, and six others wounded. The same patrol was attacked again a day later, AU officials said. (AFP/File/Ramzi Haidar)

May 30 2006 Sudan Tribune report - AU briefs African, partner's envoys on Darfur peace implementation - excerpt:

The African Union held two meetings to enlighten African and AU partners Ambassadors in Khartoum on the implementation of Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). Chaired by Baba Gana Kingibe, the meetings involved African Ambassadors accredited to the Sudan led by their Dean the Libyan Ambassador Omar Khalifa Al Hamdy, as well as the representatives of the AU international partners.

The importance of explaining and popularising the DPA to the Darfurians on the main benefits of the Agreement which up to now have not been adequately presented to them was also highlighted.

UN force for Darfur must have clear mandate - Kiir

AFP report May 30, 2006 - excerpt:

Amid criticism of Khartoum for failing to agree to the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur to replace the under-manned African Union mission, Kiir said there had been "a misunderstanding".

"We did not refuse the UN force to come to Darfur," he said. "But they must come with a clear mandate."

He said the matter had been raised with UN troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi when he visited Sudan last week.

"Let us now have the dialogue... until UN forces will be prepared to take over from the African Union," he said.

Kiir said "the procedure they (the UN) took was rather wrong," referring to the fact the UN Security Council passed a resolution backing the Darfur mission that could be enforced militarily.

But President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, chief of the northern National Congress Party (NCP), said he had a different opinion, Reuters reported (Sudan ruling parties differ over UN Darfur force May 30, 2006 Opheera McDoom):

"We heard the words of Salva Kiir, and his opinion is different to mine," he told reporters late on Monday night. He declined to answer a question on why he opposed UN transition in Darfur.

Peace talks aimed at ending rebellion in eastern Sudan due to start in Asmara, Eritrea June 13

May 30 2006 AFP report Sudan ex-rebels show unity with Khartoum despite differences - excerpt:

Beshir also lambasted Washington for failing to lift sanctions imposed Khartoum's sponsorship of terrorism despite the signing of separate peace deals with the south and with one rebel group in the western Darfur region.

"They want to give us a new recipe, so they say now you have to solve the problem in the east," he said, referring to yet another Sudanese rebellion.

Talks aimed at ending that conflict are due to start in the Eritrean capital Asmara on June 13.

Interview with Dr Douglas H Johnson, expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission - Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal transferred to Darfur in 1960s

Click here to read IRIN's important interview May 29, 2006 with Dr Douglas H Johnson, an expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) and author of the book 'The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars'.



Photo: Dr Douglas H Johnson was a member of the Abyei Boundaries Commission (IRIN)

Note this excerpt from the interview:

There are many remaining border disputes. One is the Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal that was transferred to Darfur in the 1960s, which, by the terms of the CPA, and even by the terms of the Addis Ababa Agreement [which ended the first civil war] before, is supposed to be retransferred to Bahr El Ghazal.

And this excerpt from a blog entry I wrote August 2, 2004 while searching for reports online to try and understand what was going on in Darfur and why:

OIL AND MINERAL RICHES IN DARFUR
Uranium discovered in Hofrat Al Nihas:
France is interested in Uranium and has drilling rights in Sudan

At the moment I am searching for maps to pinpoint Hofrat Al Nihas. (Other names: Hofrat el Nahas, Hofrat en Nahas, Hufrat an Nahas, Hofrat en Nahas). I think it may be in South Darfur, maybe close to a border. Here's why:

Khaleej Times Online report (31 July 2004 by Amira Agarib and Charles Buth Diu - Sudan needs three years to disarm tribes) excerpt: "The oil and precious mineral resources such as uranium discovered in Hofrat Al Nihas have set off fierce competition between US and France. The US has started to invest in oil industry in Chad, France's former colony, while France Total company obtained drilling rights in Sudan."

Now I am wondering if Hofrat Al Nihas is the same place that Dr Johnson refers to as "Hofre Nahas." Just curious.

Further reading:

Aug 16 2005 Sudan: Abyei Boundary Commission report - Mistriyah in north Darfur, is the heartland of the powerful Arab Rizeigat tribe, of which Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal is the chief.

Sep 14 2005 TEXT- Abyei Boundary Commission Report

Mar 1 2006 Dr Douglas H Johnson Abyei Report - A test to Sudan peace deal (Dr Johnson can be reached at douglas@wendoug.free-online.co.uk. www.jamescurrey.co.uk)

Mar 30 2006 Mesirya tribe leader urges resolution of Abyei dispute

May 4 2006 Donald Petterson Abyei - A test of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement parties (Ambassador Donald Petterson was the Chairman, Abyei Boundaries Commission - American Ambassador, Ret.)

May 30 2006 Salient points of the first meeting of Sudan NCP-SPLM final communique

Dinkas say "Abyei belongs 100% to Southern Sudan"



Photo: About 50 Dinkas staged a demonstration outside the opening ceremony of the NCP-SPLM meeting on Saturday 27, 2006 in Khartoum, shouting their support for the peace deal and calling for a swift resolution of the Abyei issue. In the picture two demonstrators hold banner "Abyei belongs 100% to Southern Sudan".

May 30 2006 Sudan's Misariyah blame Abyei report for instability in the region - In a petition to the Sudanese presidency Misariyah Arab tribes in the disputed region of Abyei rejected the conclusions of Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) and blamed it for the administrative deterioration and security instability in the area. The petition warned that the commission's report inflamed disputes between the citizens of the area. In order to contain the disputes the petition said it was necessary to set up a new commission whose final decision would be taken by the people of Sudan. The International Crisis Group think-tank said in a recent report that "the NCP's actions regarding Abyei are a blatant violation of the CPA, creating perhaps the most volatile element of the entire agreement right now."
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For further reports, click on Abyei label here below.

SPLM and NCP first joint meeting in Khartoum reviewed progress made in the implementation of the CPA and discussed bilateral relations

Click here to read the major points of the final communique issued at the end of the first Joint Meeting of the National Congress (NCP) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Monday evening.



Photo: Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir and his First Vice-President Salva Kiir during a joint press conference in Khartoum, May 29, 2006 (SUNA).

At the conference, the President stressed that the country would depend on its own resources for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and that the Government of National Unity should give people hope after the end of the war in the south, conclusion of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the positive steps being taken to resolve the Eastern Sudan question. Full report Sudan Tribune May 30, 2006.

Note, the report says Salva Kiir said there is no difference on Abyei administration but there is a row of the border of this area and the two partners are determined to resolve this issue in the coming days.

UPDATE: Reuters report Opheera McDoom May 30, 2006:

Differences over key issues like the borders of the oil-rich Abyei region pushed the talks into an extra day and ate away into the night before a rather bland final communique was agreed.

Abyei, on the north-south border, contains one of Sudan's two main oil fields. Under the deal it has an autonomous status and will choose in a referendum in 2011 whether to become part of the north or a possible separate southern Sudan.

The NCP rejects the findings of the Abyei boundary commission appointed under the deal, creating a deadlock which analysts say risks renewed conflict.

And despite three days of long consultations Abyei was not resolved. The final statement said the issue was to be decided by the presidency either by recalling the commission members to defend their report, by referral to the constitutional court, or through mediation by a third party.

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May 28 2006 United Nations Sudan Situation Report 28 May 2006 - SPLM and NCP joint meeting in Khartoum reviewed progress made in the implementation of the CPA and discussed bilateral relations - One AMIS soldier reported killed in attack by armed militia in Masteri.

May 30 2006 Interview with Dr Douglas H Johnson, expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission - Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal transferred to Darfur in 1960s

For further reports, click on Abyei label here below.