Draft resolution proposes extending UNMIS to cover Darfur; AU force would transfer to UN by end Sep

FT.com report Sudan under pressure to admit UN force by Jonathan Birchall at the UN and Andrew England in Nairobi Aug 17 2006. Excerpt:

Diplomatic efforts to persuade Sudan to admit United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur intensified on Thursday, as Britain introduced a draft Security Council resolution that could lead to the deployment of up to 20,000 UN troops and police in the troubled region.

The draft resolution came as the Security Council met to discuss the continuing violence in Darfur, despite a peace agreement signed in May by the government and one of the three main rebel groups.

The draft resolution would require the consent of President Bashir for the force to be deployed to Darfur, but is seen as a way of increasing the pressure on him to do so. It proposes extending the existing UN mission in Sudan - Unmis - to cover Darfur as well, and giving its military commander the ability to move troops between the two regions as required.

Under the draft resolution, the African Union force would be transferred to the UN's authority by the end of September, with UN members providing additional logistical and transport support that would increase its ability to move across a region the size of France.

Meanwhile, the rebels have split into numerous factions and the fighting often turns into banditry, creating an environment that would pose enormous challenges for any peacekeeping force.

U.S. and Britain want UN to authorise troops for Darfur

Britain and the United States on Thursday introduced a UN Security Council resolution to send some 17,000 UN peacekeepers to the Darfur region of Sudan, despite opposition from the Khartoum government, Reuters (Matthew Verrinder)/Scotsman reported Aug 17 2006. Excerpt:

The resolution can be adopted without any consent from Sudan, US Deputy Ambassador Jackie Sanders said. But in practice troops cannot be deployed until Khartoum agrees.

"I hope that when we negotiate this text, there will be clarity from the government of Sudan that such an operation, favoured by the African Union and favoured by the Security Council should take place," Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters.

The draft resolution asks UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to work out a plan and timetable with the African Union for a transition and for sending in reinforcements no later than October 1.

The number of troops to be authorised in the resolution suggests 17,300. But this figure is not settled yet, and Jones Parry said he expected the number to be closer to 15,000.

HUMANITARIAN WORKERS ENDANGERED

Parts of the resolution are under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows troops a greater use of force. Sudan objects to this provision, viewing it as tantamount to an invasion or occupation.

"I understand Khartoum and the perception they have with Chapter 7," Jones Parry said. "Those perceptions are not soundly based."

He said the resolution was meant only to support a peace agreement in Darfur and help endangered humanitarian workers who have been under attack in recent weeks. Eight aid workers died in July, more than in the previous two years.

Some diplomats questioned whether Russia and China, who have veto power in the 15-nation Security Council, would support any measure disapproved by Khartoum.

Arab nations, who prefer the African Union stay in Darfur, are also allies of Khartoum and have rarely criticised its policies in Darfur.

Should U.N. troops go to Darfur, Jones Parry said UN peacekeepers in the field would number more than 100,000, the highest number ever in 18 missions.

The United Nations already has close to 10,000 troops in southern Sudan to monitor a peace agreement between Khartoum and the former southern rebels.

The draft resolution follows a letter on August 10 to the council by Annan on escalating violence in Darfur.

"While the government maintains its firm opposition (to U.N. troops), the situation on the ground is deteriorating, and the AU mission's ability to function for the remainder of 2006 is being jeopardised by a funding crisis," Annan wrote.

[Note, the report quotes Sir Emyr Jones Parry as saying that should UN troops go to Darfur, UN peacekeepers in the field would number more than 100,000, the highest number ever in 18 missions]

Darfur holdout rebels accuse AU of ending truce - Sudan gov't declares Darfur rebel holdouts "terrorists"

The African Union said it took the decision to evict holdout rebels from its HQ after the Sudanese government declared the non-signing groups "terrorists" and told the AU it could not guarantee the safety of the representatives in AU camps. - Reuters' Opheera McDoom/Scotsman report 17 Aug 2006 - excerpt:

Darfur rebels accused the African Union on Thursday of supporting what it said was government aggression against them by evicting them from homeless camps in Sudan's remote western region.

Only one of three rebel negotiating factions signed an AU-brokered peace deal for the region in May and on Wednesday the AU evicted officials from factions which did not join up.

Prior to May's deal, the pan-African body employed representatives of all three groups to help investigate violations of a shaky truce agreed in 2004.

The AU said it took the decision after the government of Sudan declared the non-signing groups "terrorists" and told the AU it could not guarantee the safety of the representatives in AU camps.

"Given the far-reaching implications of that decision, and the fact that (The AU) did not want to expose the personnel of these movements to any personal risks, it had no other option than to suspend their participation," the AU said in a statement.

But Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which did not sign the May deal, said the AU decision was "legitimising this aggression from the government side against us".

"By doing so the AU is terminating the ceasefire agreement of April 2004," Ibrahim told Reuters from Paris.

The move could hinder investigations of truce violations as AU troops may not be able to travel safely in areas controlled by the two factions that did not sign the peace deal.

The humanitarian truce in April 2004 was agreed by all rebel groups and the government to allow aid agencies to access those in need. UN officials called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

JEM and some other non-signatories formed a new alliance called the National Redemption Front which attacked the town of Hamrat al-Sheikh in Kordofan neighbouring Darfur in June.

The government reacted by attacking their positions in Darfur, the NRF and the AU said.

JEM's Ibrahim said the truce was legally binding in Darfur alone and not in any other parts of Sudan, so they were not violating the truce with the attack on Hamrat al-Sheikh.

[Note, the report tells us that JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim is now in Paris, France. How does he afford his lifestyle, does anybody know?]

GIF's "Scorecard" grades Congress efforts to end Darfur war

Click here to read about GIF's Darfur Scorecard, grading US Congress on its efforts to end the war in Darfur, Sudan. - via US Newswire/Ivan Boothe Genocide Intervention Network (GIF):

The scorecard measures whether each member of Congress supported and voted in favor of significant Darfur legislation introduced in the 109th Congress. The scorecard also recognizes extraordinary actions, such as sponsoring key legislation and congressional visits to the Darfur region.

The scorecard also gives constituents the tools to contact their members of Congress about their records and potential future actions on Darfur.

Nomads live with constant fear of being attacked by rebels mistaking them for Janjaweed - Kabkabiya town in N Darfur is marked "empty"

According to an IRIN report here below, an assessment report jointly published in April 2005 by relief agencies working in Sudan, said "African communities" constituted the majority of people living in the three states of North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur. The nomads, it added, made up about 20 percent of the population living in the three states.

IRIN's report quotes a nomad as saying the SLM/A rebels have guns and cars and are well organised. I still wonder how Sudanese rebels get guns, cars, satellite phones, petrol and money to pay for years of war. Can't help thinking it is all somehow connected to oil exploration and land rights.

Also, IRIN's report quotes the religious leader of a semi-nomadic clan as saying his clan was not in a camp for internally displaced persons, as is the case with most communities in Darfur, as they were afraid of losing their culture and customs. He said many nomads felt the need to protect themselves after the Darfur conflict started and some joined the Janjaweed voluntarily. The Janjaweed is a looting group, they are not real Arabs, they are made up of thieves from different tribes, he told IRIN.

See IRIN's report July 28 2005 on The forgotten nomads of Darfur.



Photo: A nomadic man from the Maharia-Riziegat community pictured near Kabkabiya. (IRIN)



Photo: The nomads in North Darfur moving during rainy season. (IRIN)



Photo: A nomad from the Mahami-Rizieget community in south Kabkabiya town, North Darfur. (IRIN)

5m IDPs in Sudan, including 1.8m from Darfur

I wonder how many of these were nomads:

More than one year after the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended 21 years of civil war between the central government and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, there are still an estimated five million internally displaced people in Sudan, including 1.8 million from the separate conflict in the western Darfur region

Source: Internal Displacement Centre - Sudan: Slow IDP return to south while Darfur crisis continues unabated 17 Aug 2006. (via ReliefWeb)

Reporters Without Borders calls for release of Slovenian envoy Tomo Kriznar jailed for 2 years by Darfurian court

Aug 17 2006 Reporters sans fronti�res report excerpt:

Reporters Without Borders called today for the release of Slovenian writer and activist Tomo Kriznar after he was sentenced on 14 August by a court in Al Fashir, the capital of the western state of North Darfur, to two years in prison on charges of spying and publishing false information. Kriznar, who was acting as a special envoy of his country's president, was arrested in Darfur on 19 July.

"We condemn this outrageous manoeuvre by the Sudanese government, which is clearly aimed at discouraging journalists and humanitarian activists from investigating the large-scale massacres that have been taking place in Darfur for the past three years," Reporters Without Borders said.

"Kriznar used his position as a writer, photographer and human rights activist to denounce this major humanitarian crisis," the organisation added. "The government cannot negotiate with rebel groups under Slovenia's aegis and at the same time jail a Slovenian representative under an absurd pretext."

See Aug 16 2006 - Jailed Slovene envoy Tomo Kriznar to appeal against verdict



Photo: Tomo Kriznar (Yahoo News)

Sudan's Darfur: Where's Mama Mongella and the voices of the AU born Pan-African Parliament (PAP) to mobilise the Arab world, Egypt and Saudi Arabia?

Note to self. Here is a copy of April 6 2005 report (via 2005 Sudan Watch archive - AU report says Sudan's Darfur force should be 7,000 by August):

Pan-African Parliament wants AU soldiers to protect civilians in Darfur



Photo [AFP April 2005]: A Rwandan soldier operating under the African Union mandate plays with children outside the AU base in Kab Kabiya, north west of El-Fasher, Sudan.

AFP report April 5 [2005] says the Pan-African Parliament Tuesday urged the African Union to extend the mandate of its soldiers to include the protection of civilians in Darfur, a spokesman said. Excerpt:

"The mandate of the protectors in the ceasefire commission must be enhanced to go beyond protection of military observers," said PAP spokesman Khuitse Diseko.

This plea forms part of the recommendations of a PAP report on a fact-finding mission presented before the parliament at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Johannesburg. The report said the mandate of the AU soldiers should include the protection of the population in the Darfur region.

"All the necessary institutions and resources should be mobilised to ensure that ceasefire agreements are observed," said Diseko.

"The PAP delegates appealed for ceasefire agreements to be observed, as there was still a low scale war going on in the region," said Diseko.

"This problem is not only depressing but continues to hold us back as a continent geared on making the 21st century an African century. We want to build roads and telecommunication lines to develop Africa," said Diseko.

PAP sent its fact-finding mission to Sudan last November with a mandate to examine what was happening on the ground in Darfur. The PAP recommendations follow an internal AU report calling on the 53-member bloc to double the size of its military force in Darfur over the next four months.

The AU has some 2,200 troops in Darfur protecting AU observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between Khartoum, its proxy militia and two rebel groups who have been fighting the government for two years. By the end of May, the AU plans to have boosted that number to 3,200 soldiers.

Established in March by the African Union, the PAP has no powers to pass laws and has no budget for this year although the 265-seat assembly plans to evolve into a law-making body around 2009.

Mar 26 2005 - PAP urges Sudanese to disarm Janjaweed - Gertrude Mongella, President of PAP

Oct 24 2005 - Calling Mama Mongella: The stability of Sudan is fundamental to the whole of the African continent:

EU Press Office Mary Brazier wrote: "We need the good will of everyone and we need to mobilise the Arab world, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Finally, and above all, we must support the African Union, which is doing a great deal of work on the ground and is seeking to secure a lasting settlement of the crisis in Darfur. That is why the cooperation under way in Darfur between the European Union and the African Union, which I regard as exemplary, is so important and why it sets a good precedent for our relations in the future in other African theatres."

Photo: PAP President Gertrude Ibengwa Mongella: an astute diplomat, at an official function at the US Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. At present, Mongella is a member of CCM's top decision-making organ, the National Executive Committee. She is also Tanzania's Goodwill Ambassador to the World Health Organisation, a member of the Council of The Future at Unesco and the President of NGO Advocacy in Africa. (via Sudan Watch archive Oct 24 2005)

Mar 3 2006 Sudan might pull out of AU - Sudan restructures armed forces - A Sudanese minister says his country might pull out of the African Union if the AU's Peace and Security Council approves replacement of the AU force in Darfur with a UN force.

Mar 20 2006 NATO - NATO ready to help UN in Darfur - What happened to NATO supporting African Union Mission in Darfur?

Apr 10 2006 UN SRSG Jan Pronk on Why a more robust force in Darfur needs to be a UN force

Jun 10 2006 What Sudan really fears is UN troops may be used to arrest officials and militia likely to be indicted by the ICC investigating war crimes in Darfur

Darfur factional fighting and banditry keeps WFP food trucks away

Sapa-AFP report 17 Aug 2006 says Darfur violence keeps WFP food trucks away and more than 500,000 people in Darfur are in need of food, but aid workers are unable to reach them because of factional fighting and banditry, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.

"It would be a disaster for the people of Darfur if security deteriorated to the point where we were unable to deliver more widely," the UN agency's Sudan representative, Kenro Oshidari, told a Khartoum press conference.

What do people expect will happen if a UN force without a Chapter 6 or 7 mandate (such a mandate would never be approved by the Chinese and Russians sitting on the UN Security Council) marched into Darfur? My understanding is the AU's Peace and Security Council are free to change the mandate of its troops in Darfur at any time without requiring permission from Khartoum.

UN: Half a million Darfurians cut off from aid

IRIN report 17 Aug 2006 excerpt:

"We are looking at the lowest level of access since the beginning of the conflict - we are very concerned," Imogen Wall, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Khartoum, said. "Nearly half a million people can't get food during the height of the hunger season. That is half a million too many."

UN Security Council may authorise communications and command and control equipment to be transferred to AMIS

From the UK's Independent by Diplomatic Editor Anne Penketh, 17 August 2006 (via POTP):

The Security Council is also expected to consider how to help the African Union mission - it may also authorise communications and command and control equipment to be transferred to the mission. But the aftermath of the Lebanese conflict will weigh heavily on the discussions. "It's true, there is heavy demand because of Lebanon," said one council diplomat.

See Aug 17 UN Security Council Consultations on Sudan/Darfur.

UN Security Council Consultations on Sudan/Darfur

Coalition for Darfur points out UN Security Council Consultations on Sudan/Darfur to be held 17 August 2006, and the Council's Update Report No. 2 Sudan/Darfur 16 August 2006:

Members are expected to discuss the recent report of the Secretary-General containing options for transition and for assistance from the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to the AU Mission in the Sudan (AMIS), as well as his 10 August update on Darfur. Khartoum's recent plan for increasing security in Darfur is also expected to be discussed.

JEM outlaws regard AU's decision "as a declaration of war"

The JEM rebel faction that refused to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement was ordered to leave the African Union HQ in Darfur, the AU said Wednesday, as delegates for JEM warned the move could push it to resume full fledged fighting. - AP report Aug 16 2006 (via Sudan.Net/POTP) - excerpt:

"Members of JEM have been advised to leave the AU headquarters because they are not supporting the peace implementation," Sam Ibok, the AU's chief negotiator in Sudan, said in a telephone interview.

Ibok said the group did not participate in the various ceasefire commissions and that the SLM led by main rebel chief Minni Minnawi -- who signed the peace deal -- refused to sit with them.

"There is no alternative but to ask them to leave," Ibok said. "It doesn't mean we have lost hope that JEM will eventually join the peace process, but it reflects that we can't fund and host people who are doing nothing."

JEM delegate Mohammed Abbasher Ahmed said the AU's decision could lead it to resume open warfare in Darfur. "We regard this as a declaration of war, a return to the fighting square," Ahmed was quoted as saying by the Akhbar Al Youm newspaper.

JEM delegates were stationed at the AU headquarters in the North Darfur town of El Fasher as part of an effort to bring peace to a region. Though JEM isn't deemed the largest rebel force in Darfur, authorities suspect its militants were involved in several small-scale raids that have recently plagued the region.

Also - excerpt from Dow Jones version of AP report (via Easy bourse/POTP):

John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, said earlier this week he hoped the push for an international peacekeeping force in Darfur would make progress in the coming days.

"The question, as always, is whether the Security Council can overcome the political objection from several significant member governments, including two permanent members and the government of Sudan," Bolton said, in an apparent reference to China and Russia.

JEM delegate Mohammed Abbasher Ahmed was quoted as telling Sudan's Akhbar Al Youm newspaper his group regarded the AU's decision "as a declaration of war."

Sudanese minister advises to not read internet news

I quite understand why a Sudanese minister would advise southern Sudanese in Nairobi not to get information about Sudan from the internet. The regional minister said these news are disseminated by enemies of peace, SRS/ST reported today:

"Education minister for Central Equatoria state, Dr Lokulenge Lole, says most information published is opinion and lacks objectivity, the Sudan Radio Service (SRS) reported.

The minister told southern Sudanese students at a Nairobi hotel last week that most information about Sudan on the internet is aimed at attacking individual personalities and the government.

"When you read the internet these days and you read the attacks on government, on individual politicians in southern Sudan I feel very sorry. Sorry in the sense that somebody sits on his computer in New York doing nothing, he has not even seen southern Sudan and he becomes an expert of analysis of the situation in southern Sudan", the minister explained.

Dr Lokulenge said that people he considers "the enemies of peace" are using all possible avenues to derail the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

He said the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, has on many occasions been attacked on the internet over alleged corruption "without any basis or proof." He warned all southern Sudanese not to succumb to-what he called-"wild allegations" made on the internet "unless they want to remain permanent slaves."

Welcome to the world Sudan! The Internet can work for the benefit of good and bad. Key is to enlighten readers and voters without resorting to propaganda.

AMIS orders Darfur outlaws to leave its camps

Action. Reuters' Opheera McDoom report just in, 13:44 GMT - excerpt:

The African Union's peace monitoring force in Darfur has ordered all representatives of rebel groups who did not sign a May peace deal to leave its camps, officials said on Wednesday.

"The AU have ordered us to leave their camps within 24 hours from this morning," Hamad Hassan Hamad of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told Reuters.

"This includes all those who did not sign the peace deal, the JEM and the Abdel Wahed faction," said Hamad, who was a JEM representative at the AU base in el-Geneina town in West Darfur state.

One AU official confirmed the decision, which had been requested by the government in Khartoum, but did not give further details. The government says those who did not sign the agreement in May are outlaws.

Non-signatories, including the JEM, formed a new alliance called the National Redemption Front (NRF) and renewed hostilities with the government, which calls them "terrorists."

They say they now control large areas of North Darfur, although this has not been independently verified.

Eleven aid workers have been killed since the deal was signed, more than during the entire three-year conflict.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that they could not distribute food to 470,000 people in need in Darfur in July, a big increase from the previous month. It added that high malnutrition rates have been reported in recent months.

"The safety of staff is crucial and we take great precautions to avoid dangerous situations," Kenro Oshidari, the head of WFP in Sudan, told reporters in Khartoum. "It would be a disaster for the people of Darfur if security deteriorated to the point where we were unable to deliver more widely."

Jailed Slovene envoy Tomo Kriznar to appeal against verdict

Photo: Tomo Kriznar, humanitarian worker (L) and special envoy of Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek (R) for Darfur, speaks during a news conference in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana in this January 12, 2006 file photo. Sudan sentenced Kriznar to two years in prison in Darfur for espionage, publishing false information and violating immigration laws, the state news agency said on August 14, 2006. (Reuters/Srdjan Zivulovic)

The defence lawyer of Tomo Kriznar, Mohammed Madjub, intends to appeal on Wednesday against the verdict, Sudan Tribune reported Aug 15/16, 2006 - excerpt:

Speaking for TV Slovenija by telephone, Madjub said that the prison sentence was too high given that the Sudanese prosecution had no evidence of Kriznar spying.

The lawyer, who said Kriznar feels fine after a court of first instance in the capital of North Darfur Al-Fasher pronounced its verdict on Monday, believes that there are good chances the Sudanese authorities would expel Kriznar from the country.

See some previous news reports re Slovene 'spy' Tomo Kriznar jailed in Sudan.

Sudanese blogger Fluent-Sudani on "Lost Identity"

The author of Fluent-Sudani blog was born and bred in Sudan and now lives in New York. Excerpt from blog entry Aug 13, 2006:

Photo: Northern Sudan kid

"Outsiders who do not have any background on Sudan history are always skeptical about our race, tend to randomly pick whatever they desire to call us; Arabs or Nubians. Sudan is a diverse land, I say. Having skittles-skin color folks. Asking any Sudan native, they answer you "we're Sudanese." without adding any other preferences to feed doubts.



Photo: Southern Sudan kid

Over history, spread of Islam throughout Africa, resulted in mingling between missionary men who brought books to enlighten us about the faith, living peacefuly among us, emanicipating slaves, built mosques. Also, spread of christianity beforehand coptics fled from Egypt settled in northern Sudan. Italian missionary men and women also built Catholic schools and churches mainly in the Southern Sudan and the capital, Khartoum. I find it appalling few blocks away from my old house, a mosque and a church seperated by one wall.



Photo: Eastern Sudan kid

No matter what classification others come up with, we are brothers and sister of the same blood. Afro-arab culture/food/values, understand ourselves instantly despite dialect differences. Embracing our historical heroes that kicked British colonization our of our land and gained us independence.

Photo: Western Sudan kid

[thanks to Drima, The Sudanese Thinker: It's Slowly Happening]

Blogging Amanda in South Sudan

Here's another reason why I support the African Union Mission in Darfur. Excerpt from Amanda Wadud's blog in South Sudan Aug 13 2006:

"I have been speaking with some people about some of my skirmishes with the local Dinkas and then last night I spoke with a sister from Khartoum about some experiences she has had (very scary) and she had to point out to me something that I had thought about before I arrived in Rumbek but dismissed too quickly. It seems that my issue is that I am being mistaken for a northern Arab. To me that is ridiculous, but virtually any Black person whose skin is more brown than ebony could be mistaken for someone from the North.

Firstly let me help you to expand your definition of an Arab. In the United States at least, and I believe the same is true for much of Europe we think an Arab is a light skinned/olive skinned individual with curly to kinky hair who, speaks Arabic. Like African Americans, Arabs come in all shades of skin color. I used to look at all Sudanese as being Black, after all As-Sudan literally means the Land of the Blacks in Arabic. I was initially shocked and offended some years ago to learn that the northern Sudanese consider themselves Arabs and not Black, after all they look like they would fit in at one of my family reunions. But being here has helped me understand why they consider themselves Arab. So an Arab is defined by language and culture and not skin color. I had previously written about how as a Black person in Africa I am often put into a local ethnic group, well that can be a good thing because it makes me less conspicuous, but it can also be dangerous depending on socio-political and historical factors."

[via Drima of The Sudanese Thinker: It's Slowly Happening - with thanks]

A proud Muslim, Sudanese, Arab, African & Human in UAE blogs "Why Science Fails to Explain God"

From Hipster in UAE: "Why Science Fails to Explain God".

[Thanks to Drima of The Sudanese Thinker: It's Slowly Happening]

Juba Blog: BBC in Juba on FM 88.2

From Juba Blog Aug 14, 2006:

"Juba citizens welcomed the official launching of the BBC relay transmitter on FM 88.2 today.

Welcome to Juba, BBC. You have been part of our struggle."

[hat tip The Sudanese Thinker: It's Slowly Happening]