Sudan signs wealth sharing deal with eastern rebels

Oct 1 2006 Reuters report by Cynthia Johnston - excerpt:

Sudan signed a wealth sharing deal with rebels in the country's east on Sunday and hopes to reach a final peace agreement to end a low-level insurgency there by the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Sudanese media said.

The Khartoum government and eastern rebels had earlier reached agreement on security arrangements in the economically important east, and peace talks in the Eritrean capital Asmara will now turn to power sharing, state news agency SUNA reported.

Sudanese Presidential Adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail, head of the government delegation to the talks, expressed "hope that they would sign the final agreement with the Eastern Front before the end of the current holy Ramadan", SUNA said.

Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, began roughly a week ago.

The east has the country's largest gold mine and its main port, where its oil pipelines take exports to the world market. Despite its riches, it remains one of the country's most impoverished regions.

SUNA, reporting the fresh agreements with the Eastern Front rebel coalition, said the wealth sharing deal included a 5-year action plan and would be backed by a government fund but it gave few details of what the agreement entailed.

It said that the security protocol, signed on Thursday, included lifting a state of emergency in eastern Sudan.

During about a decade of low-scale conflict, eastern rebels allied themselves with former southern rebels and those from Darfur, and similarly complained that Khartoum exploited their natural resources without developing their region.

But after some insurgents elsewhere in the country signed peace deals to join the central government, the eastern rebels found themselves in a weaker negotiating position.

This year, they also lost control of the Hamesh Koreb area on the Eritrean border where, along with southern rebels, they had based their forces. Under a 2005 north-south deal, the northern army took over the area earlier this year and U.N. peacekeepers later withdrew.

Top EU officials met Bashir Saturday

Sep 30 2006 Reuters report by Ingrid Melander - EU looks for common ground on Darfur - excerpt:

Top European Union officials met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Saturday to try to find common ground on ways to end the military crisis in Darfur and ease one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"We need to work together so that we can have real peace in Darfur," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said as he left the presidential palace in Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

"It was very important to understand the point made by the president of Sudan. I also conveyed to him very frankly and very openly our concern about the situation," Barroso added.

Photo: Sudan's Foreign Affairs Minister Lam Akol (R) speaks to the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at Khartoum airport September 30, 2006. Barroso is in Sudan to try and convince Khartoum to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur. Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdalah

British experts attached to AU will be using Sudanese govt resources to help develop a media campaign extolling DPA

Sep 30 2006 Guardian report by Jonathan Steele in El Fasher, Darfur - excerpt:

It now emerges that Britain is working with the Sudanese government to try to sell the peace deal in the camps.

Hilary Benn's department is funding Simon Haselock and Andrew Harker, two British experts with Bosnian experience, to help develop a media campaign extolling the peace agreement. Although they are attached to the African Union, which is in charge of monitoring the faltering peace deal, they will be using Sudanese government resources.

A programme on the deal's merits will be broadcast on three state-owned radio stations, and focus groups will be invited to listen to them and discuss the topics raised.

Theatre groups will go round the camps, doing role-playing to say why the deal's opponents are wrong. Whether this will be enough to change the doubters' minds remains to be seen.

Diplomats are also offering talks in the hope of getting the non-signers to think again.

[via POTP]

The Humanitarian War Myth (Eric Posner)

Opinion piece by Eric A. Posner - The Humanitarian War Myth via Washington Post 1 Oct 2006 - excerpt:

"The best humanitarians of our day recognize that we face a painful dilemma: to tolerate atrocities in foreign states or to risk committing worse atrocities in the course of ending them. From Rwanda, many people drew the lesson that failure to intervene is the worse option. The Iraq war may be the first step in unlearning this lesson. If not, an intervention in Darfur surely will be."

Eric A. Posner is a professor of law at the University of Chicago and co-author of "The Limits of International Law."

Alex de Waal critiques Prunier and recounts DPA talks

"The African Union mediation team that laboured in Abuja, Nigeria, to try to bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur was neither naive, deluded, nor opportunistic," writes Alex de Waal in commentary published at openDemocracy 29 Sep 2006. He should know. He was there as a member of the African Union's mediation team. Read the rest - Darfur peace agreement: so near, so far [POTP has a reprint 29 Sep 2006, sorry permalinks to POTP not working here]

Note, in the piece, Mr de Waal says:

"But, constantly, a stream of high-profile international visitors insisted that the process be hurried to a conclusion, because the humanitarian crisis was so bad. People were dying, we were told, so we should not be so slow. What finally convinced the United States to push for an accelerated conclusion to the talks was Khartoum's promise that if a deal was signed, it would allow United Nations troops in. President Omar al-Bashir then reneged on that promise."

As stated here several times before, despite searching, and following events closely at the time, I've yet to find a single news report that pinpoints who promised Khartoum would allow UN troops into Darfur. I'm not implying it never happened, I'm just interested to know what was said. I seem to recall seeing a report somewhere, hinting the source might have been VP Ali Taha behind closed doors. My point is, many months of tedious arguing over UN troops, while allowing AMIS to flounder in uncertainty, appear to have been wasted on hearsay. Only the Sudanese president can make such promises, not Mr Taha.

US provides $20m to African peacekeepers in Darfur

Good news. US Senate has approved today an emergency aid of 20 million USD to the African Union forces in Darfur.

"With the severity of this situation growing worse, and as the government of Sudan continues to block the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur, the African Union force remains the front line of security," said Senator Reid. - ST 30 Sep 2006.

Sudanese official criticises US's Rice threats

From Cairo 30 Sep 2006 Bahrain News Agency:

Sudanese official criticised reccent threats by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in case if Khartoum do not agree on deploying international forces in Darfur.

Advisor to Sudanese president Dr Majthoub Al Khalifa said these threats are not civilized, underlining the US targets to control central, west and east parts of Africa next to middle east region.

He's right. Such threats don't sound civilised.

USAID awards $31m infrastructure contract for S Sudan

Sudan is USAID's largest program in Sub-Saharan Africa, totaling $855 million in fiscal year 2005. The complex program provides extensive humanitarian and food aid to vulnerable people in Southern and Eastern Sudan and Darfur, as well as extensive reconstruction assistance in the south, Abyei, Blue Nile, and Southern Kordofan. Full story by USAID via ST 30 Sep 2006.

Lets hope none of this money is spent on military. Somewhere in Sudan Watch archives are reports of large sums of development funding being spent on southern Sudan's ex rebel group getting its army modernised and kitted out.

US's Bolton slams UN's Malloch Brown for criticizing UK, US on Darfur

Ha! This is rich coming from UN basher Bolton. Mr Bolton's comments, reported by AFP/ST today, are a nonsense. Especially considering he has a reputation for hostility towards the UN:

"These remarks bring discredit to the UN and are a stain on its reputation," said Bolton, the US envoy to the UN.

"Mr Malloch Brown should apologize to Bush and Blair."

Apologise? What a cheek! The only thing I regret about Mr Malloch Brown's remarks is that he coupled British Prime Minister Tony Blair's name with the US when in fact (and Sudan Watch archives show) Mr Blair has always been most considerate, careful and diplomatic when it comes to the Sudan. It's great to hear the viewpoint of top UN officials. I applaud Mr Malloch Brown for speaking out, especially since his comments were aimed to bring discredit to Washington's 'you damn well are going to let the UN deploy and if you don't, beware the circumstances."

Here are some snippets from article Who Is John Bolton? (via Center for American Progress 7 Mar 2005):

Bolton was infamous as a right-wing ideologue opposed to anything and everything that smacked of U.S. cooperation with or support for the United Nations. "If [the UN Secretariat building] lost 10 stories," Bolton once quipped, "it wouldn't make a bit of difference."

From calling support of the International Criminal Court the product of "fuzzy-minded romanticism [that] is not just naive, but dangerous" to discussing North Korean policy by saying that "sounder U.S. policy would start by making it clear to the North that we are indifferent to whether we ever have 'normal' diplomatic relations with it,"

On the eve of talks with North Korea about their nuclear weapons, Bolton took a novel approach to public diplomacy and publicly called King Jong Il a "tyrannical dictator" and an "evil regime." The State Department was forced to send a replacement representative after North Korea responded by calling Bolton "human scum" and stating their objection to negotiating with him.

Note, the article concludes by saying:

"At this point it is clear that the world Bolton has left us four years later is one that is more dangerous. He can only do more damage from a position of greater power.

Sep 9 2006 US's Bolton says there is a legal basis for armed intervention in Darfur?

Apr 15 2006 Sudan: Bolton blames British for "erroneous" leak

Mar 2 2006 John Bolton, US Ambassador to the UN, says the term Darfur "genocide" sounds right

Feb 21 2006 Bolton chides Annan on UN planning for Darfur force

Oct 11 2005 US: Bolton blocks UN briefing on atrocities in Darfur Sudan
- - -

BRACING FOR BOLTON - DISMAY AS US SENDS HAWK TO UN

Excerpt from Sudan Watch archives 9 March 2005 - UN joins AU to assess peacekeeping needs in Darfur, Sudan - Bracing for Bolton

The shock appointment of hardline neo-conservative John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN stunned the diplomatic community yesterday and raised questions about George W. Bush's commitment to work constructively for reform of the world body in its 60th anniversary year. His appointment must be ratified by the US Senate, where there is sure to be some opposition.

"Why would (President Bush) choose someone who has expressed such disdain for working with our allies?," said Senator John Kerry, who lost last year's election to Mr Bush. Full Story - 9 March, 2005 - Herald Sun - by David Nason in New York.

9 March: FT in America Firster says today: Mr Bolton is hardly likely to re-invent himself as a born-again multilateralist. But if US policy were to be changed in that direction by the decision-makers in Washington, it would carry more weight with the UN's many critics on the Republican right if it came out of the mouth of Mr Bolton. The dispatch of one of Washington's staunchest unilateralists to the UN may yet turn out an inspired decision. But the onus will be on Mr Bolton and his masters in Washington to prove this so. [Let's hope it turns out an inspired decision]

Seems Mr Bolton is turning out not to be an inspired decision after all.

US ADMINISTRATION STILL PUSHING FOR UN FORCE IN SUDAN

Excerpt from AP report via ST 30 Sep 2006:

U.N. chief envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, said did not expect the Sudanese government to accept a U.N. force anytime soon. And so, he said, the international community should instead push for the African Union's mission to be prolonged and reinforced.

But Friday, [US State Department spokesman] McCormack disagreed. "I don't think that there is a substitute for an international force at this point," he said. "Certainly, we are not going to throw in the towel on getting an international force into Sudan. OK?"

Yee Haw! Y'All Have A Nice Day!

Sudan balks at giving US envoy a visa

Reuters report via ST 29 Sep 2006:

"He (U.S. special envoy) has not been granted a visa yet. Certainly, I think Andrew (Natsios) would very much want to travel to Khartoum. We are having some difficulties now with the Sudanese government," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who declined to provide specific details.

McCormack said the United States would continue to put pressure on Khartoum to accept a 20,000-strong U.N. force to replace about 7,000 poorly funded African Union troops struggling to keep the peace in the arid region. "We think it is important that other states apply similar pressure to the Sudanese government," said McCormack.

Asked about Malloch Brown's reported comments, McCormack said the senior U.N. official should "apply himself to the task at hand rather than giving speeches."

I wish aggressive Americans could hear how primitive they sound this side of the pond. Is it any wonder now Sudan balks at issuing Americans full entry visas? Talking of warmongers, Eric Reeves pens another cryptic ream, weirdly titled "Khartoum Strong-arms, Negotiates to Retain Control of Darfur Security - The National Islamic Front will continue to determine the military and security dynamic throughout Darfur and eastern Chad". Who are such pieces aimed at? The rebels? Note, he tells his readers "the AU decision announced by Konare very likely paralyzes further movement toward non-consensual deployment for both military tactical reasons and political reasons." And he concludes by saying, quote: "If we wait to see the full scale and consequences of an inevitable AU failure to provide security for Darfur, we will be waiting while too many hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings die." "If we wait" eh? Who is the "we"? What is he suggesting? I think Eric Reeves is dangerous.

Al Qaeda No 2 urges jihad in Darfur if UN troops sent

Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims in a video released on Friday to launch a holy war against proposed UN peacekeepers in Darfur.

"O Muslim nation, come to defend your lands from crusaders masked as United Nations (troops). Nothing will protect you except popular jihad (holy war)," Zawahri said in the video posted on the Internet. - Reuters 29 Sep 2006.

AU-EC meeting 2 Oct 2006 AU HQ Addis Ababa

Copy of press release published at africa-union.org:

Addis-Ababa, 29 September 2006 - The European Commission and the Commission of the African Union will meet for a joint working session at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa on 2 October 2006.

Both Commissions will meet in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia for their third joint session within three years. This meeting is the latest testimony of an ever growing partnership between the two continental executive bodies: the European and the African Union Commissions.

For this occasion, the European Commission will hold its first ever meeting on another continent than Europe, travelling to Ethiopia with no less than 10 European Commissioners including President Barroso, all three vice Presidents Wallström (Communication), Frattini (justice) and Kallas (administration), the Commissioners Michel (development), Mandelson (trade), Gribauskaite (budget), Potocnik (research), Kyprianou (health), Kovaks (taxation), Spidla (employment) and Piebalgs (energy). The agenda of the meeting focuses on institutional partnership and development.

Almost one year after the adoption of the EU Strategy for Africa, both sides will review the progress in its implementation and decide on new steps to take. They will look at the implementation of the EU-Africa Partnership of Infrastructure. They will discuss how to manage better migration flows for the benefit of both continents. They will agree on how to exchange experience when it comes to their respective areas of responsibility such as employment, science and technology or health.

The European and African Union Commission will also strengthen their institutional ties. Both institutions will agree on a first large support programme of 55 million Euros for the African Unions operational and institutional development to be implemented as from 1 January 2007 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to structure the exchange of officials and trainees between the two institutions.

Contact info:
Ms. Habiba Mejri - Cheikh, Spokesperson, CUA (+251- 11) 5514555
E-Mail: HabibaM@africa-union.org
Mr Amadeu ALTAFAJ, spokesman's service of the European Commission 0032 2 29526 58
Website:..http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/conferences/Past/2006/October/EUAU/AU-EU-meeting-en.htm

EU funding saved Darfur peacekeeping mission - AU

The AU's Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said Europe had been instrumental in funding AU operations across the continent.

"This is particularly true with the current efforts at peacekeeping in the Darfur region which enabled the AU to extend the mandate of the mission in Sudan by three months as a result of the contribution of 30 million euro by the EU," Djinnit said. - Reuters

Note, the EU is responsible for establishing and supporting the AU to enable African solutions for African problems.

Ramstein team aids peacekeeping mission in Darfur

By Capt. Erin Dorrance, 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Sep 29, 2006, US Air Force



Photo: Ramstein Airmen assist Ugandan civil police with their baggage while transfering at Kigali International Airport, Rwanda. The Ugandan civil police are returning home after a one-year deployment to the Darfur region. Airmen from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, are deployed to Kigali, Rwanda, to provide airlift support for the African Union peacekeeping mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Erin Dorrance)



Photo: Ugandan civil police prepare to board a Botswana C-130 at the airport in Kigali, Rwanda. They were returning home after a one-year deployment to the Darfur region where they were part of the African Union peacekeeping mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Erin Dorrance)

Full story Blackanthem.com Military News 29 Sep 2006.

See Sep 26 2006 US Air Force news: Ramstein crew flies with Botswana into Darfur.

Sudanese govt and rebels must resume Darfur peace talks (Alex de Waal)

"There is still a chance to protect Darfur's civilians but only if government and rebels resume peace negotiations ... this means stepping back from rhetorical confrontation and empty threats of military action," writes Alex de Waal in the Guardian's CiF 29 Sep 2006. The piece, entitled "The book was closed too soon on peace in Dafur" received an insightful comment from BriscoRant, saying:

"Peace agreements seem to work in Sudan. They stopped the war in southern Sudan a few years back. If peace negotiations are working, we need to hear about that. Otherwise all we hear is our own government's pro-military propaganda. It makes us think, the military, are the only answer. Please keep us informed."

Yes Mr de Waal, please keep us informed as most other pundits and activists on Sudan (especially Americans) who vainly think we can be manipulated to promote their self serving agendas, are feeding us nonsense.

Geldof concerned for Sudan

Activist-singer Sir Bob Geldof says: 'I think we really have a right to insist upon an intervention through the United Nations.' - India News 29 Sep 2006.

Misleading the World on the Darfur Conflict - Salvato

By using their commercial to single out President Bush on the matter of Darfur, the folks at Save Darfur have injected an air of political partisanship to their message. They have effectively cast a shadow of suspicion over their motives and intentions. Then again, that shadow was born when they selected George Clooney to be their spokesman. - Opinion - Salvato 29 Sep 2006.

NATO to continue to aid Darfur peacekeepers - official

The African Union can continue to rely on NATO to provide airlifts and training for its peacekeepers in Darfur, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Thursday.

"Darfur will, as far as NATO is concerned, continue to see a continuation of what we are now giving to the African Union," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after talks with North Atlantic Treaty Organization defence ministers. - AP report via ST 29 Sep 2006.

UN's Malloch Brown: AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, the only game in town, isn't properly financed

Sep 29 2006 Independent - excerpt from interview with UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown:

Nowhere are the new limitations of US power today more exposed than over Darfur, where Washington has used the word "genocide" to condemn the scorched earth policies of the Sudanese government against the people of Darfur and the rebel groups who hide among them. But, says Malloch Brown, in their outrage the US and the UK are, "out there alone and it's counter-productive almost".

"Sudan doesn't see a united international community. It doesn't see its oil customers [China and Russia] or its neighbours in that front row. And that allows it to characterise themselves as the victims of the next crusade after Iraq and Afghanistan. So Tony Blair and George Bush need to get beyond this posturing and grandstanding. The megaphone diplomacy coming out of Washington and London: 'you damn well are going to let the UN deploy and if you don't beware the consequences' isn't plausible. The Sudanese know we don't have troops to go in against a hostile Khartoum government; if Sudan opposes us there's no peace to keep anyway; you're in there to fight a war. It's just not a credible threat."

What is needed instead is two things: "a carefully-modulated set of incentives and sanctions which Sudan needs to understand" and a diplomatic coalition to back them.

Khartoum wants four things: "the normalisation of their relations with the US, UK and others; an opportunity to deploy their new oil wealth and exercise global diplomatic and economic influence; a UN deployment that will increase their authority as the national government of Sudan and not undermine it; and a way of handling the International Criminal Court indictments laid against members of the Khartoum government which they all feel very threatened by. Those are the kind of issues which the Sudanese need to hear a positive message on.

"But in the other pocket there need to be the sanctions. And those pluses and minuses need to be echoed not just by a group of Western leaders but by a much broader cross-section of countries that Sudan respects and trusts. That's what we're now trying to orchestrate. We've been working very hard on getting China to be part of the next set of diplomatic demarches to put pressure on the Sudanese. We're working on how can we bring the major states within the Arab League and the African Union more into frontline diplomacy."

Meantime, he says, the West could do with matching its moral indignation with cash. The food aid pipeline to three million hungry people in Darfur is still $300m short of what is needed. And the African Union peacekeeping forces in the region - inadequate but the only game in town - isn't properly financed till the end of the year. Western governments, he says, "have really taken their eye off the ball on this".

IMPORTANT: UN's Pronk calls for AU force to be extended indefinitely

Important news from UN SRSG Jan Pronk in Sudan. Mr Pronk is probably the only Westerner who knows exactly what's going on in Darfur and the rest of Sudan. Mr Pronk is extremely honest and open. He works hard in the best interests of everybody in Sudan. Not only does he have a great intellect, nerves of steel and amazing diplomacy skills but guts too.

AP report - UN chief in Sudan says UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur unlikely, calls for strategy change - via IHT 28 Sep 2006:

Sending UN peacekeepers to Darfur is unlikely to take place soon, and the international community should instead push for the existing African Union mission to remain in the war-torn region indefinitely, the head of the U.N. in Sudan said Thursday.

"I don't expect the government to accept a U.N. transition any time soon," Jan Pronk told The Associated Press.

"The international community should instead push for the African Union's mission to be prolonged and reinforced," Pronk said in an interview at the U.N. headquarters in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

He called for the AU force to be extended indefinitely to prevent jeopardizing humanitarian work in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in three years of fighting.

Pronk said he was confident the Sudanese government would allow the African troops to stay on in Darfur, though for now Khartoum only has agreed to keeping them an extra three months.

He also urged the international community to change strategy and guarantee more funds to the AU, so it can implement peacekeeping without the constant pressure of diplomatic deadlines.

"Otherwise, we're shooting ourselves in the foot each time," he said. "Our first priority must be to help the people of Darfur."

The current 7,000-strong AU force was due to leave Darfur at the end of September but recently prolonged its mission until the end of the year. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton called it a temporary measure as the international community builds up pressure on Sudan to accept the blue helmets.

But Pronk said he didn't expect the Sudanese government to agree to that soon and said there was "no possibility" that the Security Council would pass a new resolution allowing U.N. peacekeepers to invade.

Earlier this week, Sudan's top official for Darfur said the government was willing to let a trickle of U.N. military advisers join the AU forces, describing it as "a third way" that could resolve the stand off between Khartoum and the United Nations.

Pronk said these discussions were now being settled and the first batch of 105 U.N. military advisers and dozens of police could be sent to Darfur "very soon." He hinted that their numbers could be increased "in a step by step process."

Meanwhile, the AU has pledged to boost its force by up to 4,000 troops. Some of the African soldiers would be immediately available, but the AU says it doesn't have the cash to send them in.

Pronk said there were reports that the AU force was so strapped for cash that some soldiers in Darfur were not being fed, and that patrols weren't going out because there was no gasoline for their armored vehicles.

The U.N. chief maintained that the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May between the government and one rebel faction was "in a coma," an assessment that angers Khartoum but that Pronk says reflects the worsening humanitarian situation.

Both government forces and rebels have violated the cease-fire more than 70 times between May and August, and there were new violations in September since Khartoum launched a large scale offensive in northern Darfur, Pronk said.

The government has announced it created the Darfur Transitional Regional Authority, a makeshift organization meant to provide some of the power sharing demanded by rebels. But Pronk said both Khartoum and rebels were in "total noncompliance" with the peace deal.

He said that Khartoum and the rebels who signed the deal were barring other factions from joining the commission meant to monitor the cease-fire, and that the U.N. was barely granted an observer's status.

"We are being silenced, which is preposterous," Pronk said.

He also said Khartoum was making little effort at disarming the Janjaweed, a pro-goverment militia of Arab tribes accused of most of the atrocities against ethnic African villagers.

Pronk said he was skeptical that U.N. troops would manage to enforce peace if a broader political solution to salvage the peace agreement was not found soon.

Even the rebel group that signed the peace remains on critical terms with the government. On Thursday, tensions degenerated into an open shootout in Omdurman, an affluent neighborhood of Khartoum. Rebel leaders say they took three police officers hostage in retaliation to the arrest of two of their members.

Pronk said one man was killed during the shooting. "That (the conflict) has now reached Khartoum is just another proof of how bad things are," Pronk said.

At least 350,000 people are cut off from any aid in North Darfur because of the intensified fighting there, the U.N. says. At least another 100,000 people have fled their homes.

The U.N. says it has reports that Janjaweed are holding some 7,000 people hostage in a detention camp in South Darfur, including women and children, asking for a ransom to let them leave safely. Other militia attacks on refugee camps have been reported across Darfur this week.

Sep 29 2006 ST - Sudanese policemen held hostage by ex-Darfur rebels in Khartoum

Sep 28 2006 (Khartoum) via ST Sep 29: Sudanese authorities, Ex-Darfur rebels clash in Khartoum

Sep 29 2006 AP report By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU - U.N. Peacekeepers in Darfur Unlikely: Pronk said one man was killed during the clashes.

Air Assault



Photo and caption via Soldier of Africa blog, authored by a SA soldier in Darfur: "The soldiers of 6 SAI Bn are Air Assault trained and love helicopters. Unfortunately in Sudan the elements working with us were not and the mission was observation. Air Assault tactics would have been perfect to track down and neutralise beligerants who maim and kill innocent civilians in Darfur. Very few ever get away from a good tracker and helicopter-bourne reaction force." Sep 2006

Training



Photo and caption via Soldier of Africa blog, authored by a SA soldier in Darfur: "One of the reasons why we are the best in Africa is because we do constant training. Here the South Africans do musketry training in Sector 6. South African soldiers are trained to fire well-aimed shots. With the R 4 rifle a South African soldier is a world class fighting man." Sep 2006

South African Patrol Preparation



Photo and caption via Soldier of Africa blog, authored by a SA soldier in Darfur: "Before a patrol the South Africans in Sector 6 do an organised and structured final inspection before going. Sector 6 is currently still the most dangerous sector in Darfur." Sep 2006

Kutum



Photo and caption via Soldier of Africa blog, authored by a SA soldier in Darfur: "This is a photo of Kutum base in Sector 6. The vehicles in the foreground are the South African Army's new Mamba Mk III's." Sep 2006

Casspir



Photo and caption via Soldier of Africa blog, authored by a SA soldier in Darfur: "These Casspirs were stationed at Kutum. These are armed with twin 7,62mm FN MAG general purpose machine guns, although in South Africa we call them Light Machine Guns. Casspirs have been faithful servants to many South African soldiers in the past and have ensured the safety of many fighting men. The conditions in Sector 6 are ideal for the rugged high-speed cross-country abilities of the Casspir." Sep 2006

South African Soldiers



Photo and caption via Soldier of Africa blog, authored by a SA soldier in Darfur: "I got this photo from Arrie Burger taken in Kutum, Sector 6, just to indicate the morale and discipline of our soldiers over there. They have done well and Arrie's platoon was involved in a contact about four weeks ago. At least five rebels or militia were killed and only one of ours wounded through both legs. Now these guys are back in South Africa. Well done, boys." Sep 2006