Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim (pictured below) said that "when this warrant comes it is, for us, the end of Bashir's legitimacy to be President of Sudan ... we will work hard to bring him down ... If he doesn't co-operate with the ICC [International Criminal Court] the war will intensify.”
The leader of the most powerful rebel group in Darfur said that his forces will redouble their efforts to topple the Sudanese Government the moment an international arrest warrant is issued against President al-Bashir.
“When this warrant comes it is, for us, the end of Bashir's legitimacy to be President of Sudan,” Khalil Ibrahim, chairman of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), told The Times. “We will work hard to bring him down ... If he doesn't co-operate with the ICC [International Criminal Court] the war will intensify.” [...]
Dr Ibrahim, who spoke to The Times in Chad, had just returned from a round of exploratory peace talks with a Sudanese delegation in Qatar last week, where officials from both warring parties signed a memorandum of goodwill and understanding.
“The [Sudanese] Government is unpredictable,” he said, seated in an orchard on the banks of the Chari River outside N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. “They never honour any agreement they sign.” [...]
A JEM delegation was invited to Washington for bilateral talks with US officials last month, and it was the only rebel group invited to the negotiations in Qatar — to the anger of rival rebel factions from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
This, Dr Ibrahim maintained, was because since 2006 the SLA had fractured into 27 groups and that, like it or not, the JEM was the only cohesive presence on the battlefield posing a credible threat to Mr al-Bashir.
“JEM is fighting alone on the ground,” he said, “shouldering the whole issue because there are no other real movements on the ground.”
Western diplomats believe that the Qatari talks have little chance of success given the gap between the ambitions of the JEM - which include control of Khartoum and the transformation of Sudan into a federation of autonomous regions — and Mr al-Bashir's desire to cling to power.
Few major concessions were extracted from either side in Qatar. The rebel delegation turned down a request to sign a cessation of hostilities until their own list of preliminary demands had been accepted, which the Sudanese refused.
The only tangible concession was a commitment from each side to release prisoners of war. At the weekend Sudan released 24 rebels in response to the release of 21 government prisoners last week. The rebels said however that they will not return to Qatar for a second round of talks until all their men are free.
The fear among the international community is that the conflict will become a war of secession and will spread to neighbouring countries.
While the stated aim of JEM is to preserve the territorial integrity of Sudan it is equally clear that the rebels are ready to divide the country. “JEM is a national movement and we regard autonomy for the regions as a key to peace,” Dr Ibrahim said. “But if peace does not come quickly Kordofan [a province in central Sudan] and Darfur would have to form their own entity — Western Sudan — with the White Nile as its border. If there was no peace then this part would have to become its own country.
“We are not going to ask to control Darfur and Kordofan through peace talks if they [the Government] are not going to give it — we'll take it.”
Photo; JEM fighters in Darfur, Western Sudan (The Times)
Emmanuel Jal has intimated that an arrest warrant issued against President Omar al-Bashir could even cause further division in Sudan.
Jal is seeking a mediated settlement between the warring parties and offers a solution in which students can choose to engage on the ground by rebuilding schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Spring break service trips can be organized and students could join these trips. This would be a direct and effective way for students to serve to resolve the crisis in Darfur.
More than any indirect social, economic or political action in reference to Sudan, the friendships and goodwill developed on these trips will go all that much further to repair the breeches of human discord in Sudan.
From International Criminal Court (ICC) Press Release: 23.02.2009:
Decision of Pre-Trial Chamber concerning President Al Bashir of Sudan to be issued on Wednesday 4 March 2009 ICC-CPI-20090223-PR393 Situation: Darfur, Sudan
Today Pre-Trial Chamber I announced that it would issue on Wednesday 4 March 2009 its decision concerning the Prosecution application of 14 July 2008 for the issuance of a warrant of arrest against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan.
The decision will be made public by the normal way of a press release and publication on the Court’s website.
23-02-2009 – Public notice of the Decision on the Prosecution’s Application under Article 58 of the Statute [Excerpt: CONSIDERING that there have been numerous rumors over the past weeks on a possible date and outcome of the decision that this Chamber shall issue on the Prosecution Application; that the Chamber is deeply concerned about such rumors; and that it will publicly issue the said decision on the date set out in the present decision.]
For further information please contact Ms Laurence Blairon, Spokesperson, at +31 (0)70 515 87 14 or +31 (0) 6 46 44 88 89 or at laurence.blairon@icc-cpi.int.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Judges at the International Criminal Court said Monday they will announce next week whether they will order the arrest of Sudan's president on charges including genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Prosecutors at the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal asked last July for a warrant, accusing Omar al-Bashir of masterminding a campaign of murder, torture and rape by government troops and Arab militias in the Darfur region.
The president would be the first sitting head of state ordered arrested by the court.
But even if the judges issue a warrant on any or all of the 10 charges in their ruling March 4, it remains unlikely al-Bashir will be sent to the court's headquarters in The Hague any time soon. Sudan does not recognize the court's jurisdiction and refuses to hand over suspects.
It is unusual for judges to announce when they plan to publicize such a decision — but they have never previously tackled such a high-profile case since the court started work in 2002.
In a written statement, the three judges on the panel said they announced the date because they were "deeply concerned" at rumors about their decision.
Meanwhile Mr Bashir on Monday returned from a visit to Cairo, where he held talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt warned that an ICC arrest warrant would lead to dangerous repercussions in Darfur and the rest of the country.
It called for a decision to be deferred for at least a year.
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GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
In order to give peace a chance, here's hoping that the UN Security Council will use its power to suspend any arrest warrant that may be issued by the ICC. Note that there has been no news of any arrest warrants being issued for Darfur rebels responsible for the slaying of Darfur peacekeepers at Haskanita.
Pope Benedict XVI urged the British government to play a positive role for the benefit of peace in Sudan through all regional and international axes.
Pope Benedict hailed the goodwill declaration signed between the Sudanese government and JEM, affirming that the deal found international support and the concerned parties should push the agreement forward to achieve political settlement for Darfur issue.
He said that the international community should concentrate on the peace in Sudan instead of the ICC decisions.
"We should give priority to peace efforts first, then we look for judicature", he stated.
The Pope called for concentration of cementing the pillars and basis of peace in Sudan through the peace agreements signed in the South, Darfur, Southern Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Eastern Sudan.
Note, so far I have not been able to find another report to verify Sudan Vision Daily's report. I hope that the report is true. Give peace a chance. - - -
The director of national security, lieutenant-general Sallah Abdalla Gosh, has warned that anybody who promotes the International Criminal Court’s agenda in Sudan will have his head and hands cut off.
Speaking to a group of politicians and intellectuals from southern Sudan to celebrate his promotion as first lieutenant-general in Khartoum on Friday, Sallah Gosh said the security service is ready to decapitate anybody who wants to promote the ICC’s political agenda in Sudan. He described the ICC issue as a very serious one where there can be no compromise.
He went on to say that the Government of National Unity will continue to protect members of diplomatic missions and other foreigners in Khartoum who respect diplomatic terms and the different peace agreements signed by the government of Sudan.
He warned that whoever violates these agreements will “only have themselves to blame”.
Gosh said his party came to power as "fanatical Muslims but they have changed and became liberal peace-lovers and they believe in peaceful co-existence".
Gosh urged the people of southern Sudan to work for the unity of the country, saying that the majority of southern Sudanese are for unity.
This was the first time that the chief of security and national intelligence has addressed southern Sudanese in a public gathering in Khartoum.
United States, France say Darfur deal should have no bearing on war crimes case against Sudan's president.
'A step in the right direction' Photo: Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) representative Jibril Ibrahim (R) shakes hands with Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the Sudanese government delegation, after the signing of an agreement of good intentions at the latest meeting between representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in an attempt to broker an end to the six-year war in Darfur, in Doha, February 17, 2009. (Reuters text)
From Middle East Online February 18, 2009:
UN hails Doha deal on Sudan's Darfur UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations on Tuesday hailed a deal on confidence-building measures reached by Sudan and a key Darfur rebel group, as the United States and France said it should have no bearing on the war crimes case against Sudan's president.
Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Darfur's most active rebel group, signed an accord in Doha earlier Tuesday paving the way for broader peace talks to end the six-year-old Darfur conflict.
The Doha talks were the first contacts since 2007 between Khartoum and representatives of the JEM, which boycotted another largely abortive Darfur peace deal in 2006.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a statement the Doha "agreement of goodwill and confidence-building ... represents a constructive step in the ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful conclusion to this long-running conflict."
He urged both Khartoum and JEM "to move expeditiously to a cessation of hostilities and to a detailed and explicit agreement on the scope of comprehensive and inclusive talks."
Japan's UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who chairs the 15-member Security Council this month, said that at a meeting on Darfur Tuesday all members welcomed the Doha accord as "a step in the right direction."
But while she described the Doha accord as "potentially a modest first step" toward peace, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice cautioned that it "is not itself a cessation of hostilities or ceasefire agreement."
She stressed that all Darfur rebel groups would need to be engaged "if there is to be a sustained process that can lead to an outcome of lasting peace."
Her French counterpart Jean-Maurice Ripert concurred.
He described the Qatari-brokered accord as "a starting point in the right direction" and welcomed signs of greater cooperation from Khartoum both with respect to the deployment of the UN-African Union mission in Darfur and in its ties with neighboring Chad.
Both the US and French ambassadors however noted the accord should have no bearing on the war crimes case by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir.
"I see no linkage," Rice told reporters.
"The Court must work independently. No one must interfere," Ripert chimed in.
The ICC is expected to make a decision soon on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Beshir after its chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in July accused Beshir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
Rice told the press that "the US position has been and remains that we see no circumstances or other actions to date that would change our judgment at this point that an Article 16 deferral is unwarranted."
Sudanese officials, including Beshir, have always insisted they will not cooperate with the ICC, saying that any allegations of crimes in Darfur would be dealt with in Sudanese courts.
In Doha earlier Tuesday, Sudan and JEM signed an accord paving the way for broader peace talks to end the six-year Darfur conflict.
"The accord stipulates that negotiations continue toward a final peace agreement, in a period no longer than three months," Sudan's ambassador to Qatar, Abdullah al-Faqiri said.
"We will reach a final and just solution with God's will, to end this war, which with God's will be the last war in Sudan," JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim, told a press conference.
Meanwhile Sudan's UN Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad said Western members of the Security Council "are frightened by this (Doha) agreement. They are not happy."
And he accused France of "impeding the peace process" by failing to honor a pledge allegedly made by President Nicolas Sarkozy last December to expel exiled Darfur rebel leader Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, who lives in Paris, if he did not join the peace process.
The commander of the UN-led peacekeeping force in Darfur, General Martin Agwai, said in October that mistakes by the international community have prolonged the conflict and that there is no immediate prospect for peace.
The Darfur conflict broke out in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum. Since then, the conflict has disintegrated into a maze of fraying rebel groups, banditry, tribal conflict and flip-flopping militias.
The United Nations has said 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.
Many of the rebels enjoy direct and indirect foreign support that helped fuel the conflict, with some critics pointing the finger at France, which has a military presence in neighbouring Chad – also accused of arming the Sudanese rebels. France had been accused of involvement in the genocide in Rwanda, but Paris denied responsibility, conceding only that ‘political’ errors were made.
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From Reuters Tue Feb 17, 2009 by Andrew Heavens, KHARTOUM:
The Sudanese government and a Darfur rebel faction have agreed on confidence-building measures at talks in Qatar, Qatari media said on Monday -- a step that may eventually lead to negotiations on a peace deal.
Sudan started talks with the Justice and Equality Movement, one of Darfur's main insurgent groups, last week, almost six years into a conflict that international experts say has killed 200,000 people and uprooted 2.7 million.
However, other influential rebel factions are refusing to talk to Khartoum and say the peace drive will fail without them.
Qatar's official QNA news agency quoted Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani as saying Sudanese government and JEM officials were expected to sign an initial agreement on confidence-building measures on Tuesday, which could open the way for talks on a framework peace agreement.
"We hope to start framework talks in about two weeks about a ceasefire and details of the issue of prisoners," Sheikh Hamad said in remarks aired on Al Jazeera television.
Speaking by phone from the Qatari capital Doha, JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam said the two sides had reached a basic agreement on the key issue of the release of prisoners.
"An agreement in principle has been reached on those held or convicted in connection with the Darfur conflict ... but details remain to be worked out," he told Reuters.
Ahmad bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud, a Qatari minister of state and one of the mediators, said the agreement included measures to aid and protect refugees in Darfur and a commitment by the two sides to continue negotiations in Doha.
The JEM wants the government to agree to a prisoner swap and an end to the bombardment of what it says are civilian areas. It has also demanded that Khartoum pledge not to impede humanitarian aid and refrain from harassing displaced people.
Sudanese government negotiators were not immediately available for comment.
ARREST WARRANT?
But a senior Sudanese official earlier warned that, in the long term, talks to end the rebellion could be undermined by moves to indict Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.
International Criminal Court judges are expected to rule within weeks on whether to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Darfur, where JEM and other rebels took up arms in 2003, demanding more representation for the region and improved infrastructure.
Khartoum mobilized mostly Arab militias to crush the revolt but denies U.S. accusations that this amounted to genocide.
Mohammed el-Mahadi Mandour el-Mahadi, head of the political affairs secretariat for Bashir's dominant National Congress Party, told Reuters the government would struggle in Qatar to find a resolution if an arrest warrant was issued.
He said JEM had felt emboldened to make increasingly unrealistic demands during the talks, and its leader had also promised to hunt down Bashir if an arrest warrant was issued.
"They have raised their ceilings of their demands. They are asking to be the governors of Darfur, to be the governors of Kordofan (a neighboring region), to share power with the National Congress," he told Reuters in an interview.
"(An arrest warrant) will ruin the negotiations. They will call for other demands. It would be very difficult to continue with the negotiations."
(Additional reporting by Firouz Sedarat in Dubai; Editing by Katie Nguyen and Kevin Liffey)
Photo: Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) representative Jibril Ibrahim (R) shakes hands with Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the Sudanese government delegation, after the signing of an agreement of good intentions at the latest meeting between representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in an attempt to broker an end to the six-year war in Darfur, in Doha, February 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Osama Faisal)
Photo: (L-R) Qatar's Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmud, Representative of the Sudanese government Amin Hassan Omar, Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) representative Jibril Ibrahim and UN African Union mediator Djibril Bassole sign agreements of good intentions at the latest meeting between representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel JEM in an attempt to broker an end to the six-year war in Darfur, in Doha, February 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Osama Faisal)
Photo: Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim (R) attends a news conference following peace talks in Doha February 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Osama Faisal)
Photo: (L-R) Sudanese presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim and UN African Union mediator Djibril Bassole talk during a news conference after the signing of an agreement of good intentions at the latest meeting between representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel JEM in an attempt to broker an end to the six-year war in Darfur, in Doha, February 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Osama Faisal)
From Reuters Tue Feb 17, 2009 by Andrew Heavens KHARTOUM -
Sudan's government signed a tentative accord with one of Darfur's main rebel groups on Tuesday that could pave the way to full peace talks, almost six years into the festering conflict.
The agreement between Khartoum and the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) will be seen as a step forward in efforts to resolve the conflict that, international experts say, has killed 200,000 since 2003.
But serious doubts remain over whether the deal will hold or build into a lasting agreement that will satisfy even the majority of the remote region's warring rebels.
* Other agreements have failed before. The conflict's six-year history is littered with failed ceasefires, tentative agreements and one full peace deal -- the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement that was only signed by one group.
* There are many steps to go before even Tuesday's accord with JEM can be called a full peace deal. The sides still need to negotiate a cessation of hostilities and the terms of future negotiations over a string of difficult political issues. Any ceasefire would need to be accompanied by a monitoring body that could take time to set up.
* It is unclear what commitment JEM and Khartoum have made binding them to the measures agreed Tuesday.
* JEM is not the only rebel group in Darfur. Other movements have already written off the Doha talks, saying they are doomed to fail without their involvement.
* JEM has already hinted it will push for democratic reforms beyond the borders of Darfur to neighboring South Kordofan and other regions that it sees as marginalized. Khartoum may balk at such a thorough overhaul of the country's political structures.
* Both JEM and Sudan's government clearly have short-term objectives in signing Tuesday's accord. JEM wants its prisoners released. Khartoum wants to show it is doing something positive in Darfur to see off a looming war crimes case against its president from the International Criminal Court. If they succeed in satisfying those aims, their will to follow through on the deal may falter.
* On the positive side, the Qataris have already proved themselves to be skilled mediators with the time, patience and resources to bring previously irreconcilable foes together.
* Another optimistic note is that many of JEM's thornier political demands have already been agreed to in principle in a Khartoum-sponsored conference on the Darfur conflict. Last year's Sudan People's Initiative conference, which involved some opposition groups, has already suggested better representation for Darfur and the possibility of merging the region's three states.
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Mixed hopes for the peace deal - see comments at BBC
Sudanese government officials and the Movement for Justice and Equality (JEM), the most active rebel group in the troubled Darfur region, said in Doha on Monday they have agreed on a prisoner exchange.
"The two sides have committed themselves in principle to an exchange of prisoners, to be freed in successive groups between now and the launch of talks on a framework agreement on peace in Darfur," JEM delegation member Tahar el-Fakih said, according to Qatar's QNA news agency.
Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the Sudanese government delegation, was quoted by QNA as confirming that "on the principle... there is a commitment to release prisoners and detainees for events linked to the Darfur conflict."
The two delegations have been meeting in the Qatari capital since last Tuesday with a view to paving the way for substantive peace negotiations between Khartoum and the rebel group.
"The two sides have been asked to supply mediators" with proposals for a common approach on the question of prisoners and " to expect in return a definitive formula from the negotiators," Omar said.
The development followed a long meeting on Monday between the heads of the two delegations, Khalil Ibrahim, leader of JEM, and Nafie Ali Nafie, an aide to Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir.
The meeting was attended by Ahmed Ben Abdallah al-Mahmud, Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs, and Djibril Bassole, mediator for the United Nations and African Union taskforce in Darfur.
The most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups, JEM boycotted a largely abortive peace deal signed by one other faction in 2006. Last May, it launched an unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital.
Mediators have stressed that the Doha talks are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace conference on Darfur. [...]
From Sudan Vision Daily, Khartoum by Al Sammani Awadallah, Monday, February 16, 2009:
Machar Welcomes Government-JEM 'Good Intentions' Deal Announcing SPLM support of Doha Talks, South Sudan (GoSS) Deputy President, Dr. Riak Machar, appreciated the "trust building and good intentions" pact reached by Sudan Government and JEM through Doha talks.
In a statement to Sudan Vision, Machar urged JEM Chief, Khalil Ibrahim to step up the deal to a comprehensive peace agreement in Darfur while getting the other movements on board for the sake of Sudan unity, affirming SPLM readiness to co-work with Khalil for realization of unity on the ground.
He further revealed that five SPLM delegates led by Abdalaziz Alhilo have joined the Sudan official delegation to Doha negotiations.
The leader of one of the rebel groups in Sudan's Darfur region recently visited Israel to discuss with a senior Israeli official the situation in Sudan.
Abdel Wahid al-Nur is the head of the Sudan Liberation Movement. While in Israel, he met with the senior official and discussed with him the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
Al-Nur came to Israel earlier this month at his own initiative, to attend the annual Herzliya Conference. He came with a group of European Jews, most of them French, who have been active on behalf of the Darfur refugees. He did not speak at any of the sessions, but did observe several.
At the conference, he was introduced to the senior official, and the two arranged a meeting, which took place a few days later.
The Defense Ministry responded, "In the interests of national security, various and sundry meetings are held. We are not in the habit of giving responses after each of these meetings."
The Sudan Liberation Movement was founded in 1992. It is a secular group that opposes the Islamist regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, and its official stated goal is to turn Sudan into a democracy that grants equal rights to all its citizens. However, it also has a military wing that has been fighting government forces in Darfur since 2001.
Close ties
Al-Nur fled to France in 2007 and has not been back to Sudan since then. He has won support from international human rights organizations and is considered very close to French Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
In the past, he has spoken in favor of establishing diplomatic ties between Sudan and Israel, and a year ago, he even announced that his movement was opening an office in Tel Aviv, staffed by Sudanese refugees who found asylum in Israel after fleeing the massacres committed by Bashir's forces in Darfur.
However, this was his first visit here.
Israel currently has more than 600 Darfur refugees, and Ehud Olmert's government decided to grant them all asylum and work permits. This decision was made in part because Bashir's government announced that any Sudanese refugee who set foot in Israel would be considered a "Mossad agent" and would therefore be sentenced to death should he or she ever return to Sudan.
JERUSALEM: A powerful Sudanese rebel leader met secretly with top Israeli espionage officials in Israel earlier this month, Israeli defense officials said Monday.
The officials would not disclose the substance of the talks between Abdulwahid Elnur of the Sudan Liberation Movement and officials from Israel's Mossad spy agency. Israel claims weapons have reached Gaza Strip militants via Sudan and that Palestinian militants operate there.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a security conference Elnur attended, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was confidential. The Defense Ministry had no immediate comment.
Last year, Elnur's group opened an office in Israel, which granted temporary residency status to 600 Sudanese who fled the massacres in their country's vast western Darfur region.
"We must forge new alliances, no longer based upon race or religion, but upon shared values of freedom and democracy. This is why we opened a representative office in Israel," he said at the time.
Elnur has said in the past that he favors establishing ties with Israel and opening an Israeli Embassy in Khartoum. Sudan considers Israel an enemy state and has no diplomatic relations with it. Elnur could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Elnur fled to France in 2007 and has lived in exile since.
The SLM was founded in 1992, three years after President Omar al-Bashir took power in a military coup, and took up arms in 2003, the year the war in Darfur began. Today it is the largest rebel group, though it has fractured into splinter movements. [...].
Before Darfur, civil war raged in Southern Sudan leaving two million people dead. Ten thousand children were forced to fight.
Emmanuel Jal was one of them.
Here is his incredible story.
Photo: Emmanuel Jal (by Christian Karim Chrobog)
Emmanuel is a spokesman for the Make Poverty History campaign, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and the Control Arms campaign.
He has set up the Gua Africa charity and is planning to build a school in Leer, his village in southern Sudan.
Through his music, Emmanuel Jal counts on the unity of the citizens to overcome ethnic and religious division and motivate the youth in Sudan.
His single “War Child,” mixes rap with soul to produce a world music vibe. He begins with telling his story through powerful lyrics; “I’m a war child / I believe I’ve survive for a reason / To tell my story, to touch lives.”
Central to the themes of his songs is the campaign for peace of opposing sides in Sudan and the clear message that children have no place in wars.
YouTube: Emmanuel Jal WARCHILD - official video - taken from the album WARCHILD (Courtesy of www.emmanueljalonline.net)
SUMMARY
Emmanuel Jal was born in war-torn Sudan, and while he doesn’t know exactly when, he believes it was in the early 1980s. He was taken from his family home in 1987 when he was six or seven years old, and sent to fight with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war. For nearly five years, he was a “child warrior,” put into battle carrying an AK-47 that was taller than he was.
By the time he was 13, he was a veteran of two civil wars and had seen hundreds of his fellow child soldiers reduced to taking unspeakable measures as they struggled to survive on the killing fields of Southern Sudan.
After a series of harrowing events, he was rescued by a British aid worker (Emma McCune) who smuggled him into Nairobi to raise him as her own.
To help ease the pain of what he had experienced, Emmanuel started singing. In 2005, he released his first album, Gua (”peace” in his native Nuer tongue), with the title track broadcast across Africa over the BBC and becoming a number one hit in Kenya. Gua also earned him a spot on Bob Geldof’s “Live 8″ concert in the UK.
Photo: Emmanuel Jal with Nelson Mandela
Jal performed at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in Hyde Park, London, June 08, he shared a stage with Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Damien Marley and Stephen Marley at the Black Ball in London in July 08 and also addressed delegates at the UN in New York in the same month. Jal has also performed with Razorlight, Supergrass, and Faithless in Europe.
Photo: Emmanuel Jal at the UN
In October 2008 Emmanuel toured the United States as part of the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival, in which he performed in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and New Orleans. Jal also performed with Moby and Five for Fighting in the 2007 live concert film, The Concert To End Slavery (www.concerttoendslavery.com/trailer).
Photo: Emmanuel Jal outside the UN
Photo: Emmanual Jal at Harvard
Photo: Emmanuel Jal in Sudan
EMMANUEL JAL BIOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Jal (born c. 1980) is a Sudanese musician and former child soldier.
Childhood
Born in the village of Tonj in Southern Sudan, he was a little boy when the civil war broke out. Emmanuel’s father joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and when he was about seven years old his mother was killed by soldiers loyal to the government. Emmanuel then decided to join the thousands of children traveling to Ethiopia who had been told that they could be educated there.
However, many of the children, Emmanuel included, were recruited by the SPLA and taken to military training camps in the bush in Ethiopia. The camp was disguised as a school in front of international aid agencies and UN representatives, but behind closed doors the children were training to fight. “I didn’t have a life as a child. In five years as a fighting boy, what was in my heart was to kill as many Muslims as possible.”
Emmanuel spent several years fighting with the SPLA in Ethiopia, until war broke out there too and the child soldiers were forced back into Sudan by the fighting and joined the SPLA's efforts to fight the government in the town of Juba. "Many kids there were so bitter, they wanted to know what happened to them. And we all wanted revenge."
When the fighting became unbearable Emmanuel and some other children decided to run away. They were on the move for three months, with many dying on the way, until they reached the town of Waat, which was the headquarter on a small group that had separated themselves from the main SPLA.
In Waat Emmanuel met Emma McCune, a British aid worker married to senior SPLA commandant Riek Machar. Emmanuel was only 11 years old then and McCune insisted he should not be a soldier. She adopted him and smuggled him to Kenya. There Emmanuel attended school in Nairobi. McCune died in a road accident a few months later, but her friends helped Emmanuel to continue his studies.
Music
While studying in Kenya, Emmanuel started singing to ease the pain of what he has experienced. He also became very active in the community, raising money for local street children and refugees. With the encouragement of those around him, Emmanuel became increasingly involved in music and formed several groups. His first single, "All We Need Is Jesus," was a hit in Kenya and received airplay in the UK.
Through his music, Emmanuel Jal counts on the unity of the citizens to overcome ethnic and religious division and motivate the youth in Sudan. After escaping to Kenya, he fell in love with hip hop in the way that it identified issues being faced by the neighborhood, which he was able to identify with in a unique manner. Although he lacked any music background or knowledge of its history, he felt that hip-hop could provide the easiest and most effective path to publicize across his story and lobby for political change.
He went on to produce his first album, Gua, a mix of rap in Arabic, English, Kiswahili, Dinka and Nuer. The symbolism of unity is expressed in the title, meaning both "good" in Nuer and "power" in (Sudanese) Arabic. His lyrics illustrate the desires of the Sudanese people to return to a peaceful, independent homeland. Although the only hip hop Jal had ever listened to was American, while he was in Kenya, the beat to “Gua” is not the usual American hip hop, but rather is strongly African. The title track, also called "Gua", was a number one hit in Kenya and featured on The Rough Guide To The Music Of Sudan and Help: A Day In The Life, bringing together some of Britain’s best known on a CD in aid of children in conflict zones (produced by War Child).
His next single, “War Child,” mixes rap with soul to produce a world music vibe. He begins with telling his story through powerful lyrics; “I’m a war child / I believe I’ve survive for a reason / To tell my story, to touch lives.” He continues the song with the narrative of his life and the pain inflicted upon him. “Written in English, Jal's second language, the new album [War-Child] may lack the poetic gymnastics of hip-hop's more fluent stars, but the plainness of the words - half-spoken, half-chanted over a mix of hip-hop and African-flavored choruses - keeps the focus on the story.” His powerful words spread the message of what he has been through, and what many are still living with now.
His unique brand of hip hop, layered with African beats, has led him to be considered one of the rising stars in the world music scene. Prior to Jal, rapping in Southern Sudan was primarily in the local language of Nuer and artists used sticks and clapping hands in place of instruments.
His second album, Ceasefire, was released in September 2005 and includes a re-recording of "Gua". This album is a collaboration with the well known Sudanese Muslim musician Abdel Gadir Salim and brings together opposing sides of the conflict, and different music traditions, to a common ground of the wish for peace in Sudan. The collaboration represents a vision for the future, as two Sudanese men, a Christian and a Muslim, unify and pave the way to overcome differences peacefully. Both musicians endured unimaginable adversity to become important figures, not only in music, but in the future of a country. They accentuate the differences between them and their musical styles, as a symbol of co-existence. The album preaches in four languages, encompasses every type of music in one, in an effort to transform the sound of hope into musical form. “Ceasefire” is not only the sound of two men collaborating on a musical project, but more symbolically, two halves of a divided nation learning to trust each other. This album's version of Gua was played on the American television series ER at the very end of the Season 12 episode "There Are No Angels Here" (aired on May 4, 2006).
Among other places he performed at the Live 8 Concert in Cornwall this summer. He was awarded a 2005 American Gospel Music Award for best international artist.
Emmanuel's third album, "Warchild", is released by Sonic360 Records in the UK on May 12th, 2008. Emmanuel, along with an all-star line-up, will perform songs at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday concert at London's Hyde Park on June 27th, 2008.
Activism
Jal, whose own childhood was robbed from him, aims to protect the childhood of others through music. "Music is powerful. It is the only thing that can speak into your mind, your heart and your soul without your permission." According to Jal, in times of war, starvation, hunger and injustice, the only way to survive the daily tragedy in Sudan is to allow the inner-soul to be uplifted through music, which is like soul food to heal pain. Through his heartfelt lyrics, he opens the world up to the corruption and greed of the Sudanese government; central to the themes of his songs is the campaign for peace of opposing sides in Sudan and the clear message that children have no place in wars.
He has also passionately criticized the current state of hip hop culture in the United States. He sees hip hop as a vehicle to communicate an authentic message, rather than a space to pursue street credibility. “As well as simply being great songs, people are really getting into the lyrics, really understanding his message, and he is a great role model.”
He has expressed concern about the message being sent by American hip-hop artists, saying “American hip hop is still entwined with gang culture, drugs, sexual violence, and greed. It’s a battleground.”
His song, “50 Cent,” speaks to the successful American rapper to change his violent messages, which have a destructive influence on children, as exemplified through his “Bulletproof” videogame. "You have done enough damage selling crack cocaine/now you got a kill a black man video game/We have lost a whole generation through this lifestyle/now you want to put it in the game for a little child to play..."
Emmanuel is a spokesman for the Make Poverty History campaign, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and the Control Arms campaign. He has set up the Gua Africa charity and is planning to build a school in Leer, his village in southern Sudan.
A documentary about Emmanuel Jal called War Child was made in 2008 by C. Karim Chrobog. It made its international debut at the Berlin Film Festival and its North American debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Cadillac Audience Award.
Emmanuel Jal's story ought to be compulsory reading for all school children. If anyone reading this article is able to translate it into French, Arabic and/or Swahili, I would be most grateful to receive a copy for publishing at Sudan Watch, Uganda Watch, Congo Watch, along with several other sites that are part of this network of blogs.
Emmanuel Jal has won worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan.
His music can be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising ‘Warchild - Help a Day in the Life’ album, as well as in three ER episodes, the National Geographic documentary God Grew Tired of Us, and more recently in the feature film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
He also featured on John Lennons ‘Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur’ amongst the likes of U2, REM and Lenny Kravitz.
His new album ‘Warchild’ was released on 12th May 2008 on the Sonic360 label (distribution by ADA Global) with additional production and mix by Neal Pogue, (Outkast, Talib Kweli, Pharohae Monch).
Click here to listen to previews of Emmanuel Jal’s album War Child.
YouTube: Emmanuel Jal WARCHILD - official video - taken from the album WARCHILD (Courtesy of www.emmanueljalonline.net)
Photo: Inspiration for the 'Ceasefire' CD title came when Emmanuel Jal sang at the signing of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement 9 Jan 2005. (Source: Sudan Watch archive Nov. 2005)
From the Washington Post The Fight of His Life By Carolyn See, who can be reached at www.carolynsee.com February 6, 2009
WAR CHILD A Child Soldier's Story By Emmanuel Jal with Megan Lloyd Davies St. Martin's. 262 pp. $24.95
Inevitably, "War Child" will invite comparison to Ishmael Beah's "A Long Way Gone," another memoir by an African boy-soldier.
Set in Sierra Leone, Beah's madly popular volume was crammed with narrow escapes, daring adventures, drugs, rock-and-roll, and a stunning set piece in which, after boys from both sides of the civil war are rescued by an NGO, they're put in the same dorm room, and the war starts up all over again. Parts of Beah's memoir were later questioned, but who's going to be the fact-checker who goes out into the jungle, finds a war-crazed fighter with bloodshot eyes and a sack of grenades and asks, "Excuse me, sir, but could you verify the existence of six or eight boys who traveled together, all high on drugs, slaughtering everything that crossed their path? And could you give me a year, please, and a date for that? Ballpark figures, of course." It's not going to happen. You take these stories on faith, or you don't take them at all.
"War Child" is very different, very much worth reading, and when you think about it, much more believable. Emmanuel Jal is not sure how old he is, but he sets his tentative birthday in 1980, dating the rest of his life from there. He was born in southern Sudan, where the population is mostly black. His father, a clandestine official in the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is a policeman and a member of the Nuer tribe. His mother is half-Nuer, half-Dinka and a practicing Christian. The first three years of his life are peaceful, and then war breaks out. Sudan's Arab population, Muslims from the northern part of the country, hate the blacks from the south, who are often Christian. The conflict, then, is regional, religious, racial. To thicken the plot, many of the southern tribes are at odds with one another. But the war is really about oil.
Jal's earliest memories are of Arabs beating his mother. When the war comes to their village, the family moves to other villages, finding different sets of relatives, looking for peace, but the war follows them. Jal gets used to bombings, shootings, fire, rape.
Then his father leads an SPLA movement to send hundreds of village boys to school in Ethiopia to be educated. "Ethiopia is a good place," he tells parents who have gathered on a river bank to say goodbye to their children. "There is food, no war, and your sons will have shoes and education." They board a ship, supervised by soldiers; soon the ship sinks. They make their way back to the village, tormented by hippos, crocodiles and snakes. "Only about forty children had lived," Jal writes. Parents come searching for their children, but Jal's father never shows up. His mother is already dead, he's been abandoned by his family, and he begins his life as a "lost boy." After another harrowing boat trip, he and another large band of children walk for days without food and water. Many of them die of thirst and starvation. The SPLA doesn't give a fig about education; they have taken these boys to use as cannon fodder in battles yet to come.
When the boys reach Ethiopia, it turns out to be an enormous refugee camp called Pinyudu, where the food has run out and hundreds of people are starving to death. "Boys died day after day. . . . Terrible diarrhea made us bleed and grow thin; measles, whooping cough, and chicken pox were also common. Even our skin crawled with lice." Jal sickens enough to make it into the hospital, where he gets some tea and biscuits and kindness; then it's back out into the camp with its polio and cholera and protein-deficiency disease. Remember, this is a little kid, not even 10 years old, all alone. Hatred, by now, is the only thing that sustains him, hatred for his father, who so brutally double-crossed him, hatred for the Arabs, who he presumes are responsible for this war. There's no glamour here, no pitched battles, only unimaginable misery.
Finally, after about two years in the camp, he's recruited into the SPLA, and his real troubles begin. He's beaten and tortured in every possible fashion. His first real battle comes when the Ethiopians turn on the refugees and kick them out. Then the Nuer and Dinka tribes turn against each other. He goes on more forced marches, suffers terrible privations, is repeatedly betrayed by his friends. When he finally does get to kill a few Arabs, he feels no sense of triumph, just sadness. They're human, too, it seems.
A couple of miracles happen. Jal sees a vision of Jesus, who advises him against cannibalism. His best friend has died during the night, and lies, still warm, beside him. Jal is perishing with hunger. How bad could it be to take a few bites out of his friend just to stay alive? Jesus talks him out of it. But can the vision be real? What does turn out to be real is that he's singled out by a prominent English aid worker who takes him into her own home. He ends up in Nairobi. But the aid worker dies, and once again Jal must live by his wits. He pursues his education in fits and starts. He's ashamed of his appearance and his bad grades. Humans have invented so many different ways to be awful to one another!
Still, we know there is a happy ending; otherwise, there wouldn't be this book. Jal becomes a believing Christian and gospel singer. He sets up an organization to help lost boys, but he's broke a lot of the time -- a star in Kenya, maybe, but unknown on the larger stage. He's often tired and sad and lonely, but in "War Child" he succeeds in making this crazy war and all its ramifications utterly grounded, specific and real. Recently, he has been the subject of a documentary film, and his music has been featured in movies and TV shows, even though he reports he still has spent more than a few nights sleeping on London park benches. You'll come away from this book loving Emmanuel Jal. He might even prod you into a good deed or two. - - -
Despite the flood of benefit concerts and newspaper headlines that have illuminated human rights violations in northeastern Africa this past decade, humanitarian movements have lacked a human appeal to link the faceless statistics of genocide to the sympathizing human psyche. Emmanuel Jal, an international hip-hop MC and former child fighter in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, aims to fill that void as the new ambassador of these atrocities in the documentary War Child.
Jal straddles the rare line between post-traumatic war victim and pacifist heart throb: while lecturing a college class, he bashfully asks the female students for the phone numbers of single friends after explaining how he ate raw vultures while fleeing the resistance army in brilliant detail. This disarming irony creates an introspective question that runs through the heart of the film: How can one man who’s passed through the horrors of war come out the other end smiling and optimistic to change it? If this philanthropic, charming 20-something could be implicated in such depravity, then anyone can be—not just members of post-colonial third worlds. It’s a frightening dichotomy for every closet racist who assumes that war, rape and genocide are indigenous to savage cultures and mentalities isolated thousands of miles away.
Director Christian Karim Chrobog does an admirable job of playing historian and biographer, using the conflict of the SPLA and the invading Arabs as a backdrop for Jal’s journey from Sudan to London. Even more interesting are the reactions that greet Jal’s music afterward; watching American girls hesitantly grind to the lyrics “Children of Darfur / Your empty bellies on the telly / It’s you I’m fighting for” illustrates Jal’s burden of presenting a very unsexy subject in a music genre oftentimes defined by pleasure and hedonism. By the end of the film, though, it’s clear that Jal possesses a singular quality that allows him to touch the soul of anyone who will listen: unadultured hope.
View the War Child trailer:
Release Date: Currently showing in select cities Director: Christian Karim Chrobog Cinematographer: S.J. Staniski Studio/Run Time: Reelu Films, 92 mins. - - -
Article from Sudan Tribune November 20, 2008 (NEW YORK) —
Sudanese child soldier turned global hip hop star Emmanuel Jal has both embraced rap as a way to reach a global audience and distanced himself from what he says is a tendency to glorify violence.
Jal, who fought with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army for five years as a child and guesses he is 28 years old, tells his story in detail in the documentary "War Child," released on DVD this month, and in a memoir and an album of the same name.
The documentary won the Audience Choice Award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Jal’s memoir will be published in February by St. Martin’s Press.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Jal said that hip hop should be about demanding positive change.
"When somebody comes and says that they enjoy killing people, they don’t know what they’re talking about. The real killers, they don’t talk about killing," Jal said.
Jal’s "War Child" album includes both biographical songs where he confesses doing "inhuman and barbaric" things and playful songs advising women not to wear their "skirts too short" and scolding U.S. rappers for using bad language.
In the song "50 Cent" he takes the U.S. rapper to task for producing a violent video game called "Bulletproof."
For Jal, who now lives in London, music is a form of therapy that allows him to sort through feelings of guilt while serving as a role model for child victims of war.
He has set up the Gua Africa charity and is planning to build a school in Leer, his village in southern Sudan.
"I believe I have survived for a reason, to tell my story to touch lives," Jal says in the song "War Child."
VILLAGE ATTACKED
In about 1987, his village in southern Sudan was attacked by soldiers loyal to the government and his mother was killed. He was brought into the SPLA and taught to fire an AK-47 rifle that Jal said he was barely strong enough to hold.
"I lost my childhood completely, you know, and I’ll never recover that," said Jal, who raps in Arabic, English, Swahili, and his native Nuer language. "But through music I feel like a child again. I can sing and dance again."
When he was about 13, Jal was discovered by Emma McCune, a British aid worker who was married to Riek Machar, a military commander who is now vice president of the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan.
McCune smuggled him into Kenya and enrolled him in school in Nairobi. Jal says McCune rescued 150 child soldiers from the fighting in southern Sudan before she died in a car crash.
In 2005, Jal released the song "Gua," which means "peace" in Nuer, and the song became a hit in Kenya.
The same year, the Sudanese government in Khartoum and southern rebels ended the 21-year civil war that killed 2 million people and forced 4 million from their homes.
An independence referendum is expected to be held in 2011.
Introducing Jal this year at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration in London, the musician Peter Gabriel called Jal "someone with the potential of a young Bob Marley."
Jal, who is Christian, said writing his memoir helped "deliver" him from the guilt and pain of his past. While writing the war scenes, Jal said he suffered bloody noses and violent nightmares and was tempted to give up.
He said he keeps going because he wants to make a difference, and also because he is afraid of what his mind will go through if he slows down.
"When I’m idle, that’s when my brain actually messes me up and sometimes I’m worried," he said. "I say, what about when I’m gonna be 60? Will I be hit by my history? That’s the only fear I think about every day."
Photo: Emmanuel Jal poses during a photocall for the film "War Child" at the 34th American Film Festival in Deauville, Normandy, France, Saturday September 13, 2008 (AP/ST)
On his website, Emmanuel introduces this YouTube clip with the words:
"Here’s an interesting use of my music"
The full-length documentary on Emmanuel Jal's life and times has been touring the film festival circuit. It premiered at the Berlinale festival last year, and won the Cadillac audience choice award at the Tribeca film festival.
Photo: Emmanuel Jal at Berlin Festival
Photo: Emmanuel Jal at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival - - -
War Child: A Child Soldier's Story By Emmanuel Jal 262 pages; St. Martin's Press
The Gist:
Writing a memoir based on the memories of an entire childhood filled with the savagery of war would certainly be difficult enough. Doing so after having been trained as a tiny soldier to kill Arabs and Muslims, or jallabas, before even reaching puberty, would prove to be an impossible task for some. Stories of the Lost Boys of Sudan — stolen from their homes and sometimes coaxed by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to fight a war the children had little understanding of — have emerged bit by bit since the end of the civil war that raged in the country for nearly two decades killing almost 2 million people and displacing millions more.
Emmanuel Jal is one of those boys; now an adult, he travels the world as a rapper explaining the War Child life he lived; he has starred in a documentary of the same name and released both an album and now this book sharing his feelings on the past and the present of a country in unending distress.
Highlight Reel:
1. War as an everyday lifestyle: With the smell of burning flesh in the air and the memories of bodies lying still on the ground, I'd run as if the devil were chasing me. I became good at war.
2. On the foundation of his desire to entertain: Another favorite was the dissing competitions, in which children threw insults at each other to make others laugh. "Your grandmother is so fat that God won't let her into heaven," one boy would shout at another as the crowd laughed ... In the beginning I'd fall silent when it was my turn. But I started improving ... As well as the insults we had to rap for the older boys—tell stories in chanting rhythms to entertain them—and I found that I enjoyed entertaining people.
3. On becoming inured to the desperation and fear of being a child soldier: As time passed, I learned that a body gets used to fear—I didn't shake so much and my stomach stayed still—but a mind doesn't. I thought about God often, and questions filled me. We were all created by God, but if God knew Satan would make so much trouble, then why hadn't He killed him? And who made God?
4. Upon being taken to Kenya for schooling and reintegrating into regular life: I knew I made mistakes in this strange place. When I was given a cup, I broke it; when I ate food at a table, I threw chicken bones over my shoulder onto the floor; and when I played with white children, I made them cry ... I knew I was different because I was a soldier, and although other children never knew my secret, I think they could sense it. I had dreams at night that made me shake and sweat in fear as the war buried inside me came alive again.
The Lowdown:
Jal's story — that of a a 7-year-old who saw every home he knew destroyed, lost his mother to murderers and his father to the SPLA — fits securely in the history of Sudan's second civil war but also stands on its own. Against a beast of a war that spiraled into battles between all those fighting to survive, Jal who struggles not to become a brutal killer of jallabas, eventually succumbs in order to survive. Unlike many of the Lost Boys, however, Jal finds salvation through the grace of two women who steer him toward education. His subsequent life as a rapper and philanthropist trying to save other children from similar pain and anguish leaves hope for the possibility of redemption.
The Verdict: Read - - -
Emmanuel Jal's autobiography has been sold to St. Martin’s Press with anticipated release of spring 2009.
WAR CHILD - The Book
War Child: A Child Soldier's Story by Emmanuel Jal (Author), US Version released February 2009 www.macmillan.com (www.amazon.com)
War Child UK Version released March 2009 (Amazon.com)
From Enough Project.org Sudan in the Senate Posted by Enough Team on Feb 13, 2009:
Enough co-Chair John Prendergast spent yesterday afternoon on Capitol Hill discussing U.S. relations with Sudan during a roundtable discussion with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prendergast was joined by Sudan experts Roger Winter, Jerry Fowler, Michael Gerson, and Timothy Carney, as well as by U.S. Senators on the foreign relations committee. Below are a few highlights:
The back and forth between senators and regional experts quickly moved to address the increasingly likely issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. In particular, the discussion focused on the internal politics of Bashir’s National Congress Party, or NCP, and the stalled progress in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA.
John Prendergast noted that regional politics in the Arab world—particularly Sudan’s relationship with Egypt, which has been on ice for a while now— as well as tensions within the NCP itself could push Bashir out of power in the wake of an indictment.
All of the experts further underscored the necessity of looking at Sudan holistically and emphasized the fact that the recurrent tensions between the North and South and the crisis in Darfur are symptoms of the same problem: the hoarding of wealth and power by ruling elites in the capital, Khartoum, to the exclusion of everyone else.
Roger Winter stressed that the next six months will be crucial for the implementation of the CPA, which he feels is in dangerous risk of collapse.
Senator Feingold wisely connected the dots, not only between peace in Darfur and throughout Sudan, but between the region’s numerous and interconnected conflicts.
Jerry Fowler of the Save Darfur Coalition noted that UNAMID cannot do what it needs to do unless it is accompanied by a comprehensive peace process to end the Darfur conflict.
Senator Kerry ended the hearing by asking each expert to pull together a summary of what they think the key U.S. policy priorities should be for Sudan.
Carney and Winter discussed the importance of American security interests and the regional dimensions of the crisis respectively.
Prendergast asserted that the bottom line for U.S. policy should be a peaceful and democratic Sudan. Fowler told the group that the United States has a practical interest in “addressing the fundamental disparity between the center and periphery,” in Sudan.
Gerson agreed with Fowler, and noted that whenever there are attempts to change the rules of the game, there are complaints that these steps will destabilize the situation, but such changes to the status quo are necessary when the current situation is “deeply unjust.”
Kerry himself mentioned previous American leadership failures in relation to Sudan policy as well as his and Secretary Clinton’s interests in the no-fly zone and American engagement with Africa generally. He told the assembled group that this is, “a moment for serious people to buckle down and find serious responses,” to Sudan’s crises.
Rebecca Brocato and Maggie Fick contributed to this post.
Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir held here closed-door talks with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit and intelligence chief Omer Suleiman on Saturday.
The Egyptian foreign minister reiterated his country's support for the Sudanese president and his government on all the current issues.
He told reporters at the end of the meeting that their visit was aimed at confirming Egypt's support for Sudan and helping it handle the current political issues.
"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wants to express to Presidental-Bashir his support for all the steps which the Sudanese government has taken to realize the stability and peace," noted the Egyptian foreign minister.
Mahjoub Fadel Badri, the spokesman of the Sudanese president, said that the visit of the Egyptian delegation demonstrated the firm support of Cairo for Sudan's causes.
"Egypt always helps Sudan on all issues, and is exerting efforts for resolving the Darfur crisis," said the Sudanese official.
Badri denied that the Egyptian side had proposed any suggestionon the current crisis between the Sudanese government and the International Criminal Courts (ICC).
"Egypt understood our position and has not put forward any ideas which are not identical with our position," he added.
On Saturday afternoon, the Egyptian delegation left Khartoum, winding up a short visit that lasted only a couple of hours. [...]. Editor: Du
February 13, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese army today claimed that it repulsed an attack by the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in West Darfur area of Jabal Marra.
Photo: Sudan army spokesperson Brigadier General Osman Al-Agbash
The army spokesperson Brigadier General Osman Al-Agbash said that they have inflicted heavy casualties on JEM forces and destroyed 14 armed vehicles while they lost 4 soldiers with 3 injured.
He also described statements by JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim as “empty propaganda” that is aimed at strengthening his position at the negotiation underway in the Arab Gulf State of Qatar with the Sudanese government.
This week JEM accused the Sudan Armed Forces of initiating an assault against its troops. But Khartoum said that no truce between the two sides has been signed yet.
“The offensive was easily and summarily defeated, despite use of 2 Antonov planes, 2 MIG 29 fighters and 6 tanks, two captured, three destroyed and one escaped” said Ali Al-Wafi, the JEM military spokesperson.
Al-Wafi further added they captured Col. Hamid Ahmed, the deputy commander of the assailing force.
JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein from Doha where the rebel group negotiating with the government denounced the attack saying it demonstrates the lack of government seriousness for peace in Darfur. [...] (ST)
Sudan's government and Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement have made "progress" in meetings this week in Doha, their first peace contacts since 2007, according to Qatar's prime minister.
The two parties "want positive results and (have expressed) their good intentions. There is progress," Premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told a news conference very late Friday after a lengthy day of negotiations between the two parties under Qatari mediation.
Doha talks are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace conference on Darfur, W. Sudan.
Sudan's government and Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement have made "progress" in meetings this week in Doha, their first peace contacts since 2007, according to Qatar's prime minister.
The two parties "want positive results and (have expressed) their good intentions. There is progress," Premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told a news conference very late Friday after a lengthy day of negotiations between the two parties under Qatari mediation.
"This progress will be reflected in a draft document now in its final stages of preparation (by mediators)," he added. Once completed, the document would be submitted to the two parties for comment, the prime minister added without elaborating.
He said the talks were due to continue on Saturday.
The meetings, which began in the Qatari capital on Tuesday, are aimed at paving the way for substantive peace negotiations between Khartoum and the Justice and Equality Movement.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim and the head of the government delegation, presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie, on Wednesday held their first face-to-face talks, which were described by parties afterwards as "positive."
The most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups, JEM boycotted a largely abortive peace deal signed by one other faction in 2006 and in May last year launched an unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital.
JEM representative Jibril Ibrahim said at the start of the talks that broader peace negotiations would only be possible if the government was prepared to accept the winding up of allied Arab militias in Darfur and allow high-level rebel representation in the central government.
He said confidence-building measures should include the release of JEM prisoners and the expansion of aid deliveries to rebel-held areas.
He said the rebel group would expect to "retain its fighters during a transition period ahead of a final peace deal which would provide for their integration in the regular army."
JEM also wanted to secure "a reduction in government troop numbers, the dismantling of the militias and high-level participation in the central government in Khartoum."
Government negotiator Nafie for his part renewed "Sudan's determination to continue down the path of peace."
Mediators have stressed that the Doha talks are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace conference on Darfur.[...]
Photo: Khalil Ibrahim, during the Darfur Peace Talks, in Doha, Feb 11, 2009 (AP via ST)
A Council discussion in response to a decision by the judges of the pre-trial chamber is likely. But it may come in the content of other scheduled meetings.
A formal Council meeting on Sudan is scheduled for 17 February to discuss the latest Secretary-General’s report on AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
Expected Council Action • Key Recent Developments • Key Issues • Options • UN Documents • Other Relevant Facts • Other SCR Reports on this Issue
Expected Council Action Council members anticipate that shortly a decision will be issued by the judges of the pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning the prosecutor’s application of 14 July 2008 for the issuance of an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
It seems inevitable that any announcement of a warrant will trigger some discussion in Council informal consultations. However, recent private Council discussions suggest that formal Council action is unlikely. Some members may continue to advocate for a resolution suspending Court proceedings, but it seems clear that the votes to pass such a resolution are not there.
A formal Council meeting on Sudan is scheduled for 17 February to discuss the latest Secretary-General’s report on AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
Key Recent Developments The application for a warrant of arrest against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in connection with alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur was lodged with the Court by Chief Prosecutor of the ICC Luis Moreno-Ocampo on 14 July 2008. For a detailed background please see our 28 July 2008 Update Report.
The security situation in Darfur deteriorated in January as a result of rebel movements undertaking military offensives, retaliatory attacks by the Sudanese armed forces and continued tribal fighting in southern Darfur. A UNAMID staff member was shot and wounded on 31 January in El Geneina in western Darfur.
On 9 February, a UNAMID helicopter was fired upon near its headquarters in El Fasher in northern Darfur.
On 3 February, the Council received a second briefing in closed consultations from Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet on the continued fighting between Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) forces and the Sudanese military in Muhajeriya in southern Darfur. The Council was informed that Sudanese forces had dropped 28 bombs in Muhajeriya that morning (seen by some as a likely breach of the sanctions regime) despite reports JEM was withdrawing its forces from the area. Members were also informed that UNAMID officials had been prevented by the Sudanese government from undertaking an assessment visit to Muhajeria, in violation of the status of forces agreement between UNAMID and the government, which allows unrestricted movement for UNAMID throughout Darfur.
The fighting at Muhajeria appears to have ceased. It led to at least thirty deaths and uprooted some 30,000 people. Sudanese authorities have reportedly prevented aid agencies from accessing more than 100,000 civilians in the affected areas in southern Darfur. The Council initially began work on a presidential statement addressing the situation. While it seems consensus was reached on several elements of the draft statement including deploring JEM’s provocation in Muhajeriya, for all military action, including aerial bombings to cease, for all parties to respect UNAMID’s freedom of movement, and for rebel groups that have not done so to attend peace talks, unanimity was not achieved in part because of the deep division within the Council on the issue of suspending ICC proceedings against al-Bashir. The draft also seemed to be overtaken by events—not least the cessation of the fighting but also the fact that on 10 February a Khartoum government delegation met JEM representatives for the first time since 2007 in Doha, Qatar to begin discussions on a framework agreement for peace talks. Advisor to al-Bashir, Nafie al Nafie and JEM leader, Khalil Ibrahim were present for the talks.
On 9 February, the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mussa, Organisation of the Islamic Conference Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihasanoglu, AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping, Qatar’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmad bin Abdullah al-Mahmud and UN/AU joint chief negotiator Djibril Bassolè met in Doha to discuss support to the peace talks. Despite the ongoing talks in Doha, a JEM spokesperson in Darfur said JEM forces had clashed with Sudanese forces in Malam southern Darfur on 12 February. JEM also claimed Sudanese army troops attacked JEM forces in Jebel Marra in western Darfur but that JEM had repelled the attack.
The former rebel group, Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minnawi (SLM/MM) who signed the Darfur Peace Agreement with the government in 2006, reportedly asked to join the peace talks but was told by the government they would be part of the government delegation. (Clashes were reported between SLM/MM and the Sudanese Armed Forces on 22 January in Graida in southern Darfur.) The Sudan Liberation Movement faction of Abdel Wahid al-Nur continues to refuse all talks with Khartoum.
During the 12th Ordinary Summit of the AU Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa from 2 to 4 February, members adopted a decision urging the Security Council to defer ICC proceedings in view of the fact an arrest warrant against al-Bashir would seriously undermine the ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict in Darfur. Members of the AU Peace and Security Council also decided to establish a High-Level Panel of Eminent Personalities under the chairmanship of the former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, to submit recommendations on how best to reconcile the issues of accountability and impunity with reconciliation and healing in Darfur.
During a 14 January meeting of the Arab-African Ministerial Committee for Peace in Darfur in Doha, the Committee mandated a delegation from Qatar, the AU and the Arab League to visit New York to mobilise international support for the peace process in Darfur and to seek a deferral from the Security Council on ICC proceedings. Council members met the delegation, led by AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra, on 12 February. Council members were told that while the AU and Arab League do not believe in promoting impunity, further time was needed to allow progress in Sudan and that a deferral of ICC proceedings would facilitate progress. The responses of the Council members were divided, but demonstrated that most Council members were unconvinced that a suspension would facilitate progress. The failure of the delegation to bring to the table any credible benchmarks seems to have been a major factor in the firm positions that were articulated. Clearly a suspension resolution could not attract enough votes to pass.
Other related developments include a further deterioration in relations between Sudan and Chad. An agreement on 8 November to resume full diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors seems to have collapsed, with the Chadian government accusing the Sudanese government of supporting the Chadian armed opposition coalition, Union of Resistance Forces and its aim to destabilise Chad. The Sudanese government has accused Chad of supplying Darfur rebel group JEM and providing protection to the rebels. The AU has expressed serious concern at the current tensions. The AU mission chaired by former Burundian president Pierre Buyoya, which visited the region in October/November 2008 (following the request of the AU Peace and Security Council in June) to examine the root causes of tension between Sudan and Chad is yet to release its recommendations.
The AU-sponsored Dakar Agreement Contact Group failed to meet in Khartoum in January. Following its last meeting in N’Djamena on 15 November the Group indicated a peace and security force comprised of Sudanese and Chadian troops to monitor the common border would be deployed in January 2009. This appears to be delayed.
Key Issues With the prospects for an ICC article 16 deferral resolution now clarified, Council members are likely to begin to focus on the issue of what in practice an ICC indictment will mean for the peace process in Darfur and for stability in Sudan and the region. One risk is that it may stimulate both sides of the conflict to step back from peaceful negotiations and commence new military offensives. Another risk is possible obstruction, violence or reprisals as a result of any indictment.
A key underlying and persistent issue is getting the government and rebel groups to the negotiating table and for an agreement to be made on a meaningful ceasefire and peace process in Darfur.
Another issue is the division in the Council on sanctions. The Council issued a presidential statement prior to the convening of peace talks in Sirte in October 2007, which underlined its willingness to take action against any party that sought to undermine the peace process. However, no action such as, for example, individually targeted sanctions, has been taken against peace spoilers. And despite resolutions repeatedly demanding there be no aerial bombings in Darfur, the continued use by the government of such a tactic continues and the Council has been unable to reach consensus on a presidential statement condemning these acts. A question which has been increasingly acute for several months is how the Council can regain some sort of relevance in the eyes of the parties.
Options A Council discussion in response to a decision by the judges of the pre-trial chamber is likely. But it may come in the content of other scheduled meetings.
Given the suspension resolution now seems very unlikely, there are some common themes which the Council unanimously supports including:
the need for all parties to commit to peaceful negotiations; the cessation of military action; UNAMID’s freedom of movement; the need for civilians to be protected; and the safety of humanitarian workers.
