Tehran, Iran: Leading demonstrators must be executed, Ayatollah Khatami demands

A hardline cleric close to the Iranian regime demanded the execution of leading demonstrators yesterday as the opposition ended the week in disarray.

In a televised sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami called on the judiciary to “punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson”. He said that those leaders were backed by the United States and Israel. They should be treated as mohareb — people who wage war against God — and deserved execution.

In a clear warning to all other dissenters, he declared: “Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction.”

The Ayatollah claimed that Neda Soltan, the woman shot during a demonstration last Saturday, had been killed by fellow protesters because “government forces do not shoot at a lady standing in a side street”. [...]

The most outspoken criticism of the regime is now coming from outside Iran. On Thursday President Obama called the regime’s suppression of dissent “outrageous”. He admitted that his hopes of opening a dialogue with Iran had been damaged but rejected Mr Ahmadinejad’s demand that he apologise for criticising the crackdown.

Speaking after talks with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, he said that their two countries spoke with “one voice” in condemning the regime’s behaviour.

The foreign ministers of the G8 powers, meeting in Italy, issued a statement deploring the crackdown and urging Iran to resolve the crisis over the disputed election through democratic dialogue. “We deplore post-electoral violence which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians and urge Iran to respect fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression,” the G8 ministers said in a joint statement.

Full story: The Times by Martin Fletcher, Saturday, 27 June 2009:
Leading demonstrators must be executed, Ayatollah Khatami demands

Note, one of 101 comments at the article says:

Do not be fooled by the uneasy calm. There is something in the offing in Iran. They have a saying 'there is fire underneath the ashes'. Ayatollah Khatami (not to be confused with the former president of the same name) might find himself being strung upside down, sooner than he thinks.

Google access in China temporarily disrupted - outage follows criticism by Chinese watchdog

From Bureau News - Breaking News 24/7, Thursday, 25 June 2009:
Google to take serious action after being banned in China for providing pornographic links

BEIJING — Internet users in China were unable to access search giant Google Inc.’s main Web site or its Chinese service, and the company said Thursday it was investigating. The outage came after the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center last week accused Google of providing links to vulgar and obscene sites. Google, based in Mountainview, California, said it would do more to stop users in China from accessing pornography.

The outage began late Wednesday and affected Google’s main site, its Gmail.com e-mail service and its China-based site, Google.cn. On Thursday, all three were accessible from a computer in Beijing, but users in two other cities said they could not open Google’s main site or Gmail.

“We are investigating the matter and hope the service will be restored soon,” Google spokesman John Pinette in Hong Kong told The Associated Press.

The Chinese agency that oversees the Internet, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China has the world’s largest population of Internet users at more than 298 million. The communist government has the world’s most extensive Web monitoring and filtering system, and it regularly blocks access to foreign Web sites.

While the government claims the main targets are pornography, online gambling, and other sites deemed harmful to society, critics say that often acts as cover for detecting and blocking sensitive political content.

Authorities launched a crackdown this year that led to the closing of more than 1,900 porn-related Web sites.

Google has struggled to expand in China, where it says it has about 30 percent of the search market. The company launched Google.cn with a Chinese partner after seeing its market share erode as government filters slowed access to its U.S. service.

I have just checked the visitor stats for this site, Sudan Watch and can see there have been no visitors from China which is quite unusual. I'll keep an eye on the stats today to see if this blog post attracts a visitor from China. Usually they are quite on the ball.

Sudan to execute diplomat killers - US Embassy in Khartoum urged its citizens to keep a low profile

Four men in Sudan are sentenced to death for the killing of a US diplomat and his driver last year.

"We sentence the first four defendants to death by hanging," Reuters news agency quoted Judge Sayed Ahmed al-Badri as saying.

Earlier, the US embassy in Khartoum urged its citizens to keep a low profile if there was a guilty verdict.



John Granville (pictured above) and driver Abdel Rahman Abbas died after gunmen opened fire on their car early on New Year's Day.

Full story: BBC News, 25 June 2009
Sudan to execute diplomat killers

AU Panel on Darfur conducts public hearings in Darfur

The African Union Panel on Darfur (AUPD), which is examining the root causes of the Darfur conflict and aiming to promote justice and reconciliation, held public hearings over the weekend across the region.

Chaired by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, and comprising former Burundian president Pierre Buyoya and former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as other African dignitaries, began its hearings on 20 June in El Fasher, North Darfur, before conducting similar hearings the following day in the South Darfur capital of Nyala.



Photo 16 June 2009 El-Geneina: Children from Seraf Jidad village, during the visit to Sector West of the UNAMID DJSR, General Henry K. Anyidoho. (UNAMID - Olivier Chassot)

The hearings are aimed at listening to the voices of Darfurians and other stakeholders to determine how best to expedite the peace process to create conditions conducive to promote justice, healing, and reconciliation in Darfur.

The AUPD also conducted hearings with native administrators, women, youth, and representatives from the Sudan Liberation Movement/Abdul Wahid faction (SLM/W) in the North Darfur village of En Siro, and with Sudanese political parties in Khartoum last week. Further hearings will be held this week in El Geneina and Zalingei, both in West Darfur.

Source: AU-UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) 22 June 2009 (via AllAfrica)

Computer mouse cartoon (Iran Cyberwar News Update 4)

Cartoon by Peter Brookes - Times Online UK, 18 June 2009.
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Update on 19 June 2009: From Channel 4 News' Snowmail by Jon Snow, UK, Thursday evening, 18 June 2009 - excerpt:

IRAN ON THE BRINK

Iran is incredibly finely balanced tonight. Despite being asked by the opposition leader, Mr Mousavi, not to come onto the streets for a planned demonstration, there are huge numbers of people out tonight supporting him.

There is also an Ahmadinejad rally elsewhere in town. This as the guardian council say they will do some kind of limited recount in contested areas (clearly leaving the door open to the possibility that they might simply put Mousavi into power – after all, many of the mullahs are well disposed to him).

Mr Ahmadinejad himself has, perhaps predictably, left Iran altogether for a conference in Russia. For him either it is business as usual or in some way he’s been advised to remove himself from the scene for a bit.

For our people on the ground it is exceptionally difficult. All foreign media who do not have bureaux in Tehran have been ordered out by tomorrow. And mobile phone networks upon which we heavily depend, are down.

We hope Lindsey Hilsum will be able to file tonight. Alex Thomson is also covering events. And I shall be doing a take on the remarkable cyber-war that is going on inside Iran.

Iran in turmoil: http://bit.ly/2hGI8

Briton caught up in Iran internet wars: http://bit.ly/KrL76

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From BBC News:

Iran's powerful Guardian Council says it is ready to recount disputed presidential election votes in some areas, after huge protest marches.

For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
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From BBC News - 19 June 2009:

Iran's top leader Ayatollah Khamenei says the results of the country's contested elections were not rigged, and warns about more protests.

For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
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Update : Excerpt from Channel 4 News' Snowmail by Jon Snow 19 June 2009 c. 6pm GMT -

TOP OF THE HATE LIST

Iran's Supreme Leader has put the frighteners on. In a gripping speech at Friday prayers in front of Iran's top brass he said the protests must end, people must accept the result. It was impossible to fix 11m ballots he claimed, and threw his all behind President Ahmadinejad.

Any further protest, he added, would amount to an attack on Iran. http://tinyurl.com/mvhafb

So will that be enough to stop things? A 'friend' of Moussavi is being quoted as saying he does not want his supporters to protest tomorrow. We'll just have to wait and see what happens on the streets.

The Ayatollah also took aim at Britain and put us top of the hate list cueing chants of 'Death to Britain'. The regime is partly angered by Gordon Brown and David Miliband's comments this week (although they have been pretty muted) but is most irritated at the BBC World and BBC Persian TV channels. We'll be assessing what it all means.

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Update: Excerpt from UK Channel 4 News' Snowmail by Alex T dated Saturday, 20 June 2009 c. 19:30 GMT

Alex T here - our lead item tonight can only be the distressing news given in a bald statement from the Foreign Office by the foreign secretary, David Miliband.

The Iraqi authorities in Baghdad have informed the British there that two bodies have been found.

Their identities are not confirmed. But Mr Miliband indicated that they were likely to be the bodies of two of the five British nationals who have been held for more than two years in Baghdad.

TEHRAN CLASHES

The authorities in Tehran and beyond promised they would get tough(er) with any opposition protesters on the streets today.

Word is, they've made good on that promise. Basiji militias, riot police, ordinary police, undercover police, you-name-it police - they're all out there in force and beating up protesters.

As I write I'm getting word of shots being fired. Our team has been slung out of the country along with most other foreign reporting teams, so getting a clear picture of life on the streets of Tehran - never exactly easy - has become extremely fraught, which is just the way the regime wants it of course.

We shall endeavour to peek through the censors via the web and other means.

Iran's supreme leader appeals for calm: http://tinyurl.com/mjfjsj

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From Drima The Sudanese Thinker 17 June 2009:

Iran and Twitter on Fire

The drama continues unabated in Iran, and Twitter has now become an active battleground apparently getting infiltrated even by the Iranian security apparatus.

To get a sense of what’s happening, watch this video.

To understand how Twitter and new media are such a central part of the psychological warfare getting waged by both sides, read this and watch this video.

More on leveraging Twitter to help Iranian activists here.

Yay to cyberwar.

AU Panel headed by President Mbeki met with 14 parties in a public hearing in Khartoum and visited Ain Siro, N. Darfur

From Alex de Waal, Making Sense of Darfur, 17 June 2009:

The national Sudanese political parties active inside the country rarely meet together in the same forum. I asked a number of Sudanese political leaders when it last happened: some said not for twenty years. Earlier today, fourteen parties met together in a public hearing in Khartoum convened by the African Union Panel headed by President Thabo Mbeki. It included every party in the National Assembly and several others too. Parties that had boycotted the Sudan People’s Initiative last year, such as the Popular Congress Party and the Sudan Communist Party, participated. The fact that so many parties turned out, discussed the whole day until nightfall is a testament to the sense of urgency shared across the political spectrum over the Darfur crisis. Full story .

Photo: Four members of the Panel visited Ain Siro. They included, former presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abdesalam Abubaker of Nigeria [shown above], and two distinguished lawyers, Justice Florence Mumba of Zambia and Mohamed Kebir of Nigeria. Rakiya Omaar also visited last month. Former President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi sent his regrets, as he was attending the funeral of President Omar Bongo of Gabon today. The Panel asked the community to address four themes: peace, reconciliation, justice, and how Darfur relates to the Sudanese nation. Full story



Photo: After the prepared presentations, lucid and comprehensive, the villagers had a free-flowing discussion with the panel members. Hundreds of people turned up, crowding round the discussion, which was held in the shade of mango trees. Many Darfurians were IDPs, refugees or lived in rebel-held areas such as Ain Siro, and had not been counted in the census, and expected to be excluded from voting and other citizenship rights. (Source: Alex de Waal, Making Sense of Darfur, 17 June 2009)

Paul Moorcraft says ICC Bashir arrest warrant will undermine Sudan's CPA, peace must come before justice

Paul Moorcraft says the ICC Bashir arrest warrant will undermine Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Peace must come before justice. The Doha talks between JEM and NCP were about to succeed but were more or less sabotaged by the ICC's decision to issue an arrest warrant.

From Sudan Radio Service 17 June 2009 (Nairobi/London):
Arrest Warrant Will Undermine the CPA Says UK Analyst

As debate over the arrest warrant issued against President al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court continues, a foreign political analyst thinks that the warrant will undermine the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The Director of the UK-based Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis, Professor Paul Moorcraft, told Sudan Radio Service on Tuesday that peace must come before justice because arresting Bashir at this time will destroy the CPA as well as complicate the peace process in Darfur. He added that both parties have committed atrocities in the region.

[Professor Paul Moorcraft]:“I don’t particularly like President al-Bashir but my main argument is that the ICC arrest warrant is more likely to end up ensuring that al-Bashir stays in power for life. But it also puts pressure on the CPA. You could argue that the president says he is innocent, well, he should go to The Hague, but we know he is unlikely to do that. There is no doubt that a lot of atrocities were committed by the Sudanese Army in Darfur, just as today, the JEM and the rebel elements of the SLA are also committing awful atrocities, especially against workers in the NGOs who are trying to feed the Darfur people. So, yes there are crimes on both sides but at the moment what am saying is in short, peace must come before justice. It is great to have both and maybe they will come in time, but what matters is bringing peace to Darfur, end the suffering and not to undermine the north-south agreement and that’s what I fear the ICC will bring. Peace before justice.

Professor Moorcraft also doubts that an African Union court would resolve the Darfur conflict.

[Professor Paul Moorcraft]: “Africa doesn’t have a good record, the African Union is full of dictatorships, but there is no simple solution. As long as African states are badly governed there will be no easy solution to get rid of presidents-for-life”.

He said that the imposition of European standards in solving African issues can be disastrous, adding that only a political solution can end the Darfur conflict.

[Professor Paul Moorcraft]:“I think sometimes when there is western intervention it can cause negative consequences in Africa. So, political investment is good, political investment like in Naivasha, repeating itself in Darfur. But I have doubts about the intent to impose European standards. Remember, very few - only 27 percent - of the world has signed up to the ICC. it is not an International Court of Justice, many countries have not joined and at the moment virtually all those who have been indicted have been African leaders, it seems to me that that smacks a little of colonialism.”

Professor Moorcroft added that the Doha talks between the Justice and Equality Movement and the National Congress Party were about to succeed but that they were more or less sabotaged by the ICC decision to issue President al-Bashir with an arrest warrant.

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Analyst forecasts change in US Policy towards Sudan

June 17, 2009 report from Sudan Radio Service (Nairobi/Paris) - excerpt:

On Monday, the GONU Foreign Affairs Minister Deng Alor said he expects the United States government to ease economic sanctions and to remove Sudan from the list of states which sponsor terrorism. Roland Marchal, a Paris-based political analyst, suggests that the Obama administration could reverse its policies towards Sudan. He spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Wednesday.  Full story.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy booed at Gabon funeral

Photo: The coffin of Gabonese president Omar Bongo, leaves the president's palace. Photo Courtesy: AFP.

Sarkozy booed at Gabon funeral
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Libreville/Agence France-Presse

Onlookers jeered French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday at the state funeral for Gabon's President Omar Bongo Ondimba which was attended by more than a dozen other African leaders.

The issue of succession in the oil rich nation buzzed behind the scenes and Sarkozy insisted that France was not supporting anyone to takeover in its former colony.

Polite applause as Sarkozy arrived at the presidential palace in Libreville was quickly drowned out by the jeers and boos shouted by dozens of people among a few hundred onlookers who were allowed into the palace courtyard.

Many hurled insults such as "We don't want you! Leave!" at Sarkozy.

Security guards quickly formed a cordon around the French leader as he went into the presidential palace.

Bongo, 73, died in a Spanish clinic last week. He had been a symbol of France's privileged ties in the region, but those relations had soured as Bongo's controversial 41 year rule came to an end.

A French judge is investigating his purchase of luxury properties in France amid embezzlement allegations.

One man in the crowd told AFP: "You French, you come here to eat Gabon. All the presidents who have come to this palace have left again with their pockets full and then you criticise us."

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and former president Jacques Chirac were also present in a heavyweight French delegation that reflected the importance Paris still gives to its former colonies in Africa.

Sarkozy and Chirac were applauded when they laid a wreath together at Bongo's coffin.

Sarkozy denied there was any French interference in the selection of a successor. "France has no candidate ... it is not supporting anyone," he said on the sidelines of the service.

"The Gabonese must choose who they want and France will work with the president chosen by the Gabonese," he said, while highlighting that "institutions and deadlines" had to be respected to avoid chaos.

"You have to do everything to keep the unity of the country when you see what has happened in Ivory Coast," he said refering to the West African neighbour's civil war.

After a minute's silence, guests took turns to kneel briefly in front of Bongo's coffin draped with the national flag, before it was taken out for a two-hour military parade on the Atlantic seafront.

Defence Minister Ali Ben Bongo, 50, the late president's son who many consider the favourite to take over, spoke for the family and gave a speech preaching the "philosophy of forgiveness (and) dialogue" he attributed to his father.

"We, your children, your family, make a solemn commitment to keep alight with the aide of our fellow citizens the sacred flame of family harmony, republican concord and national unity," he said.

The defence minister has frequently appeared on television and at the side of interim president Rose Francine Rogombe, the Senate speaker.

Sources close to the presidency have reported a tussle between Ali Ben Bongo and Prime Minister John Eyeghe Ndong over the handling of the transition period scheduled to end with presidential elections.

Without speaking about the succession, Ndong urged Gabonese people "to reject dissent, petty squabbles, and bitter struggles, personal or otherwise."

Leaders from the African Union, Congo-Brazzaville, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Togo, Senegal, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Burundi, Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso and Sao Tome among the mourners.

Bongo's coffin was taken to Franceville, capital of his native southeastern Haut-Ogouue region, where he will be buried on Thursday.

Sudan’s production of Dar blend crude to reach 300k bpd?

Note the 4 comments at Sudan Tribune's article copied here below.

Sudan’s production of Dar blend crude to reach 300k bpd

June 13, 2009 (SINGAPORE) - Sudan will manage to boost its output of the heavy sweet, acidic Dar Blend from 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 300,000 by the end of 2009, according to Platts website.



Photo: Sudan oil fields (Petrodar website)

The average production of the Dar Blend crude was 200,000 bpd in 2007 and was expected to reach 275,000 bpd in 2008, but volumes have been well below that until recently.

Chinese refiners are the main buyers of Dar Blend.

This brand of crude is less generally popular among refiners due to its high acidic nature though it can be used fuel oil blending.

China, the largest economic partner of Sudan, is the main buyer of the Dar Blend crude.

A source in the Petrodar Operating Company in Sudan told Platts website that two new fields will be added to production including Gumry and Moleeta.

Furthermore the source said that the new fields produce less acidic crude but cautioned that it is too soon to say what the total acid number (TAN) would be.

Petrodar’s shareholders include China National Petroleum Corp. (41%), Malaysia’s Petronas Carigali (40%), China’s Sinopec (6%), the UAE Al-Thani (5%), Egypt Kuwait Holding (5%) and Sudapet (3%).

Sudan is heavily dependent on oil exports which have declined sharply in terms of proceeds and volume in the wake of a financial crisis that swept developed nation and caused demand to plunge.

Copy of 4 comments on this article...

14 June 2009 by szalan:
This report is opaque, missing some disclosure, and absolutely untransparent. No wonder corruption prevails in sudan’s wealth distribution.
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14 June 2009 by yazB:
The interestig thing is that 35 yrs ago Chevron owned 49% of the feilds it was developing and the goverment of Sudan a controlling 51% by contrast to nowadays the developing partners own 97% and the Goverments’ company owns only 3%! Having said that given the current forecast of a an average price of a barrell @ $75, then these fields have a potential revenue of almost $7 billions per annum. This is roughly the annual operating budget of the kingdom of Morocco which has roughly the same population as Sudan (40 millions) yet the Moroccan GDP is three times the Sudanese! Now we know where all the oil revenue goes!
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14 June 2009 by szalan:
hold on a second, is that $7B the 3% share the Sudapet is getting or is it the net oil revenue before all the parties involed cut their percentage share?

Here is my net annual oil revenue before any costs, interests, and taxes are considered under the two assumption that 250,000 barrels were produce a day and sold at the price of $75.

Annual Revenue=$75 x 250,000 bpd x 30days x 12 months =$6,750,000,000.

The 3% of the above revenues before all cost is taken out would entitle Sudapet the amount of $202,500,000 (0.03x$6,750,000,000).

Now if that 3% amount is split in half between south and north per CPA arrangement, then each side will get only $101,250,000 before costs are considered.

The bigger question then is whether the $6.75 B was derived from how many oil blocks or wells?????

Based on the above figures, and the budget report of Sudan government, it is nnot clear exactly how much income revenue is generated from both the oil and non-oil sectors in the Sudan.

The results are therefore opaque without any qualified independent auditor to verified so.

In other words, the Sudanese are cheated of the resources. lol Szalan.
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16 June 2009 by OYAT:
The production of oil in Sudan is increasing by an average of 82,000 bpd per years, which is good new for Northern Sudan government. Because they never and they will never give out the exact figure of revenue to government of southern Sudan. But I don’t totally blame the Northern, instead I will be blaming the southern Sudan government officials who are responsible to making sure that any revenue in Sudan has to shares equally amongst the two government.

Channel 4 News's Lindsey Hilsum is blogging direct from Tehran, Iran

UK's Channel 4 News's International Editor Lindsey Hilsum is reporting and blogging direct from the ground in Tehran, Iran 3-4 times a day.

Click here to see her important reports and updates.

“The world would have been a different place had the US accepted to work with Sudan.” -Paul Moorcraft

The following report, dated March 2008, is filed here for future reference.

From Sudan Media Centre, Khartoum
By Professor Paul Moorcraft

11 March 2008

Sudanese-European Political and Diplomatic Relations: Paul Moorcraft

Professor Paul Moorcraft, the director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis in London, presented a paper at the Sudanese European Relation Forum on Tuesday, March 11, 2008, titled “Out of step with Hyperpower? The European Union and Sudan.”

The paper addressed Sudan’s political and diplomatic relations with the European Union. In it, Dr. Moorcraft emphasized the difference in approaches between the EU and the US toward Sudan.

“We can describe the US as a ‘hard power’ while Europe is a ‘soft power’,” he said, emphasizing the tough approaches the US adopts against Sudan while the European approaches tend to be more diplomatic.

“European policy toward Sudan is less ideological than the US,” Moorcraft added.

One of the major differences according to Moorcraft was the evident impact of lobby groups.

“You don’t see the impact of lobby groups in Europe like in the US,” said Moorcraft, using the example of the Black Caucus and the Christian Right’s influences in the US in shaping US foreign policy toward Sudan.

“European foreign policy is not hijacked by lobby groups,” Moorcraft said comparing it to US foreign policy.

Moorcraft also pointed to the fact that while the US imposed economic sanctions and closed its embassy in Khartoum in 1996 after the attempt on Egyptian President Mubarak’s life in Addis Abba and accused Sudan of involvement; Britain kept its embassy fully opened.

“Europeans tend to take a more relaxed attitude towards these developments.”

On intelligence gathering, Moorcraft also compared how the US refused to co-operate with Sudanese intelligence on the Usama bin Ladin file, but the French on the other hand accepted Khartoum offer on Carlos the Jackal.

“The world would have been a different place had the US accepted to work with Sudan,” Moorcraft said.

Moorcraft went on to describe how Khartoum’s cooperation with the US after the attacks of September 11 against terrorism was well received in Europe.

“The British were impressed by Khartoum’s actions,” he said.

This led to Europe seeking gradual improvements in its relations with Sudan, explained Moorcraft, which became tied to Sudan reaching an end to the North-South civil war. When the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, it resonated well in Europe.

“Nivasha altered Sudan’s image in Europe,” he said.

But the conflict in Darfur, and the influence of the anti-Sudan lobby, especially in the US, had delayed a full normalization of relations with Europe. Moorcraft, however, was critical of media coverage of Darfur and of those calling for UN and foreign intervention in Darfur without a political solution to the problem.

“I have publicly written that Darfur is not a genocide…the US has 130,000 troop in Iraq and can’t control the insurgency there. How than can a UN force with less numbers enforce peace in Darfur where there is no peace to keep?”

Moorcraft also called on Europe and the US to help with a peace process for Darfur similar to the CPA.

“Darfur is primarily a political crises that can be addressed in months…My view is the Western powers should replicate the time, energy patience and leverage displayed at Naivasha in persuading the rebels to accept the Darfur Peace Agreement, perhaps with some modifications.”

Moorcraft also praised the eventual handling of the Gillian Gibbons “teddy-bear affair,” the British school teacher who was accused of insulting Islam be allowing her class pupils to name a teddy-bear Muhammad. Lord Nazir Ahmad, a British Muslim MP, was able to intercede with the Sudanese government to ensure Gibbons’ release.

“If this had happened in Saudi Arabia, things would have been very different.”

Moorcraft ended on a positive note, stating that “Sudan has a lot to look forward to.”

International community's main focus is on obtaining future Darfur peace agreement, not seeking justice for past crimes

ICC appeals for the arrest of Sudan's leader are falling on deaf ears at the UN, as the nation's relations with America improve.

Britain's Foreign Office has expressed broad support for the ICC and has urged Sudan to co-operate with it – but has offered no public endorsement of Ocampo. The US, not a party to the Rome treaty, is also lukewarm.

Source: The Guardian by Simon Tisdall, 11 June 2009 (via u.tv news):
Bashir slips out of court's grasp

Efforts by the International Criminal Court to secure the arrest of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for alleged war crimes in Darfur have stalled and are unlikely to move forward in the foreseeable future, European diplomats and Sudanese officials say. The stalemate threatens to undermine the credibility of the court and is raising questions about the future of its chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Bashir was indicted in March on five counts of crimes against humanity, including rapes and killings, and on two counts of war crimes relating to events in Darfur since 2003. The UN claims up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been displaced by continuing fighting between government forces and rebel groups. Khartoum, which puts the death toll at 10,000, does not recognise the court's jurisdiction.

Reporting to the UN security council last week, Moreno-Ocampo repeated previous assertions that the government of Sudan was presiding over the "ongoing extermination of civilians" in Darfur. He urged all state parties to the Rome treaty that created the ICC to support efforts to arrest Bashir and other war crimes indictees such as Ahmad Harun, a Sudanese minister. Non-signatories also had a duty to back the ICC under UN resolutions, he said.

But to the unconcealed delight of Khartoum, the prosecutor's appeals appear to have fallen on deaf ears, with the council agreeing only to "take note" of his report while eschewing concrete action. "Ocampo repeated a lot of lies. He talked about continuing genocide. But nothing is happening at the UN. This thing is being buried," a senior Sudanese official said. By targeting Bashir, the first serving head of state to be indicted by the ICC, Ocampo had fatally over-reached, the official claimed.

Western governments are also privately critical of Ocampo's tactics in charging Bashir rather than less senior figures with more evident, hands-on responsibility for Darfur. "He could have charged the minister of defence or the head of the army first and if they had implicated Bashir, he could have gone after him then. Instead he has gone over the top," said a European diplomat closely involved with Sudan.

Such scepticism is echoed in London, where the Foreign Office has expressed broad support for the ICC and has urged Sudan to co-operate with it – but has offered no public endorsement of Ocampo. The US, not a party to the Rome treaty, is also lukewarm. Speaking of Bashir's indictment during a fence-mending visit to Khartoum in April, John Kerry, chairman of the US Senate's foreign relations committee, said: "Of course, there is no question that it has complicated matters."

In a recent Foreign Affairs magazine article, Andrew Natsios, a former Bush administration Sudan envoy, sharply criticised Ocampo for exaggerating the scale of continuing violence in Darfur and mishandling the Bashir case. "In their zeal to burnish the fledgling court's credentials with such a high-profile case, the ICC's prosecutors have weakened the institution," he said.

The arrest warrant had produced the unintended effect of rallying Sudanese and the African Union and Arab League around Bashir and reducing the incentives for the rebels to make peace, Natsios added. "If the international community persists in imposing idealised standards of justice on Sudan, it will end up inciting violence in the future that would make past atrocities pale by comparison."

Natsios's diatribe and Kerry's visit, when he spoke positively of lifting US sanctions, forms part of the backdrop to a visible warming of relations between Washington and Khartoum since Barack Obama took office – another reason why the ICC case is floundering. Despite campaign pledges to take tough action on Darfur, Obama's new Sudan envoy, Scott Gration, described the country as a "friend" during recent visits to Khartoum.

Sudanese officials are hailing a "new beginning" in bilateral relations. "We can feel the winds of change blowing from the Obama administration. Gration is putting his full weight behind the Doha peace talks [between the government and Darfurian rebel factions]. There is a more positive attitude from the US," a diplomat said. In contrast, Darfur pressure groups have expressed dismay at recent developments, complaining in particular that Obama made only a fleeting reference to Darfur in his Cairo speech.

A recent meeting in Doha of representatives of the UN security council's five permanent members plus the EU made clear that the international community's main focus now was on obtaining a future Darfur peace agreement, not seeking justice for past crimes. And diplomats said even greater emphasis was being placed on how to revive the fragile 2005 north-south comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) ahead of national elections due next year, and a referendum on southern Sudan's mooted secession in 2011.The CPA ended more than 20 years of civil war but recent UN reports say violence in the south is now at a higher level than in Darfur, which the UN has reclassified as a "low intensity conflict". Hoping to resolves CPA-related disputes over oil, territory, and the electoral census, Sudanese national government officials will travel to Washington later this month for a major conference hosted by the Obama administration.

Although the UN security council continues to resist Sudanese and African Union calls for the ICC to suspend or drop the Bashir indictment, it shows no sign of taking any measures to secure his arrest, not least for fear of further destabilising the region and provoking a fatal rupture with the 30 African states that signed the ICC treaty.

Bashir, meanwhile, appears increasingly confident and continues to move freely at home and abroad, having visited Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Libya since the international arrest warrant was issued. "It [the ICC warrant] is an action aimed at isolating Sudan and eventually fragmenting and dividing our country," he said in Zimbabwe this week. "But through our own efforts and resources we are going to overcome such designs."

ICC's focus on Chad and use of child soldiers

On 05 June 2009, the ICC's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo informed the UN Security Council that he does not plan to open a new investigation during the next six months but will continue to review new information of ongoing crimes. Among other things, he will focus on the spill over of violence from Darfur into neighbouring Chad, as well as the use of child soldiers by different parties, including some rebel movements.

“The Judges’ decision of 4 March has clarified the type of crimes committed in Darfur against the displaced persons in the camps,” said Mr. Moreno-Ocampo.

“While the peacekeepers monitor fighting between the parties to the conflict, while the humanitarian workers monitor the physical plight of the civilians, the International Criminal Court monitors individual behaviour that can constitute crimes within our jurisdiction.

“The intentional infliction of conditions of life in the camps, where the Sudanese state apparatus controlled by President Al-Bashir does not provide assistance and is obstructing the provision of assistance, and the multiple rapes of women leading to physical or mental traumas, are both crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court,” he stated.

“The judges have issued decisions on those most responsible of the most serious crimes in Darfur,” he stated. “There will be no impunity in Darfur.

“We are at a crossroads. The next six months will be crucial,” he added. “There is a generation of victims faced with two options: they can leave the camps and die the same day; they can remain in the camps and die the day after.

“Violence will bring no victory. For the sake of the Darfur civilians, all parties to the conflict have to stop resorting to violence. This is the absolute priority.”

Source: UN News Centre, 05 June 2009 - Arrest of Sudanese fugitives priority for ICC, Prosecutor tells Security Council

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Copy of report from United Nations Security Council

Date: 05 Jun 2009

SC/9672

Security Council
6135th Meeting (AM)

The Sudan had a responsibility under the United Nations Charter to arrest President Omer al-Bashir and other Sudanese citizens charged with crimes in the violence-wracked Darfur region, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told the Security Council today.

The Court's warrant for the President's arrest had been sent to the Sudanese authorities, he said in a briefing to Council members prior to a private debate on the matter. The Government of the Sudan had the responsibility to arrest him in compliance with the United Nations Charter and Security Council resolutions. It also had a duty to arrest Ahmed Harun, whose appointment as Governor of South Kordofan contravened Council resolutions, and Ali Kushayb leader of the Government-allied Janjaweed militia.

All States parties to the Court's founding Rome Statute had a responsibility to arrest and surrender any indictee travelling in their territory, he emphasized, noting also that, while non-signatories to the Statute had no such legal obligation, Council resolution 1593 (2005) urged them to cooperate fully with the Court. While the implementation of a judicial decision against a Head of State could take months or years, as with former Presidents Slobodan Milošević of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia, in the end they all faced justice. "There will be no impunity in Darfur. Justice proceedings are in motion," he stressed.

In compliance with Council resolution 1593 (2005), the International Criminal Court had been investigating crimes in Darfur and had identified six individuals for prosecution, he said. Three arrest warrants had been issued, including one for President Bashir, in addition to one summons. Having collected testimony from more than 130 witnesses in over 18 countries, the Court had also devoted much effort to ensuring protection for those witnesses.

The Prosecutor said that, in its first case, the Court had investigated the mass killings, rapes and torture of civilians from 2003 to 2005, which had forced the displacement of 4 million civilians. The evidence showed the role of Mr. Harun, then Minister of State for the Interior, in coordinating massive crimes against civilians and that of Mr. Kushayb in specific attacks.

He went on to say that in the Court's second case, covering the same crimes against villagers and displaced persons in camps, evidence indicated that President Bashir had played a role in ordering operations against civilians, appointing Mr. Harun as Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, organizing the strangulation of displaced communities, denying them meaningful assistance and preventing their return home.

On 4 March 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber I had issued an arrest warrant citing five counts of crimes against humanity, including extermination, rapes and killings, and two counts of war crimes against the President, he said. However, the judges had rejected three charges of genocide by a two-to-one vote. The Office of the Prosecutor had appealed that decision and the Pre-Trial Chamber had yet to decide whether to grant leave to appeal.

He said the judges' decision of 4 March had clarified the types of crimes committed in Darfur against the displaced persons in the camps. While peacekeepers monitored fighting between parties to the conflict and humanitarian workers monitored the physical plight of civilians, the International Criminal Court monitored individual behaviour that could constitute crimes within its jurisdiction. The intentional infliction of conditions in the camps - where the State apparatus controlled by President Bashir obstructed assistance rather than providing it, and where multiple rapes of women resulted in physical or mental trauma - was within the Court's jurisdiction.

The judges had retained the charge of extermination as a crime against humanity, he pointed out, noting that, under Article 7 (2) (b) of the Rome Statute, extermination included "the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population". That provision mirrored those of Article 6, which established that "causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group" and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part" could constitute genocide.

He said the Court had also investigated and prosecuted attacks against peacekeepers, the most serious of which had been the one at Haskanita in September 2007. It had caused the deaths of 12 African Union peacekeepers and left thousands of people without protection. In that context, Pre-Trial Chamber I had issued, on 7 May 2009, a first summons to Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, President of the United Resistance Front, to appear before the International Criminal Court in relation to the Haskanita crimes. He had appeared in The Hague on 18 May 2009, and the hearing for the confirmation of the case against him was scheduled for 12 October. It was up to the rebel groups to facilitate the appearance of two other commanders. "They have committed to do so. They must now act."

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo confirmed that there were no national proceedings in relation to the "massive crimes" investigated by the Court in the Sudan. The Office of the Prosecutor thanked the Gambia, Mali, Netherlands, Nigeria and Senegal, among other countries, for facilitating its investigative missions, helping protect victims and witnesses, and facilitating the initial appearance of the first individuals to have agreed to appear before the International Criminal Court.

He said that, in the coming six months, and in accordance with its mandate, the Office of the Prosecutor would continue monitoring ongoing crimes, galvanizing efforts to arrest fugitives and building cooperation with regional organizations. However, it would not be opening new investigations and would focus on any new decisions affecting displaced persons, the spill-over of violence from Darfur into Chad and the use of child soldiers by different parties, including some rebel movements. In those activities, the Prosecutor's Office was consulting with the African Union high-level panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

Noting that the League of Arab States had been working for the adoption of a criminal code that would include crimes covered by the Rome Statute, he said that could help turn the tide against the climate of impunity prevailing in Darfur. "Should regional organizations succeed in promoting national accountability mechanisms for the victims of other crimes, and stop new abuses, we would not need to further intervene."

The meeting began at 10:15 a.m. and ended at 10:45 a.m.

For information media • not an official record

Ghazi Salaheddin, Khartoum's new rep for Darfur, seeks compromise and reconciliation

Presidential adviser Ghazi Salaheddin took over responsibility for the Darfur file two weeks ago from presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie.

The fact that he is been appointed as Khartoum's representative for Darfur is an important signal of a change of policy. Nafi Ali Nafie pursued a hardline policy, Ghazi will seek compromise and reconciliation.

Source: AFP report by Guillaume Lavallee, 11 June 2009 - excerpt:
Sudan's Darfur conflict 'in final stages'

KHARTOUM (AFP) — The six-year Darfur conflict is almost over, Sudan's new pointman for the thorny dossier said on Thursday, inviting a key rebel leader exiled in France to seize an "historic opportunity" for peace.

"The way I see the conflict, I see that it is in its final stages, I see peace coming. It's not exactly and strictly around the corner but I can see it," presidential adviser Ghazi Salaheddin told AFP in an interview. [...]

Preliminary peace talks, the latest in a series of previously failed efforts to end the conflict, are taking place in Doha between the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the best-equipped group, and the Sudan government.

"Hopefully, if the negotiations focus now on the political framework and also on the ceasefire agreement, that would allow us to make some progress," towards peace, Salaheddin said.

But the JEM rebels prefer the talks to focus on a prisoner exchange, with more than 100 of its fighters so far sentenced to death for an unprecedented attack on Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman in 2008.

The head of the Sudan Liberation Army, Abdelwahid Mohammed Nur, also a member of Darfur's main ethnic group the Fur, has so far refused to leave his exile in Paris to take part in peace talks, seeking major concessions such as guarantees on his future government role first.

"The Fur people are very important elements in the peace process," said Salaheddin, who on Thursday was beginning a three-day tour of Darfur.

"And we have to find a way of bringing them on board. And I think Abdelwahid has an historic opportunity which he should not miss to be seriously engaged in the talks.

"I think it is in his best interest and the best interest of its people that he be more flexible and seize the chance.

"It is the citizen in the end who should feel the peace. We should not focus on the leaders only. The leaders are important but they are no longer leaders if they cannot lead their people and if they cannot convey to them the new spirit," he said.

Salaheddin took over responsibility for the Darfur file two weeks ago from presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie, who has had to concentrate "day and night" on Sudan's general election planned for February 2010.

"Ghazi is a different kind of person. He is very much a conciliator," according to Sean O'Fahey, a specialist in Darfur history at Norway's Bergen University.

"The fact that he is been appointed as Khartoum's representative for Darfur is an important signal of a change of policy. Nafi Ali Nafie pursued a hardline policy, Ghazi will seek compromise and reconciliation."

Despite his apparently liberal credentials, Salaheddin still rails against the International Criminal Court which in March issued an arrest warrant against President Omar al-Beshir for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

"The government reacted in a very restrained way," he said. It was "the stupidest thing ever to be done by the ICC and by its prosecutor and the countries that support the ICC.

"They have to realise that they have undermined the peace process not only in Darfur but in southern Sudan as well," he said, referring to ongoing tensions in the south despite a 2005 peace deal that ended a bloody decades-long conflict there.

UNAMID's Rodolphe Adada meets JEM's Khalil Ibrahim in North Darfur

Mr. Adada once again urged that all efforts should focus on boosting the ongoing negotiations in Doha, Qatar, noting that “the problems that Sudan is facing now have no military solution.”

Top UN-African Union envoy meets Darfur rebel leader
From UN News Centre, Thursday, 11 June 2009 – excerpt:

The head of the joint United Nations–African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has reiterated that there is no military solution to the problems facing the strife-torn Sudanese region, as he met with the leader of a major rebel group.

Yesterday’s meeting in North Darfur between Joint Special Representative Rodolphe Adada and the Chairman of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Khalil Ibrahim, was the second of its kind this year and part of a “continued effort to establish a good working relationship with all parties involved in the Darfur conflict,” the mission said in a news release.

Mr. Adada once again urged that all efforts should focus on boosting the ongoing negotiations in Doha, Qatar, noting that “the problems that Sudan is facing now have no military solution.”

Mr. Adada renewed his appeal to JEM and all negotiating parties in Doha to commit to a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible, the mission said.

UNAMID added that Mr. Ibrahim expressed JEM’s readiness for a cessation of hostilities in the context of a framework agreement and pledged to contribute to the improvement of the humanitarian situation and protection of civilians until a comprehensive peace agreement is reached.

Mr. Adada and Mr. Ibrahim agreed on a mechanism to improve communication and contacts between UNAMID and JEM, the mission said.

Sudan to produce ethanol from sugar cane

Sudan inaugurates biofuel plant

KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudan will begin producing ethanol from sugar cane with a target of 200 million litres in two years, President Omar al-Beshir said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new plant.

State company Kenana, which already makes sugar and molasses, will run the project, Beshir said in a speech to thousands of people assembled at the ethanol plant in White Nile State.

Production from the plant is forecast to reach 200 million litres (52 million US gallons) in two years, Beshir said.

"Sudan will support the development of the White Nile State and all of Sudan," he said.

The factory, which lies about 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Khartoum, was built by Brazilian group Dedini. Brazil is the second largest producer of ethanol after the United States, but it is the biggest exporter of biofuels.

South Africa began making ethanol from corn in 2006, but production was slashed after the world food crisis, with officials deciding that corn could be better used for food.

Ethanol has become an increasingly attractive alternative for oil after the rise of crude prices, but production of the fuel was seen as a major contributor to global food prices.

Sudanese refugees in E. Chad named their children Okambo

June 05, 2009 (UNITED NATIONS) – Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad have named their children "Okambo" as a tribute to the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, actress Mia Farrow said on Friday.

"I’ve met at least 100 babies named Ocampo," Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, told reporters following a U.N. Security Council meeting on Darfur. "They spell it Okambo. ... So the name has been Africanized."

Source: Sudan Tribune, 06 June 2009: Darfur refugees named their children Okampo - Farrow

Re ICC Darfur: UK supports efforts of the Elders of the AU

Regarding the British position on the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Sudanese officials and President Omer Al-Bashir particularly, UK special envoy to Sudan Michael O’Neill said his country supports the efforts of the Elders of the African Union, led by the former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, noting that it can bring fresh ideas to help in resolving the issue.

Source: Sudan Tribune, Wednesday 3 June 2009. Full report:
British envoy discusses Sudan peace process

June 2, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — UK special envoy to Sudan Michael O’Neill today urged Darfur rebel groups to take part in the Doha process to end the six year Darfur conflict.

O’Neill, who had participated in a meeting in Doha for the permanent members of the UN Security Council about the Darfur peace process, met today with Sudanese presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Attabani, who was recently appointed as top negotiator for Darfur peace talks.

After his meeting with Attabani, O’Neill stressed his country’s full support for the ongoing negotiations between the government and the Justice and Equality Movement, and called on other rebels to join the Doha process.

The British envoy said that he discussed with the presidential adviser a number of issues concerning bilateral relations, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and the forthcoming elections in the Sudan, in addition to the Doha negotiations and Sudan-Chad relations.

Regarding the British position on the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Sudanese officials and President Omer Al-Bashir particularly, O’Neill, said his country supports the efforts of the Elders of the African Union, led by the former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, noting that it can bring fresh ideas to help in resolving the issue.

O’Neill also met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor. The two officials discussed CPA implementation, the Abyei issue and Sudan-Chad relations. (ST)

British PM Gordon Brown survives dissolution vote

In order to stem the flow of incoming emails enquiring as to why Sudan Watch has stopped, this is a short note to explain that I have taken a break to concentrate my energy on following an avalanche of news on the serious political crisis we are facing here in England.  Up until today, England's Parliament was close to dissolving.   See latest reports:  

Gordon Brown survives dissolution vote

Why plot to oust Gordon Brown failed

Also, note these two cartoons (and dates) from The Daily Express (UK).  



Cartoon by Paul Thomas, 08 June 2009. The person on the psychiatrist's couch is Britain's unelected Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The psychiatrist is saying: "You're not being paranoid - everyone does think you'll be gone by tomorrow..."
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Cartoon by Paul Thomas, 10 June 2009. The sign hanging on the door of No. 10 Downing Street says:  BUSINESS AS USUAL (Heaven help us)

Former Sudanese President Gaafar Numeiri

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, center standing, prays in front of the coffin of former Sudanese President Gaafar Numeiri, who became Sudan's president in 1969 and was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1985, during his military funeral in Omdurman, Khartoum, Sunday, May 31, 2009. The former Sudanese president known for imposing Islamic law in the country died Saturday at the age of 79, the official news agency said. The coffin is covered by a Sudanese flag. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)