HERE IS A "VIRTUAL" MEETUP - Today, for Sudan, in the blogosphere

Today, Monday September 6, is monthly International Sudanese Peace Meetup Day.

Meet ups are for people interested in peace for Sudan (and other topics).

You can sign up and get together - in person - with others in your locality. And even start your own Meet up.

Because I am unable to attend a Meet up, I have created a "virtual" Meet up via this post.

Below are links to bloggers - mostly regular reads from my sidebar - who have written about the Sudan.

Here's sending you all a warm hello - and a big thank you for your posts on the Sudan.

See you at the next virtual Meet up here in October :)

Bye for now. With love from Ingrid and Ophelia xx

PS Special thanks to Nick for alerting me to the Meet up date that enabled me to complete this, and the following two posts, in time.
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POEM FOR SUDAN
By Virginia Barros in Portugal

This poem was composed in English by Virginia Barros (blogging under the name of Monalisa) - of Sítio da Saudade - especially for today's Meet Up.

Virginia is a Portuguese blogger who lives in a small town in Portugal. See her beautiful locality in the photo of a bridge - here below. She kindly emailed me this poem for Sudan, in response to my previous post publicising the Sep 6 International Sudanese Peace MeetUp Day. Warm thanks to Virginia for her poem for Sudan:

In my comfortable
And warm room I sleep
I sleep quietly
And you die
Suffering horrors that my brain
Does not obtain to imagine
Because all of us sleep tranquil
And in the same minute
The great pain of the planet
Doesn’t affect us
We pass by lifeless
Indifferent and silently
and we wake up
Thinking to be happy
But the happiness
is spotted of blood and barbarity

Because we let the heartless
Take the world
and we do nothing.


[Photo courtesy of Osterreich Hilft Darfur ORF ]
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SUDAN: INTERNATIONAL MEETUP DAY
Sep 6 Labor Day - Sudan Campaign

Eugene Oregon at Demagogue received this email from Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick of Christian Solidarity International and the Sudan Campaign:

This Labor Day, Monday, September 6, the Sudan Campaign is inviting everyone to take a “day on” rather than a “day off” to protest the ongoing genocide in Sudan. Demonstrations have been held at the Sudan embassy everyday since June 29th, and they will continue. Over 50 persons have offered themselves for arrest by committing non-violent acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to the urgency and seriousness of the issue. Radio personality and activist, Joe Madison, has been a hunger strike for six weeks. In light of the UN findings that the Khartoum regime has not fully complied with the UN mandate issued over 30 days ago, it is time to move to a new level of pressure, economic.

The Sudan Campaign hopes to accomplish 3 goals at the Monday protest:

(1) To thank the Red Cross and other humanitarian aid organizations that have begun massive operations to feed the displaced and starving people of Darfur (celebrating the end to the fast of the Black Eagle, Joseph Madison)

(2) To decry the weakness of the response of the United Nations to the failure of the government of Sudan to comply fully with the mandate given them by the UN thirty days ago

(3) To announce and to launch a bold new strategy of our drive to bring peace to all of the people of the Sudan: Demand that U.S. citizens, their pension funds and their corporations divest themselves of all investments of money in their names in corporations doing business in the Sudan.

Please join us and/or distribute flyers available at the Sudan Campaign and Passion of the Present and encourage others to do the same.
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DOWNLOAD GENOCIDE POSTER AND FACTSHEET
At www.blockstreet and building.com

Please feel free to download Sudan poster and factsheet - courtesy Passion of the Present at www.blockstreet and building.com

PARTNER UP:
Join with others to take creative action and blog about it.

REACH OUT:
Blog about contacting the media and elected officials.

GET LINKED: Join Save Darfur to moblise national action.

GIVE: For a list of aid organisations working in Sudan go to InterAction or DEC UK or download Songs for Sudan album (see link in next post here below)

COME TO: Passion of the Present for daily news and community.

SPREAD THE WORD: on the latest - Sep 12 Rally at the U.N. in New York - to Stop Sudan Genocide.
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THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL
For blogging the plight of Sudanese in Darfur and Chad


Sudanese women are silhouetted at Abu Shouk camp in North Darfur, Sudan, where more than 40,000 displaced people are receiving food and shelter from international aid agencies. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (September 01, 2004)

ENGLAND
Alistair Coleman (kudos to the BBC + Caversham for great coverage on Sudan)
The UK Today - thanks to Clive for the info on EDMs and how to make contact by fax and email with our MPs
Norman Geras - great weekly postings on Sudan

IRELAND
Gavin Sheridan - oil and China posts (btw great work being done in Sudan by Ireland's GOAL aid agency)

SCOTLAND
Scottish Webring members (and kudos to Scotsman.com for great reporting on Sudan)

WALES
Bob Piper - always kindly posted on Sudan
Doug Floyd lyrics of Sudan Song and list of the album's tracks
Doug at Quadrophrenia for posting the lyrics of Song for Sudan.

CANADA
Jim Elve at BlogsCanada - The Suffering Continues Unabated
Officially Unofficial - BlogsCandada - The Suffering Continues Unabated
BlogsCanada E Group Blog Multi-partisan Political Punditry
Jim Elve another awesome post on aid links courtesy BBC
E Group Blog - Multi-partisan Political Punditry - Arjun's great discussion thread on: "Should Canada Intervene?"
Boris Anthony another neat post on A failure of will
Allseasons
Lost Below the 49th: Darfur, ReDux - check out link to great piece on Romeo D'allaire (and his book)
Lost Below the 49th Crazy Canuck returns

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Arjun Singh Sudan Genocide: UN finds No Significant Progress...
Arjun Singh has written great posts on Sudan at CanadaBlogs e-group.
Sébastien Paquet - real neat posts as usual

FRANCE
Loic Le Meur (has not posted on Sudan, as far as I am aware, but Loic has many links in his sidebar for anyone wishing to connect up with French bloggers)

AUSTRALIA
Robert Corr - Time for action (best Sudan intro in the blogosphere)
Jonathan Rowbottom hosted interesting discussion thread

PORTUGAL

Virginia Barros' Sítio da Saudade: Sudão powerful post on Sudan (also see above Poem for Sudan)
Nelson

HOLLAND
Ado (who is Dutch and works in Tokyo at Joi Ito's)

JAPAN
Joi Ito re Images of genocide
Joi Ito's list of posts on Sudan
finalvent on China, Japan, Russia and oil
finalvent on Darfur
finalvent re Sudanese FM visit to Japan Sept 5-9 for talks on Darfur
finalvent - more on oil

MALAYSIA
Rajan's first of the great round ups on Sudan
Rajan's second great Sudan Genocide roundup
Rajan's third and, for the Sep 6 meetup, his latest Sudan Genocide roundup
Aiseh, man thoughtful post on Compassionate Infidels

USA
Jim Moore's Journal - April 22, 2004 post that started it all (here at this blog I mean!)
Jim Moore's Journal - April 23, 2004 post that I picked up on and have been blogging about ever since (*yawn*)
Sudan Day of Conscience
Ethan Zuckerman Top Ten Worst Dictators
Ethan Zuckerman Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower
ChaiTeaLatte Madhu kindly linked to several posts and got my blog Instalanched
Instapundit - regular posts on Sudan and esp re oil
Nicholas Genes has written some super posts - his doc buddy Jonathan Spector is now safely back home in the US after working with MSF in Darfur
Pauly's Side of the Truth - has just written another great post on Sudan
Jonathan Broad "Dallaire on Darfur: It is happening...again" (a must-read)
Gary Silberberg - regular postings on Sudan
Patrick Hall - exclusively Sudan posts - neat finds
Allied - one of the few great female bloggers writing about Sudan
Squirrel in DC - link to Samantha Power's great piece in New Yorker on her travels in Sudan
Cheers to The Register for publicising Oxfam's "Songs for Sudan" download album for Darfur.

[Note: sincere apologies to those I've missed out, I've not checked through four months of archives in my main blog. If I have missed you, please email me or comment and I will add your link here - or write a special post later on. Thanks.]
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Note to Jim: Sorry, unable to post image of Passion of the Present's poster. Flickr is superb but for some reason I couldn't get it to show. Instead, I've posted a link to the download at www.blockstreet and building.com

Here is a photo of the town in Portugal where Portuguese blogger Virginia lives. Virginia kindly volunteered to compose, in English, a poem for Sudan, especially for today's "virtual" meet up.



[Photo - with thanks to Sítio da Saudade - courtesy of Rui Vale de Sousa - apologies to photographer, this transmission has cropped right side of picture, full image avail at www.ruivaledesousa.com or copy and paste it into a page in your computer and whole image should appear]
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UPDATE September 8, 2004:

Seems there is no accurate way of knowing who is all blogging about Darfur. Technorati's lists are invaluable (blogosphere would not be the same without it) as you can also search on key words Sudan and Darfur and read blogs that have published using those words during previous 7 days.

Trouble is, the list changes every week, and sometimes there are hundreds to click through. It takes too much time to keep up with. As much as we'd like, we can't visit every blog posting on Sudan. Also (but not too often) links to this site, and others, do not show up in Technorati's listings.

So, if you have posted on the Sudan and are not linked here or at Passion of the Present, please do please make contact in comments or by email - even if it is just to say the word hi - with your blog URL to link here for readers interested in seeing what others are saying, doing and thinking about the Sudan. Thanks. Don't be shy. These two writers took the time and trouble to comment:

AUTHOR OF SUDAN POSTS AT WAVEFLUX BLOG
Is the best sousaphone player in South Carolina

Hello and thank you to the author of Waveflux in St Louis, USA for his neat posts on the Sudan that include Who will save the people of Darfur? - and:

- contact info on officials who may have influence
- copy of a reply received from Sen. Jim Talent's office
- great post for the Day of Conscience
- and Passion of the Present's poster.

In his "about" section, Waveflux writes that a band director once called him the best sousaphone player in the state of South Carolina - and says "that's saying something, because those things are heavy" (but, to be fair he admits, the ones he played way back when were mostly made of fiberglass).

Sousaphone (SOO-zah-fone) is a brass instrument invented by John Philip Sousa which was adapted from the tuba. The Sousaphone has a forward bell which coils around to rest upon the player's shoulder thus allowing the instrument to be carried with greater ease while marching.

[Photo - with thanks to Waveflux - courtesy of G. Leblanc Corporation]


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ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY
Hello to founder Cameron Sinclair



Hello to Cameron and thank you for commenting at my virtual meet up post at Passion of the Present.

Cameron is the the founder of Architecture for Humanity and was trained as an architect at the University of Westminster and at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London.

During his studies, he developed an interest in social, cultural and humanitarian design. His postgraduate thesis focused on providing shelter to New York's homeless population through sustainable, transitional housing.

After completing his studies, he moved to New York where he has worked as a designer and project architect. Since 1996, Cameron has worked on projects in more than 20 countries including England, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States. [read more ...]

AU OBSERVERS' FINDINGS - need to be publicised for the whole world to know: Sudan hinders African mission to protect Darfur

Now Sudan says it is willing to allow in more Darfur observers.

It's no wonder Sudan is not opposing additional monitors and does not object to the deployment of more foreign cease-fire monitors and protection troops for Darfur. According to a report in today's UK Telegraph, it's a farce what is going on with the present observers in Sudan.

The Telegraph's report is most telling on what it is like on the ground for the present observers, and confirms that Sudan is hindering them from carrying out their mission to protect Darfur.

Note the report says [bold emphasis is mine]: "a friend of Cdr Steyn's criticised the AU for not publicising the observers' findings - "The world needs to know so pressure is put on the government," he said."

Perhaps any news of more observers into Sudan is not as good it sounds as they will end up as hamstrung as the present mission (or any peacekeeping mission - see last paragraph here below).

The Telegraph's report is copied here in full incase it disappears into archives or link becomes broken. Please pass on the latest news for all the world to know.

Sudan 'hinders African mission to protect Darfur' by Benjamin Joffe-Walt at Al-Fashir Military Airfield (Filed: 05/09/2004):

The troops were ready, the mission decided and the flight crew was standing by, but the African Union ceasefire monitors still lacked one vital element. "The Sudanese say there is no fuel," said one of the soldiers waiting to board. "They say there's a fuel problem whenever they want to keep us on the ground. They don't want us to see. It's a big ceasefire violation."

Not for the first time, soldiers sent from neighbouring African countries were being prevented by the Sudanese from fulfilling their mission: to ensure that Khartoum is honouring its pledge to rein in the Arab militias that have brought terror and misery to Darfur.

Hours later, as a Sudanese army attack helicopter came in to land, its own mission complete, the "shortage" was suddenly resolved. Fuel trucks that had sat all the while on the other side of the fence lumbered towards the aircraft, chartered to carry the troops on observation missions across the region.

Although the 120-strong contingent of African Union (AU) troops has been on the ground for only a few weeks, a pattern of obstruction by Sudanese officials has been established. "We're always fighting about these fuel issues," said William Molokwane, a South African intelligence officer. "We are supposed to know about these Sudanese movements, attack helicopters flying in and out of the airport, troops moving out of the city."

Instead the observers expend time negotiating with the authorities, while Sudanese troops deploy with impunity. So when the helicopter finally returned, there was no way of knowing what it had done.

There were suspicions, however, that some kind of attack mission may have been carried out, as Sudanese officials lined up to welcome the 30 returning soldiers.

"They're not acting in good faith," said Col Anthony Amedoh, the Ghanaian chief military observer. "There are many clear ceasefire violations by the Sudanese government but we can't stop them, we can just report them."

Even when the Sudanese are caught in the act, the AU observers are powerless to stop them. In Nyala, the biggest city in Darfur, a Nigerian observer reported that his team saw Sudanese government soldiers fighting alongside the Janjaweed militia at a large refugee camp.

"We caught them fighting together red-handed," he said. His team could do nothing, however. "Aside from a small protection force there are absolutely no arms here," Mr Molokwane said. "If something happens now, what can we do?" Barry Steyn, a South African commander responsible for investigating ceasefire complaints in Nyala, the area of Darfur with most violence, said: "In traditional peacekeeping there is a line, and if either side crosses that line the peacekeeper fights back. But there are no lines and borders here and we don't directly intervene so it's a very difficult mission."

Any distinction between the government and militia forces was fiction, he said. "You don't know who's who. The government, Janjaweed, they all wear the same thing."

A friend of Cdr Steyn's criticised the AU for not publicising the observers' findings. "The world needs to know so pressure is put on the government," he said.

The task is frustrated by the presence in each observer team of representatives of both the Sudanese government and rebel movements. "We are all friends," the Sudanese representative said with a sleazy smile during a helicopter ride. The rebel next to him stared despondently at the floor. The tension is overt, a game of bickering and convivial posturing for the cameras.

"It's challenging because I have to mediate all the time," said Steven Saidu, the Ghanaian commander on the helicopter. "When it's not in one of the parties' favour they start fighting."

Cdr Steyn said that neither the rebels nor the government should be among the observers. "Everyone must sign each investigative report, so we have to water down everything because we have warring parties on the team," he said.

None of the team is optimistic about the outlook for Darfur. "We can't make peace - they have to want peace, and I haven't seen anyone that wants to end things," said Cdr Steyn. "The rebels are winning this war. The whole world blames the Janjaweed and government already, so what would they gain by disarming?"

Leo Burman, a Dutch European Union representative with the African Union force, and a veteran of similar operations elsewhere, said: "None of the major peacekeeping operations has succeeded. Gaza, Lebanon, Kosovo, Bosnia, Angola - what did we accomplish? A big waste of money and lives. We'll feel guilty if we do nothing, but actually it doesn't work."
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Update:

Congrats to the AU for being ready to send more troops to Darfur. Nigerian head of State and current chair of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday declared the 'willingness' of the continental body to provide more protection forces and observers to the Darfur region 'if solicited'."

Cheers to the Aussies march for Sudan. About 800 people marched through Sydney's CBD today to protest against the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Note: tomorrow (Monday Sep 6) is International Sudanese Peace MeetUp day; Sep 12 is the date for protest at the UN building in New York.

EU ready to support Darfur police mission, will study sanctions

European Union foreign ministers Saturday vowed to help launch an African police force in Darfur and also started drafting possible sanctions against Khartoum, including a ban on oil trade.

The EU was ready to back up African Union efforts to deploy a police mission in Darfur, Dutch Foreign Minister and current EU spokesman Bernard Bot told reporters.

“The African Union is responsible for the situation (in Darfur) ...we are there to help if a request is made,” Bot said, adding: “We believe the AU is capable of creating stability.”

The EU move comes only days after the Sudanese government warned that it will not accept foreign peacekeeping troops in Darfur, but may agree to have more ceasefire monitors deployed in the region.

37 per cent of the region’s population still had no access to food supplies. Only about 500 international aid workers were currently present in Darfur, compared to the 2,000 needed to run an efficient humanitarian operation.

EU spokesman Mr Nielson insisted that the African Union - whose top official will meet EU ministers later Saturday - was best-placed to tackle the Darfur crisis.

US plans new resolution on Darfur

The UN Security Council discussed Darfur on Thursday, after its deadline expired for Sudan to make improvements or face sanctions. No action was agreed.

The United States says it is preparing a new United Nations resolution to deal with the crisis.

"We'll be talking to other governments shortly about the elements that can go into a resolution," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

Mr Boucher said US Secretary of State Colin Powell would testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week.

Mr Powell is expected to provide preliminary results of a US investigation into whether genocide is being committed in Darfur.

The US has been pressing for sanctions against the government in Khartoum, insisting that it is still backing the Arab militias.
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The U.S. Congress has already labelled the conflict in Darfur genocide but the administration of President George W. Bush has not yet taken that step.

Sudanese FM Ismail said he planned to speak to Powell later on Saturday to explain the current situation in Darfur.

Straw urges UN reform and attacks response to Darfur

Note to readers, this is a new blog in the process of being developed. Some news articles are copied here in full and posted as a reminder for a later date.

Recently, the leader of South Africa spoke out about the need for UN reform. I'm looking forward to following this issue closely, especially in regard to failed states and how the UN could react more swiftly to events, such as those in Darfur, to stop crimes against humanity.

In time to come, I hope to write original commentary on UN reform, and hope to include the UN's World Food Programme and its refugee agency. For what purpose, I have not yet clarified in my mind.

Apart from Sudan and Africa as a whole, these topics have taken my interest ever since I discovered, from Jim Moore's Journal on April 24, 2004, that genocide was unfolding in Darfur while very little was being done to help the people of Darfur, or bring their plight out into the open.

By following the Sudan crisis closely over the past four months, it has piqued my interest in the Human Rights Bill (and its absence of "obligations"), the politics of mineral and oil rich countries, and what Jim has dubbed as "The Genocidal Bloc".

This post is a rough draft that I don't expect will be of use or make much sense to anyone else.

The following is a copy of a Guardian UK report dated September 3, 2004, "Straw urges UN reform and attacks response to Darfur":

The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, urged reform of the United Nations security council yesterday after criticising the body for its slow response to the humanitarian disaster in Sudan.

Mr Straw, in a speech calling for a reshaping of the UN to create a stronger body, said: "We need to be able to act earlier, as threats emerge, and our action needs to be sustained."

The UN is embarked on the latest of several attempts at reform over the last decade.

An independent panel is preparing proposals by the end of the year for the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, including expanding the 15-member security council to 24. The Foreign Office and Downing Street are also trying to find a new set of post-Iraq criteria to justify UN intervention in sovereign states.

Mr Straw said that the security council had expanded over the last few years the range of issues regarded as a threat to peace: overthrow of a democratically-elected government, terrorism, large-scale human rights violations, humanitarian catastrophe, refugee crises and states that flout their international obligations on weapons of mass destruction.

"We now need to take that evolution further, with the council beginning to treat such issues more consistently, and as a matter of course, rather than in the relatively ad hoc way in which it has done so to date," he said.

Since the Iraq invasion, the UN has embarked on peacekeeping missions in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Haiti, with a further mission pencilled in for Sudan if agreement is reached to end the north-south civil war.

Mr Straw said: "It can no longer be acceptable to classify situations such as that in Darfur, or before in Rwanda or Kosovo, as simply the concern of one national government." Governments had a responsibility towards their own people. "So we are, correctly, not allowing the Sudanese government to regard the situation in Darfur as a sovereign matter which is none of the world's business - but, instead, we are putting pressure on that government to meet its responsibility to provide security for its own people."

The security council yesterday began discussion on whether to apply sanctions against the Sudanese government. The likeliest outcome is a fudge that will see the Sudanese government given another 30 days to comply with UN demands. Although the British government officially refuses to rule out western military intervention in Darfur, it prefers to leave the issue of security to a force provided by the 53-member pan-continental African Union.

Mr Straw, speaking at Chatham House, the London-based thinktank on international relations, said there had to be a quicker response to emerging threats. "Despite the warnings from United Nations staff this spring of looming catastrophe in Darfur, and active efforts by the UK to draw international attention to the situation, it took the security council until the end of July to agree a resolution."

Mr Straw supports the creation of a permanent strategic unit for Mr Annan that would try to identify failed states and crises such as Darfur early on. When the idea was floated two years ago, the US, backed by some developing states, opposed it.

The foreign secretary touched on the issue of widening the security council, saying new members should be aware that with representation came responsibility. "That does not necessarily imply accepting specific military commitments. But it does require strong engagement with security issues across the board wherever they arise."

The panel is proposing expanding the council to 24 states but Britain and the other permanent members are refusing to give up their vetoes. Expansion is unlikely to happen, given the difficulty of agreeing who the new members should be and the unwillingness of existing members to give up their privileged position.

OXFAM RELEASES "SONGS FOR SUDAN" - Download album for Darfur

Kudos to The Register for linking to Oxfam's "Songs for Sudan" download album for Darfur

It features 18 tracks from the likes of Ash, REM, Badly Drawn Boy, Jet, Faithless and David Gray, and costs £7.99, of which £5 goes directly to Oxfam.

Sudan: Government, Darfur rebel groups agree to protocol on humanitarian situation

UN news confirms the Sudanese Government and Darfur’s two rebel groups have reached agreement on a draft protocol to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation.

The draft protocol was prepared by African Union (AU) mediators with the assistance of United Nations (UN) officials and others participating in the talks in Abuja, Nigeria, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters today at UN Headquarters in New York.

The Abuja peace talks between Khartoum and the two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), will now focus on security issues, Mr. Dujarric said. The parties will then discuss political issues and social and economic matters.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday it has taken delivery of eight all-terrain trucks to help it distribute aid around Sudan, where many roads have become virtually impassable because of recent heavy rains. The airlift of eight trucks to Sudan was paid for by the United States Agency for International Development.

UN report says Khartoum took no concrete steps to apprehend militia - and demands international force to be sent to Sudan asap

The UN urges more peacekeeping troops for Sudan.

Kofi Annan said Sudan’s government has not stopped attacks on ”terrorised and traumatised” civilians in its Darfur region and urged the speedy deployment of an expanded international peacekeeping force.

Annan did not say how large a force he wanted, but UN diplomats said a UN plan presented to the African Union called for about 3,000 peacekeepers. The 53-nation African organisation now has about 80 military observers in Darfur, protected by just over 300 soldiers, monitoring a rarely observed cease-fire signed in April.
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ANNAN'S REPORT FOR THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Meeting today to discuss action against Khartoum

BBC online has a copy of the UN report prepared by Jan Pronk on behalf of Kofi Annan.

It is being discussed at a UN Security Council meeting today on what action to take against Khartoum.

The report accuses Sudan of involvement in militia attacks despite commitments and demands an international force be sent to Sudan as quickly as possible.

Key quote from the report: "Attacks against civilians are continuing and the vast majority of armed militias has not been disarmed. Similarly, no concrete steps have been taken to bring to justice, or even identify, any of the militia leaders or the perpetrators of these attacks."

Lindsey Hilsum reports from Darfur on the noisy diplomacy

International British journalist, Lindsey Hilsum reports in the New Statesman on the noisy diplomacy in Darfur. Here is an excerpt of the must-read report from Darfur, along with my personal note, below.

" ... The Janjaweed are certainly aware that they need to do a better public relations job. In al-Fasher, I met a dozen sheikhs from Arab tribes associated with the militia. We sat on chairs in a straw-built house with a sand floor, eating oily groundnut paste with bread and sweet vermicelli. On the central table perched an incongruous set of yellow and maroon woollen chickens, like tea cosies. The sheikhs wanted to tell me that all this talk of Janjaweed was lies ..."

" ... They drove me to Masri, six hours away, reputed to have a large Janjaweed camp. They had melted into the desert, leaving no trace. The Janjaweed may be as difficult to find as weapons of mass destruction, not because they were never there, but because they are no longer visible. For the moment, their work is done - we flew over mile after mile of deserted villages. All diplomacy can do now is try to turn the ceasefire into a real peace agreement and find some way of giving displaced people the confidence to return home. They, of course, are not confused by the disappearance of the Janjaweed, knowing that the moment the world stops looking, they'll be back..." [Full Story]
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Lindsey Hilsum, who started her career over 15 year ago as a reporter for the BBC in London, is currently international editor for Channel 4 News (the best channel for in-depth news on UK television). She has become one of Britain's most respected foreign correspondents.

From the outset, and throughout the height of the war in Iraq, Lindsey presented live TV reports from Baghdad - and has reported from some of the most troubled regions in the world. Her reports are always first class. It's great to see her reporting from Darfur. Millions of us in Britain have watched her recent television reports, live from Sudan, on Channel 4 News.

Sometime during the early 1990's, I had the privilege of assisting Lindsey's father on an education initiative of his that raised millions of pounds for physics equipment in schools. He is a great physicist and one of the most clever, and kind, chaps in London. It's no wonder that Lindsey and her work are so unique and first rate. It's easy to see her father in her, the way she articulates and concentrates her mind - and gets straight to the heart of matters - like a laser beam, with great speed - and accuracy.

The UN's quiet diplomacy not working on Sudan - Not one Janjaweed camp has been closed

In her latest report entitled "The UN's quiet diplomacy not working on Sudan", Julie Flint raises the point that the most notorious Arab tribal leader was permitted to hold court in a five-star hotel in Khartoum.

Don't you think it's curious how the media made nothing of a so-called Janjaweed leader lording it in the lobby of a five-star hotel, while being interviewed by the press for all to see, in the knowledge that Pronk's offices were situated upstairs? Why was he was not arrested and put on trial for murder?

Julie Flint, is a journalist and author of the Human Rights Watch report Darfur Destroyed. Here is a copy of her latest report, in full:

"Even in a best-case scenario, the World Health Organisation says, 110 000 people will die in Darfur by year end. Others believe it could be as many as 350 000. Slowly evolving, deniable death by hunger and disease is one of the favourite weapons of the Arab generals who seized power 15 years ago. They used it in the Nuba mountains and oilfields of southern Sudan - now they're using it in Darfur.

When the international community first reacted to the slaughter in Darfur, a predominantly African but wholly Muslim region, Khartoum blocked efforts to save lives with an array of stratagems. It denied access, demanded that UN drugs be tested in Sudanese labs, insisted that storage fees be paid on items the state itself was holding up.

In the last month, despite guaranteeing unimpeded access, it has opened some doors but closed others. The UN Security Council today begins debating whether Khartoum has done what Resolution 1556 of July 30 demanded that it do: immediately impose "a moratorium on all restrictions that might hinder the provision of humanitarian assistance" and, most critically, "disarm the Janjaweed militias and apprehend... Janjaweed leaders and their associates".

But not one Janjaweed camp has been closed

But not one Janjaweed camp has been closed. A handful have even been opened. Not a single Janjaweed leader has been apprehended. Common criminals have been paraded as Janjaweed detainees. The most notorious Janjaweed leader, who wears the uniform of an army colonel, has been permitted to hold court in a five-star hotel in Khartoum.

It is a foregone conclusion that the Security Council, driven by self-interest, will this week give Khartoum more time in which to let the Janjaweed destroy more lives.

Quiet diplomacy does not work. The Security Council must conclude that the government has not fulfiled its obligations under Resolution 1 556 and name and shame the officials responsible. International travel by them and their families should be barred, their assets frozen and an international commission of inquiry established to investigate war crimes. Sanctions should be introduced and the arms embargo that was ordered against the Janjaweed in July redirected to the government, which supplies the Janjaweed.

The Security Council must demand that Khartoum accept an African Union mission robust enough to protect civilians."

Irish Prime Minister urged to press for UN intervention in Sudan - Khartoum had done "absolutely nothing" to meet UN demands

Irish aid agency GOAL has called on the Prime Minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, to use his influence to press for UN Security Council intervention in Sudan.

GOAL chief executive John O’Shea said today the Sudanese Government had done "absolutely nothing" to meet the UN demands.
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Note: GOAL knows Khartoum from past experience. What difference will another 30 days make? And, in the following years, what will happen when the West's back is turned and Sudan finds it needs areas of land cleared, to make way for new oilpipes and infrastructure?
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CONDITIONS WORSEN in Darfur, UN agencies say

Conditions for 1.2 million Sudanese displaced in Darfur continue to worsen amid violent attacks, spreading disease, and heavy rains which wreak havoc with aid convoys, United Nations agencies said on Tuesday.
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BE REASONABLE, Sudan urges UN

Sudan says it is hoping for a "reasonable" security council decision on sanctions, its foreign minister said yesterday as the deadline for compliance with UN demands expired.

The security council had given Sudan 30 days to show it was serious about disarming Arab militias. "We wish ... the relationship with the security council will not be the way of confrontation," the foreign minister, Mustafa Ismail, said in a television interview.

Hilary Benn, Britain's international development secretary, told Radio 4's Today programme: "The situation has changed substantially, and that is a result of huge international pressure."

Continued pressure was vital, he added.

UK political blog: The Tangled Web disses UK effort and Straw's visit to Khartoum

This morning I came across a good blog out of the UK:

"A Tangled Web - A dissenting review of contemporary politics".

It made an interesting read and so I scrolled - and did a search - for any posts on the Sudan.

Found one post dated Monday, August 23, 2004, entitled "Straw in the Sudan". Below here is a copy - along with my response that I left in the comments, hoping that DV would write a good post to raise awareness of what is really happening in Sudan - and participate in the "virtual" International Sudanese Peace MeetUp Day on Sep 6 (see previous post below).

Here is DV's post:

I'm sorry but this "story" run by the BBC about Jack Straw visiting Sudan a la Princess Diana to fell their pain and worry about" humanitarian issues" is just tosh. Straw and the rest of the one-worlders in the UN are proving, once more, how utterly impotent they are in dealing with genocide. The people are being massacred by the Arab militias and the best the UK can do is send in the half-wit Straw-man - pathetic.

# posted by DV @ 8:15:47 AM


And, here is my response, bashed out in a hurry -- wish I could have had more time to provide a stronger argument -- but I was in a hurry and had to write it off the top of my head - live - in a titchy little comment box that was difficult to edit:

Hello DV, good to see you writing about the Sudan crisis. In defence of the UK, I have to say that the British government has done more than most countries in the world. It has been the largest cash donor of aid - and is the second largest contributor -for Darfur. The British public raised many of millions of pounds for aid to Darfur via DEC (representing 11 major UK charities). UK Oxfam has sent several plane loads of aid to Darfur and is doing a huge amount of work there.

The British government has rightly supported the African Union and provided a great deal of support. Recently it provided logistical support and funded the airlifting of 150 AU led Nigerian troops into Darfur and is financing all of their rations. It is working in close liaison with the UN and Kofi Annan and providing further support and logistics to the AU. Before leaving for Sudan, Jack Straw pledged to help finance 1500 - 3000 AU led peacekeepers in Darfur.

The situation is highly complex in Sudan -- many countries are helping -- but many are not. We ought to be proud of what the UK has been doing and continues to do to help. Jack Straw's visit was part of a process to pile pressure on Khartoum. His visit was announced in July. He won a pledge from Khartoum to allow British offices of human rights organisations into Darfur - and a commitment from Khartoum to use the Navaisha peace accords as a template for the peace talks on Darfur. He met with GoS President and FM and UNs Jan Pronk and spent time with Khartoum to help focus on the Action Plan for Darfur. He gave a strong message to the government of Sudan: sort it out, or face the music.

There is a huge amount happening behind the scenes that is not widely reported. The Guardian, Telegraph and Scotsman have been doing good jobs on almost daily reporting of Darfur. Seems that troops from all over the world are being garnered over the past two months and put on standby. At one point we had British troops on standby. A few weeks ago a 30-man military team returned from a 10-day recce. British military planners are working on logistics and looking at plans involving hundreds or thousands of peacekeepers in Darfur.

Khartoum has consistently refused any peacekeepers on its land. If they are forced onto Sudan, Khartoum could dismiss all the aid workers and then aid will never reach those who are most in need. Sanctions could stop the railways from being built to get aid flowing.

The present AU led troops are there to protect the 80-120 observers on the ground monitoring the April ceasefire agreement of north-south Sudan. I have blogged about the crisis almost daily since April 24. For more information please read http://passionofthepresent.org blog out of Harvard. I would appreciate an updated post in your great blog on what is really going on in the Sudan. Thank you.

AU's logistics nightmare in Darfur

The below copied report by Simon Apiku explains the AU's logistics nightmare in Darfur.

Note, in the middle of the report, quote: "Many institutions, including the European Commission, have pledged funds to support the operations of the mission but only a fraction of that help has actually arrived. "The timelines are not being met," Amadoh complains."

Can we bloggers not help to put pressure on countries to cough up the monies they have pledged to help Darfur? Why does the UN not name and shame them? How can we find out who they are, and each of us - in the countries who are dragging their feet on not paying aid contributions pledged - press our political reps for action?

Why isn't China and Russia that sits on the UN Security Council made to help more? Can't see any reports of what Russia is doing to help. Why has there not been an arms embargo? If Sudan does have 30 billion to spend on purchasing military hardware from Russia - how come Sudan with its billions in oil revenues can't be made to repay the aid that the West has contributed, so the money could be put back into EU and US pots to help other countries in need like the Congo and Uganda. Here is the report:

El Fasher, Sudan - Monitoring military activity in a vast desert region the size of France would pose enormous problems for the best equipped team. But for the African Union ceasefire commission in Darfur, it is a logistics nightmare.

The commission's chief military observer, Colonel Anthony Amadoh, says he has grown used to the region's blazing heat, but he has to patrol the arid wastes of western Sudan with just three helicopters, 35 vehicles and 133 military observers in the full glare of the international spotlight.

On top of that, the region has next to no metalled roads, few landlines and no mobile telephones at all outside the three main towns.

The logistics are "very poor," says Amadoh, stealing a glance at the handful of vehicles parked outside his office tucked away on the western outskirts of the North Darfur state capital of El Fasher.

"We conduct our patrols by land or air," he explains. "We do not have enough vehicles and we used to have only two choppers."

The commission has divided its area of operation into six sectors covering the three states of Darfur and the Abeche region of neighbouring Chad, where 200 000 of the more than 1,2 million people displaced by the conflict have taken refuge.

Each sector has two teams of between seven and 10 members, and they must all share the 35 vehicles and three helicopters.

Many institutions, including the European Commission, have pledged funds to support the operations of the mission but only a fraction of that help has actually arrived.

"The timelines are not being met," Amadoh complains.

Good roads are almost non-existent, increasing the chances of vehicle breakdown, which in turns puts additional pressure on the remaining fleet.

The observers must also bring in fuel from El Obeid in North Kordofan state far to the east. The supplies often "take up to four days to arrive" in special military escorted convoys, says Amadoh.

Communications too continue to be a major problem. There are only a handful of land lines in the main towns and the mobile phone services that exist in the big towns of El Fasher, Nyala and Gineina are irregular at best.

Amadoh consults a dossier on the table next to him and pulls out a manuscript document.

"We used to get all our reports in this form," he says, pointing to the barely decipherable handwriting. "Now we have been able to buy some laptops."

But that does not eliminate all the problems in the absence of any Internet services.

The confidential nature of the reports means it may not be entirely safe to ship them to headquarters by land so air transport is often a necessity.

"They have to wait until a chopper goes there," says Amadoh. And there are only three helicopters to ferry the observers on missions at short notice as well as doubling up as couriers.

Amadoh also has difficulties deploying the more than 150 Rwandan troops dispatched to the region to provide protection for the observer teams, as there are simply not enough vehicles to go around.

With such constraints, it is all too easy for the observers to miss alleged attacks like that on the village of Yassin which prompted the walkout of the Darfur rebels from peace talks with the government in the Nigerian capital on Saturday.

The village, where the rebels say 64 civilians were killed by government forces on Wednesday, is close to the South Darfur state capital of Nyala, but even there it is difficult for the observer mission to be constantly on the ground.

All it can do is follow up the allegations afterwards to test Khartoum's denials.

EAC to send peacekeeping troops to Darfur

Copy of report from Sudan Tribune - NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 28, 2004 (PANA):

The East African Community (EAC) Heads of States Summit resolved here Saturday to deploy troops to the troubled western Sudan region of Darfur to monitor a peace agreement between the government and rebel forces and not for interventionist purposes.

Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said the three countries were awaiting the outcome of the Africa Union-led Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria under the chairmanship of the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to proceed with their plan.

"If there is any peace to be monitored, we shall be ready. There must be a process whose implementation we will follow. We are waiting for the outcome of the Abuja peace talks," Mkapa told journalists here Saturday.

The EAC, grouping Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, is holding a three- day Heads of States Summit here to speed up the implementation of the EAC Common External Tariffs (CET).

Member states signed the protocol but hitches have delayed ratification by member states before it becomes operational.

President Mkapa, who was answering questions from journalists on whether his country was ready to send troops to the troubled Darfur region, where some 30,000 people have died and 1.2 million internally displaced after nearly 19 months of fighting, also stressed that the Sudanese government must accept to welcome the foreign troops.

The AU is poised to deployed 300 troops to Darfur drawn from Nigeria and Rwanda to protect some 80 Observers whose assignment is to oversee the non-violation of a peace deal reached in Chad.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his Ugandan compatriot Yoweri Museveni also endorsed Mkapa's sentiments, saying they will only play by the rules.

Museveni, who has been facing 18 years of rebel insurgency in the north of Uganda, publicly admitted supporting the rebel Sudanese Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA).

"As much as we sympathise with the black people in southern Sudan, we know that the Khartoum government made a mistake by supporting the (Ugandan rebel) Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)," Museveni said, adding, "It was a regrettable mistake they made."

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=5065

U.N. Sudan mission under preparation in Vienna

Copy in full of report from Sudan Tribune:

VIENNA, Aug 26, 2004 (dpa) -- A sensitive U.N. mission to Sudan is presently being prepared by Austria and 13 other countries, the newspaper Die Presse said on Thursday.

The mission would be of the "Multinational Standby High Readiness Brigade for United Nations Operations" (Shirbrig), set up in 1996 to provide the U.N. with a rapid intervention force for peacekeeping missions.

Under Austria's 2004 presidency of the brigade, preparations were already far advanced, said the report. Chief of operations, Austrian Army Colonel Ewald Hausdorf, said that building could begin any time of a headquarters for a U.N. mission in Sudan.

However, the report pointed out that a U.N. mandate was still lacking for operations in Sudan. It was not yet clear whether the planned "Unmisud" (United Nations Mission Sudan) would only monitor the ceasefire between the Khartoum government and Christian rebels, or also the conflict in Darfur in West Sudan.

The U.N. wanted to monitor both, but the Sudanese government was against this.

Shirbrig was founded eight years ago by Austria, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Since then, Finland, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Spain have also become full members.

Under coordination by the presidency, each country takes on set duties. For instance in Sudan, Austria would be responsible for setting up the headquarters in Khartoum. Austrian soldiers would have transport, guard and security duties.

International Sudanese Peace MeetUp Day: September 6 - Sudan's FM to visit Japan Sep 5-9 for talks on Darfur crisis

Over the past few days I have set up two more blogs: Congo Watch and Uganda Watch -- and copied over several of my posts from the Passion into Sudan Watch blog. They are my new electronic filing cabinets so this main blog does not get swamped with posts about Africa. Also, my blog A Breath of Hope, I am keeping for my posts on M.E. I've installed sitemeters but not inserted any links in the sidebars. In time to come, I hope to have all of the blogs in the same style as this one -- after it has had a few new tweaks. I'd like the font slightly larger, the text column slightly broader and the whole page wider and more in the centre of the screen - and the blue highlights to links toned down. On my screen, this blog sits to the far left of the page - the other half of my screen is blank. Other blogs fill the whole screen.

Setting up these blogs has taken time. And been a little hard going, because a friend -- who thinks what I am doing re Sudan is a complete waste of time -- told me again yesterday to forget about the Sudan and concentrate on something that is achievable. I don't have proof -- but believe what we are doing has had an effect. Exactly what, is too long to go into here right now. Have to leave it for another day. Note this article that wonders how Darfur and not Congo got all the attention - it is entitled "Scramble for Resources in DRC Leads to Massive Deaths, But Scant Attention".

Well here's some proof that blogging about the Sudan is not a complete waste of time: a few days ago I received an email from a chap in America who teaches world history -- asking for permission to use some of the Sudan material in my main blog. He wanted to use it for teaching his students. I wrote back encouraging him and his students to start a blog where they could post their project material -- it would be a fun way for them to learn and hone computing skills. He replied saying he would look into starting a blog.
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Warm thanks to Nick for leaving a comment at my main blog 'me and ophelia' advising that September 6 is International Sudanese Peace MeetUp day. Nick's written a neat post on Google talking. I played around with Google talk: keyed in 'Passion of the Present' which came up with: sudan The song Sudan; my name brought up Political Science; Nick's name produced Student's Guide. Heh. Ophelia got "New York County, Government agencies and other Voices".

Here below is a copy of a comment I left at Finalvent - together with news that Sudan's FM Ismail is to visit Japan Sept 5-9 for talks on the Darfur crisis (which means he'll be in Japan on the International Sudanese Peace day: September 6) - and Finalvent's response.
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Hello finalvent, I found your blog in the sidebar at Passion of the Present. Thought you might like to see a copy, here below, of a report in the Sudan Tribune today. Also, someone just emailed me to say Meetup.com is reporting September 6 is International Sudanese Peace Meetup day... I don't know if it's coordinated by another group or this is just a monthly, smaller event. I'll treat Sept 6 as a global "virtual" meetup day and aim to do a post that links to you in Japan from England and to Passion of the Present in the USA and other blogs I know of in Canada, Australia, Malaysia. What about China and Russia -- do you know of any bloggers writing about the Sudan there? If I link to you, will you know via Technorati? Seems the bloggers in Malaysia don't get the pings when I link to them. Best wishes from England, UK.
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Hello, Ingrid-san. Thank you for your comment. I think that your suggestion is worth to be read by many Japanese people. I translated it roughly on the new entry.

As you know Japan now seems to hold more than three millions of bloggers (incredible!). Blog communication infrastructure in Japan is ready to easily catch RSS/ATOM, though some ping servers would not work well.

I referred your blog RSS/ATOM:
http://meandophelia.blogspot.com/rss/meandophelia.xml

Since May or June, Japanese journalism began informing Darfur genocide. But Japanese political situation inside is complicated. Human right aware people in Japan seem to be divided into several groups: the major poles are U.S. accepting group and China supporting group. The china group is, I guess, an obstacle for Japanese contribution for Darfur people. They pay too much attention in favor of china national interests. China is suspected to support the Sudan government, hoping to make strong tie to be suppleid with PETROLUEM bypassed from the world oil market.

投稿者: finalvent (8月 28, 2004 10:13 午前)
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SUDAN'S FM TO VISIT JAPAN
Sept 5-9 for talks on Darfur crisis

TOKYO, Aug 27, 2004 (Kyodo) -- Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail will visit Japan Sept 5-9 for talks on the conflict in the African nation's Darfur region, ministry sources said Friday.

Ismail is expected to meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on what the United Nations says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The Japanese government has suspended economic assistance to Sudan since 1992 on the grounds of human rights violations by the military junta and still does not believe that circumstances warrant a resumption of such assistance, the sources said.

But Japanese officials are willing to consider emergency or other humanitarian assistance if the Sudanese government makes some progress in resolving the conflict such as disarming militias, the sources said.

There has long been tension in Darfur between Arabs and black Africans.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced since February 2003, when African rebels rose against the government, which they say is persecuting them. Arab militias also started assaulting Africans indiscriminately. [end]
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Hijackers force plane to land in Sudan

Here's an odd piece of news today: Hijackers forced a plane carrying about 70 Eritreans from Libya to land in the Sudanese capital on Friday before surrendering to security forces, according to a U.N. refugee agency official.

The plane left southern Libya bound for Eritrea when unidentified hijackers forced the passenger plane to land in Sudan, said Michael Lindenbauer, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees deputy representative in Khartoum.

Note: Like Patrick over at the The Horn of Africa says, things must be pretty bad in Eritrean for its people to want to become refugees in the Sudan.

Omar al-Bashir: The ruthless survivor

Sudan Tribune - copy in full of an August 28th, 2004 report by Andrew England, Financial Times:

As the United Nations considers whether the Sudanese government has fulfilled its pledge to curb the Arab militia terrorising civilians in Darfur, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan's president, may be inclined to cast his mind back six months.

On February 9, a year after a violent rebellion in the west of Africa's largest country, he sought to reassure his people: "The major military operations are now over and your armed forces are in full control," he said in a televised statement. Delivering that message had special meaning for the president, after the humiliation of his cherished army at the hands of the insurgents. But it turned out to be little more than rhetoric from a dictator who has ruled ruthlessly for 15 years since he came to power in a coup and who only this month took the top rank of field marshal. The rebels continued to launch raids and, just as importantly, pro-government Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, continued their horrendous attacks on civilians. The Darfur crisis has since claimed international attention amid allegations of genocide and ethnic cleansing. The Janjaweed were accused of committing the worst atrocities and the government was alleged to have armed and supported them. Amid international concern, the Security Council passed a resolution on July 30 that gave the Islamic regime 30 days to prove its commitment to disarming the militia and protecting civilians or face economic and diplomatic action. Under intense pressure, the government grudgingly accepted the UN's demands. The deadline is Monday and the Security Council will decide next week if the al-Bashir regime has fulfilled its pledges.

The government has insisted it is complying, but as always with Field Marshal al-Bashir's style, many will question whether he is simply taking the world for a ride. The 60-year-old president is certainly no stranger to western, or even Arab, hostility. His government hosted Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and is on a US list of state sponsors of terrorism. The US imposed sanctions since he seized power and added a trade embargo in 1997. A year later, Sudan got another taste of US hostility when cruise missiles destroyed a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum. Washington's claims that the factory produced precursors for chemical weapons remain unproven. There have been other sanctions and suspensions of western aid. Yet Field Marshal al-Bashir, often against the odds, has survived.

"Bashir is meticulous, calculating and decisive when his power is threatened," said Ted Dagne of the US Congressional Research Service. "He is also one of the luckiest politicians in Africa - not only has he survived his enemies from within, he managed to survive three American administrations, years of international isolation and sanctions."

Now, his challenge is to survive the Darfur crisis at a time when his government appears most vulnerable. Few observers see the son of a farm labourer as the true power, but more as a figurehead for an elitist, Islamist ruling clique. The coup that propelled Field Marshal al-Bashir into the presidency was instigated by Hassan al-Turabi, an Islamist ideologue and leader of the National Islamic Front which had been covertly recruiting army members since the 1970s. The coup highlighted army dissatisfaction with the civilian government, particularly over the conduct of the war in the south, and Mr al-Turabi knew a military man was needed to advance his quest for power. Field Marshal al-Bashir, then a relatively unknown paratroop brigadier and Islamist, was an obvious choice, viewed as jovial, popular in military circles and a man who would follow orders. For the next decade, Mr al-Turabi and his coterie ran the politics; the president, described by former colleagues as non-combative and hands-off, seemed content ensuring the army's loyalty. He still lives in his residence at army headquarters and often dons his military uniform. He even took a second wife, marrying the widow of an officer killed in the south, as a sign of solidarity to the forces. His relationship with Mr al-Turabi, however, was destined for a messy break-up. In 1999, a power struggle erupted between the military man and the ideologue. To widespread surprise, it was Field Marshal al-Bashir who survived.

Backed by many of Mr al-Turabi's former protegées, who felt alienated by their mentor, Field Marshal al-Bashir sacked Mr al-Turabi as parliamentary speaker, disbanded the National Assembly and declared a state of emergency. Yet even with Mr al-Turabi in the opposition and later, in prison, few believed the president had become the chief policy maker. Instead, they saw Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, a former lawyer and an al-Turabi supporter, as the new power behind the throne.

Critics deride the president as a simple man who allowed himself to be manipulated by the Islamists. One described him as a "pleasant man to meet in the street or at social function" - he is a regular fixture at weddings and funerals - but an "ugly man" in office. "He's a man of the system, of the party and you cannot see him as separate. He is a tool of the machine, he is not his own man," said a Sudanese academic.

Some people who know him say this is an oversimplification, arguing that while he may have been open to manipulation, he is intelligent and self-aware. Another well-connected Sudanese said the president himself called the shots in Darfur, driven by a desire to avenge humiliating attacks on the army: "He was extreme, very unlike himself. He made it a personal vendetta", he said. The Darfur crisis has caused thousands of deaths and forced 1.4m people from their homes. But the president may yet prove strong enough to weather it.

Sudan closes its embassy in Washington because no bank will accept its accounts

Khartoum sure are quick learners about things they want to understand. Note how quickly their language has transformed in reports. Four months ago they were pretty difficult to understand. Sounded like they were talking in riddles. Now they talk UN speak. Here is a good example: see the last sentence here below from the report on Sudan's closing of its embassy in Washington.

Maybe Khartoum have western PR agencies on consultancy to write press releases. Lately, when mainstream news reports quote officials like Ismail with off the cuff remarks, it makes you realise that Khartoum are very PR cunning and crafty. They probably study reports closely, highlight certain sentences, write the sentences on their hands in readiness for meetings and press conferences when the issues of sanctions and offers of help to disarm the Janjaweed are raised :)

Here's the story. "Sudan closed its embassy in Washington after being unable to find a bank that would handle its financial matters. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said the bank that had handled their embassy's transfers from Khartoum for more than 30 years had closed Sudan's account, along with other embassy accounts, in July "because of difficulties it encountered."

The ministry statement did not name the bank. The embassy has been the scene of daily demonstrations for several weeks in protest of Sudan's treatment of people in the western Darfur region.

The ministry said it asked the U.S. State Department for assistance but "it failed to convince that bank or find another bank." A senior State Department official said on condition of anonymity that efforts were being made to find another bank.

The ministry ordered the embassy to close this week because it cannot pay its employees or its utility or other bills.

The statement blamed the United States, saying it was the responsibility of the host country to facilitate the mission of embassies. It said if the situation was not resolved after an unspecified period of time, Sudan would "be obliged to take specific measures as necessary."

British Government's policy on Sudan is to work with GoS and AU to resolve this crisis

The British Government's policy is to work with the Government of Sudan and the African Union to resolve this crisis. It says there has to be a political solution to the crisis and the Government of Sudan has to be part of that.

On Monday, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw visited Khartoum and indicated that Britain was ready to help finance a greatly enlarged African Union force of as many as 1,000 observers and 3,000 troops to monitor the humanitarian crisis.

"The government of Sudan may need more assistance from the AU, and it’s our job to facilitate it," said Mr Straw. He said he had spoken to the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, and the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, over the weekend and told them "we were ready to provide further military facilitation and anything else they wanted".

But Sudan rejected an offer of African troops to disarm rebels in Darfur as peace talks began in Nigeria, insisting it was capable of neutralising both pro-government and rebel militias. Rebels, in turn, said they would not accept disarmament by Sudanese forces to end the 18-month-old conflict.

The Nigerian president had made the proposal ahead of the talks in Abuja, arguing that Sudanese forces were incapable of disarming the rebels. He said on AU troops were needed because Sudan's forces were incapable of disarming the rebels without further bloodshed. AU troops could do this, he said, while Khartoum disarmed the Janjaweed militia.

'I don't think there is a need for this,' Mazjoub al-Khalifa, Sudan's agriculture minister and top negotiator, said before peace talks began on Monday with two Darfur rebel groups. 'Simultaneously we will disarm the rebel movements, the Janjaweed and other militia.'

That plan was swiftly dismissed by a top rebel official. 'There is no way we can let our enemies disarm us. They are still killing us and bombing us,' said Abubakar Hamid Nour, coordinator of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)."

During a joint news conference on Monday with Sudan's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, following extended discussions between the two men, Mr Straw stressed "We have absolutely no plans to put in contingents of British troops." "What we have done is to provide military expertise to the African Union," he added.

The UK has provided £2m to support a limited African Union peace mission to Darfur and has pledged a further £750,000 for commercial charter planes to transport Nigerian troops to Darfur. The first Nigerian troops are expected to arrive, joining a contingent of Rwandan troops, later this week.
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Wednesday August 25, China News reports that Darfur peace talks in Nigeria have made a breakthrough on more AU forces.

Channel News Asia says Sudan agrees that AU troops can disarm rebels, talks reopen: Sudan's government will accept a larger African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur if the troops are used to contain and demobilise rebel forces, the head of Khartoum's team at peace talks revealed.

'They may need more forces besides the protection of the (AU) monitors to protect the cantonment of the rebels, and we agree about that,' Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa said just before AU-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital went into their third day."
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Aug 25: European Commission announced Wednesday a further 20 million euros (24 million dollars) in humanitarian aid for Darfur, saying the situation in the region had not improved. 'The situation is still not optimistic from a humanitarian point of view,' Peter Holdsworth, of the EC's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), through which the funds will be channelled, told reporters.

Aug 25: International Committee of the Red Cross says it is mounting a major airlift of relief supplies to Sudan's troubled Darfur region, its largest operation of this nature since the war in Iraq.

Straw delivered message to Khartoum: Sort it out, or face the music

Mr Straw's 2-day visit to Sudan on Monday was part of a process. The trip had been announced on July 22. Mr Straw had spoken to Kofi Annan before he went to Khartoum and would talk to him again on his return to give him a full read out.

Mr Straw met with the Sudanese President and the Foreign Minister and underlined British support for the international process to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. He delivered a clear message to the Government of Sudan that they must do more to comply with the UN Security Council Resolution and the commitments that they gave to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

Mr Straw urged Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir to heed growing international calls for swift action on the crisis in Darfur as a United Nations deadline for Khartoum to comply or face sanctions approaches. "Our collective interest is to see a safe, secure and prosperous Sudan able to live at peace with itself," Straw told reporters after separate meetings with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk.

Straw said he told the president: "The government of Sudan has to help us to help them. And that means fulfilling the obligations imposed on them by resolution 1556 and voluntarily accepted by them in the action plan which followed discussions with Mr. Pronk." The action plan thrashed out by Pronk and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail earlier this month was designed to help Sudan undertake a step-by-step implementation of the Security Council resolution on the crisis.

Straw pointed out that much of his discussions with Sudanese officials focused on the plan, often referred to as the August 5 Darfur Plan of Action, "to see what steps they are taking to implement the obligations which they have put on themselves." He asserted that the aim was not to find fault with the government and a reason for conflict, but rather to help it. "No one should be in any doubt about our determination to do all that we can to help this country and its people look forward to a better future," he said.
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Note re this post: To me, the sub title "Sort it out, or face the music" summed up the situation pretty neatly. Full credit goes to British blogger Gregory Block for using it in a comment of his at "Downing Street Says" in a post re Jack Straw's visit to Khartoum - the words leapt out of my screen and, for me, put the whole trip in a nutshell. So I lifted it, and used it here - with thanks to Gregory :)

Straw wins human rights pledge from Khartoum

At talks on Monday with Sudan's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, Mr Straw extracted a pledge that visas would be granted for the first time to allow the British offices of human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to get access to Darfur refugees.

WILL NEW DARFUR PEACE TALKS SUCCEED?
Have your say at the BBC - and read comments from around the world

Read comments at BBC Have Your Say -- in answer to the following question:

Sudan's government will allow international human rights groups to visit refugee camps in the troubled Darfur region, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says. The foreign secretary is visiting Sudan's Darfur region to try to get Khartoum to do more to curb the Arab Janjaweed militia's harassment of refugees.

The UN has accused the Janjaweed militia of killing an estimated 50,000 people in Darfur in an 18-month reign of terror. Delegates from rebel groups and Sudan's government met in the Nigerian capital Abuja for the discussions, to try to end the conflict in the troubled Darfur region.

Will the access of human rights groups to refugee camps make a difference? Will the new efforts to restore peace be successful? How should the international community respond to Darfur?

Here below are a few comments that reflect the balance of opinion the BBC has received so far:

Africa has always been a stage for one form of crisis or the other. All fuelled by the selfish interests of most parties involved. There are always a set of crisis resolution meetings which seem to solve the problem but as always the conflict resumes all over again. Alas, events following the meeting in Abuja will be no different - Seun a, Lagos, Nigeria
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The talk for peace in Darfur is just a waste of time. What the black Sudanese requires now is food, security and protection by international community. Peace talk between the Arabs and the blacks is a waiting game for the Arabs who have never taken the blacks as equal partners in the Sudan. The only solution is to re-partition the Sudan into three states: Darfur, Arab North and Bar-el-Ghazel (South), this will be the only viable alternative to bring peace to the communities who cannot live together in one country - Freddy Latigo-Nono, London
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I think the peace talks have a much higher probability of succeeding than previous rounds in July - simply because the stakes now are much higher - and what both parties are playing for is much different. Darfur has garnered a great deal of international interest and the plight of hundreds of thousands that have been systematically targeted can no longer be ignored. The SLM/A and JEM have achieved international recognition for their agendas and discourse. Now both sides have developed bargaining positions and they will cut a deal! - Naya, Khartoum, Sudan
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I think the situation in Sudan should not be strange to those who are aware of all sorts of conflicts around the world. It is just sad that there does not seem to be an end to the conflict and the saddest thing is that defenceless folks are being perished at the moment. I don't want to be a pessimist, but I do not think this meeting in Nigeria will avail the conflict. I am sure the Sudanese government has agreed to it so as to delay impending US's desire for sanctions against them. The conflict was not and is not sporadic... it has been pre-planned. The goal is to wipe out or displace the indigenes of Darfur and reclaim the land for themselves. It is basically a fight for survival and domination.
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And I am afraid that this will not be the last time we will hear of such conflicts in Africa or in other places where resources are scarce. The only way to completely settle this never ending conflict all over Sudan is do what was done in old Yugoslavia... divide the country and let borders be defined. These people just cannot live together. Let's face it - Emmanuel A, Canada/Nigeria
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Western leaders can push Sudan's government to stop the conflict. However, peace comes from inside not from outside. As we have seen over the period, Sudan's government does not want to stop the conflict. Therefore I'm very sceptical if these peace-talks will be successful. Nevertheless, it is important that the western world reacts to this crisis and does not ignore it - Alzbeta Stastna, Czech Republic
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The peace talks after Abuja Conference will perhaps have a temporary success. But unless the socio-political question is solved to determine equity in economic and the civil matters, there will be no lasting peace. The present Sudanese regime is perhaps the only remaining oppressive and incompetent regime remaining in Africa today. The old and new masters of slavery and racial discrimination are still there enjoying the long silence of the African Union. The international community can help the African leadership in bringing justice and democracy to the whole of Sudan and not just to Darfur. If dialogue to hold internationally supervised elections for civil liberty against the prevailing military dictatorship is not possible, then sanctions and human rights-violation prosecutions should immediately be effected to avoid more loss of lives - Mdundiko Kilache, Equatorial Guinea
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The world kept talking in regards to Bosnia, Rwanda etc while hundreds of thousands were killed. Why does not the UN intervene with troops? Of what use is the UN? All that money wasted on tax when it is an impotent organisation. Hundreds more will be killed, raped and left suffering by the time these talks conclude - Paddy Singh, Delhi, India

Straw got commitment from Khartoum to use Naivasha accords as template for peace talks over Darfur

In Khartoum, after talks aimed at urging the government to comply with UN demands to end the conflict, Mr Straw said on Monday that the regime in Khartoum had given him a commitment to use the southern Naivasha agreement, which includes elements of devolution and wealth-sharing, as a framework for peace in Darfur.

He said Khartoum had pledged to use accords signed in May with rebel groups in the south of the country as a template for peace talks over the western Darfur region. The talks are taking place in Abuja, Nigeria. "I was pleased to learn of the commitment of the government of Sudan to using these protocols," Straw said after talks with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail. The Naivasha accords, named after the Kenyan town where they were sealed, aimed to end a 21-year war in the south.

Straw said Sudan had agreed to put forward a similar idea at Abuja. "If you look at the six Naivasha protocols, you see a framework for ... devolution both of power and wealth," he said.

Straw demands action on Darfur - Refugees may not have confidence to return home until next spring

On Tuesday morning, Mr Straw flew from Khartoum to Northern Darfur to see what had been happening on the ground. He toured a feeding centre for critically ill children at the Abu Shouk refugee camp and was accompanied by a British military adviser who had been working with African monitors in western Sudan for the last two months.

BBC correspondent, Bridget Kendall, who accompanied Mr Straw on the flight quotes him as saying that having ravaged villages and forced villagers into camps, the militia now roam the surrounding areas which have become bandit country.

Mr Straw met the refugees as they queued for water in the camp and said the camp appeared to be very well run but he was aware that, as a foreign dignitary, he was often shown the best conditions rather than the worst.

It was "the scale of the problem" that made the biggest impression, he said as he toured the Abu Shouk camp. "I knew the numbers. But it is one thing to know the numbers, it is quite another thing to come here, to survey this camp, and to realise that there are more than 50,000 people here but that is only one-twentieth of the people displaced as a result of the conflict.

"There is a very great deal to be done before these and 1.2 million like them feel reassured enough to go back to their villages ... That requires a real effort by the Government of Sudan to provide for their safety and also to ensure there is progress in the peace talks."

Speaking during the visit, Mr Straw said the camps appeared to be safer but he voiced concern about surrounding areas and villages, which one of his officials described as "bandit country". "I recognise that the government of Sudan have made progress, especially in humanitarian access and camp safety and security within the camps, but people are obviously still very anxious and nervous about whether they will be safe when they go back to their villages." He said it was critical that Khartoum establish "safety and security across Darfur and get the political process going". Rebel groups operating in Darfur also had to take responsibility for restoring stability to the region, he said.

He said he would report back to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the extent of progress made. "The government of Sudan ... has sought to comply with what has been imposed upon them. It is for Kofi Annan to judge the extent to which they have complied," he said. "I will also be talking to African leaders as well as other (UN) Security Council members so we are all in a position by the end of next week to ... make judgments about whether there is sufficient progress. There is not enough progress - but (the question) is whether there is sufficient progress."

Straw said he had talked to refugees at the camp - currently home to 55,000 people - about why they fled their homes and what it would take to enable them to return. One woman said she had been bombarded from the air, presumably by Sudanese government planes. Another said while the Janjaweed militia were still at large, she was too scared to go home again.

Darfur peace talks started Monday in Nigeria - Aid top of agenda - talks made breakthrough on more AU forces

On Monday, Nigerian and AU President Obasanjo opened the peace talks in Nigeria, calling for unity of purpose among Africans to end the crisis without the intervention of foreign forces. "Africa cannot continue to be the problem child of the world known for the pitiable pictures shown around the world of miserable looking children and women dying of malnutrition and diseases as a result of wars and internal crises," Obasanjo said.

On Tuesday, GoS and Darfur rebel groups unanimously adopted an agenda for peace talks, African Union chairman, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, said. The Nigerian leader said the parties will take a brief break before resuming talks on the first item on the agenda, which is the provision of humanitarian aid to Darfur. 'I believe that we made progress,' he told reporters. 'This morning, we adopted unanimously the draft agenda with minor amendments,' he said. Obasanjo said it was impossible to say when the first round of talks would end."

Wednesday August 25, China News reports China News reports that Darfur talks make breakthrough on more AU forces

Also, a Channel News Asia report says Sudan's government will accept a larger African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur if the troops are used to contain and demobilise rebel forces, the head of Khartoum's team at peace talks revealed.

'They may need more forces besides the protection of the (AU) monitors to protect the cantonment of the rebels, and we agree about that,' Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa said just before AU-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital went into their third day."
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One British official who has been working in western Darfur told journalists that the region remained largely “bandit country” in which “the Janjaweed are doing what they want, where they want, when they want to the non-Arabs”. Having driven the farmers from their villages into makeshift refugee camps, the Janjaweed were keeping them there through the use of lower level abuse such as beatings and sexual attacks ensuring they were free to do as they wished in the rest of the country.

The official said that although the Sudanese army remained in their garrisons, the Khartoum government had deployed police from outside Darfur into the region. He added however, that it remained to be seen whether those police had been given orders to crackdown on the violence.

The official said he was anxious to find out more about UN plans to create security areas in a 20km radius around the camps. He added that he did not expect the refugees to have the confidence to return to their villages until next spring.

Darfur refugees to go home in 3-4 months-official - "Janjaweed does not include Moussa Hilal. He is a tribal leader"

Mr Straw told Sky News the government in Khartoum had sought to stem the violence but that it was for the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, to judge the extent to which it had complied with the resolution.

Mr Straw said he intended to speak to Mr Annan and other African leaders after he had completed his trip. He also said there were practical limits to what the international community could do to help the people of Darfur without the consent of the Sudanese government. Mr Straw added that there appeared to be some evidence of improving security within the refugee camps and the priority now was to improve security outside them.

But Britain advocates a cautious approach. "If we were to drive ahead like a bull at a gate and end up with a split in the Security Council, it would work in favour of the hardliners in the Sudanese government," a senior official said. "We have to feel our way."

Britain has offered the African Union (AU) extra funding to expand its force charged with protecting ceasefire monitors in the region and will back plans for a far larger presence than is currently there. Britain has already spent two million pounds helping the AU mission and will now give a further 750,000 pounds to fly in Nigerian troops and provide rations.

But Sudan rejected an offer to expand the AU troops' role to disarm rebels in Darfur, insisting it was capable of tackling both pro-government and rebel militias in the western region.
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A MUST READ REPORT
By acclaimed writer Samantha Power

Excerpt re Janjaweed Leader Musal Hilal:

"As I talked with Musal Hilal in the El Fasher airport waiting room, he discussed th possibility that he and other janjaweed leaders could have their assets frozen and their ability to travel curtailed. “I have no assets in international banks, so that is not a problem,” he said as he watched Sudanese soldiers ready our plane for its flight back to Khartoum. “But the travel ban—that would be a humiliation. I am a tribal leader. My reputation comes above anything and everything.”

"Hilal is aware that if the international pressure on Khartoum intensifies the government might sell him out. This explains why he courts Western journalists, staging elaborate shows of African-Arab unity. But he also knows how risky it would be for the government to challenge him—even if it wanted to appease its international critics. Khartoum’s leaders rely on tribal militias as their main weapon of war. And, in Hilal’s case, the Sudanese government helped create him, and he knows too much.

“The government call to arms is carried out through the tribal leaders,” Hilal said. “Every government comes and finds us here. When they leave, we will still be here. When they come back, we will still be here. We will always be here.”

UN Security Council will make a judgement Aug 30/31 - Based on Annan and Pronk's report

The UN Security Council will be in discussions again re Sudan and UN resolution on 30 August. Britain says it would not prejudge that discussion.

Annan's report will partly rely on Pronk's assessment of the situation over the past 30 days. "It is on the basis of his (Pronk's) report and the secretary general's report that the Security Council will make judgement on whether or not there has been sufficient progress," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

He declined to say, judging from his visit to Darfur, what the contents of the reports might be, but said: "Nobody could visit Sudan without being struck by the scale and complexity of the problems which face this country." Straw said: "It is a terrible humanitarain crisis. It is something which is of very great concern to the whole of the international community and we have to deal with it."

He did, however, concede that there was an improvement in certain areas over the past few weeks. "What I understand is that there has not been aerial bombardment since the end of June, that the ceasefire is broadly holding, but that atrocities have continued, and that in itself is causing a great deal of fear for many sectors of the population across Darfur."

Commenting on his encounters with the displaced at the Abu Shouk camp, he said he "got from them a sense of their fear as a result both of what had happened to them and their families and the killings which they witnessed and their concerns about whether or not they will be able to go back". It was, he said, the sort of "feeling people have about the way they feel they were driven from their homes. And the fear they have about going back to their homes and trying to resume their livelihoods.

"Within this camp certainly people felt safe. But it's safety and security outside the camps, which is the vast part of Darfur, is the absolute imperative," he stressed.

Note: Straw later left Khartoum for Nairobi en route to South Africa.
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Other voices:

The International Crisis Group of analysts said the Security Council should impose an AU force of at least 3,000 troops on Sudan with a mandate to protect civilians, and slap sanctions on named government officials. The group's report said Sudan's government had acted in bad faith throughout the crisis and was "adept at saying and doing just enough to avoid a robust international response".

Khartoum signed an agreement with the United Nations on Saturday to encourage the voluntary return of refugees to safe areas protected by an expanded police presence.

"There is a game of brinkmanship and the clock is ticking," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "Sudan has already conceded something on the repatriation of refugees and it thinks it has done enough to see off the pressure."
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Aug 24 - UK Telegraph report by David Blair entitled "End the wicked politics of divide and rule in Darfur" -- excerpt: "Darfur enjoyed four decades of peace under British rule from 1916. Colonial officials averted clashes by acting as neutral arbiters, backed by a legal system. Tribal leaders also had their own ways of settling disputes without bloodshed. Sudan's current regime committed one of its greatest crimes by systematically destroying these ways of bringing peace. Instead of holding the ring as an honest broker, as the British had done, Khartoum deliberately upset Darfur's delicate balance by constantly favouring nomadic over settled tribes.

Against this background, the international community must do more than send aid and endlessly debate the dispatch of peacekeepers. Instead, Mr al-Bashir's regime must be told to end the dangerous practice of favouring one tribe over another and, in particular, to reverse the disastrous administrative reforms of 1994. That is one specific demand that Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, could make during his visit to Sudan.Darfur's people are not genetically programmed to kill one another. Amoral politicians in Khartoum have created this terrible war - and the world should demand an end to their wicked ethnic politics of divide and misrule.

Aug 24: "Ethnic cleansing in Sudan - Help the African Union protect Darfur's people" report by David Mozersky, analyst with the International Crisis Group, an independent conflict-prevention group: "The African Union is on the right track in Sudan. If it can maintain the robust support of the wider international community, there is a chance that the largest country in Africa can take a significant step toward a comprehensive peace."

Aug 25: The Daily Star Editorial -- "Ending Darfur's suffering may prevent other such crimes" -- "A moment of reckoning approaches in the Darfur crisis in western Sudan, with the UN Security Council's August 30 deadline to review Sudanese government compliance with the council's recent resolution. The Darfur situation is a test for the Sudanese government, but also for the international community's ability to deal with gross human rights abuses such as those that have occurred in Darfur. The track record on both counts is mixed, but may also contain some useful lessons for the future.

Keeping up the pressure on Khartoum, though, seems a necessary ingredient in the mix of measures that aim to resolve this tragic situation. It is important for the world to succeed in stopping the atrocities and suffering in Darfur, in order to reduce the chances of similar situations emerging in other countries. The August 30 review should be tough, fair and swift, demanding full compliance by all parties while ensuring that progress to that end occurs at a steady pace."

Aug 24 Reuters report excerpts:

About a million refugees who fled their homes will return in security within three to four months if a shaky truce holds in Sudan's western conflict zone of Darfur, the head of Sudan's ruling party said on Tuesday. Ibrahim Ahmed Omar also said peace talks to solve a Darfur rebellion could involve a form of autonomy for the remote region, similar to an agreement that hopes to end more than two decades of civil war in the south of Africa's largest country. "If the (April) ceasefire continues and the rebel and the government reach an agreement, this won't take more than three to four months in order for people to go back to their villages and reside," he told Reuters in an interview.

Omar also rejected a U.S. list of the most wanted Janjaweed leaders, top of which is Moussa Hilal, saying outside parties had to differentiate between Arab tribal leaders in Darfur and Janjaweed. Otherwise, he said, civil war would erupt in Darfur. "If the Janjaweed is taken to mean Arab leaders in Darfur this will lead to a civil war," he said. "The Janjaweed are bandits and gangs and the category of Janjaweed does not include Moussa Hilal. He is a tribal leader."

Omar also said that political talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo with an umbrella group of opposition parties, which started on Tuesday, would discuss reconciliation and political representation after a peace deal. Sudan's ruling National Congress party dominates parliament. "Hopefully the Abuja and Egypt conferences will deliver that which will enable (negotiators to) go back to Naivasha as soon as possible," he said of the stalled southern peace talks.