Canadian company donates funds for railway line linking S. Sudan and Uganda

From Sudan Radio Service, 27 May 2009 (Khartoum):

The Minister of Transport in GONU says that his ministry has formed a joint committee with the Ugandan government to open and renovate roads and a railway line linking the two countries.

Minister Philip Thon Leek spoke to Sudan Radio Service in Khartoum on Wednesday.

[Philip Thon Leek]: “As the minister of roads in GONU, I went to Kampala to attend a joint meeting between the Sudan government and the Ugandan government. We have formed a technical ministerial committee, which is composed of 8 members, 2 members from the Ministry of Roads, 2 from Ministry of Transport in GONU and 4 members from the Ugandan government. Now we are renovating the railway line between Babanosa-Wau, the work on the railway line from Wau-Rumbek and Juba-Gulu will start after we get the funding from the donors. I have just come from a meeting with a Canadian company who will donate funds for the construction of this railway line.”

The railway line which linked towns in southern Sudan and Uganda was closed for more than two decades during the civil war in the region.

AU's Head of Culture and Sports, Daraïtivo Ralaïbo, says African museum for peace to be built in Chad

An AU delegation is working with Chadian authorities to organize the African Youth Day and to create a centre to build capacity among young people, a sports centre and a journalism training centre.

From PANA, N'Djaména, Chad, 27 May 2009 - via Afrique en ligne:
Chad: African museum for peace to be built in Chad

The African Union (AU) and the Chadian government will create the first African museum for peace, human rights and non-violence here, Head of the Culture and Sports Section of the AU, Daraïtivo Ralaïbo, said at a press conference held in the Chadian capital city.

"We have worked technically with the ministry for the promotion of Human rights and freedom to create the first African museum ever for peace, non-violence and human rights in Chad," said Mr. Ralaïbo, who is at the head of an AU delegation in a bid to prepare a conference meant for the cultural renaissance of Africa.

"We wish that the museum were created in N'djamena with the support of the AU Commission and all international partners. We want to achieve something concrete here," he added.

The AU delegation is working with Chadian authorities to organize the African Youth Day and to create a centre to build capacity among young people, a sports centre and a journalism training centre.

Six Darfurians arrested and illegally detained for 10 months without charge?

Terrible news if true. Report from Radio Dabanga, a radio station run by Darfurians in The Netherlands, which broadcasts into Darfur in Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit and Arabic:

Detained Darfurians on honger strike

KHARTOUM (22 May 2009) - Six of Darfur sons are more than a week on a hunger strike. They are detained by the security organ in Khartoum for more than 10 months. They protest against their arrests without any charge. Those who went on strike are: Abedel Ilah Ibrahim Wadia, Hamadi Gibril, Hanazalah Adam, Nogadalla Khalil and Naygey Abdalla.

Lawyer Kamal Omer Abedel Salaam, described to Radio Dabanga that this detention and arrest is illegal, This is against the interim constitution. He said that the security organ arrested these people 10 months ago without any justification. He further explained they were set free on the 12th of May. The security forces rearrested them again. After their re-arrest, they entered the hunger strike until now.

Update - From Radio Dabanga, 25 May 2009:

Habbanya in hunger strike refuse treatment

NYALA (25 May 2009) - The 7 Habbanya detainees have entered a second week of their hunger strike in Nyala prison. The health of 3 detainees was deteriorating. They have been taken to the Nyala hospital for further treatment, but they refused to take medication.They are calling for their immediate release. Their lawyer told Radio Dabanga that the defense-team has decided to appeal against the governor of South Darfur for the arrest without any charges. He told radio Dabanga that such behavior is against the interim constitution. The names of those who went on hunger strike are:

Salah Mohamed Goof Al Shenahy, Al Bushara Abbas Al Bushara, Dr. Mohamed Alamin Ahmed Eishag, Musa Izzedin Ahmed, Mahmoud Mohamed Mahmoud, Mahmoud Mursoud Mahmoud and Ahmed Hamid Mahmoud. This was disclosed to Radio Dabanga by the lawyer from Nyala. The detention of the Habbanya leaders was ordered by the South-Darfur governor, Ali Mahmoud, accusing the men to support attacks on the Fallata. In the same Kober prison in Nyala a prisoner was prevented by his colleagues to hang himself. According to eyewitnesses that spoke to Radio Dabanga in side the prison, said the reasons for his attempt is the severe torture by prison guards. One of the prisoners told Radio Dabanga that he was tortured on daily bases. He said that he is in prison for years and not even his mother was allowed to visit him. Last week radio Dabanga already reported about the widespread torture in the Nyala jail that was confirmed by lawyers in Nyala.

U.S. Senators Isakson and Corker arrive in Khartoum, Sudan

The following commentary by U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia tells us that Sudan is an entirely dry country. Even at a dinner with dignitaries, there is no cocktail reception or even a glass of wine with the meal. I wonder if the same applies at wedding receptions and other celebrations in Sudan. Among the thousands of photos that I've seen of Sudanese insurgents, quite a few have been photographed smoking or looking dopey. Maybe the Sudanese use herbs as an alternative to alcohol. Note to self to find out more from Drima at The Sudanese Thinker.

AFRICA DIARY SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON
Security, peace issues for Sudan
By Johhny Isakson
For the Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, May 27, 2009:

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia is traveling in Africa with fellow Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee. As members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, they are monitoring the progress of a 2005 agreement that helped end years of civil war between northern and southern Sudan. Isakson filed this installment late Monday.

Our trip began Saturday in Washington, D.C., when Sen. Corker and I, along with my brave wife, Dianne, two members of our staffs and a military escort from the Navy, boarded a commercial flight to Rome. A U.S. military plane flew us into Africa.

Some 14 hours after leaving Washington, we landed Sunday afternoon in Khartoum, Sudan, where we were greeted by a sandstorm and a temperature of 110 degrees.

Despite these conditions, a delegation of dignitaries waited outside our plane to greet us. Since arriving, we have been taken everywhere in armored vehicles with a police escort because security problems in Sudan are so bad.

Our meals have been very good so far, but even at a dinner with dignitaries there is no cocktail reception or even a glass of wine with the meal. Sudan is an entirely dry country. Instead, they are constantly serving us juice, soda, coffee and tea in our meetings and with our meals.

Monday night, the head of the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services hosted an outdoor dinner for us, complete with local music and dancing.

Tuesday, we will leave our hotel at 6:40 a.m. for a charter flight into Darfur and a five-hour tour and briefing. We will meet with U.S. humanitarian workers and some of the more than 2.6 million Sudanese in the refugee camps.

In early 2011, southern Sudan will hold a referendum to determine whether it secedes from the north. Whatever happens will have great effect on Sudan, the Horn of Africa and the rest of the world. It is our intent to discover firsthand the attitude of the government and the conditions of the people.

The Sudanese government wants improved relations with the United States and demonstrated where it has been helpful to the United States —- most importantly, in counter-terrorism.

We emphasized that improved relations will be built on progress toward the comprehensive peace agreement, which requires legislation pending in the parliament on freedom of the press; reconciliation with the south; future agreements between the north and the south on sharing oil revenues; and full cooperation with aid workers delivering humanitarian assistance to the people of Darfur.

Progress toward the implementation of the peace agreement is essential before the referendum. A vote to secede by the south leaves open the opportunity for a renewal of hostility and even the potential of regional conflict, given that the Horn of Africa has been a target for al-Qaida to establish training camps.

Update: Many thanks to Digital for the following comment:

Although the “herb” is quite popular in Sudan with all social classes, alcohol use is rampant, reminds me of the good old days of prohibition in the states.

The lower and middle classes enjoy an alcoholic beverage made of fermented dates and flavored with assorted fruit essences called arragi, and its might powerful stuff I might add. Less popular is a beer made out of sorghum called “marissa”.

The higher classes enjoy black market booze including the ever popular Johnnie walker, international wines, and all your favorite brands of vodkas/rums/gins/beers.

You have to remember that only 25 years ago Khartoum was full of bars, liquor stores and night clubs. Although it is a social taboo to drink, a significant percentage of the populace does indulge, oxymoronic don’t ya think!!

More on this subject later, if I receive more comments or hear from Drima, The Sudanese Thinker.

More than 210 civilians still seeking shelter near UNAMID camp near Umm Barru, N. Darfur

Peacekeepers at Umm Barru say Sudanese soldiers and allied SLA/MM elements remain in control of their military position near the town following fighting on 25 May 2009 between Sudanese government forces backed by the Sudan Liberation Army/Minni Minnawi (SLA/MM), a pro-Government faction, and JEM elements. About 350 civilians fled the fighting and gathered around a UNAMID camp in the area.

More than 210 civilians are still seeking shelter near the UNAMID camp and humanitarian assistance, including food, water and tents, is needed to help the displaced. Peacekeepers are also continuing to monitor the situation and provide medical assistance where required.

Source: UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) May 27, 2009 - via APO:
UNAMID Daily Media Brief, 26 May 2009

Relative calm in Umm Barru

UNAMID peacekeepers report that the security situation in the North Darfur town of Umm Barru is relatively calm today, two days after deadly clashes there between Sudanese Government forces and armed elements from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

An unknown number of people were killed and dozens of others seriously injured as a result of the fighting on 25 May between Government forces backed by the Sudan Liberation Army/Minni Minnawi (SLA/MM), a pro-Government faction, and JEM elements. About 350 civilians fled the fighting and gathered around a UNAMID camp in the area.

UNAMID peacekeepers based near Umm Barru, which is about 100 kilometres from the Chadian border, report that at least seven people – including three civilians – still need to be evacuated for further medical treatment.

More than 210 civilians are still seeking shelter near the UNAMID camp and humanitarian assistance, including food, water and tents, is needed to help the displaced. Peacekeepers are also continuing to monitor the situation and provide medical assistance where required.

UNAMID reports that while the security situation in the affected area is relatively calm today, it is also unpredictable. Peacekeepers at Umm Barru say Sudanese soldiers and allied SLA/MM elements remain in control of their military position near the town following the fighting.

Sunday’s clashes represent the second time in eight days that JEM elements have attacked a Sudanese military position in North Darfur. On 16 May, they attacked Government forces based near the town of Kornoi.

UNAMID leadership meets United States Senators

The leadership of UNAMID today met a visiting United States Senate delegation, including Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) and Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), to discuss the situation in Darfur.

Led by the Joint Special Representative, Mr. Rodolphe Adada, the Mission’s senior civilian, military and police officials briefed the Senate delegation on the ongoing work and deployment of UNAMID, recent security and humanitarian developments on the ground in Darfur and UNAMID’s efforts to reduce sexual- and gender-based violence.

South Sudan's President Kiir says peace deal in peril

“The CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement], that we concluded as a result of our enormous sacrifices, is seriously threatened by enemies of peace from within our realm and without,” Kiir told a rally in the capital of the semi-autonomous south.

Kiir, who said the violence was an “abnormal pattern of insecurity,” suggested that the fighting was being caused deliberately to destabilise the south. He blamed unnamed outside and internal forces.

Source: Wed 27 May 2009 report by AFP/Juba, Sudan via Gulf Times:
South Sudan says peace deal in peril

Southern Sudanese President Salva Kiir warned yesterday that the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan’s 22-year civil war was “seriously threatened” by growing levels of violence.

Kiir, who is also first vice president of Sudan, said the north-south Comprehensive Peace Agreement was being put at risk by recent conflict.

“The CPA, that we concluded as a result of our enormous sacrifices, is seriously threatened by enemies of peace from within our realm and without,” Kiir told a rally in the capital of the semi-autonomous south.

Several rival ethnic groups have clashed in the south in recent months, leaving more than 1,000 dead and many thousands more displaced.

Cattle rustling and tribal clashes occur regularly in the south, but the ferocity of recent attacks has shocked many.

Kiir, who said the violence was an “abnormal pattern of insecurity,” suggested that the fighting was being caused deliberately to destabilise the south. He blamed unnamed outside and internal forces.

It is a tense time for Sudan, with national elections due in February and a referendum on independence for the south scheduled for 2011.

“This is a well designed strategy to discredit you as people who cannot govern themselves, particularly as we approach general elections and referendum,” he told crowds.

Kiir was speaking at a rally in the southern capital Juba to mark the 26th anniversary of a revolt by southern troops in the Sudanese army, who formed the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

He made his speech to large crowds gathered at the mausoleum of the first southern president John Garang, who signed the peace deal in 2005.

Soldiers from the SPLA, now the official army of the south, marched past Kiir and other top southern officials, in a parade that included three tanks and heavy artillery pieces.

The parade was seen by some as a show of force to the south’s former northern enemies, now partners in a unity government.

Sudan security forces attacked by 3,000 tribesmen near Meiram, S. Kordofan

Tuesday, 26 May 2009 report from Reuters by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum:
Sudan tribesmen attack security force, scores killed

Scores of people were killed when 3,000 armed Arab tribesmen on horseback attacked security forces in Sudan's oil-producing Southern Kordofan region on Tuesday, tribal sources and officials said.

Sudan's Interior Ministry said the security forces were attacked close to the town of Meiram soon after arriving to try to prevent a fresh outbreak of fighting between warring Misseriya and Rizeigat nomads.

"While our forces were making administrative and security arrangements (on Tuesday morning) to prevent the parties from fighting, the Rizeigat started heavy firing and attacked," said the ministry's statement.

"It is estimated the attackers were made up of 3,000 fighters on horseback and 35 vehicles."

One tribal source, who asked not to be named, said more than 100 tribesmen, security officers and civilians may have been killed in Tuesday's clashes and other skirmishes between the tribes in recent days.

It was impossible to verify the figures. The ministry statement said there had been deaths and injuries among the security forces and civilians, but gave no figures and no reason for the attack.

The clashes were a reminder of the tense political situation in Southern Kordofan, which borders both the strife-torn Darfur region and southern Sudan, where tensions are still simmering four years after the end of a civil war with the north.

The Rizeigat and Misseriya have clashed in the past, in fighting often rooted in disputes over grazing land and access to water.

Clashes in recent years have been particularly fierce, fueled by bad blood over past killings and a ready supply of arms from other conflicts. A series of reconciliation conferences have failed to achieve lasting settlements.

"They were armed to the teeth, both the Misseriya and the Rizeigat. There were heavy losses on both sides over the past few days," said one senior member of the Misseriya tribe who asked not to be named.

"There were also deaths among the police who were also caught up in it all."

The government raised the political temperature in Southern Kordofan earlier this month by naming a new governor -- Ahmed Haroun, a divisive figure distrusted by local residents and wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

On taking up his new post, Haroun said one of his first priorities would be to arrange a reconciliation drive to end conflicts between all the region's warring communities. (editing by Tim Pearce)

International troops attack Yemeni boat near Sudan; 2 Killed

From Yemen Post by Yemen Post Staff, Tuesday, 25 May 2009:
International Troops Attack Yemeni Boat near Sudan; 2 Killed

Two Yemeni fishermen were killed and one was injured while the fate of a fourth one is still unknown after their boat came under an aggressive assault by one of the international naval ships patrolling the Red Sea near Sudan on Tuesday.

A source at the Coast Guard said Abdu Marwani and Muhammad Naj'e were killed immediately after their boat was totally destroyed by a missile which some suspect was an air strike.

Sources at Yemen's navy said it probably came from sea.

While the third fisherman made it to Sudanese coast and is now in critical condition.

The fishermen came from the Midy area, Hajjah before their boat was hit near Sudan's waters.

A coordinated investigation by Yemen and Sudan is underway to explore reasons for the attack.

Meanwhile, director of the Midy district Abdul Majeed Al-Himyari dismissed reports a Yemeni boat was attacked in Yemen's territorial waters, saying the incident took place while the boat was in Sudan's territorial waters.

He told the media the survivor is being investigated by Sudan.

Tuesday's attack comes in a series of attacks against Yemeni fishing boats by international forces patrolling the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Early this year, two Yemeni sailors were killed as their boats came under separate attacks by international troops in the Indian Ocean. Few others were hurt, with troops saying they suspected the boats were for pirates and then hit them.

And this month, the Interior Ministry said a Yemeni boat was provoked, with NATO's mission in the region intimidating its crew.

The area where the boat was hit on Tuesday is witnessing large fuel smuggling, with eyewitnesses affirming boats smuggle diesel to African Horn States daily.

Source: Yemen Post Newspaper.

Hat tip: Armies of Liberation - Yemeni Fishing Ship Blows Up in Sudanese Waters

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UPDATE 28 May 2009:

From Sahwa Net, Hodeida, 28 May 2009:
Maritime kills tow Yemeni fishermen

Two Yemeni fishermen were killed and another was seriously injured on Wednesday off Hodeida coasts as an explosion targeted their boat.

"The incident was occurred as a result of a maritime mine, according to early estimates" official sources told Sahwa Net.

"Abdu Ibrahim and Ahmed Ibrahim were killed, while Saeed Yousuf was seriously injured".

Military sources referred to the prospect of mine remains planted in the area by Eritrea as it attempted to occupy Honaish Island in the late 1990s.

ICC's chief prosecutor says Britain failing to make Bashir's arrest a priority

On reading the following report from The Guardian, I was struck by the thought that ICC Prosectuor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sounds like he is part of Save Darfur Coalition, onside with the rebels:

"Bashir must be stopped," he said. "The destiny of Bashir is to face justice – it's a matter of time. If China, the US, the UK and Europe acted together, we would stop him".

Why not be even handed and say the same of the insurgents? Surely Mr Moreno-Ocampo is aware of the encouragement that his statement gives them. His bias is so blatant one wonders if he has a vested interest in seeing Sudan's president being removed. How do we know that he and the insurgents are not in the pay of a giant oil company such as France's Total or US's ExxonMobil?

Here's hoping that the British government steers well clear of what the ICC, US and France are up to in Africa and stops African insurgents from entering and residing in the UK.

From The Guardian
By Afua Hirsch, legal affairs correspondent
Sunday 24 May 2009:
Britain failing to make Bashir's arrest a priority, says ICC's chief prosecutor

• Moreno-Ocampo singles out UK for criticism
• Sudan president 'commits crimes every day'



Photo: Chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, speaking at the Guardian Hay Festival (Martin Argles)

The UK's "complex agenda" is preventing it from doing more to ensure the arrest of the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the world's most powerful prosecutor said yesterday, claiming that Bashir "continues to commit crimes every day".

Speaking at the Hay literary festival, the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, below, singled out the UK as one of a number of permanent members of the UN security council that should show "unity and leadership" in taking a tough line on Sudan.

"Bashir must be stopped," he said. "The destiny of Bashir is to face justice – it's a matter of time. If China, the US, the UK and Europe acted together, we would stop him". But he added: "What's the advantage for UK to be tough with Sudan when they have so much else on the agenda?"

Moreno-Ocampo's comments come as opinion on the Sudanese president's indictment continues to be divided. The prosecutor called for his arrest in July last year, accusing Bashir of orchestrating a campaign of killings, rape and deportation in the western region of Darfur.

A number of African and Arab countries, as well as NGOs working in Darfur, have criticised the decision to indict Bashir, claiming it has jeopardised the Darfur peace process in Doha, Qatar.

The peace talks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days. US officials have travelled to China and plan to meet British, French and Russian diplomats to try to end the six-year war between the Arab government in Khartoum and ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.

A hybrid peacekeeping force was established in Darfur in July 2007 under a coalition between the UN and the African Union. With an estimated strength of 26,000 troops, it is expected to become the largest peacekeeping force in the world.

But critics, who say the peace process has been hampered by a lack of co-operation from the Sudanese government, claim that Moreno-Ocampo's decision to call for Bashir's arrest will further compromise the chances of peace in the region.

The comments are the latest development in a long-running series of controversies involving Moreno-Ocampo since he was appointed as the ICC chief prosecutor in 2003. Although respected by many for his record in prosecuting military generals in his native Argentina, he drew widespread criticism for his initial decision to request Bashir's arrest for the crime of genocide.

The charge was later dropped, leaving Bashir charged with counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. [...]

Moreno-Ocampo's talk at the Guardian-sponsored festival in Hay-on-Wye was the first time he had spoken in the UK in such open terms about his role as the world's first criminal prosecutor.

His interview, with international law expert Phillipe Sands, was one of a number of high profile political and legal discussions raising issues on civil liberties and freedom of speech.

Sources in the Foreign Office said they were surprised by Moreno-Ocampo's apparent criticism of UK foreign policy. The UK has supported the independence of the ICC and so far resisted calls by some African and Arab leaders for the warrant for Bashir's arrest to be deferred.

However Britain, along with other permanent UN security council members the US and France, has supported the current Doha peace process and is currently attempting to broker a deal between rebel leaders and the Sudanese government, with the possibility of deferring the indictment against Bashir. [...]

UNAMID say JEM repulsed at base

Peacekeepers say Darfur rebels repulsed at base
Mon May 25, 2009 KHARTOUM (Reuters) - excerpt:

Rebel fighters failed to capture a Sudanese army base in Darfur, International peacekeepers said Monday, contradicting earlier reports of an insurgent victory.

The joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force originally said raiders had overrun the army base in the settlement of Umm Baru, close to the Chadian border in north Darfur Sunday night.

But UNAMID Information Director Kemal Saiki said Monday the reports from peacekeepers there had been confused.

"They did make a push for it, but they did not overrun the post. Put it down to the fog of war," Saiki said.

Sudan's army spokesman Brigadier Uthman al-Agbash told state media that government soldiers had routed the rebel forces and 43 fighters from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) had been killed and 54 injured.

JEM said it attacked the base Sunday night and gave varying accounts of the fighting. Senior commander Suleiman Sandal insisted JEM was still largely in control of the town on Monday morning and had sent out units to confront an expected government counter-attack from the south and east.

JEM humanitarian chief Suleiman Jamous told Reuters the rebel forces had pulled out of the town after government planes started bombing the area.

"We wanted to save the people of Umm Baru from the bombing. We pulled out after we achieved what we set out to achieve, which was to attack the base and limit the soldiers' ability to harass civilians," Jamous said. [...]

KHARTOUM BOMB

A bomb was left outside a Khartoum office of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Monday but failed to explode, the former rebel group said.

The SPLM, which fought for two decades in southern Sudan against Khartoum's rule but is now a junior partner in the government, said the bomb was at an office where senior SPLM official Yasir Arman is based.

A pro-government paper recently called for the killing of Arman over comments he had made objecting to the application of Islamic sharia law to non-Muslims. The paper was briefly suspended from publication. [...]

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens; writing by Aziz El-Kaissouni and Alastair Sharp; editing by Robert Woodward)

- - -

Update from Reuters 25 May 2009:

Sudan's army spokesman Brigadier Uthman al-Agbash told state media that government soldiers had routed the rebel forces and 43 JEM fighters had been killed and 54 injured. He told the Sudanese Media Centre 20 of his soldiers had also been killed and 31 injured.

"The remnants of JEM's armed forces have fled to the Sudan- Chad border," he said. Khartoum accuses its neighbour Chad of backing JEM.

North Korea has carried out a nuclear test

North Korea has carried out a nuclear test. Barack Obama is threatening unspecified 'action'. The UN Security Council will meet later tonight.

Source: Channel 4 News Service Snowmail, UK, Monday, 25 May 2009.
- - -

See 25 May 2009 BBC News report Outrage over N Korea nuclear test and comments at Have Your Say
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Photo: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pays respect to his ancestors at the village temple in his birthplace, Haengchi village, in the Republic of Korea. (5 July 2008) From archives of North Korea Watch: Ban visits Republic of Korea for first time since taking helm at UN.

OIC ministers show solidarity with Khartoum

The weekend-long Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Damascus, which ended Monday, also offered recommendations Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

Source: UPI (DAMASCUS, Syria) 25 May 2009 - OIC ministers develop final statement - excerpt re Sudan:

The ministers, in the draft, showed solidarity with Khartoum against "aggressive plots targeting the sovereignty of Sudan" and criticized foreign interference in Sudan's affairs, including the International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes arising from fighting in Darfur, KUNA said.

Sudan Tribune up to no good ... again

After spending fifteen minutes looking for the source of the below copied report by Sudan Tribune I have given up. I cannot find a trace of Russian special envoy to Sudan Mikhail Margelov telling Novosti news agency that: “If the international community does not undertake firm and needed steps to prevent conflict, the already tense situation in the region threatens to create a disaster".

I challenge Sudan Tribune to clarify the source of the following report from London. If they don't, I am leaving the title of this post for all to see.

From Sudan Tribune, Saturday 23 May 2009:
Russia calls for international intervention in Sudan-Chad conflict

May 22, 2009 (LONDON) – The international community must intervene to defuse tensions between Sudan and Chad, a senior Russian official said.



Photo: Russian envoy Mikhail Margelov (AFP)

The Russian special envoy to Sudan Mikhail Margelov told Novosti news agency that the conflict between the two countries keeps escalating.

“If the international community does not undertake firm and needed steps to prevent conflict, the already tense situation in the region threatens to create a disaster” Margelov said.

He called on the international community to press both sides and hinted that the UN must also consider sending peacekeepers but did not elaborate.

Both oil producing nations have for years traded accusations of supporting rebel groups and providing them with bases to launch attacks.

Several regional efforts have helped broker reconciliation agreements as recent as this month in the Arab Gulf state of Qatar that have collapsed following rebel attacks from each side.

This month Chad said rebels coming from bases in Sudan launched attack inside its territory. Chad vowed to pursue the rebels inside Sudan.

Margelov said that Darfur region bordering Chad is under rebel control “without effective monitoring” from UN or international organizations. Furthermore he noted the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

He said that all these factors combined contributed to the deterioration of the situation in the region.

The dispute between both countries is largely seen as a spillover from the six year conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur that displaced millions across the borders. (ST)

China agreed to give Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Venezuela $49 billion in loans this year in exchange for oil supplies

China's PetroChina Co. briefly overtook Exxon Mobil Corp. as the world’s most valuable company after China’s stimulus plan caused a surge in the nation’s stocks this year.

China’s fuel demand is growing, while in Northern America and Europe demand is actually falling.

China agreed to give Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Venezuela $49 billion in loans this year in exchange for oil supplies.

PetroChina last month agreed to buy a 50 percent share in AO Mangistaumunaigas for as much as $1.4 billion after China agreed to lend $10 billion to Kazakhstan, the largest energy producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia.

China National Petroleum Corp., PetroChina’s parent, is the largest foreign developer of oil fields in Sudan.

The U.S. company Exxon Mobil Corp raked in $425 billion in sales last year, or $60.45 for every man, woman and child on the planet. Exxon’s 2008 profit of $45.22 billion was the most ever for a U.S. corporation, marking the fourth consecutive year of record- setting results.

Source: Bloomberg News report dated 25 May 2009:
PetroChina Matches Exxon as Most Valuable Company (Update1). To contact the reporters on this story: John Liu in Shanghai at jliu42@bloomberg.net; Joe Carroll in Chicago at Jliu42@bloomberg.net
- - -
See Sudan Watch, March 23, 2006: Harvard divests from stock held by HMC in China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corporation)

JEM takes Sudan army base in Umm Baru nr Chadian border in North Darfur

According to the following report from Reuters, it would appear that JEM, using mortars and heavy guns, have seized a Sudan army base in Umm Baru near the Chadian border in North Darfur. It is the second army base JEM has taken in the area in just over a week. The governor of North Darfur has accused Chad of sending troops to fight alongside JEM during the battle, which he said the Sudanese government forces won.

Note, the report highlights the fact that JEM seeks to control all of Darfur and neighboring Kordofan.



A BBC report yesterday [Raiders 'seize Sudan army base'] says the reported fall of the Umm Baru base comes as a fresh round of peace talks between Sudan and Jem is due to begin on Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.

Reuters report, 24 May 2009, by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum - excerpt:
Darfur fighters take Sudan army base: peacekeepers

Armed raiders using mortars and heavy guns seized a Sudanese army base near the Chad border in Darfur on Sunday, the second to have fallen in just over a week, international peacekeepers said.

The joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force said it could not confirm the identity of those who attacked the base at Umm Baru but suspected the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) that has been active in the area in recent months.

"Umm Baru was overrun. It has fallen," said UNAMID information director Kemal Saiki. "Our own base just a few kilometers away heard the heavy gunfire." Saiki said the attack started at around 4pm (1300 GMT) and ended around 8.30pm.

Any JEM involvement would heighten already deeply troubled relations between Sudan and Chad, as Khartoum accuses the N'Djamena government of backing the insurgent force.

It would also be the second army base JEM has taken in the area in just over a week, marking an escalation in the recent conflict.

There was no one immediately available to comment on the fighting from JEM or Sudan's armed forces.

Tensions have been building along Sudan's remote border with Chad for weeks.

The two oil producers have long accused one another of supporting each other's rebels. Chad earlier this month admitted bombing rebels inside Sudanese territory, while Khartoum says N'Djamena backs JEM, whose leaders have ethnic links with Chadian President Idriss Deby.

JEM said it seized a Sudanese army base at Kornoi, a settlement just 50 km (31 miles) west of Umm Baru, on May 16, along a road that runs toward a crossing point into Chad.

The governor of North Darfur later accused Chad of sending troops to fight alongside JEM during the battle, which he said the Sudanese government forces won.

There have been signs of JEM re-arming and re-grouping in North Darfur in recent weeks -- it fought former rebels aligned with Sudan's government around Umm Baru earlier this month.

JEM, which seeks to control all of Darfur and neighboring Kordofan, shocked many by attacking Khartoum in May 2008 before being stopped a few kilometers short of the presidential palace.

JEM commander Suleiman Sandal told Reuters earlier on Sunday that Sudanese government planes had been bombing around Kornoi and Umm Baru every day since his force's attack on Kornoi. [...]

In many places, fighting has descended into a free-for-all of tribal clashes and banditry.

Armed men stopped a vehicle carrying Nigerian peacekeepers near El Geneina, capital of west Darfur, on Saturday night, and stole their weapons, phones, radio and transport, the joint U.N./African Union force said. No one was injured in the attack.

The U.N.'s World Food Program said a contract driver was shot dead by suspected robbers in Al Deain in South Darfur on Tuesday. [...] (Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

- - -

Report from China View, 25 May 2009:
Sudanese army defeats attack of rebel militants in Darfur

KHARTOUM, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced that they had managed to defeat an attack launched by militants of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) at the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur on Sunday.

SAF spokesman Osman Mohammed al-Aghbash told the Sudanese Media Center that the army troops routed the attack at the Umm Baru areain North Darfur by a large military force of the rebel JEM backed by the Chadian army.

The spokesman added that the army troops caused the rebel group a heavy toll in lives and property, which were being accounted.

Meanwhile, the hybrid peacekeeping force of the United Nations and the African Union in Darfur said armed raiders using mortars and heavy guns seized a Sudanese army base at Umm Baru near the Chad border in Darfur on Sunday, the second to have fallen in just over a week.

Tensions have been building along Sudan's remote border with Chad for weeks, causing concerns of neighboring countries and other countries in the region.

JEM said it seized a Sudanese army base at Kornoi, a settlement just 50 km west of Umm Baru, on May 16, along a road that runs towards a crossing point into Chad. Editor: Mu Xuequan

Maps from Sudan Watch archives. Also, see:

Dec. 7, 2008: Sudan’s South Kordofan the next Darfur?

Nov. 21, 2006: PINR - Intelligence Brief: Rebels Advance on the Central African Republic. Copy:

Just in from Adam Wolf, editor for PINR's Africa region: PINR - Intelligence Brief: Rebels Advance on the Central African Republic. Excerpt:
"As long as the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region continues unresolved, Khartoum's lack of oversight in the area provides a rear base for both Chadian and C.A.R. insurgents that are seeking to gain control of their respective countries. More concerning, however, is the risk of a regional war should troops from either Chad or C.A.R. support attacks on Sudanese territory."

- - -

UPDATE Monday 25 May 2009:
Peacekeepers say Darfur rebels repulsed at base
Mon May 25, 2009 KHARTOUM (Reuters) - excerpt: Rebel fighters failed to capture a Sudanese army base in Darfur, International peacekeepers said Monday, contradicting earlier reports of an insurgent victory.

Darfur rebels accuse Sudan of daily bombing

SAF searching for rebels who took Kornoi, N. Darfur at weekend.

Some tweets by Rob Crilly:

First impressions of N'djamena: blimey it's hot
12:00 PM May 12th from txt

First impressions of N'djamena: gosh what a lot of chinese people
12:03 PM May 12th from txt

Riding through N'Djamena on a motorbike is like putting your face in front of a big hairdryer on, erm, hot
6:58 AM May 13th from web

Heading east for Abeche tomorrow
11:31 AM May 14th from web

Gotta go. Silly 6pm UN curfew
9:55 AM May 15th from web

#darfur Bedding down for 3rd nigjht with JEM rebels in "liberated" North Darfur
10:54 AM May 20th from web

#darfur Watched antonov bombing to the south yesterday and it was back again this evening bombing to the north. hasn't spotted us
10:57 AM May 20th from web

#darfur Sleeping under the stars beside an AK47 (not mine)
12:38 PM May 20th from web

#darfur Antonov back at 6 am. Have small idea of fear they can bring
10:29 PM May 20th from web

#darfur More bombing. SAF searching for rebels who took Koarnoui at weekend
4:18 AM May 21st from web

Dawn chorus of bombing resumes. 5 days #darfur
10:39 PM May 21st from web

Making dash for the border #darfur
4:08 AM May 22nd from web

Safely in Bahai. Looking for car #darfur
4:43 AM May 22nd from web

On road to Tine, bruce on safari soundtrack. Stop for prayers #darfur
12:54 PM May 22nd from web

Kipping in police chief's spare room #darfur
1:10 PM May 22nd from web

Safely back in Abeche after a road trip to forget.
about 3 hours ago from web

- - -

From Reuters Sunday, 24 May 2009 by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum - excerpt:
Darfur rebels accuse Sudan of daily bombing

Darfur rebels on Sunday accused Sudan's government of mounting daily bombing raids around their positions and said they were expecting another clash with state troops soon.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said it had faced regular raids since its rebel forces seized the strategic town of Kornoi last weekend in North Darfur, the scene of a recent surge in fighting and growing tensions with neighbour Chad.

U.N. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had received unconfirmed reports of aerial attacks in territory around the settlements of Tina, Kornoi and Umm Baru, all along a key road that leads northwest to a crossing point into Chad.

No one from Sudan's armed forces was immediately available to comment.

"There is a government Antonov over my head right now," said senior JEM commander Suleiman Sandal, speaking to Reuters by satellite phone on Sunday morning.

"They have been bombing every day. They bomb randomly. Yesterday we were bombed by Migs," he said. It was unclear how many casualties there were.

Sandal said his commanders had heard Sudanese government troops were heading towards them, from El Fasher, capital of North Darfur.

"More fighting is imminent. But we are ready for anything that comes," he said.

Air attacks in Darfur are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions and a series of failed ceasefires, but Khartoum has in the past reserved the right to attack JEM and other rebels who did not sign a 2006 Darfur peace deal.  [...] (Editing by Andrew Roche)

US envoy Scott Gration to visit China, Qatar, Britain and France on Darfur peace

US envoy to visit China, other nations on Darfur peace
From AFP, Friday, 22 May 2009 (WASHINGTON) - excerpt:

US special envoy Scott Gration is due over the next week to visit China, Qatar, Britain and France to revive efforts to bring peace to Sudan's western Darfur region, a US official said Friday.

"This is all an effort to align positions on the Darfur peace process under the leadership of United Nations-African Union joint chief mediator Djibril Bassole," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

"He leaves tomorrow (Saturday) May 23 and completes his travel June 1," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
He will meet with senior Chinese government officials in China and hold a meeting with his counterparts from China, Russia and Britain, France and the European Union in Doha, Qatar.

He will then travel to London for talks with senior British officials and reconvene the so-called Sudan diplomatic troika of the United States, Britain and Norway.

He will visit Paris to meet with senior French officials and try to encourage Sudan Liberation Army faction leader Abdul Wahid Mohammed Nur, who is exiled in France, to join the Darfur peace process. [...]

Is the Darfur bloodshed genocide? Opinions differ (Edmund Sanders)

The genocide label may have prolonged the Darfur conflict by raising the stakes and complicating peace talks, experts and diplomats say.



Photo: Muhajeria, in south Darfur, was razed in internecine rebel rivalry, one example of the complexities in the region. Critics of the genocide label says it inflames the situation and that the Khartoum government’s counterinsurgency, though brutal, didn’t intend to wipe out the Darfur tribes, but subdue them. (Photographer: Lynsey Addario/For The Times)

U.S. presidents and some activist groups have called the bloody campaign by the Sudanese Arab-led government and allied militias 'genocide.' But others doubt the violence fits the legal definition.

From Los Angeles Times
Is the Darfur bloodshed genocide? Opinions differ
By Edmund Sanders
May 4, 2009
Reporting from El Fasher, Sudan:

What if the conflict many call the "first genocide of the 21st century" weren't one at all?

In the United States, many see the six-year war in Darfur as a bloody campaign by a Sudanese Arab-dominated government against rebellious "African" tribes in western Sudan. Two consecutive American presidents and several activist groups have defined it as genocide.

But others, while acknowledging the severity of the violence, question whether it meets the legal definition of genocide. The United Nations determined in 2005 that the Sudanese government wasn't committing genocide in Darfur. Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders avoid the G-word too.

The International Criminal Court renewed the debate in March when it issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir. Judges said his counterinsurgency tactics in Darfur may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, but that there was no evidence of genocide.

The debate raises touchy and politically explosive questions: What constitutes genocide? Why does -- or doesn't -- Darfur fit the mold? Has the label helped, or hurt, the people of Darfur? And what does it matter anyway if what has occurred in Darfur is viewed as genocide rather than, say, war crimes or "ethnic cleansing"?

Most agree that it has mattered a lot.

When former U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell first described Darfur as a case of genocide in 2004, a $1-billion-a-year international aid effort quickly followed, elevating the crisis above other African conflicts, including those in Somalia and Congo, where the mortality rates in recent years have been higher and the displacement greater.

"The word 'genocide' has so much power," said Neha Erasmus, program coordinator for Justice Africa in London. "Darfur really took hold of the American psyche after it was called genocide."

But the global attention also brought heightened politics and at times led to resources being misdirected, aid workers say.

A misconception that hundreds of people are dying each day in Darfur has led many in the West to push for emergency security measures such as military intervention, U.N. peacekeepers and no-fly zones, and to overlook larger issues such as stalled peace talks and millions of people dependent on foreign aid, said Thierry Durand, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders.

"The magnitude of violence in Darfur has been huge, but it's not genocide," Durand said. "The situation on the ground has not been an emergency since 2004. The real problem is the dependency in the camps. But the whole thing has become over-politicized."

The genocide label also may have prolonged the conflict by raising the stakes and complicating peace talks, experts and diplomats say.

"Genocide puts a moral price on this that limits the room to maneuver," said one Western diplomat in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic. "How can you deal with a genocidal government? Can you compromise with evil?"

John Prendergast, a former Clinton administration advisor and founder of one of the advocacy groups that have lobbied the United States to declare the Darfur violence a genocide, said the "invocation of that word saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Absent that, it would have been harder to get this on the radar screen."

But he dismissed the is-it-or-isn't-it controversy as legal semantics. "Well-meaning scholars can disagree, but the debate is a crushing diversion from what we need to do to find a solution," he said.

It's a question now facing President Obama. As a candidate, Obama opposed attempts to normalize Sudanese relations, accusing the Bush administration of trying to reward a brutal regime.

As president, Obama is navigating that rhetoric as he searches for an end to the crisis. His ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, describes the situation in Darfur as an "ongoing genocide," but his new envoy to Sudan, J. Scott Gration, called the nation a "friend" and reopened the door to improved ties during a recent visit to Khartoum.

To many, such a policy sets a dangerous precedent. A determination of genocide should trigger immediate action to end the killing, including military intervention if necessary, legal experts say.

But after the U.S. described the Darfur bloodshed as genocide, its policy consisted of economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure.

"If this is the first genocide of the 21st century, why the heck are we talking about travel bans and asset freezes?" asked Alex De Waal, a noted Sudan expert and program director with the nonprofit Social Science Research Council. "Would you do that with Hitler?"

De Waal, who does not consider the campaign in Darfur genocide, said the U.S. stance has "diluted" the sense of international urgency that should accompany a finding of genocide.

So is what happened in Darfur genocide? The simplest legal definition is an attempt to annihilate, in whole or in part, a national, racial, ethnic or religious group.

No question that Darfur fits some of the criteria. About 35,000 people have been killed, according to the ICC, and at least 100,000 more have died from disease and starvation. The U.N. estimated last month that about 50 civilians still die each month in Darfur, down substantially from the thousands who died monthly in 2003 and 2004.

Most victims are from the Fur and Zaghawa tribes, both associated with rebels. Hundreds of their villages were burned by government troops and allied militias, known as janjaweed. Government officials and militia leaders have been quoted as referring to the tribes as "slaves" and "subhuman."

But the U.N. and ICC have raised doubts about "genocidal intent." Simply put, they question whether the government is trying to wipe out the tribes or if it instead wants to terrorize them into submission or chase them away, which doesn't necessarily constitute genocide.

"The crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned," the U.N.'s International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur concluded in 2005. "Rather, it would seem that those who planned and organized attacks on villages pursued the intent to drive the victims from their homes, primarily for purposes of counterinsurgency warfare."

Pose the genocide question to U.N. officials and aid workers here in Darfur, and you'll probably get an awkward smile and silence. Many fear being called genocide "deniers" or "apologists" for the Sudanese government.

Former special U.S. envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios was skewered by Darfur activists and U.S. lawmakers for suggesting in 2007 that the genocide was over. A new envoy was named by the end of the year.

Yet even in Darfur, there is disagreement.

"This isn't like the Nazis or Bosnia or Rwanda," said Abdalla Adam Khater, a Darfur analyst who lost 100 members of his extended family during an attack in 2003. "This isn't about hatred. It's more about power, money and land."

But Mohamed Salim Jadala, a human rights attorney in Darfur, contended that evidence of genocide would emerge only after the regime's fall. He said the act of labeling Darfur as genocide led government officials to conceal and curtail their actions.

"The government couldn't carry out the genocide because the international community took notice," he said. "But just because the government never had the chance to finish what it started doesn't mean it wasn't genocide or that they won't try again."

edmund.sanders@latimes.com

Hat tip: Save Darfur Accountability Project

ICC Haskanita: Send a message to these killer thugs

Here is an opinion piece from The Age by Rebecca Hamilton (who is in Australia, writing a book on Darfur, I think) May 23, 2009. Pity it wasn't authored by the rebel supporting Save Darfur Coalition who, in my view, are responsible for prolonging the Darfur war. The rebels won't give up on using violence to get what they want while they have Save Darfur Coalition onside.

Send a message to these killer thugs

Courts have a role in protecting the protectors in the world's trouble spots.

THIS week, Darfuri rebel commander Abu Garda made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. I watched as the charges of war crimes against African Union peacekeepers were read out to him.

The pristine courtroom felt more than just geographically distant from the dusty, crowded refugee camps I have visited on the Chad-Darfur border. But what took place in that room will reverberate, not only in Darfur, but across current and future peacekeeping missions worldwide.

The ICC judges found reasonable grounds to believe that Abu Garda is responsible for three counts of war crimes, based on his involvement in a September 2007 attack that left 12 peacekeepers dead and eight injured. Those numbers pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of Dafuri civilians who have died over the past six years of the conflict in Sudan's western region. 

Consequently, some will question the prosecution's decision to spend scarce resources investigating a crime with a relatively low number of direct victims. But the absolute numbers involved do not accurately reflect the severity of this type of crime or the breadth of damage it can cause.

On April 7, 1994 — the first day of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda — 10 Belgium peacekeepers were murdered. Their killers, the Interahamwe militia, who would go on to slaughter more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians in the following 100 days, calculated that killing 10 peacekeepers would be enough to scare off the rest of the peacekeeping mission. They were right. The murders precipitated the withdrawal of most of the remaining UN peacekeepers. The countries that deployed them did not want to risk further casualties in defence of a humanitarian mission.

Late last year the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda did — 14 years after the fact — find Rwandan colonel Theoneste Bagosora criminally responsible for the murder of the Belgian peacekeepers. But this charge of murder failed to recognise that it was not only the peacekeepers' lives that were lost. The UN withdrawal that followed the murders left the Interahamwe to carry out genocide virtually unimpeded, increasing the overall death toll relative to what it would have been if the peacekeepers had remained. Another charge is needed to account for such second-order effects, which occur whenever peacekeepers are attacked. The case against Abu Garda does just that.

The ICC is authorised to prosecute individuals for the crime of intentionally attacking the people or property involved in a peacekeeping mission. Abu Garda has been charged with this crime, in addition to a charge of violence to life for the murder of the peacekeepers, and a pillaging charge for the property stolen from the peacekeepers' base.

By prioritising this crime over the countless others that have been perpetrated in Darfur, the prosecution is sending a signal that would-be perpetrators of future attacks against peacekeepers will not miss. There is now a permanent international court with both the mandate, and the will, to hold individuals criminally responsible for the full impact of an attack on a peacekeeping mission.

No case will bring back the sons of Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mali, Botswana, Uganda or Ghana — each country has lost troops in their service to the peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Nor will it bring back the lives of Darfuris who have been killed while the peacekeepers sent to protect them were themselves under attack. But by pursuing this case, the ICC sends an important reminder to the world: to have any hope of protecting civilians, we must safeguard the rights of the peacekeepers we send to protect them.

Rebecca Hamilton is an Open Society Institute fellow. She has worked at the International Criminal Court and with displaced people in Sudan.

Chinese firm signs deal to explore gold in Gibait, Red Sea State, Sudan

From TradeInvest Africa (Cape Town) 22 May 2009 - via AllAfrica:
Sudan: Chinese Firm Signs Deal to Explore Gold

Chinese company Poly Technology in partnership with Sudanese firm Dan Fodio have won exploration licenses for gold in the Red Sea state.

They are expected to start work soon in the Gibait area, thought to be rich in minerals.

It is estimated 20 tonnes of gold exist in the area.

According to a report in the Sudan Tribune, Dan Fodio and Poly Technology are already partnering to explore iron in eastern Sudan.

Established in 1981 as a construction and trading company, the Dan Fodio Corporation comprises 32 companies involved in oil industry, dam construction and major agriculture schemes.

AU AL OIC Bashir meeting: OIC to construct 120 Darfur villages at US $485 million

This sounds interesting but does not explain when or where in Darfur the 120 villages will be constructed.

From Daily Trust by Uthman Abubakar, 22 May 2009 via AllAfrica:
Sudan: OIC to Build 120 Darfur Villages At U.S. $485 Million

The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) has announced plans to construct 120 villages in the battered Darfur region of Western Sudan at the cost of $485 million US Dollars.

The Secretary-General of the organization, Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, made the announcement through a joint statement issued by the leaders of the African Union (AU), the Arab League and the OIC after closed-door talks with President Omar Al-Bashir in Khartoum, Tuesday.

Dr. Jean Ping, AU Commission Chairman, Mr. Amr Moussa, Arab League Secretary-General, and Dr. Ihsanoglu were in Khartoum on a two-day visit on the invitation of President Al-Bashir in keeping with their commitment to coordinating efforts towards ending the 6-year-old Darfur crisis.

The OIC chief also said in the joint statement that the organization would hold a special meeting of its member-countries dedicated to the Darfur peace process and development. He did not say when the construction of the villages would commence.

During the meeting with President Al-Bashir and other Sudanese officials, the principles of the three organizations, according to the statement, discussed the political development, humanitarian and security situations in the 3-state war-wrecked region and the implication of the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant of arrest on Al-Bashir, among other crucial issues.

They reiterated their call on the rebel movements in Darfur to join the peace process, calling on the international community to exert pressure on the recalcitrant parties to drop their confrontational and hard-line stance and join the peace process for the common good of all.

Chadian gov't should start negotiations with Chadian rebels - Libya hopes to restore confidence between Sudan and Chad

"The Chadian government should start negotiations with the Chadian rebels, that should happen," the UN deputy secretary general Haile Menkerios told AFP on Saturday.

"The problems in Darfur, Chad and Sudan exist because of governance issues in the two countries," he said.

"At least in Sudan, there is a peace process. A similar approach should also happen in Chad between the government and the rebels."

From Sudan Tribune, Thursday 21 May 2009:
Libya hopes to restore confidence between Sudan and Chad

May 20, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – Libya hopes to ease the current tension between Sudan and Chad and restore confidence and relations between the two neighboring countries, a Libyan official said.

Libyan deputy foreign minister Ali Abdelsalam Al-Triki who is in charge with African affairs was yesterday in Khartoum where he delivered a message to the Sudanese President from the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi about the ongoing tension between Sudan and Chad.

"We spoke about plot which is targeting Sudan as part of the Arab nation," Al-Triki told the official SUNA after the meeting. He further added "Libya hopes it will be able to normalize the relations between Sudan and Chad and to remove the tension and mis-confidence between the two countries through their commitment to the principles of non intervention in the internal affairs of other countries and good neighborliness."

He also expressed hope to revive what was agreed between the two countries and find a mechanism to stop border incursions from both sides and not to harm bilateral relations.

The Chadian President Idriss Deby had slammed Libyan opposition to condemn Sudan over Chadian rebels’ attack on May 4. He also rejected African Union mediation in the conflict with Sudan. Libya is the current chairman of the regional body.

French Defense Minister Hervé Morin was in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, early this week to deliver a message from the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Gadhafi urging him to pursue his efforts to ease the current tension between Sudan and Chad.

In Paris, Bernard Kouchner told the French parliament on Wednesday that the French army didn’t intervene to support the Chadian troops to repel the rebel attack. He further stressed on the Sudanese responsibility saying the rebels attacked from the Sudan.

In Ndjamena, the President Deby once again accused Sudan of wanting to destroy Chad and recruiting "mercenaries" to accomplish this mission. He urged the press to not speak about rebels but Sudanese agents.

He made these statements in a show of trophies of war organized in the Independence Square in the capital where some 50 pick-up trucks bearing the logo of the rebel UFR were parked together with some weapons.

"Here is the proof that the Khartoum government is determined to destroy Chad by using mercenaries," Deby said.

Ndjamena show reminds a similar display of trophies organized by the Sudanese government in Omdurman after the attack of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement on Khartoum in May 2008.

Regional and international organizations without enthusiasm condemned the Chadian rebel attack earlier this month, but also some official voiced the need to exert efforts to settle the Chadian internal conflict as it is the case for Sudan.

"The Chadian government should start negotiations with the Chadian rebels, that should happen," the UN deputy secretary general Haile Menkerios told AFP on Saturday.

"The problems in Darfur, Chad and Sudan exist because of governance issues in the two countries," he said.

"At least in Sudan, there is a peace process. A similar approach should also happen in Chad between the government and the rebels." (ST)

Photo: Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi attends the opening of the African heads of State summit on February 2, 2009 in Addis Ababa. (Reuters/ST)

From Sudan Tribune, Tuesday, 19 May 2009 - excerpt:
France asks Libya to ease Sudan Chad tension

May 17, 2009 (PARIS) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy today urged the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi to pursue his efforts to ease the current tension between Sudan and Chad.

French Defense Minister Hervé Morin was in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, to deliver a message from President Sarkozy to his Libyan counterpart on a strategic partnership, the official JANA said.

"Sarkozy appealed to the (Libyan leader) to continue his efforts to overcome the tension in Sudan-Chad relations. Also France expressed satisfaction at the prospects for the resumption of negotiations between the government of Sudan and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)," the agency further reported.

Peace and good luck Col. Gaddafi.

France says Sudan was backing the Chadian rebels

Yesterday, according to Sudan Tribune report here below, France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner told the French parliament that Sudan was backing the Chadian rebels who clashed with government troops in eastern Chad earlier this month. The minister also said that the French troops based in the troubled country didn’t take part in the military operations.

From Sudan Tribune, Friday 22 May 2009:
French Prime Minister says Sudan is the key of Chad troubles

May 21, 2009 (YAOUNDE, Cameroon) – French Prime Minister said today that Sudan is responsible of political troubles in the neighboring Chad saying the solution of Ndjamena unrest lies in Khartoum.

"Everyone can see very well that the solution to the problems of Chad is not to be found in Chad," said Fillon during a discussion with students at the international relations institute in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.

"They are to be found in Sudan, they are to be found in the resolution of conflicts which affect Sudan and its neighbors," he further said.

Fillion was referring to the six year conflict in Darfur.

Yesterday the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner told the French parliament that Sudan was backing the Chadian rebels who clashed with government troops in eastern Chad earlier this month. The minister also said that the French troops based in the troubled country didn’t take part in the military operations.

Fillon echoed Kouchner statements saying French President Nicolas Sarkozy does not want to see French army playing a role in the Chadian internal affairs.

"That is the reason why these armed forces didn’t intervene during the crisis that has taken place in Chad," he said.

Paris which backs the government of President Idriss Deby asked Libya to intervene between the two neighboring countries. A Libyan minister was in Khartoum to propose a mediation plan. Unconfirmed reports say Sudan pledged to study the Libyan proposal while Tripoli is in trouble with Ndjamena which says accepting only UN solution.

Sudanese officials blame Paris for its unconditional support to Chadian government, saying it was even unable to dissuade President Deby to implement the signed previous agreement or to stop its support to Darfur rebels.

Also after three raids carried by the Chadian government inside the Sudan, Khartoum warned it will hit the Chadian army if it attacks once again the Sudanese territory. The UNAMID spoke in its daily briefing of Thursday about "tense" situation in the region.  (ST)

Population of South Sudan: 8.26 million?

Sudan's census figures showed a total population of 39.15 million, with 30.89 million or 79 percent living in the mainly Muslim north, and 8.26 million or 21 percent living in the predominantly Christian and animist south. Considering that the population of Darfur is estimated to be around 6 - 6.5 million, the census figure for the population of South Sudan seems rather low.

Southerners dismiss Sudan pre-poll census count
From Reuters Thu May 21, 2009 by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum:

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan on Thursday released the first detailed results of a census vital to elections due next year, but the figures were dismissed by former southern rebels who said the southerners' total was too low.

Any lengthy dispute over the census count risks delaying Sudan's first democratic election for more than 20 years, as well as a referendum on southern independence -- both centrepieces in a frayed north-south peace deal.

The census figures showed a total population of 39.15 million, with 30.89 million or 79 percent living in the mainly Muslim north, and 8.26 million or 21 percent living in the predominantly Christian and animist south.

The south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) accused northern politicians of manipulating the figures and under-counting the number of southerners both in the south and Khartoum.

The census figures will be used to define the constituencies for the election due in February 2010 before the referendum on southern independence scheduled for the following year.

The SPLM and smaller southern parties are currently allocated just over a third of the seats in Sudan's national parliament, under the terms of the peace agreement, a proportion which could shrink if it is accepted that southerners only make up 21 percent of the population.

Northern and southern Sudan fought each other for more than two decades in a civil war that was fuelled by a mixture of religion, ideology, oil and ethnicity.

'POLITICALLY MOTIVATED'

The conflict, separate from fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region that flared in 2003, ended in the 2005 peace deal which set up a north-south coalition government.

"We believe in many ways this census is politically motivated and designed," senior SPLM official Yasir Arman told Reuters in comments critical of the north's dominant National Congress Party (NCP).

"It is clear the only elections the NCP are ready for are unfair and unfree elections."

Arman said earlier counts had shown southerners made up a third of Sudan's total population, not the fifth recorded in Thursday's figures.

He said there was also a suspiciously sharp jump in the population of South Darfur state, part of northern Sudan, compared with earlier censuses.

Arman said Sudan would now have to find another, fairer way to work out the borders of constituencies and power-sharing between the two sides.

"We have to have a new voter registration. The constituencies should be divided according to the voter registration," he said.

No one was immediately available to comment from the NCP, led by Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The Director General of Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics Yasin Haj Abdin told reporters at the launch of the census he could not comment on how the results would be used politically. But he defended the accuracy of the figures.

"This census is much better than all the other censuses that have been conducted in Sudan the past. It is not advisable to compare these figures with figures from other censuses."

Even more detailed census findings, covering everything from housing to disability levels, would be released later in the year, he added.

One key area of the north-south agreement that the census figures will not impact is the sharing out of oil revenues between the north and the south. Southern Sudan gets half of the revenues from the oil drilled inside its territory under the terms of the CPA, and that share is not affected by the size of its population.

The census, carried out in April and May 2008, was hit by boycotts, demonstrations and lost questionnaires. More than 100 northern monitors were expelled from the south and Darfur rebels said they kidnapped 13 staff.

A Sudanese rebel leader manipulates the ICC - URF's Abu Garda could be hiding a political ambition to "outdo his opponents"

In an interview with Sudan Radio Service on Wednesday, Bahar Idris Abu Garda claimed that he has no connection with the Haskanita attack in which 12 African Union’s soldiers were killed in 2007. Bahar Abu Garda spoke to Sudan Radio Service from Tripoli, Libya, two days after the hearing at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. See full report here below.

A Sudanese rebel leader manipulates the ICC

The leader of the Sudanese rebel group, United Resistance Front (URF), Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, appeared for the first time on Monday before the International Criminal Court (ICC). He is suspected of war crimes; an attack against peacekeeping soldiers in Darfur two years ago (2007). According to Roland Marchal, a researcher at the Center for International Studies and Research (CERI), Bahar Idriss Abu Garda’s voluntary court appearance could very well be hiding a political ambition to "outdo his opponents."

From Afrik.com Wednesday 20 May 2009, by Stéphanie Plasse:

The leader of the United Resistance Front (URF) Monday appeared, of his own accord, before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The first case of this kind ever recorded by the international court. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda is suspected of looting and leading - with two other rebel leaders - an attack against African Union peacekeeping forces in Haskanita, located in northern Darfur, on September 29, 2007. But the rebel leader of the URF, a breakaway faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), denies any involvement.

A political play

According to Roland Marchal, a political specialist on Africa and researcher at the Center for International Studies and Research (CERI), the rebel leader’s attitude betrays a political ambition. "Bahar Idriss Abu Garda came for two reasons. First, because he has evidence and trusts he will be exonerated for the attack. Secondly, because he wants to outdo his political opponents, including Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), by accusing him. This is to get rid of somebody politically," he says. The URF leader honoured his court summons when he arrived Sunday in the Netherlands. On November 20 2008, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the ICC had issued arrest warrants — or court summons if they agreed to surrender — against three rebel leaders for their role in the Haskanita attacks which killed 12 people.

At his hearing Monday, the URF leader urged Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, to come and “face justice." But the researcher thinks he is trying to look good while “collaborating” with the International Criminal Court in a backdrop of total “indifference” from the head of state of his country, with respect to the arrest warrant issued against him in the month of March, 2009. According to his analysis, the ICC is, in this case scenario, a political tool. "It is not the fault of the Court if it is manipulated”. The “orchestration is almost inevitable” when justice is taken to a “politically unstable country”, said Roland Marchal. Since 2003, Darfur has been gripped by a civil war that has left 300 000 people dead and displaced about 2.7 million.

A first for the ICC

This voluntary appearance in court marks the first of its sort in the history of the ICC, at least under two circumstances. It is the first time that a Sudanese rebel leader appears before the Court. And it is also the first time that the ICC issues court summons and arrest warrants against persons who have killed peacekeeping soldiers. "Outside the political context, it is interesting to note that the Court protects and defends the peacekeepers who are there to ensure peace," says the researcher.

The President of the URF, Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, will have to wait for the judges’ decision, which will be made after the confirmation hearing on October 12, 2009. The drama continues…

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From Sudan Radio Service Wednesday, 20 May 2009 (Nairobi/Tripoli):

The leader of the Darfur anti-government group, the United Front for Resistance, who appeared before the ICC for alleged war crimes on Monday, says that he went to The Hague voluntarily because he is innocent.

In an interview with Sudan Radio Service on Wednesday, Bahar Idris Abu Garda claimed that he has no connection with the Haskanita attack in which 12 African Union’s soldiers were killed in 2007.

Sudan Radio Service producer Hussein Halfawi spoke to Abu Garda.

Hussein Halfawi: Mr. Abu Garda, would you tell us about your experience in The Hague and why you went there?

[Abu Garda]: “As we know after the Haskanita incident, there were media rumors from some parties, especially from the group of the JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim, accusing some people, including myself, saying that our movement is involved in what had happened in Haskanita. We have refuted that and condemned the incident. Later, I discovered that my name was among the suspects. Because we really believe in the principle of justice, we should face justice, we can not call for others to be tried because they have committed crimes, but when we are among the suspects we get scared or lose the strength to face justice. So according to our belief in the principle of justice, I went to The Hague and am ready to face justice and defend myself. I know that I’m absolutely not involved in the Haskanita incident, so I went to The Hague for this issue and I appeared before the court and I have come back now.”

Hussein Halfawi: Mr. Abu Garda, the JEM senior official, al-Tahir al-Fakie, told the BBC that they advised and convinced you to go to The Hague voluntarily, is that true?

[Abu Garda ]: “Al-Tahir al-Fakie is a liar, he announced before that we gave information to the ICC and said Bahar Abu Garda is among the people who had committed the Haskinita crime. He is a liar. I have no connection at all with JEM. Unfortunately, they always try to benefit from any opportunity they get to pursue their interest. It was a silly and cheap attempt from JEM to benefit from this incident. I want to assure you through Sudan Radio Service that I have no connection or relation with Khalil Ibrahim’s group.”

Hussein Halfawi: Mr. Abu Garda, GONU has described your move as a conspiracy between the ICC and the anti-government groups against the president, what is your response to this?

[Abu Garda ]: “You know Halfawi, our main problem in Sudan is that the Government of Sudan and many others believe only in the idea of conspiracy, and that it is what has led to the eruption of conflict and prolonged conflicts in Sudan. They just hang their problems on the excuses of “conspiracy, foreign interference and the forces that are against Sudan”. These are the slogans they always use, which conspiracy? Is it possible that I have told the ICC to accuse me, I conspire against myself? The fact is I have been accused, and I have to defend myself.”

Hussein Halfawi: Most people view the ICC as a court which inspires fear, how is it that you so easily presented yourself before the court and in the same way you came out? What’s the message behind that?

[Abu Garda ]: “My message is, to any one who has been accused, that accusation does not mean being guilty of a crime. I know myself very well that I have not committed any crime, so I have to defend myself. So, my message to them all is to do the same thing, if they are really confident that the have not committed crimes or even if they did, they should face this fact and face justice.”

Bahar Abu Garda spoke to Sudan Radio Service from Tripoli, Libya, two days after the hearing at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

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For the record, here is a copy (cached by Google) of a press release from ICC's website.

Press Release: 17.05.2009

Abu Garda arrived at the premises of the Court
ICC-CPI-20090517-PR413 عربي
Situation: Darfur, Sudan
Case: The Prosecutor v. Bahr Idriss Abu Garda

Abu Garda, suspected of having committed war crimes in Darfur Sudan, has voluntarily arrived in The Netherlands this afternoon in a commercial aircraft. After his arrival Abu Garda was notified by Court officials of the order to appear before the Pre-Trial Chamber I tomorrow at 3 p.m. Following a meeting with his legal counsel he was conducted to a location assigned by the Court for his stay in The Hague at 6.00 p.m.

The location that remains confidential is considered an extension of the Court’s premises. During his stay in the Netherlands Abu Garda has been ordered not to leave the premises of the Court without specific authorisation by the Chamber.

The Registrar of the Court, Mrs Silvana Arbia, welcomed his arrival: “The voluntary appearance of Abu Garda might serve to encourage other suspects currently at large to come before the Court to be heard with all guarantees of a fair trial”.

For the first time, the ICC Judges issued a summons to appear instead of an arrest warrant. The Judges of Pre Trial Chamber I were satisfied that Abu Garda will appear before the Court without the need to arrest him.

This complex operation would not have been possible without the cooperation of several States. “I am very grateful to the authorities of The Netherlands and other countries which have made possible this operation. Within the spirit of the Rome Statute, they have been continuously supportive to the work of the Court,” Mrs Arbia said.

Abu Garda, member of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan, is charged with three war crimes allegedly committed during an attack carried out on 29 September 2007 against the African Union Mission in Sudan, a peace-keeping mission stationed at the Military Group Site Haskanita, Umm Kadada locality, North Darfur. During this attack twelve AMIS soldiers were allegedly killed and eight others were severely wounded.

“Today our thoughts are with peacekeepers and other workers of humanitarian organisations who provide essential security and help to support millions of people in countries facing armed conflicts,” said the Registrar.

At the suspect’s initial appearance, Judge Cuno Tarfusser (Italy), acting as single judge will inform him of the crimes which he is alleged to have committed and of his rights. After the hearing, Abu Garda is free to leave the country. He will be required to return to The Netherlands to attend a confirmation of charges hearing before trial which will be held within a reasonable time to determine whether or not there are substantial grounds to believe that he committed the crimes charged.

For further information please contact Ms Sonia Robla, Head of Public Information and Documentation Section at +31 (0)70 515 8089 or +31 (0) 6 46 44 87 26 or at sonia.robla@icc-cpi.int

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Update: See Sudan Watch:

Monday, May 18, 2009 - Haskanita: Sudanese rebel leader Bahar Idriss Abu Garda appears at ICC

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - ICC charges URF Commander Bahar Idriss Abu Garda with murder, directing attacks and pillaging


Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - Sudanese and Chadian civilians getting away with murder and war crimes against peacekeepers

Southern Sudanese urged to go to work and to stop lounging around in the shade

From Sudan Radio Service Thursday, 21 May 2009 (Jonglei):

The director of a construction company is urging southern Sudanese to forget their differences and unite.

Leonard Dist spoke to Sudan Radio Service in Bor last week.

[Leonard Dist]: “If you do not know where you came from this morning, you do not know where you are going today. That means a lot. You understand there are so many ways to reason real. That’s why they have to realize where they came from. I always hear that your forefathers went through a lot to get to where you all are today and yet you want to have a challenge with your brother because he is not of the same culture or the same tribe? No!”

Dist urged people to go to work and to stop lounging around in the shade.

[Leonard Dist]: “The normal people, all they do is sit under trees and talk all day. What the **** they talk about I do not know. If you talk about doing something get up and go do it. They had all talked about it. You go do it. You get it done. They sit all day and talk about nothing.”

Leonard Dist was speaking angrily to Sudan Radio Service in Bor.

Japan is to build 17 bridges in Juba, S. Sudan

Japan has pledged to undertake a major engineering project in Juba.

From Sudan Radio Service Wednesday, 20 May 2009 (Khartoum):

In an interview with Sudan Radio Service in Khartoum on Tuesday, the Sudanese ambassador to Japan, His Excellency Stephen Wundu said the Japanese government has renewed its commitment to supporting development in Sudan.

[Stephen Wundu]: “Japan is to build seventeen bridges in Juba. The money has been approved and the contract has been signed and given out for building seventeen bridges in Juba.”

Ambassador Wundu said that Japan has shown itself to be deeply committed to supporting different aspects of Sudanese society.

[Stephen Wundu]: “The Japanese are not well-known for making false promises, they have made a commitment to support the DDR, they made a commitment to support the census and they made a commitment to support the democratization process and the elections. They have made a promise to support the referendum process. This information has been communicated to the Government of Sudan through the embassy and it has been passed on to the Government of southern Sudan.”

Ambassador Wundu also said the government and the people of Japan are also interested in other peace processes in the Sudan, such as the Doha initiative which is seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict in Darfur.

Sudan accuses France of being behind the recent Chadian attacks inside Sudan’s territory

The Minister of Information in GONU, Dr. Rabie Abdulaati told Sudan Radio Service that ”The Chadian government is being supported by certain countries, especially France. Chad is doing these things through France. There are foreign forces who are behind these accusations for the sake of realizing their agendas. I swear that the Chadian regime is just machinery used by the French government to do what ever it wants.”

From Sudan Radio Service Thursday, 21 May 2009 (N’Djamena):

The Chadian government says that their threat to conduct military operations inside Sudan’s territory come after confirmed reports that the Chadian anti-government groups backed by Sudan are preparing for another attack.

The Chadian Minister of Information, Mohamed Hussein, spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Thursday from N’Djamena.

[Mohamed Hussein]: ”The people who attacked Chad on 4th May, who are they and where did they came from? They are coming from Sudan, we are not just talking nonsense, they are present (the rebels) in Sudan and it is confirmed. Our first attack inside Sudan territory was successful. When our army returned, we informed the international community that our army came back to Chadian territory. On Sunday, our intelligence service intercepted a phone call between the rebels and the Sudanese army. They were saying that they got commands from the Sudanese authorities to regroup in eastern al-Geneina. According to this information, the Chadian Defense Minister threatened that if Sudan continues sending the rebels to attack Chad, we will not wait until they reach Chad, we will cross the border and scatter them inside Sudan, as Sudan is the one who has started first, not us.”

However the Government of National Unity has dismissed the allegations by Chadian officials, threatening to “crush” the Chadian army if they cross their border.

The advisor to the Minister of Information in GONU, Dr. Rabie Abdulaati, spoke to Sudan Radio Service from Khartoum.

[Rabie Abdulaati]: ”First of all, these are lies and baseless accusations, and have nothing to do with the reality. Sudan has never targeted Chad either through the opposition or by trespassing on Chadian territory. Sudan is capable of crushing the Chadian army and eliminating it. Otherwise Sudan wouldn’t have signed the Doha, Dakar and Libya declarations. Sudan see that there is no any comparison between it’s army and Chadian army, Chad is a very small country, so what the Chadian Minster of Information has said is baseless, Sudan does not need to conspire through phone calls, Chad knows it’s capacity and can't face Sudan in any case.”

Abdulaati went on to accuse France of being behind the recent Chadian attacks inside Sudan’s territory.

[Rabie Abdulaati]: ”The Chadian government is being supported by certain countries, especially France. Chad is doing these things through France. There are foreign forces who are behind these accusations for the sake of realizing their agendas. I swear that the Chadian regime is just machinery used by the French government to do what ever it wants.”

Since 2005, Chad and Sudan have often accused each other of supporting anti-government groups in their respective countries.