Q&A with Former ICC Prosecutor Christine Chung - The Reckoning: The Battle for the ICC

Note to self to re-read this, from The AM Law Litigation Daily
Q&A with Former ICC Prosecutor Christine Chung
By Ben Hallman, Friday, July 10, 2009

We tend to steer away from film recommendations here at the Litigation Daily, but a documentary about the International Criminal Court, airing on PBS on Tuesday, should be worth your while. "The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court" follows ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years as they issues arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, put Congolese warlords on trial, and charge Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. A central figure in the film is Christine Chung, an American lawyer who was one of the three first senior trial attorneys at the ICC. We caught up with her by phone on Friday afternoon at her office at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, where she has worked since leaving the ICC in 2007.

LIT DAILY: Hi Christine, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. How did you come to be one of the first trial attorneys at the ICC?

CHUNG: At the time when I was leaving [the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan], the chief prosecutor had just been elected. He was teaching at Harvard at the time. I had read about the court, but figured he was probably not so interested in having an American lawyer on board, given that the U.S. government was so opposed to the court at the time. I called him and asked if he would be interested in having someone with my background on his team, and he encouraged me to apply. I got hired in the first round, along with a British and a German lawyer.

LD: How did being a federal prosecutor experience prepare you for investigating cases for the ICC?

CHUNG: Maybe half way. The American prosecutorial system is very sophisticated, but [the ICC rules] were very different. I had to learn a whole new set of substantive and procedural rules. I had to learn a new governing text. The court itself was new. We often said it was like building an airplane and flying it at the same time. We had to hire translators, and hire investigators. It was a brick by brick process.

LD: What would you describe as your greatest personal triumph at the ICC?

CHUNG: For most of us it was getting the court up and running in what people perceive as a credible way. In part because of U.S. opposition, and other reasons, there was some belief that we would try and fail. Today, it's a viable institution.

LD: The best known action of the ICC was the indictment of Sudan leader Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges. What did that mean for the ICC?

CHUNG: Charging Bashir was two milestones. For one, the United Nations security counsel referred the case to the court, which is a real achievement in terms of credibility. Second, he was the first sitting head of state to be prosecuted by the court in connection with one of the worst crimes in the world.

LD: What did you want the filmmakers, and eventually the viewers, to understand about the work of the ICC?

CHUNG: We wanted them to understand how it works. We wanted them to understand the rules, the kinds of crimes the court will investigate and prosecute. We saw this as a vehicle to let the world know that the ICC is not just a concept, but is a reality.

LD: What do you think of the finished film?

CHUNG: It's amazing. They take a complicated legal story and convert it into a compelling narrative. The filmmakers call it a legal thriller, but it's a little more geeky than that. Lawyers, especially, find it fascinating. You're really watching the frontier of the law. You wonder as you are watching, will it work? You can see the thing shudder off the ground to lift off.

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court
Premiere Date: July 14, 2009
Click here to watch trailer now.

Synopsis

Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court (ICC) — the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur. Like a deft thriller, The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat. Will the prosecutor succeed? Will the world ensure that justice prevails? An Official Selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Read the full Film Description

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court is an epic, nail-biting account of the new International Criminal Court's struggle to prosecute perpetrators — however powerful or concealed they may be — of crimes against humanity as the Court fights to establish its own credibility on the world stage. The film shows the lead-up to the court's most recent and sensational action, the indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on March 4, 2009, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Established by treaty in 2002 in response to the mass atrocities that stained the late 20th century, the International Criminal Court (known as the ICC) is the first permanent international criminal court created to seek justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the Court, given a historic mandate by its founding 100-plus nations, was not given a police force or other enforcement arm. Moreover, the ICC faces major obstacles in pursuing its mission from nations that did not join the treaty.

The Reckoning's history of the ICC's founding will be as valuable to those familiar with the story as to those new to it. But the film's central drama concerns events that occurred after 2002. For three years, the filmmakers followed chief ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team of investigators and prosecutors across four continents as they issued arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, put an infamous Congolese warlord on trial, shook up the Colombian justice system and charged Sudan's al-Bashir with crimes against humanity. At every turn, Moreno-Ocampo and crew faced danger, hostility and resistance. The larger drama in The Reckoning is the fate of the ICC itself. Will this tiny court in The Hague succeed against the odds in forging a new paradigm for human rights and justice in the world?

Interested in screening The Reckoning in your community?

Just sign up in our Community Network, fill out an application and POV will send you a copy of the film and a discussion guide. After your screening, all you have to do is tell us how it went and send back the DVD.

The Reckoning has a mythological opening. A man holding a human skull in a lonely field offers perhaps the most eloquent argument for the ICC. "Without justice," he says, "people have no respect for each other. If this is left unpunished, it will be repeated." He is speaking of the more than 5 million people killed in the wars that have torn eastern Congo apart since 1998. But he might as well have been speaking for the victims of mass murder in Guatemala (200,000), Cambodia (1.7 million), East Timor (200,000), Sierra Leone (50,000), Bosnia (200,000) and Rwanda (800,000), to name only the most notorious cases. It was the horror of these events — and the prospect of more occurring — that brought the world's nations together at the 1998 Rome Conference and set in motion the negotiations that would lead to the ICC's establishment in 2002.

The Reckoning shows that the idea for the Court goes back further, to the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders following World War II, which the United States was the leader in establishing. This connection is uniquely expressed in the film by Ben Ferencz, who, as a 27-year-old lawyer, prosecuted 22 German officers at Nuremberg for murdering over a million people; all were convicted and 13 were sentenced to death. Ferencz never forgot the horror of the Nazi death camps and became a writer on world peace and a tireless campaigner for a permanent tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity. He recalls the significance of Nuremberg: that the Allies sought justice through rule of law, establishing that no one was above the law and that not only was the killing of civilians a war crime, but the murder of people on the basis of their race, creed or class — genocide — was a crime of the greatest magnitude. Ferencz was there at The Hague on June 16, 2003, when Moreno-Ocampo was sworn in as the first Prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court.

Moreno-Ocampo himself brings unique experience and moral authority to the ICC — and an acute awareness of its historical roots. In 1985, a younger Moreno-Ocampo successfully prosecuted members of the Argentine military junta that, from 1976 to 1983, conducted a "dirty war" of murder, "disappearances" and torture against its political opponents. "It was the first trial of generals since Nuremberg," Moreno-Ocampo notes. Later, as district attorney for the Federal Circuit of the City of Buenos Aires from 1987 to 1992, he prosecuted the military commanders responsible for the Falklands War, the leaders of two military rebellions and dozens of high-profile corruption cases.

Moreno-Ocampo's team includes such savvy lawyers and investigators as former U.S. federal prosecutor Christine Chung, the ICC's first senior trial attorney, who has been a visiting lecturer and senior fellow at the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. She is now a partner at the law firm Quinn Emanuel. Well aware of the obstacles facing the ICC, she describes the Court as a "justice start-up."

Three great powers — China, Russia and the United States — are not members of the Court. The United States actively opposed the Court during the George W. Bush administration. In The Reckoning, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton explains his rationale for the American campaign against it. He doesn't ever want to contemplate U.S. leaders in an international dock. For Bolton, national sovereignty cannot be compromised. For its part, China opposes the ICC arrest warrant indicting Sudanese President al-Bashir, and Russia remains skeptical about it.

The ICC's job, as a court of "last resort," is to support and push national judiciaries to investigate and prosecute alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Only when a country's justice system proves completely incapable of dealing with such crimes, and only when asked, does the ICC step in directly — and then gingerly. Where international justice conflicts with national sovereignty, the ICC must employ both clarity of purpose and political diplomacy.

Thus, in Colombia, where officials "at the highest levels" have been implicated in the political violence ravaging the country, the Court throws its prestige and resources behind Colombian prosecutors who are fighting to investigate the allegations in the face of political opposition. In Congo, by contrast, the Congolese government has asked the ICC to intervene because chaos prevents any credible judicial process. So the ICC investigates and issues its own arrest warrant for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a notorious militia leader, for abducting children to serve as his child soldiers. To serve its warrant in Congo, the ICC must rely on local allies, in this case the government — making Dyilo the first war criminal brought to trial at the ICC's headquarters in The Hague.

The Sudan/Darfur case was referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council. Since many around the world see Darfur as a clear case of genocide by the Sudanese government against indigenous Darfurians, the government's open defiance of the ICC's warrant for al-Bashir forces the ICC to return to the U.N. Security Council itself to get the international community to bring pressure to arrest al-Bashir. At that point, the clarity provided by law and the U.N. is caught up in murky realpolitik.

In the case of Uganda, an even more difficult contradiction threatens to derail the ICC's work. The government of Uganda asked the ICC to investigate and bring the leaders of a rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), to justice. After 50 investigative missions documenting some 2,200 murders, the ICC prepares to bring warrants when the LRA leaders, clearly worried, try to turn the situation on its head. They come in from the bush, offering negotiations and a new era of peace and stability — but only if the ICC warrants are lifted. After so many years of war and death, even surviving victims of the LRA's worst atrocities find it all but impossible not to take the bait.

ICC prosecutors go on a campaign to convince Ugandans that, in the long run, there will be no peace or stability if the LRA leaders are allowed to get away with their crimes. Ultimately, whether speaking to the august ambassadors of state at the U.N. or to maimed villagers in Uganda, the ICC holds fast to the simple principle spoken by that Congolese man in the field: "Without justice, people have no respect for each other."

Nothing less than a real-life thriller, The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat with two riveting dramas — the prosecution of three cases of unspeakable crimes against humanity and the ICC's fight for its own survival and effectiveness. Senior Trial Attorney Chung reveals the stakes that still hang in the balance when she wonders if the ICC will emerge as an effective institution for justice or simply a symbolic one, a "shadow" of what it was meant to be.

"I started out thinking that The Reckoning would be about the ICC's cases and trials, like any good crime thriller," says director Pamela Yates. "I quickly realized I had to expand the film's vision to include the far-reaching effects the ICC was having at the local level, with the tremendous amount of controversy as well as hope that its investigations were causing. The Court itself became the protagonist of The Reckoning, and all the cinematic elements were developed in realizing this idea."

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court is a production of Skylight Pictures. Visit the filmmakers' site, IJCentral* if you want to support the international justice movement and join in their action campaigns.

Posted on June 8, 2009 Updated on July 10, 2009

*About Us
Skylight Pictures and the International Center for Transitional Justice Productions (ICTJP) are producing a 3-year campaign to build a global grassroots movement to support an effective international justice system, with IJCentral at its core. By joining the IJCentral global community, you will be kept informed about developments with the ICC and other international justice cases, and your voice will be heard by our leaders and policy makers, letting them know that we want perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide to be held to account.
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The AU Panel Hears Controversies Over Land

From Making Sense of Darfur
By Alex de Waal, Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
The AU Panel Hears Controversies Over Land

The AU Panel hearings witnessed some heated exchanges on the land issue including divergent interpretations of the traditional hakura system. One of these was in Zalingei.

Dimingawi Fadul Seisi Mohamed Ateem, the most senior Fur chief in the historic province of Dar Diima, now known as the eastern localities of West Darfur State, spoke at length to the Panel. “We are Darfurians, we are true Africans.” He provided a history of how the war began in the late 1980s, and in many ways the discussions that followed showed how the conflict of twenty years ago was still unfinished business in the heartland of the Fur.

“The civil war started in Chad and led to the displacement of citizens to my area. They came and never returned back home. Our customs and traditions are different from theirs, our values are different. The political parties did not all care about the misery of individuals, they were just addressing the political aspect, and ignoring the citizens.”

“I represent all the eastern localities [of West Darfur]. I have been through it all. We sat and made agreements. I have a book, full of agreements, from 1989 onwards. I have all these agreements in writing. But they have come to nothing on account of those who are carrying weapons. Many of those who are carrying weapons are from Chad. The Janjawiid are paramount, they are beyond the law. We need to hold everyone accountable.”

An Arab Omda, Daud Dahab Abdu (from Nyertete) responded to the Dimangawi, and also to Shartai Ahmed Bakheit, who had presented the consolidated recommendations of the Native Administration, and spoken about how 600 Chadian Arab families had settled in his locality. Omda Daud said:

“The tribal wars began in the 1980s, all localities, Arab and Fur. The reason was that some began to claim that the nomads are not Sudanese. History tells us that all the tribes in Darfur are original and native, known from history from the time that the Arabs came to Sudan. When the war erupted in the 1980s, reconciliation was achieved in 1991. Then came the [SPLA] invasion of Daud Bolad and Abdel Aziz al Hilu…”

He had a different version of the history of the last twenty years. When he began to recount it, there was an outcry from the assembled chiefs, who encouraged him to go straight to his major points.

“With all due respect to the Shartay and the Dimangawi… On the issue of settlement, war led to a lot of displacement, a lot of movement of people from one place to another. Some people found empty lands and started using them and farming them. It doesn’t mean they are claiming ownership. We can all go back to our lands. This is not a crucial issue, it can be resolved. The concern for us is the conflict between the government and the armed movements, what is our role in that?”

After speaking, returning to his seat, Omda Daud made a point of stopping to greet the Dimangawi warmly, shaking him by the hand.

In several hearings, President Thabo Mbeki asked participants whether there was a problem with the hakura system of land tenure. The answers revealed differing interpretations of what the hakura system actually meant, and whether it should be reinstated, adapted, or even abolished. Some noted the importance of balancing citizenship rights with customary land rights. Others noted that a hakura is not, historically speaking, a tribal land grant, but rather a neighbourhood in which rights need not be granted on a tribal basis. In some cases, the issue was not so much the hakura system per se, but disputes over who has entitled to control which piece of land. Part of the disagreement arose because historically the hakura system was not monolithic, with different practices prevailing in different places. The interpretation of hakura as “tribal land ownership” is a recent re-invention of tradition. But arguments over historical interpretation should not obscure the massive violation of rights that has taken place with the forced displacement of millions of people from their villages.

The issue of land rights and citizenship interact in important ways. In the al Fashir hearings, Hassan Abdel Aziz of the Arab Coordination Council said “We shouldn’t be categorized as a part of society that is different. Don’t classify us as a segment that is not part of society.” That same day, Adam Mahmud, Omda of Salaam camp al Fashir, did not dispute the Arabs’ citizenship, but argued that recovering alienated land was an essential step: “We are in a prison, ten by ten [blocks], while others are living on our lands.”

Several nomad representatives made the point that historically, the nomadic communities had been disadvantaged, including under-representation on voting rolls. Some raised concerns about the implicit xenophobia that crept into some discussions on land. For example, Yousif Ismail Abdalla, of the Masar Organization (which provides services for nomads) spoke in the Khartoum civil society hearing, “Many tribes are nomads, and have different problems to those who are settled. Also those who are moving across borders to Chad and Central African Republic, they should have the same rights.” The issue of removing settlers who originated outside Sudan was raised—but no-one spoke on behalf of those settlers and their rights.

In the Geneina hearings, the issue of land alienation and occupation was particularly salient. Two inter-related issues arose: the alleged preferential award of citizenship to new settlers and the forced removal from land. One IDP said: “If I go to the Ministry of Interior to get an IDP card, I can’t get a document even with witnesses, but someone from Niger can come and get one even without.” And another spoke: “Some tribes are above the law, they behave like government. For us to be equal, justice must prevail.” The point about forced removal was emphasized by one IDP who said that the name of his former village had been changed and the trees that had previously been the boundary markers had been cut down, so the place could not be recognized. The IDPs had a practical suggestion: “We look forward to a mechanism to come to the IDP community to look into our claims and address our issues in an independent manner.” They said that they had all the evidence for land occupation, but a neutral body was needed to investigate and establish the facts.

In the final press conference before leaving Sudan, Pres. Mbeki outlined some steps that could be done immediately, without waiting for any agreement. Among them was a joint investigation by UNAMID and the government, with the involvement of IDPs, into the threats to IDP security, both in camps and on their return home. Examining the extent and nature of land occupation is part of this agenda.

ICC Film Receives Top Billing at Festival - Enough Project Speaks with Court’s Deputy Prosecutor

Pamela Yates’ documentary The Reckoning features the determined and thoughtful Luis Moreno-Ocampo, charged with prosecuting the world’s most vilified politicians – he talks with the Insider about genocide and the role film can play in fighting large-scale injustice.

“We don’t need to act alone. We talk now about ‘my neighborhood,’ ‘my city,’ ‘my country,’ and ‘my world’ — we are global citizens in a global system, and something like filmmaking becomes something lots of people can do.” 
– Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court

From Sundance Institute posted by Holly Willis on Jan 18, 2009:
Opinion: International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on How Images Can Combat Massive Injustice

Luis Moreno-Ocampo serves as the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor. Founded in 2002, the ICC is responsible for investigating crimes against humanity, and issuing warrants for the arrest of perpetrators, no matter their status as national leaders. Investigations have centered on crimes in northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic, and most recently in Darfur, with a series of arrest warrants issued and trials conducted. Director Pamela Yates followed Ocampo for three years for her documentary The Reckoning, which tells the story of the Court’s attempts to gain legitimacy and build an international coalition to support the idea of international law. The Insider talked to Moreno-Ocampo just before the Festival began.

Insider: Film can be a powerful tool for advocacy — from your experience with Pamela Yates and The Reckoning, what role do you think cinema can play to further the goals of the Court?

Moreno-Ocampo: Normally, the community determines laws and appoints someone to defend them. Here we have the law, but my work is to create the global community, and I need to inform that community, so images become an important tool. We all know that images and videos and pictures change the behavior of people. The Crimean War (1853-56) was the first war when pictures were printed by a newspaper in London. Ever since then, we’ve had the pictures in the paper, and this has an impact on how people understand wars. Basically as a prosecutor, I have to serve a community, and as a global prosecutor, I need to serve a global community, and I need a global tool to do that. Video is that tool.

Insider: The Court seems to take this idea very seriously — the ICC Web site streams video of the public hearings. How significant is this aspect of the ICC’s efforts?

Moreno-Ocampo: Trials are a ritual to show respect for the victims, the laws, and even the accused, the defendants. It’s teaching respect. So to have these videos is a first step. But it’s not enough. We need also a festival like Sundance. We need films like The Reckoning. Basically, we need other vehicles. These are all efforts to explain what we do. Distance in time and space reduce our moral abilities, so when my neighbor is killed, it is a disaster. But 20 people killed in the Congo means nothing to me. But The Reckoning connects these times and distances. It is allowing any audience to become involved in these wars. That is the magic of this film.

Insider: One of the challenges facing the ICC is the attempt to work in a global context among nations that are not yet fully willing or able to be global. Can you talk about the ICC’s design with respect to the notion of a “global community” and the tensions between the national and the global with respect to the ICC’s efforts?

Moreno-Ocampo: That for me is so interesting because we are living in the global world now. One in five people in the world has a cell phone that can be connected to the Internet with images, so the judicial system we have today, which was born before TV and the Internet, which was born in the age of the telegraph, has to adjust. This idea to have a global legal system is a 21st century idea, and the ICC is a very important first step.

Insider: This “first step” has been very successful in its first seven years. However, the concluding line of the film is a question asked by the Court’s Senior Trial Attorney Christine Chung in regard to the future of the ICC: “What are we going to do in the next 20 years to make it the court that everybody wanted it to be and not some pale shadow of what it’s supposed to be?” Do you have an answer for this question?

Moreno-Ocampo: My role is to select the cases well, investigate them, and win those cases in court. But we need to spread these ideas. In my first years I saw so much change so fast, so in 20 years I know we will be incredibly important — but we depend on people like you, and on festivals like Sundance doing these kind of exhibitions.

Insider: This raises a question about our responsibilities as viewers. You concluded a recent presentation by citing the example of Raphael Lemkin, who battled genocide (a term he invented) beginning in the 1930s. You said, “Even one person without official functions can contribute meaningfully to ending the crimes.” What might be the responsibilities of people after viewing The Reckoning?

Moreno-Ocampo: This really depends on where you are — Sundance this year, for example, has a selection of very strong documentaries; this is incredibly important. For Raphael Lemkin, however, his ambition was to create a way to end genocide. The mission is so big, so huge, but he wouldn’t stop, and that for me is such a great example. He did something great and he was alone. But now we have these other resources, and we don’t need to act alone. We talk now about “my neighborhood,” “my city,” “my country,” and “my world” — we are global citizens in a global system, and something like filmmaking becomes something lots of people can do. I see my kids — they bond globally. They understand it. We have to work to further that.

Insider: What else is the Court doing specifically to support 21st century communication and the notion of global citizenship?

Moreno-Ocampo: Well, we are still learning. I think the Sundance Film Festival and The Reckoning are a big test for how it’s working. And the timing of the screening is so important. The film will screen before an audience in January. In February, the court will issue another warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and we need global citizens to urge governments to support this warrant. So the exhibition of the film is the perfect timing — Sundance can reach people in the world, and these people could make a difference in stopping the first genocide in the 21st century.

- - -

From International Justice Central, 01 July 2009:
ICC Film Receives Top Billing at Festival, Enough Speaks with Court’s Deputy Prosecutor
Posted by Laura Heaton on Jul 1, 2009 from EnoughProject.org

The two-week run of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival wrapped up last weekend in New York, having highlighted an impressive array of documentaries from around the world. The film ‘The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court’ and its team of filmmakers received special recognition on opening night as the featured documentary. Recognizable personalities from the film attended the opening screening as well, including the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda, former ICC prosecutor Christine Chung, and former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz.

The Reckoning retraces the first three years of the Court, following ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo across four continents as he and his team investigate cases of mass atrocities and issue arrest warrants for individuals alleged to be responsible for orchestrating war crimes. As the film chronicles, this work takes them from the bush in eastern Congo and northern Uganda, to the Security Council at U.N. headquarters, to meetings with justice officials in Colombia, and back to the ICC’s permanent home in The Hague, Netherlands, where all the pieces come together.

After the screening of The Reckoning, I had a chance to speak with the Court’s deputy prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. Ms. Bensouda has a long-standing involvement in justice systems on both the national level in her native Gambia and internationally as a delegate to the 1998 Rome conference that established the ICC and as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She has held the post of deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since 2004.

Here are some highlights from our conversation that took on the sidelines of the international film festival.

Mark your calendar for a public screening of The Reckoning on July 14 at 10p.m. as part of PBS’s P.O.V. documentary series.

The public screening will be part of a massive advocacy effort directed by the filmmakers to raise awareness about the International Criminal Court and compel the Obama administration to “Support the Court.” To learn more about these plans, check out ijcentral.org.

N.B.: Maggie Fick and I recently interviewed Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis, director and producer of the film. If you haven’t watched the video of the conversation, have a look here.

S. Sudan: Salva Kiir visits Abyei

From Sudan Radio Service, Friday, 10 July 2009:
Salva Kiir Visits Abyei

(Abyei) – The President of the Government of southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, says secession that brings peace is better than unity that returns the country to war.

Addressing a mass rally in Abyei on Thursday, Salva Kiir explained why the people of southern Sudan should be allowed to have a referendum in 2011 in order to determine their destiny.

[Salva Kiir]: “When people hear that southern Sudanese will go for a referendum, some people would say, "No, let them not be allowed to go for referendum because they would vote for secession." This is a wrong concept. Even if southerners live in a united Sudan and the war does not stop, such unity would be useless. Unity will be useful when people live in peace. If the secession of southern Sudan will bring peace in Sudan, it is better that we let them go for referendum and we see what they will do. 

We are ready for unity. When we founded the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in 1983, we said we wanted to fight the government in Khartoum and chase them away so that we could establish a country called the New Sudan of Justice and Equality. 

Southern separatists who were with us escaped from us and attacked us and argued why should southerners go to fight in order to liberate the whole of Sudan? Let us just liberate our southern Sudan and leave it at that. We told them even in northern Sudan there are our people – the Nuba and those of Malik Agar (from Blue Nile State] who spoke here before, the people of Darfur and those in the far north, we would like to tell them that these are all our people. If we cut off southern Sudan, we would have left many of our people out there.”

Salva Kiir urged the Dinka Ngok and the Arab Misseriya to live peacefully in the area and maintain their unity.

He reiterated the commitment of the National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and he promised that the two partners will to bring peace to Darfur.

Salva Kiir promised to launch an extensive construction and development plan for Abyei.

[Salva Kiir]: “Despite all the destruction that occurred in Abyei, we wish to embark on construction and development in the area. The Unity Support Fund is there and they have already a master plan in order to come to Abyei and start developmental work here. They will provide roads, electricity and running water in the area and after that the office of the administration and the residence of the administration. Then they will renovate the hospital and construct an airport and they will renovate primary and secondary schools. I would like to add that we will build an elementary school in the name of the late Lino Wor Abyei and also there will be a secondary school in the name of Doctor John Garang de Mabior here in Abyei. We will construct the mausoleum of Chief Deng Majok, it should be well constructed so that it is tall so that when people come to the area they will visit it and see that this was the person who founded this area and ruled this area."

Salva Kiir also visited the mausoleum of the late Sheik of the Misseriyas, Babo Nimir, and promised to construct a dome or "guba" on the mausoleum in Muglad.

The GOSS President also donated 100,000 SDP for the construction of the Abyei Chiefs’ Council Hall and 50,000 SDP to the widows and children of the martyrs of the May clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Abyei last year. He also donated 50,000 SDP to war veterans in Abyei.

For further reports, click on Abyei label here below.

Reuters Handbook of Journalism - The 10 Absolutes of Reuters Journalism

The 10 Absolutes of Reuters Journalism

Always hold accuracy sacrosanct
Always correct an error openly
Always strive for balance and freedom from bias
Always reveal a conflict of interest to a manager
Always respect privileged information
Always protect their sources from the authorities
Always guard against putting their opinion in a news story
Never fabricate or plagiarise
Never alter a still or moving image beyond the requirements of normal image enhancement
Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe

Source: Reuters Handbook of Journalism

Egypt attempts to unite Darfur factions plus SLM's Al-Nur

From Sudan Radio Service, Friday, 10 July 2009:
Egypt Attempts To Unite Darfur Factions

(Cairo) – The Egyptian government has invited a number of Darfur anti-government groups to Cairo in an attempt to encourage them to join the negotiations with the Sudanese government.

This comes after the failed negotiations between the Government of National Unity and the Justice and Equality Movement in the capital of Qatar, Doha.

The leader of a Darfur anti-government group, the United Resistance Front, Bahar Idriss Abu Garda spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Friday in Cairo

[Bahar Idriss Abu Garda]: “The only difference we have now is the issue of Darfur. All the other issues and factors have been agreed, with the exception of two factors that caused the negotiations to collapse. There is disagreement between the movements and a lack of real unity. In addition to that, the Sudanese government is the issue. They refuse the peace process unless they have unity”.

Egyptian sources say that they have contacted Abdul Wahid Nour, from the Sudan Liberation Movement, and they are hoping to convince him to participate in the negotiations.

The leaders of anti-government groups in Darfur are expected to meet with the Egyptian Intelligence Minister, Omar Suleiman, the Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit and the Arab League Secretary General, Amr Moussa.

Ugandan gov't defends AU position on Bashir ICC indictment

From Uganda Pulse, Friday, 10 July 2009:
Uganda Government News: Uganda defends AU position on Bashir ICC indictment
By Zacharia Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media

The government has defended the position taken by the Assembly of African Heads of States and governments in Sirte, Libya that no African country in the African Union should assist the International Criminal Court in the arrest of Sudan President, Omar El Bashir whom ICC has indicted for several offences.

This comes amidst mixed reactions over the decision African Union leaders made on the indictment of Bashir and follows earlier mixed reactions over ICC’s decision to indict Bashir when he is still a serving president of Sudan.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kuteesa has told journalists in Kampala that the decision African leaders made has been viewed by many people as a manifestation of lack of respect and support for the ICC Rome Statute by African leaders.

Kuteesa however says what the African countries want is for the ICC to defer the indictment of Bashir for 12 months like the African Union requested in February 2009.

He says this is to allow African countries to investigate further on Bashir’s case such that they can give their recommendations on his indictment.

Kuteesa says all these leaders are in support of the ICC Statute which led to the establishment of ICC, He says that their decision is in not a way of denying their support to the Rome Statute because the African countries were party to the making of the statute.

Kuteesa says the African countries are still committed to combating impunity, promoting democracy, rule of law and good governance in the same spirit of the Rome Statute like the ICC and not otherwise like it has been imagined.

Sudan's Al-Merrikh Through to CECAFA Final - In a Globalized World, Sports Emerges as a Force for Change

From Sudan Radio Service, Friday, 10 July 2009:
Al-Merrikh Through to CECAFA Final

Friday, 10 July 2009 – (Khartoum) – Sudan’s Al-Merrikh has qualified for the final of the CECAFA Club Championship after defeating Mazimbe of the Democratic Republic of Congo at home on Thursday night in the semi-finals. Final score 2- 1.

Mazimbe of the DRC scored their first goal in the 15th minute of the first half while Al-Merrikh Nigerian’s striker, Endurance Idahor, scored for Al-Merrikh in the second half, making both teams level at the final whistle.

An extra thirty minutes were added. Al-Merrikh’s Idahor scored the second and winning goal just minutes before the end of extra time.

Al-Merrikh, three times winner of the CECAFA cup, will play in the final on Sunday evening against the winner of the other semi-final match, between Mathare United of Kenya and Atraco of Rwanda on Friday night.

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Today, I posted this at Blair Foundation Watch.

From The New York Times
In a Globalized World, Sports Emerges as a Force for Change
By ROB HUGHES
Published: July 10, 2009

LONDON — The sporting superstar has reached a level of global recognition beyond any film star.

“There is no movie star in the world who could get thousands of people to wait six hours just to see their arrival, as Cristiano Ronaldo did this week,” said David Puttnam, filmmaker turned law maker in the British House of Lords.

Puttnam, who over 30 years produced award-winning films, including “Chariots of Fire,” “The Killing Fields,” “Bugsy Malone,” and “Memphis Belle,” is certain that Tom Cruise could not hope to draw 80,000 to a movie theater the way Ronaldo did to his signing ceremony at Real Madrid’s Bernabéu stadium last Monday.

“I have watched the dynamic of the superstar shift from film to sports,” Puttnam added. “The whole level of globalization of sports is bigger. The key is engagement. The power of sport has taken the movie industry by surprise.”

We were speaking at the Beyond Sport summit meeting in London where Puttnam — now Lord Puttnam, legislator and ambassador for Unicef — joined people from government offices to ground workers in some of the world’s most violent crime spots to discuss the power of sports.

Fame need not be frivolous. Puttnam, 68, has witnessed the emergence of celebrity added to charitable causes, from Danny Kaye, the American actor, singer and dancer of the 1950s, to the David Beckham phenomenon today.

He shared a panel at Beyond Sport with Tony Blair, the former British prime minister now working on reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Beside them was Prince Faisal Al Hussein, adviser to Jordan’s armed forces as well as the founder of Generations for Peace, which attempts to use sport to unite youth.

And besides them was Dikembe Mutombo, a former N.B.A. star now using his stature back home in the Democratic Republic of Congo to construct hospitals and research centers in his hometown of Kinshasa. Mutombo went to the United States on a scholarship hoping to become a doctor. He returned to Africa as more than a doctor, using fame and fortune, to try to turn the tide of H.I.V.

He appeals to soccer in particular to put more back into a continent, which European clubs have plundered of so many star players.

Even down to Ronaldo, there is a social conscience that should not be overlooked. Showmanship is a major part of his talent, and playing the prima dona is second nature to him.

Yet this same performer who loves the crowd to love him also, at the relatively unknowing age of 20, was one of the first in to Aceh Province after the tsunami devastation of December 2004. Touched by the bravery of a boy found wandering the beach, lost after most of his family were washed away in the horror, Ronaldo paid for the boy to attend a match involving his own national team, Portugal.

The player, then at Manchester United, flew to Indonesia to give his time and presence to raise more than a billion rupiahs, then about $90,000, toward rebuilding homes.

“I never cease to be thrilled by some of the players I meet and the way they handle all that surrounds them,” Puttnam said at Beyond Sport. “The Barcelona club pays Unicef to wear our logo on the shirts, and more than that I’ve talked to the players.

“They tell me they get a thrill representing the world’s children. I’ve never had the same conversation with Manchester United players about A.I.G.” The United shirt is sponsored by the American insurance company, though the club has worked for nine years with Unicef without going that extra step that Barcelona did in paying the charity to wear the insignia.

But nobody supposes that sports clubs are anything less than big businesses these days. The fusion of cricket and Bollywood captures the modern world — and the worlds of celebrity, sport and entertainment.

Blair, the politician discovering the extraordinary pulling power of sports, said: “Most world leaders I have met enjoy something about sport, and some even play. But I think over the years it has become of a different magnitude, and we are only just beginning to understand the utility of sports.” He recalls going into a classroom in Japan and trying to relate to children. “I was introduced as the prime minister of Britain,” he says. No response. “I tried to say London.” A flicker.

“Then I said Beck-ham ... Ah, yes, I had a response.” Blair said that the more he learned about the power of government, the more he also discovered the limits of government. Sport, he suggested, could sometimes unlock those limitations.

Later, sitting besides Michael Johnson, the American sprinting icon, Blair admitted: “You know, Michael, when I told my own family who I was meeting today, they were suddenly interested. My kids are used to me talking about world leaders, but a real live sporting superstar, that was something different.” As we left the room, Blair took the opportunity to have his photograph taken with Johnson. For the children, no doubt.

It was reminiscent of Carlos Menem, the Argentine president from 1989-99, appointing Diego Maradona as a sporting ambassador for the world. The president shamelessly courted the soccer star, basked in his popularity. He didn’t know that at that time, leading up to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Maradona had already begun the drug addiction in Naples that ultimately destroyed him as a player, and almost as a man.

This is heady stuff, when politicians and the rest of us put the fleeting stars of sports high on a pedestal, asking some of them to sort out the world’s problems.

Click on tag label CECAFA (here below) to see previous footballing news reports here at Sudan Watch.

US's Gration travels to Norway and Sudan

US special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, will travel to Sudan on Tuesday 14 July. He is not expected to meet the president.

At the moment he is on an official visit to the Norwegian capital Oslo, where he will on Friday meet senior government officials from Britain and Norway to coordinate the countries' positions towards Sudan.

Cooperation with Sudan key despite ICC charges: US envoy

OSLO (AFP) — A US special envoy to Sudan on Thursday stressed the need for cooperation with the country's leadership after a prosecutor said there was enough evidence for a further arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar al-Beshir for genocide.

"Right now President al-Beshir is the president of the country and we have to work with him to solve those issues that are facing the people (of Sudan) and (that) are facing the region," said Scott Gration.

"But that does not mean that (Beshir) does not need to do what's right in terms of facing the International Criminal Court and those charges," he told AFP.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo argued Tuesday he had enough evidence for a further arrest warrant against Beshir for genocide.

Beshir already faces an ICC arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Gration said Beshir would face the court "when the situation is right."

"We in the United States believe that everybody needs to be accountable, and in due time, when the situation is right, the international community will hold (accountable) folks that may have been involved in crimes against humanity and genocide," he said.

Asked whether the announcement would complicate his dealings with Sudan, Gration said: "We will work through it."

Gration made the comments during an official visit to the Norwegian capital, where he will on Friday meet senior government officials from Britain and Norway to coordinate the countries' positions towards Sudan.

The US, Britain and Norway form a troika of nations closely following Sudan-related issues, including the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the war between north and south Sudan.

Gration on Thursday met Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.

Gration will travel to Sudan on Tuesday 14 July. He is not expected to meet the president.

Note, the report says 'the US, Britain and Norway form a troika of nations closely following Sudan-related issues' but makes no mention of France. The troika used to be referred to as the US, UK and France. Norway's prominence is a new but a good sign. Norway produces great peace makers.

S.Sudan: WOTAP in Wau helps women look after their families and set up small businesses

From Sudan Radio Service, Thursday, 09 July 2009:
WOTAP Funds Women's Project in Wau

(Wau) – A women’s development group, Women Training and Promotion, WOTAP, based in Wau, Western Bahr El-Ghazal State provides funding to help women look after their families and set up small businesses. They get support from the FAO, the WFP and the state Ministry of Agriculture.

Speaking to Sudan Radio Service in Wau on Wednesday, Linda Ferdinand Hussein, the director of WOTAP in Wau, explained how her agency empowers women in the state.

[Linda Ferdinand]: “We have two agricultural projects at the moment. We have a project called the Seeds Business Project. We are working with progressive farmers in six locations. One is in Wau and the other five are outside Wau. We train farmers to produce seeds in that project. 

We also have free seed distribution to the IDPs and the host communities. 

We also have vegetable gardening where we train women on how plant vegetables which are important to the health of their children and from which they also get some income. 

The Ministry of Agriculture sends us advisers who train our project members. We also have goat-restocking program where we give women outside town goats on a revolving basis. 150 women have benefited from this goat-restocking program.”

One of the beneficiaries, Juleta Mario, is in her sixties and lives in Momoi village, five miles from Wau town. Sudan Radio Service visited her in her grass-thatched tukul, where she takes care of her goats.

[Juleta Mario]: “These goats were given to us women who are abandoned by our husbands. My husband left me and bringing up my children was very difficult. So WOTAP gave us these goats to help me in bringing up my children, saying that when the goats deliver more goats they take the ones they gave us and leave us with the ones they delivered. WOTAP gave us these goats in 1994. They delivered twelve more goats. They took their parents and I remained with mine. When I have problems I sell some of them and now I remained with 8 goats. They are still delivering.”

Ferdinand said that members sell their agricultural produce and the group shares the income.

However, she said that one of the challenges her agency faces is that the donors restrict their use of funds and that prevents WOTAP from expanding.

Latest - CECAFA 2009 results from Khartoum, Sudan - Thurs, 09 July 2009

Report from Sudan Radio Service on Thursday, 09 July 2009:

(Khartoum) – Rwanda’s Atraco enjoyed a surprise victory on Wednesday night, knocking out Uganda’s Kampala City Council 4-0 in CECAFA’s quarter finals in El-Merrikh’s stadium, in Omdurman.

The Rwandans had faced several humiliations earlier in the tournament but qualified narrowly by edging out first Djibouti’s Kartileh and then Kampala City Council.

In this match, the first half was centered in the midfield and the two sides missed several chances of scoring.

Atraco apparently gained from the weakness of Kampala City Council in the second half and scored their first goal in the sixty-third minute through left-wing Hamisi Gitagenda.

KCC began to dominate the match but did not capitalize on their chances to equalize before Andre Lomami headed a corner ball home, scoring Kampala’s second goal in the seventy-fourth minute.

The Ugandan coach, George Nsimbe, tried to turn the table around by substituting two strikers but this could not prevent a soaring third goal from Johnson Bogoole in the eighty-seventh minute.

Just before the final whistle, Atraco’s captain, Shyaka Jean, recovered a long kick from his goalkeeper and dodged his way swiftly past the Kampala’s defense and shot to score the fourth goal.

The Rwandans will now meet Kenya’s Mathare United, who narrowly elbowed out fellow Kenyans, Tusker FC.

Mathare and Tusker’s match was described by sport analysts as a battle of wits because the match went all the way to the end 1-1. It was only after post-match penalties that the stand-off gave way in Mathare’s favor.

Duncan Ochieng, in goal for Mathare, saved three kicks out of five to ensure a three-two victory against Tusker.

Ochieng was chosen as the Man of the Match and received a $2000 prize from Al-Sadda newspaper.

Click on tag label CECAFA (here below) to see latest footballing news reports here at Sudan Watch.

Sudan has joined the African Petroleum Producers Association

From Sudan Radio Service  Thursday 09 July 2009:

(London) – Sudan has joined the African Petroleum Producers Association, a move that is being seen as an opportunity to demonstrate greater transparency regarding oil revenue.

There have been widespread complaints by the SPLM over transparency in the oil revenue remitted to it by the NCP.

Francis Perrin is the editor of Arab Oil and Gas at the Arab Petroleum Research Center in Paris He spoke to Sudan Radio Service by phone on Thursday.

[Francis Perrin]: “The fact that Sudan is now a member-state of the African Petroleum Producers Association can of course be an opportunity for this country to go further down the road of transparency. It’s not one of the main aims of the APPA, the African Petroleum Producers Association, but it’s clear that in the present industrial context, every organization or producer and any organization linked to the oil industry is led to study transparency issues and to try to make some progress on this way. As the APPA is an organization whose main objectives are to develop cooperation and the sharing of knowledge and expertise amongst its member-states, including Sudan, it’s clear that Sudan will be in a position - if it wishes do so - of benefiting from the experiences of countries which are producing and exporting for a much longer time than Sudan.”

Perrin went on to explain the attraction of Sudan to countries like the United States.

[Francis Perrin]: “I do not know any consuming country, a big consuming country, which does not look at Sudan with some thoughts about oil. It does not mean that oil is the only issue or the only aspect which is of interest there. Also, of course, the political aspects, the strategic aspects, especially other economic aspects, other than oil, but oil of course figures as far as Sudan is concerned in its relationship with the external world, especially with the larger oil-consuming countries, whether they are in North America, in Asia, or Western Europe.”

That was Francis Perrin, the editor of Arab Oil and Gas at the Arab Petroleum Research Center in Paris.

Sudan scholar Douglas H. Johnson re inter-ethnic clashes

From Sudan Radio Service, Thursday, 09 July 2009:
Sudan Scholar Johnson and Inter-Ethnic Clashes

(London) – The chairman of the Sudan Studies Society of the UK says that inter-ethnic fighting in south Sudan has its roots in the civil war, the time when militias were armed by both sides and clashes arose between SPLA, SAF and the civilians.

Historian Douglas H. Johnson spoke to Sudan Radio service on Thursday. This was his response to the question of whether conflicts in southern Sudan are politically motivated.

[Douglas H. Johnson]: “Well, I think some of them are politically motivated but I think that what you have to recognize is that people can not be made to fight if they do not have reasons of their own to fight. They may be helped by people from outside, but if they have particular grievances that have not been addressed by the state governments or the Government of south Sudan, those would be the underlining reasons why they will want to go to fighting. Of course, cattle raiding has a long history but civil administration also has a long history of how to deal with cattle raiding, how to bring it to an end and how to punish people who have been involved in the raiding. This is something that has been true of the British government or the independent government and even the government of the old regional southern government. They all had ways of calling people together, having inter-tribal meetings, identifying who has been involved in raiding or abduction. And paying compensation and organizing the return of the cattle and the abducted people. It is something I would say would be the prime duty of civil administration, to address these issues. The state government and the Government of southern Sudan each have a role to play in that.”

Douglas Johnson spoke to Sudan Radio service on Thursday from London.

For further reports, click on Abyei label here below.

UNAMID hands over land used by AU Mission in Sudan

UNAMID - Daily Media Brief,
EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, July 8, 2009 (via APO):

Security Situation in Darfur

The security situation in Darfur has been relatively calm.

UNAMID military conducted 89 patrols including confidence-building, escort patrols and nine night patrols covering 47 villages and IDP camps during the reporting period. UNAMID Police advisers conducted 137 patrols in and around the villages and IDP camps.

UNAMID hands over land used by African Union Mission in Sudan

UNAMID senior officials yesterday handed over to Sudanese Government officials in South Darfur the compound occupied by the former African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) until the transfer of authority from AMIS to UNAMID on 31 December 2007.

On behalf of the Mission, Senior Administrative Officer, Mr. Hassan Yusuf Mahmoud, expressed appreciation to the Government of Sudan, including the Ministry of Planning and General Utilities, for its cooperation with the Mission, in particular for providing land to the Mission.

He informed that the location will be used by the Nyala Technical College and the Women and Children Hospital.

The representative of the Sudanese Government, Mr. Elhadi Najm, expressed appreciation to UNAMID for its efforts and for its support to the peace process in Darfur. He reiterated the Government’s continued support and cooperation with the Mission to enable it to carry out its mandate, in accordance with the policies of the Government of Sudan for providing security and stability in Darfur.

UNAMID Military presents items to IDPs in South Darfur

UNAMID military in South Darfur yesterday gave food items to women and children of the Dereige internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp. They also provided educational assistance to ten orphans for the next two academic years. The children were also given food items and educational materials.

The ceremony was attended by senior military officials, police advisers and representatives of IDPs.

- - -

Other news

Kidnappers demand ransom for Darfur aid staff

Reuters UK - Andrew Heavens - ‎19 minutes ago‎

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Armed "bandits" have demanded a ransom for the release of two female aid workers kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region ...

Daily Nation S. Sudan builds up tanks as tensions rise Daily Nation - ‎1 hour ago‎ Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) sit on top of a truck in Korma village, some 40km (25 miles) outside the north Darfur town of Kutum, ... INSEAD Knowledge - Best of business research The China- Africa alliance INSEAD Knowledge - Best of business research - Edward Wang - ‎1 hour ago‎ While Chinese investments in Africa have been heavily skewed towards natural resources: Nigeria and Sudan for oil; Congo and Zambia for copper, ... Is Darfur conflict a state-sponsored genocide? RT - ‎1 hour ago‎ Celebrities have flocked to Sudan to raise awareness and money for more than two million people who fled their homes to escape the violence. ... Qatari minister says Darfur rebel movements agree to join Doha ... Xinhua - Li Shuncheng - ‎2 hours ago‎ Qatar, which sponsors an Arab-African initiative in searching for a peace settlement to the Darfur crisis in western Sudan, has hosted several rounds of ... Army pursues Kony into Central African Republic The Observer - Edris Kiggundu - ‎2 hours ago‎ We are yet to establish whether the offensive inside CAR has the blessing of the CAR government, like operations inside Southern Sudan and DR Congo before ... UN official concerns about inter-tribal violence in southern Sudan Xinhua - Fang Yang - ‎2 hours ago‎ KHARTOUM, July 9 (Xinhua) -- A UN official expressed concern about inter-tribal violence in southern Sudan, in which more than 1000 people had been killed ... Kidnapped aid worker contacted by Irish officials Ireland Online - ‎2 hours ago‎ The Irish aid worker kidnapped in Darfur last week has reportedly been contacted by Irish officials and could be released shortly. ...

French Delegation Visit North Darfur

From Sudan Radio Service, Wed, 08 July 2009:
French Delegation Visit Darfur

(El Fasher) – A French parliamentary delegation visited El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur on Tuesday for talks with state officials, the joint peacekeeping mission and displaced people.

The delegation, headed by the French Ambassador to Sudan, Patrick Nicolozio, met UNAMID chief Rodolphe Adada, who briefed them on the work of the peacekeeping mission and the general security situation in Darfur, which he described as "calm but unpredictable."

UNAMID spokesperson Nouraddine Mezni spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Tuesday about the visit.

[Nouraddine Mezni]: “Mister Adada, the joint special representative of UNAMID received the French delegation. Mister Adada appealed to France and the international community as a whole to do everything possible to push forward the peace process. He stressed that UNAMID will continue its efforts on the ground to diffuse violence, protect civilians, in particular the internally displaced persons, and create an environment conducive to the success of the peace process. The aim of this tour is to prepare a report on the situation in Darfur to be submitted to French National Assembly in October 2009”.

The delegation also met different Sudanese government officials in Khartoum who urged France to press the Paris-based SLM leader Abdel Wahid Al-Nur to join the peace process in Doha. They also requested that the French authorities help to ease the current tensions between Sudan and Chad.

The delegation is expected to visit Juba in the coming days to meet with the officials of the Government of southern Sudan after their visit to Darfur.

Jonglei State, S. Sudan: UN Bases in Okobo and Pibor

From Sudan Radio Service 8 July 2009:
UN Bases in Okobo and Pibor

(Juba) – The United Nations says it has established two temporary operating bases in Jonglei state as part of its stabilization plan following tribal clashes in March and April this year.

The bases are in Pibor and Akobo counties and will house 120 civilian, military and police personnel.

The head of the United Nations Mission in southern Sudan, David Gressly, told a press conference on Monday that the military component of the base will withdraw soon, leaving behind its civilian component.

UNMIS unveiled the stabilization plan for Jonglei state after tribal clashes between the Murle and Lou-Nuer in March and April this year.

CEFACA Results Latest

From Sudan Radio Service, Wed, 08 July 2009:
CEFACA Results Latest

(Khartoum) – The Sudanese champions El-Merrikh trampled over Burundi’s InterStars 2-0 in CECAFA’s quarter-final match on Tuesday evening and qualified for the semi-finals. The match began in a dull mood but heated up in the second half with El-Merrikh’s Nigerian star Indahor Indurance scoring the first goal in the sixty-first minute. He was later substituted by fellow Nigerian striker Klechi Osunwa who scored the second goal in seventy-second minute of the second half.

Sudanese striker Faisal Ajab was injured in the second half and will miss the next match of the semi-final on Friday against TP Mazembe of DR Congo.

Mazembe had earlier trounced Sudan’s Hay El-Arab 6-1 in a match that saw the locals making a slow start in the first half. Mazembe’s striker Bendi Benza shot a long range ball from left center of the field which skewered its way into the Hay El-Arab net, registering the first goal for the guests in the twenty-fourth minute. Hay El-Arab’s coach, Ahmed Sari, immediately re-arranged tactics and his boys retaliated with a goal through striker Magdi Abdel Majid in the thirty-fourth minute. The Congolese managed to hammer in their second goal before half-time and later slotted in four goals, instantly qualifying them for the semi-finals against El-Merrikh.

Off the pitch, the CECAFA organizing committee has banned Zanzibar’s Miembieni from the competition for five years. The decision by the committee was issued on Tuesday following bitter exchanges between Miembieni club officials and the referee of Sunday’s match in Port Sudan. According to a statement by CECAFA Secretary-general Nicholas Musonye posted on CECAFA’s website, a report from the referee and the match commissioner in Port Sudan found Miembieni to have flouted competition rules before abandoning the match midway in the second half.

The ban includes fining the club 20,000 USD and excludes them from all CECAFA-related activities. Their coach, Bushiri Ali, will not be allowed to participate in the competition for the next five years.

Click on tag label CECAFA (here below) to see latest footballing news reports here at Sudan Watch.

US sanctions on Sudan are far reaching and must be lifted

Photo: Andrew Heavens is a reporter and photographer who has worked with Reuters since 2005, first from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and now Khartoum, Sudan. His African career followed 10 years of reporting for newspapers in Britain and the United States. (Reuters)

In the following story, he recounts his experience of U.S. economic sanctions on the country whose president Omar Hassan al-Bashir is accused of masterminding human rights abuses in Darfur.

WITNESS: Battling to borrow money in sanctions-hit Sudan

By Andrew Heavens, 04 July 2009

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The United States achieved at least three things when it stepped up economic sanctions on Sudan: it banned most trade between the two countries, froze Sudanese assets and closed the door on my British mortgage.

Trade sanctions are presented as sophisticated instruments -- ways of forcing change in foreign governments without resorting to war. But in today's inter-connected world, economic penalties designed to hit one country can quickly spread beyond their original target.

"We can't open a mortgage account with your address in Khartoum," the officer from Bank of Scotland International told me over the crackling phone line. "It's on our list of sanctioned countries."

A journalist from Britain, I was trying hard not to sound too desperate. We had already been turned down by two other lenders without explanation. My family's dreams of buying a little semi-detached corner of England -- somewhere to spend our holidays back home from Khartoum -- were fading.

"But I'm British and I want to buy a house in Britain," I told the bank official, with the slightest note of pleading in my voice. "We haven't imposed any trade sanctions on Sudan. It's only America."

The bank official was sympathetic, but there was nothing he could do. "If there are sanctions imposed from another country, from a risk point of view we can't get involved either."

FALL FOUL

The key word there was risk.

In theory, the United States and its organs only have the power to stop U.S. citizens and companies doing business with another country.

In practice, non-U.S. companies can still fall foul of the sanctions administered and enforced by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Take the tale of Lloyds TSB, part of the London-based group which also owns one of the banks that turned me down, Bank of Scotland International.

In January Lloyds agreed to forfeit $350 million to U.S. authorities in connection with charges its staff had faked records so clients from Sudan and other sanctioned countries could do business with the U.S. banking system.

According to a research note from international law firm Cleary Gottleib, it was the first case of its kind, involving the U.S. Department of Justice punishing sanctions violations by "a non-U.S. person."

Lloyds spokeswoman Sara Evans confirmed Bank of Scotland had a policy of not providing mortgage accounts to customers who live in Sudan, and other banks have been quick to follow the precedent.

An OFAC report in January said it was aware of a number of "third country" banks that had started cutting ties with Sudan and shutting down accounts of customers living in Sudan.

"Sudan also is facing apprehension from foreign firms about staying in the country under the threat of further U.S. and multilateral sanctions and the growing influence of divestment campaigns," read the report to the U.S. Congress.

NO VISA

On the ground in Khartoum, the effects of the restrictions have been frustrating, if sporadic.

The worst hit are the millions of "ordinary" Sudanese citizens who have had nothing to do with the alleged human rights abuses that sparked the main wave of U.S. trade sanctions in 1997, or the Darfur conflict, which provoked tougher restrictions in 2006.

Everything from getting hold of dollars to wiring cash abroad is a grind. Day-to-day transactions are handled with big bundles of bank notes -- Visa and other U.S. electronic payment companies do not operate in Sudan.

Back to my own sorry financial affairs, there was the time I was trying to clear a cheque from a U.S. account to a bank in Malaysia. (Don't ask -- life can get very complicated here.)

The accountant had attached a brief explanatory note to the transaction: "Payment for Sudan rent."

The cheque was blocked.

Then there was the payment a South African newspaper wanted to send me, again with "Sudan" in the transaction details. The British bank I have used for more than 25 years refused to accept it.

And then, again, there was my mortgage. Well, reader, I eventually got one. But I won't tell you who ended up agreeing to the deal, in case they're prompted to take another closer look at my personal records.

(Editing by Catherine Bosley and Sara Ledwith)

Some citizens leaving Abyei in fear of violence following boundary ruling

From Miraya FM Wednesday, 08 July 2009:
Ashraf Qazi: Abyei Road Map has reached critical stage

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, has said that the Abyei Road Map has reached a critical stage ahead of the anticipated ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei. Qazi has visited to Abyei and met with the joint administration of the area and the local authorities and discussed the final arrangements and necessary precautions for assuring the safety of citizens after the ruling.

Meanwhile, the head of Abyei's administration, Brigadier Arop Moyak, has expressed concern over what he described as the irresponsible actions that may be carried out by some citizens whom may no be pleased by the court's ruling.

Meanwhile, Miraya FM's Correspondent in Abyei has assured that caution is looming over the area and some citizens have started leaving the town in fear an outbreak of violence following the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei.

Further reading

Apr 24, 2009 - Sudan Watch: Final judgement on Abyei boundary issue within 90 days

May 30, 2006 - Sudan Watch:  Interview with Dr Douglas H Johnson, expert on the Abyei Boundary Commission - Hofre Nahas area; part of Bahr El Ghazal transferred to Darfur in 1960s

Aug 16, 2005 - Sudan Watch:  Sudan: Abyei Boundary Commission report

Click on Abyei label here below for further reports on Abyei.