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| May 31, 2008 |
Saturday, 31 May 2008
REUTERS
The struggling United Nations mission in Darfur has suffered a fresh blow after its British chief of staff was forced out by the Sudanese government. Brigadier Patrick Davidson-Houston, the most senior non-African official in the joint UN and African Union mission, said he was "extremely disappointed" to be leaving Darfur just six months into his one-year contract.
"The Government of Sudan has objected for some time to the presence of a British general in Darfur," the brigadier said in Khartoum, the day before he left. "They have requested that my appointment should be reconsidered, if I can put it kindly."
His departure comes at a critical time for the UN's most high-profile mission. Some five months after Unamid took over from its ailing AU predecessor, critics say little has changed. The force is supposed to have 26,000 military personnel and police officers. It has just 9,000, the same number the AU force had in December. It is also supposed to have 18 support helicopters to move troops around a country the size of France as well as six armed attack helicopters. It has none.
The peacekeepers are increasingly finding themselves under attack. An unarmed Ugandan police officer this week became the first Unamid peacekeeper to be killed; he was shot dead near a market in El Fasher, the capital of north Darfur. A group of Nigerian peacekeepers was last week ambushed by up to 60 armed men on horseback in west Darfur who took their weapons and vehicle.
Although some in the west have been critical of Unamid, Brigadier Davidson-Houston said the international community was expecting too much, too fast. "When the international community says, 'You have to build it up faster' they have to understand that the logistics are very, very challenging," he said. One major problem has been acquiring enough land to build bases. "There is nowhere you can stand in Darfur and someone doesn't own it. Once you have the land you need to find water. It is impossible to deploy anyone until you have these things in place."
Brigadier Davidson-Houston arrived in Sudan in November 2007, a month before the Unamid mission began. Alongside the widely admired force commander, Martin Luther Agwai, a Nigerian, and the deputy force commander, Emmanuel Karenzi, a Rwandan, Brigadier Davidson-Houston has been credited with "making the best of a bad job", as one senior UN official described it.
But while the brigadier was winning plaudits within the UN, he was making enemies inside the Government of Sudan. According to officials at Unamid, the first attempt to throw him out of the country was in January. Only the direct intervention of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon – who spoke to Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir – ensured he stayed on for longer.
The matter did not end there. Over the following months, Brigadier Davidson-Houston's continued employment was brought up by a series of government officials who objected to his presence.
Sudan's government agreed to the deployment of Unamid last year, but only if it was "of a predominantly African nature". Almost all troops have, so far, been provided by different African countries. Sudan has refused to accept any troop deployments from Thailand and Nepal, arguing that there are enough African countries prepared to send personnel.
Two weeks after Khartoum announced they were holding 89 children the aged 10 to 17-UNICEF was permitted to visit them. The children had forcibly recruited and abducted by the Darfur rebel group the JEM and were used in the May 10th JEM attack on Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city in which at least 220 people were killed. JEM ( Justice and Equality Movement) is militarily the strongest rebel group battling the Sudanese government in the western region of Darfur.
Sudan has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and reiterated pledges to accord the children all rights.
Reportedly the children are traumatized and some have been tortured . Eight of the children are from Chad and the rest are from Sudan. Efforts are underway to find their families.
The age of criminal responsibility in Sudan is seven but a bill has been drafted in an effort to raise the age to 12. Sudan has the right to prosecute these children if they so wish.
Aid workers and governments around the world have asked to enter Myanmar to help stranded victims of the cyclone, but the government, a wretched regime, has denied them access and largely refused assistance. ...so it's the monks to the rescue.
Monks Succeed in Cyclone Relief as Junta Falters
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: May 31, 2008
KUN WAN, Myanmar - They paddle for hours on the stormy river, or carry their sick parents on their backs through the mud and rain, traveling for miles to reach the one source of help they can rely on: Buddhist monks.
With little help from the government, refugees were fed by a monastery near Yangon.
A monk organized relief donations this week for people left homeless by the cyclone. This monastery, outside of Yangon, has become a temporary shelter.
At a makeshift clinic in this village near Bogale, an Irrawaddy Delta town 75 miles southwest of Yangon, hundreds of villagers left destitute by Cyclone Nargis arrive each day seeking the assistance they have not received from the government or international aid workers.
Since the cyclone, the Burmese have been growing even closer to the monks while their alienation from the junta grows. This development bodes ill for the government, which brutally cracked down on thousands of monks who took to the streets last September appealing to the ruling generals to improve conditions for the people.
Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/asia/31myanmar.html?th&emc=th
| May 30, 2008 |
NEW YOUR TIMES
By ETHAN BRONNER
GAZA - The American State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza hoping to pursue advanced degrees at American institutions this fall because Israel has not granted them permission to leave.
Israel has isolated this coastal strip, which is run by the militant group Hamas. Given that policy, the United States Consulate in Jerusalem said the grant money had been 'redirected' to students elsewhere out of concern that it would go to waste if the Palestinian students were forced to remain in Gaza.
A letter was sent by e-mail to the students on Thursday telling them of the cancellation. Abdulrahman Abdullah, 30, who had been hoping to study for an M.B.A. at one of several American universities on his Fulbright, was in shock when he read it.
"If we are talking about peace and mutual understanding, it means investing in people who will later contribute to Palestinian society," he said."I am against Hamas. Their acts and policies are wrong. Israel talks about a Palestinian state. But who will build that state if we can get no training?"
| May 29, 2008 |
To protect civilians in the tortured Darfur region, last July the UN Security Council authorized a peacekeeping force of 26,000. But because of continuing obstructions by the Khartoum government, just 9,200 troops have been deployed.
Since the African Union first entered Darfur in 2004, 60 soldiers have been lost. UNAMID at this point it remains as woefully under-manned and under-equipped as its predecessor. A good deal of the blame lies with the militarily capable nations of the international community for their timidity and failure to stand up the Khartoum regime, and under-supporting the protection force, but of course the primary responsibility lies with the Government of Sudan and its obstructionist policy.
The regime has blocked three key battalions which would have made a difference; an engineering battalion from Norway and Sweden (who have now withdrawn their offer in the face of fierce objections from Khartoum); a special forces battalion from Nepal; and a well-equipped Thai battalion-battle-ready and meeting all UN DPKO standards.
Khartoum, ever confident of Beijings backing and emboldened by the knowledge that it will pay no price for mocking the will of the international community, has defied a chain of United Nations resolutions.
And so UNAMID is floundering. The June 1 goal of US special envoy Richard Williamson for an additional 3000 troops will not be realized any time soon. Further deployments have been made contingent upon Egyptian and Ethiopian battalions which are moving at a snails pace.
By now Darfur's populations fully realize that they have been abandoned by the international community. Rebels, knowing they are alone will increasingly take matters into their own hands. Bandits and other armed groups are operating with impunity. Humantarian efforts are severely compromised. The fragile lives of millions of civilians hang in the balance.
But China continues to finance Khartoums war machine and offers unwavering diplomatic protection to the regime.
May 28, 2008
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 202-456-2461
Dear Mr. President:
I have just returned from my ninth trip to the region affected by the Darfur tragedy, now in its sixth year. I am writing to urge you to use the remaining months of your presidency to end the genocide in western Sudan and to make lasting peace in the region a legacy of your administration.
Your direct engagement can bring an end to the immeasurable suffering. In the past your administration played an essential role in securing the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), formally ending Sudan's North-South conflict. Unfortunately, that peace agreement is fast unraveling and in urgent need of attention. The past two weeks in Abyei have brought about the worst escalation of violence since the signing of the CPA, forcing more than 100,000 people to flee and signaling the increasingly dire situation between north and south.
As you know, in recent weeks, the carnage in Darfur has also escalated - and spread. Government bombing campaigns continue apace, with tens of thousands of terrified survivors joining the more than 2.7 million people already displaced. On my recent trip, I once again held broken people in my arms, and once again they told me to tell the world that if something is not done, they will all die. Defenseless men, women and children are dying, not only from the violence, but also from starvation and disease. The aid workers tasked with delivering food and medicine are being targeted and killed.
Never has the need for a protection force been greater or more urgent, yet nearly a year after UNAMID was authorized by the UN Security Council, only a fraction of the peacekeeping mission is deployed and little of its essential infrastructure is in place. Many of the troops in Darfur are from the previous, unsuccessful African Union mission, and do not meet UN military standards as authorized by UNSC Resolution 1769. UN officials have expressed fear that as things stand, the peacekeepers in Darfur will be unable to protect themselves, let alone Darfur's traumatized civilians and the humanitarian workers struggling to sustain them.
The force has been delayed primarily because the UN Security Council has repeatedly acquiesced to Sudan's demands and obstructions. China has intermittently taken modest steps towards achieving peace in Darfur, but by and large China has remained Sudan's steadfast economic, military, and diplomatic partner and protector, and has thus facilitated its violent policies. Now is the moment to urge China to work with the UN to bring authentic security to the people of western Sudan.
Although your Special Envoy for Sudan, Rich Williamson, has been taking a lead in securing peace for Darfur, a problem of this magnitude - a genocide - needs to be addressed by a world leader. Your direct involvement and the full power of the United States presidency can bring about the effective deployment of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur and a comprehensive, just peace for Sudan.
I urge you to take three important steps:
First, the United States needs to make UNAMID's infrastructure a top priority. The force requires the full complement of tactical and transport helicopters as well as essential infrastructure and logistical units. The United States can facilitate the pairing of nations with capable armies to train, equip, and sustain those African battalions in need of assistance. In June, the United States will assume the Presidency of the UN Security Council. This presents the United States with a unique opportunity to hold an open meeting - a pledging conference - announcing the complete logistical and military support package for UNAMID.
Secondly, I ask you to lead the UN Security Council and the international community in standing up to Sudan. Khartoum cannot be permitted to object to the deployment of capable troops and engineers or to dictate the sequencing of troop deployment, much less to continue their campaign of destruction with impunity. The Security Council should adopt targeted sanctions on senior members of the regime and any individuals complicit in the violation of UN Security Council resolutions or humanitarian law.
Third, we implore you to re-engage in the search for security and peace in Sudan. Your active engagement in a peace process can secure its success and establish peace in the region. Of course, to normalize relations with a government that continues to show its utter disregard of human life is unacceptable.
Mr. President, you have an opportunity to end this tragedy. The world will long remember who ended the Darfur genocide. The global community is in need of your moral leadership.
Sincerely,
Mia Farrow
Chair, Dream for Darfur
| May 28, 2008 |
In 2005 the Bush administration played an essential role in securing the now imperiled CPA and a fragile peace between the North and the embattle Southern Sudan. As the agreement crumbles and Sudan’s north and south slide toward war, the US must re-engage and stand by that commitment as well as our responsibility to protect innocent civilians in the anguished Darfur region.
As the candidates point out, more than five years have passed since the Government of Sudan launched its campaign of destruction upon the defenseless people of the Darfur region. The world has watched hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians die.
I didn’t know Sudan was the most powerful nation on earth. The international community needs to go ‘spine shopping’.
Miafarrow.org
CLINTON, McCAIN, OBAMA JOINT STATEMENT: ‘WE STAND UNITED ON SUDAN’
Candidates pledge 'unstinting resolve' in ending Darfur genocide, Save Darfur Coalition hails historic joint statement on ending Sudan crisis
WE STAND UNITED ON SUDAN
As we campaign for President of the United States over the next several months, we expect there to be significant focus on the many differences between us. After all, elections are about choices in a free society. We have had a spirited contest so far and fully expect a robust debate about issues foreign and domestic right up to Election Day.
As we engage in this process, we are fully aware that friend and foe around the globe are watching and sometimes reacting based on their own analysis of the latest developments in the campaign.
It is with this awareness that we are taking the uncommon step of issuing a joint statement about an issue.
After more than five years of genocide, the Sudanese government and its proxies continue to commit atrocities against civilians in Darfur. This is unacceptable to the American people and to the world community.
We deplore all violence against the people of Darfur. There can be no doubt that the Sudanese government is chiefly responsible for the violence and is able to end it. We condemn the Sudanese government’s consistent efforts to undermine peace and security, including its repeated attacks against its own people and the multiple barriers it has put up to the swift and effective deployment of the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. We further condemn the Sudanese government’s refusal to adhere to the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the conflict in southern Sudan.
Today, we wish to make clear to the Sudanese government that on this moral issue of tremendous importance, there is no divide between us. We stand united and demand that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end and that the CPA be fully implemented. Even as we campaign for the presidency, we will use our standing as Senators to press for the steps needed to ensure that the United States honors, in practice and in deed, its commitment to the cause of peace and protection of Darfur’s innocent citizenry. We will continue to keep a close watch on events in Sudan and speak out for its marginalized peoples. It would be a huge mistake for the Khartoum regime to think that it will benefit by running out the clock on the Bush Administration. If peace and security for the people of Sudan are not in place when one of us is inaugurated as President on January 20, 2009, we pledge that the next Administration will pursue these goals with unstinting resolve.
Labels: politics
| May 27, 2008 |
In perhaps the most isolated country on earth, the Haut-Mbmou province at the Sudanese/Congolese border is the most remote region in CAR. In dry weather it takes a week to drive from Bangui to Obo. It is impassible during the long months of the rainy season.
This sparsely populated southeastern area is occupied by the Zande tribe, also found in South Sudan and DRC. It is closer to Juba (capital of South Sudan) than to Bangui. The population of Obo trades with Sudan, DRC and Uganda. Diamonds and wildlife have long attracted smugglers and poachers.
I have excerpted this information from a UN investigation conducted through confidential interviews with victims and witnesses.
Between Feb 19 and March 8,2008, some 500 armed men wearing military uniforms attacked several villages, including Obo . They were heavily armed with automatic rifles, rocket propelled grenades, machetes and axes.
Although the report, written in March and updated in May, 2008, does not state this, we know that the attackers were Joseph Kony and his notoriously brutal Lords Resistance Army (LRA) They came from Uganda and were spotted moving through DRC. Now they are here.
The attacks were launched at night and lasted 3-5 hours. The assailants included young boys. They use satellite phones. Hundreds of homes were looted but not destroyed. 300 villagers, mostly children, were abducted.
The victims were tied with ropes at the hips and forced to carry heavy loads while walking barefoot over long distances at gunpoint. They were beaten with rifle butts or whipped if any stopped walking or complained. At night they were covered under large canvas sheets.
They were taken to be used as porters, labourers, soldiers or sex slaves. This information came from those who escaped or were released. The main target was children aged 6-12.
A group of released women had been gang raped for extended periods. They stated that while in the LRA camp they heard young girls screaming at night.
Most of those detained have no links to the group involved in the attack. Nonetheless, Darfuris living in Khartoum are being arrested, tortured and murdered, especially those of the Zaghawa tribe (who form the bulk of JEM members)
The SLM-Unity, another rebel group which does not support the JEM attack said it would not "stand idle and have taken the decision to carry out reprisals against anyone who ordered or carried out " these gross violations of human rights.
The SLM-Unity urges the United Nations Security Council to condemn the violations.
Here is a link to the ICC's latest press release relating to crimes in the Central African Republic.
| May 26, 2008 |
A military solution is not possible
Solution: US/China led Peace Talks.
++++++++++++++++++++++
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, May 26 (Reuters) - Sudan is on the brink of a new civil war following more than a week of north-south clashes in the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei, a senior southern official said on Monday.
Pagan Amum, secretary general of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), told reporters northern troops were building up around the remote central town, with southern troops likely to follow.
Amum said the way to avoid a full-scale conflict was for all troops to leave the town, to be replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force or, eventually, joint north-south military units.
"We are on the brink of war as we speak. Clashes have already happened and forces are building up," he said before a news conference in Khartoum.
Sudan has witnessed sporadic, sometimes fierce fighting in recent weeks in the Abyei region, which is claimed by both Khartoum and the southern government.
Some 21 northern Sudanese army soldiers and an unknown number of southerners were killed last week in fighting that followed a week of skirmishes sparked by a local dispute. The clashes have displaced tens of thousands of people.
A two-decade-long civil war fought by Sudan's government and southern rebels and complicated by issues of ethnicity, ideology and oil ended with a 2005 peace deal and a coalition government formed by the SPLM and the northern National Congress Party (NCP).
But ties have been strained by the failure to agree on borders or a local government for Abyei. At stake are a nearby oil pipeline and installations that produce around half of Sudan's daily output of 500,000 barrels of oil, and grazing grounds and territory coveted by northerners and southerners.
Amum said northern government forces had been building up positions close to the town since last week's heavy clashes.
"I'm sure this will get a response from the SPLA," he added, referring to the armed wing of the SPLM -- now the army of Sudan's semi-autonomous southern government.
Amum said the south was doing all it could to avoid war. "For us, war is not an option ... Moving forces out of the area is the most important step now," he said.
"The only logical common sense is to demilitarise the area, deploy U.N. forces into the area, then after that we can proceed to deploy fresh joint integrated forces into the area."
"If the parties cannot agree to form a joint administration, let there be an international administration," he said.
Amum accused northern forces of starting the clashes to clear the area's population and claim the land as their own.
"(They) might have thought they could find a final solution to the problem of Abyei by replacing the population of Abyei."
He said the SPLM condemned "this barbaric act" by the Sudan government. "This was an act perpetrated by SAF (northern Sudan Armed Forces) under the direct leadership and command of the National Congress Party," Amum said.
A photo site run by his infantry division.
Jason's father Terry said "Jason loved the army and would want to be remembered as a good soldier."
Certainly Sgt Jason Dene was that, and much, much more.
His mother is my sister, Tisa Farrow. His dad is Terry Deane.
Jason loved and was loved by his parents, his sister, Bridget, his brother, Mitchell, his wife Judi and their three small children. He was my God-son and cherished by all of us in this large family.
He also loved his country and he was proud to serve.
But I don't know what Jason died for. There was never no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. That was a lie. So people speculate -- was it the oil? Or the old grudges of an old man -- Cheney and his Halliburton? Or the unfinished business of the father -- a haunting of the son? Saddam was bad -- but by then a sleeping dog. Not making threats. The world is full of brutal leaders, some are worse than Saddam Hussein.
This war is as incomprehensible as it is unacceptable. In a cloud of confusion, politicians, generals and ordinery people have come to see that it is a disaster. Exit plans are being discussed while Iraqi citizens and young Americans like our Jason are being killed.
My sister is a nurse. For long years has lived in fear of the day when the two uniformed men came to her door to deliver the most terrible news a mother could hear.
I hope I never see George W Bush.
I could not shake his hand. He and his cabal have killed my beautiful nephew. . May God, if there is one, forgive them. I cannot.
Today Tisa and Terry, Bridget and Mitchell, Judi, and the three little ones - have been given a life sentence of grief.
How many more must die before this atrocity is ended?
But I don't know what Jason died for. There was never no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. That was a lie. So people speculate -- was it the oil? Or the old grudges of an old man -- Cheney and his Halliburton? Or the unfinished business of the father -- a haunting of the son? Saddam was bad -- but by then a sleeping dog. Not making threats. The world is full of brutal leaders, some are worse than Saddam Hussein.
This war is as incomprehensible as it is unacceptable. In a cloud of confusion, politicians, generals and ordinery people have come to see that it is a disaster. Exit plans are being discussed while Iraqi citizens and young Americans like our Jason are being killed.
My sister is a nurse. For long years has lived in fear of the day when the two uniformed men came to her door to deliver the most terrible news a mother could hear.
I hope I never see George W Bush.
I could not shake his hand. He and his cabal have killed my beautiful nephew. . May God, if there is one, forgive them. I cannot.
Today Tisa and Terry, Bridget and Mitchell, Judi, and the three little ones - have been given a life sentence of grief.
How many more must die before this atrocity is ended?
| May 25, 2008 |
Human Rights
Floor Statement Supporting the International Criminal Court
Mr. President, I rise today to voice my strong support for the International Criminal Court (ICC). Like all Senators, indeed like all Americans, I understand the need to safeguard innocent human life in wartime, at the same time that we ensure that the rights of our military personnel are protected. The Rome Treaty establishing the International Criminal Court will achieve both those goals, and I urge President Clinton to sign the Treaty before the December 31 deadline.
The Treaty was approved overwhelmingly two years ago by a vote of 120 to 7. Since then, 117 nations have signed the Treaty -- including every one of our NATO allies except Turkey, all of the European Union members, and Russia. Regrettably, the U.S. joined a handful of human rights violators like Libya and Iraq in voting against it. Only one of our democratic allies voted with us, and it is quite possible that we will end up as the only democratic country that is not a party to the Court.
During the last century, an estimated 170 million civilians were the victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Despite this appalling carnage, the response from the international community has been, at best, sporadic, and at worst, nonexistent.
While there was progress immediately following World War II at Nuremberg and Tokyo, the Cold War saw the international community largely abdicate its responsibility and fail to bring to justice those responsible for unspeakable crimes, from Cambodia to Uganda to El Salvador.
In the 1990s, there was renewed progress. The U.N. Security Council established a tribunal at The Hague to prosecute genocide and other atrocities committed in the Former Yugoslavia. A second tribunal was formed in response to the horrific massacre of more than 800,000 people in Rwanda.
In addition, individual nations have increasingly taken action against those who have committed these crimes.
Spain pursued General Pinochet, and he may yet be prosecuted in Chile. The Spanish Government has requested Mexico to extradite Richardo Miguel Cavallo, a former Argentine naval officer who served under the military junta, on charges that include the torture of Spanish citizens.
A number of human rights cases have also been heard in U.S. civil courts. In August, 2000, $745 million was awarded to a group of refugees from the Balkans who accused Radovan Karadzic of conducting a campaign of genocide, rape, and torture in the early 1990s. Also that month, an organization representing Chinese students who are suing the Chinese Government for its brutality during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, successfully served papers on Li Peng, the former Chinese Premier, as part of an ongoing lawsuit.
They are important steps towards holding individuals accountable, deterring future atrocities, and strengthening peace. But the ICC would fill significant gaps in the existing patchwork of ad hoc tribunals and national courts. For example:
--A permanent international court sends a clear signal that those who commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide will be brought to justice.
--By eliminating the uncertainty and protracted negotiations that surround the creation of ad hoc tribunals, the Court will be more quickly available for investigations and justice will be achieved sooner.
--International crimes tried in national courts can result in conflicting decisions and varying penalties. Moreover, sometimes governments take unilateral actions, even including kidnaping, to enforce prosecutorial and judicial decisions. The Court will help to avoid these problems.
--The Court will act in accordance with fundamental standards of due process, allowing the accused to receive fairer trials than in many national courts.
In the past, when the international community established war crimes tribunals, the United States was at the forefront of those efforts. The performance of the U.S. delegation at Rome was no different. The U.S. ensured that the Court will serve our national interests by being a strong, effective institution and one that will not be prone to frivolous prosecutions.
Why then did the United States oppose the Treaty, despite getting almost everything it wanted in the negotiations? Many observers feel that it was because the Administration could not get iron-clad guarantees that no American servicemen and women would ever, under any circumstances, come before the Court. A related concern was that the Treaty empowers the Court to indict and prosecute the nationals of any country, even countries that are not party to the Treaty.
The legitimate concern about prosecutions of American soldiers by the Court, while not trivial, arises from a misunderstanding of the Court's role. The U.S. has been successful in obtaining important safeguards to prevent political prosecutions:
-- First, the ICC is neither designed nor intended to supplant independent and effective judicial systems such as the U.S. courts. Under the principle of "complementarity," the Court can act only when national courts are either unwilling or unable to prosecute.
-- Second, the Court would only prosecute the most atrocious international crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. was instrumental in defining the elements of these crimes and in establishing high thresholds to ensure that the Court would deal with only the most egregious offenses.
-- Third, the Court incorporates the rigorous criteria put forth by the United States for the selection of judges, ensuring that these jurists will be independent and among the most qualified in world. Further, the Rome Treaty provides for high standards for the selection of the prosecutor and deputy prosecutor, who can be removed by a vote of the majority of states parties.
-- Finally, the Court provides for several checks against spurious complaints, investigations, and prosecutions. Before an investigation can occur, the prosecution must get approval from a three-judge pre-trial chamber, which is then subject to appeal. Moreover, the U.N. Security Council can vote to suspend an investigation or prosecution for up to one year, on a renewable basis, giving the Security Council a collective veto over the Court.
Because of these safeguards, our democratic allies -- Canada, England, France, Ireland -- with thousands of troops deployed overseas in international peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, have signed the Treaty.
The Pentagon has, from day one, argued that the United States should not sign the Treaty unless we are guaranteed that no United States soldier will ever come before the Court. In other words "we will sign the Treaty, as long as it does not apply to us." That is a totally untenable position, which not surprisingly has not received a shred of support from other governments, including our allies and friends.
There is no doubt that further negotiations can improve the ICC, but it is unrealistic to expect to single out one's own citizens for immunity, in every circumstance, from the jurisdiction of an international court. If that were possible, what would prevent other nations from demanding similar treatment? The Court's effectiveness would be undermined.
Moreover, as the United States -- which has refused to sign the treaty banning landmines, or to ratify the comprehensive test ban treaty, or to pay our U.N. dues -- is perceived as acting as if it is above the law, nations may begin to think "why should we honor our international commitments?" If the U.S. becomes increasingly isolated, our soldiers will face greater, not less, risk.
--
Mr. President, the Treaty provides an adequate balance of strength and discretion to warrant signature by the United States. On the one hand, the Court is strong enough to bring war criminals to justice and provide a deterrent against future atrocities. On the other, there are important checks in place to minimize the risks of sham prosecutions of American troops. Yet, without the active participation and support of the United States -- the oldest and most powerful democracy on Earth committed to the rule of law -- the Court will never realize its potential.
I agreed with President Clinton when he stated that, "nations all around the world who value freedom and tolerance [should] establish a permanent international court to prosecute, with the support of the United Nations Security Council, serious violations of humanitarian law."
Those words reminded me of the President's speech at the United Nations six years ago, when he called for an international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Two years later, when many of our allies and friends were negotiating such a treaty, the Administration, bowing to the Pentagon, chose to sit on the sidelines. They assumed, wrongly, that without U.S. support the process would run out of steam, and they even tried, at times, to undermine it.
Only in the final days, when the Administration finally realized the mine treaty was going to happen with or without the U.S., did they make several "non-negotiable" demands. Essentially, they said "okay, we will sign the treaty, as long as it does not apply to our landmines." Predictably, that was rejected. Today, 138 nations have signed that treaty and 101 have ratified, including every NATO member except the United States and Turkey, and every Western Hemisphere nation except the United States and Cuba.
One would have thought we would have learned from that experience. The fact is that the United States can no longer singlehandedly determine whether an international treaty comes into force. If we do not sign the Rome Treaty, there is a strong possibility that the Court, its prosecutors and judges will develop from the beginning an unsympathetic view towards the United States and its official personnel. That is especially so if we end up opposing the Court and its legitimacy. Do we want a Court that views itself in opposition to the United States? Or do we want a Court whose prosecutors and judges are selected with the influence of the United States, and a Court that must answer to the United States, as its most significant state party, for its actions? The answer should be obvious to anyone.
Mr. President, it is unacceptable that the world's oldest democracy -- the nation whose Bill of Rights was a model for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the nation that called for the creation of a permanent, international criminal court and did so much to make it a reality, is shrinking from this opportunity. The President should sign the Rome Treaty.
ICC calls for end to LRA aid
With a peace deal seemingly going nowhere, the capture and trial of a rebel leader moves up agenda.
By Caroline Ayugi and Peter Eichstaedt in The Hague ( 23-May-08)
The International Criminal Court, ICC, has called for the international community to put a stop to aid supplies to the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, in order to put the squeeze on its leader, the war crimes suspect Joseph Kony.
In an exclusive interview with IWPR, ICC deputy prosecutor Beatrice Le Fraper du Hellen said international efforts now have to focus on capturing Kony, because peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government have practically collapsed.
'I really insist that cutting off the [aid] supply system...must be a priority,' said Le Fraper du Hellen. 'All of us, the ICC, can...work now to cut off all aid and money that was going to Kony.'
Last October, South Sudan, which was mediating United Nations-financed peace talks between representatives of the Ugandan government the rebels in Juba, agreed when the process began in 2006 that the LRA should be provided with food aid on condition that the rebels remained in Garamba National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, while negotiations proceeded.
The talks are supported financially through the Juba Initiative Fund, overseen by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, which disperses funds to the participants.
The international Catholic relief agency Caritas was separately contracted by South Sudan to organise and deliver aid - funded by Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland - to the rebels.
In recent weeks, the talks appear to have finally collapsed, raising questions about the need to continue aid. Chief mediator at the talks, South Sudan vice-president Riek Machar, could not be reached for comment.
The initial shipments to the LRA were estimated to be enough for about 5,000 people, which most observers at the time said was five to ten times the true number of rebel group members.
One of the initial shipments was observed by an IWPR reporter on the border between South Sudan and DRC in July 2006. It consisted of about eight large lorries packed with vast quantities of non-perishable food items, including rice, beans, corn, cooking oil, flour and canned goods. Critics of the food contributions have argued that they are excessive and that the rebels have stockpiled them, perhaps using them to purchase weapons.
Their concerns appear to have been well founded, as IWPR reported in April that the LRA had conducted a surge of abductions in the Central African Republic, CAR, South Sudan and DRC, making the people it abducted undergo military training, and rearming in apparent preparation for renewed conflict.
In addition to calling for money and food supplies to be cut, the ICC is also encouraging defections from the ranks of the LRA, with chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo going on the radio to urge abductees to flee the militia.
The message the ICC appears to be putting out is that they're primarily after Kony and two other indictees, while defectors, in particular recent abductees from CAR and South Sudan, may be eligible for amnesty.
The ICC initially issued indictments for Kony and four of his commanders. Two have subsequently been killed, including Kony's second in command, Vincent Otti, whose death has not yet been independently confirmed.
'It is possible to isolate [Kony] a little bit further,' said Le Fraper du Hellen. 'Effort has to continue...to weaken the force. Just because we can't do everything, does not mean we shouldn't do anything.'
When Kony did not meet with peace negotiators earlier this month for the second time in two months, she said the true situation behind the talks became clear.
'He was taking advantage of this time...' she said of Kony. 'These resources (the international aid) allowed to him to rebuild the LRA.'
The Ugandan government and the LRA have been holding peace talks in Juba since June 2006, to end 20 years of war in northern Uganda that has killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced nearly two million.
Meanwhile, the ICC is encouraging efforts to capture Kony.
When asked who had primary responsibility for Kony's capture, Le Fraper du Hellen said, 'Uganda has to do it and Uganda has to be leading all the efforts.'
But that does not mean only Uganda and DRC should act alone, she said, adding that she hoped a 'group of interested countries [would] approach Uganda and DRC and ... see how you can organise an arrest operation.'
Uganda first approached the ICC in late 2003 for help in investigating Kony and putting him on trial in The Hague, and in doing so agreed to his capture.
Le Fraper du Hellen questioned provisions of the proposed peace agreement that would set up a special court in Uganda to try Kony and his top commanders, should they be captured.
'You cannot sign an agreement and tell a criminal that we're going to do [a trial] at a national level,' said Le Fraper du Hellen. 'It is only the [ICC] that is going to decide in the end if the national proceedings are acceptable or not. Kony knows that very well.
'It will be the judges of the ICC who will decide. The decision belongs to the judges here. There is no way that anyone can guarantee to Kony that he will not be judged here.'
Le Fraper du Hellen said her concern was that Kony be tried by a competent court and not appear as if he is getting special treatment.
'If this person gets off...what does it mean for the DRC?' she asked. 'What does it mean for the CAR?' The DRC currently has three former militia leaders facing trial in The Hague, and a fourth has been indicted. Indictments against individuals in the CAR are expected to be issued as well.
Le Fraper du Hellen indicated that she, like others who have been following the Kony drama closely, were anxious for the case against the rebel leader to move to the prosecution stage if a peace deal is not signed.
'We want Kony here [in The Hague],' she said. 'We want Kony here tomorrow. It is really for the victims. If we don't get him this month we'll get him in a year.'
What is the International Criminal Court?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002 as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. The Court came into being on July 1, 2002 - the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, entered into force- and it can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date.
As of May 2008, 105 states are members of the Court; Madagascar will become the 106th state party on 1 June 2008.A further 40 countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute. However, a number of states, including China and the United States, are critical of the Court and have not joined.
The Court can generally exercise jurisdiction only in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council. The Court is designed to complement existing national judicial systems: it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes. Primary responsibility to investigate and punish crimes is therefore reserved to individual states.
To date, the Court has opened investigations into four situations: Northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Darfur. The Court has issued public arrest warrants for eleven people; six of them remain free, two have died, and three are in custody, awaiting trial.
The official seat of the Court is in The Hague, Netherlands, but its proceedings may take place anywhere. The ICC is sometimes referred to as a "world court"; it should not be confused with the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, which is the United Nations organ that settles disputes between nations.
Press Release - ICC Arrests Jean-Pierre Bemba - massive sexual crimes in Central African Republic will not go unpunished
The Hague, 24 May 2008
ICC-OTP-20080524-PR316_ENG
Jean-Pierre Bemba, charged by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Central African Republic, was today arrested in the suburbs of Brussels, Belgium.
Mr. Bemba is chairman of the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo (MLC), an armed group which intervened in the 2002-2003 armed conflict in Central African Republic (CAR) and pursued a plan of terrorizing and brutalizing innocent civilians, in particular during a campaign of massive rapes and looting. Mr Bemba had already used the same tactics in the past, in CAR, in the DRC, always leaving a trail of death and destruction behind him.
He is the first person arrested in the context of the ICC investigation in CAR which was opened by Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in May 2007. Further investigations are proceeding.
"This arrest was a complex and well-prepared operation'' said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo. "We are grateful to all countries involved, including Belgium which immediately executed the Arrest Warrant in accordance with their obligations under the Rome Statute. I am thankful to all those who assisted in tracing Mr. Bemba, to avoid any possibility of his escaping international justice"
The number of rapes carried out with shocking brutality is a particular feature of this case. "He had done it before in CAR, he had done it before in the DRC. He had to be stopped." said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo.
The Office of Prosecutor presented evidence against Mr. Jean-Pierre Bemba to the judges of the International Criminal Court on 16 May 2008, charging him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Pre-Trial Chamber issued a warrant of arrest on 23 May 2008. This arrest warrant remained under seal until his arrest on 24 May 2008.
"Mr. Bemba's arrest is a warning to all those who commit, who encourage, or who tolerate sexual crimes. There is a new law called the Rome Statute. Under this new law, they will be prosecuted" said the Prosecutor.
"There are no excuses for hundreds of rapes. There are no excuses for the rape of a little girl, with her parents watching. There are no excuses for commanders ordering, authorizing or acquiescing to the commission of rapes and looting by their forces. We have evidence that Mr Bemba committed crimes.. With the Rome Statute, nobody is beyond the reach of international criminal justice. Nobody can side with the criminals and against the victims. Bosco Ntaganda, who committed crimes in Ituri and continues to commit crimes today in the Kivus, Joseph Kony of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, Ahmed Harun, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs for the Sudan, will also end up in jail.
"I went to CAR, I met the victims, those who survived the violence, those who survived AIDS. We cannot erase the scars. But we can give them justice. Their testimonies will be strong evidence for the Prosecution. The victims will tell their stories in Court, this power will be theirs."
"Jean-Pierre Bemba is the fourth person to be arrested by the ICC. On June 5, I will report to the UNSC regarding crimes and destruction of entire communities in Darfur. Our first trial focusing on child soldiers is about to start. We continue to monitor situations around the world where crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC appear to be committed, from Colombia to Afghanistan. International Justice is in motion."
| May 24, 2008 |
Washington Post - United States
Now I hope my fellow athletes will speak out for Darfur in Beijing.
| May 23, 2008 |
We are just 7 kilometers from the Chad border.
I should have included the Chadian military on the list of perpetrators.
Some are former mercenaries who helped Bozize come to power. Now they are armed and roaming in and out of Chad.. In this area they have attacked three villages since January.
Today I visited the town of Betoko- just 12 miles from the border. Until 2006 this was a huge market town for Chadian goods. Today it is nearly empty, with animals roaming through, rebels relaxing, smoking, their weapons at their sides. The ruins of burned homes are being overrun by vegetation.
I was looking at all this, as we headed toward a seed distribution. Suddenly we got the message to turn around. There was shooting near the distribution site- it was believed to be Chadian military. The more than 100 women and children who had gathered to receive seeds, fled.
"In 2007, during these events, men came to our home to take our daughter. Of course we gave them everything so that we could keep our child.'
Another woman said
"My children, a boy and a girl were taken by the Presidential Guard and my husband, too. My brother was upset so he followed them. The Presidential Guard cut his throat. Six months later my daughter escaped-just one month ago she returned. We had to take her to the hospital because she had been raped. She has been in the hospital ever since.
"The security in Paoua is improved because of all the white faces that came here. If we were to tell you all we have suffered we would be here a long time."
After a silence, a third woman spoke.
"The most important thing we can have is peace. I am a widow. My husband was killed. But for my children I hope for peace. Thanks to you aid workers we can hope."
Rebels have tried unsuccessfully to capture the town, but Paoua remains under government control. The territories outside it however are rebel held.
Last year Paoua was a ghost town with heavy military presence and few civilians to be seen. I stayed in a Catholic Mission and went out into the bush to talk to the population. But in the last year, the aid agencies have arrived. The UN have constructed a remarkable compound . There is even wireless internet!
With the arrival of aid workers most people have returned to the town, although the situation is still very insecure and at least 50,000 are still hiding in the bush. Some people come to tend their fields in the daytime, but at night they return to the forest. Ngaikosse ( nephew of the President of CAR, Francoise Bozize,) has left for Bangui, but residents told me that whenever they hear he is visiting, they flee.
In 2005, before the attacks there were 84 schools in this area. In 2007 there were 4.
So UNICEF joined with Coopi to set up emergency schools for displaced children. They spoke with parents to find out where they wanted their schools to be.The people asked that the schools be near their destroyed villages but hidden in the bush, like their dwellings. So thanks to the hard work of these excellent humanitarians, 104 schools for displaced children have opened within less than 16 months. After the attacks the former teachers fled the area. So Coopi and UNICEf began training parent/teachers.
To reach the Bemel bush school I walked for at least 20 minutes along winding footpaths that were barely detectable in the lush growth. Tucked under the trees, 200 children were being taught in three open (no walls) classrooms.
The parents told me that they have built their dwellings nearby but scattered - so that there would be no village to attack.
Parents said "It is very difficult living in the bush. The biggest problem is health. We have a lot of medical problems . We have no medicine- just the herbs from the bush. There is no medical assistance at all. There is no clean water to drink. There is not enough food. There are snakes . People are killed by the snakes. Our children have no shoes. When it rains they cannot go to school. When they are sick, they die.
"Once we had cattle to help cultivate our fields, but bandits took everything so we produce less. There is always instability here. We are not safe."
| May 22, 2008 |
Two little girls were standing outside Niege's home. The older is 10 but the size of a 3 or 4 year old in my country. She also has a 'club foot' and what appears to be a deformity of the shoulder. The younger girl is 8. We passed the hat and collected enough money to be sure they will be cared for at the feeding center. I hope an orthopedic surgeon reading this blog and will consider coming here. He or she could change these fragile lives.
In February 2007 in the town Bossangoa I met with a large group of women with their children. I was with Esther Guluma, UNICEF Regional Director and a wonderful UNICEF photographer-Giaccomo Pirozzi. It was he who spotted the tiny girl in a red dress. He told me that she was very ill. Among so many malnourished children I don't think I would have noticed that this little one was so close to death. In speaking with her mother I learned that the child named Niege had stopped eating and had not taken any liquids for two days. Her kidneys had already shut down and her tiny body was so swollen that the skin on her feet and hands was cracking apart (see picture at right). She was three years old but looked like an infant. We drove her, with her mother to the nearest clinic where we waited a long time for a doctor to arrive. The doctor
said they could do nothing for her in Bossangoa. In Bangui they could save her, but it was unlikely that she would survive the journey, a five hour drive. Also, treatment cost money and Niege's family was destitute. I paid the money and it was decided that if the child survived the night she would be taken to Bangui.Niege did survive the night. She spent more than a month at the hospital in Bangui. May 2008- Niege is still being monitored by UNICEF supported feeding center. She is still getting 'Plumpynut' an emergency peanut vitamin product but just look at her now (with me yesterday)! She is in nursery school.
KaboIn October 2007 the first wave of displaced people arrived in Kabo: some 2000 terrified people fled the crossfire between a rebel group ( ARPD) and the government troops (FACA). FACA is responsible for the burning of many villages.
Bandits ( Coupeur de Routes) roam freely in most parts of this region and are responsible for the displacement of many thousands of civilians. As they rape, steal and kidnap for ransom they grow in wealth and numbers.
When I was here last year they were one of the many predators roaming the land, but since then they have proliferated and are feared by all, especially anyone who has any assets. The 'Peuhl' people have suffered particularly. Traditionally they are herders and they prospered through maintaining large numbers of cattle . Now they are targeted. Their cattle are being stolen and family members are abducted and held for ransom. The victimized family will sell what little they have left and the whole community, over months that can stretch into years, will raise the money. The bandits can sell the cattle or goods across the border in Chad. Their success in making large sums of money has encouraged them and so people live in terror, afraid to own cattle or even a bicycle, afraid to show any sign of prosperity.
Bandits come from Chad, Nigeria, and Niger.
A Peuhl woman told me, "We once had 40 cattle. The Coupeur de Routes (bandits) came and stole them and they took my son and husband. I was forced to sell what remained to pay for their release. It took me 6 months to pay for my son, then the community came together to pay for my husband. So he was returned. But then he was taken again by the bandits last February. I am still looking for him but I don't know where he is or who took him."
Today about 4000 displaced people live in a bleak camp at Kabo.
I met a young mother who invited me to join her under the sheeting that is her shelter. I will not disclose her name. She spoke in a voice that was barely audible and stared at the ground all the while.
"With 12 other women I was abducted by bandits. We were kept in the forest for 3 days. We were raped and were not given any food or water. I was 4 months pregnant. Then they discarded me. Some of the women fled to Chad. I came here. I keep thinking about what happened to me. I cannot sleep well. I just keep thinking about these things. I have 5 children."
| May 20, 2008 |
g along the scheduled road, I flew here to Bossangoa on a UN airplane . The UNICEF drivers decided to take the vehicles via another, longer route. They,too, left this morning . They plan to "go village by village". I asked to accompany them but UN security wouldn't let me. The drivers were stopped by a menacing group of Presidential Guards . The men couldn't call us for help because they were forbidden to use their sat phones. They were taken to the Colonel and threatened. Finally, after it became clear that the men worked with the United Nations, they were released with an apology. They are safely here but shaken. The Presidential Guards are not supposed to harass UN personnel.Ester Guluma, UNICEF regional Director (and my friend) is with me on this trip as she was the last time I came to CAR. Big delight - Ettie Higgins (picture right), my friend from UNICEF in Darfur, where she spent two years in El Fasher. She has been working here for nearly a year. We've kept in touch and it's GREAT to see her again. She will be going home to Ireland this week. Ettie is one of the heroes.
UNICEf and other humanitarian agencies are struggling to provide assistance to this traumatized population. Thanks to their efforts things appear improved, at least in this area; by that I mean better than when I was here in February of 2007. Some people have returned to their homes. I saw women making bricks and people re-thatching their homes. But I also met with people who are too terrified to return to their villages. The Presidential Guards burned their homes and they are afraid they will return, or that the bandits will attack them.
So they have built their shelters deep in the bush, away from the roads.
Many had been injured during the attacks and lost family members. They have been living in the bush for two years. The trees are laden with mangos, so for now there is that to eat, and cassava roots and yams.
"Our biggest worry is the children. They are sick." (
The children were indeed coughing.) "We don't have sheets to cover them. We are tired of sleeping in the bush." An elderly woman held up a cracked plastic pail, "We have only these broken buckets."
When I asked what they are hoping will happen, a woman holding a small child looked me straight in the eye and said,"We don't have any more hope."
IRC
One IRC project provides doors for homes that are being rebuilt.
Another IRC project assists victims of gender-based violence which is ngo-speak for 'Rape'. An all-woman team of 6 aid workers comes twice a week to this two room clinic where a psycho-social worker guides each victim through the difficult process which includes an examination and HIV treatment. Most women do not report their rapes or speak of them to anyone because they are ashamed and because "if a woman has slept with another man she is dirty and must be discarded", I was told.
Also they say nothing because it is pointless to seek justice when there is no legal structure in place. There will be no justice for these women. Furthermore, the perpetrators are nearby. Even so, along just this stretch of road between the two towns, 1164 rapes have been reported in the last year. The rape of children has become more common. The youngest victim was four years old.
The perpetrators are armed groups and family members. Often women are gang raped. Recently a woman was raped by 16 or 17 men who tied her legs and arms to trees and forced her husband to watch.
Kago Bandoro is located in the north central part of CAR. It is torn apart by instability. Two rebel groups control the area: the FDPC and the ARPD. The town itself has been reclaimed by government troops. These same troops have burned countless villages. Bandits roam freely throughout the areas outside rebel or government control.
Along the road from Kago Bandora to Kago there are countless burned villages. The people live in the bush,some for two years, a short distance from Kago Bandoro. Commander Laque of APRD and his heavily armed men were ready for us. UNICEF had informed him that we would be passing along. We were introduced and he assured our safe passage. Indeed all along the route groups of rebels stood at attention when we passed. ACTED, an aid group, is paying people to repair the roads. It's hard work pounding the stones. Each is paid $2 a day. Many women had babies tied to their backs.
The boy in the picture was shot in northeastern CAR. I met him and other children in similar circumstances in Kaga Bandoro, at the IRC clinic.
| May 19, 2008 |
I was standing on the airstrip in San Ouandja talking to the EUFOR troops when an immaculate, white Cessna flew down from the sky. We watched, along with the scores of ragged children who seemed fascinated by this unusual day- there had been helicopters, military vehicles, white faced troops, a UN plane and now this. But it was what came next that interested me; troops rushed toward the plane- the CAR army(FACA) and men with an assortment of boxes and bags of various sizes. Other men disembarked and all were animatedly shaking hands and exchanging parcels. A delicate little girl also stepped out of the plane. She was wearing a blue gown laced with silver and she was carrying a doll. A white baby doll. The ragged children stared and she stared back. A white man pilot also got out. By then I was on the spot to ask where he was from. France. He had been flying into this area for 20 years-except when the violence makes it too difficult. So I asked who the passengers were. "I just fly the plane" said he, ending the conversation. Inside of 10 minutes all passengers were back on-board and the plane was disappearing into the clear, African sky.
What I had witnessed was a diamond trade. The area is full of diamonds. The actual diggers make very little money, the middle men make much more but the real money comes when the diamonds reach the international marketplace.
The wealth of the poorest country on earth was taken into the sky. Some one is making billions and it isn't the starving people of the Central African Republic.
I know about the Kimberley process and I don't care. Diamonds can get 'laundered' and can squeak through the process.
Until the rightful owners of the gems -the populations of the lands from which the diamonds are taken - fairly benefit from the wealth, the diamond is the symbol of the gross plundering of African countries.
Flying into Sam Ouandjo I could see the sprawl of plastic sheeting. A refugee camp is a dispiriting sight. This one was smaller than any I had visited in Darfur or Chad. On the (tiny) airstrip, I was surprised to see a EUFOR battalion with armed military vehicles and a chopper.I had a conversation with LCL Tom Picouron who told me they had just arrived in San Ouandjo for the first time and would be traveling the next day toward Chad where he and his troops intended to "locate and identify Janjaweed". Apparently there is a large gathering near the Chad border. I asked him what happens when they leave, what about the protection of the people here? He said EUFOR would work with local forces- meaning the CAR army (FACAS) and policemen.
After much discussion, preparation and delays, EUFOR finally deployed to CAR and eastern Chad last February. There are currently 2600 troops from 18 nations. I asked what they needed for the success of the overall mission-protection of the people in northeastern CAR and eastern Chad. He replied, "More support". Including choppers. I brought up the fact that the one-year mission would hardly be long enough and he agreed that the single year mandate would need to be extended. CRUCIAL I thought. Indeed I HOPE this is being planned now. If EUFOR leaves so vanishes all protection for civilians along this inferno of a borderland.
After much discussion, preparation and delays, EUFOR finally deployed to CAR and eastern Chad last February. There are currently 2600 troops from 18 nations. I asked what they needed for the success of the overall mission-protection of the people in northeastern CAR and eastern Chad. He replied, "More support". Including choppers. I brought up the fact that the one-year mission would hardly be long enough and he agreed that the single year mandate would need to be extended. CRUCIAL I thought. Indeed I HOPE this is being planned now. If EUFOR leaves so vanishes all protection for civilians along this inferno of a borderland.| May 18, 2008 |
Sam Ouandja, Northeast, The Central African Republic. Many days drive from Bangui. A three hour plane trip.
On May 07,2007 the people of Sam Ouandja (population roughly 10,000) got a surprise.
2,646 strangers suddenly arrived. The emaciated men, women and children had been walking through the desert for at least eleven days. They were in desperate need of water and food and had urgent medical needs. Half were suffering from acute malnutrition, many from malaria, diarrhea and from the wounds inflicted during the attack.
"We were bombed by planes and attacked by armed men so we ran", Mastura Adam Yaya told me. "My husband was killed. We went into the desert. We lost everything. I have 10 children. I don't know how I will provide for them."
Once there were 6000 people in Dafak. Some were killed, some fled into Chad, and 3,028 have now come to Sam Ouandjo, stretching the resources of this remote town. Still, the local people welcomed the refugees despite their own troubles: they had been attacked by 'bandits' several times in recent months. There was not enough food or clean water; there was no shelter. Even simple needs could not be met. There were no cooking pots, clothes or mats to sleep on. There was no soap.
Aid agencies rushed to the rescue. Trucks rumbled toward Sam Ouandjo carrying blankets, kitchen sets, mosquito nets, soap, jerry-cans. UNICEF and partners installed water treatment systems and set up a school. And so the first refugee camp for Darfurians was formed in CAR.
But "I'm still afraid",Ms Yaya said in a barely audible voice. "I'm afraid."
Oh-triplets were born today.
On May 07,2007 the people of Sam Ouandja (population roughly 10,000) got a surprise.
2,646 strangers suddenly arrived. The emaciated men, women and children had been walking through the desert for at least eleven days. They were in desperate need of water and food and had urgent medical needs. Half were suffering from acute malnutrition, many from malaria, diarrhea and from the wounds inflicted during the attack.
"We were bombed by planes and attacked by armed men so we ran", Mastura Adam Yaya told me. "My husband was killed. We went into the desert. We lost everything. I have 10 children. I don't know how I will provide for them."
Once there were 6000 people in Dafak. Some were killed, some fled into Chad, and 3,028 have now come to Sam Ouandjo, stretching the resources of this remote town. Still, the local people welcomed the refugees despite their own troubles: they had been attacked by 'bandits' several times in recent months. There was not enough food or clean water; there was no shelter. Even simple needs could not be met. There were no cooking pots, clothes or mats to sleep on. There was no soap.
Aid agencies rushed to the rescue. Trucks rumbled toward Sam Ouandjo carrying blankets, kitchen sets, mosquito nets, soap, jerry-cans. UNICEF and partners installed water treatment systems and set up a school. And so the first refugee camp for Darfurians was formed in CAR.
But "I'm still afraid",Ms Yaya said in a barely audible voice. "I'm afraid."
Oh-triplets were born today.
Who's WhoThe PERPETRATORS - (I may not have the correct spelling -have little time and internet comes and goes so am hurrying)
- Bandits-no political agenda. Pillage, rape, kidnap, murder throughout CAR.
- Rebels:
APRD -(Armee Populaire pour le Restoration de la Democracie) - they are active in the northwest, attacked the town of Paoua. The government is attempting dialogue with this group. Their position has been anti government.
FDPC-Front Democratique pour le People Committee.
UFDR (Union des Forces Democratique pour le Rassemblement) -a pro government rebel group.
FACA Forces Armee Central Africa-the army.
Tora Bora- Sudanese poachers.
Poachers-in the southwest-they come heavily armed, often on camels from neighboring countries and kill animals. They kill at least one elephant per week. They also rape and steal.
Guarde Presidential- victims have told me they are responsible for brutal attacks.
Chadian Bandits -they come from Chad to rape, steal and kill.
LRA- new players in the CAR- Joseph Kony and the Lords Resistance Army has recently moved from DRC into OBO, an area in the southeast . They are known for their extreme savagery . Recently they kidnapped at least 300 children. - The VICTIMS-the civilian population of CAR . Often they don't know who attacked them. 300,000 are currently displaced and many have been living in the bush for two years or more.
When I was here last year there were just two aid organizations working in a very limited capacity in this tormented region-MSF (from Holland and France) and Coopi-an Italian group.
Today there are 23 humanitarian agencies. This has made an ENORMOUS difference. Food is being delivered to many areas and some 'bush schools' have been set up for the people who are living in the countryside (bush).
There is a peace dialogue scheduled for June between the government and all rebel groups.
But the security situation here is very fragile. All of the northeast and much of the northwest is at "Phase 4" . Stage 5 is evacuation time.
Cindy McCain Sells Sudan Investments
By Kate Phillips <http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/author/kphillips/>
Cindy McCain, the wife of the Republican presumptive nominee for president, has sold off at least $2 million she held in funds with investments in Sudan businesses.
The mutual funds — American Funds Europacific Growth and American Funds Capital World Growth and Income — have investments in companies with business in the Sudan, according to the Sudan Divestment Task Force, an advocacy organization that has been working to persuade states, universities and other organizations to divest.
Both of the funds were listed by her husband, Senator John McCain, on his financial disclosure forms. The investments and the divestiture were first reported by The Associated Press.
Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the campaign, confirmed the sale on Wednesday.
“As soon as she was made aware, she sold it,” Mr. Rogers said. “Senator and Mrs. McCain are committed to doing everything possible to end the genocide in Darfur.”
Dear Friends,I am in the Northeast of the Central African Republic. Before I describe the events of the last few days I should first give you a few statistics.
CAR is one of the most desperately poor countries in the world. 67% of the population are living on less than a dollar a day.
The life expectancy here was 43 in 2003. It has to be a great deal lower now since the worst of the violence began in 2005.
The life expectancy here was 43 in 2003. It has to be a great deal lower now since the worst of the violence began in 2005.
300,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes.
The infant mortality rate is 132 per 1000 births.
There are 4.3 million people in a country the size of France and Belgium combined.
There is one flight to Europe per week. NO internal flights. Few roads. Millions have no access to clean drinking water. Most water pumps were destroyed or have broken down. 75% of the population have no access to sanitation (toilets of any kind).
Only 1.45% of the government budget is spent on education. Same on health care. This is 50% less than the average for an African nation.
The educational system in the north has vanished- schools and books were destroyed. Teachers disappeared. Only emergency education exists-this is implemented by aid workers. Most of the teachers are parents.
There are just 7 gas stations in the entire country outside of Bangui, the capital. Aid delivery is a constant challenge.
There was once a functioning country here but since the late 1990s the main income generating crops, cotton and coffee, are down about 90%.
I am in Sam Ouandjo.In the northeast.
More later . No time.
The infant mortality rate is 132 per 1000 births.
There are 4.3 million people in a country the size of France and Belgium combined.
There is one flight to Europe per week. NO internal flights. Few roads. Millions have no access to clean drinking water. Most water pumps were destroyed or have broken down. 75% of the population have no access to sanitation (toilets of any kind).
Only 1.45% of the government budget is spent on education. Same on health care. This is 50% less than the average for an African nation.
The educational system in the north has vanished- schools and books were destroyed. Teachers disappeared. Only emergency education exists-this is implemented by aid workers. Most of the teachers are parents.
There are just 7 gas stations in the entire country outside of Bangui, the capital. Aid delivery is a constant challenge.
There was once a functioning country here but since the late 1990s the main income generating crops, cotton and coffee, are down about 90%.
I am in Sam Ouandjo.In the northeast.
More later . No time.
| May 16, 2008 |
Published in The Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2008By MIA FARROW and NANCY SODERBERG
Next month the United States will assume the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, and not a moment too soon. The Bush administration will have perhaps its final opportunity to address the Darfur genocide, preserving its legacy as an architect of the imperiled U.N. peace agreement for Sudan.
In the past few weeks, the carnage in Darfur has escalated. Government bombing campaigns continue apace, with tens of thousands of terrified survivors joining the more than 2.5 million people already displaced.
Aid workers are being targeted- the director of Save the Children in Chad was shot and killed at the Chad-Darfur border. A primary school in north Darfur was bombed, killing and wounding many children. Countless people in the camps are slowly dying of hunger and disease, yet the World Food Program has been forced to halve food rations due to insecurity. Just this week, the violence spread beyond Darfur to the outskirts of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan itself.
Never has the need for a protection force been greater or more urgent.
Last July, the Security Council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the deployment of 26,000 peacekeepers under the U.N. Mission in Darfur (Unamid). But the Sudanese regime is blocking the deployment of the full protection force, as it has for five years mocked the international community's pleas for security.
The U.N.-mandated force was to have been "predominantly African in character." But Sudan has twisted the clear intention of the resolution, and "predominantly" has become "exclusively." Khartoum has rejected offers of troop contributions from several non-African countries, knowing full well that most African battalions are undertrained and underequipped for the complex and difficult protection mission in Darfur.
Just 9,000 troops are currently on the ground in various locations in Darfur. U.N. officials have expressed the fear that as things stand, peacekeepers in Darfur will be unable to protect themselves, let alone Darfur's tormented civilians and the humanitarians struggling to sustain them.
Sudan is playing a deadly game. But there is a way to save the people of Darfur even under the regime's crooked rules. African nations willing to contribute peacekeepers need partners, nations with capable armies to provide training and essential logistical support. The U.S., the U.K., Canada, France and others have already initiated such partnerships. More nations need to step forward, with a commitment to sustain the battalions for several years.
The U.S. should expand the effort to assemble a group of volunteer nations. Then, once it assumes leadership of the Security Council, it could host a "Unamid pledging conference" - a meeting of troop contributing countries - to announce partnerships and logistical support for struggling African battalions. The bare-bones contributions necessary to stop the slaughter would be minimal: Currently, U.N. peacekeeping is calling for 24 helicopters, two transport units and one logistical unit.
All 15 member states of the Security Council will visit Khartoum in early June. This is an auspicious opportunity for the U.N. to unify in its commitment to the deployment of the protection force.
China has a significant role to play here. Given its vast oil investments and brisk arms trade, Beijing has unparalleled influence with Sudan. The entry of a full protection force into Darfur would likely give China the international ovation it craves in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.
Rations of hope are meager in Darfur. But this is an opportunity for the international community, for the Security Council, and especially for the U.S. and China, to step up and protect a defenseless population. Will they do it?
Ms. Farrow, an actor and advocate, is the chair of Dream for Darfur. Ms. Soderberg is a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and co-author of the forthcoming book, "The Prosperity Agenda: What the World Wants from America -- and What We Need in Return" (Wiley).
EUFOR was on the airstrip when our plane landed- many vehicles, a chopper and lots of Frenchmen (and 3 Austrian medics) all heavily armed. They are based in Birao but are headed toward eastern Chad as there are reports of a major janjaweed gathering there. Lots of ragged, beautiful children were watching the activity. While I was talking to the lieutenant another plane landed. A spiffy one (Cesna maybe ) without humanitarian markings. Now this is a tiny dirt strip in the middle of nowhere so we wondered. Armed rebel group UFDr quickly surrounded the plane.This is an area where there are diamonds. LOTS of diamonds. Someone was picking them up. They would pay for the diamonds but not much. I don't know if the people here actually realize how very much money theses gems will fetch in other lands. The people who do the digging are paid less than five dollars a day. There would be a middleman. I was witnessing the exchange. Some well dressed people got out of the plane including a little girl, not ragged at all. She was wearing a pale blue gown laced with shimmering silver. She was carrying a white doll. The ragged children stared. Some guys carrying bags approached the plane. The pilot got out and stretched. I strolled up and asked where he came from. He told me he is French and that he'd been coming here for 20 years. When I asked whom he worked for he said he didn't know-"I just fly planes'. Someone said they are Iranians. The entire transaction lasted no more than 10 minutes and the plane was gone. It is heartbreaking and infuriating to see the resources of this country-one of the most destitute in the world-flown away. The people here have nothing. So long as the world's poorest countries are being plundered to serve the wealthy, I think everyone should stop buying diamonds. I know about the Kimberly process but clearly there are loopholes and shame on all who profit. Most of the money should go to the people of CAR. They need hospitals, there are few schools, the malnutrition rates are high.
No time to write more now. Sorry. It's rough.
| May 14, 2008 |
| May 13, 2008 |
In the lawless northwest, rebel groups, bandits and government forces range through the countryside clashing, pillaging, burning villages and killing civilians, raping women, stealing livestock and kidnapping children.
About 300,000 have been displaced. Many are living in the bush, too terrified to return to their villages and fields. I met people who were living for more than a year without shelter, or any assistance whatsoever. They survived by eating leaves and drinking swamp water. They were emaciated, caked in gray dust, wearing remnants of clothing or none at all. "Our children are dying" they told me.
In the past three months there has been a surge in attacks upon aid workers.
I will try to send blogs whenever I have access to the internet but that won't be very often.
| May 12, 2008 |
Boston, MA – May 12, 2008 - Three days before PetroChina’s annual meeting of shareholders, over 80 civil society organizations including human rights, corporate accountability, religious and anti-genocide groups from 17 countries have signed an open letter to the United Nations Global Compact. The letter calls upon the UN Global Compact to use its influence with PetroChina, a compact participant, to help bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. PetroChina, the listed arm of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Sudan's largest oil industry partner, is indisputably linked to the regime perpetuating the five-year humanitarian crisis in Darfur which many consider to be genocide.
The letter, which was coordinated by Boston-based Investors Against Genocide, was also signed by members of US Congress, Canadian Parliamentarians, actor Mia Farrow, and Sudan researcher and analyst Eric Reeves. For the full text of the letter including signatories, visit www.InvestorsAgainstGenocide.org/UNGCandPetroChina <http://www.InvestorsAgainstGenocide.org/UNGCandPetroChina> .
“The challenge for the UN Global Compact,” states Eric Cohen, chairperson of Investors Against Genocide, “is to take firm steps to ensure that its principles are upheld in the face of the most egregious human rights violations on the planet. We therefore respectfully request that the United Nations Global Compact use its own good offices to encourage PetroChina, in partnership with its closely related parent company, CPNC, to engage the Government of Sudan to help bring a swift end to the ongoing crisis in Sudan. We believe that such engagement by PetroChina and CNPC would have a dramatic impact on curtailing the gross violations of human rights that have been committed in Sudan for decades.”
This request for the UN Global Compact to engage with its participant, PetroChina, is particularly timely since the Secretary-General has asked all parts of the United Nations to recognize 2008 as the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UN Global Compact derives the first two of its ten principles from the UDHR. The first principle of the Un Global Compact states that businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights. The second principle requires that businesses ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
The Global Compact is currently the world’s largest and most widely known voluntary corporate responsibility initiative, with over 4,000 corporate participants. It is often criticized by civil society organizations because of its purely voluntary nature. According to Bart Slob, a Senior Researcher for the Amsterdam-based Centre of Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), there are concerns related to the Compact’s assumption that the current form of globalization can be made sustainable and equitable, and the lack of independent monitoring. “Without any effective monitoring and enforcement provisions, the Global Compact fails to hold corporations accountable,” explains Slob. “It is particularly concerning when participants, such as PetroChina, that do not uphold the compact’s principles use the prestige of the UN in their public relations.”
In its recently published 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, PetroChina proudly cites its entry to the Global Compact. PetroChina’s CSR report mentions the Global Compact 12 times, while there is no mention of PetroChina’s support for the Sudanese government that has committed human rights violations in Darfur. “The participation of this company in the Global Compact is detrimental to the reputation of the United Nations,” states Slob. “PetroChina is wrapping itself in the UN flag to “bluewash” its image.”
The letter asks the UN Global Compact to influence PetroChina and CNPC to independently, or collectively with other foreign oil companies operating in Sudan, request that the Government of Sudan (GoS) fully and promptly implement all provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1769, ensure free and unfettered access for humanitarian aid workers to the people of Darfur, provide full and unrestricted land access for peacekeeping troops (including land for UN bases), cease support for the Janjaweed militia without delay, and genuinely engage in the Darfur peace process. Further, the letter asks for the Global Compact to influence PetroChina/CNPC to make all possible efforts to contribute to the success of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement, including utilizing leverage on its business affiliates, on the GoS, and on the Government of South Sudan to ensure that the CPA is implemented without further delay.
“If PetroChina in concert with CNPC does not fulfill these requests, and also does not provide a comprehensive report to the UNGC and the undersigned within three months from PetroChina’s annual meeting,” the letter reads, “we respectfully request that PetroChina be placed on probationary status as a Global Compact participant until such actions have been satisfactorily taken and reported.”
The Government of Sudan has a well-documented history of susceptibility to economic pressure. It is highly reliant on foreign direct investment not only to pay its debts and subsidize government expenditures, but also to fund its military and finance the conflict in Darfur.”
To ensure that the integrity of the United Nations Global Compact is safeguarded at all times, the Secretary-General has adopted several “Integrity Measures” which state that “safeguarding the reputation, integrity and good efforts of the Global Compact and its participants requires transparent means to handle credible allegations of systematic or egregious abuse of the GC’s overall aims and principles.”
Although PetroChina has claimed independence from CNPC, the two companies are inseparable. Management at CNPC and PetroChina almost completely overlap and the same individual, Jiang Jiemin, is president of both companies. Frequent asset transfers between the two entities, which often take place at subsidized rates, have made CNPC completely reliant on PetroChina for its financial health. In a May 2007 report on the relationship between PetroChina and CNPC, KLD Research & Analytics, an independent research firm, concluded that “investors should treat CNPC and PetroChina as if they were a single entity.” Comprehensive research by the Genocide Intervention Network on the intimate, opaque, and symbiotic relationship among PetroChina, CNPC, and CNPC's extensive and problematic operations in Sudan reaches the same conclusion.
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Investors Against Genocide is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending investment in genocide. The organization works with individuals, companies, organizations, financial institutions, the press, and government agencies to build awareness and to create financial, public relations, and regulatory pressure for investment firms and companies to change. The ultimate goals are that the Government of Sudan ends its deadly genocide in Darfur and that companies and investment firms avoid investing in genocide. For more information, visit www.investorsagainstgenocide.org <http://www.investorsagainstgenocide.org> .