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| June 29, 2008 |
June 28,2008
If you were to have a unanimous voice saying quite clearly to Mr Mugabe, you are not welcome any longer, you are illegitimate and we will not recognize your administration in any shape or form, I think that that would be a very very powerful signal.
| June 28, 2008 |
Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday and gave us these words. "Even as we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete.Where there is poverty and sickness, including AIDS, where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done."
| June 27, 2008 |
Failure
For the past 18 months, Jan Eliasson and his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, have been leading the UN's peace efforts in Sudan. This week both negotiators have quit, admitting they have failed in their efforts to secure a peace process in Sudan.Over the past year, levels of violence in Darfur have dramatically increased. In this anarchic and violent region, aid workers face daily attacks on both humanitarian compounds and food convoys. As a result, food rations for displaced civilians already struggling with hunger and sickness were cut by almost half.
A fraction of the UN authorized protection force of 26,000 has deployed but security continues to deteriorate.
The Sudanese government policy of obstruction has prevented the full deployment.
Mr. Eliasson told the press, "If we don't have a mobilization of energy from the international community we risk a major humanitarian disaster again. The margins of survival are so slim for the people of Darfur."
An effective process would require that the Government of Sudan cease all attacks upon civilians and that the almost 30 rebel groups find their common ground and cease hostilities. Neighbors Libya and Chad need to be on board, and the international community must commit to pursuing peace negotiations much more vigorously. None of this is on the horizon.
Dr James Smith, of Aegis Trust, said. "At the moment it is going nowhere, but unless a new negotiator has new carrots or sticks it's destined to fail. The situation is unbelievably bleak."
In 2005 two directors of Medicine Sans Frontieres Holland in Darfur were arrested on charges of crimes against the state, publishing false reports and spying. Their crime was the release of a report on the prevalence of rape and the many cases they had treated in the region. The Khartoum regime denies that rape occurs in Darfur. The head of MSF Holland refused to participate in the prosecutions of the two MSF workers and so she was expelled from Darfur. The head of OCHA was also expelled this year. If aid workers speak out, they face reprisals or expulsion. The result is a terrible silence . Here is a striking example: the most recent reports on malnutrition rates in Darfur were released last September. They revealed that in some of the camps, 30-40% of the population is suffering from acute malnutrition. In the past nine months, access to displaced people has shrunk, while levels of violence have risen. Food rations have been reduced by almost by 50% . Unquestionably this has taken a further toll on the anguished people of Darfur, especially the most vulnerable, the children under five. But no new malnutrition surveys have been made public. The government of Sudan is refusing to authorize their release. This is an outrage.
During a recent visit to Darfur and its miserable camps, US Envoy to Sudan Rich Williamsonfound a ray of light. It was a facility contructted by an aid organization to assist displaced women and their children. It was a place where they could practise their crafts and learn new skills. It offered them a place of their own. The women gathered there spoke frankly to Mr.Williamson. They told him their stories of loss and horror. The following day the facility was burned to the ground.| June 25, 2008 |
Chinese hack into Congressional computers
In 2006 and 2007, Chinese government officials hacked into computers in the offices of both Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.).China has denied the hacking but Rep Wolf said "It was confirmed to me by intelligence agencies of our government" .
The Bush administration has reportedly asked that lawmakers stay quiet on the issue.
"For some reason, the Bush administration is -- only hearing what they want to hear and they are disregarding the fact that China is having cyber attacks against many federal agencies."
Did I mention that early in 2008 our website at Dream for Darfur was hacked into by the Chinese? So was the Team Darfur site (Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek's organization) and the sites of the Genocide Intervention Network and Save Darfur, as well.
| June 24, 2008 |
UN calls for urgent action as ration cuts continue in Darfur
When I spoke at the United Nations Security Council, four representatives of humanitarian agencies working in the region were invited to speak. All declined for fear of reprisals by Khartoum.The most recent malnutrition survey was released last September. It stated that in some of the camps 30-40% of the population was suffering from acute malnutrition. Nine months later, after food rations have been halved and access to displaced people is more limited, malnutrition studies gathered by aid workers have not been authorized for release. Aid workers can say nothing. This is unacceptable.
Khartoum, 23 June 2008 - WFP has warned that millions of displaced Sudanese in Darfur are to face their third month of ration cuts as violence and attacks on trucking convoys continue to disrupt the flow of food assistance to the region.
Some 2.7 million people will soon face their third month of a 42 per cent ration cut at the same time as the hunger gap looms : the difficult months from now until harvest in October. WFP expects as many as 3.6 million people could need food assistance during the hunger gap, but the effects of hijackings and insecurity on deliveries mean there is no end in sight to lower rations.
'In July, we will be forced to maintain the reduced ration because we already project that there won't be enough food in our Darfur warehouses,' said WFP representative in Sudan Kenro Oshidari.
'Since January, there have been 81 hijackings of our trucks. We have had two drivers killed, 41 drivers are missing and we have 55 trucks missing. Just today, there were four attacks on our WFP trucks. Two were attacked on the way between Kutum and ElFasher, and two enroute from Geneina to Mornei,' Oshidari told journalists on June 22.
'Our concern is that two months ago, the government promised to increase the frequency of escorts for our truck convoys to once every 48 hours. The implementation has been delayed, and so, since May, we have been forced to resort to ration cuts. And if we don't improve deliveries, we can't restore the full ration,' Oshidari said.
Darfur needs a massive 44,000 metric tons of food assistance every month. With each truck carrying an average of 20 metric tons, this calls for at least 2000 truck trips per month in and out of the remote region.
'If we had any other alternative, we'd take it, but we don't,' Oshidari said. 'But we're very worried about the effects of the reduced rations, particularly for children, who are most at risk of malnutrition.'
WFP and seven other humanitarian agencies in Sudan issued a joint statement, warning that a limited time remained to safeguard against an increasingly precarious situation. The agencies said overstretched water and sanitation services meant diseases such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infections would have an even greater impact in the rainy season, and would be made worse if people were weakened by a shortage of food.
The agencies- the International Organization for Migration (IOM); Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC); World Food Programme (WFP); and the World Health Organization (WHO) - said underlying the potential crisis is the continued insecurity in the region, which led to an additional 180,000 people being displaced from their homes in the first five months of 2008.
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MIA FARROW AND DREAM FOR DARFUR'S
POSITION ON MILITARY SECURITY FIRMS
June 24, 2008
There has been some press coverage about Darfur advocate Mia Farrow's interaction with Blackwater.
The Financial Times inaccurately reported on June 18, 2008 that Farrow met with Blackwater. [Read the inaccurate Financial Times <http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto061820082108315688> story; other media are now also misreporting this based on the Financial Times story.]
While Farrow has not met with Blackwater, Dream for Darfur has been in contact with the firm by email. The following is Mia Farrow's statement regarding contact with Blackwater and other military security firms:
Statement of Mia Farrow:
"In the face of the utter failure of world governments to protect defenseless civilians in Darfur, we feel a measure of the urgency and desperation of this abandoned population.
The Khartoum regime continues to place obstacles in the path of the full deployment of a protection force of 26,000 authorized by the UN last July. The 9,000 peacekeepers and civilian police currently on the ground in Darfur have been unable to provide protection for displaced civilians in camps, aid workers, or for humanitarian food convoys - the lifeline for 2.7 million people.
It is neither advisable nor possible for military contractors to enter Sudan. But at least one security firms has claimed that it can prepare UN battalions to protect camps and convoys with even fewer than the 9,000 troops already deployed. If this is so, then it would be remiss not to find out how."
CAR: more violent and complex than ever before
Although the third of the four CAR rebel groups has today signed a peace agreement with the CAR government, and the army and Presidential Guard have stopped burning whole villages to the ground, there is no relief from the violence for the people. Armed bandits have proliferated and they come from as far away as Nigeria and Niger, as well as from neighboring Chad and Sudan. The Chadian army is one of the culprits. They attack villages, stealing possessions and cattle. They rape and kidnap children for ransom and women for sex,. Banditry is now the main source of human suffering in the north.Schools have been abandoned and health posts looted; displaced people have no access to safe drinking water. Dirty water has caused widespread respiratory infections, diarrhea and malaria.
The World Food Programme had announced food cuts due to the deterioration of security conditions in the region and recurrent attack against the aid workers. While the lack of funding forced the WFP to reduce air its services.
Hussein Abu Sharati, the spokesperson of Darfur displaced and refugees told Sudan Tribune that IDPs are facing water shortage since three days due to the lack of fuel for the water pumps. "Since three days the displaced in Darfur camps have no potable water due to the lack of fuel." He said.
Abu Sharati also spoke about the shrink of milled grains distributed to the displaced in Darfur. He said in addition to the cut planed by the UN humanitarian body, the WFP, the lack of fuel expose the camps population to a starvation.
Since May rations have been cut by 50 percent, and the daily kilo calorie allowance per person slashed by 40 percent from 2,156 to 1,242.
The refugee spokesperson accused the Sudanese government of deliberately preventing the fuel to reach the camps. Khartoum in past tried many time to precipitate the closure of the camps in Darfur. The government backed militias attack the displaced in their camps.
(ST)
| June 22, 2008 |
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/satelliteimages/12137968116.htm
22 June 2008
As the people of Darfur face the annual hunger gap — the period leading up to the
harvest in October — the humanitarian community in Sudan is warning that limited time
remains to safeguard against an increasingly precarious situation.
Underlying this potential crisis is the continued insecurity in the region, which led to an
additional 180,000 being displaced from their homes in the first five months of 2008.
Attacks on the UN World Food Programme convoys have seriously delayed the delivery
of food aid to Darfur culminating in a cut in the general food ration of more than 40
percent since May. At least 2.7 million people will be affected by a reduction for at
least the next two months.
The increasing number of vehicle hijackings affecting humanitarian agencies in Darfur
— 160 to date in 2008 — is undermining the delivery and quality of life-saving
assistance. Eight humanitarian workers have been killed this year.
In addition, the general population of Darfur experienced a substantially lower cereal
harvest in 2007. In South Darfur in particular, there has been a shortfall in the cereal
harvest. This combined with rising food prices is of great concern. If crops cannot be
cultivated due to fighting and displacement, many households will become even more
vulnerable.
Water and sanitation services are already over-stretched. The impact of diseases such
as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections in the forthcoming rainy season will be
more severe if people are weakened by a shortage of food.
In order to monitor, assess and alleviate the impact of these factors, it is essential that
humanitarian workers have safe access to all communities. Such monitoring can only
succeed if aid agencies are able to undertake and release the results of surveys and
assessments in a timely manner and without restrictions.
There is a window of opportunity to protect the population of Darfur from the worst
effects of this year’s difficult hunger gap but it is closing. Overall, despite localized
spikes and the vulnerability of the newly displaced, malnutrition and morbidity rates in
Darfur are still currently comparable to the same time last year. However, all parties
must act now to allow humanitarian agencies to safely monitor the situation and deliver
life-saving assistance. Without these conditions in place, specifically the security
necessary to deliver full food rations, the situation will deteriorate.
We, as humanitarian agencies in Sudan, call for the following immediate actions to
address these concerns which we know the Government also shares, many of which
have already been agreed to at the Sudan Consortium in Oslo and through the High
Level Committee.
The Government of Sudan should implement its stated commitment to ensure that food
convoys with escorts are organized a minimum every 48 hours on main routes into
Darfur. However, in order to return the food ration to normal levels, the authorities must
permit food relief trucks to travel into Darfur every day, regardless of whether escorts
are in place or not.
All armed groups operating in Darfur who bear responsibility for attacks on
humanitarians — including signatories and non-signatories to the Darfur Peace
Agreement — must cease the hijacking of vehicles and assets and demonstrate full
respect for International Humanitarian Law and principles.
The Government of Sudan must urgently enact its agreement to release the results of technically cleared
humanitarian surveys — including nutritional and crop surveys — and minimize delays in publishing future
survey findings.
The deployment of UNAMID troops needs to be accelerated to provide protection of civilians and
humanitarian workers and assets.
Ultimately, there must be a negotiated settlement to the Darfur crisis which allows internally displaced
people (IDPs) to return home voluntarily and in safety, and enables communities to re-establish their lives
and livelihoods. In the interim, IDPs should continue to have access to camps and protection against
forced or involuntary return.
A failure to respond now will have serious repercussions on the wellbeing and development of the people
of Darfur — not just during the coming days and months but in the longer-term.
This statement has been endorsed by the following members of the UN Country Team in Sudan:
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC)
World Food Programme (WFP)
World Health Organization (WHO)
For more information contact:
RC/HC Spokesperson: Ms. Orla Clinton, +249-912-174-454 or clinton@un.org
CAR rebels sign peace agreement with President Bozize
Yesterday a peace agreement was reached between CAR President Francois Bozize's government and three (of the four) rebel factions. It was signed by the leaders of two rebel groups: the Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD), which operates in the northwest, bordering Cameroon and Chad, and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), which had been active in the northeast, near the frontier with Sudan. The signature of the leader of a third rebel group, the Democratic Front for the Central African People (FDPC) is expected to follow.The hope in CAR is that the deal will shield the country from the spillover of the violence in Darfur and eastern Chad.
But the rebel groups represent a fraction of the violent armed militias moving through one of the world's poorest countries. Northern CAR is infested by marauders from Sudan, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Villages have also been attacked, robbed and burned by the brutal Presidential Guards, the CAR army, the Chadian army and most recently the Lords Resistance Army from Northern Uganda. The rape and kidnapping of women and children is common. The nation's wealth in gold, diamonds and uranium is plundered by other countries.
300,000 civilians are currently displaced and many are living in terror deep in the bush behind the remains of their villages, without food, safe water, or medical care.
The amnesty offered to the rebel fighters under the peace deal did not, however, give immunity from prosecution for war crimes or crimes against humanity which may by initiated by the International Criminal Court.
| June 21, 2008 |
"The Islamic world's response to the daily killings and suffering of millions of Muslims in Darfur has been largely silent, from both civil society as well as from institutions and majority of Islamic governments," it said.
"The Islamic world must decide to end its wall of silence, before it is too late ... More silence could be catastrophic on the Islamic community.” The coalition is made up of human rights groups in Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Mauritania, Kuwait, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.
Coalition leader Haggag Nayel urged OIC members to take decisive action. "It is within the reach of the OIC member states and the wider Arab and Islamic community to take the necessary steps to help end the human suffering in Darfur," he said. "The real causes of the conflict where Arabs are in conflict with black Africans are not fabricated by the west or imperialists."
| June 20, 2008 |
http://www.sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/sdb/2bb.cgi?seq=msg=160=1213900112 <http://www.sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/sdb/2bb.cgi?seq=msg&board=160&msg=1213900112>
relief workers say almost 100 percent of women living in aid camps have been raped
CNN Nic RobertsonZAM ZAM DISPLACEMENT CAMP, Sudan (CNN) -- Sudan's Darfur crisis has exploded on many fronts -- violence, hunger, displacement and looting -- but United Nations peacekeepers say the biggest issue now affecting the region is the systematic rape of women and children.
Thousands of women -- as young as four -- caught in the middle of the struggle between rebel forces and government-backed militias have become victims of rape, they say, with some aid groups claiming it is being used as a weapon of ethnic cleansing.
"That is one of the biggest issues in Darfur -- the rapes, and crimes against women and children," says Michael Fryer, UNAMID's police commissioner, the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed to try to tackle the violence.
Relief workers say they are powerless to stop the attacks and they say if they do speak out they fear the Sudanese government will tell them to leave the country. Humanitarian group Refugees International in a report last year said rape was "an integral part of the pattern of violence that the government of Sudan is inflicting upon the targeted ethnic groups in Darfur."
Some relief workers say almost 100 percent of women living in aid camps have been raped or become victims of gender-based violence, with many teenagers forced by militiamen to have sex multiple times while running regular errands such as collecting firewood.
They say the situation has now become so bad, many women are now resigned to rape attacks as a way of life.
But despite the extent of the abuse, the Sudanese government insists there is no problem, adding to the difficulties faced by the victims who are often ostracized by their communities or fall foul of a legal system seen as favoring their attackers.
"There is no rape in Darfur," says Mohammad Hassan Awad, a Humanitarian Aid Commissioner for West Darfur, who accuses foreign aid workers of persuading people in refugee camps to make false claims.
"She said they removed their scarves and used it to tie them up and were taking turns to rape them -- one is 13 years old the other one is 16 years," says Ajayi Funmi of the UNAMID police, after talking to two girls. Making matters worse, aid workers say scores of babies conceived through rape are being dumped by their mothers.
"Abandoned babies are reported but because of the stigma attached to it there is no detailed report because the women don't come forward," says Dr Naqib Safi of the U.N. children's body UNICEF. As many as 20 babies a month are being dumped in one camp of 22,000 people.
With both U.N. officials calling for more female officers to better educate women against rape and women saying they won't feel safe until the under-equipped and undermanned United Nations force is strong enough to protect them, the situation shows little sign of improving.
| June 19, 2008 |
A report by a humanitarian aid organization working in Darfur and Chad.
Insecurity has reached an unacceptable level, endangering the lives of thousands of civilians. Tensions between Chad and Sudan, attacks of rebels, militias and army presence in camps are the signs of an important change in the security situation and this could have a dramatic impact on populations that have already endured large amounts of violence and suffering. Violence and fighting must stop.Protecting the civilian population: EUFOR/MINURCAT must protect all civilians from all types of violence from any perpetrator. It needs to proactively interpret its protection mandate to help stabilize the situation. EUFOR must ensure that it really protects civilians. Its actions must correspond to the protection threats that currently face civilians and humanitarians who have been deadly targeted these last months without effective solutions from EUFOR. EUFOR must find a way to address the protection threats that currently occur in eastern Chad, for civilians and humanitarians, especially when there are rebel offensives. Population in camps told us that they have been left without protection during recent clashes between rebels and Chadian army.
MINURCAT is not fullfiling its mandate as it has not deployed yet. The gap that it represents is a huge threat for population in camps. Militias, rebels, bandits, national army are entering freely in camps, armed and dangerous, forcing children to enroll. This must end and the UN should put pressure on MINURCAT to accelerate its deployment. MINURCAT's deployment is giving priority to refugee camps but IDP sites are also very vulnerable, and MINURCAT should deploy in all camps.
Addressing impunity: Impunity has reached an unacceptable level in eastern Chad. The Chadian authorities must act on their responsibility to protect civilians. All parties to the conflict in Chad must uphold International Humanitarian Law by ensuring civilians and humanitarians are not attacked. The tragic murders of Pascal Marlinge, the Country Director of Save the Children UK, and Ramadan Djom, a driver for the same organization, are the most recent examples of crimes that affect all humanitarians. In the past 6 months, banditry has grown to a level never seen before in Chad and neither the local nor national authorities are doing enough to stop, prevent or punish it.
This increase in violence is threathening civilian populations and humanitarians. This must stop ; refugees, internally displaced people, and host communities have already suffered an intolerable amount of violence.
Ensuring humanitarian access: The current security situation is putting humanitarian operations at risk. Humanitarian organizations are bringing lifesaving aid to nearly 500,000 refugees and internally displaced people throughout Chad. Our ability to reach populations in remote locations will be greatly reduced if the roads do not become more secure; our ability to carry out operations in other areas will also be threatened if bandits continue to violently break-in to our compounds.
Identifying longer-term protection solutions: The international community - especially the European Union - must realize that the deployment of a protection force for only 12 months will be insufficient to secure sustainable security in eastern Chad. The international community must begin planning now to ensure that when EUFOR's mandate expires in March 2009, there will be a robust mechanism in place to protect civilians.
Addressing the root causes of the conflict: The international community must do all within its power to push for a political solution to the conflicts in Chad. Without a comprehensive and inclusive peace process that addresses the root causes of the several conflicts in Chad, such violence and impunity will continue. The peace process must not only include the armed parties to the conflict (the Government and the rebels) but also the opposition political parties, civil society organizations, and traditional leaders. Local level conflict resolution mechanisms must be re-established to resolve the continuing inter-ethnic tension and violence. The international community must apply credible pressure to all parties to the conflict to negotiate a political solution to the crisis.
Ensuring a regional perspective: to resolve the conflict in Chad, the international community must pay continuous and sustained attention to the situation in Darfur. The first few months of 2008 have been marked by large-scale civilian displacement as a result of ongoing conflict and attacks on civilians by all parties. Over 100,000 more people have fled their homes so far this year and hundreds of civilians have been killed. The international community must maintain pressure on all parties to the conflict in Darfur to respect International Humanitarian Law, cease hostilities and return to the negotiating table.
posted by Mia at 10:26 AM
| June 17, 2008 |
My statement to UN Security Council -June 17
I would like to thank the US Mission and Security Council President Ambassador Khalilzad, U.S. Special Envoy Williamson and the members of the Council for inviting me here today and for holding this meeting.I know you have all just returned from the Darfur region, and I have no doubt that you are deeply affected by the suffering you have witnessed. I too, am just back from my ninth trip to the region since 2004.
If you have been there, you know the devastation and horrors: perhaps, like me, you met a woman whose body was branded with knives after she was raped by 20-30 men. Or the children who are dying of acute malnutrition because there is no protection for humanitarian convoys that could deliver food. Or the mutilated elderly woman whom they tried to burn alive.
Without question you met many victims of utter despair.
I wonder if any of you encountered Halima? Her story is numbingly similar to those of countless women I have spoken to since 2004. She told of the morning when the skies over her village suddenly filled with bombers and attack helicopters, raining bombs upon families as they slept, as they were cooking breakfast, as they prayed. Halima tried to gather her children and run, but militia swarmed the village on camels and horseback, shooting and shouting racial slurs. They tore her infant son from her arms and bayoneted him before her eyes. Three of her five children were killed on that day.
She took this hijaab from her neck and insisted that I wear it-for my protection - I who could offer her no protection. She clasped my hands and said, "tell people what is happening here. Tell them we will all be slaughtered. Tell them we need help."
That was 2004. I don't know if Halima is still alive. I do know that at least 2 million men women and children are now completely outside of humanitarian reach.
In 2005, in the World Summit Outcome document, world leaders pledged that the international community, acting through the Security Council "was prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner" when states, "manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."
Those words and your responsibility could hardly be clearer.
Yet after more than 5 years, what message have we sent to Darfur's anguished people? Only that they are dispensable. The people of Darfur have been left to watch each other die. And you are watching too.
History will long remember that the UN Security Council has, for five years, failed in the task you have been charged with - protecting a defenseless population.
You have already failed the 300,000 or more who have died needlessly in Darfur. You are failing the millions of civilians who are struggling to survive in wretched camps across Darfur, eastern Chad and now CAR. And you are failing this body - the ideals and principles it represents.
It is past time that a united Security Council stand up to end this human tragedy.
UN Res 1769, authorizing the deployment of a protection force of 26,000, was passed in July of 2007 but one year later- with only a fraction of that number on the ground- the people of Darfur are still waiting for protection.
You have allowed the Government of Sudan, perpetrator of atrocities of the worst kind, to dictate which battalions can and cannot enter Darfur; to determine when and whether the Thai and Nepalese troops can deploy, or the Swedes or Norwegians.
This body referred Darfur to the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant against Minister Ahmed Harun, responsible for crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. Instead of arresting him, the Sudanese regime made Harun their liaison to oversee the deployment of UNAMID.
As the Prosecutor of the ICC told you last month, Sudan has put the arsonist in charge of deploying the firefighters. Instead of removing the arsonist, you are negotiating with him.
I ask you: How long will you continue to allow the government of Sudan to manipulate this body? Did Adolph Hitler get to choose which troops should be deployed to end his genocide?
I tell my children that with knowledge comes responsibility. An inescapable knowledge of Darfur is yours. It is your right and responsibility to stand up to the Khartoum regime and ensure the full and effective deployment UNAMID in Darfur.
Nothing has changed since Nov 2007 when Jean-Marie Guehenno expressed the fear that, quote, the "force will not have the capability to defend itself, and that carries the risk of humiliation for the Security Council and the United Nations, and tragic failure for the people of Darfur."
The force was to have been "predominantly African in character". But Khartoum has twisted the intention of the resolution and 'predominantly' has become 'exclusively'. If we must accept that, then I am proposing that militarily capable nations partner with those African battalions in need of training and logistical support. In addition to the United States and those few European countries already committed, a group of volunteer nations might include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Portugal.
Five years of terror and destruction is too long. The future of Darfur's people - and the moral credibility of this body - is in your hands.
The world is looking to you to finally act on that responsibility.
If not now, when? If not the United Nations, who?
This is a defining moment for the United Nations Security Council
A good editorial in today's New York Times
June 17, 2008Editorial
The Genocide Continues
Despite the dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur and the issuing of international arrest warrants for leaders of the genocide, the killing goes on. So does the burning of villages, the bombing of schools and the systematic rape of women and girls. And it will continue until the Security Council shows the will to stop it.
The Council needs to get more peacekeepers, helicopters and reconnaissance planes in the field, enforce the arrest warrants and increase diplomatic and financial pressure to get Sudan to stop obstructing the work of the peacekeepers. But the Council has shown little urgency in doing any of that.
Thwarted by Sudan and the United Nations' own bureaucratic rules, far less than half of an anticipated force of 26,000 international soldiers and police officers is now in Darfur. That is too small to protect the population, or even the peacekeepers themselves. An additional 100,000 people have been forced from their homes since the peacekeepers began arriving in January.
The Council (and separately the European Union) must ensure that Khartoum's leaders pay a price for their cruelty - through expanded visa and financial sanctions against those coordinating the genocide as well as an expanded arms embargo. The International Criminal Court should get strong backing from the Council when it presents further charges next month.
Responsibility for the Darfur horrors lies squarely with the government of Sudan. Its army, air force and intelligence agencies have directly participated in the attacks. Ministers have coordinated the genocidal campaign. Ahmad Harun, sought by the International Criminal Court for planning atrocities while the deputy interior minister, has been promoted to minister of humanitarian affairs. He used that position to block the delivery of aid to Darfur refugee camps and to thwart the effective deployment of United Nations peacekeepers.
But a minority of Council members, led by China, have let their economic interests - in Beijing's case substantial investments in Sudan's abundant oil supplies - trump their moral and legal responsibility to thwart genocide. Last week, China's president, Hu Jintao, used stronger-than-usual language to urge Khartoum to cooperate with United Nations peacekeepers and enforce a cease-fire in Darfur. If China is prepared to back up those words with a tougher line in the Security Council, it could make a huge difference.
The Bush administration has its heart in the right place on Darfur. Its special envoy, Richard Williamson, has been a strong advocate for action, and Washington has imposed stiff sanctions of its own. But what's needed is stronger action by the Council as a whole.
Darfur's plight is not yet hopeless, but without greater international commitment it may become so. As the criminal court's prosecutor told the Security Council on June 5, it takes a lot of planning and organization to commit massive crimes.
"But mostly," he said, "it requires that the rest of the world look away and do nothing."
| June 16, 2008 |
It's not too late. Olympic sponsors can still take a stand.
http://www.portfolio.com
| June 15, 2008 |
Words Words Words
This week Chinese President Hu Jintao said Khartoum "should push forward the peacekeeping mission and political process in a balanced manner, quickly restore political negotiations and strive to ensure the talks achieve substantial progress".Chinese oil revenues continue to underwrite the atrocities in Darfur. China is also shielding Sudan at the UN Security Council and advising the Sudanese military. Beijing has long refused to use its leverage with Sudan, invoking national sovereignty and a policy of non-intervention. But their position is inexcusable- genocide and mass atrocities trump sovereignty. Still, a year ago these words from Beijing would have been unthinkable.
Bottom line-China has just signed eight new economic agreements with Khartoum.
NDJAMENA (AFP) — European Union peacekeepers returned fire after coming under attack in eastern Chad Saturday, a spokesman said, as rebel forces briefly seized a nearby town. Rebel militia took the town of Goz Beida in southeast Chad, about 75 kilometers (46 miles) from the border with Sudan, on Saturday morning before withdrawing later in the day, promising a bigger confrontation on Sunday.
The firefight, in which no EUFOR troops were injured, took place shortly after noon about four kilometres north of Goz Beida, where troops were protecting the refugee camp at Djabal, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Axelos told AFP.
"Engaged by unidentified armed elements, the soldiers fired back," Axelos said.
EUFOR spokesman Axelos said that UN agencies asked the European troops for assistance and that "the EUFOR soldiers are currently proceeding to pick up the humanitarian workers with eight armoured vehicles."
There are around 500 Irish and 70 Dutch troops from the EUFOR contingent in the region, whose mission is to protect civilians and refugees fleeing the violence in the western Sudanese Darfur, just over the border. The rebel forces left Goz Beida to rejoin other rebel soldiers in the area, said their spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah, speaking by telephone.
Koulamallah said the rebel force had some 500 to 600 vehicles and 7,000 to 8,000 men at their disposal, nearly double the number of a similar offensive in February.
"They (the rebels) are not far away. The biggest clashes will probably come tomorrow (Sunday) with government forces," he added.
Rebels in Chad Friday threatened to target any French aircraft flying reconnaissance missions over their positions.
"We have 500 pick-up trucks with well-armed men. Our aim is to take Ndjamena by the weekend which we will, God willing," Aboud Makaye added.
Goz Beida is a strategic town in the hilly south east. Nearly 80,000 displaced Chadians and some 36,000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan's war-battered Darfur region live nearby in camps.
Rebels attacked Ndjamena in February, reaching the presidential palace in an attempt to drive out President Idriss Deby Itno. A similar unsuccessful coup attempt was made in 2006.
| June 14, 2008 |
Nicholas Kristof-the Spirit of Anne Frank Awards
Last evening I had the great honor of presenting the Spirit of Anne Frank Award award to Nicholas Kristof. I tried to find words that could be worthy of this remarkable man. Here is what I said:It is absolutely fitting that I first met Nicholas Kristof on an airstrip in eastern Chad , at a time in 2006 when Darfur's Janjaweed had crossed the border to incinerate 60 Chadian villages.
Since 2004, when he began to write about Darfur, Nick has traveled to this anguished region numerous times. His pieces have sounded a moral clarion call that summoned to action advocates across the world -he made it very difficult for the rest of us to turn away. The mantra of my family is 'with knowledge comes responsibility". Nick is responsible for leading me to a deeper level of 'knowing', a catalyst for a journey that has changed my life.
Just last month, as I was leaving for the Central African Republic Nick emailed-
"Be safe in CAR, Mia. If I ever have to write your obituary, I'll kill you!"
Nearly 60 years ago, Anne Frank imprinted her own beautiful face on the horror that is genocide. With his sensitivity and in the most poignant and straight-shooting prose, over and over again Nick has put a face on injustice, on immeasurable suffering, and on the Darfur genocide. He will not permit atrocities to unfold out of sight and beneath the media radar. Nick Kristof was one of the first to publicly insist that the words Never Again mean something for the people of Darfur. For his courage and his conviction in telling tell searing truths, he is the voice of our collective conscience, demanding we bear witness to the first genocide of the 21st century and encouraging us not to sit by while innocents die.
Every once in a great while a moral giant appears among us. Nicholas Kristof is that person.
| June 13, 2008 |
| June 12, 2008 |
Disputing Alex de Waal
I have the utmost respect for Alex's work; I have read his book (Short History of a Long War) - the most comprehensive and instructive history of Darfur. He is a brilliant Sudan scholar. Few people (certainly Roger Winter is one) know as much about Sudan.I also like him personally.
Years ago he wrote this description of the Khartoum regime
"(The counterinsurgency war in Darfur) is not the genocidal campaign of a government at the heights of its ideological hubris, as the 1192 jihad against the Nuba Mountains was, or coldly determined to secure natural resourses, as when it sought to clear the oilfields of southern Sudan of their troublesome inhabitants. This is the routine cruelty of a security cabal, its humanity withered by years in power:it is genocide by force of habit."
It is bewildering that the above passage was written by the same man who, over the last year has made outrageous claims based on skewed suppositions rather than fact. He has opposed the deployment of the UN protection force to Darfur, and, outrageously, he now claims that the indictments of two mass murderers by the International Criminal Court will hinder the peace process in Sudan. These articles by Mr de Waal have been helpful only to the murderous Government of Sudan.
It is worth reading excerpts from a fine public response by Dr James Smith of Aegis Trust:
http://www.guardian.co.uk
"If you believe Alex de Waal and his co-signatories (Letters, June 10), you could be forgiven for thinking that the mass killings in Darfur happened by accident. The truth is that the Sudanese government has not only failed to protect the camps but has been the main perpetrator of the violence. The scale of the killings in Darfur has required money, arms and support that only senior people in the government could have provided.
"Both Darfur and Sudan as a whole need justice if we are to break the cycles of killing that have plagued the country for decades. Letting people get away with murder, rape and crimes against humanity is no basis for a viable peace process."
Dr James Smith Chief executive, Aegis Trust
Louise Roland-Gosselin Director, Waging Peace
| June 10, 2008 |
BBC News - UK
The UN World Food Programme is cutting air services to Darfur, reducing the ability of 14000 aid workers to travel to the Sudanese region. ...
Who will lead the way?
Which member of the Security Council will lead the way?When ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo stood before the Security Council last week to plead for support for his indictments of two perpetrators of mass atrocities and crimes against humanity in Darfur, who dared to stand strong against the Sudanese regime ? Who threw their full support to the International Criminal Court in its attempts to finally bring a measure of justice to Darfur's people? The United States? That would make sense- George W. Bush would surely seize a rare opportunity to score a significant plus in what can only be viewed as his abysmal legacy. Did he and his administration at long last step away from old fears and unworthy grudges to support the ICC? Or was it France? French troops are in Chad and CAR. Sarkozy's words about Darfur have been among the most passionate from a world leader. Or perhaps England? Gordon Brown, where are you? Awfully silent on the big issues these days. Not much hope there. No ladies and gentlemen, it is none of the above. The voice of conscience in the United Nations Security Council is Costa Rica's
Bruno Stagno Ugarte!!
And what can we think of the rest of them? If not now, when would they stand up? Under what circumstances? I ask this because I'd really like to know. The United Nations has said 'atrocities of the worst kind' are on-going in Darfur; the US government calls it a 'genocide'. I have been there. I do not disagree that this is the apt word. We all know now that hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children have died and are dying - needlessly. Millions are displaced, barely surviving in wretched camps across Darfur, eastern Chad and CAR where they are dying of hunger, illnesses and they are utterly without protection. What does it take to stand up for them?
Apparently a lot more than this gelatinous body can summon. They come to the Security Council table not to stand strong for the most imperiled people on earth but cautiously, in oblique ways, they come to serve themselves.
History will note their failure to live up to their responsibility to protect. But that is little comfort to Darfur's people now.
| June 9, 2008 |
At the United Nations last week, Luis Moreno-Ocampo chief prosecutor of the International Criminal of the Court tasked three years ago with bringing perpetrators in Sudan to justice, addressed the Security Council with these grim words.
“Massive crimes are still being committed in Darfur. Girls are still being raped. Children die as their schools are bombed. The entire Darfur region is a crime scene. Despite promises and denials, over the last five years, millions of civilians have been targeted by officials who vowed to protect them. Impunity reigns.”
This week the ICC has issued a report which lists multiple crimes against humanity and a widespread cover-up concluding, ”These are evidence of a criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system.”
Morenp-Ocampo told the Security Council that as recently as last month the Government of Sudan has bombed schools, markets and water installations. If the levels of destruction are reduced from previous years it is only due to the fact that “there are fewer villages to burn and loot, less civilians to terrorize and kill.” He said that so far this year one hundred thousand people have been displaced in Darfur. “
“We have seen it before. The Nazi regime invoked its national sovereignty to attack its own population, and then crossed borders to attack people in other countries,” he told the council. “The evidence shows that the commission of such crimes on such a scale, over a period of five years, and throughout Darfur, has required the sustained mobilization of the entire Sudanese state apparatus.”
It is no surprise that the Khartoum regime has scoffed at ICC indictments of two of their own, and refused to hand over Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed leader responsible for mass murder and other atrocities, and Ahmed Harun, a chief orchestrator of the on-going genocide, former minister of the interior but now promoted to minister of humanitarian affaires and is responsible for the well being of the very people whose lives he has destroyed.
“Impunity is not an abstract notion.” Said Moreno-Ocampo, ” Ahmed Harun is attacking the victims in the camps. As Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, he is hindering humanitarian aid. As a member of the UNAMID oversight committee, he is affecting the deployment and safety of peacekeepers. As a member of the NCP-SPLM Committee, he was sent to Abyei to manage the conflict. And Abyei was burned down, 50.000 citizens displaced.”
Sudanese officials have repeatedly denied backing the janjaweed militia, and have even denied such militias exist. Lying is the least of their crimes.
The Security Council has been incomprehensibly wimpy in condemning Khartoum and in their lack of support for the ICC indictments. But one member spoke out clearly; Costa Rica’s Bruno Stagno Ugarte, expressed the frustration we are all feeling.
“As time passes, we risk accommodating evil as the graves continue to fill in Darfur,” he said. “The government of Sudan is toying with us, toying with human dignity, toying with the authority of this council. The Security Council has been too shy in responding to Sudan’s refusal to comply with regards to Darfur.”
Five Council members, including China, Indonesia and Libya, positioned themselves against Costa Rica and the iCC. Nine Council members voiced support for condemning Sudan. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement expressing his "deep concern" over the lack of cooperation from Sudan as demanded by Security Council Resolution 1593 in 2005. I think The Secretary General chose his words far too carefully and again misses an opportunity to take a stronger position.
The United States government has never endorsed the ICC out of concern that certain Americans might find themselves in the dock. But on this occasion the American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad stated that accountability is necessary "to enhance security and to send a warning to individuals who might resort to brutality as a way of achieving their aims."
John B. Bellinger III, the legal adviser to the State Department said, ""We accept the reality. It is the only game in town for bringing accountability for the atrocities in Darfur.
Sudan’s U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed’s response was less measured and completely predictable.
“We will never submit any of our citizens to be tried in the Hague,” Mohamed said. “Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan.”
| June 5, 2008 |
UN envoy to Darfur frustrated at stalled peace process
Associated Press
Thursday, June 5, 2008
GENEVA: The U.N. envoy to Darfur said Thursday that efforts to restart peace talks on ending the long conflict in the western Sudanese region have reached an impasse. The envoy, Jan Eliasson, said he had talked in Geneva with officials from Sudan and neighboring Chad, Eritrea, Libya and Egypt. The talks showed it is unlikely peace talks can be convened soon, he said.
"In the absence of a realistic negotiation ... we have to now make sure that this conflict does not escalate," he told reporters. "It's dangerous enough."
U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes and the U.N.-AU force's envoy, Rodolphe Adada, said in late April that suffering in the western Sudanese region was worsening as fighting escalated and tens of thousands more people were driven from their homes.
Eliasson said no further increase in suffering could be tolerated.
"The suffering of the population has been going on for so long now that if we have an escalation with this very small margin of survival for people in Darfur, then we may have the risk of a catastrophic development," he said.
"The prospects for substantive talks are dim," Eliasson said.. "We go through disappointments and frustration to a degree that I haven't seen myself in my 25 years or so of mediation," said Eliasson.
Salim Ahmed Salim, the African Union's envoy to Darfur, also expressed frustration.
"We have done everything humanly possible. We've gone by helicopter, gone by planes, gone by vehicles throughout the length and breadth of Darfur," he said. "We've appealed to the government of Sudan ad nauseam. “
But Eliasson said despite the somber atmosphere, he was determined to continue his efforts to bring the Sudanese government and the main rebel groups to a table.
"We meet the people who need peace," he said. "That's what keeps you going."
At 10am EST on Channel 1 of the live webcast at: http://www.un.org/webcast/ you will be able to watch the Prosecutor report to the UNSC on the ICC Darfur case.
| June 4, 2008 |
BBC News - UK
The "whole state apparatus" of Sudan is implicated in crimes against humanity in Darfur, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said.
He refered to the JEM (a very different rebel group with a very different agenda ) attack on the Khartoum suburbs as "suicide" stating that the attack was "against the rules and against the way we are thinking."
Third woman:
"During the events, with my three kids...who do I take with me? Where do I go? How do I leave? Thanks to my neighbours... take a child on my back and a child in my arms. My neighbour takes a child. I take something to eat, and some clothes. In my head, things like fear. Those things cannot be forgotten, but still we will forget them. The pain for women, this can never end..."
http://hdptcar.net/blog/2008/04/21/letters-from-the-women-of-birao/
In Birao, in northeastern CAR, women and children have been particularly affected by what they nervously call 'the events', the fights between the rebel forces of the Movement of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) and the government forces.
In a previous post, we published letters from women who were victims of violence and recalled their personal and family experience. This time, Children are talking about the attacks. Under the supervision of social workers, they told their stories and drew the scenes they witnessed.
13 year old boy
I ran from Birao to Roukoutou. We crossed a river and once there, there was nothing to eat. We suffered a lot. So we learned to fish and hunt. We stayed there for 45 days before we came back to Birao.
But we had to leave again after three months, because of the second attack. During the second attack, between 6:30am and 1:00pm we were in the house. Dad went out and saw the flame that burnt our house. So we took the road to Roukoutou.
We ran all the way, until 8pm. We arrived there and ate fish and manioc. But there was no soap to wash the clothes.
We suffered a lot.
We stayed there for three weeks and then came back to Birao. When we arrived, everything was burnt. Nothing was left so our pain was even greater.
Now we have started to rebuild. Now we want peace.
12 year old boy
Me, I have suffered during the conflict. I ran to reach the bush, and kept running until Roukoutou village. There we suffered.
I picked up some small fish that the fisherman wasn't going to eat. My mother prepared it with water and salt. And we ate.
We hunted in the forest in order to find meat we could eat. We temporarily worked in Roukoutou's people's fields, in order to buy soap, salt, and sugar. We suffered a lot.
After all these events, I came back to Birao and I did not find anything in our property. Everything was burnt. We suffered a lot.
Me, today, I take some time to work for people who have money. I need to buy clothes shoes, for me and for my mother.
Now things are ok. We have rebuilt our house.
In the Vakaga region, NGOs and international organizations are trying to support the population who suffered from the violent conflict between rebel forces and government troops until last year. The ceasefire signed in April 2007 has noticeably improved the situation in the city of Birao, but the surrounding roads and villages are still periodically attacked by armed men.
| June 3, 2008 |
UN Secretary Gen. Ban Ki-Moon calls for a 50% increase in food production
Underwriting and supporting the atrocities in Darfur;
Advising the Sudanese army;
Propping up the brutal Myanmar regime;
Perpetuating 'cultural genocide' in Tibet;
Committing human rights abuses against Chinese citizens.
If you wish to urge President Bush not to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games or to take a stronger stand against genocide, call the White House comment line 202-456-1111 (between 9-5)
Or call 1-800-GENOCIDE.
| June 2, 2008 |
"It's a very negative trend and I am very disturbed... Since the end of last year things have gone in the wrong direction. If there is an escalation at this stage and at the same time the rainy season starts, we may enter a catastrophic situation," said Eliasson.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/world/middleeast/02fulbright.html?ref=world>
By Ethan Bronner
JERUSALEM - The American State Department has reinstated seven Fulbright grants offered to Palestinians in Gaza for advanced study in the United States, reversing a decision to withdraw the scholarships because of Israel's ban on Palestinians' leaving Gaza for study abroad.
The American Consulate in Jerusalem sent e-mail messages on Sunday night to all seven telling them it was "working closely" with Israeli officials to secure them exit permits.
(Click on link for full article)