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| October 31, 2008 |
The Hague- Supporting the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on his quest of an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Darfur civil society submits a letter of gratitude to the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, outlining their strong and genuine support to the endeavour of the Chief Prosecutor in pursuit for justice for the innocent civilians of Darfur.
Darfur civil society worldwide and human rights activists express their full support for Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s work and stressed the importance of the international community’s pursuit of justice for the victims of crimes against humanity in Darfur.
“Sudanese regime and its allied janjaweed militia continue to commit gross crimes against humanity and intentionally maintain inflicting on the people of Darfur the worse conditions of life to create the physical destruction of the civilian populations. To end the suffering of the people of Darfur, perpetrators must be brought to justice. Organizations such as African Union, Arab League and Organization of Islamic conference should not be rewarding perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by attempting to derail ICC indictment on Darfur crimes ” said Ahmed M. Mohamedain, leader of Darfur Union, a Darfuri civil society group based in The Hague.
Darfuri civil society and human rights activists have long stressed the paramount importance of pursuing justice while continuing to seek a political resolution to the conflict in Darfur.
“We call the international community to extend their strong support to the Chief Prosecutor to exercise his duties and to translate the ‘’NEVER AGAIN’’ slogan into reality” said Mohamed Ibrahim Abdelwahab, Spokesman of Darfur People’s Union in U.K and Northern Ireland.
The activists have called especially on the members of the United Nations Security Council to show strong support for the Prosecutor’s work and to insist on Sudanese compliance with the ICC.
Abdelbagi Jibril, Executive Director of the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre, noted: “The decision to refer the situation in Darfur to the ICC was done by a means of UN Security Council resolution 1593 (2005) of 31stMarch 2005. As such the ICC action on Darfur is a mechanism for implementation of the provisions of UNSC resolution 1593. We wish to remind all UN member states, whether they are State Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC or not, to fully support the ICC work on Darfur and meet their obligations to cooperate in implementing mandatory UN Security Council resolutions”
Darfuri activist and Liaison Officer with the Save Darfur Coalition Niemat Ahmadi said: “As Darfuri woman I strongly believe that justice for the genocide victims must be an uncompromised right. I believe the suffering that came as the result of the injustice will not be alleviated without a proper trial and investigation, which will only be found in the ICC. Albashir has been given the last six years to make peace, but instead we have only seen the suffering of our people increase and the situation worsening. This gathering of the Darfuri civil society from all over Europe today is to press for justice to become a reality now in Darfur. The world must take into account that Darfuri concerns should be the priority among any other concerns. We are the victims and we want justice to be allowed to take its course.”
For further information contact:
Darfur Union, The HagueAhmed M. Mohamedain: +31 642 330 058
Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre, GenevaAbdelbagi Jibril: +41 22 747 00 89
Darfur People’s Union in UK and Northern IrelandMohamed Ibrahim Abdelwahab, London +44 7717 408 966
Liaison Officer with the Save Darfur Coalition, Niemat Ahmadi, Washington + 12022239541
| October 30, 2008 |
A third IDP camp being attacked by Janjaweed
This email came from an NGO working in Darfur"As I write this, Kassab camp (North Darfur), home to 25,000 unarmed civilians and the location of DPDO's women's center, is under attack by Janjaweed forces. Rebel forces are too distant and under-equipped to defend Kassab. UNAMID has only a small presence there. Who will be dead tomorrow?"
Click here to see horrifying pictures of the victims of the slaughter, in August, of the residents at Kalma camp. Yet another camp, Zamzam, was attacked in September. But be warned, these pictures are extremely graphic and NOT for young children.
My friend Nicholas Kristof, who also received this same email, writes
"Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir tends to be at his worst when the world is distracted. These days the U.S. is absorbed by the presidential election, Darfur fatigue has set in, and so he evidently feels a little freedom. So we're seeing attacks on camps of displaced people, where Darfuris have sought protection and assistance after fleeing their villages.
"People often ask me if I find it impossibly depressing to go to Darfur and talk to the victims there. Yes, sometimes. But I find it just as depressing that five years into a genocide, the international community mumbles homilies about human rights and 'never again' even as camps like this are attacked without the world even noticing."
| October 29, 2008 |
English: http://www.unmis.org/english/en-main.htm
Arabic: http://www.unmis.org/arabic/ar-main.htm
All SG's reports on Sudan can be found at UNMIS website, www.unmis.org <http://www.unmis.org/>
He also accused Sudan of "not accepting that there is no impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity" -- a reference to Khartoum's refusal to hand over two men indicted by the International Criminal Court for mass murder in Darfur.
The U.N. under-secretary-general for field support, Susana Malcorra, told the council that her new targets assumed that 60 percent of UNAMID's full mandated strength of 26,000 would be deployed by the year's end.Malcorra said a previous U.N. goal of 80 percent of full UNAMID deployment by the end of this year had been unrealistic. That would be reached by the end of March 2009, she said. "These new revised targets reflect a scaling back of initial extremely ambitious projections," she said. "The new targets are still ambitious but in our view can be achieved."
The United States complained for months about the slow deployment, blaming it on Sudanese obstructionism and U.N. bureaucracy. But Washington's special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson told Reuters he welcomed the revised targets.
"We're encouraged that we should have at least 3,600 more UNAMID troops in Darfur by the end of this year," he said.
U.N. officials have dismissed suggestions that they have moved slowly with the deployment of UNAMID, which was created in July 2007. They accuse troop-contributing countries of not providing badly needed military hardware like helicopters.
The council also discussed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's new report on UNAMID, in which he says up to 300,000 people have been forced to flee violence in Darfur this year.
According to U.N. estimates, a recent increase in violence in North Darfur alone has displaced at least 40,000 people.
| October 28, 2008 |
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said yesterday that he was willing to make an additional allocation from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to meet urgent needs. CERF has already allocated $4.3 million to three UN aid agencies and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but that was more than a month ago.
Haiti remains in desperate need of support after four hurricanes and tropical storms Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike lashed the country between mid-August and mid-September, killing nearly 800 people and affecting an estimated 1 million people.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that only $24.8 million has been received of the $106 million requested by aid agencies to help with relief and recovery efforts.
Mr. Holmes, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, toured the northern seaside city of Gonaives, considered the hardest-hit city. Living conditions inside Gonaives have been made more difficult by large volumes of stagnant water and mud.
There are many organizations providing relief to Haiti, among them UNICEF, the World Food Program, CARE, Save the Children, Americares, American Red Cross and Yele Haiti.
Humanitarian Situation in Darfur
"The problems have only gotten worse", said a sheikh at a camp for displaced people in Tawila, near El-Fasher, state capital of North Darfur. "At the beginning of the conflict", he told IRIN, "attacks - if intense - were few and far between, but now, weekly, there is a problem here."While analysts describe the current conflict as "low-level", many displaced people say it is worse now than it has ever been.
Fighting between government and rebel troops in September saw attacks on villages reminiscent of the type of fighting that took place at the height of the conflict in 2003-4. In villages near Tabit town in North Darfur, burned houses, craters from bombs, and gun casings along the road are just some indications. Some 300,000 are estimated to have been newly displaced this year alone, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The situation in Darfur is deteriorating," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists at a press conference on 7 October.
"People who have been here a long time say this conflict is as bad now as it has ever been," one UN official added.
In his report on October 17, 2008 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon painted a bleak picture of Darfur, where he said:
"Military operations and banditry have undermined the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Since January 2008, more than 230,000 civilians have been forced to flee violence, at a rate of nearly 1,000 per day. Many of them have fled to overcrowded camps near large towns or in some cases sought shelter in the desert until clashes subsided. As attacks on humanitarian agencies also continued to climb, incidents of violence against aid workers in the first eight months of 2008 have already surpassed the total record in 2007. So far this year, 208 humanitarian vehicles have been hijacked, 155 aid workers abducted (43 WFP-contracted drivers remain unaccounted for), and 123 premises broken into. Because of this targeted violence, two major non-governmental organizations assisting more than 500,000 civilians in Northern Darfur alone were forced to suspend their activities during the reporting period".
| October 26, 2008 |
Renewed brutal attacks and forced recruitment by LRA have raised fears throughout three African nations.
In the last month, a series of raids in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and southern Sudan has been attributed to Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) . The group, known for the brutality of their attacks, has also attacked a remote eastern area of the Central African Republic (CAR), kidnapping more than 100 children from the Obo area. Neither the children nor their remains have been found.Recent attacks in northeastern DRC have killed more than 200 people. The rebels "conducted a campaign of killing, systematic abduction of children and burning of almost all houses," a UN report stated.
Witnesses say, "They were killing, burning the huts, destroying the food and they took the children with them from the school into the bush."
Local officials say at least 100 children were abducted from villages in southern Sudan and another 100 from DRC, with thousands displaced.
LRA rebel chief Joseph Kony began his battle 20 years ago, claiming to fight against the marginalization of the people of northern Uganda. But the LRA's savage attacks, in which they cut off the limbs and lips of their victims, were directed at civilians more often than the military.
In the 1990s, the rebels began moving into neighboring south Sudan, reportedly backed by Khartoum as a proxy force against southern rebels.
Since 2005, when Sudan signed a peace deal to end its long-running north-south civil war, the LRA moved into remote jungles in DRC.
"The LRA has gone from Uganda, but with this wave of abductions it is consolidating its forces in isolated areas of south Sudan, CAR and the DR Congo," said Francois Grignon of the International Crisis Group think tank.
It is widely believed that the LRA enjoys the support of the Khartoum government.
40 killed, 12,000 displaced in S. Darfur
A surge in violence in Darfur recently has displaced thousands more civilians, say aid agencies and human rights groups. Human Rights Watch said that more than 40 civilians had been killed in attacks by Janjaweed, pro-government Arab militias, on villages in South Darfur.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said thousands had fled the fighting in the last month. It said that many were sheltering under trees and lacked basic supplies. Aid agencies say the latest violence happened in the area of Muhajiriya, east of the South Darfur capital, Nyala.
Human Rights Watch said that government-backed Arab militias attacked more than 15 villages around Muhajiriya, burning homes and stealing livestock, forcing thousands to flee. "Once again, civilians are bearing the brunt of fighting in Darfur," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at the agency.
About 12,000 people have been displaced in the last two weeks.
Facing possible prosecution for genocide in the International Criminal Court, president Bashir's government has warned that Sudan could cancel all its agreements with the UN if the ICC case goes ahead. In July, ICC prosecutors in the Hague formally requested an arrest warrant for Bashir, saying that he had "masterminded" massacres in Darfur and that he should stand trial for genocide.
One of the recent steps taken by the Sudanese government to appease foreign powers and assert its authority has been to arrest militia leader Ali Kushayb, accused by the ICC of murder, rape and torture, as well as the forced displacement of villagers, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. In 2007, the ICC charged Kushayb with crimes against humanity and demanded that Sudan hand him over but its government refused to do so, denying that he had done anything wrong. Analysts say that by changing its tack and deciding to put Kushayb on trail, Sudan is trying to show its legal system can handle the investigations itself and further the push to block the global court's move against the Sudanese President.
While judges in The Hague are deliberating whether to prosecute President Bashir, African and Arab leaders are urging the UN and the court to drop the case, arguing that it could unleash a backlash against civilians and aid workers and lessen the dim prospects for peace in Darfur.
An estimated 400,000 Darfuri lives have already been lost and 2.7 million have been displace. They have fled to refuge camps in Darfur, neighboring Chad, and the Central African Republic.
| October 25, 2008 |
Muslims in America
http://www.cnn.com/2008/When Colin Powell used his endorsement speech to recognise Muslim-Americans and state the only appropriate response to the questions about obama being Muslim, all I could think was - why has no one with clout been saying this before??? Nafees Sayed, a Harvard student, makes the point most powerfully.
| October 23, 2008 |
Did you know the current realities for women in Iraq?
I'm in Seoul, Korea. Yesterday I shared a panel with Rory Kennedy (whom I love and admire so much; she makes GREAT and important documentaries). The third panelist was Yanar Mohammed -- an Iraqi woman who is an extremely courageous advocate for women's rights in Iraq.The eye popper for me was hearing her say that since 2003, since the US invaded Iraq, women's rights have slid down to an abysmal low-the worst in her life. She told us the new government is set up to include 30%women-but 98% of those women are "a part of the boys' club". I'ts back to the burka, no rights for women. Men can treat women any way they want-women are the property of men. Most women are no longer receiving an education.
I had NO IDEA. We leave THIS "democracy" behind? After ALL THIS?
We don't hear it because journalists interview soldiers, or they never leave the green zone. Ms Mohammed was living quietly and safely in Canada with her son for 10 years. In 2003 she returned to Iraq to help her country. She cannot move there without armed guards. She is not permitted to speak publically. So this was a revelation
From a friend who is working in Darfur...
South Darfur: the state apparatus on display. If ever there is further need for more evidence to suggest Ocampo's charges are warranted, what better than looking at the behavior of the authorities in South Darfur at this very time.
Even post ICC charges against President Bashir, which cite the President as being responsible for creating a state apparatus designed to malign and persecute specific populations, the state continues to obstruct vital aid and block commercial transport to locations inhabited by vulnerable populations.
The UN has identified a "serious problem in South Darfur" regarding the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) and National Security, which UN officials say are obstructing NGOs from accessing vulnerable populations, especially Zaghawa, Fur and Masalit populations; the three tribes Ocampo accused Bashir of carrying out acts of genocide against.
Officials say HAC has blocked money, food, shelter items, humanitarian staff and water to specific areas with HAC officials now describing opposition areas or areas inhabited by the three aforementioned tribes as "prohibited areas".
The level of aggression from HAC towards the UN is once again very high. Last December the High Commissioner of the HAC expelled the Head of UN OCHA South Darfur (Wael Ibrahim) through Head of South Darfur State (Wali) validation. The expulsion was highly publicized and, much to the embarrassment of the UN, was never justified with any solid evidence against Mr Ibrahim. Instead, there were only false accusations and references to Mr Ibrahim's Canadian/Palestinian roots. Most informed UN officials say Mr. Ibrahim was guilty only of doing his job too well.
In August/September this year it seems there was another such incident evolving, with the current head of office being threatened with expulsion, for much the same reasons. What it seems prevented the process continuing was the level of publicity at the time about the Sudanese Armed Forces attack on Kalma internally displaced person camp in which at least 40 of those who had fled from their homes for safety had found what they thought was refuge.
Though officials in Khartoum say they have identified a "problem in South Darfur", even identifying the Head of HAC as the problem in regard to the harassment, interrogations, abuse and obstruction of aid workers, yet nothing has been done to rectify it.
On the contrary, one senior UN New York official stated that the Head of HAC in south Darfur in fact says he is acting under the authority of Khartoum and the Wali directly.
Surely now it is obvious Sudan has created state authorities in Darfur, most clearly in South Darfur, which are designed to obstruct. No longer can the excuse be given that the system is just fragile and therefore susceptible to mistakes. The "mistakes" are too consistent, too much in line, too coincidental in their constant effects on specific populations.
The system is designed so one man, a government official with the right to stamp a travel permit, a government official at an airport that allows access to UN and INGO paid for flights, a government checkpoint guard, can simply deny access and in doing so deprive thousands of vulnerable people aid and waste millions of dollars of donors money.
If it continues with aid being blocked, and vulnerable populations as a result don't receive the aid they so desperately need, especially after the mass displacement due to GoS proxy militia attacks in September and October, then Ocampo's case just becomes stronger and stronger. The government agencies' actions at this time are securing the fate of their head of state, as the promises to facilitate aid more and more from Khartoum are looking emptier by the day.
No more can Sudan deny a state apparatus designed to obstruct when officials are making no attempts to even hide it. Sudan has embarrassed itself enough through the National Congress Party. The crimes this government has been allowed to commit, the manipulation and the deceit have tarred the name of the good people of Sudan and humiliated a noble country.
No doubt Sudan's "friends" will continue to support the NCP during these times of trouble with the ICC indictment pending. But the government is not making it easy for these so called "friends" when it acts like a belligerent child, refusing to cooperate regardless of the damage it is doing to itself in light of the ICC allegations.
And the feeling growing not only in Khartoum, but also amongst some of the once loyal militias in Darfur is become clearer: true "friends" of the Sudanese people would not be supporting a regime that has brought this level of shame to a once dignified nation.
| October 22, 2008 |
Some 30,000 children, who were forcibly conscripted into the rebel Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, were sold in the troubled Darfur region in Sudan, Parliament heard yesterday.
"Some of these children are in Darfur being used as child soldiers, porters and others sold as sex slaves to the Sudanese," Dr Stephen Kagoda, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Internal Affairs told the Parliamentary Defence Committee. "In fact, that's why (LRA leader Joseph] Kony fears to come out of the bush because we shall ask him to show us our children."
Dr Kagoda was among officials from the Internal Affairs Ministry led by State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs James Kinobe who appeared before the committee to give their views on "Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Bill, 2007". The Bill seeks to combat human trafficking in the country. Dr Kagoda told the MPs that between 25,000-30,000 children abducted by the LRA in its two-decade long insurgency, cannot be accounted for as they were sold to Darfur to act as mercenaries.
The United Nations Children's Fund puts the number of abducted children by the LRA at 25,000. Among the notable abductions was that of 139 female students of St. Mary's College Aboke, Apac in October 1996. The deputy headmistress, Sr. Rachele Fassera, pursued the rebels and negotiated the release of 109 girls, but the rest, have never returned. Maj. Kinobe confirmed Mr Kagoda's revelation, insisting that Kony should account for the missing children. "When Unicef demanded that LRA rebels release our children, Kony said he didn't have any children," Maj. Kinobe said. "This confirms our information that actually LRA sold our children to Darfur for economic gain. Before doing anything, we want this Kony man to account for our children and if he sold them to Darfur, he should come out and say so."
According to the World Bank report titled "Development and the next Generation", the LRA rebels focused on abducting males between 13 and 18 years but people of all ages and both sexes were taken.
The LRA has for more than 19 years fought the government in a war that left hundreds dead, about two million displaced and more than 20,000 children abducted. Some of the girls were turned into top commander's wives, and Kony himself is thought to have at least 60 wives. The Ugandan government has for the last two years been engaged in peace negotiations with the LRA, mediated by the Government of South Sudan, but the signing of the final peace agreement in April stalled after the LRA leader refused to sign.
Kony, who together with some of his senior commanders are wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, is demanding that the ICC indictments against him be lifted first. The issue of missing children could set more hurdles for any continued negotiations between the LRA and the government and the eventual signing of the final peace agreement.
Meanwhile, the committee heard that some Ugandan children were being trafficked out of the country in exchange for their kidneys and other organs for economic gains. "Human trafficking is real and is serious in Uganda today. Our children are being trafficked for organ transfers by a racket of people pretending to be generous," Dr Kagoda said.
Maj. Kinobe said orphanage centres and labour agencies have become a conduit for human trafficking. "We have evidence that some of these orphanage centres are owned by people pretending to be helping others yet they are committing serious offences of human trafficking. We want the new law to target such people in order to protect our people."
| October 20, 2008 |
UN Security Council adopted resolution 1769 on July 31st which authorized a hybrid UN-AU force (UNAMID) consisting of 26,000 troops and police but so far it only has only 9,000 personnel.
These officers were preceded, on 23 September 2008, by an advance party of twelve (12) Nepalese Police Advisors tasked with assisting in the preparations of the facilities earmarked for the Unit at UNAMID Super-Camp and the coordination of the logistics of the contingent’s owned equipment (COE). Police Advisors are unarmed civilian police officers whose task is to conduct patrols, investigate incidents, monitor reports, conduct community policing in Darfur Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDP) camps, as well as training. They may be called upon to engage in high risk assignments and the protection of people in imminent danger, preventing attacks and threats against civilians, and in monitoring and providing security and protection in IDP camps, threatened villages, and migration routes. Besides providing security, they will also assist UN agencies in delivering humanitarian assistance.
The Nepalese Formed Police Unit is the third UNAMID FPU to be deployed, after the Bangladeshi and Indonesian ones, out of the 19 such units mandated by the Security Council resolution creating UNAMID.
| October 19, 2008 |
New York Times - United States
The suffering in Haiti is just plain wrong. The reasons for it are many, some simple and others complex. The reality is that a majority of residents live in ...
| October 17, 2008 |
Margaret Mead
The blog of the reporter who describes what it felt like to interview Omar Al-Bashir. Link to the TV interview posted below
It was strangely nothing-y... I felt that I should have felt more, if you know what I mean, but he was such a blank space there was nothing to be felt. V weird.Here's the blog:
Best wishes,
Lindsey
SUDAN BLOG
08 10 14
Lindsey Hilsum
When Mugabe walks into a room, he fills it. Likewise Museveni or Obasanjo. Malign or benign, these are the Big Men of Africa, men with a presence and stature. But when Omar al Bashir, President of Sudan, walked into the room where I was to interview him in Khartoum last week, nothing in the atmosphere changed. He scarcely filled his suit, let alone anything larger. Yet he has his place in history: the first serving head of state threatened with indictment by the International Criminal Court.
I had met him before. Back in 1989, when he seized power in a bloodless coup, I flew to Khartoum from Kenya where I was living and managed to secure the first interview with -- as he was then -- Brigadier Omar al Bashir. What he said seems unremarkable now, but I recall how he signalled that the interview was over -- he got up from behind his desk, went over to the television, turned it on, sat down and started to watch the cartoons. I was unimpressed. He'll never last, I thought.
Well, nineteen years later he's still in power, which makes his utter lack of charisma even more remarkable. He rarely talks to foreign journalists, and while in our first encounter he spoke English, these days he hides behind an interpreter. We had secured the interview through an American journalist, Christine Dolan, who had good contacts in Sudan dating back twenty years. Somehow, she had managed to persuade people close to the President that at this time, as he stands accused of "masterminding" genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, it would be good if he told his side of the story.
We were taken to a compound in central Khartoum where he apparently lives, and ushered into a receiving room full of oversized, overstuffed armchairs covered in white chinz patterned with rosebuds. His press secretary brought in a national flag, and positioned it next to the chair where the president would sit.
I've met many of the foot-soldiers of genocide, and interviewed several leaders accused of what's regarded as the worst of all crimes, including Radovan Karadzic of Republika Srpska, now awaiting trial in the Hague, and the former Prime Minister of Rwanda, Jean Kambanda, still serving a sentence for his role in the mass killings in 1994. On these occasions, I felt that frisson of fear which goes with the company of someone you know is responsible for more than murder.
But with Omar al Bashir-- nothing. A small, plump balding man, he seems less like a mastermind and more like a railway clerk. He smiled. He was not to be drawn. Mass rape in Darfur? It doesn't happen. Are the women who say they've been raped lying then? They're relatives of the rebels. What is his personal responsibility for the crimes and cruelty which have occurred? This is war, these things happen. I chipped away at the wall but couldn't even blister the paint. It was an unsatisfying encounter with a man who, at the very least, has presided over terrible atrocities, but refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong.
At the end, he agreed that we could travel to Darfur for a day to "see for ourselves." Well, I've seen for myself before and I knew that no government-organised trip would take us where we needed to go, to see what we needed to see and talk to those who would tell the truth. But I would go nonetheless.
The President eased himself out of his arm chair and stood up to leave.
"Life is very normal in Darfur," he said, and for a brief moment I felt a certain menace in his words.
LINDSEY HILSUM
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR, CHANNEL 4 NEWS
Here are the links to the blog and the video.
http://www.channel4.com/news/
http://www.channel4.com/news/
It's "the banality of evil" isn't it, as Hannah Arendt noted when she observed the trial of Eichmann.
| October 16, 2008 |
No rebels, no IDPs. Who will judge the proposals of Al-Bashir and his 'dignitaries' to be just?
KHARTOUM (AFP) Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Thursday launched his "people's initiative" for peace in Darfur with an elaborate ceremony attended by regional dignitaries but no rebels involved in fighting. "Despite the difficulties and the obstacles ... we announce our resolve to find a definitive solution this time," Beshir told a large hall crammed with officials in the Sudanese capital. "We call on all concerned parties to support the state's efforts ... for peace," he said.Numerous initiatives have been started to bring peace to the western Sudanese region since rebels there rose up against Khartoum almost six years ago, complaining of marginalisation, but all have failed.
Critics say Beshir's plan, which will involve talks on Friday and recommendations for peace on Saturday, is aimed at distracting attention from potential Darfur war crimes charges against him by the International Criminal Court.
Sudan Tribune - Sudan
By Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman October 13, 2008 — Political analysts indicate, in relation to the Qatari Initiative on Darfur, that even if the Darfurian rebel ...
See all stories on this topic
Rebels blast complicity of Arab ministers over Darfur crimes
Sudan Tribune - Sudan
"The Arab Justice minsters failed even for lip services to condemn the acts of violence or the crimes that committed in Darfur." said Ahmed Hussein Adam the ...
See all stories on this topic
The Associated Press
KHARTOUM, Sudan: Sudan's president has launched a three-day meeting to hammer out what he calls a national vision for peace in the country's wartorn Darfur region. Regional supporters of President Omar al-Bashir, including the African Union, the Arab League, Egypt, Libya and Qatar, are attending the conference that opened Thursday. But Darfur rebel groups critical to any peace talks are absent.
One important rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, said the forum was a "desperate attempt" for support by al-Bashir, who is facing genocide charges by the International Criminal Court.
| October 15, 2008 |
Susan Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others. '
" Still in the camps there is no security "
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy, accompanied by the head of the African Union -United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), Rodolphe Adada visited today the Internally Displaced People camps in south Darfur state. IDP representatives in Kalma camp criticised the lack of protection for the civilians inside the camp. They said that the UNAMID had failed to bring security to the IDPs. They further asked for the deployment of Western peacekeepers with the necessary military capabilities to deter any attack on Darfur camps. Le Roy visited the graveyard where are buried the dozens of displaced killed by the Sudanese authorities last August.Hussein Abu Sharati, the IDP and refugees spokesperson, told the Sudan Tribune they presented a memorandum to Le Roy compromising 47 demands. Abu Sharati said, as IDPs, we are still asking for the disarmament of the Janjaweed and to re-establish security before any talks.
"We do not support any talks with the Sudanese government before the total arrest of violence. Still in the camps there is no security and the so called peacekeepers are there." Abu Sharati called on the International Community to not freeze the indictment of the Sudanese President. "Any move in this direction means carte blanche from the U.N." he said.
 Reply | Forward |
During a recent spate of attacks in Darfur, the UN’s food relief agency has lost more than 100 vehicles. The increased violence has kept desperately needed food out of the mouths of a vulnerable population displaced from years of violence. In recent weeks, all food aid has travelled in heavily guarded convoys.
The Sudanese army could protect the humanitarian convoys (as they agreed to in UN RES 1769) but they have other, more pressing priorities; they are busy attacking Darfur’s people.
| October 14, 2008 |
Interview w/ Bashir can be played if you scroll down
Sudan will conduct its own trials for suspects implicated in crimes in the war torn Darfur region,
Rights groups say Sudan's legal system is not equipped to handle genocide and war crime trials, while rebels say any Sudanese-held trial would be a sham and no substitute for international justice.Ahmed Haroun, the current minister of humanitarian affairs, and Ali Kushayeb, a janjaweed militia leader, are facing 51 charges of rape, murder and forced expulsion of civilians in Darfur.
Kushayeb is in custody and Khartoum claims he will be held accountable for unspecified crimes. Haroun, however, has no official complaints lodged against him and will not stand trial, the justice minister said.
Ahmed Hussein, spokesman for rebel Justice and Equality Movement, denounced the Sudanese trials, as "propaganda" tools for al-Bashir's government, noting that the head of the judiciary is a member of the president's party.
"All they are doing now is a reaction to counter the measures and the (campaign) of the ICC," he said
Regarding the peace talks proposed by the Arab league, Justice and Equality Movement slammed the Arab justice ministers' failure to condemn crimes committed by the Sudanese government in Darfur. In a meeting held yesterday in Cairo, the Arab justice ministers voiced their support for Khartoum in face of an indictment by the International Criminal Court of president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. The top Arab legal officials meeting in Cairo denounced what they described as "attempts to politicize the principles of international justice".
"The Arab Justice ministers failed even for lip services to condemn the acts of violence or the crimes that have been committed in Darfur." said Ahmed Hussein Adam the spokesperson of the rebel movement.
The ICC's prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. In early October ICC judges have officially started reviewing the case in a process that could possibly drag on to next year.
The ICC had already issued an arrest warrant for a Sudanese state minister, Ahmed Haroun, and a militia leader, Ali Kushayb. However, Sudan rejects any cooperation with the world court saying it is not party to the Rome Statue. Sudan Justice Minister Abdel Bassit Sabdarat told reporters in Cairo that a special prosecutor, that he appointed recently, is nearly finished with a number of reports on unspecified crimes committed in Darfur.
The ICC Statute prevents investigation into crimes that were looked into by local judiciary under the concept of "complementarity". However the Sudanese legal system is not equipped to handle genocide and war crime trials. Sudan must prosecute Haroun and Kushayb for the same accusations brought against them by the ICC in order for the latter to lose jurisdiction over their cases.
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman, the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) points out that "the Arab League has for 6 years supported the government of Sudan (National Congress Party) unreservedly in spite of the mass killings and other atrocities in Darfur and failed to support the international action to protect the Sudanese citizens of Darfur.
Many observers incessantly ask and earnestly wonder why the National Congress Party (NCP) government move about hurriedly and hectically from an initiative to an initiative to resolve the crisis in Darfur, which it has created, while Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir has the absolute power, by virtue of the totalitarian nature of the regime he preside on, to take immediate resolution to end all outstanding issues of Sudan, including the Darfur problem? A swift answer was at hand; firstly the NCP regime has got neither the will nor the ability. Furthermore, the NCP government is run by the security and intelligence services led by the powerful clique formed of Nafie Ali Nafie, an adviser to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Salah Abdalla Gosh, the head of Sudan's National Security and Intelligence Services (NSIS) and others of the ilk who have created a corrupt, loser and failed police state detrimental to the livelihood of the Sudanese people as witnessed by the outspoken Mr. Pagan Amum, former Minister for Cabinet Affairs, and current Secretary General of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
In the prevailing dilemma, those who are concerned about the plight of people of Sudan in Darfur, ask the question: what needs to be done now?! The obvious answer is that the government of Sudan knows what the people of Darfur want and the only way forward is in the hands of the NCP regime who needs to express its willingness to cooperate with the International Justice at The Hague and stop the killings and respond to the legitimate demands of the citizens of Sudan in the region of Darfur through genuine and serious talks for lasting peace on the negotiation table with the main Darfur rebel movements, representatives of IDPs/ Refugees and the Darfuri Civil Society Organisations without evasion, prevarication or delay.
"While the people of Darfur welcome constructive initiatives proposed to host peace talks--they are skeptical about the so-called "The People of Sudan's Initiative". This plain lie has been planned to be launched on Thursday 16th October by the NCP President Omer Hassan al-Bashir in an attempt to ward himself off from the predicaments of the heinous crimes he has committed against the innocent civilians in Darfur or to shield him from his impending fate at ICC when the arrest warrant that awaits him authorised by the Judges of the Criminal Court at The Hague."
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Indonesian Police Unit enters Darfur to support UNAMID
13 October 130 officers from an Indonesian Police Unit have arrived in Darfur to strengthen the efforts of the joint United Nations-African Union (UNAMID peacekeeping force. The Indonesian contingent, which has received special training in high risk operations, will be based in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and headquarters of UNAMID.MSF Denounces Inefficient Emergency Response in Gonaïves
Haiti 2008 © Gregory Vandendaelen /MSF
GONAÏVES, October 13, 2008 – Five weeks after a series of hurricanes struck Haiti, people in the city of Gonaïves are still deprived of essential services, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. Since early October, families have been evicted from schools and churches where they had sought refuge after the storms destroyed their homes.
With no alternative housing available, MSF estimates that approximately 10,000 people—out of a total population of 200,000—are living on roofs, in tents, or in fragile shacks made of wood debris and bed sheets. Other families are crammed into abandoned buildings by the dozens, in overcrowded conditions that increase the risk of poor sanitation and domestic violence. In addition to this, electricity and running water have yet to be re-established.
Many roads are still flooded. Mud is more than three feet deep in some parts of the city, making it extremely difficult to get around. “It’s as if a cyclone passed through here just a couple of days ago,” said Vikki Stienen, MSF project coordinator in Gonaïves. “The coordination of relief efforts is extremely chaotic.”
MSF is also witnessing an increase in the number of malnourished children admitted to its hospital. This number is expected to grow as people hear about the re-opening of the hospital. Haitians already face chronic food crises and nutritional deficits. The recent hurricanes destroyed crops and killed significant numbers of livestock, making people all the more vulnerable.
International food aid reaching the community is clearly insufficient in quantity, unsuitable for the nutritional needs of young children, and is being distributed in a way that excludes single mothers. There is still no clear strategy to identify the needs, nor implement a proper nutrition response.
Despite the significant presence of international organizations, the people of Gonaïves have yet to see much benefit. If another storm were to strike the region with more heavy rains, inhabitants here would once again pay a heavy price.
MSF urges international organizations and the Haitian government to immediately re-examine their emergency aid response, and to prioritize housing and nutritional support for the youngest of the flood victims.
| October 13, 2008 |
"I lost one senior commander. Ten Janjaweed were killed," he told Reuters. "It is very clear. The government has been reorganizing the Janjaweed. They have been building up forces in the area. They want to create chaos in Darfur."
Earlier this week, the Aegis Trust put out a statement warning that Muhajiriya was under imminent threat of attack from a 300-strong Janjaweed militia that had been attacking villages in the surrounding area. An aid source told Reuters: "The only thing we can say for certain at the moment is that there is a militia in the area, that people have died and buildings in villages have been burned."
More than 45 people were killed during an attack on Muhajiriya in October last year. Sudan's government denied accusations they had been involved in the assault, despite eye witness reports that armed forces aircraft had bombed the village.
| October 12, 2008 |
YAY Connecticut --I am proud of my home state!
Such a welcome decision!!! .In a world of hatred and greed, of poverty and the whole multitude of sorrows, it is bewildering that we could be anything but elated for any loving couple who chooses to wed."Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice."
JUSTICE RICHARD N. PALMER, of the Connecticut Supreme Court, writing for the majority in a 5-4 ruling.
| October 11, 2008 |
mounting human rights abuses in CAR
Central African Republic: UN reports mounting human rights abuses10 October 2008- Extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests, mostly attributed to the defense and security forces and encouraged by a culture of impunity, have contributed to a considerable deterioration in human rights in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to a United Nations report released today.
"The Central African Republic (Government) is urgently advised to resolutely follow a policy that is based more firmly on the struggle against impunity," the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in the country, known by its French acronym BONUCA, says.
Drawn up by BONUCA's human rights section, the report cites a serious worsening of the security situation in the north of the country where Government forces, rebels and highway bandits have been active, all of whom committed atrocities. In the south-east, the rebel Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been reported to be operating. But most violations are attributed to the forces of order. "In effect, these agents do not respect the ban on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, nor that on arbitrary arrest and detention," says the report, which covers the first six months of 2008.
"The forces of defense and security whose mission is to protect the civilian population blithely violate the laws of war. In their operations against rebels or bandits they make no distinction between those who have taken up arms and civilians. In reprisal raids, the military burn houses, execute people rightly or wrongly accused of complicity with rebels or bandits." The report cites the case of soldiers parading a vehicle in the town of Bouar with severed heads that they claimed belonged to highway bandits they had shot.
Meanwhile, the bandits who, according to information received by BONUCA, could be Chadians , torture travelers, plunder local residents, and kidnap women and children for ransom. The presence of both bandits and the defense forces has forced thousands of villagers who had returned to their homes after a previous flight to flee to the bush again.
In Haut Mbomou district in the south-east, 300 armed men from Uganda, widely believe to be the LRA, kidnapped 150 people, including 55 children and physically abused them. Several women said they had been raped.
BONUCA concludes, "the Central African authorities must take urgent concrete actions.
"Impunity remains the major factor in the persistence of extrajudicial and arbitrary executions," it adds, calling for investigations into all allegations of human rights violations and the effective punishment of the perpetrators.
| October 10, 2008 |
Janjaweed massing in large numbers outside Muhajeriya
Some Janjaweed are now wearing the uniform of the Central Reserve Police, into which so-called 'former militias' have been incorporated and placed on Government salary; reportedly this unit was responsible for attacking a UNAMID patrol on Monday-- one peacekeeper was killed.Janjaweed militia from the Maalia and Rizeigat tribes, estimated to be 300-strong, travelling in jeeps and armed with kalashnikovs, are massing outside the Darfur town of Muhajeriya. Reliable sources on the ground confirm that these are the same militia responsible for the attack on Muhajeriya in October 2007.
In the past week they have destroyed the village of Sinet, and several smaller villages in the same vicinity, northeast of Muhajeriya.
Sources on the ground are anticipating an assault on Muhajeriya by the militia in the next few days.
Interview w/ Bashir can be played if you scroll down.
He claims rape “does not exist in Darfur”. Allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been made against him "are not correct" that "everything is fabricated and made up". He says that "no-one has more compassion for their people than we do in Sudan".
Informed by ABC News that she holds an investment in a mutual fund that owns shares in companies that human rights organizations say help the government of Sudan, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday said through a spokesman that she will divest from that mutual fund.
According to financial disclosure forms Palin released last week (r <http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/Palin_Financial2.pdf> ). Palin owns up to $15,000 in Legg Mason International Equities, which the McCain-Palin campaign specified is the Legg Mason International Equity Fund. That Fund owns shares in two companies the Genocide Intervention Network labels "highest offenders" because, in that organization's judgment, they empower the government of Sudan at the expense of the country's marginalized populations.
With citizens of the world absorbed with dire economic news, it may seem secondary to consider what companies someone has invested in, rather than their current worth. But human rights activists monitoring the genocide in the Sudan insist there is nothing frivolous about trying to convince individuals from investing in companies that help the government of Sudan.
In July, the International Criminal Court's Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, asked the tribunal for an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
"It was recently brought to Governor Palin’s attention that despite what the Sudan divestment online database indicated, one of Governor Palin’s mutual funds held less than 1% in companies doing business with Sudan," said McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "Governor Palin will divest from this fund immediately, and is committed to doing everything she can to stop the genocide and atrocities in Darfur,
The Genocide Intervention Network issues a quarterly report, "the Sudan Company Report <http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/www.sudandivestment.org/reportrequest.asp> ," which analyzes companies with Sudan-linked operations, and also has a mutual fund screening tool which determines whether mutual funds hold interests in any of those companies.
“The fight against the Darfur genocide must begin at home," said Mark Hanis, executive director of Genocide Intervention Network’s "The Genocide Intervention Network and its partners have called on all presidential candidates to ensure that they do not have holdings in companies identified as 'highest offenders' in Sudan. We are pleased that Governor Palin, and all of the major parties’ presidential candidates, have followed the lead of 27 states, 61 universities, and 20 cities in ensuring that U.S. investments do not support genocide in Sudan.”
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Joe Biden, D-Del., hold no such investments, according to the Genocide Intervention Network.
In May, after being questioned by the Associated Press <http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-05-14-mcccain-sells-sudan_N.htm> , Cindy McCain sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds whose holdings include companies that do business in Sudan.
The Obamas did the same in 2007, selling about $180,000 in retirement savings because it was linked to an oil services company that does business in Sudan <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/05/16/obama-sells-investment-with-link-to-sudan/> , the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
Palin during the vice presidential debate claimed that she had led the charge to divest Alaska's investments from the Sudan.
"When I and others in the legislature found out that we had some millions of dollars [of Permanent Fund investments] in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars," she said. A further investigation by ABC News <http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5948944&page=1> , however, indicated that while Palin later came to support the bill, her administration initially opposed the bill, and stated its opposition in a public hearing on the measure.
| October 9, 2008 |
| October 8, 2008 |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMM6BOPSNGc
| October 6, 2008 |
A no-fly zone over Darfur
Both presidential candidates have mentioned imposing a no-fly zone over Darfur. The challenges presented by a militarily enforced no-fly zone are immense, and resources could more usefully be directed to UNAMID , which offers by far the most cost-efficient way of implementing a no-fly zone: destroy aircraft involved in civilian attacks on the ground- afterwards.US Special Envoy Rich Williamson hangs tough
SUDAN TRIBUNESudan revokes visa of US special envoy before reversing course
October 4, 2008 (WASHINGTON) The Sudanese government revoked the visa of US special envoy Richard Williamson, a pro- Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) newspaper reported today
http://www.sudantribune.com/
The daily Ajra Al-Hurriya, quoting an unidentified senior US State Department official, said that Williamson applied for a visa which was granted to visit Khartoum and Juba next week to discuss the Darfur crisis with Sudanese officials, as well as other issues.
However, Khartoum sent a letter to Williamson saying that he "is not welcome to visit at the present time".
The letter did not specify reasons for the decision, however the US state department official said that it was Williamson's stance on deferring the indictment of Sudan president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a meeting between Sudan 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Williamson last week, Sudan demanded Washington's help to invoke Article 16, which allows the UN Security Council (UNSC) to suspend the ICC prosecutions in any case for a period of 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely. But Taha was told that US will not allow the deferral and warned Khartoum not to interfere with international justice, the State Department official said.
After pressure from Washington, Khartoum reversed its decision on Williamson's visa the next day. The UK and French governments appeared to be willing to support the suspension but the US took an unusually tough stance saying that it will veto any such resolution. Last month Williamson made the position public at a hearing of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
"If asked-if forced to vote today-the United States, even if it was 191 countries against one, would veto an Article 16 [resolution]," Ambassador Richard Williamson said.
| October 5, 2008 |
Please don't forget Haiti
Haiti: MSF finds people still stranded in flooded villageA month after the last tropical storms and hurricanes hit Haiti, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) medical teams have found an entire village completely submerged and its 2400 remaining inhabitants stranded without help.
Photo: MSF Photo : MSF
On Tuesday, September 30, MSF teams managed to reach Mamont, a town southeast of Gonaives that was heavily affected by the storms that struck Haiti in August and September. The town, with an original population of about 17,000 people, had been totally isolated for the last four weeks. MSF teams found the village partially submerged in water spilling over from a lake created by the storms. The remaining population is cut from all major towns, since the road is also submerged. The survivors have been without clean water, sufficient food or medical care for weeks.
Although international attention has largely moved on from the emergency in Haiti, the situation in Mamont shows that emergency assistance remains critical for some parts of the country.
In the Gonaives area, concrete measures for getting the victims of the storms back on their feet are slow to materialize. There remains a lack of access to clean water, problems with sanitation, and a shortage of basic goods. There is the risk of diseases spreading and concern for the displaced people who have been expelled from places where they found temporary shelter. For several days the authorities have been pushing for the evacuation of classrooms before the start of the new school term on Monday, October 6. The situation is similar in churches, where congregations are pushing those sheltering inside to leave. The cathedral in Gonaives, where more then 200 people found refuge, was emptied two weeks ago. Some of the displaced people moved to a camp in Praville, where conditions are unacceptable. In the area of K-Soleil, more than 800 people were evicted from their shelters and were forced to camp in their ravaged houses or sleep under pieces of cardboard.
Today, hundreds of families are left without a place to stay and without any means to rebuild their lives, as neither the authorities nor international organizations present in Gonaives have provided alternative shelter.
| October 4, 2008 |
Addressing Biden, the debate moderator, Gwen Ifill said, "you argued for intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo, initially in Iraq and Pakistan and now in Darfur, putting U.S. troops on the ground. Boots on the ground – is this something the American public has the stomach for?"
Biden replied "I don’t have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur," he said. "We can now impose a no-fly zone. It’s within our capacity. We can lead NATO if we’re willing to take a hard stand. We can, I’ve been in those camps in Chad. I’ve seen the suffering, thousands and tens of thousands have died and are dying. We should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own movement to provide the helicopters to get the 21,000 forces of the African Union in there now to stop this genocide."
Palin said, "as far as Darfur, we can agree on that also, the support of the no-fly zone, making sure that all options are on the table there also. America is in a position to help. "
Both presidential candidates, Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama have also expressed their commitment to impose a no-fly zone over Darfur.
| October 3, 2008 |
The Alaska Permanent Fund still invests in companies blacklisted by advocates.
Palin's claim during the Vice Presidential Debate, October 3, 2008
"When I and others in the legislature found out we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars to make sure we weren't doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur."
The Facts as printed in the Washington Post, Oct 4:
An Alaska saving fund, The Alaska Permanent Fund, has around $22 million invested in international trading companies such as China Petroleum and Alstom of France, that do business with Sudanese oil interests.
Alaska Permanent Fund officials made clear from the outset that they were opposed to any divestment effort. Executive director Mike Burns told a local Anchorage TV station, KTUU, on December 11 that they were looking for the "best return" on the investments, and never took into account "socially responsible investments . . . whether it's tobacco or alcohol or hospitals that perform abortions or hospitals that don't perform abortions."
In January 2008, a bill known as HB 287 was introduced into the Alaska House of Representatives restricting investments in companies that do business with Sudan. During a committee hearing in February, a Palin administration representative, deputy revenue commissioner Brian Andrews, testified against the legislation on the grounds that it would do nothing to help "the afflicted in Sudan," and would add to the fund's administrative costs.
A co-sponsor of the legislation, Anchorage Democrat Les Gara, said that Governor Palin apparently had a change of heart on the divestment issue in March. During a brief hallway conversation, she expressed sympathy for his bill. By that time, however, the bill had effectively died in committee.
| October 2, 2008 |
http://fora.tv/2008/09/18/Mark_Hanis_-_Why_Intervention_Has_Failed_in_Darfur