Humanitarian and Advocacy Information

mia farrow

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Click here to see my photo journal from Central African Republic and Chad

Read "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin

View a timeline of events in the humanitarian crisis in Darfur

Congo- two beautiful drops in the bucket

Since 1994, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo many hundreds of thousands of rapes -of women, little girls, boys; even babies have been raped. Some of the women and girls I spoke with had been gang raped, then penetrated with a bayonet after which the rapists used their rifle buts to pound their legs to pulp. The savagery of the assaults destroyed their insides leaving them incontinent and in constant pain. Some had been infected with HIV/AIDS and many were abandoned by their husbands and families.

I visited Heal Africa's Hospital in Goma, where the doctor was performing an average of six fistula surgeries per day. http://www.healafrica.org/
In the hospital I noticed a small room- on the door it said American Bar Association. In a region where impunity reigns, the ABA was pursuing the prosecution of perpetrators-twelve thus far in June of 2009. A drop in the bucket, but a glimmer of hope. As an American, and as a mother of two attorneys, I felt proud that in that tiny office, where the desk was almost the size of the room, members of the American Bar Assoc. were working hard.

Panzi Hospital in Bukavu is the other hospital qualified to help the victims. Next week, a group of six Mayo Clinic doctors and nurses will be traveling to the Congo to work with Dr. Denis Mukwege at Panzi Hospital performing surgeries, providing medical supplies and equipment. I hope more hospitals take their cure from this team at the Mayo.

October 29, 2010

Court urges arrest of war crimes suspects

UNITED NATIONS (AP) The president of the International Criminal Court urged the international community on Thursday to intensify efforts to arrest eight people sought for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide- including Sudan's president and four commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army.

Judge Sang-Hyun Song told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that the failure to arrest these men is "deeply troubling" and is having "a devastating effect" on victims and communities affected by the crimes.

The International Criminal Court, or ICC, has no police force and is "completely reliant" on member states to enforce its orders, he said.

"If states do not provide the cooperation necessary for the court's functioning in accordance with their legal obligations, the ICC will not be able to fulfill its mandate and impunity will continue to flourish," Song warned.

The judge cited Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's recent visits to Chad and Kenya - which are parties to the Rome Statute that established the court - and the failure of both governments to arrest him despite outstanding warrants for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.

Last month, the African Union asked the Security Council to delay al-Bashir's prosecution for a year because a trial would interfere with efforts to end the seven-year conflict in western Darfur which has left up to 300,000 people dead and forced 2.7 million to flee their homes, according to U.N. figures.

Judge Song backed the referral of the failure of Kenya and Chad to arrest al-Bashir, which is required under the statute, to both the U.N. Security Council and the court's Assembly of States Parties which includes all 114 countries.

He also lamented Sudan's failure to arrest South Kordofan Gov. Ahmed Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb who were accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2007.

The court's pretrial chamber has referred Sudan's noncompliance with its obligation to cooperate with the court to the Security Council in May, Song said.

The judge said warrants for the arrest of four alleged commanders of Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army, which has waged a vicious two-decade insurgency, were issued five years ago alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity. Among those being sought is rebel leader Joseph Kony.

"I urge the international community to intensify its efforts to bring these persons to justice," Song said.

He also criticized the failure to arrest Congolese warlord, Bosco Ntaganda, sought by the court for war crimes, who is reported to be in Goma in eastern Congo, "allegedly contributing to ongoing crimes."

"This arrest warrant must be executed and I call on all relevant actors to cooperate to that effect," Song said.

October 28, 2010

Excerpt from Eric Reeves piece in Dissent

THE WORLD has grown weary of Darfur- the incessant, intractable, and dispiriting spectacle of human suffering and destruction with no end in sight. News organizations are increasingly constrained by lack of access and Khartoum's brutal repression of domestic opposition voices, Darfuri and other. The diplomatic community has lost heart in dealing with the fractious rebel groups that no longer represent the people on whose behalf they claim to fight, even as Khartoum has made no real effort to encourage engagement. Human rights organizations only sporadically speak out about Khartoum's endless commission of atrocity crimes and its supplying weapons to militia allies; a total lack of access to Darfur has effectively silenced these critical voices. Only a few observers note <http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/de/publications/by-type/sudan-hsba/sudan-working-papers.html> the regime's continuing recruitment from Arab tribes, many of which have now been manipulated and turned against one another as they compete for abandoned lands and Khartoum's political favor.The regime- not for the first time- has shown an uncanny ability to outmaneuver and finally outwait the international community. Observing the continuing lurch of virtually all diplomatic activity toward securing the southern referenda, these brutal men have grown confident that they can have their way with Darfur.

But if we turn away from Darfur, if we allow only its darkness to remain visible, we will be indulging a cruel moral solipsism. Henry James famously insisted that "the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it." Darfuris may be forgiven for wondering what place they have in the "world as it stands."

Dissent Magazine (on-line), October 26,2010 http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=297

October 25, 2010

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"It travels with the speed of lightning, I've heard, and it can kill a person in four hours. So of course we are all on edge."
JEAN MICHEL MAXIMILIEN, a camp leader in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on the spread of cholera

October 24, 2010

Beautiful basket made by Darfuri women

http://www.fairtradewinds.net/product_p/darfurhope.htm

October 23, 2010

Great idea for holiday gifts

Woman basket weaver from the refugee camps of Darfur.

With the holidays approaching you might want to buy a beautiful basket and actually help the women in two IDP camps in Darfur, Abu Shouk and Kassab Beautiful baskets and trivets made by THE DARFUR WEAVER'S Cooperatives
The 305 weavers are young women, older women, heads of households, mothers with infants- all devoted to their artistry as a means to earn income for their families.
http://giftsoflife.org/fair_trade_baskets_from_darfur.html

Khartoum thumbs its nose at the UN - again

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS | Fri Oct 22, 2010 3:14pm EDT

(Reuters) - Ground attack jets of the kind that a U.N. report says may have been used by Sudan's government in strikes in Darfur in violation of an arms embargo were in plain view of Security Council diplomats during their visit this month to Sudan's conflict-torn region.

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My Blog

During the visit of the UNSC to Darfur, from October 5-9 the Khartoum regime was multitasking- bombing villages in Jebel Marra. While the existing UN arms embargo does not ban supplying weapons and bombers to Sudan, the Sudanese government is required to guarantee that the arms will not end up in Darfur. Of course such ' guarantees' are meaningless. Sudan has no need for any self defensive airforce.

In a flagrant act of defiance, Khartoum displayed its Su-25 bombers in full view of the highest level UN Security Council diplomats.

I was in Darfur in 2006 and at the airstrip in el Fasher i saw a bomber being painted white- to resemble United Nations humanitarian aircraft.

Refugees who dared to speak with UN envoys arrested. Of course Khartoum denies the facts

By Louis Charbonneau and Andrew Heavens

UNITED NATIONS/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese security officials have arrested two Darfuri refugees who were seen speaking to envoys from the U.N. Security Council during a visit to the region, a U.S. official said on Friday.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry, however, denied that anyone who spoke to council members during their October 5-9 visit to Sudan had been arrested.

The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States has been urging the Sudanese government in Khartoum and its diplomats at the United Nations to release the Darfuris and cease the harassment of those who talked to council envoys on their visit.

"It's obviously unacceptable," the official said, adding that the United States has asked U.N. officials to brief the 15-nation Security Council on the matter on Monday. He said that U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice was personally involved in efforts to try to free the detained Darfuris.

The U.S. official said Washington first heard about the arrests a week ago.

The U.S. and British envoys on the Security Council trip to Sudan told reporters refugees had complained to them directly about hunger and deteriorating security in the arid region.

Sent from my iPad

October 22, 2010

As China denies-Excerpts from a piece I wrote with my son Ronan in 2007

Published in The Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2007
The 'Genocide Olympics'
By RONAN FARROW and MIA FARROW

"One World, One Dream" is China's slogan for its 2008 Olympics. But there is one nightmare that China shouldn't be allowed to sweep under the rug. That nightmare is Darfur, where more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than two-and-a-half million driven from flaming villages by the Chinese-backed government of Sudan.

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China is pouring billions of dollars into Sudan. Beijing purchases an overwhelming majority of Sudan's annual oil exports and state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. -- an official partner of the upcoming Olympic Games -- owns the largest shares in each of Sudan's two major oil consortia. The Sudanese government uses as much as 80% of proceeds from those sales to fund its brutal Janjaweed proxy militia and purchase their instruments of destruction: bombers, assault helicopters, armored vehicles and small arms, most of them of Chinese manufacture. Airstrips constructed and operated by the Chinese have been used to launch bombing campaigns on villages. And China has used its veto power on the U.N. Security Council to repeatedly obstruct efforts by the U.S. and the U.K. to introduce peacekeepers to curtail the slaughter.

As one of the few players whose support is indispensable to Sudan- Beijing is uniquely positioned to put a stop to the slaughter, yet they have so far been unabashed in their refusal to do so.

As China continues to deny sale of weapons to Sudan for use in Darfur-note this piece written by my son, Ronan Farrow Aug 2006

Published in The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2006
China's Crude Conscience

By Ronan Farrow

EL FASHER, Sudan -- In a squalid hut in Zam Zam refugee camp, 16-year-old Salim Adam swats flies from the livid scar where a bullet tore through his leg. Two years ago, Mr. Adam was farming with his father when the Janjaweed, a Sudanese government-backed militia who have executed a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, surrounded his village, firing rifles. "They grabbed my father. They demanded money and, when we had none, they shot him here" he says, smacking his palm against his forehead. Mr. Adam fled, gunfire at his back. Somehow, he dragged himself to a donkey. He cannot remember how long he rode across the desert before reaching Zam Zam.

The bullet that shattered Salim Adam's leg and the gun that fired it were almost certainly manufactured in China. The militiaman who pulled the trigger was likely compensated with revenues from Chinese oil purchases, which fund a majority of Khartoum's military actions. And the reason no help has come to Darfur is, in large part, because China has blocked every attempt to deploy a United Nations peacekeeping force. Though estimates vary, most data suggest that the death toll in Darfur has reached around 450,000, and is still rising.

By the time the world awakened to the slaughter here, China was already funneling money into Khartoum. Beijing's investments in Sudan now total around $4 billion. With a 40% stake each in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. and Petrodar, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. owns the largest shares of both of Sudan's national oil consortia. And in 2005, Beijing purchased more than half of Sudan's oil exports. China now relies on Khartoum for about one-tenth of its massive oil needs, placing Sudan just behind Saudi Arabia and Iran as China's largest energy supplier by volume.

It is an unholy alliance. The U.N. imposed an arms embargo when it became apparent that the Government of Sudan's military actions in Darfur were overwhelmingly directed against helpless civilians. And yet China continues to supply Khartoum with assault helicopters, armored vehicles and small arms. Last August, Beijing sold 212 military trucks to Khartoum. Chinese oil company airstrips in southern Sudan have been used by government forces to conduct bombing raids on villages and hospitals. A U.N. investigation conducted this year determined that the vast majority of weaponry used to attack civilians across Darfur is of Chinese origin.

Thanks to this relationship, Sudan has purchased the best protection in the world: a veto-wielding member on the U.N. Security Council willing to ensure that Khartoum's campaign of human destruction in Darfur can continue.

The U.N. measures that have been passed have been hopelessly enfeebled by Beijing. In July 2004, China watered down a bill that would have demanded that Khartoum prosecute militiamen accused of atrocities, removing language that threatened sanctions. They did so again in September 2004, when -- in a U.S.-sponsored resolution -- a commitment that the U.N. "will take" punitive action was replaced with an impotent "shall consider" wording. In April, when the Security Council considered targeted sanctions on Khartoum's leadership, China withdrew their strenuous veto threats in the face of mounting international pressure, but only after ensuring that the list was stripped of all high-level officials.

On May 16, the Security Council finally voted on a resolution that compelled Sudan to admit a U.N. peacekeeping assessment mission. China withdrew its veto threat only after the resolution had been gutted of key language that would have allowed some U.N. peacekeepers from a force already in southern Sudan to move to Darfur. And they did so with an explicit declaration from China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N., Zhang Yishan, that their vote "should not be construed as a precedent for the Security Council's future discussion or the adoption of new resolutions against Sudan."

That promise has given Khartoum virtual immunity from any repercussions as it proceeds with its genocidal ambitions in Darfur. China is underwriting the first genocide of the 21st Century, and using their political weight to ensure that it is not stopped. How can we accept that?

Last week, the United States' Congressional Commission on U.S.-China Relations convened hearings on China's role in the world. Among the testimony was a damning account from Sudan expert Eric Reeves. He said of China's support for Sudan: "There is in all of Africa no more destructive bilateral relationship." When it makes its annual policy recommendations later this year, the commission needs to urge the U.S. State Department to call China to task for its complicity in the slaughter in Darfur. Beijing, in turn, must use its tremendous leverage with Khartoum to help halt the killing. If China wants to be included in the ranks of powerful, responsible nations, it's time for it to start acting like one.

We must not forget Haiti

Scores dead in Haiti cholera outbreak

Thousands infected in the country's biggest medical crisis since Jan. 12 earthquake.
At least 142 people have died in a cholera outbreak, and aid groups are rushing in medicine and other supplies Friday to combat Haiti's deadliest health problem since its devastating earthquake.

October 21, 2010

China 'trying to block publication of UN Darfur report'

The report says bullet casings from China were found at the site of attacks against peacekeepers

Beijing is trying to prevent the release of a report, which says Chinese bullets have been used against Darfur peacekeepers, unnamed UN diplomats say.

The report is being discussed by a United Nations committee which monitors sanctions against Sudan, including an arms embargo on Darfur.

Beijing says it is vaguely worded and full of flaws.

Ceasefires and peace negotiations have failed to end the conflict in the volatile western Sudanese region.

Sudan: Country at a crossroads

The report says that a dozen different brands of Chinese bullet casings have been found in Darfur, some at sites where attacks on UN troops took place.

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN in New York says the allegations are controversial, but adds that China has the right to sell munitions to Khartoum as long as they are not used in Darfur.

Sudan and China are close allies - Beijing has played a key role in developing Sudan's oil industry.

The report, prepared by a panel of experts, was intended to be published after being formally presented to the UN Security Council.

The panel has previously claimed that large amounts of foreign arms and ammunition are being trafficked into Darfur and fuelling the conflict between the government and rebel groups.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11593516

October 20, 2010

We've known this for so long-

Exclusive: Sudan blocks UN agency from releasing child malnutrition data

By Radio Dabanga -- KHARTOUM(20 Oct.) -

UNICEF in Sudan expressed concern that the Sudanese government "very often" bars the release of data on child malnutrition in Darfur. Nils Kastberg, UNICEF Representative in Sudan, said that the Sudanese security services have also hindered or delayed UNICEF's access to camps in Darfur.

Kastberg told Radio Dabanga: "Part of the problem has been when we conduct surveys to help us address issues, in collaboration with the ministry of health, very often other parts of the government such as the humanitarians affairs commission interferes and delays in the release of reports, making it difficult for us to respond timely."-

Kastberg also pointed out that certain government agencies hinder the entry of UNICEF staff into the camps. "Sometimes it is security services that hinder access or delay access, sometimes it is the humanitarian affairs office that delays the release of nutritional surveys. Sometimes it is delays in granting permissions and visas. It is different sections of different institutions which interfere in our work."

October 19, 2010

Thousands of people displaced from East Jebel Marra are fleeing toward the camps of El Fasher, Tawila and Shangil Tobaya. Hundreds of families reaching the camps have included some cases of fatigue and severe fatigue as a result of the long days spent on the perilous journey. They left after their villages were burned and their property destroyed by aerial bombardment and ground offensive by the army.

October 18, 2010

Victim of the LRA

I just don’t understand why Kony and the LRA have not been apprehended. It is unacceptable that they are, at this very moment, approaching another village where there will be more victims. US, British or Israeli Swat team? With a little help I would take Kony out myself

China fights U.N. report on Darfur/Chinese and Russian weapons continue to fuel violence

Excerpts from Washington Post piece by Colum Lynch
Link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101506100.html
Saturday, October 16, 2010
UNITED NATIONS - China has mounted a strenuous diplomatic campaign to block the publication of a U.N. report that claims that Chinese ammunition has been shipped into Darfur in the past year, in clear violation of U.N. sanctions, according to several U.N. diplomatic sources.
-- the findings provide some of the strongest evidence to date that Khartoum has routinely channeled imported arms and ammunition from China into Darfur, where the Sudanese government is engaged in a military campaign against rebels.

Sudan has been under a comprehensive U.N. arms embargo for six years. But at a briefing this month, a U.N. panel responsible for implementing the embargo told the Security Council that Sudanese forces have used more than a dozen types of Chinese ammunition against Darfurian rebels over the past two years.

The panel also reported finding recently manufactured shell casings from Chinese ammunition at the site of numerous attacks launched by unidentified assailants against peacekeepers from the joint U.N.-African Union mission. -
Under the terms of the U.N. arms embargo, Khartoum is allowed to purchase weapons abroad, as long as they are not used in its military operations in Darfur. But the report found that the Sudanese government had routinely skirted the sanctions - using recently purchased Russian helicopters, Sukhoi 25 fighter planes from Belarus and at least one Russian MiG-20 fighter jet in Darfur. --
Last year, the former head of the panel, Enrico Carisch, testified before Congress that the Security Council had failed to act on more than 100 panel recommendations aimed at strengthening the sanctions. He also faulted the United States, France and Britain for doing little to force a more public debate.

In jebel Marra

-I took these photos in the remote jebel Marra mountains in 2006

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=36633
October 17, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Limited access to some parts of Jebel Marra hampers the humanitarian efforts to reach the needy in the mountainous area in Darfur.

Sudanese army intensified attacks on eastern Jebel Marra locations which are under the control of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement Army led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur. The air and ground attacks displaced thousands of civilians from their villages. But the peacekeeping force and the aid groups are denied by the Sudanese army from entering the area which is declared military operations zone.
"The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Mr. Georg Charpentier says he is concerned by limitations on humanitarian access in view of intensified fighting in parts of Eastern Jebel Marra in Darfur,"

October 17, 2010

Prevent another Darfur. Your voice can be heard. Heres how

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101503871.html
By George Clooney and John Prendergast
Sunday, October 17, 2010

The U.S. Secretary of State has called the situation a "ticking time bomb." The CIA has said that "mass killing or genocide is most likely to occur in Southern Sudan." President Obama has said that "the stakes are enormous."

The last war between the North and South Sudan was ended by a U.S.-led peace process, but not before two and a half million men, women, and children perished. And we know about the atrocities that have been on going in Darfur for the past 7 years. Now we have an opportunity to halt a war before it begins.and hundreds of thousands die.

What can we do? Take action here by sending a message to President Obama. <http://www.sudanactionnow.org/take-action>
http://www2.americanprogress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=102

See Birao- the target of many attacks by Sudanese militia and now by the LRA

see LRA update below

Note Obo-The LRA also attacked Obo and abducted 300 children. The children have not been seen again

"we cannot feed our babies" the mothers of Birao told me

Back in Bangui a French commander told me the attackers, who fled back into Sudan, would surely come again, "But not to Birao. They know we are there". But tragically, within four months, Birao was attacked again. A bloody battle resulted in near destruction of the town and many deaths.

Now the LRA has attacked the already traumatized people of Birao, looting, setting homes ablaze and abducting girls.

Since December 2008, the LRA has murdered 2,000 people, abducted more than 2,600 and displaced over 400,000.There have been at least six attacks in northeastern Congo in the past few weeks.
An estimated 268,000 remain displaced in northeastern DRC, over 120,000 in southern Sudan and 30,000 in the southeast of the Central African Republic.

October 15, 2010

Guess which member of the UN Security Council abstained? A no brainer

In a 14 to one vote, the UNSC extends monitoring of arms embargo and sanctions in Sudan and 'assess progress towards removing impediments to the political process, threats to stability and violations of Security Council resolutions.'

Security Council
6401st Meeting (Night)

Noting with deep concern the increase in violence and rising inter-tribal fighting in Darfur, the Security Council this afternoon extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts that monitors the arms embargo and sanctions on those who impede peace in Sudan, for one year, ending 19 October 2011.

With the adoption of resolution 1945 (2010) by a vote of 14 in favour with 1 abstention (China), the Council also provided details on the notifications required when supplying assistance and supplies to the Darfur region that are exempted from the embargo, which was instituted through resolution 1591 of 2005 and is complemented by a travel ban and asset freeze on targeted individuals and organizations.

It urged all States and other interested parties to cooperate fully with the Sanctions Committee and the Panel of Experts, including the provision of any information at their disposal on the implementation of the embargo and the sanctions.

It requested the Panel to continue to coordinate its activities with the operations of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and to assess progress towards removing impediments to the political process, threats to stability and violations of Security Council resolutions.

China's representative, Yang Tao, said he had abstained because he had serious doubts about the objectivity of the report presented by the Panel. He requested the Panel to improve its methods and to conduct its work under the principles of objectivity and accountability.http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/JDUN-8A97XD?OpenDocument

October 11, 2010

What is Khartoums plan for Darfur?--link to Eric Reeves piece in Sudan tribune

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36552"

October 10, 2010

Shocking. read excellent blog by Matthew Lee

Excerpts here. Read entire piece and the one before it
http://www.innercitypress.com/scsora1darfur100910.html

In Darfur, Sora Destroyed and Kalma Dismantled Before Blind UN Council Visit

By Matthew Russell Lee

KHARTOUM, October 9 -- In the week before the UN Security Council arrived in Darfur, the village of Sora “was completely burned down” as part of “intense ground fighting and aerial attacks in Eastern Jebel Marra.”
These quotes come from a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report which was left on the bus of the Press covering the Council's visit.
  But the destruction of Sora, and the systematic dismantling of the Kalma Internally Displace Persons camp, were not highlighted to the Council ambassadors by the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Georg Charpentier.
  Inner City Press asked two Permanent Five members' ambassadors, after the Council's final press conference, about the destruction of Sora and dismantling of the Kalma Camp. One had never heard of Sora's destruction, despite briefings ostensibly on humanitarian issues in Darfur.

The other, who said that the dismantling of Kalma Camp had not been discussed, took interest in the wording of the OCHA document Inner City Press quoted from, that the destruction was either from ground fighting or aerial attacks. Which one? Not that the UN Security Council would imposes a no fly zone at this point over Darfur or South Sudan.

Many in the humanitarian and journalistic communities have doubts about Charpentier's even handedness -- the former saying he tries to assuage Khartoum by saying little, the latter that he has checked his press releases with Omar al Bashir's Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Joseph Lual Achuil. (Charpentier has denied this, but a higher UN official tells Inner City Press it is true, during “this sensitive period.”)** I have heard this from two, highly reliable journalists They can get no information except through the UN and only after it has been vetted by Sudanese officials.

But that the Security Council Ambassadors did not themselves zero in on conditions in Kalma Camp, which has suffered violence then the blockage and now a stand off in which the UN's Ibrahim Gambari is negotiating with the Al Bashir regime to turn over five supporters of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur for show trial and punishment, exclusively reported by Inner City Press, is troubling.

  Regarding this impending and unprecedented turn over, a Western diplomat speaking to Inner City Press on Saturday on condition of being identified this way -- that is, on background -- said that “Professor Gambari conveyed to me and others this is an issue the UN continues to work on, in discussions with the government and the UN is committed to dealing with this in a fashion consistent with its principles and international humanitarian law and that's the basis on which they continue to negotiation and discuss.”

This is discussing turning over government opponents to a strongman indicted by the ICC for war crimes and genocide, with the fig leaf that said president's promise not to execute those turned over make it comply with international humanitarian law and the UN's principles.

Is the failure to follow through the the dismantling of the Kalma IDP camp, and the failure to do anything about the destruction of the entire village of Sora in the week before the Security Council came to Darfur, consistent with the UN's, OCHA's and the Security Council's principles?

* * *

KHARTOUM, October 9 -- Not a single question about Darfur was taken at the press conference on Saturday ending the UN Security Council's mission to Sudan
In the basement of the luxury Rotana Hotel, the outgoing Public Information Officer of the UN Mission in Sudan chose five questions, all about the North - South referendum, including questions from the UN's own media.

October 9, 2010

Two odd things in French

Me (sort of ) riding a camel and ( far stranger) Chadian President Idris Deby holding my hand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_RfMLTXre0

Excerpts from Sudan Tribune article on UN Security Council visit to Darfur

October 8, 2010 (EL-FASHER) - UN Security Council delegation ended its technical visit to the restive region of Darfur by a hot meeting with the state authorities where the parties discussed insecurity and the ICC arrest warrant aganist President Omer Al-Bashir.


Britain's Ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant (C) and governor Kibir (c) co-chair the meeting between the North Darfur State government and the visiting UNSC delegation on Oct 8, 2010 (photo UNAMID-Olivier Chassot)

The 15 ambassadors and representatives were welcomed yesterday with banners denouncing the indictment of President Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The visiting UN delegation held a heated discussion with the governor of North Darfur state and his cabinet where the parties talked about the security situation and the ongoing efforts to end the conflict as well as the ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese President.

The governor Osman Mohamed Yousef Kibir in his speech before the delegation condemned the ICC decision and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Darfur file from the war crimes court.

Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the United Nations, commenting on the Kibir statements, reiterated the United States determination to reach peace and justice in Darfur. She expressed the support of its government to the ICC to hold accountable the responsible of Darfur crimes. Rice went to ask about the actions undertaken by the Sudanese government to end impunity in Darfur and prosecute responsible of war crimes.

Infuriated by the remarks, Kibir told Rice that USA is not a state member of the Rome Statute, the founding text of the ICC, adding he "does not understand the secret of its interest in this aspect" according to statement released by the government of North Darfur state.

Outside the building of North Darfur government where the meeting was held, pro-government demonstrators gathered with banners supporting president Bashir and shouted slogans hostile to the ICC.

The British Ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, also during the meeting raised the rampant insecurity in the region but the governor contested the figures mentioned by the ambassador terming it of "false information".

MEETING WITH ABU SHOK IDPS

The delegation before to leave for Khartoum paid a visit to the internally displaced persons in Abu Shok camp located 4km north-west of El-Fasher. The residents of the camp described their difficult conditions and the deterioration of humanitarian situation in the region. Also,"We spoke with the UN Security Council delegation about the security situation and the failure of the UNAMID to defend themselves or to protect civilians," said a resident from the camp who attended the meeting.

The IDPs also expressed their anger about the failure of the hybrid operation to reach civilians affected by the recent attacks by the army on rebel held positions in Jebel Marra.

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36533

I would like to commend Amb Rice on her clear sighted and unwavering commitment to help the people of Darfur. I would ( again) remind folks that I have been told many times , by the refugees, that any and all demonstrations staged in Darfur which appear to be in support of Omer al Bashir or against the ICC are completely staged: people are forced to participate under threats of death and of the murder of family members. People are taken from camps and from their homes, told what to say or chant, and some are made to wave signs. I hope the UN SC knows this.

Also, I trust they know that the wali or governor of North Darfur is lying, just as the governors in North, South and West Darfur as well as all government officials I met with lied through their teeth. In fact, in Khartoum, the day before I went into Darfur they tried to give me the " happy campers picture", people are much better off now. They love the camps because they get free food and, the most imaginative if not the most egregious lie, was that movies are shown to them. That was 2004 while Government bombers were crossing the skies of Darfur bombing villages. Janjaweed attacks were on-going. Villages were on fire. People were fleeing. Aid workers were struggling to deliver food and provide sheeting for tents which people lashed to the desert floor. I saw NGO trucks hauling water bladders toward the hastily formed and already squalid camps. The roads weren't safe, two aid workers were killed just before I arrived. One of the largest camps, Kalma, was invaded by Janjaweed while I was there. Under UN security rules I carried a powerful walkie talkie and it was on day and night. We were immediately ordered to leave by security. The rule was that we had to be within 30 feet of our vehicles at all times. We jumped in the car and sped off at top speed to a waiting helicopter. I don't know what happened to the women who had gathered to speak to me. I think of them always.

October 7, 2010

My son Ronan

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/feature-articles/names-to-know-2011 <http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/feature-articles/names-to-know-2011>

supporters of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir gave a hostile reception to UN Security Council ambassadors in Darfur

UN envoys get hostile welcome in Darfur as new clashes erupt
By Tim Witcher (AFP) –
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hrc6LWr2Iaob17mZVpeb9YVAwDIQ?docId=CNG.9a2217c8f9372029e402c72d739a5595.01

EL FASHER, Sudan — Hundreds of supporters of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir gave a hostile reception to UN Security Council ambassadors in Darfur on Thursday as government forces launched new attacks on rebel opponents.

Bashir supporters briefly stopped the UN envoys from leaving El-Fasher airport in north Darfur as they arrived to raise concerns about renewed clashes in the region where the United Nations estimates about 300,000 people have died since 2003.

Demonstrators chanted slogans against the International Criminal Court's genocide charges against the Sudanese leader, with women shouting: "With our blood, with our soul we sacrifice for Bashir." UN peacekeepers on jeeps with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and heavy machine guns guided the envoys' convoy across the desert roads to the UN base.

They arrived hours after government forces said they launched an attack on Abdelwahid Nur's faction of the Sudan Liberation Army in the eastern Jebel Marra district about 100 miles (160 kilometres) away.

A government spokesman said seven rebels were killed and government troops had retaken control of a key road. The rebels confirmed the fighting but denied they had lost control of the sector, which has been the scene of heavy fighting over the past 10 days.

Ambassadors and top representatives from the 15 nations on the UN Security Council, including the five permanent powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- are on a four-day mission to Sudan to check the troubled preparations for a self-determination referendum on January 9 and to visit Darfur.

Britain's ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, said the aim of the Darfur leg was "very clear," and the envoys would "express our concern at the continued violence in Darfur." "We are concerned about sexual violence, we are concerned about child soldiers, we are concerned about the import of weapons into the region."

He said the ambassadors would urge all sides to halt the violence and would support the floundering Darfur peace process. US ambassador Susan Rice has also raised her concerns about a "disturbing uptick" in the Darfur conflict.

The ambassadors will on Friday visit one of the giant Darfur refugee camps before going to Khartoum for the final leg of their mission. They will not however meet Bashir because of the international charges against him. They will only meet Sudan's foreign minister before leaving on Saturday.

Their reception in Darfur was in stark contrast to the cheering crowds who awaited them in the south Sudan capital of Juba on Wednesday.

The ambassadors say their visit aims to reinforce the international message to the Sudan government and the authorities in the south that the January 9 referenda in south Sudan and the smaller region of Abyei must be peacefully conducted on time. The two regions are widely expected to vote to split up Africa's largest nation, and some Western countries fear there could be a new conflict in Sudan.

The referenda are part of a 2005 peace accord that ended a two-decade civil war which left an estimated two million dead.
=====================
I would bet good money that the so called Al Bashir supporters are threatened/coerced into a demonstration. Refugees have told me that when Al Bashir came to Darfur people were made to gather and cheer for him. The penalty for not participating was imprisonment or death.

October 6, 2010

Citizens in remote area of S. Darfur make appeal over maternal mortality

Citizens of Um Dafug in South Darfur State appealed to the government to immediately intervene to alleviate the suffering of the citizens of the region citing the high numbers of maternal and infant deaths because of the difficulty of transporting cases of obstructed childbirth to the town Rehed Al Bardi across the rugged roads.There is also no obstetrician at the hospital in Um Dafug which is 300 kilometres away from Nyala and 150 kilometers away from Rehed al Bardi. Access is further interrupted during the rainy season.
<http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/4515#>

UN reports 22 nations facing food crises

166 million people in 22 nations are suffering from chronic hunger-- Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, North Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Contributing factors are violence, drought, natural disasters and poor governance.
A country that reports a food crisis for at least eight years and receives more than 10 percent of its foreign assistance as humanitarian relief is considered to be in a protracted food crisis.
We can donate to the World Food Programme
http://www.wfp.org/content/un-report-22-nations-face-protracted-food-crises

Mai Mai soldier handed over to UN after more than 300 villagers raped over four days in eastern Congo

      Excerpts from article in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/06/congo-rape-arrest-mayele

Lieutenant Colonel Mayele, a commander of the Mai Mai "Cheka" militia group, one of the three armed movements involved in co-ordinated mass rape, was handed over today to UN peacekeepers and the Congolese army in Walikale, eastern Congo. He is in detention in the provincial capital Goma, where the Congolese military has opened a case against him.-

The extent of the rapes carried out by militiamen between 30 July and 2 August was shocking even by the horrific standards of eastern Congo. It also highlighted the impotency of the Congolese army and the UN force, known as Monusco, which is the world's largest peacekeeping mission.

Operating in concert, about 200 militiamen allied to Mai Mai "Cheka", the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and a third, smaller, armed group, took over 13 villages in the Kibua-Mpofi area of Walikale, one of the most insecure parts of eastern Congo.

Militiamen attacked the villages or waited in the surrounding forests for those who fled – while their comrades guarded a hillside position that offers the only mobile network coverage in the area, to prevent the alarm being raised. Over four days, at least 303 people were raped – 235 women, 52 girls, 13 men and 3 boys – according to a preliminary UN investigation published last month. Many of the victims were raped repeatedly.

"The scale and viciousness of these mass rapes defy belief," Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said at the time.

The UN report said local people believed the attack was linked to the struggle to control lucrative mineral deposits in the area, with the affected villages considered by the militias to be pro-government.

Although a Monusco contingent was based less than 20 miles from where the rapes took place, the atrocities were not made public until an NGO raised the alarm three weeks later. The UN investigation said the failure by Congo's security forces to stop the attack was "compounded by subsequent failings" by Monusco forces, which lacked training and adequate communication systems.

After the rapes became public, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, sent the deputy head of the his peacekeeping department, Atul Khare, to Congo to investigate. He also instructed Margot Wallström, the UN special representative for sexual violence in conflict, to take charge of the response.
In a statement from Congo, Wallström called the arrest of Mayele a victory for justice. "The numerous criminal acts committed under 'Lt Col' Mayele's command cannot be undone, but let his apprehension be a signal to all perpetrators of sexual violence that impunity for these types of crimes is not accepted and that justice will prevail," she said.

Human rights activists welcomed the news but said it would not be a deterrent. Mayele is not considered a leading figure among the militias in eastern Congo, and would have only controlled some of the men who carried out the attack.=

The FDLR, which is led by Rwandan Hutus linked to the 1994 genocide, is considered the main impediment to peace in eastern Congo, and allegedly committed a further 214 rapes later in August, according to the UN.

"It would have made a bigger difference if they arrested the FDLR leaders who were involved in the first attack," said Fidel Bafilemba, a researcher in Goma for the Enough Project.

October 5, 2010

Wonderful and harrowing piece by Rebecca Hamilton

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/78104/child-bride-in-sudan

October 4, 2010

NYT: more excellent reporting by Jeffrey Gettleman

4-Day Frenzy of Rape in Congo Reveals UN Troops Weakness
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/world/africa/04congo.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
............
While UN Peacekeepers have failed to protect vulnerable civilians in Congo, we must not lose sight of the fact that the real culprits are the various militia, Rwandan Hutus, Rwandan Tutsi, Congolese MaiMai, and the Congolese Army ( whether they admit it it not). Rape victims I spoke with in the DRC have cited all of these groups but the most brutal, according to the women I spoke with, are the Hutus who, after gang raping a woman or child would then destroy their insides with a bayonet and/ or pound their legs to pulp with rifle butts.

October 2, 2010

I took these photos in the jebel Marra mountains in 2006

jebal Marra children plead for protection. Nobody is listening

men in jebel Marra hold up a sign, STOP KILLING CIVILIANS. DISARM JANJAWEED. WELCOME PEACEKEEPING FORCES OF UN.

Shame on everyone. That was 2006. No UN peacekeeping forces ever came to Jebel Marra to protect the people and the UN just keeps quiet

The Jebel Marra mountains are magnificent. The range lies in the remote center of Darfur. It isn't easy to get there. I flew in with UNICEF on a helicopter. There we were met by people begging for protection. The people in jebel Marra are loyal to Abdul Wahid, head of the SLA , and so the mountains have been targeted by the Sudanese military ,especially throughout 2010. Since Sunday villages have been the focus of intensified attacks. Government forces, including ground troops, bombers and helicopters have burned four villages, killed 27 civilians and sent thousands more fleeing.

Reached by phone in Paris, SLA spokesman Ibrahim al-Helwu told Reuters. "This week there has been very big fighting. All this time the government air forces are bombarding the areas all the day and today this morning ... four villages were burned ... They killed 27 civilians. It is their campaign of ethnic cleansing."
These days reporters are not permitted in Darfur.. The aid agencies that have not been expelled are unable to speak out. There has been no comment from the United Nations about the on going attacks - probably because the UN reps in Khartoum now release information only AFTER it has been vetted by the perpetrators, the Sudanese regime, an outrageous situation that makes the UN complicit in the ongoing atrocities

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