survivor
we cannot feed our babiesThe Sudanese air force launched massive air raids on large areas in North Darfur on Kariyari, Boba, Furawiya, Wadi Howar and up to Alkhaim, according to Abubakr Hamid Nour, Secretary for Management and Administration of the Justice and Equality Movement, who said the air strikes extended night and day for more than a week.
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| November 30, 2010 |
The Chadian army has apparently recaptured Birao entering CAR in tanks from Abece-some 370 miles distance in eastern Chad.
Central African troops say they could not reach Birao because "with the rains, the roads are cut."I still believe Khartoum is behind the repeated attacks on Birao.
President Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic. Will he play host or will he turn Al Bashir over to the ICC?
Sudan's President Omar al Bashir, wanted by the ICC for the crime of genocide perpetrated upon the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawar people of the Darfur region of Sudan
| November 26, 2010 |
The terrified villagers had fled into the bush but some emerged to tell us what had happened to them. In 50-100 or more vehicles, armed men had swarmed the town. Women and girls were held captive and they were raped for three days . Nursing mothers told me "men drank my milk, then they burned my breasts. We cannot feed our babies."
This remote town is a long way from the nations capital of Bangui. Unicef supply trucks had left Bangui more than a week earlier but were still making their way along a rutted, mud track through one of the worlds most dense forests. They were still several days distance from Birao- it was clear that many of the babies could not survive.
For Biraos 14,000 traumatized residents, there would be little respite. Since 2006 the town has been attacked four times, most recently last Wednesday by a CAR rebel group ( CPJP ). What would a local rebel group want from this desolate spot? One has to wonder who is funding them. Look at the map. Birao is right on the Sudan border. There is an airstrip. It is a strategic location for anyone planning air attacks on South Sudan. Has Khartoum been behind these attempts to seize Birao, effectively keeping its own fingerprints off the attacks?
More often than not, I simply could not raise my camera to my eye, but I did take these few photos of some of the survivors in Birao. Their stories are written in their faces. They never leave me.
| November 23, 2010 |
| November 22, 2010 |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c4O0YiDGJQ
| November 19, 2010 |
A leader of 3000 displaced people in the Seraf Umra in North Darfur told Radio Dabanga that the group is without tents, shelter or supplies as winter approaches. The only organization operating in the region is the Red Crescent, he said, pointing out that the government expelled about 13 organizations that were providing services for the displaced in Darfur. The local leader appealed to all the leading humanitarian organizations and the United Nations to provide aid and immediate assistance to displaced people in the area of Seraf Umra.
| November 17, 2010 |
| November 14, 2010 |
B-""- a looming tragedy inside a failure wrapped in betrayal.'
'On March 4, 2009, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan's president, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Obama did not even go before the cameras to applaud this step to end impunity. Instead, the White House made only a perfunctory statement. Just under a month later, the president's special envoy to Sudan, J. Scott Gration, got off a plane in Khartoum and said "I love Sudan." He returned from his first trip to Darfur and proclaimed that it wasn't as bad as he had expected.
Time is short. The dangers are rising. The cost in human suffering will be unbearable.
In 2007 and 2008, then Sen. Barack Obama, along with his colleagues Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, harshly criticized George W. Bush's administration for engaging with Khartoum. They advocated a no-fly zone for Darfur and called for using sticks against the government. Susan Rice, now his U.N. ambassador, even advocated boots on the ground. Those bold proclamations -- untethered to responsibility -- were a promise and commitment to the Sudanese and to the millions of American activists who have made Sudan's quest for peace their own.
In May 2008, candidate Obama joined in a statement in which he demanded "that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end and that the CPA be fully implemented." He went further to "condemn the Sudanese government's consistent efforts to undermine peace and security, including its repeated attacks against its own people." He pledged to "pursue these goals with unstinting resolve."
==But those have not been pledges redeemed. They have been betrayed.
Then, when in violation of international humanitarian law Khartoum kicked out 13 international humanitarian NGOs from Darfur that were providing badly needed assistance, again the Obama team's response was weak. Days later, the administration praised Khartoum for letting three of the NGOs back into Darfur. Meanwhile, for more than a year U.S. government reports of inadequate humanitarian aid to Darfur have been covered up in Washington, according to two people familiar with the documents.
When Khartoum has used its Sudanese Armed Forces aircraft to bomb villages and kill innocents in violation of various agreements, there has been no robust public rebuke.
When the presidential election stipulated in the CPA was far from credible, the Obama administration was quiet.
When earlier this year the ICC issued a further arrest warrant for Bashir, this time for genocide, the same word Obama repeatedly has used to describe the Sudanese government's violence against its own people - again there was no cry for accountability. --
Excerpts from a piece by former Special Envoy to Sudan, Rich Williamsom
| November 12, 2010 |
Credible accounts from witnesses to the attacks indicate that Sudanese government forces committed serious laws-of-war violations during attacks in August, September, and October on populated areas around Deribat, Jawa, and Soni in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur. The attacks resulted in civilian deaths and injuries, mass displacement, and destruction of property. In the first week of November, government forces continued the attacks, targeting villages to the south of Soni, causing further destruction and displacement.
"The Sudanese government should not get away with attacking Darfur civilians again because everyone is paying attention to the referendum in the south," said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to end these attacks immediately and let humanitarian agencies reach civilians who need the help, including people in rebel-held territories."
| November 11, 2010 |
Long live our struggle for justice and equality
A Statement from Office of Humanitarian Affairs of JEM
The Khartoum government once again continued its grave crimes against innocent civilians of North Darfur. Today, November 9th, Government forces and allied militia paid a reprisal visit to the town of Bia Kida near Boba, the site of their last defeat at the hands of JEM. GoS force committed a multiple rape of three girls, took away 7 men to an unknown destination and tortured 30 citizens of all ages and gender including aged and children. They also killed 120 sheep and drove away with 200 heads of camels.
Suleiman Jamous
Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs of JEM
09/11/2010
Suleiman Jamous. Today
Sent from my iPhone
| November 10, 2010 |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111003727.html
Excerpts from piece by Bec Hamilton
Excerpts from piece by Bec Hamilton
With the Sudanese government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir routinely denying foreign journalists access to the conflict-ridden region of Darfur, and Sudan-based media being subject to government censorship, Radio Dabanga is now the only media outlet routinely providing uncensored information.
But on Oct. 30, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services raided the Khartoum office shared by Darfuri human rights activists and Radio Dabanga, arresting 13 people, of whom six were women. According to Radio Dabanga's Dutch-based director, Hildebrand Bijleveld, the detainees are being held incommunicado in unknown locations.
The first official acknowledgment of the arrests came last weekend with an intelligence official telling the state-run Sudanese media that "Radio Dabanga was working against Sudan, focused on inciting hatred among the people and aborting the peace process." Amnesty International has issued an alert, warning that the detainees are at risk of torture. "I think they have done this to intimidate those bringing out the story of what is really happening on the ground in Darfur," Bijleveld said.-
With no eyes and ears and in many cases no hands on the ground, the silence is eerie," said Susannah Sirkin, deputy director at Physicians for Human Rights.
| November 8, 2010 |
Valerie Amos, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator is referring particularly to the Jebel Marra region which continues to be the target of government attacks.
Published: November 5, 2010
More than 600 women and girls were recently raped along the Congo-Angola border during a mass expulsion of illegal immigrants, according to the United Nations. Many of the victims said they were locked in dungeon-like conditions for several weeks while they were raped repeatedly by security forces. At least one woman died from her internal injuries, United Nations officials said.- Many of the women said they had been kept in derelict buildings and gang-raped by security forces. When they were released, they said they had been forced to walk back into Congo without any clothes.
A few months ago, more than 200 women were raped in a single thatched-roof village in eastern Congo while United Nations peacekeepers were less than 12 miles away.
"U.S. offers Sudan quicker route off terror list"
By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) The United States will drop Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism as early as July 2011 if Khartoum ensures two key referendums take place on schedule in January and the results are respected, senior U.S. officials said on Sunday.
U.S. President Barack Obama made the offer through Senator John Kerry, who recently told Sudan's leaders the United States was ready to "decouple" the issue of Darfur from Khartoum's terror designation to win cooperation on the January polls, the officials said.
"We like to consider this a pay-for-performance operation", one [senior U.S.] official said.
| November 4, 2010 |
Radio Dabanga: Wounded survivors of the most recent militia attack in central Darfur have arrived at the hospital in El Fasher. The 18 people were wounded by gunmen dressed in military uniforms and riding on camels. The attack occurred on Monday in Tina, three kilometres northwest of Tawila in central Darfur.The victims were transferred to the hospital in El Fasher. They were shot while traveling in a car from a displaced camp in Tawila on the way to a market. Four people died including a child.
Among the wounded are Abdelaziz Muhajir Adam, Abakr Mohamed Saleh, Sadig Mohamed Mustafa, Abdelrahman Ahmed Ibrahim, Sadig Mohamed Bakush, Adam Abdelkarim Motar, and Abdalaziz Adam Ibrahim.
After the prevoius massacre in the area, an international medical NGO in Tawila treated 46 men, many of whom had serious gunshot wounds. They were shot on 2 September 2010 in Tabara market. Approximately 50 to 60 people were killed at the market on that day. Some of the victims were forced to lie down and shot in the head at point blank range. Others were tied behind vehicles and dragged to death, according to witness accounts.
Earlier this month death squads entered Hamadiya Camp and killed three of seven camp leaders.
Five sheikhs or Oumdas of N. Darfur camps are still being detained after more than a year <http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/5281>
Although for 7 years the UN has failed to provide adequate protection for Darfur’s desperate people, the October 7-8 visit to Darfur by 15 members of the UN Security Council gave some people a renewed hope that the UN will finally step up and help them. In an interview with Radio Dabanga, after making clear that that there is no security in Darfur for the displaced and they are constantly threatened, a camp leader pleaded for the UN Security Council to form a body that would hear and acknowledge the human rights abuses being perpetrated against the displaced. He also asked the UN to restore justice and security to Darfur. May someone at the UN hear that plea and persuade the UNSC to respond. As I write these words I realize how pointless they are. After seven years of genocide and the continuing abuse of 2.7 million survivors in deplorable camps across Darfur and eastern Chad, all we can conclude is that the world cares nothing about Darfur’s people as they suffer. They are simply expendable.
The UN Security Council delegation, consisting of diplomats and ambassadors representing 15 member states, spent two days in North Darfur,. They were led by US Ambassador Susan Rice and UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant. After the visit, two Sudanese humanitarian workers ( Abdullah Ishaq Abdel Razek, supervisor of the nutrition program of the camp’s schools, and Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed Al-Haj, a driver) were imprisoned by Sudanese officials. Their crime was that they spoke frankly to delegation members. The men have been detained at an unknown place and have not been allowed access to lawyers or their families. Both men knew the risks of speaking speaking honestly and all had been warned by authorities not to talk to the delegation about security in the camps or the humanitarian situation.
| November 3, 2010 |
If you follow this site you know how often, especially recently, I have used Radio Dabanga as my source of information. The Darfur radio station, registered in Holland, has been the best and one of very few media outlets still reporting on the on-going atrocities and human rights abuses in the Darfur region. Now Khartoum officials have raided and closed the Dabanga office and seized its contents, including computers, documents and all Radio Dabanga equipment.
The United States has expressed concern over the reported arrests of several human rights activists and the closure of the Darfuri radio station's offices in Khartoum. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said, "Radio Dabanga is a very important source of information, real time information in Darfur. Special Envoy Gration will express these concerns directly with senior Sudanese officials during his meetings tomorrow".
Separately, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Washington "strongly condemns" the arrests and the reported shutdown of the Khartoum office of Radio Dabanga. "These arrests indicate an emerging pattern of harassment and intimidation by the government of Sudan against civil society in advance of the scheduled January 9 referenda," Rice said.
| November 2, 2010 |
Gunmen on camels attack Tawila in central Darfur; 28 casualties
Uniformed gunmen killed four (4) people and injured 24 in Tawila in central Darfur. The victims were displaced people who had made the town their temporary home. Among the dead is a child. The gunmen were dressed in military uniforms and rode on camels. They opened fire indiscriminately at people on the way to Konji Market of Ronda Camp, in Tawila of North Darfur State. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that some of the displaced were using a car when the gunmen opened fire on them. The witnesses said that among the wounded there are ten serious injuries. The wounded were first taken to the hospital in Tawila and later transferred to El Fasher.
| November 1, 2010 |
The Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in existence for more than two decades, is the rebel group responsible for Africa’s longest running armed conflict. Led by Joseph Kony, the inner workings of the LRA remain relatively unknown to the outside world, including the Ugandan army officers and policy makers in Africa and the West who are leading efforts to remove the rebels from the battlefield. -
It seems overtly difficult to engage a group of fighters, whether militarily or peacefully, without knowing what they stand for. Such lack of understanding, arguably throughout the entire existence of the LRA, has played a significant role in the failure to resolve the conflict. Erroneous descriptions of the LRA as a Christian fundamentalist group composed of drugged children led by a madman have led to a profound underestimation of the strength and military ability of the LRA.
Based on extensive research in all areas where the LRA operates, as well as in northern Uganda where the LRA originated, this paper aims to shed light on the nature of the “new” LRA in the hope that some of the information presented here can help to finally bring an end to the conflict that is taking place outside of Uganda but which continues to affect northern Uganda also.
Based on Enough interviews with former LRA fighters, there are about 400 LRA fighters operating in three countries. This number does not include women, children, and abductees who are used solely to carry food and other looted materials. Close to 250 fighters are Ugandans, the other 150 being from Sudan, Congo, and CAR. -
Fear is the sole motivation for the continuing LRA fight. The majority of the LRA fighters and commanders would leave the LRA if they were convinced that the armies and populations in Congo, Sudan, and CAR would not harm them. Many low ranking soldiers are afraid of being killed by their own commanders if caught trying to escape, as has happened in the past. Junior and mid-level commanders fear prosecution and mistreatment in Uganda if they decide to defect.
- Constantly on the run trying to escape attacks from the Ugandan army, LRA fighters suffer from many diseases including HIV/AIDS, malaria, syphilis,
and malnutrition. In addition, most LRA members, including commanders, endure strict military discipline, which includes corporal punishment when orders are not carried out properly. Lacking a meaningful ideology to give the organization purpose, the LRA has become a personal vehicle for Kony’s survival.
Former fighters claim that Kony, who refers to himself at times as King David, Solomon, or even Hitler, has said he will never be captured alive or surrender.
-Left with little else, Kony is desperately trying to reconnect with his former backers in Khartoum. If he succeeds, the LRA will regain the sense of purpose and will pose a renewed regional threat in Central Africa. A successful approach to end this conflict once and for all should be designed to address fundamentally these two issues: the promise of support from Khartoum or any other outside sources, and the fear most LRA fighters experience when deciding to surrender. If Kony is barred from gaining any assistance and the fighters are further encouraged to leave the ranks, the LRA, at least in its current form, will soon cease to exist.
http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/lords-resistance-army-today?link=2