Mia Farrow: January 2011 | Mia Farrow's Writings, Photos and Information on the Growing Crisis in Darfur (Sudan), Chad and Central African Republic (CAR)

Humanitarian and Advocacy Information

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View a timeline of events in the humanitarian crisis in Darfur

With focus on Southern Sudan, look what's happening in North, South and West Darfur!!

Sudan army bombs north Darfur, threatens to burn down UN AU Peacekeeping base
On Jan 27, the Sudanese forces (SAF) carried out an aerial bombardments in north Darfur.
Sudanese Army threatened to "burn down" a base of the UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in the area.

"On Wednesday, SAF forces resumed bombardment of Tabit area, which prevented a UNAMID's verification team from accessing the area, the hybrid operation said today.
The mission further reported that at 06:00pm approximately 200 SAF soldiers, on 40 vehicles, surrounded the mission's base in Shangil Tobaya and the adjacent makeshift camp.
The commander of SAF forces, who detained four people in the area, initially said they were there to persuade displaced persons to return to their homes. Moreover, the SAF commander later threatened to "burn down" the makeshift camp and the UNAMID site if the peacekeepers continued to interfere. UNAMID said SAF forces had eventually left after its peacekeepers held their grounds.
The standoff between SAF and UNAMID comes at a time when the mission faces international calls to act as aggressively as its mandate authorizes it to act in protecting civilians.
Members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday received a briefing via a video link by UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari and later criticized the Sudanese authorities for curtailing the mission's right to access areas in the region.
"UNAMID is a Chapter 7 mission, with a robust protection of civilians mandate. And the United States view and the view of many members of the Council, as expressed today and on numerous previous occasions, is that we expect UNAMID, as one of the UN's largest and most costly operations, with one of the most robust mandates passed by this Council, to be very active and, when necessary, aggressive, in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians," said United Stated Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice.

Internally Displaced Persons from Darfur told Sudan Tribune that the recent violence displaced thousands of people -..
A female teacher from Tabit reached by Sudan Tribune after their arrival to Zamzam IDPs camp near El-Fasher said since the bombing of 25 January, the villagers, 17000 families, fled to Zamzam, and Rwanda camps near Tawilla.
"People are homeless in the valleys and roads as the army block the roads," she said, adding "this is the new policy of peace".
A local chief from Al-Salam IDPs camp told Sudan Tribune that the Sudanese troops burnt down seven villages in the area located south-west of El-Fasher on the period of Saturday to Tuesday of this week. Oumda Atem Osman said the army detained 80 people from Abu Zarka area in north Darfur. He further said their belongings and properties were looted by the militiamen who attacked the villages jointly with the army.
He further deplored the position of the peacekeepers on the ground adding that in the areas of Tawilla and Korma the militiamen seized the harvest of farmers but the UNAMID members were unable to stop them.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) today denounced the growing violence against civilians in Darfur and urged the international community to not forget Darfur by focusing only on the independence of South Sudan.
http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-army-bombs-north-Darfur,37787

UN EVACUATES CRS WORKERS IN WEST DARFUR AFTER THREATS More than a dozen Catholic Relief Services aid workers were evacuated from an area of Western Darfur to the Khartoum on Jan. 21 with the help of the United Nations after receiving "indications of threats." In all, 13 international and national aid workers were escorted out of outlying sections of El Geneina near the border with Chad at the request of Sudanese officials.http://www.uscatholic.org/news/2011/01/un-evacuates-crs-workers-western-darfur-after-threats-reported

UN PEACEKEEPERS movements RESTRICTED in South Darfur
Source: United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur(UNAMID)
26 Jan 2011
Two UNAMID patrols from the Mission's Graida team site, located 100 kilometers south of Nyala, South Darfur, were denied access yesterday by Sudanese Government Forces at two different check points.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-8DGQ8D?OpenDocument

Khartoum is assembling military units and beginning to transfer them to Darfur Radio Dabanga reported on Jan 27 http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/8908.

January 27, 2011

Satellite Sentinel Project Provides Images of Troop Presence in Sudan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, January 27, 2011
Contact: Jonathan Hutson, Enough Project+1-202-386-1618jhutson@enoughproject.org
Read the report, including the satellite imagery analysis (PDF)
View the satellite images

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has confirmed that the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, has deployed company-sized units of troops equipped with light armor and artillery in areas of South Kordofan around the oil-producing Abyei region and other strategic areas along Sudan's volatile North-South border. However, the project's first report also indicates that the SAF troops do not appear prepared for imminent forward movement. This provides a window for the peace process to address outstanding North-South issues which, if unresolved, could trigger renewed conflict.

Troop buildups have been reported on both sides of the border. Authoritative sources, such as the Small Arms Survey, indicate approximately 55,000 SAF troops along the border of South Kordofan - half the strength of Sudan's standing regular army - spread out over some 100 garrisons. The satellite imagery collected to date by SSP is consistent with those reports, and it provides photographic corroboration of company-size deployments, light armor, mobile artillery, and other offensive military equipment, as well as helicopter transport.

The imagery analysis, prepared by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, presents fresh and unprecedented high-resolution imagery of a potential conflict zone captured by DigitalGlobe, a leading commercial satellite firm, which is providing imagery and additional analysis. These images, combined with the Enough Project's field reports, provide a baseline understanding of what's happening in flashpoint areas, where the combination of large numbers of security forces and high levels of tension could cause localized incidents to escalate, drawing both sides into a wider conflict.

George Clooney, a co-founder of the Satellite Sentinel Project, said:

"These first images and analysis have deepened our understanding of the evolving situation following Southern Sudan's historic vote on independence. Although the SAF in South Kordofan apparently remains a force largely in hiding, we showed they are field-deployed, and they are controlling major roads by running checkpoints. Though they are not showing signs of advancing, we confirmed that they're equipped with helicopter transport, artillery, armored personnel carriers and trucks. Our first report represents the best recent information on the military situation in Sudan publicly available."

The findings of this report include the following

The report documents checkpoints reported by the U.N. north of Abyei Town on the road to Diffra in the oil-producing northern part of Abyei's territory. The checkpoints are in the same region where busloads of southerners returning home from the North have been ambushed and held. Returnees have reported many cases of rape.

"Traditionally, the human rights community has documented abuses that have already occurred," said Dr. Charlie Clements, Executive Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "Satellite Sentinel Project represents a new opportunity for policy makers and the public to have access to the same types of information that could save lives if widely shared and acted upon."

To see the full report, the latest satellite images and for more information or ways to take action, visit www.satsentinel.org or www.digitalglobe.com.
Enough Project, 1225 Eye St. NW., Washington, DC 20005 United States

January 23, 2011

Denied full access to displaced and fearing expulsion, UN is caving in to Khartoum

The results of a study from Tufts University "Navigating Without a Compass: The Erosion of Humanitarianism in Darfur" come as no surprise to Sudan watchers, or anyone in Darfur. The report, not yet published, is analyzed by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) "UN Accused of Caving In to Khartoum Over Darfur" which lays out the ways in which the UN, UNAMID, the UN/AU peacekeeping force and international NGOs are complicit in obscuring the on-going atrocities and suffering in the Darfur region.

IWPR: "Amid growing levels of malnutrition, illness and instability in Darfur displacement camps, United Nations aid and peacekeeping agencies are being accused of capitulating to pressure and interference from the Sudanese government and failing in their duty to protect civilians. This comes as conditions in IDP camps deteriorate, with the government delaying food and medical supplies and many children often too hungry to go to school. One Sudanese opposition politician interviewed for this report claimed that some of the weakest camp inhabitants have started to die because of the shortages"

The IWPR report contains interviews with displaced Darfuris; Nils Kastberg, head of UNICEF for Darfur; a number of UN officials speaking confidentially, diplomats in Sudan; Sudanese health workers; human rights experts (particularly Jehanne Henry, Sudan researcher for Human Rights Watch); a lawyer for an international relief organization; Richard Williamson, former U.S. special envoy for Sudan; a leading (unnamed) Sudanese political figure; and Salih Osman, a Khartoum-based lawyer. On the basis of these interviews and other research IPWR concludes:
"According to UN officials who spoke to IWPR, the Sudanese government is actively preventing UN agencies which operate on the ground from accessing information necessary for compiling much needed reports on the humanitarian situation in the region."

Because Khartoum expelled 13 international humanitarian organizations in March 2009- "UN agencies feel they must tread very carefully":
A UN source told IWPR "this requires us to be careful not to describe all access problems as the government deliberately trying to obstruct humanitarian aid. We don't have the access we'd like into camps in Darfur, or the knowledge we need." UN and diplomatic sources who spoke to IWPR say Khartoum is deliberately undermining humanitarian efforts.

"UNICEF reported early last year that as many as 21 nutritional surveys were conducted since June 2009, but only seven have been released by the humanitarian affairs commission [HAC]. Six of those showed [Global Acute] malnutrition rates of between 15 and 29 per cent, the report stated."

Last October, while other UN officials cowered, Nils Kastberg,the head of UNICEF in Sudan stepped forward. He could not have been more clear that Khartoum is preventing his agency from releasing reports about malnutrition in IDP camps. "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 humanitarian affairs commission [HAC] interferes and delays in the release of reports, making it difficult for us to respond [in a] timely [manner]" he said.

In an earlier interview with Radio Dabanga, Kastberg was very specific;
"Sometimes it is security services that hinder access or delay access, sometimes it is the humanitarian affairs office [HAC] that delays the release of nutritional surveys. Sometimes it is delays in granting permissions and visas. It is different sections of different [government] institutions which interfere in our work."

Simultaneously, Georg Charpentier, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan was disgracefully disingenuous when he claimed (in a written statement to IWPR) "UN humanitarian agencies are not confronted by pressure or interference from the Government of Sudan."

But in Darfur there is no tolerance for Charpentier's Khartoum-pleasing statements. "Children don't have enough food to eat," a Sudanese health worker in one of the Darfur camps told IWPR. The Tufts report finds; "crucial information about the humanitarian situation is lacking. There are serious issues with the proper validation of the nutrition survey reports and their immediate release- without such data neither the government nor the international community can properly understand the severity of the humanitarian situation or the efficacy of the response."

IWPR concludes that Khartoum "has consistently worked to thwart the distribution of food, restrict access of relief workers, and control the movements of peacekeepers." Quoting from the Tufts report, IWPR notes, "Where humanitarian access has been maintained there have been serious delays and blocking of key information, for example, the failure to release regular nutrition survey reports, which contain the vital humanitarian indicators that enable the severity of the humanitarian crisis to be judged.." "Crucial information about the humanitarian situation is lacking. There are serious issues with the proper validation of the nutrition survey reports and their immediate release - without such data neither the government nor the international community can properly understand the severity of the humanitarian situation or the efficacy of the response."

UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, in his final (August 2010) briefing of the Security Council:
"The background is that the humanitarian situation in Darfur has been steadily deteriorating again this year, in the context of [renewed violence]. The level of restrictions imposed on humanitarian operations, and of harassment, threats, and violence directed at humanitarian personnel, is once again becoming unacceptable. All this renders the civilians we are trying to help even more vulnerable."

IWPR; Children interviewed by IWPR and Radio Dabanga in the camps say that they are often too hungry to go to school, or have to go out to work to get money to feed their families. One camp leader told IWPR and Radio Dabanga, "There is a big shortage in the food supply, and this is affecting children. Babies who depend on their mothers breastfeeding are suffering mostly because their mothers don't have enough food, and in turn they are not getting enough milk."

Medical workers in the camps say that clinics for children have been shut down since the expulsion of NGOs, and that medical supplies, as well as food, are subject to delays at the hands of the government. "There were special centres to treat malnourished children in camps, but they've been shut down and there are now hundreds of children who are malnourished and need urgent help," another camp leader said.

January 22, 2011

What is going on in Darfur? -Antonov bombers are flying almost daily over the Khor Abece area in south Darfur

On Dec 18,2010 The the White House issued the following statement.
"The United States is deeply concerned about reports that the Sudanese Armed Forces attacked and burnt the village of Khor Abeche in South Darfur. According to the United Nations, the attacks left many injured, some dead, and thousands displaced. The United States condemns this attack on civilians.

This attack comes at a time that we are also seeing increased evidence of support to militant proxies from the Governments of Sudan and Southern Sudan. All Sudanese leaders have a responsibility to protect civilian populations - to do otherwise is unacceptable. As the January 9, 2011 referendum on the status of Southern Sudan approaches and Sudanese leaders engage in discussions about their future relationship with the international community, the Governments of Sudan and Southern Sudan must accept this fundamental responsibility."
Mike Hammer, spokesman of the National Security Council

On Jan 5 Radio Dabanga reported Warplanes fly over Kutum, heavy activity at El Fasher airport
KUTUM
5 Jan
MiG warplanes in the skies over Kutum provoked fears on Tuesday among the local population. Displaced persons, especially in Kassab Camp, were afraid that the flights of the aircraft might bring military battles and attacks.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that fears had also increased on Monday evening when a major military force was seen north of Kutum, which shot in the air when it encountered civilians. Witnesses in El Fasher on Monday also noticed unusual activity of Antonov and MiG fighter aircraft, taking off and landing continuously at the airport in El-Fasher Airport.

Through Radio Dabanga on January 22nd we learn that refugees in the area of Khor Abeche, South Darfur, express fear of renewed fighting and report 'almost daily flights of Antonov aircraft' in the region's skies.
The displaced persons said they also fear the spread of diseases due to lack of food rations and the deteriorating health environment and crowding of 12000 people.
http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/8691

Birth of a nation!

JUBA, Sudan | Fri Jan 21, 2011 8:35am EST

(Reuters) - Almost 99 percent of south Sudanese who voted in an independence referendum chose to split away from the north-

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70K2DV20110121

The results were the latest indication of a landslide vote for southern independence in last week's referendum, promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war. --

The website for the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (southernsudan2011.com/) showed a 98.6 percent vote for secession, with more than 80 percent of the votes from the south counted, and 100 percent counted in other areas.

The commission earlier confirmed the turnout had passed the 60 percent mark needed to make the result binding.-

"This is the outcome we expected ... the results won't change much," the commission's deputy chairman Chan Reek Madut, a southerner, told Reuters.

The only area to show a majority for unity was a small pocket of voters in the northern Sudanese state of South Darfur. According to the figures, 63.2 percent of voters wanted to keep the country together and only 36.8 percent went for secession."It is not surprising because of the way they conducted their registration. Some people passed as southerners who were actually northerners from Darfur," said Madut.

"They took advantage of the lack of security in the area. It won't impact seriously on the result." Darfur is the scene of a seven-year conflict pitting rebels against the government.

A senior official from north Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said he would wait until the final announcement before giving an official reaction.

"But the expectation is that the result will be for secession," said Rabie Abdelati. "The party is working for the post referendum period now -- the demarcation of the borders and the resolution of the Abyei problem. We are doing our best to prepare for the consequences of secession on the north."

Northern and southern officials still have to agree how they would divide oil revenues after a split and sort out the ownership of the contested border region of Abyei. -

Sudan's north-south war -- Africa's longest civil conflict -- was fueled by differences over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology. It killed an estimated 2 million people, forced 4 million to flee and destabilized the region.

January 21, 2011

Reports to me from people on the ground convince me there is support from Khartoum for the LRA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdnXLCiFTw0&feature=player_embedded

Blog from Bec Hamilton in Abyei

I'm now in Malakal and spent last night with the returnees crowded
into the stadium here. They are living under makeshift "tents" of
sticks and plastic sheeting. Conditions are far from ideal but for the
most part they still say they are happy to be "home"

Foreign Affairs
Letter from Abyei, Jan. 21, 2010: LETTER FROM ABYEI:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/letters-from/letter-from-abyei

[Despite the successful referendum in southern Sudan, the unresolved
status of a town straddling the border between North and South could
spark civil war once again.]
By Rebecca Hamilton
[REBECCA HAMILTON, is a fellow at the New America foundation, the
recipient of a Pulitzer Center grant, and the author of Fighting for
Darfur.]
--
‘In the past two weeks, clashes north of Abyei have left at least 33
dead. Several buses full of southern Sudanese returnees from Khartoum
have been attacked; the insecurity has led to road closures, which
have generated food and fuel shortages in the town of Abyei. And an
annual migration of people and cattle that almost always results in
civilian casualties is now under way. Exacerbating these immediate
tensions is the looming question of whether Abyei will belong to the
north or the south in the likely event that Sudan splits in two.

As southern Sudanese rejoice over their successful referendum, the
people of Abyei find themselves in a precarious position. --’

January 19, 2011

Investigating allegations that the Sudanese government is supplying or giving safe haven to LRA commanders will require the US to dedicate more diplomatic and intelligence resources to the task. US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice should also work at the UN Security Council to ensure that UN peacekeepers in South Sudan and UN/AU peacekeepers in Darfur launch a credible investigation and establish a UN mechanism to improve the Council's monitoring of the LRA.

When I was in Uganda I saw US military in the country to assist the Ugandan military, especially in their efforts to apprehend LRA commanders. For more than two years, Ugandan army troops have pursued the LRA through Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan . While They have captured or killed several senior LRA commanders and protected some towns from LRA raids, they have failed to protect civilians from attacks that have killed more than 2,300 civilians and displaced 400,000. Human rights abuses by the Ugandan military and security forces within Uganda raise further concerns for continued US support.

Our friends are Resolve--http://www.theresolve.org partner with Genocide Intervention, Enough, Human Rights Watch, Invisible Children and MercyCorps, Humanity United among others. They recommend:
"President Obama's leadership is urgently needed to find viable alternatives. He should work with international and regional partners, including the United Nations Security Council and the African Union, to seek a multilateral mandate and more effective forces to apprehend LRA commanders and protect civilians.

"Additionally, President Obama should reinvigorate regional efforts to encourage mid-level and senior LRA commanders to defect from the LRA. The US should also pressure the Ugandan government to ensure more rapid progress on rebuilding northern Uganda, as research indicates that opportunities for work will encourage LRA commanders to leave the rebel group. Finally, the Ugandan government should establish clear legal guidelines and precedent for receiving LRA commanders who defect, as this is key to convincing LRA commanders still in the bush to lay down their arms.

"By taking these actions, President Obama can help move his strategy from a piece of paper to proactive action on the ground to prevent LRA commanders from holding hundreds of thousands of people across central Africa hostage."

Honoring Dr. King
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:"
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

January 18, 2011

Hilde Johnson's book--her inside story of waging peace in Sudan

“The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan’s second civil war in 2005 took almost three years to mature and would never have been signed had it not been for the dedication of a small number of individuals from Sudan and the broader international community. Amongst the latter, Hilde F. Johnson, at the time Norway’s Minister for International Development and now the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, stands out for her tireless efforts to help bring the protagonists together.

This book is Hilde’s inside account of how the two parties to Africa’s longest running civil war, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), negotiated an end to over 20 years of bloodshed. Profiting from her unique access to both the SPLM/A’s late leader John Garang as well as Ali Osman Taha, Sudan’s First Vice President, she takes us on a fascinating journey from the beginning of the talks in Nairobi to the signing of the 260 page agreement in Naivasha over 16 months later. This journey is as full of deep insight into the political dynamics of Northern and Southern Sudan as of compelling conclusions on the mechanics of mediation and the need for forceful engagement by the international community.”
Kofi Annan
http://www.wagingpeaceinsudan.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Waging-Peace-In-Sudan-Hilde-F-Johnson/169699246408779

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=no&v=LPt5yg8hPaU

UN provided transportation to Ahmed Haroun, wanted by ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur

This is outrageous. When they had him in the UN copter, they should have begun his journey to the Hague.

'Amnesty International has urged the United Nations not to help fugitives from international justice after a Sudanese official wanted for war crimes in Darfur was provided with a helicopter to fly to a meeting in the Abyei region.

Ahmed Haroun, the Governor of Southern Kordofan, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was given assistance by the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) so that he could attend a meeting with members of the Missirya community in Abyei.

Amnesty International's UN representative Renzo Pomi said:
"It's outrageous that someone who is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes is given transport by UN without being arrested."
As Minister of State for the Interior between 2003 and 2005, Haroun was responsible for the Darfur security portfolio. He is alleged to have been responsible for recruiting, funding and personally arming the "Janjaweed" militia in Darfur and encouraging them to target civilians.

The "Janjaweed" militia are said to have carried out the murder, torture and mass rape of innocent civilians during a number of attacks on villages in Darfur.

Background

Under the Relationship Agreement between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations, the UN and the International Criminal Court are obliged to "cooperate closely, whenever appropriate, with each other and consult each other on matters of mutual interest" (Article 3), both are required "to the fullest extent possible and practicable, arrange for the exchange of information and documents of mutual interest" (Article 5) and to cooperate on a range of matters with the Prosecutor (Article 18).

According to Security Council resolution 1593(2005), which referred the situation in Darfur to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, all States and concerned regional and other international organizations are required to cooperate fully with the Prosecutor.

January 16, 2011

more than 80 percent of the nearly four million registered voters (in Southern Sudan )have cast ballots, far surpassing the 60 percent turnout needed for the results to be valid.

A 50 percent majority must vote for separation to fulfill the second requirement for independence.
Several thousand observers from Sudan and abroad monitored the vote.
The African Union issued a preliminary report saying it found the vote to be free and credible, and a true reflection of the will of the Southern Sudanese people.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir visited the region before the referendum and said his government would accept the results.
If confirmed, the new state is expected to emerge in six months, when the Comprehensive Political Agreement between north and south is due to expire.The accord, signed six years ago, ended two decades of civil war and paved the way for the referendum.
But many issues remain to be resolved. These include border demarcation, the division of oil revenues and external debt payments and the future of the Abyei region where clashes last week killed several dozen people.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Voting-Counting-Begins-in-Sudan-Referendum-----113839679.html

January 15, 2011

Look, listen carefully to the three Darfuri women in this video made during one of my visits to refugee camps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_jjTJ19WgE&feature=related

I took this photo in 2004 in Abu shouk camp: population 42000

The displaced, origionally from the villages of Kutum.,Korma,Jebelsea, and Taweela,were attacked by Sudanese government forces and accompanying Janjaweed militia

Darfur's displaced plead for safety and for justice

Kalma camp pop 90. I took this photo in 2004-from a UN helicopter

Children at Kalma Camp

Omdas and sheikhs of the camps, along with representatives of women and youth, met with US Special Envoy Scott Gration, who was accompanied by the US official on the Darfur issue, Dane Smith. The meeting was at the UNAMID base in Tawila yesterday.

The refugee participants demanded an end to daily violations carried out by the government forces and their militias. They named these violations as rape, murder, assassinations, destruction of livelihoods, destruction of farms and water sources, looting and plunder of property. -

In the humanitarian sphere, the displaced requested the return of the foreign organizations that the government expelled in March 2009. They believe this would improve the humanitarian situation, as well as the the health and education services for the displaced. They requested more protection of resources and livelihoods of the displaced. They also want increased food rations and the provision of medicine. Finally, they requested books and materials for teachers.
http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/8336

January 14, 2011

Nicholas Kristof and Jimmy Carter answer your Sudan questions

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/answering-your-sudan-questions-take-1/
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/answering-your-sudan-questions-take-2/
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/answering-your-sudan-questions-round-3/?partner=rss&emc=rss

January 13, 2011

US must not lift sanctions against northern Sudan.

In northern Uganda, I visited a facility for children who had been abducted by the LRA. Two of the pictures show an enactment by the kids of their abduction.

US must not remove Khartoum from list of countries supporting terrorism

Since the Clinton Administration, when Omer Al-Bashir and his cabal played host to Osama Bin Laden (for 7 years) Sudan has been on a list of states sponsoring terrorism, and sanctions have been imposed. Now there is talk of lifting the sanctions and removing Khartoum from that list. But overwhelming evidence points to Khartoum's ongoing support for the unspeakably brutal Lord's Resistance Army. Unless and until a credible investigation can prove that the Sudanese government is not in fact providing support for the LRA, the US must not lift the sanctions.

January 12, 2011

UNICEF is helping children

UNICEF (press release)
NEW YORK, USA, 11 January- In a special video message featuring her own powerful photographs, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow urges the world to stay vigilant with respect to the world's most marginalized and vulnerable children...
http://www.unicef.org/people/people_57412.html

January 11, 2011

quote- Ang San Suu Kyi

quote: Ang San Suu Kyi

In Jebel Marra 2006

New settlers on Darfur lands

Source: Radio Dabanga <http://www.radiodabanga.org/>
11 Jan 2011
ZALINGEI (11 Jan .) - New settlers are living in the Wadi Saleh area, south of Zalingei, on land claimed by conflict-displaced people. The influx of dozens of Arab settlers who are heavily armed is causing insecurity in the area, according to the community leader of Tireij villages.

January 10, 2011

The Arab government prosecuted a vicious war against southerners, who have been chafing for their own separate state even before Sudan’s independence in 1956. The government forces and their proxy militias burned down villages, slaughtered civilians and even kidnapped southern children and sold them to slave traders <http://www.sudanupdate.org/REPORTS/Slavery/slave.htm> for a life of involuntary servitude in the north. More than two million people were killed and many of the tactics used to suppress the insurrection in the south would be repeated in Darfur, in Sudan’s west.

Voters on Sunday spoke of this legacy, and the poverty that has accompanied it. That was in evidence all around. Most polling places were shoddily built schools or government offices with bald concrete floors, no lights, crumbly walls and rusted metal roofs. If southern Sudan becomes independent, it will be one of the poorest countries on earth.

“But better to be free,” said Simon Matiek, a student.
-
Election officials said the turnout was enormous. Many voters had been standing in place since 2 a.m., even though the polls did not open until 8.
“Today will go down in history,” said William Lukudu, who arrived before dawn decked out in a natty gray suit, bright green shirt and purple tie. “I didn’t want to be left out.
Suits, dresses, high heels, plastic pearls — voters were dressed in their Sunday best. ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/world/africa/10sudan.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22
JEFFREY GETTLEMAN NY Times
Published: January 9, 2011

Southern Sudanese, in a Jubilant Mood, Begin to Vote on Secession

Excerpt from NYTimes article. Link below
‘As the sun cleared the horizon and the voting began, the streets of Juba, the capital of southern Sudan <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/sudan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> , broke into a street party. Women were literally skipping around the polls. Young men thumped on drums. Others were wrapped in flags.

People were hollering, singing, hugging, kissing, smacking high-fives and dancing as if they never wanted the day to end, despite the sun beating down and voting lines that snaked for blocks. ‘
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/world/africa/10sudan.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

President Salva-Kir-and me in Juba

more from Bec in South Sudan

Will Oil Keep the Peace? <http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/81000/sudan-dispatch-will-oil-keep-the-peace>

Two days ago, President Omar Al Bashir made what is likely to be his last visit to Juba, the southern capital, as the head of a unified Sudan. Promising to be "the first to recognize the south" if southerners vote for independence in this weekend's referendum, Al Bashir's conciliatory tone left people here scratching their heads about his real intentions. Mistrust of his ruling National Congress party is intense in the south, and, until last week, officials in Khartoum had been uniformly hostile about the possibility of secession.

But there was a not-so-subtle subtext in Al Bashir's comments, namely his pledge to "cooperate and integrate in all areas because what is between us is more than what is between any other country." What he was really talking about was oil. Both the northern and southern governments need Sudan's oil to survive financially. The government in Khartoum currently gets 60 percent of its annual budget from oil revenue, while, for the southern government, the figure is 98 percent. And nearly 80 percent of this lucrative oil comes from here in Unity state, which will soon be part of a new, independent South Sudan, if the vote goes as expected.

January 9, 2011

A year after the quake- share my journey back to Haiti with Craig Kielburger

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/WFive/20101230/w5-haiti-a-year-later-110101/?s_name=W5

New York Times piece by President Obama- " The World is Watching"

January 8, 2011
Finally, there can be no lasting peace in Sudan without lasting peace in the western Sudan region of Darfur. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Darfuris - and the plight of refugees like those I met in a camp in neighboring Chad five years ago - must never be forgotten. Here, too, the world is watching. The government of Sudan must live up to its international obligations. Attacks on civilians must stop. United Nations peacekeepers and aid workers must be free to reach those in need.

As I told Sudanese leaders in September, the United States will not abandon the people of Darfur. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to end the crisis there once and for all. Other nations must use their influence to bring all parties to the table and ensure they negotiate in good faith. And we will continue to insist that lasting peace in Darfur include accountability for crimes that have been committed, including genocide.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/opinion/09obama.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

In Sudan, an Election and a Beginning
By BARACK OBAMA
Washington
NOT every generation is given the chance to turn the page on the past and write a new chapter in history. Yet today - after 50 years of civil wars that have killed two million people and turned millions more into refugees- this is the opportunity before the people of southern Sudan.

Over the next week, millions of southern Sudanese will vote on whether to remain part of Sudan or to form their own independent nation. This process - and the actions of Sudanese leaders - will help determine whether people who have known so much suffering will move toward peace and prosperity, or slide backward into bloodshed. It will have consequences not only for Sudan, but also for sub-Saharan Africa and the world.

The historic vote is an exercise in self-determination long in the making, and it is a key part of the 2005 peace agreement that ended the civil war in Sudan. Yet just months ago, with preparations behind schedule, it was uncertain whether this referendum would take place at all. It is for this reason that I gathered with leaders from Sudan and around the world in September to make it clear that the international community was united in its belief that this referendum had to take place and that the will of the people of southern Sudan had to be respected, regardless of the outcome.

In an important step forward, leaders from both northern and southern Sudan - backed by more than 40 nations and international organizations - agreed to work together to ensure that the voting would be timely, peaceful, free and credible and would reflect the will of the Sudanese people. The fact that the voting appears to be starting on time is a tribute to those in Sudan who fulfilled their commitments. Most recently, the government of Sudan said that it would be the first to recognize the south if it voted for independence.

Now, the world is watching, united in its determination to make sure that all parties in Sudan live up to their obligations. As the referendum proceeds, voters must be allowed access to polling stations; they must be able to cast their ballots free from intimidation and coercion. All sides should refrain from inflammatory rhetoric or provocative actions that could raise tensions or prevent voters from expressing their will.

As the ballots are counted, all sides must resist prejudging the outcome. For the results to be credible, the commission that is overseeing the referendum must be free from pressure and interference. In the days ahead, leaders from north and south will need to work together to prevent violence and ensure that isolated incidents do not spiral into wider instability. Under no circumstance should any side use proxy forces in an effort to gain an advantage while we wait for the final results.

A successful vote will be cause for celebration and an inspiring step forward in Africa's long journey toward democracy and justice. Still, lasting peace in Sudan will demand far more than a credible referendum.

The 2005 peace agreement must be fully implemented - a goal that will require compromise. Border disputes, and the status of the Abyei region, which straddles north and south, need to be resolved peacefully. The safety and citizenship of all Sudanese, especially minorities - southerners in the north and northerners in the south - have to be protected. Arrangements must be made for the transparent distribution of oil revenues, which can contribute to development. The return of refugees needs to be managed with extraordinary care to prevent another humanitarian catastrophe.

If the south chooses independence, the international community, including the United States, will have an interest in ensuring that the two nations that emerge succeed as stable and economically viable neighbors, because their fortunes are linked. Southern Sudan, in particular, will need partners in the long-term task of fulfilling the political and economic aspirations of its people.

Finally, there can be no lasting peace in Sudan without lasting peace in the western Sudan region of Darfur. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Darfuris - and the plight of refugees like those I met in a camp in neighboring Chad five years ago - must never be forgotten. Here, too, the world is watching. The government of Sudan must live up to its international obligations. Attacks on civilians must stop. United Nations peacekeepers and aid workers must be free to reach those in need.

As I told Sudanese leaders in September, the United States will not abandon the people of Darfur. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to end the crisis there once and for all. Other nations must use their influence to bring all parties to the table and ensure they negotiate in good faith. And we will continue to insist that lasting peace in Darfur include accountability for crimes that have been committed, including genocide.

Along with our international partners, the United States will continue to play a leadership role in helping all the Sudanese people realize the peace and progress they deserve. Today, I am repeating my offer to Sudan's leaders - if you fulfill your obligations and choose peace, there is a path to normal relations with the United States, including the lifting of economic sanctions and beginning the process, in accordance with United States law, of removing Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism. In contrast, those who flout their international obligations will face more pressure and isolation.

Millions of Sudanese are making their way to the polls to determine their destiny. This is the moment when leaders of courage and vision can guide their people to a better day. Those who make the right choice will be remembered by history - they will also have a steady partner in the United States. Barack Obama is the President of the United States.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"We are underdeveloped, yes, but we will do it."

GIDEON GATPAN THOAR, a Sudanese official, on southern Sudan's secession.

January 8, 2011

Hilde F. Johnson _Waging Peace in Sudan

Sudan is at a crossroads. A referendum on independence for Southern Sudan is now on the way. The country could soon witness one of the first partitions of an African state since the colonial era.
Waging Peace in Sudan shows how the longest civil war in Africa was finally brought to an end. The agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) was achieved with the intense engagement of the 'Troika' of the U.S., U.K., and Norway.
Norwegian Minister of International Development Hilde F. Johnson had unique access to the parties and played an instrumental role in the negotiations. As former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, says in the Foreword of the book, Hilde stands out for her tireless efforts to help bring the protagonists together.
Waging Peace in Sudan describes this process from a unique, insider perspective. As Sudan faces the most decisive period in its history, this book is indispensable reading.
The book is available from this week on Amazon and B&N.
http://www.amazon.com/Waging-Peace-Sudan-Negotiations-Africas/dp/1845194535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1 <http://www.amazon.com/Waging-Peace-Sudan-Negotiations-Africas/dp/1845194535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1>
Hilde F. Johnson played a pivotal role in the achievement of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan (2005). She served as Norwegian Development Minister,1997-2000 and 2001-2005 and is currently Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.

January 7, 2011

Such a great project!

New York, NY - January 7, 2011 - MTV and mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network, are teaming up with George Clooney and the Satellite Sentinel Project <http://www.satsentinel.org/> - along with Not on Our Watch <http://notonourwatchproject.org/> , the Enough Project <http://www.enoughproject.org/> , Google <https://groups.google.com/group/mapping-sudan/browse_thread/thread/5b11b4dd32e4de99?hl=en#> , the United Nations UNITAR Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT <http://www.unitar.org/unosat/> ), the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative <http://hhi.harvard.edu/> , and Trellon, LLC <http://www.trellon.com/> -- by calling on young people to help deter violence in Sudan, and send a loud message: "the world is watching."

On January 9, 2011, southern Sudan will begin a week-long vote on independence from the rest of the country and analysts have warned that this could plunge the country back into civil war. Starting today, MTV and mtvU will promote the Satellite Sentinel Project across an array of on-air and online properties, encouraging young people to become peace monitors, inform their friends of the latest happenings in Sudan and be prepared to mobilize support should violence emerge. Specific calls to action can be found at Sudan.mtvU.com <http://www.mtvu.com/activism/sudan-action-now/> .

"Satellite Sentinel Project welcomes MTV and its viewers -- who have been standing up for years to end human rights crimes in Darfur and southern Sudan -- to our early warning system team," said George Clooney, who initiated the project. "Frankly, our team of policy wonks and super nerds could use an injection of MTV style."

In order to generate rapid responses to human rights concerns, the Satellite Sentinel Project combines satellite imagery analysis, field reports and crowd-sourced map data from Google Map Maker to prevent violence, and focuses world attention on Sudan. The project uses commercial satellites passing over the border of northern and southern Sudan to capture possible threats to civilians, observe the movement of displaced people, detect bombed and razed villages, or note other evidence of pending mass violence.To become part of the open-source, early warning system for Sudan, young people can follow the Satellite Sentinel Project on Twitter @SudanSentinel. By doing this, they'll get the latest updates and action alerts, and be ready to help put pressure on public officials to respond, if necessary.

January 5, 2011

Dick Holbrooke, writes Leslie Gelb, was a human tidal wave, the most luminescent diplomat of his generation, and a very controversial and complicated man. A beautiful, insightful and heartbreaking tribute by Les Gelb about his dear friend-

The Richard Holbrooke I Knew
by Leslie H. Gelb
January 2, 2011

‘Far better to write a novel about Richard C. Holbrooke than a biography, let alone an obituary. Only a novel could render his mythic contradictions-his stunning ability to see into the hearts and minds of others, but his blindness to how they saw him; his unrivaled gift for knocking down doors and walking smack into them; his infuriating qualities and his enormous charm and generosity; his capacity to sit and consume books or movies and his titanic energy to go anywhere and do anything; his bullying qualities and willpower coupled with his thin skin, neediness, and fragility; his almost childlike ego and his fiery commitments to great causes, indeed his fusion of self and mission. When not obsessing about adversaries and transforming them into monsters so he could slay them, he was incomparably interesting and fun.
His life and mine have been so intertwined for 45 years that he swims in my head-as unfinished music about the man I grew up with in the cauldron of foreign affairs and in life. For me, this music conjures his surpassing diplomatic skills, his gift for Homeric friendship-and his promise, lost.
I don't want the obituaries to swallow him up as a brilliant star who never made it to the top. I want people to understand why his death is being treated like the passage of a great secretary of State, the position he dearly coveted, never attained, and so clearly deserved.

Part of it, of course, was that Dick Holbrooke was a character of the first order, a captain of industry in an age of the bureaucratic personality. It was highly unusual to get through a meal without someone telling some "Holbrooke" story. (His name was a word unto itself in Washington.)’--
The full text of the piece is included below.”--
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-02/leslie-h-gelb-on-the-late-richard-holbrookes-contributions-to-foreign-policy/

Photo-Bec and me on the Chad Darfur Border. Bec is now in Juba and will send dispatches when possible as she travels through out South Sudan

Dispatch from Sudan: Is the end in sight? <http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/80823/sudan-referendum-end-in-sight>
The New Republic-Rebecca Hamilton
Juba, Sudan—In just four days, the people of southern Sudan will begin voting in a referendum on whether to become an independent nation. In hundreds of interviews over the past six years here, I have yet to meet a southerner who doesn’t want freedom from northern rule. People here are literally counting down the minutes until the vote. (At a roundabout in the center of town, an electronic countdown on an advertising billboard has been running the days, hours, and minutes remaining since October.)

It is hard to convey what it feels like in the southern Sudan capital of Juba. The only similar sensation I have to draw on is from an utterly different context—Sydney, Australia, in the build-up to the 2000 Olympic Games. In part, this is because a gigantic international press pool (representatives of some 500 news organizations) has descended on Juba. But mostly it’s because of the vibrancy in the air.

Randomly, individuals or groups of youth break into chants of celebration. On the back of the numerous motorbikes shuttling people around town are mini flags proclaiming, “SECESSION 2011!” Regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or social status, people have a common topic of conversation. It’s boom-time for the town’s entrepreneurs—mainly migrants from neighboring countries who have established restaurants and hotels to serve the ex-pat crowd that has come to work for international organizations here in recent years. Parenthetically, it is hellish for the government and UN officials who are dividing their time between doing their actual jobs and responding to media requests (mine included).

Emancipation from Khartoum has been a multi-generational struggle for the southern population. President Omar Al Bashir’s National Congress Party is just the latest of successive northern governments that have enforced a policy of Arabization and Islamization on the southern people, resulting in the loss of a staggering two million lives. But finally, it seems the end is in sight.
At least that’s how it feels in Juba right now. There is, of course, a very different narrative for the taking. Enormous risks lie ahead on the path to viable nationhood. Assuming voting gets underway as scheduled on Sunday, the risks begin with whether or not Khartoum will recognize the vote if southerners choose separation. In the worst-case scenario, there could be a return to war—perhaps sparked by the overflow of tensions in Abyei, the border area that should be getting its own self-determination referendum on Sunday <http://www.tnr.com/article/79270/voting-abyei-sudan-violence> but has instead been sidelined (for the second time <http://bechamilton.com/?p=2024> in its history). But, even absent this much-discussed possibility, Khartoum’s reaction will guide the international conversation over diplomatic recognition of the new nation. And the formal recognition of southern statehood is just the first hurdle.

The dire state of southern development is now well-known, thanks to the UN’s aptly named publication, “Scary Statistics - Southern Sudan <http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2010.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/MUMA-8B82ZG-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf> .” As southern President Salva Kiir told me, health, education, clean water, and food security are vital to the viability of a new nation, “because without these things you cannot have a stable and secure population.” Then, there is the task of governing the southern territory, roughly the size of Texas, with a cadre of civil servants who have spent most of their lives as guerilla fighters. And the challenge of keeping longstanding tensions between the south’s myriad ethnic groups from escalating into violence in a population full of ex-combatants with ready access to arms.

In the coming month, I’ll be writing (whenever I have Internet access) as I travel across the south, interviewing a wide array of people about their hopes and expectations for what may soon be the world’s newest nation—and delving deeper into some of the challenges that lie ahead.

January 4, 2011

61% of Darfur refugees in E. Chad have seen a family member murdered

On the basis of 1,136 interviews, conducted among the Darfuri refugee population in Chad at 19 camps along the border, the Coalition for International Justice found that "sixty-one percent [of those interviewed] reported witnessing the killing of a family member."

7800 people, mainly women and children, fleeing attacks in North Darfur

GENEVA - The international Red Cross said Tuesday that it had provided aid in recent days for nearly 7,800 people affected by recent fighting in Sudan's Darfur region.

"Most of these people fled their homes in search of security, taking with them only the most basic belongings," said Anne-Marie Altherr, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official in the region.

"They have been sleeping in the open, with no shelter or bedding, in temperatures as low as 10 degrees Celsius at night. Most are women and children, many are less than five years old," she added in a statement.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ji5xxlrrqZRsNgZjkcYyLYytVe4w?docId=CNG.4844c10793df1183202908033c62a66e.111

January 3, 2011

satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google's Map Maker technology to deter the resumption of war between North and South Sudan

John Prendergast and George Clooney have initiated the Satellite Sentinel Project which "combines satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google's Map Maker technology to deter the resumption of war between North and South Sudan. The project provides an early warning system to deter mass atrocities by focusing world attention and generating rapid responses on human rights and human security concerns."
You really can see the terrain via satellite http://www.satsentinel.org/maps

Journalists are banned from Darfur. Radio Dabanga is the only source of information.

Darfuri voices silenced: 66th day since arrests
KHARTOUM 3 Jan
Today marks the 66th day of detention for some Darfuri journalists and human rights activists arrested in Khartoum.

Darfuri journalists and human rights activists arrested in Khartoum. A number of people of Darfuri origin were arrested in Khartoum between October 30 and November 3. They included, among others: Jaafar Sabki, an editor of Al Sahafa newspaper, Abdelrahman Adam Abdelrahman, an editor of Radio Dabanga, Dirar Adam Dirar, a Darfuri activist, and Abdelrahman Al Gasim, a member of the Darfur Bar Association.
Two women activists, Fatima Mohamed Al Hassan and Fatima Mohamed Abdelrahman, were arrested in Nyala on 5 December and 7 December. They were strong voices for women’s rights, human rights, and for Darfur itself
The detainees have been denied access to their lawyers and families.
<http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/7913>

6 Darfuri women raped by soldiers, 1 shot dead
ATTASH CAMP
Soldiers in Darfur killed one woman and raped six others. They opened fire on Mariam Isaag Adam, the 18 year old mother of a baby girl, near Attash Camp in South Darfur on Friday. She died. They raped six other women, aged between 15 and 25 years and all residents of Attash Camp.
A relative of the slain victim told Radio Dabanga that the seven women were on their way to collect palm fronds outside of the camp when they were assaulted by regular troops stationed near the camp.
Mariam Isaag Adam tried to escape. The soldiers shot her dead. The soldiers halted and raped the other women.
http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/7904

January 2, 2011

What will happen to the people of Darfur and South Sudan?

an excellent piece by John Prendergast and George Clooney
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/clooney3/English
A referendum on South Sudan's independence, scheduled for January 9, 2011, will likely split the country in two, with southerners finally achieving the freedom for which they have long fought. Such an outcome, however, would also leave the South with most of Sudan's oil reserves.

Little wonder, then, that on the precipice of this historic moment, there are many snakes in the grass. The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) appears poised to challenge the result of the referendum. Critical negotiations between the NCP in the North and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in the South on issues that divide the North and South have stalled. The Sudanese armed forces have bombed areas along the North-South border. In Darfur, the human rights and humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, and the peace process there has made little headway.

All of this should be seen in the context of the NCP's long track record of human-rights abuses and reneging on agreements. For more than 20 years, the Sudanese government fought a war against the South, in which more than two million people died. It has committed genocide and other atrocities in Darfur, where about 400,000 people have died.

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