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February 26, 2011

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has suspended the work of the humanitarian agency Catholic Relief Services in West Darfur state, accusing it of distributing Bibles, a local aid official said on Saturday. It was the latest in a series of restrictions on foreign humanitarian agencies in Darfur-."The work of CRS has been suspended in West Darfur after there was an accusation that they had been distributing Bibles," Mohamed Awad, head of the government's Humanitarian Aid Commission in the state, told Reuters by telephone.
Earlier this month, Sudan expelled the French agency Medecins du Monde, accusing it of spying and helping rebels. The group was one of the few working in the rebel stronghold of Jabel Marra which Sudan's army attacked on Thursday.
 
The government has barred access by aid agencies to Jabel Marra for much of the past year. Dozens of aid and U.N. workers must wait for months for visas and other papers and Sudan regularly expels individual foreign staff.
 
Aid operations in the region have been hampered by insecurity and kidnappings of foreign workers. Khartoum has yet to prosecute any kidnappers.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE71P07V20110226

25 Feb        
Antonov aircraft, MiGs and helicopters bombed in support of government forces and allied militias yesterday morning east of Jebel Marra. A witness told Radio Dabanga that two Antonovs, two MiGs and two helicopters fired a volley of missiles at 11:00 yesterday at Wadi Mura, Tangarara, Tagala, Magalei and Kokai. They were supported on the ground by a force with more than 150 vehicles

Citizens of more than 15 villages, including Tangarara, Himeidiya, Sharafa, Abuguja, Arda, and Kandaro fled to hide in the mountains, valleys and plains around the villages. The aircraft continued to bomb in the areas until yesterday evening.
Confirming reports of displacement, residents of camps north of Nyala say that over the past few days they received people fleeing from killings and bombings taking place in the areas of Shangil Tobaya and Khor Abeche. Witnesses in the camp said that each day about four vehicles loaded with refugees arrive at the camps. They noted the importance of providing emergency shelter to the new arrivals, especially given the low temperatures this time of year.
 
  

February 25, 2011

 "They came with tanks and planes and they attacked all the villages in the area -- 13 villages are deserted and eight of those burned," said senior SLA commander Ibrahim el-Helu. Helu said the only international aid agency working in the area was the French agency Medecins du Monde, which the government expelled from South Darfur state earlier this month. "They were the only ones witnessing the crimes and they were the only ones working to help those in our rebel-controlled areas," he said, adding that was why the government expelled them. Government officials said the aid agency was helping the rebels and giving them information about government movements. Khartoum has been targeting foreign aid agencies for years, blaming them along with the Western media for exaggerating the extent of the Darfur conflict. Foreign aid groups have been arrested or expelled for talking about rape in Darfur. After the ICC issued its arrest warrant for Bashir in 2009, he expelled 13 of the largest aid agencies in the region. The aid effort has since struggled to fill the gaps and further expulsions and restrictions have created a code of silence among those still working in the region. Clashes in North Darfur state earlier this month between joint rebel forces and the government also forced several thousand people to flee to Zam Zam camp, U.N. humanitarian officials said. (Reporting by Opheera McDoo

February 24, 2011

The ground forces consisted of more than 20 vehicles and local militias, according to one villager who fled from the region. He told Radio Dabanga that two Antonovs dropped a number of bombs on the region before the entry of government forces and local militias from the area Um Dereisaya. The source pointed out that a number of shells fell near a school during school hours. The witness said that the troops had overrun about 10 villages, including Linda, Dabab, Hillat Tayar, Abdel Rahim, Hilleila and Afar. He added that the village of Linda was entirely burned.
 
  

The Khartoum regime is claiming the Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) t have been recruited as mercenaries by (crazy, murderous) Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to suppress protesters. Of course its not the JEM. This is not at all their agenda. Though numerous contacts in the region, I am not surprised to learn that it is Chadian rebels that are now slaughtering Libyan civilians. Chadian rebels have long been supported by the Khartoum regime in the proxy war between Chad and Sudan. Until a year ago these same Khartoum -funded militia were doing their best to overthrow Chadian President Idriss Deby. Deby and Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir have subsequently come to a truce-- and the rebels, who were left without a cause and no one to pay them-are busy now.

February 23, 2011

Acccording to a draft statement acquired from a council diplomat, the original press statement on Libya, which was drafted by the UK and distributed to the full 15-member council, "condemned the violence" against Libyan civilians, "deplored the repression" against peaceful demonstrators, and called for "steps to address the legitimate concerns of the population." China asked that these and other elements be removed. 
Language inserted by Chinese diplomats called for "calm" and "restraint."

 But diplomats arrived to the meeting on the issue, Tuesday afternoon, ready to insist that such language alone was far too weak.
China is loathe to allow the UN to react to incidents involving political repression or human rights. It has previously blocked statements condemning incidents of violent oppression in places like Myanmar and North Korea.

February 21, 2011

Sudan's President Omar al Bashir seized power by coup in 1989. In 2009 he was indicted by the ICC for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the people of the Darfur region. The NYTimes reports " But now, said Rabie A. Atti, a Sudanese government spokesman, Mr. Bashir 'has no will to be a president again.'He said the chance should be given to the next generation," Mr. Rabie said. "He will work to establish a real democratic system in our country."

Mr. Rabie said the decision - and timing - had "nothing, nothing at all" to do with the popular revolts against longstanding autocrats now erupting across the Arab world, which have inspired relatively small but spirited protests in Sudan as well.

"In Egypt, there was a gap between the rulers and the people, but not in our country," Mr. Rabie said. In Sudan, he said, the rulers "live with the people."

Many Sudanese would disagree with that claim. Mouysar Hassan, a 22-year-old student who had joined recent demonstrations, dismissed the announcement as "just an attempt to anesthetize the street." Mr. Bashir won a presidential election last year that outside observers said was tainted by fraud, intimidation and bribery, and his term expires in 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/africa/22sudan.html?_r=1

Will Al Bashir be the next to be ousted? Lots of people are hoping and preparing for this. The stakes could not be higher for the protestors. There is no more brutal leader on this planet, including Libya's Moammar Qadafi.

About 31.000 displaced people arrived at Zamzam Camp during the past days, fleeing from  aerial bombardment on surrounding villages and the pillaging of another  camp for the displaced. A witness in Zamzam described the conditions of the thousands of newly displaced people as “very bad”. He said there is no process to record their arrival or provide them with any food or tents for shelter.
Cases of diarrhea have emerged among children of the new arrivals, the witness at Zamzam told Radio Dabanga.

One of the leaders of Zamzam Camp appealed to international organizations and the United Nations to immediately intervene and provide humanitarian and medical aid to the tens of thousands of newly displaced people in the camp. In remarks broadcast today on Radio Dabanga, the leader described the situation of the new arrivals as grave.

 http://195.190.28.213/node/9768
 

February 16, 2011

In North Darfur hundreds of people who fled fresh attacks are living in the open. Since Jan 20 sixty-six families have been living without shelter, food or clothing.  A leader in Tawila, speaking over Radio Dabanga, appealed to humanitarian organizations to provide food and shelter for them.

US olive branch to Sudan could backfire
Opheera McDoom
McDooms pitch perfect piece linked here http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE71A0AO20110211
Excerpts below;
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Washington risks repeating an old mistake in Sudan by supporting a repressive government for the sake of regional stability, a policy which has imploded with mass protests throughout the Middle East, government critics say.

Many in Sudan say the United States is turning a blind eye to Khartoum's crackdown on freedoms in the north and in Darfur --

Given popular uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia against U.S.-supported governments that have crushed opposition for decades, opposition figures in Sudan question the wisdom of rewarding Khartoum for allowing the south to secede unless it relaxes its security policies in the north.

So far Khartoum has used force to suppress small anti-government protests, but as food price rises bite and it cracks down more, demonstrations could gain more support. "They are making the same mistake as elsewhere and it's absolutely unacceptable how they can be silent on the fighting in Darfur and the violence in the capital," said Mariam al-Mahdi, an opposition leader and the daughter of the last democratically elected leader of Sudan.

Leading the U.S. charge to befriend Khartoum is presidential envoy Scott Gration. At a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Ali Karti this week, Gration praised government cooperation with U.N. peacekeepers (UNAMID) in Darfur and defended the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission's restrictions on aid agencies. "The Government of Sudan has taken great steps to lift restrictions on UNAMID," he said. "We've seen great improvement of access for UNAMID and for the international NGOs.

" This may surprise those working in Darfur. U.N. reports in January alone recorded 11 patrols stopped by the government and four threats of attack in the past two months. Aid agencies are still barred from much of rebel-controlled Jabel Marra.-

LARGELY SILENT
Gration, along with much of the West, has also kept largely silent on a crackdown on three opposition parties, dozens of arrests of youths demonstrating against price rises and government policies, and the beating and tear gassing of a series of peaceful student protests throughout the north.--

What Washington has offered -- help with relief of Sudan's $40 billion external debt, removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism or easing of a trade embargo -- seems to have been sufficient for Khartoum to change its tone and stop it beating the drums of north-south war.-

"If you're listed as a state sponsor of terror you should be delisted because you're not supporting terrorism not as a reward for something ... political -- it politicises that classification," said Gill Lusk, a Sudan specialist at the Africa Confidential publication.-

"If things continue to deteriorate in Darfur and the north, the (United) States will be forced to take a stand," said one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.--

"Bashir just wants American support so he does not fall. But when the people revolt -- and they will -- the Americans will run away from him," said Ibrahim el-Senoussi, a senior member of the opposition Islamist Popular Congress Party.

February 14, 2011

By Radio Dabanga - 9 Feb        
A government force consisting of 20 vehicles backed by local militias on Thursday launched attacks against villages in Dar es Salaam locality in North Darfur.
One witness said that the forces carried out searches, beatings, torture, pillage, looting and widespread destruction in the villages. -- not less than 3000 people fled to the city of El Fasher. Witnesses appealed for humanitarian aid from organizations and protection from UNAMID.

Sudan governor expels French aid group from Darfur By Andrew Heavens
 KHARTOUM, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Sudanese authorities on Monday expelled French aid group Medecins du Monde from a state in the Darfur region, accusing it of spying on the government and helping rebels.  U.N. sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sudanese security officials raided the group's compound and arrested staff in south Darfur's capital Nyala on Thursday.
 Sudan, highly suspicious of foreign intervention, has had a tense relationship with the aid groups that poured in to help hundreds of thousands of people displaced by Darfur's eight-year conflict between government troops and rebels.
  Workers from four humanitarian organisations, who asked not to be named, told Reuters there had been a recent increase travel restrictions and worsening security conditions.
 http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFHEA45455320110214
 

February 3, 2011

ZALINGEI        
 2 Feb       
Displaced people (IDPs) in Hamidiya Camp in Zalingei expressed fears of a reportedly imminent attack by the government on the camp. The government may suspect the presence of weapons inside the camp, a charge that camp leaders strongly deny. Plans call for the search to begin Thursday.
IDP leaders demanded that the UN – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) intensify its presence and patrols inside and around the camp. The camp leaders suggested that UNAMID was welcome to search the camp for weapons. The leaders appealed to the leadership of the peacekeeping mission to work alongside the camp’s 45 community policemen to protect the camp. The camp leaders have called an urgent meeting today with all the humanitarian organizations and UNAMID to keep them informed of developments.
-Hamadiya Camp itself suffered an invasion in September 2010, when a death squad entered the camp at night and killed at least eight people, including three camp leaders - More than two dozen others were wounded.
http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/9148

"Without a massive increase in capacity- in government as well as nongovernmental organizations and private businesses- South Sudan will remain a country defined by its needs, not its potential. There is a clear danger that international humanitarian aid- which remains urgently necessary- will come to substitute true national development. It's for this reason that education should be given the highest non-defense priority in developing a new nation: South Sudan must create and sustain its own capacity, and build an educational system that is self-sustaining and self-renewing."

"The Promise and Peril of an Independent Republic of South Sudan" Dissent Magazine (on-line), February 3, 2011
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=369

Amnesty International - USA <http://www.amnestyusa.org/>
Evidence Collected Shows Whole Villages Burned to the Ground
WASHINGTON - February 2 - New satellite image analysis released today shows that while international attention is focused on the South Sudan referendum, grave violations of human rights continue in neighboring Darfur. Images secured by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and analyzed with partners from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) show irrefutably that civilians were targeted in the Negeha region of south Darfur with whole villages burned to the ground as recently as December. According to Amnesty International, in December alone, more than 20,000 people were displaced by government attacks, including in Dar Al Salam, Shangil Tobaya and Khor Abeche displacement camps in north and south Darfur.

Scott Edwards, AIUSA Advocacy Director for Africa, stated: "While the world has understandably turned a hopeful eye to the referendum process, the satellite evidence collected from the Negeha region of Darfur demonstrates what happens when vigilant attention wanes and support for accountability cedes to political or diplomatic expediency.

The imagery and analysis corroborate reports of attacks against civilians in Negeha in December 2010, just a few weeks before the referendum in South Sudan took place.

"Unless the international community demands accountability for the atrocities and ensures that those responsible do not evade justice, these images will serve only as a reminder of the world's collective failure and responsibillity to the victims in Darfur," said Edwards.

Mr. Oumar is trying to salvage-anything.

It shows homes, walled gardens, mature fruit trees.

US Envoy to Sudan:The GOS [government of Sudan] is continuing large-scale population displacement, but apparently they are not killing people when they destroy villages.

February 2, 2011

New Satellite Images Reveal Continuing Human Rights Atrocities in Darfur, Amnesty International Says
Evidence Collected Shows Whole Villages Burned to the Ground
WASHINGTON - February 2 - New satellite image analysis released today shows that while international attention is focused on the South Sudan referendum, grave violations of human rights continue in neighboring Darfur. Images secured by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and analyzed with partners from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) show irrefutably that civilians were targeted in the Negeha region of south Darfur with whole villages burned to the ground as recently as December. According to Amnesty International, in December alone, more than 20,000 people were displaced by government attacks, including in Dar Al Salam, Shangil Tobaya and Khor Abeche displacement camps in north and south Darfur.

Radio Dabanga     2 Feb        
Sudanese warplanes are bombing areas of Darfur, according to a rebel movement. The Justice and Equality Movement said that Sudan’s air force continues to indiscriminately bomb areas in North Darfur and the border zone between North and South Darfur, targeting civilians and their property and livestock at random and deliberately.
Several types of aircraft were involved, including MiGs and Antonovs.

  
  
    
 
      
 
 
    
 
    
 
  

 
  
 
 
      
   

  
 
 

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