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Conflict in Darfur, Sudan - The Mega Thread

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Meanwhile in the south:

New Civil War Feared in Sudan As Town Empties
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/25/AR2008052502972.html

ABYEI, Sudan -- This contested town along Sudan's volatile north-south border has been obliterated.

In recent days its mud houses and thatched-roof markets, its schools, hospitals, offices and shops have been shot, shelled and burned to the ground, and late last week Sudanese government soldiers in green fatigues were still roaming the streets, looting satellite dishes, mattresses and cases of orange soda from the smoking ruins.

More than 100,000 people -- residents of Abyei and surrounding villages who only recently returned home after 20 years of war between the north and south -- are gone, chased away in the worst escalation of violence since the government and former southern rebels signed a 2005 peace deal.

Sudanese government officials blame southern forces for the destruction, but southern officials, U.N. officials, witnesses and people who fled say it was a systematic campaign by the Sudanese government to depopulate the oil-rich area and take it by force...

Officials on both sides agree on one point: that perhaps the most dreaded scenario in this conflicted East African country is beginning to unfold -- a resumption of the north-south civil war, which killed an estimated 2 million people, making it one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II...

Mark
Ottawa

 
The UN in (in)action, China doing its thing:

UN's most expensive mission exposed as farcical shambles
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/uns-most-expensive-mission-exposed-as-farcical-shambles-844232.html

Almost six months after the United Nations launched its largest, most expensive and most hyped peacekeeping mission, promising to send 26,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, the operation is failing to protect the people it was sent to save.

Just one third of the military personnel and one quarter of the police have been deployed in what has been billed as the biggest and most important mission in the UN's 60-year history. It is now threatening to turn into its most catastrophic failure. No new equipment has arrived. Peacekeepers have had to paint their helmets blue (or put blue plastic bags over them, tied on with elastic)...

To date, not a single additional soldier has arrived [emphasis added] since the joint UN and African Union mission was born at the start of the year to help protect seven million Darfuris in Sudan's western province from militia and rebel attacks, and banditry...

U.N. Reducing Aid Flights In Darfur for Lack of Funds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061001007.html

Humanitarian flights that deliver doctors, aid workers and supplies to remote areas of Sudan's western Darfur region are being cut back because of lack of funding, the U.N. World Food Program said Tuesday.

With banditry on Darfur's roads on the rise in the past year, aid groups have increasingly relied on helicopters and other flights to gain access to the region, where an estimated 2.5 million people are displaced because of conflict.

The air transport is provided by the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service. But funding for the service, which costs about $77 million a year, has become tenuous as the conflict has dragged into its sixth year.

On Tuesday, the air service grounded one of its six helicopters and reduced the number of flights because of lack of funds.

The United Nations said the air service -- a fleet of 20 planes and six helicopters -- needs an infusion of $20 million by Sunday to maintain full service in the next few months. The program has a total budget shortfall of $48 million this year, U.N. officials said...

China lauds Sudan's "unremitting efforts" in Darfur
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK296664.htm
...
China, a big investor in Sudan's oil industry and its largest weapons supplier, has faced widespread Western criticism that it has not used its influence in Sudan to press for an end to the violence.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping told visiting Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha on Tuesday that China appreciated "the unremitting efforts" Sudan has made in Darfur...

I suppose nothing would dissuade Prof. Michael Byers and Steve Staples that UN peacekeeping is the only way to go:
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/010551.html
http://www.canadians.org/peace/issues/Marching_Orders/index.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
A good article in the NY Times Magazine, mostly about southern Sudan but also dealing with Darfur:

The Man for a New Sudan
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/magazine/15SUDAN-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin

Mark
Ottawa
 
A post at Daimnation!:

Darfur: The West gives up
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/011534.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
Arab League backs Sudan against genocide charges


Genocide charges brought against Sudan's president by the prosecutor of the International Court are not acceptable and undermine that country's sovereignty, the Arab League said Saturday.

Only Sudanese courts have jurisdiction on such matters, the 22-nation group added after an emergency council meeting on Saturday.

The meeting focused on the charges brought against President Omar al-Bashir. The court is expected to decide within three months on whether to issue arrest warrants for any of the charges.

"The council decides [for] solidarity with the Republic of Sudan in confronting schemes that undermine its sovereignty, unity and stability, and their non-acceptance of the unbalanced, not-objective position of the prosecutor general of the Internal Criminal Court," the body said in a joint resolution.

It added that any charges or legal issues related to Darfur should be dealt with domestically, and stressed "the competence of the Sudanese judiciary and its independence and its jurisdiction in achieving justice."

However, the Arab League didn't name the charges against al-Bashir in the resolution, but instead warned about the possible ramifications they may have on the peace process in Darfur.

"The council warns against the dangerous ramifications on the current peace process in Sudan by the request made by the prosecutor general," it said.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against al-Bashir related to a campaign of extermination the UN says has claimed 300,000 lives and driven 2.5 million people from their homes.



More on link.
-Dead
 
Another post at Daimnation!:

Extending futility in Darfur
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/011643.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
More at Daimnation!:

Darfur update: Pathetic
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/012005.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
Maybe some progress (usual copyright disclaimer)?

US may airlift African peacekeepers to Darfur
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1509980

The U.S. envoy for Africa said Monday that Washington was ready to airlift as many as 4,000 peacekeepers, including Ethiopians and Egyptians, for the joint U.N.-African Union mission to Darfur.

The mission started deploying in Darfur in January but remains at less than half of its 26,000 authorized capacity, and has complained of Sudanese government stonewalling and transport problems.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who arrived here from a trip to Congo, said the Sudanese government has made "important progress" recently in speeding up the deployment of the peacekeepers.

"There has been important progress," Frazer said. "But we are looking to get at least 3,000 to 4,000 (peacekeepers) in Darfur. We certainly have offered the U.N. to help do airlift if they need to bring in both troops and to move equipment."

After Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was accused of genocide in Darfur in July, authorities here eased some procedures including issuing visas for promised troops [emphasis added]. The move was an apparent response to Western demands for cooperation with the international community.

Al-Bashir dismisses the charges brought against him by the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, and says his country won't recognize the tribunal. But al-Bashir and his government are also lobbying supporters and others to freeze the international prosecution.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor said the U.S. offer to help ferry more troops and equipment into Darfur was first made in September, during Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha visit to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

Alor said his government welcomed the U.S. airlift which he expects to take place soon [emphasis added].

"I was told anytime from now they will start transporting equipment for Ethiopian and Egyptian troops," Alor told The Associated Press.

Officials of the U.N.-AU mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, say they expect their deployment to reach 15,000 uniformed personnel by the end of this year, or 60 percent of authorized capacity. That boost will be comprised mostly of Egyptian and Ethiopian peacekeepers [emphasis added].

The mission officials have scaled back their expected 80 percent deployment target, citing deteriorating security. The force stands now at 11,500 troops...

Via Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs:
http://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/spotnews_e.html

Mark
Ottawa
 
Inching forward:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011900989.html

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- A joint peacekeeping mission for the Darfur region of Sudan will expand to its full strength of 26,000 soldiers and police by June, a top African Union official said Monday.

The increase will nearly double its present strength, said Ramtane Lamamra, the AU's peace and security council commissioner. A report by a U.N. panel last year said the peacekeepers were unable to monitor an arms embargo, defend themselves or protect civilians. A shortage of manpower and equipment was partly to blame.

Lamamra's announcement was the first to set a month for the force's expansion to full strength.

However, U.N. officials said that having adequate troop numbers would only be the first step. Peacekeepers desperately need logistical help, like helicopters and improvements in roads and airports [emphasis added]...

US Africom begins 1st peacekeeper supply operation
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZlpCSeKN0DkJCahxrq12qQexw-AD95NKMQ04

The U.S. Air Force is airlifting heavy machinery to Rwandan troops serving in an international mission in Darfur, the first time the new U.S. Africa Command has undertaken a large-scale peacekeeper support operation.

A C-17 transport aircraft brought two oversize recovery trucks Thursday [Jan. 15] to Rwandan peacekeepers serving with the United Nations-African Union mission in Sudan's western Darfur region, Africom spokesman Eric Elliott said by telephone from Kigali, Rwanda.

The supplies were the first part of an airlift of equipment and vehicles for the humanitarian effort in Darfur pledged by President George W. Bush on Jan. 5. The 26,000-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur has struggled with a lack of troops and transport.

Most of the estimated 240 containers of equipment will be flown in by civilian aircraft contracted by the State Department, but only the U.S. Air Force had the capability to bring in the heavier vehicles, the military said.

The 20,000-pound trucks being flown in are equipped with cranes and will operate in support of Rwandan peacekeeper convoys to help repair vehicles along their routes, Elliott said.

Nine of the vehicles will be flown in on a total of five flights that started Wednesday and are scheduled to finish Friday, Elliott said. The civilian part of the airlift is to begin after that.

The planes, normally based at Travis Air Force Base in California but temporarily based in Djibouti in east Africa, are also carrying in materials requested by the Rwandans such as water purification systems, water trailers, tents and spare parts for vehicles, he said.

The planes, under the direction of U.S. Africa Command, pick up the supplies in Kigali and then fly them into Sudan, Elliott said.

"It's going pretty well so far," he said.

The airlift is the first major mission planned by the air component of Africom — Air Forces Africa, also known as Seventeenth Air Force, which is headquartered at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Africom was formally activated on Oct. 1, 2008 and is based in Stuttgart. Before that, U.S. European Command had coordinated airlift missions for Darfur...

Mark
Ottawa
 
UN trying to show moxie:

UN peacekeepers ignore Sudan request to leave town
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020201589.html

CAIRO -- Sudanese forces bombed the outskirts of a rebel-held town in southern Darfur Monday as the U.N. secretary general said peacekeepers would not heed a government request to leave the area.

Some 5,000 residents were taking refuge around the peacekeepers' compound, the spokesman for the peacekeepers, Nourredine Mezni, confirmed to the Associated Press.

Sudan told the peacekeepers on Sunday to leave so government forces could retake the town after rebels seized it. It was Sudan's first such request, U.N. officials said _ and a challenge to the fragile international mission.

But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force will remain in the town of Muhajeria. He said all sides needed to show restraint and urged the rebels to pull out of town.

CAIRO -- Sudanese forces bombed the outskirts of a rebel-held town in southern Darfur Monday as the U.N. secretary general said peacekeepers would not heed a government request to leave the area.

Some 5,000 residents were taking refuge around the peacekeepers' compound, the spokesman for the peacekeepers, Nourredine Mezni, confirmed to the Associated Press.

Sudan told the peacekeepers on Sunday to leave so government forces could retake the town after rebels seized it. It was Sudan's first such request, U.N. officials said _ and a challenge to the fragile international mission.

But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force will remain in the town of Muhajeria. He said all sides needed to show restraint and urged the rebels to pull out of town...

Sudanese forces frequently bomb rebel areas in Darfur, despite a U.N. Security Council ban on military flights over the region [emphasis added]. The peacekeeping force is there to protect civilians displaced by the six-year civil war in Sudan's arid western region.

Two people were injured by an explosion near the town Monday, said a statement by the peacekeepers, which did not elaborate on the cause of the blast.

Tugod said none of his fighters were injured in the bombing.

"Bombardment has become a daily program of the Sudanese government," he said speaking from his satellite phone near Muhajeria. He added that government troops were mobilizing in areas south and east of the town but were not yet near it.

Mezni said the chief of the joint U.N.-AU Mission, Rodolphe Adada, will go to Chad to meet the rebel leadership on how to ensure the safety of the civilians.

U.N. and AU officials say they want the peacekeeping force to reach its full capacity of 26,000 soldiers and policemen by June [emphasis added].

But Sudan regularly challenges the U.N.'s presence in the country. In January 2008, Sudan's army attacked a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, critically injuring a driver...

Mark
Ottawa
 
Q&A: Sudan's Darfur conflict, BBC News, Thursday, 5 March 2009

_45533635_bashirap226b.jpg

Omar al-Bashir says the charges
reflect Western hostility to Sudan




The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President
Omar al-Bashir. He denies charges relating to the conflict in Darfur where more than
two million people have fled their homes over the last six years.

So what exactly has Omar al-Bashir been charged with?

Five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes in Darfur - a desert
region of western Sudan roughly the size of France. "He is suspected of being
criminally responsible... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part
of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing
and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property,"
a court spokeswoman said.

The tribunal did not charge the Sudanese president with genocide, as the chief prosecutor
had wanted. It said it did not find sufficient evidence of a specific intent to destroy ethnic
groups in Darfur.

ICC's BASHIR CHARGE SHEET
War crimes:
Intentionally directing attacks against civilians
Pillaging
Crimes against humanity:
Murder
Extermination
Forcible transfer
Torture
Rape
Text of ICC indictment


Is this the court's first case against Sudan?

No, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister,
and a pro-government militia leader in 2007 - as well as requesting warrants for three Darfur
rebel commanders last year. But it is the court's first indictment against a sitting head of state.

Is Mr Bashir likely to be arrested?

Probably not, as the ICC does not have a police force and the warrant will be delivered to
Sudan's government, which is unlikely to execute it. But he will have to watch where he
travels in case he is arrested out of the country.

What does it mean for the people of Darfur?

Jem - the most heavily armed and active of the rebel groups in Darfur - has welcomed the
warrant as a victory for the refugees and the displaced, and a victory for humanity.

But as a direct result of the indictment, Khartoum has expelled 10 foreign aid agencies,
including Oxfam, Care, Save the Children UK and Medecins Sans Frontieres from Darfur,
who between them supply food and water to some 1.5 million people.

There are also worries that the warrant will do little to bring peace to the region. A few
weeks ago, Jem signed a deal to pave the way for future talks with Khartoum, which could
now be in jeopardy.

Is there any hope of peace?

Sudan's rebel Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) signed a declaration of intent in February
2009 to pave the way for broader peace talks with Khartoum. But previous peace efforts have
faltered, as the rebels group have splintered.

The leader of one Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction, Minni Minnawi, has signed a deal with
government. He was given a large budget and became a presidential adviser, but the SLA then
splintered into a number of factions.

SEARCH FOR PEACE IN DARFUR
May 2006: Khartoum makes peace with main Darfur rebel faction,
                        Sudan Liberation Movement; Jem rejects the deal
May 2008: Unprecedented assault by Jem on Khartoum
Jul 2008: ICC calls for arrest of President Bashir
Nov 2008: President Bashir announces ceasefire
Nov 2008: ICC calls for arrest of three rebel commanders
Feb 2009: Army claims its captured key town of Muhajiriya
Feb 2009: Khartoum and Jem sign a deal in Qatar
Mixed views on Darfur deal

How did the conflict start?

It broke out in the arid and impoverished Darfur region early in 2003 after the SLA and Jem began
attacking government targets, accusing Khartoum of oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs.

Darfur, which means land of the Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights
between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zaghawa communities.

Who are Sudan's Darfur rebels?

How did the government respond to the rebellion?

It admits mobilising "self-defence militias" following rebel attacks. But it denies any links to the
Janjaweed, gunmen on horseback accused of trying to "cleanse" black Africans from large swathes
of territory.

Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride into
villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing whatever they can find.

The US and some human rights groups have said genocide is taking place - though a UN investigation
team found that while war crimes had been committed, there had been no intent to commit genocide.

Sudan's government denies being in control of the Janjaweed and President Bashir has called them
"thieves and gangsters". Trials have been announced in Khartoum of some members of the security
forces suspected of abuses - but this is viewed as part of a campaign against attempts to get
suspects tried at the ICC.

Darfur conflict zones map

What has happened to Darfur's civilians?

The United Nations says more than 2.7 million have fled their homes and now live in camps near
Darfur's main towns. Darfuris say the Janjaweed patrol outside the camps and men are killed and
women raped if they venture too far in search of firewood or water.

Some 200,000 people have also sought safety in neighbouring Chad, but many of these are camped
along a 600km (372 mile) stretch of the border and remain vulnerable to attacks from the Sudan side.
Chad's eastern areas have a similar ethnic make-up to Darfur and the violence has spilled over the
border area, with the neighbours accusing one another of supporting each other's rebel groups.

Many aid agencies are working in Darfur but they are unable to get access to vast areas because of
the insecurity.

How many have died?

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died from the combined effects of war, famine
and disease. President Bashir puts the death toll at 10,000.

Accurate figures are difficult to research and have made no distinction between those dying as a
result of violence and those dying as a result of starvation or disease in the camps. The numbers
are crucial in determining whether the deaths in Darfur are genocide or - as the Sudanese
government says - the situation is being exaggerated.

Is anyone trying to stop the fighting?

Yes.

The Doha meeting where Khartoum and Jem signed an agreement in February 2009 to pave the way
for broader peace talks were sponsored by Qatar, the United Nations, the African Union and Arab
League.

The joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission, Unamid, took over from January 2008 from an
African peace force. But the mission is currently at only 60% of its mandated strength, with just
15,000 of the 26,000 planned troops and police on the ground. Some say even the full force would
not be enough to cover the remote area.
 
Uneasy peace in Sudan ghost town, Friday, 9 January 2009
Confessions of a Sudanese deserter
Bashir warrant: Sudanese views
Warrant sparks anger in Khartoum
Dancing Bashir scoffs at Darfur warrant




In pictures: Child drawings of Darfur, 8 pictures


_45532629_chad1_466_body.jpg

1.The International Criminal Court is accepting supporting evidence of
children's drawings of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur. This
sketch by Abdul Maggit depicts a typical scene of destruction.

_45532635_chad7_body.jpg

7. Bakhid was eight years old when he saw his village being attacked
and burned by Janjaweed forces on horse back and Sudanese forces
in vehicles and tanks.

_45532634_chad6_body.jpg

8.One young artist named Aisha said: "It is very kind to send us food,
but this is Africa and we are used to being hungry. What I ask is that
you please take the guns away from the people who are killing us."
 
Sudan 'extermination' as aid cut, Saturday, 21 March 2009

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has accused Sudan's President
Omar al-Bashir of "exterminating" refugees by expelling international aid agencies.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that by blocking aid the president was attacking the civilians
in the giant camps that dot Darfur. He called for President Bashir to be arrested as
soon as he leaves Sudan.

The president is due to attend this month's Arab League summit in Qatar.

Speaking to the BBC's Network Africa, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that by expelling the
international aid agencies the president was "confirming that he is exterminating his
people".


Arab League summit

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that he would work for the arrest of President Bashir as soon
as he leaves Sudan. Judges at the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his
arrest on war crimes charges earlier this month.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that entering international airspace would be enough, since UN
Security Council resolution 1583 urges all UN members to co-operate with the court.

Qatar, which invited President Bashir to the Arab League summit, has not signed the statute
that brought the ICC into being.

Some Sudanese leaders, concerned about the president's safety, have urged him not to visit
the annual Arab summit, due to start on 29 March. Earlier this week the Sudanese former
president Siwar Al-Dahab urged President Bashir to exercise "patience and wisdom" and not
risk travelling to Qatar "for his safety and the safety of Sudanese people".

The United Nations and the Sudanese authorities concluded a joint assessment mission to
Darfur to investigate how best to deal with the camps after President Bashir's expulsion of
the 13 international aid agencies. The UN delegation retuned to Khartoum on Friday and are
due to meet the Sudanese government for formal consultations.
 
Expulsion of Aid Groups Raises Risks in Darfur

23darfur.xlarge1.jpg

Relatives prayed Friday over the body of Asha Adam, an infant who died of uncontrollable
diarrhea. Levels of disease in Darfur’s camps are all but certain to rise.

NYALA, Sudan — The sign outside the clinic in Otash camp reads “8-hour service daily.”

On Friday, Haider Ismael al-Amin lay in his mother’s arms, his 10-year-old body withered
and weak from dehydration after a night of vomiting. But the door to the clinic was locked.
After 30 minutes of waiting, his family gave up.

“The white people used to come every day,” said Hawa Hamal Mohammed, a relative of the
boy. “Now the clinic is closed.”

The American aid group that operated the clinic, the International Rescue Committee, was one
of more than a dozen aid groups expelled from Darfur this month by President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir. He accused them of cooperating with the International Criminal Court in The Hague,
which had issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes in the conflict that has
consumed Darfur for years.

Since then, local health workers have been struggling, with almost no medicine, to keep the
clinic open on a limited basis. Thousands of people in this sprawling camp depend on it for
primary care. But on Friday it was closed altogether.

The expulsion of organizations that provided clean water, medical treatment, food and shelter
for millions of Sudanese in the war-racked region of Darfur has thrown the world’s largest aid
operation into disarray, putting the lives of millions of displaced people at risk.

The Sudanese government has pledged that local aid groups and government agencies will fill
the gap, and that assistance from the World Food Program and other United Nations agencies
still operating in Darfur will help avert an immediate crisis of widespread water and food
shortages.

But the enormous aid effort in Darfur, which costs more than $1 billion a year and requires
more than 10,000 workers from dozens of organizations, is already slowing, aid officials here say.

Although no one yet knows how the remaining organizations will cope with the gargantuan task
of keeping the most destitute alive, the levels of disease and misery in the vast camps where
people who fled their homes in the conflict live are all but certain to rise. Already the most
vulnerable, the oldest and youngest, are succumbing.

At the edge of Otash camp, a collection of some 30,000 people in South Darfur, the male
relatives of Asha Adam dug her tiny grave. The infant girl died after suffering from uncontrollable
diarrhea, her family said. Such illnesses have become common, as water has become scarce in
the camp and living conditions deteriorate, according to residents. The girl’s father, Ahmed Abdul
Majid, 55, said he had nine children.

In some highly politicized camps, residents are protesting the government’s actions by refusing
to accept help from organizations other than the ones that were expelled, aid workers and
government officials say. Kalma, one of the biggest and oldest camps, with about 90,000 people,
has been off limits to journalists for weeks, but Sudanese aid workers there have said that a
tense standoff is brewing.

The water pumps in the camp require fuel, and the fuel is almost gone. United Nations and
government officials have nearly 50 barrels of fuel, along with other supplies, ready to be
delivered, but the residents have refused. Four people have been reported dead in a meningitis
outbreak, but camp leaders have barred government health workers from going into the camp
to vaccinate, aid workers said.

Al-Hadi Ahmed al-Najim, the government’s humanitarian coordinator in South Darfur, said that
Kalma residents had refused all efforts for help. “Kalma is an international red card over our
government’s head,” he said in an interview. “It is to be made clear that this is an irreversible
decision. If they want facilities, we are ready to facilitate that. If they refuse, we are not going
to enter by force.”

The United Nations has tried to fill the gap left by the departure of organizations like the health
charity Doctors Without Borders, which had to abandon hospitals and clinics in several hard-hit
areas, and Oxfam Great Britain, which provided clean water and latrines to hundreds of thousands
of people in camps across the region. Without these essential services, it will be virtually impossible
to control waterborne infectious diseases, like cholera and meningitis, that often arrive with the rains,
which are likely to begin in a few weeks.

But United Nations agencies like the World Food Program and Unicef relied heavily on private aid
groups to carry out their programs, and while many aid groups remain in Darfur, the loss of some
of the biggest has made that work increasingly difficult, aid officials said.

“We may not have an immediate crisis on our hands,” said one senior aid official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of operations in Darfur. “But in a few weeks, when
the rains start and the hungry season begins, that is when the real impact of this decision will be felt.”

Feeding centers for malnourished children were already seeing hundreds of patients a week, and
those numbers normally quadruple in the lean season before the harvest. Without organizations
that run the specialized clinics that feed underweight and malnourished children with fortified
porridge, more children will surely die, aid workers in Darfur said.

The decision to expel the aid groups appears to have been made well before the International
Criminal Court announcement, and it was carried out with ruthless efficiency, aid groups said.
Government forces arrived at the offices of several charities and ordered workers to leave, and
then the forces seized valuable equipment like computers, cars and generators, according to aid
officials here.

“This was in the works for a long time,” one senior aid official involved in Darfur relief said. “They
had been waiting for a chance to strike out at these organizations.”

The Sudanese government has long suspected aid organizations of collaborating with the court by
providing evidence and helping prosecutors gather testimony from victims. But aid groups say that
they have gone out of their way to avoid even the appearance of collaboration.

At the United Nations, Sudan has faced intense pressure from Western countries to allow the aid
organizations to resume their work. But Sudanese officials are adamant that there will be no change.
“The decision of the government of Sudan is a legitimate sovereign decision which we will never
reverse, and this should not be an issue for discussion,” Mohamed Yousif Ibrahim Abdelmannan,
Sudan’s envoy to the United Nations, told the Security Council last week.

Lynsey Addario reported from Nyala, and Lydia Polgreen from Dakar, Senegal.
 
U.N. Official Calls Darfur Aid Tenuous, NY Times, March 24, 2009

UNITED NATIONS — A combination of stopgap measures by United Nations agencies and
the Sudanese government has kept aid flowing in the world’s largest relief program in
Darfur, but the makeshift effort cannot be sustained, John Holmes, the United Nations
humanitarian coordinator, said Tuesday.

“These are Band-Aid solutions, not long-term solutions,” Mr. Holmes told reporters,
summarizing a joint assessment by the United Nations and Sudan last week after the
government in Khartoum shut down 16 aid organizations. The decision to expel 13 foreign
organizations and disband 3 local ones immediately followed an announcement on March
4 by the International Criminal Court in The Hague that it was indicting President Omar
Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan on war crimes charges in the conflict in Darfur.

Violent flare-ups have plagued Darfur, an arid western province, ever since; a Sudanese
aid worker was shot dead in front of his family on Monday night. Mr. Holmes said the
shooting was being treated as a robbery but remained under investigation.

Mark Simmons, Sudan country director for a Canadian organization, the Fellowship for
African Relief, said the aid worker might have been killed for refusing to give up his
satellite phone.

In another development, Ayman al-Zawahri, the No. 2 leader of Al Qaeda, urged the
Sudanese in an audiotape released on Tuesday to undertake jihad against what he said
was a “crusade” being organized by the West to manufacture a crisis in Sudan as an
excuse to invade another Islamic land.

Both sides in the Darfur conflict are predominantly Muslim, and Mr. Zawahri said he was
not defending the Bashir government. Indeed, he said that it was “reaping what it sowed”
and that it should repent for pandering to the West.

Mr. Zawahri questioned why the International Criminal Court had not issued any arrest
warrants for Western leaders. He wondered why the United Nations and the international
community had not reacted to Palestinian suffering the way they had to suffering in Darfur.
“Why hasn’t the United Nations and the international community intervened to lift the siege
from Gaza, while it pretends to cry over the people of Darfur being deprived of relief and
aid?” he said on the 17-minute tape.

On the joint United Nations-Sudan technical assessment in Darfur, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem,
the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, said it showed that “the humanitarian situation
is fully under control.”

Mr. Holmes noted that although both parties had signed off on the assessment, the United Nations
had a slightly different long-term perspective on the $1 billion-a-year assistance program, which
serves many of the 4.7 million people in Darfur. The money for some programs that were run by
expelled agencies is going to run out. For example, water programs will probably run out of
financing in a month, Mr. Holmes said. He said Sudan had not supplied enough doctors to staff all
43 health-care centers that had been run by the expelled groups.

The World Food Program, a United Nations agency that will remain in Sudan, used to deliver food
through many of the agencies that were shut down. The program delivered food for March and April
to 1.1 million people by using local committees, but another method will have to be found,
Mr. Holmes said. The assessment “reveals a huge amount of work to do if the decisions are not
reversed quickly in order to make sure that there is a sustainable and effective aid operation in
place,” Mr. Holmes said.

Jeffrey Gettleman contributed reporting from Nairobi, Kenya.
 
In pictures: Sudan defiant, BBC News, Thursday, 5 March 2009, 7 pictures
UN fails to agree on Sudan action, BBC News, Saturday, 7 March 2009
Sudan’s President Makes Trip Abroad (to Eritrea) , NY Times, March 23, 2009


Sudan's leader arrives in Egypt

_45599355_007069396-1.jpg

Sudan's leader is accused of
war crimes in Darfur


Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has arrived in Egypt on his second trip abroad
since the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest. Egypt is not a
signatory of the ICC's charter, which obliges member states to arrest those indicted
if they enter their territory.

Mr Bashir - who made a short trip to Eritrea on Monday - is to hold talks with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Sudan's leader is accused of war crimes in his
country's Darfur region. It is unclear if President Bashir still plans to attend a 29-30
March Arab summit in Doha, Qatar. Sudan's highest religious authority, the Committee
of Muslim Scholars, this week issued a fatwa urging him not to go, citing threats from
enemies.

The Egypt visit comes amid a worsening humanitarian situation in Darfur. Khartoum
ordered the expulsion of 13 international aid agencies in the wake of 4 March arrest
warrant.

On Tuesday, the United Nations's humanitarian head John Holmes said the Sudanese
government had not done enough to fill the gaps in aid provisions. "These are band-
aid solutions, not long-term solutions," he said. He spoke at a news conference to
release a joint Sudanese-UN assessment that found more than a million people in
Darfur would go without food rations by May unless new aid agencies were deployed.

A fire at a camp for displaced people in western Darfur destroyed 600 shelters on
Tuesday. A local official said an "unknown group" had started the blaze at Abuza
camp, which houses more than 12,000 refugees.

The ICC accuses Mr Bashir of orchestrating atrocities against civilians in Darfur,
where his Arab-led government has been battling black African rebels since 2003.
Up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million have been driven from their
homes. Soudan denies the charges and says the figures are exaggerated.
 
A few highlights of some tense moments in southern Sudan, from CEFCOM public affairs:
The United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs) serving with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) at the teamsite in Malakal will never forget the last week of February 2009, when the region was engulfed in a battle fought with weapons ranging from small arms to main battle tanks.

(....)

At 2230 hours, Major Ahmed Ibrahim, an Egyptian UNMO living in Malakal, radioed the teamsite duty officer to report that he saw troops in town and believed they were SPLA regulars. At about 0830 the next morning, Maj Ibrahim was back on the radio reporting small-arms fire near his house, and the sound of tanks on the move.

I am the G1 (personnel officer) and one of only two anglophones on the team, so I got on the radio and started calling all 36 UNMOs posted to Malakal. Eighteen of them were in town, concentrated in three houses. They were told to stay indoors and wait to be escorted to safety.

The small-arms fire continued until 0900, when T-55 tanks deployed by the SPLA along two of the main roads began to fire their heavy machine-guns and main armament. The teamsite’s force protection — provided by the Indian Army — took their three BMP armoured personnel carriers to defend the U.N. air installation at Malakal Airport, where they arrived at about 0930. At 0950, they began receiving small-arms fire, but stood fast until mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades began falling on the airport. They then withdrew to defend the teamsite.

At the teamsite, three kilometres away from the airport, we could see the bombardment and recognize that the fire was very inaccurate. (Later, we learned that some mortar crews simply fired into the air with no idea where the rounds would land.) We put on our flak jackets and helmets. As the attack continued, we received reports of rounds landing in villages on the other side of the Nile, missing the airport by more than a kilometre ....

A tiny bit from the southern Sudanese media:
The South Sudan Legislative Assembly summoned Upper Nile Gov. Gatluak Deng Garang today to explain the actions of his administration on (February)'s fight in Malakal that SPLA estimates killed about 46 lives.

Gov. Gatluak denied accusations that he was complicit and knew about the attacks that were triggered by presence of militia leader Gen. Gatwech Chan aka Gabriel Tanginya that SPLA said is backed by Khartoum....

Reminder backgrounder on OP Safari here:
Task Force Sudan is the Canadian Forces contingent in UNMIS. Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Gérard Seneschal, it comprises 34 Canadian Forces members, including 24 serving as United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs) at team sites across southern Sudan, eight on the staff at UNMIS Headquarters in Khartoum, and two with the Canadian support element in Khartoum.
 
I'm going to tilt at a windmill here but who is as tired as I am when it comes to the world in general saying "STOP" to tin pot dictators and people such as Mr. Bashir and his gang of thugs?
If there was half as much concern for the people of the Darfur area as there is for Angelina Jolie or Paris Hilton, this would have been over years ago.
We are such a trivial continent.

Rant ends and I'll get off the soapbox. :-[ ??? :(
 
OldSolduer:

Keep rantin'.

Maybe one kid, one place, will get it.
 
Kirkhill said:
OldSolduer:

Keep rantin'.

Maybe one kid, one place, will get it.
Rant continues.
Thank you, it seems that more people are concerned with that stupid bimbo Hilton and her latest crap show, or Brangelina and their twins. Yet none of those "Stars"who are "concerned" with the plight of the people of Darfur, or Iraq or Afghanistan or the Congo...(you name a place) put their money where their big mouths are.
The exception to this...of all people...Madonna and she gets hammered in the press for it. She is actually trying to make the world a better place, and knows that she can't do it all at once.
What the hell do we want? Its frustrating listening to the "Save the World" lot and then when we try the same bunch whines that we are killing people who need to be killed.
More to follow...Over....
 
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