Annan's Translator Not Arrested?

From Reuters

Sudan's top U.N. envoy said on Tuesday that U.N. chief Kofi Annan's translator had not been arrested but only harassed by authorities after talking to rape victims in Darfur's largest camp.

Earlier, Jan Pronk had told reporters the translator who entered a small reed hut with Annan to talk alone with rape victims in Kalma camp in South Darfur state on Saturday had been arrested, violating a public promise made by the government not to harass or detain those who spoke to Annan during his visit to the troubled region.

But later on Tuesday night he released a written statement retracting his earlier comments.

"The interpreter has been harassed but not arrested," Pronk's statement said. He said the interpreter had been asked numerous times to report to the authorities in Darfur, but after discussions the local authorities dropped the request.

Earlier Pronk said the government had broken its promise not to harass those who spoke to Annan during his visit by arresting the translator.

What Does Jan Pronk Know That Nobody Else Does?

From UPI

U.N. envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk said Tuesday Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "impressed" by improvement of the situation in war-torn Darfur.

"Mr. Annan was really impressed by the improved situation in Darfur, which he visited on Saturday," Pronk told a press conference in Khartoum.

He said Annan could see for himself the positive development "although there are still many things to work on in order to restore peace and security to the province."

"Foreign press reports, especially in the American press, which speak of no progress in Darfur are completely untrue," he added.

Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide

Via this comment, we learned about this new book, due out in September, from Gerard Prunier, author of the widely respected "The Rwanda Crisis"

In mid-2004 the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan forced itself onto the center stage of world affairs. Arab Janjaweed militias, who support the Khartoum government, have engaged in a campaign of violence against the residents of Western Sudan. A formerly obscure ‘tribal conflict’ in the heart of Africa has escalated into the first genocide of the twenty-first century. In sharp contrast to official reaction to the Rwandan massacres, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the situation in Darfur a "genocide" in September 2004. Its characteristics–Arabism, Islamism, famine as a weapon of war, mass rape, international obfuscation, and a refusal to look evil squarely in the face–reflect many of the problems of the global South in general and of Africa in particular.

Journalistic explanations of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe have been given to hurried generalizations and inaccuracies: the genocide has been portrayed as an ethnic clash marked by Arab-on-African violence, with the Janjaweed militias under strict government control, but neither of these impressions is strictly true. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide explains what lies behind the conflict, how it came about, why it should not be oversimplified, and why it is so relevant to the future of the continent.

Gérard Prunier sets out the ethnopolitical makeup of the Sudan and explains why the Darfur rebellion is regarded as a key threat to Arab power in the country—much more so than secessionism in the Christian South. This, he argues, accounts for the government’s deployment of "exemplary violence" by the Janjaweed militias in order to intimidate other African Muslims into subservience. As the world watches; governments decide if, when, and how to intervene; and international organizations struggle to distribute aid, the knowledge in Prunier’s book will provide crucial assistance.

Witness to Darfur

This is the first of five posts by Jane Wells written for the Huffington Post

I try to disappear, sliding my hot and sticky body down the back seat of the SUV as it bounces along an unmarked dirt road. I realize for the first time since arriving in Sudan that I am actually terrified. Our cell phones have quit working, and now the VHF radio signal is gone. My companions, part of the relief group, the International Medical Corps (IMC), don’t have to tell me that these could be signs of an impending Janjaweed attack.

Security protocol gives us another 5 minutes before we must turn back from our mission, an assessment of need for a new health care clinic at a village called Kabbum. We have just passed a group of about 15 men in flowing white djellabas, or robes, carrying kalashnikov rifles. I can spot another group of 25 men on camels up ahead. Dina, in charge of this expedition, seems impassive, but when she sees the rifles, she announces, “OK, that’s it. We’re turning back.”

Be sure to read the entire post.

Day 141 of Bush's Silence

The latest from Nicholas Kristof

A reader from Eugene, Ore., wrote in with a complaint about my harping on the third world:

"Why should the U.S. care for the rest of the world?" he asked. "The U.S. should take care of its own. ... It's way past time for liberal twits to stop pushing the U.S. into nonsense or try to make every wrong in the world our responsibility."

And while that reader wasn't George W. Bush, it could have been. Today marks Day 141 of Mr. Bush's silence on the genocide, for he hasn't let the word Darfur slip past his lips publicly since Jan. 10 (even that was a passing reference with no condemnation).

Daily Darfur

There have been a series of arrests in Darfur:

From Reuters

A Sudanese translator who accompanied U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to hear rape victims in Darfur's largest refugee camp has been arrested, Sudan's top U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

Also from Reuters

Sudan arrested a second aid worker from the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid agency on Tuesday over a report on hundreds of rapes in the troubled Darfur region, the agency said.

Vince Hoedt, Darfur coordinator for MSF Holland, said he was under arrest and police were escorting him to Khartoum. It was not clear if he was charged with the same offenses as the country director who was arrested and released on bail on Monday.

Likewise from Reuters

Sudan arrested the local head of an international aid agency on Monday over a report on hundreds of rapes in Darfur in the first such action against a top relief worker since a rebellion in the area began in 2003.

Paul Foreman, the country head of the Dutch branch of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), told Reuters he had been arrested but was being freed on bail.

From the AP

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met here Sunday with an ex-rebel leader who told him that the postwar return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to their homes in southern Sudan is mushrooming into a humanitarian crisis.

From The Scotsman

Confidential African Union (AU) reports have provided damning new evidence of the involvement of Sudanese government forces and their Janjaweed militia allies in the murder and rape of civilians in the Darfur region.

AU monitors have collected photographic evidence of Sudanese helicopter gunships in action attacking villages, and their reports conclude that the Sudanese government has systematically breached the peace deals that it signed to placate the United Nations Security Council.

Reports from Darfur indicate that air attacks on villages have continued amid defiance of UN resolutions calling on the Khartoum regime to disarm the Janjaweed, with the latest helicopter attack in south Darfur reported to have taken place on 13 May as the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, was preparing to visit the province.

Of course, China's official news agency reports

Top UN envoy in Sudan Jan Pronk said here Monday that the situation in Sudan's conflict-plagued Darfur region is improving.

Temporary Hiatus

I am going to be unavailable to post until next Tuesday. As such, I recommend that you check out Passion of the Present for all the latest Darfur news.

And after that, I recommend that you add it to your regular reading list.

Daily Darfur

From the AP

International donors pledged an additional $200 million Thursday to fund the African Union peacekeeping operation in Sudan's western Darfur region during a conference to discuss the ongoing violence.

Canada made the largest new pledge, promising $134 million. The State Department's senior representative on Sudan, Charles Snyder, said Washington was adding an additional $50 million to the $95 million already pledged to end what he called "acts of genocide" in the ongoing conflict.

[edit]

"We are running a race against time," said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was at the conference along with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"If violence and fear prevent the people of Darfur from planting and growing crops next year, then millions will have to be sustained by an epic relief effort," Annan said.

From the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters

The exact number of deaths in the Darfur region due to the conflict will probably never be known. But most certainly, it is far too many. Estimating mortality in conflicts is a notoriously difficult exercise, even more so in Darfur where the conditions causing death are extremely variable. Malnutrition, epidemics and violence occur sporadically, claiming many lives in some areas and none in others. Recognising the importance of tracking mortality and estimating deaths, humanitarian aid agencies working in the region have undertaken mortality surveys among their beneficiaries at different times to assess the condition of their status and the severity of the crises.

You can get the CRED report here (pdf).

Kofi A. Annan and Alpha Oumar Konare have this op-ed in the Washington Times

While no one knows for sure how many people have died in the conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, more than 2.6 million are suffering because of it, and urgently need assistance.

From Christian Aid

The two-hour drive from Nyala in south Darfur to the former rebel stronghold of Labado provides a snapshot of the devastating military tactics used by both rebels and the Sudanese government and its ally, the Janajaweed.

It is a scene of utter desolation, not a human being or animal to be seen. All the villages are abandoned and many are burnt-out. Scorched pots lie on the ground; the constant wind blows sand into the empty, forlorn huts. The once fertile fields still have the stubble from last year’s crops.

From Reuters

Mothers in southern Sudan are feeding their children leaves to stop them starving to death after rich countries failed to heed months of appeals to prevent the region's worst food crisis in seven years.

Young women on Thursday crushed foliage torn from trees then boiled it over fires outside their huts, draining the green-tinged water before their children devoured their sole meal for the day with their hands.

"I'll get diarrhoea from eating this, but there's nothing else," said Nyankir Malek, 35, chomping on bitter leaves used as food of last resort in southern Sudan.

The AFP takes a look at the Darfur section of the recent Amnesty International report

"Thousands of civilians were killed and tens of thousands made homeless. Others were abducted. Hundreds of villages were destroyed or looted. Thousands of women were raped, sometimes in public, and many were taken as sexual slaves by soldiers or Janjaweed militiamen," Amnesty said of conflict in the western region of Darfur.

Darfur Needs Bolder International Intervention

A new letter from the International Crisis Group (via Passion of the Present)

Despite repeated pledges to stop the violence, the Sudanese government has utterly failed to do so. Political negotiations have stalled and, despite the presence of AU troops on the ground and the UN Security Council's important action in relation to accountability and sanctions, the civilian population of Darfur continues to grievously suffer.

This is a highly complex situation, and there are multiple elements in the necessary international action plan -- as spelled out by Crisis Group in its Policy Briefing, A New Sudan Action Plan, of 26 April 2005. But two issues in particular require, urgently, a bold new approach: the mandate of the international troop presence, and its size and capacity.

Complexity as an Excuse for Inaction

A few weeks ago, PBS aired a made-for-HBO film about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda called "Sometimes in April." Following the presentation, journalist Jeff Greenfield held a panel discussion about world's lack of response to Rwanda and the similarities to the current genocide in Darfur.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz was among the panelists and during the discussion made the following points

Wolfowitz: One of the things that bears thinking about from the Rwanda experience, and everyone of these cases is different, and I think one ought to recognize that. But it seems to me that the thing that stuck me as unique about the Rwanda experience, on the one hand the sheer horror of it, with the exception of the Holocaust and even then at a sort of per day rate, this was probably the worst genocide ever. But secondly, and we'll never know this for sure because you never know the course that wasn't taken, but it was seem as though a relatively modest military action aimed at eliminating that regime could have ended the genocide and ended it rather quickly.

What strikes me and seems to me is true in Rwanda, is true in Bosnia, is true in World War II, is true in Cambodia, this kind of systematic, one-sided elimination of a population is not done spontaneously by another ethnic group, it's organized by a criminal gang and if that criminal gang had been eliminated in Rwanda the genocide would have ended.

But that comes to my last point which is, then it depends on how do you conceive of the peacekeeping operation and nobody proposed, that I know of, going in and taking out the government.

Greenfield: Should they have?

Wolfowitz: I think so, yes.

[edit]

Wolfowitz: This is not a simple problem. The Rwanda case, I think, is striking because it at least it looks in hindsight to have been so simple to prevent something that was so horrible. But most of these cases are complicated ... In a way the Rwanda case is helpful for thinking about things but in some ways it's misleading because most cases are a little more difficult.

Wolfowitz openly argued that the world should have intervened in Rwanda, but them makes the strikingly disingenuous argument that Rwanda was somehow "simpler" than the current situation in Darfur.

Rwanda is only "simpler" because it is now over and hindsight allows us to see just how, where and why the world failed. But in 1994, with bodies filling the streets, Rwanda did not appear to be simple at all

U.S. Opposes Plan for U.N. Force in Rwanda
By PAUL LEWIS
12 May 1994
The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- As rebel forces of the Rwanda Patriotic Front pressed their attack today against the capital, Kigali, the United States criticized a new United Nations plan to send some 5,500 soldiers into the heart of the Rwandan civil war to protect refugees and assist relief workers, saying it is more than the organization can handle.

[edit]

While not excluding any course of action, Ms. Albright said it remains unclear whether African countries are ready or able to send forces for such a dangerous and complicated mission at the epicenter of a raging civil war.

Ten years later, it now appears as if a few relatively simple measures backed by the necessary political will could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. But in 1994, the genocide appeared massively complex and that complexity was routinely cited as a justification for not intervening.

And Wolfowitz is making exactly the same justification for not intervening in Darfur today.

Were there feasible solutions to Rwanda? In hindsight, the answer is obviously "yes." Are there feasible solutions to Darfur? It is hard to say because right now it seems so complex, but there certainly are if the world powers can muster the will to address them.

But unfortunately, it is far more likely that ten years from now, when perhaps another one million Africans have needlessly died, we'll wonder why we did not act when "it looks in hindsight to have been so simple to prevent something that was so horrible."

Daily Darfur

The AU is reportedly seeking $460 million to more expand its peacekeeping force in Darfur

Said Djinnit, chairman of the AU’s Peace and Security Council, said the AU may also consider bringing the force up to 12,000 by September, which would cost an additional $240 million. That decision would not be made until July 3, he said.

Human Rights Watch issued this statement

International donors and African countries meeting Thursday to boost support for the African Union mission in Darfur must ensure that more AU troops are quickly deployed to protect civilians in the western Sudanese region, Human Rights Watch said today.

This can't be good

Sudanese rebels kidnapped three ruling party politicians as they returned from a conference aimed at preventing conflict in Sudan's east, a government official said on Wednesday.

One of the two main Darfur rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said in a statement it had joined forces with eastern rebels to kidnap the three men who were leaving the government-organised conference in the town of Kassala near the Eritrean border on Tuesday.

From the ICRC

Food supplies in Darfur are running critically low and millions of people there are now dependent on food aid. The prospects for farmers being able to sow their fields this planting season are not encouraging. During the last planting season, less than 30% of arable land was cultivated. This proportion is set to decline further. If people cannot plant crops, there will be chronic food shortages. A depleted harvest at the end of the year will mean that increasing numbers of Darfuris remain completely reliant on humanitarian aid for their survival, trapped in a cycle of dependency for at least another 18 months.

UNHCR has this article

As morning dawned, instead of a joyous meal with dancing and drumming, some 30 gun-wielding members of the Janjaweed Arab militia – already infamous for driving more than 2 million Dafuris from their homes – rode into town on camels and horses to terrorize men, women and children on the pretext of searching for a stolen camel.

"It's just an excuse," said Haroun Adam Abdalla, the town's Arabic teacher. "They came purposefully because it's a holiday. If they found people celebrating, they would attack them," despite the fact that the Janjaweed are Muslims just like their victims. Everyone in the village just froze in silence until the Janjaweed rode away without harming anyone this time.

"I feel unhappy," said Haroun a few hours after the daunting display by the Janjaweed, who control the countryside of western Sudan's Darfur region and are accused of killing up to 400,000 people "Today is supposed to be a day of celebration, but it is the opposite. We are living in fear."

UN Commission on Darfur Driefs Prosecutor of ICC

From the AP

Members of a special U.N. commission on Sudan briefed the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Tuesday about human rights abuses in the country's western Darfur region.

[edit]

Court prosecutors have begun field work in Darfur and are expected to launch a full scale investigation in coming months.

Commission members Mohammed Fayek of Egypt and Hina Jilani of Pakistan briefed Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo during several hours of talks on their investigation tactics and experiences in documenting war crimes in Sudan.

"We were able to see the involvement of certain persons and we felt the accounts we heard and the indications we heard were strong enough for us to name them as possible leads for determining criminal responsibility," said Jilani.

The ICC prosecutor is determining if the crimes in Darfur fall under those he is authorized to investigate _ war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed since its jurisdiction took effect on July 1, 2002.

Open Letter to President Bush on Darfur

From Africa Action

Dear President Bush,

In September 2004, your Administration rightfully recognized that the crisis in Darfur constitutes genocide. Yet the U.S. has failed to respond to this genocide with the urgency that is required. As the death toll in Darfur continues to mount, it is clear that nothing short of international intervention can protect the people of Darfur. We call on you to assert U.S. leadership to ensure such an international intervention takes place as a matter of the greatest urgency.

Up to 400,000 people have lost their lives in Darfur since the government-sponsored genocide began in 2003. More than 2.5 million people have been displaced, their livelihoods and villages destroyed by government forces and their proxy militias, and many thousands of women and girls have been raped by these forces. Recent reports confirm that the government-sponsored violence continues in Darfur, and that the security situation is deteriorating. The humanitarian crisis that forms part of the genocide is escalating, as the government of Sudan continues to obstruct humanitarian operations, creating famine conditions for millions of vulnerable people.

Mr. President, our most important priority must be providing protection to the people of Darfur. The African Union (AU) has shown important leadership, and its mission in Darfur is doing what it can on the ground in the face of growing insecurity. But the AU cannot address this crisis alone, and nor should it have to. Genocide is an international crime, a crime against humanity, and it requires an international response.

Unless there is an urgent international intervention in Darfur, up to a million people may be dead by the end of this year. An international intervention is essential to support the AU’s efforts, and can achieve four critical purposes: (1) stop the killing and provide security for millions of internally displaced people (IDPs); (2) facilitate the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance; (3) enforce the cease fire and provide a stable environment for meaningful peace talks to proceed; and (4) facilitate the voluntary return of IDPs to their land and the reconstruction of their homes by providing a secure environment.

The U.S. is to date the only government that has rightfully recognized that genocide is taking place in Darfur. We urge you to immediately take the following steps to support an urgent international intervention to stop genocide in Darfur:

First, the U.S. must assert leadership at the United Nations (UN) by circulating a resolution calling for a stronger civilian protection mandate for the African Union mission and for a broader international force under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.

Second, the U.S. must encourage the UN to quickly approve and assemble a robust international force, under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, to integrate or co-deploy with the African Union and reinforce its efforts. Such a force can be assembled with troop contributions and financial & logistical support from additional countries within and outside the African continent.

Mr. President, genocide is a unique crime and it requires a unique and urgent response. We can still save thousands of lives in Darfur if we act now. We look to you to provide strong leadership to stop the genocide in Darfur by supporting an international intervention force to protect the people of Darfur as a critical first step to bringing peace and stability to this troubled region.

Top WFP Official Urges Funding to Avert Disaster

From the World Food Program

A top official of the United Nations World Food Programme indicated today that the crippling shortage of funds for WFP operations in southern Sudan must be corrected urgently to avoid serious suffering for those who experienced famine in 1998 in Bahr El Ghazal, in which tens of thousands of people died.

Halfway through 2005 and at the start of the leanest time of year in Sudan, WFP’s operation to feed a total of 3.2 million people in the south, transitional areas and east, including returnees in need, has a massive shortfall of US$224 million (74%) out of the US$302 million required.

WFP Senior Deputy Executive Director Jean-Jacques Graisse, recently back from Khartoum, southern Sudan and Darfur, said pockets of severe malnutrition had already been identified as well as areas where households had exhausted their food stocks.

“I am worried some areas may suffer a disaster if we don’t have the resources to save lives,” said Graisse, who witnessed the 1998 famine in Bahr El Ghazal.

In addition, results just released from a WFP-coordinated assessment in the long-neglected east of Sudan shows chronic malnutrition after decades of drought and poverty. This year, many people in the east are being pushed to their limits with the added burden of fast-rising food prices.

Malnutrition rates are comparable to the south and Darfur. The east is part of the overall appeal (seeking US$302 million) for the south so an immediate response from donors is essential.

The total number of people requiring food aid across Sudan is more than six million.

Daily Darfur

From Reuters

NATO will offer airlift, training and other logistics support to African Union (AU) forces struggling to end the civil war in Sudan's Darfur region, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Tuesday.

De Hoop Scheffer said envoys to the 26-country alliance had agreed a package of measures to be offered to the AU at an international conference in Addis Ababa on Thursday.

"The scene has been set," de Hoop Scheffer told Reuters. He said the NATO contribution would be fully coordinated with efforts by the European Union and the United Nations.

Kofi Annan is heading to Darfur and co-chairing a pledging conference to gain support the AU mission in the Darfur.

From Reuters

Hundreds of armed police and army soldiers surrounded a Sudanese refugee camp south of Khartoum on Tuesday, the scene of violent clashes which killed at least 17 police and residents last week, witnesses said.

"We are surrounded since this morning and are waiting to see if they will start something again," said one camp resident, who declined to be named.

Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Gader Arbab, a lawyer and spokesman for the people of Soba Aradi, said the armed forces have sealed off the entire area, about 30 km (19 miles) south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

"They have cordoned off all areas and have taken tough measures to stop people leaving," he said.

Eric Reeves in DC

Via Passion of the Present, we learn that Eric Reeves will be delivering a lecture in DC tomorrow night

THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, lecture by Smith College Professor of English Language and Literarture Eric Reeves on the ongoing Sudanese crisis. True Reformer Building, 1200 U St. NW. Tue., 5/24, at 7 p.m. Free. (508) 753-3588.

One Dead, Nine Wounded in Clash at Darfur Camp

From UN News

One person died and nine others were injured in a recent clash between police and merchants in Darfur's largest camp of about 150,000 people who fled fighting in the remote region, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said today.

UNMIS reported that on 19 May, a clash between police and merchants in Kalma camp housing internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South Darfur state reportedly resulted in one civilian death and nine injuries – six IDPs and three policemen.

Following the incident, police from the African Union (AU) mission in Darfur and elements of the AU Protection Force established a round-the-clock presence at the camp. The situation appears to have calmed, and yesterday, agencies were allowed to re-enter the camp to resume humanitarian assistance.

United Nations Sudan Situation Report

From the United Nations Country Team in Sudan

Key Developments

Late on 19 May, a conflict between police and IDP merchants in Kalma camp, in South Darfur, reportedly resulted in the death of one IDP and the wounding of six IDPs and three. AU Civ Pol and elements of the AMIS Protection Force established a 24/7 presence on 21 May. At 10:00 this morning, humanitarian organizations were allowed to re-enter Kalma. The situation appears to be calm and agencies resumed humanitarian assistance.

Security Issues

South Darfur: The incident at Kalma camp sparked a violent reaction among the residents of the camp. On 20 May, a large number of IDPs gathered near the Kalma market, destroyed two "tea houses" frequented by GoS police, then proceeded to torch the HAC compound and Land Cruiser before stopping short of attacking the GoS Police base located opposite the camp. AU Civ Pol and military personnel worked with GoS Police to decrease tension and encourage dialogue with the authorities. However, the state government refused humanitarian access to the UN or INGOs until after "investigations" were completed. Only on the morning of 22 May were agencies were allowed back into the camp. The situation appears to be calm and agencies have resumed humanitarian assistance.

[edit]

West Darfur: Heavy fighting reportedly broke out near Golo, Jebel Marra between SLA and GoS forces on 16 and 17 May. On 17 May, the village of Moro, four km from Nertiti was attacked by armed tribesmen and GoS forces. An estimated 200 people are reportedly missing, including many students and six teachers were reportedly killed. This report remains unconfirmed.

It was reported that on 19 May, a series of cattle-rustling related incidents between nomads and local farmers and Chadian-Zagawa nomads north of Seleah resulted in several deaths. The situation in Seleah presently is calm, but tension is still high, and the probability of further conflicts is also high. UNMIS has not yet suspended movement through Seleah, but is monitoring the security situation closely.

[edit]

Health

West Darfur: WHO and MoH could not carry out polio vaccination activities in Bir Saliba, west of Seleia, due to insecurity. • South Sudan: The civil service strike in Juba has hampered the work of Juba Hospital. The 14 ICRC staff members are currently struggling to provide services and have requested assistance from the Sudanese Red Crescent. The GoS military has reportedly sent 25 nurses, and UNICEF is assisting in the provision of meals to inpatients.

Sudan Censors English Language Daily

From Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the action of the Sudanese state security police in banning an entire issue of the English-language Khartoum Monitor newspaper in the earlier hours of 21 May after the editor refused to withdraw a report and an editorial, and then returning the following evening to scrutinize the content of the next day's issue.

[edit]

State security police went to the Khartoum Monitor's printing press on the night of 20 May and ordered the withdrawal of a Reuters dispatch and an accompanying editorial that were to have appeared on the front page. They were about rioting on 18 May in a camp for displaced persons at Soba Aradi, south of the capital, in which six civilians including a baby and a teenager, and 14 policemen died.

Fighting broke out at the camp when police tried to forcibly "relocate" its inhabitants, most of whom are from Darfur or the south, in accordance with a vast government plan to reorganise reception centres for the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Khartoum state. Refugees reportedly attacked a police station after the police fired tear gas and real bullets at them.

At around 3 a.m. on 21 May, after the newspaper's editors refused to withdraw the dispatch and editorial, the police ordered the cancellation of the entire issue. Acting editor William Ezechiel said this would result in a loss of 6 million Sudanese pounds (20,000 euros) in advertising and sales.

The state security police returned to the newspaper on the evening of 21 May to examine the content of the next day's issue, announcing that they would henceforth come every evening to ensure that no articles "cross the red line."

Reuters quoted an unnamed state security official as saying : "We follow the newspaper but there is no censorship. We talk on the telephone with them because there are some subjects which we ask them to treat responsibly."

Sudan is still under a state of emergency, with many civil liberties suspended. The Khartoum Monitor, which has consistently defended the population of the south, has already been the target of coercive measures in the past, as have many other journalists and newspapers. The Arabic-language daily Al Adwaa, for example, had to withdraw an article criticising the continuation of the state or emergency and the behaviour of the state security police from its 12 May issue.

East Sudanese Frustrated at Government Neglect

This is how Darfur began

Eastern Sudanese tribal leaders passionately decried the lack of development and the marginalisation of their region to a high-level government delegation in the eastern town of Kassala on Monday.

East Sudan is one of many outlying regions of Africa's largest country where residents complain of neglect at the expense of central Sudan around the capital Khartoum where most of the ruling elite hail from.

EU To Airlift Troops to Darfur

From Reuters

The European Union pledged on Monday to provide the air transport needed to send thousands of extra African troops to Sudan's Darfur region to help end its two-year civil war.

"As soon as the troops are ready, we'll be ready to transport them to theatre," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after EU defence ministers agreed to offer more help to an African Union mission fighting to quell a conflict that has cost 180,000 lives through violence, hunger and disease.

Winds of Madness

The Dartmouth Lawyers Association has released a report called "Winds of Madness" that

recommends immediate actions by the United Nations and the government of the United States and other world leaders to help alleviate the plight of those displaced from their villages by two years of civil war. It includes several recommendations to Congress and the Bush administation which require immediate attention. The Committee is now exploring whether a class action may be brought on behalf of the displaced Sudanese against the Government of Sudan and commercial enterprises supporting the government.

Daily Darfur

The African Union is asking for six helicopter gunships, 116 armored personnel carriers and other equipment for its peacekeepers in Darfur.

Sudan says that it will set up a court to try Sudanese citizens accused of war crimes in Darfur within the next three months.

Illinois lawmakers have voted to have the state sell off about $1 billion worth of investments in companies doing business with Sudan.

Doctors Without Borders offers this testimony from one of its volunteers

The first things that started to emerge were from men saying that their women have been taken by armed groups for several days and raped. The women told the same story in a shy way because they didn't want this to be a challenge for the men to go and fight because of it. But it was amongst a lot of other evidence that there was a whole range of violent abuse taking place against civilians.

The "Two Darfurs": Redefining a Crisis for Political Purposes

The latest analysis from Eric Reeves is now available - it includes this bit of information

An important “open letter” to President Bush, demanding that he do more to halt genocide in Darfur, will be released (along with a full list of signatories) at a media briefing hosted by Africa Action in Washington, DC on May 24, 9:30am in the John Hay Room at the Hay Adams Hotel, 16th and H Streets, NW. The letter has support from several members of Congress, as well as many national organizations and religious denominations.

Daily Kos on Darfur

Kudos to Armando over at the Daily Kos blog for highlighting and raising awareness about the genocide taking place in Darfur.

Eugene, wouldn't it be nice if Daily Kos would join the CFD?

Daily Darfur

The Famine Early Warning System Network provides a rain timeline for Darfur

Once seasonal rains start in the region, much of eastern Chad will be cut off. While large towns in Darfur may be accessible, surrounding areas will be difficult to access. All efforts should be made to provide refugees and IDPs with shelter and to preposition or distribute relief supplies to last through the rainy season. Already rains have begun in the southern most parts of Darfur. Normally within the next three weeks, the rains will start in all of South Darfur. Northern areas, like El Fasher will start to experience heavy seasonal rains by the end of June. By the end of July, the rains will cover the entire region.

The USA Today has another article on Darfur

The last time he saw his village, Sheik Haroun Ishag was running for his life. In 30 minutes one morning in December 2003, gunmen on horses and camels slaughtered 37 of his neighbors. They burned homes, stores, the school and the mosque. They stole every cow and goat in sight. They even took the school's tin roof.

Now, there's nothing here. But the government wants Ishag to move back.

IRIN has an interview with Sudanese minister for humanitarian affairs

QUESTION: What is your assessment of the situation in Darfur?

ANSWER: The security situation in Darfur is better now. And it's not our own evaluation - it's also the evaluation of the UN and the international community. The movement of assistance and people is better, as we introduced the so-called "fast-track system" for humanitarian assistance. It is for the whole Sudan, to ease the movement of humanitarian efforts. We also made progress in social reconciliation, and last week's tribal reconciliation meeting in North Darfur was very successful. It was agreed that all fighting would be stopped.

All political parties have committed to the ceasefire and reconciliation efforts are underway to bring them to the negotiating table. We are now waiting for the African Union (AU) to announce the date for the resumption of the Abuja peace talks. It is time for peace now.

We think that things are better in every respect. More than 70 international organisations are now working in Darfur with more than 700 cars and more than 10,000 staff.

Q: How do you reconcile your assessment with the latest Darfur report by the UN in which the UN Secretary-General expresses his concern about the increase in incidents of banditry and attacks on humanitarian aid workers?

A: I don't think there is a serious problem of relief-targeting. Most of the attacks on humanitarian workers are from the rebels, and it was once stated during our joint meeting with the UN that rebels are responsible for the attacks. This is why the tribal leaders asked the rebels not to attack, not only the convoys, but all the movements. It is not the tribal militias who are attacking. There is a lot of pressure on the rebels to go for peace now, and not for fighting.

Kofi Annan is scheduled to visit Khartoum next week.

Corzine and Payne on Darfur

From the Chatham Courier

Back from Africa where he saw the horrors firsthand, Senator Jon Corzine, D-N.J., Sunday called for greater U.S. engagement in combating genocide in Darfur.

Corzine and Rep. Donald Payne, D-10, spoke to the congregation of the United Methodist Church in Chatham as part of an effort by the N.J. Coalition of Religious Leaders and the N.J. Council of Churches to increase area awareness of an ongoing genocide that has already claimed the lives of thousands.

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In northeast Africa, the Sudanese government is murdering the black Sudanese of the western province of Darfur, using Arab Janjaweed militias, the Sudanese Air Force, and organized starvation, according to the Save Darfur Coalition. “Over a million people, driven from their homes, now face death from starvation and the militias’ attempts to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching them. The Janjaweed have destroyed the people of Darfur’s villages and crops, and poisoned their water supplies, and they continue to rape, murder and terrorize.”

On Sunday, Corzine described the Janjaweed as “a roaming band of criminal thugs, lawless groups of folks.”

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“Good morning, Church,” Corzine said after he had ascended the altar and stood at the lectern. “It is wonderful to have the opportunity to come and speak about a subject that Congressman Payne and I are passionate about – to ask for your help.”

The senator started by emphasizing the bi-partisan nature of his work on this issue, noting that Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, is championing the battle against genocide on the other side of the aisle.

“No one really knows how many have been killed in Darfur,” said the senator. “We don’t know if it’s 250,000 or 400,000. What we do know is that a great tragedy has befallen a people. It is a tragedy to see man fight man, particularly when it’s encouraged by a sovereign power.”

Corzine said he has visited the neighboring country of Chad along the border of Darfur twice in the past nine months. He returned from his latest trip to the area ten days ago, where he saw refugees in the border camps, desperate to get out of Darfur.

“There are two and a half million refugees in Darfur and Chad,” he said. “There is a great human tragedy building in those camps. Our government and our society have provided tremendous amounts of refugee aid, but the nutritional needs for the people in those camps are still not what they should be. …Humanitarian aid and medical care needs to flow freely into those camps.”

Payne said we need to learn from the lessons of the holocaust.

“After World War II, there was the statement, ‘never again,’” said the Newark congressman. “In the months leading up to the war, we looked the other way when Jewish people were being killed. This is a situation. This is a quiet genocide, not being covered much by the press.”

Payne urged people to call Rep. Chris Smith, R-4, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations, “to mark up Bill 1424, where it is languishing.”

Citing a letter to the Government of Sudan written by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, which praises the Sudanese for help in the war on terror, Payne said he fears the Bush Administration is allying itself with a brutal government while downplaying the genocide.

“The war on terror has become the only issue,” said Payne. “During the Cold War, thousands and millions of people died in our quest to keep countries from communism.

“If we are going to abandon all of our principles, we are in trouble,” Payne said. “We have to decide what is principal and what we stand for, or at one point we will stand for nothing other than the so-called war on terror.”

Member States Lack the Political Will

From the AP

A top aide to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan reflects a lack of political will by U.N. member states.

"Everybody wants to stop Darfur (from) happening. Nobody wants to put their own troops in harm's way," Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff, told the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday. The panel is pushing for reforms at the United Nations in light of recent scandals.
Malloch Brown told the panel that "all this talk we've had of U.N. reform will ultimately amount to nothing if Darfur happens on our watch," he said.

Daily Darfur

From IRIN

At least 30 people were killed on Wednesday in clashes that erupted when Sudanese security forces tried to forcibly relocate internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Soba Eradi camp, 30 km south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, officials said.

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Sources said the unrest began when trucks loaded with armed men rolled into Soba Eradi, an IDP camp housing 26,000 people, at 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Wednesday morning.

Kirsten Zaat, UN advocacy officer in Khartoum, told IRIN the aim of the operation was to move the IDPs to Jebel Alial and El Amal town, about 50 km south of Khartoum.

Other sources said the IDPs did not want to be relocated. They gathered at a local bus station to protest, but at about 9:40 a.m. (0640 GMT) the police officers opened fire on them, the sources told IRIN.

The Guardian reports

NATO ordered its planners yesterday to begin urgently drawing up proposals to help out in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million displaced.

NATO's 26 ambassadors, meeting in Brussels, approved a request for help from the African Union, the pan-continental organisation, which has 2,600 troops on the ground.

Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, who is suspected to have been included on the list of 51 names the UN commission handed over the ICC, now says that he is on a mission of peace.

NATO Agrees to Explore Darfur Options

From NATO

On 18 May the North Atlantic Council agreed to task the Alliance’s military authorities to provide, as a matter of urgency, advice on possible assistance NATO could offer to the African Union in Darfur.

This advice will be prepared in full consultation and transparency with the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations.

The decision by the North Atlantic Council follows a request on 26 April by the African Union for consideration by NATO of the possibility of providing logistical support to the African Union’s peacekeeping operation in Darfur.

On 17 May, Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare, the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, visited NATO, providing details on the kinds of assistance that the African Union would require.

The Secretary General is due to attend talks on international support for the African Union’s operation in Darfur in Addis Ababa on 26 May.

Taking three weeks to authorize authorities to "provide advice" on "possible assistance" makes me think that NATO does not really see this "as a matter of urgency."

Militia Blocks Aid Delivery to South

From the BBC

Part of a major UN aid operation in Sudan has been suspended and is under review after a militia leader blocked the delivery of food.

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The delivery was stopped when a local pro-government militia leader demanded that the quantity of rations be doubled.

When the UN rejected his request, he insisted the 150 tons of grain be taken away, depriving the 6,000 people of New Fanjak, as well all those in other villages down this tributary of the Nile.

With the militia upset, it has been deemed too dangerous to continue.

Delays and Complications

The genocide in Darfur began more than two years ago. Since then, more than 400,000 people have died and the international community has yet to take any concrete action toward stopping the violence or helping the nearly 2 million displaced return to their destroyed villages and resume semi-normal lives.

And the longer the world delays, the more complicated the situation seems to become.

Just last week, the UNHCR was forced to pull its staff out of four refugee camps in Chad after five of its workers were wounded in protests over food distribution. The same day, two refugees and two Chadian police officers were killed during a clash in another camp.

Also last week, two drivers for the World Food Program were killed and rebels abducted but later released 17 members of the African Union ceasefire monitoring force.

The UN reported that militia attacks have intensified in the last month and there are now reports that rebels in the East have amassed along the border with Eritrea, potentially creating a Darfur-like conflict there as well.

All the while, the world makes symbolic gestures of concern and assistance. The AU has decided to expand its force in Darfur but lacks the troops, money and logistical resources necessary to fully do so. Help from NATO has been requested but has not yet materialized. For domestic political reasons of its own, Canada recently pledged to send 100 troops to Darfur but has since backed off because of objections from Sudan. Meanwhile, leaders from Egypt, Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Gabon and Eritrea jointly announced their rejection of "any foreign intervention in the Darfur problem."

The crisis in Darfur is by no means simple and solutions are going to require serious thought and real political will. Unfortunately, Darfur has not yet been able to garner either. But the longer the world refuses to deal with this, the more complicated the situation is going to become.

Daily Darfur

Marc Lacey has this article in the New York Times

Darfur's dead have been tossed into the bottoms of wells, dumped into mass graves, interred in sandy cemeteries and crudely cremated. Children have been snatched from the arms of their mothers and thrown into fires, villagers dragged on the ground behind horses and camels by ropes strung around their necks.

All of which makes the important and politically charged task of counting the precise number of victims of the two-plus years of war in western Sudan a virtually impossible exercise.

Is the death toll between 60,000 and 160,000, as Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick told reporters during a recent trip to the region?

Or is it closer to the roughly 400,000 dead reported recently by the Coalition for International Justice, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization that was hired by the United States Agency for International Development to try to determine whether the killing amounts to genocide. (Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called the Darfur killing genocide last year, but Mr. Zoellick has studiously avoided the issue.) The State Department has said the higher mortality figures offered by some groups are "skewed" by overestimates of the number of deaths from violence in Darfur, rather than from disease and other causes.

Those trying to tally the terror are engaging in guesswork for a cause. They say they are trying to count the deaths to shock the world into stopping the number from rising higher than it already is. Sudan has not issued an estimate of its own, although officials in Khartoum label the numbers floating around as propaganda.

The USA Today ran this story on its front page

Once, this was the season when Khartoma Ibrahim prayed for the rains to come. She was a farmer then, before the troubles here in Darfur changed everything, even her prayers.

The rains should come any day now, but this year Ibrahim, 35, has no fields to plant. She, her husband and their six children languish in a refugee camp whose 20,000 residents survive almost entirely on international food aid — aid that will be difficult to deliver once the seasonal rains turn West Darfur's dirt roads into quagmires.

And so, against every instinct, she asks that the rains hold off, inshallah— God willing.

The transformation of rain from blessing to curse illustrates how much life has changed since civil war broke out two years ago, destroying hundreds of farming villages