Sudan/Chad: African Leaders to Meet Ahead of AU Summit

From the AP via Sudan Watch

Leaders from eight African countries will meet in Libya Jan. 4 for a special African Union summit on the crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region and growing tensions between the country and neighboring Chad, officials said Friday.

The meeting in Tripoli will seek to energize ongoing peace talks in Nigeria between Darfur rebels and Sudan’s government aiming to end the 30-month-old conflict, said Said Djinnit, the AU Peace and Security Commissioner.

The leaders also will seek to ease escalating tensions between Chad and Sudan after Chadian President Idriss Deby accused the neighboring country of backing rebels who are seeking to overthrow his government, African Union officials said.

The leaders of Nigeria, Sudan, Eritrea, Egypt, Chad, Central African Republic, Libya and Gabon are expected to attend the mini-summit. It comes three weeks before the African Union holds its annual summit involving all 53 members in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Sudan’s President Omar el-Bashir hopes to become the next chairman of the African Union during the summit. That will only be decided after a vote by members of the bloc.

Voices on Genocide Prevention

I believe I linked to the podcasts produced by the Committee on Conscience before - but I just noticed that they are also making transcripts of the podcasts available as well.

There are lots of important interviews with the likes of Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Nicholas Kristof, so be sure to check it out.

Sudan: Death Toll Rises in Egyptian Raid on Camp

From the AP

Egyptian police turned water cannons on Sudanese war refugees and beat them with sticks Friday, seeking to end a three-month protest at the ramshackle squatters camp in a small city park. At least a dozen people were killed, according to government figures, and one of the protest leaders estimated the deaths at more than double that.

Hundreds of Sudanese have been living in the park since September to protest the U.N. refugee agency's refusal to consider them for refugee status. They want to be resettled in a third country, such as the United States or Britain, rather than go home after a peace deal ended the 21-year-long civil war in Sudan.

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Boutrous Deng, one of the protest leaders, told The Associated Press that 26 Sudanese were killed. He said the dead included 17 men, two women and seven children.

Officials at the South Center, an independent Sudanese human rights group, said 1,280 refugees were taken by bus to three locations outside Cairo. In a statement faxed to AP in Cairo, the group described the police assault as "savage."

Uganda: Deliver Us from Kony

A good article from Christianity Today

Sadly, reports of LRA savagery are not isolated incidents. The children I interviewed in Uganda and southern Sudan who escaped LRA captivity, along with thousands of documented cases, demonstrate that these monstrosities are standard operating procedure. Nearly 90 percent of LRA fighters are enslaved children, kidnapped from their families. [Editor's warning: The rest of this section contains graphic descriptions of brutality.]

Under threat of death, LRA child soldiers attack villages, shooting and cutting off people's lips, ears, hands, feet, or breasts, at times force-feeding the severed body parts to victims' families. Some cut open the bellies of pregnant women and tear their babies out. Men and women are gang-raped. As a warning to those who might report them to Ugandan authorities, they bore holes in the lips of victims and padlock them shut. Victims are burned alive or beaten to death with machetes and clubs. The murderous task is considered properly executed only when the victim is mutilated beyond recognition and his or her blood spatters the killer's clothing.

At St. Joseph's Hospital in Kitgum, I listened as relatives of four adult LRA victims recounted recent assaults. Many surviving victims cannot speak for themselves, because their lips have been sliced off. With their mouths reduced to gaping holes, they gazed at me with what combat veterans call the thousand-yard stare.

Many don't survive an attack. In one case, the LRA attacked a 14-year-old boy who suffered compound fractures in both legs when beaten with pangas (large machetes). He crawled for a week to reach the hospital. But, despite the efforts of surgeons from Doctors Without Borders, the teen died the next day. He is buried outside the hospital in a grave marked with two sticks, his name unknown. Since 1986, the LRA is estimated to have abducted as many as 50,000 children. Many more Ugandans have been maimed and traumatized. About 1.6 million have been driven from their homes. The death toll from the conflict is estimated at more than 30,000 children.

During attacks, LRA fighters, themselves traumatized captives, abduct more children and embark on a trek through the African bush that mimics the Bataan Death March in barbarity. Adult commanders force children to carry supplies for up to a week, marching from dawn to dusk on bare feet, without food or water in the equatorial heat. Potable water is reserved for commanders. Children have been forced to drink urine or drink from muddy ditches to survive. Their feet become infected and swollen. Any child who cannot keep pace is killed. Any child caught in an attempted escape is killed. Children may be murdered for crying or failing to obey commands quickly enough. Moreover, it is the other children who must execute the transgressors, which is done by hacking them to pieces with machetes or burning them alive.

Commanders frequently compel children to kill their own siblings, lest family bonds supersede those to the LRA. Leaders demand every abducted child kill another child within a week of capture. Afterward, they're told they'll never be accepted by society because of their criminal acts, so they must stay with the LRA to survive. They coerce the children into identifying with their captors by emotionally blackmailing them with their own guilt.

The physical and sexual torture of children is a deliberate process intended to create killers without conscience. Tragically, it works. Most current LRA commanders were once abducted boys who, having been through this process, are now committed to Joseph Kony and his bloodthirsty vision.

See also "What American Christians can do to help resolve the LRA conflict."

French Army Faces Inquiry on Genocide in Rwanda

This is several days old, but still interesting - from the Times Online

ONE of the most controversial episodes in France’s recent history is to come under legal scrutiny after a judge opened a formal inquiry into allegations that the French Army conspired in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

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The accusations were contained in a lawsuit filed by six survivors who said that they had witnessed atrocities committed with the complicity of the French Army. M Baillet rejected four of the plaintiffs on the ground that they had not suffered personally.

Although Michèle Alliot-Marie, the French Defence Minister, described the claims as outlandish, the prosecutor decided that two witnesses were sufficiently credible to warrant an inquiry.

One is Auréa Mukakalisa, who was raped by Hutu militia in a refugee camp set up and controlled by the French Army. “The Hutu militiamen entered the camp and designated the Tutsis, who were forced to leave the camp by French soldiers,” Miss Mukakalisa, who was 27 at the time, said. “I saw the militia kill the Tutsis who had left the camp. I saw French soldiers themselves kill Tutsis using knives.” Her brother, Felicien, was one of the victims at the Murambi camp. His body has never been found.

The second witness, Innocent Gisanura, who was 14 at the time, was among thousands of Tutsis who fled into the Biserero forests in the hope of escaping the violence. “We were attacked and chased by militiamen,” he said in his statement. “French soldiers watched what happened from their vehicles without doing anything.”

The claims have revived the debate over France’s ambition to retain influence in Africa — an ambition that shaped much of M Mitterrand’s foreign policy. Under his presidency, France armed and trained President Habyarimana’s forces, which critics say formed the backbone of the Hutu militia during the genocide.

M Mitterrand then authorised the French peacekeeping mission, known as Opération Turquoise. Rwandan Tutsis say that French troops first failed to stop the killings, and then established a buffer zone which enabled the killers to escape. These claims have poisoned relations between Paris and Kigali. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s President, has accused France of failing to tell the truth about Opération Turquoise.
In 1998 a French parliamentary committee attempted to investigate France’s role in the genocide. But most of the evidence that it sought was classified as a state secret.

Darfur: What The Media Isn't Telling Us

An upcoming event - more info here

Tuesday Jan 31 2006 - 8:15 pm

Experts on the front lines offer an inside look into the tragedy of Darfur — the killing and torturing of civilians, the enforced disappearances and displacements, the destruction of villages, and the sexual violence — and outline what ordinary Americans can do to stop it. RUTH MESSINGER is the president and executive director of American Jewish World Service, which works to alleviate poverty, hunger and disease in the developing world in keeping with Judaism's imperative to pursue justice. GERALD MARTONE is the director of emergency response for the International Rescue Committee and has participated in several missions to Darfur. JOHN PRENDERGAST is special advisor to the president of the International Crisis Group and a former director of African Affairs for the National Security Council. Prendergast is also the author of Frontline Diplomacy: Humanitarian Aid and Conflict in Africa.

Contact Information: www.makor.org

Brought to you by: 92nd Street Y

Cost: $25

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Seen Driving Country Deeper Into Crisis

From Reuters

Zimbabwe is likely to sink deeper into crisis in 2006 as President Robert Mugabe continues hardline policies that have gutted the economy and isolated his government, analysts say.

The southern African state is in the spotlight after plunging into a political and economic crisis five years ago that many critics blame on Mugabe, its only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.

Analysts say although Mugabe has consolidated his power this year with a big victory in parliamentary polls and the establishment of a new Senate dominated by his ruling ZANU-PF party, he still feels insecure and has renewed a crackdown on critics and opponents.

"I don't think anyone who is realistic is expecting an improvement in Zimbabwe's political, social and economic environment in the coming year," said John Robertson, a private economic consultant and a leading commentator.

"We are expecting more of the same, more political rhetoric in place of practical pragmatic policies to rescue the economy," he said. The economy has shrunk by over 30 percent in the last five years.

Chad/Sudan: Rebels Say They Are Joining Forces to Fight Deby

From Reuters

Chad rebel groups opposed to President Idriss Deby said on Friday they had formed a military alliance to try to overthrow him, increasing pressure on the Chadian leader who accuses Sudan of backing the insurgents.

Eight anti-Deby groups, including one formed by Chadian army deserters and another which attacked an eastern border town in Chad this month, agreed in a joint communique to pool manpower and weapons to "free Chad of the dictatorship of Idriss Deby".

"Each of our groups had their own forces, men and equipment. Now, we'll be joining them together," Abdullahi Abdel Karim, spokesman for the Rally for Democracy and Liberty (RDL), one of the rebel groups, told Reuters by satellite phone.

Confirming the communique, which was also posted on Chad-related Websites, Abdel Karim said the alliance, called the United Front for Democratic Change, was formed during a Dec. 26-28 meeting at Modeina in eastern Chad.

It would be led by Captain Mahamat Nour, whose RDL forces on Dec. 18 had attacked the town of Adre on Chad's eastern border with Sudan. Chad said it repulsed the attack, inflicting heavy casualties, but the RDL said it had made a tactical withdrawal and would strike again.

The rebel alliance appeared to herald a growing insurgency threat to Deby, a 53-year-old former army commander who himself led an armed revolt from the east to seize power in 1990.

Since the Dec. 18 attacks, Deby has accused neighbouring Sudan of backing the rebels, a charge denied by Khartoum which says he should look for his enemies closer to home.

"Now he sees the opposition is getting stronger, he's looking for a scapegoat ... This is a Chadian problem," Abdel Karim told Reuters.

He said the new alliance could muster "not less than 10,000 men", but there have been no reliable independent assessments of the rebels' strength.

Sudan: Ten Die as Egyptian Police Break Up Protest

From Reuters

At least 10 Sudanese protesters died and around 50 were injured on Friday when Egyptian police dispersed a three-month sit-in by thousands of Sudanese demanding to be relocated to another country, officials said.

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Witnesses had said about 2,000 riot police stormed the camp site early on Friday and beat the people inside with truncheons and sticks after officials failed to persuade the Sudanese to board buses to take them to another site.

Pools of blood were visible on the pavement as the Sudanese men in the camp fought back with sticks and hurled bottles at the riot police.

About 4,000 police in total ringed the site, near the offices of the U.N. agency that deals with refugees.

The Sudanese had camped at the site in squalid conditions in protest at what they said was poor treatment since fleeing their home country, racked by years of civil war.

"The security forces were present to ensure a process of transporting those mentioned (Sudanese) and to prevent squatting," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

[edit]

The protesters, who did not comply with police demands after being fired on with water cannon, said they wanted the UNHCR to arrange for them to be flown out of Egypt.

"Most Sudanese refugees have been subjected to violence in Egypt. We don't want to be here anymore," said one Sudanese protester who gave his name as Wilson.

The UNHCR has said it is prepared to provide more assistance to Sudanese people in Egypt fleeing conflict at home, but cannot arrange for all of them to be resettled in another country.

Sudan's 21-year-long north-south civil war made 4 million people homeless and a separate conflict in the western Darfur region has turned another 2 million into refugees.

Fear, Terror Still Stalk Sudan's Darfur

From Reuters

After nearly three years of civil war in Darfur, the Sudanese government has yet to make real gains in ending militia attacks that have left tens of thousands dead, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Thursday.

"Large-scale attacks against civilians continue, women and girls are being raped by armed groups, yet more villages are being burned, and thousands more are being driven from their homes," he said in a report dated Dec. 23 and circulated at the United Nations on Thursday.

The government has not yet been able to even identify militia leaders, and a power struggle among rebel leaders has meant the two sides remain far apart in peace talks, Annan said in his latest monthly report on Darfur to the U.N. Security Council.

Conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate in a "deeply disturbing trend" that began in September amid growing inter-tribal conflict and banditry, Annan said, adding that a recent influx of military deserters from neighboring Chad has made the situation worse.

His glum assessment comes as the African Union, which has deployed 6,800 peacekeepers in Darfur, reassesses its mission.

Annan's report can be found here.

Darfur: Accessories to Genocide

A recent article from Eric Reeves in the New Republic

Why does genocide in Darfur continue? One reason is that there is no real international pressure on the architects of the genocide--the National Islamic Front security cabal in Khartoum--to bring the killing to a halt. On the contrary, as the genocide enters its fourth year, the international community continues to defer to Khartoum, or even to suggest disingenuously that the regime has somehow reformed itself. Either way, the clear implication is that the lives of Darfur's civilians are not worth the diplomatic price of confronting Sudan's brutal leaders.

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There are only two ways the vast human catastrophe in Darfur will end: international humanitarian intervention or intense diplomatic pressure on Sudan's regime. The former is nowhere on the horizon, and the latter will be profoundly undercut by the upcoming African Union and Arab League summits. We are often told that a new generation of leaders has arisen in African and Arab countries, a generation with reformist instincts. But by choosing to hold these summits in Khartoum, African and Arab leaders are showing that, like their predecessors, they are still more inclined to protect one another than act on principle. Idi Amin would be pleased.

Gone

I am going to be unable to post - probably until after the New Year.

I apologize for the absence, but I encourage you to visit Passion of the Present in order to stay informed of important developments.

Is Resisting Genocide a Human Right?

A forthcoming article [PDF] in the Notre Dame Law Review by David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen - via The Volokh Conspiracy

Closely examining the Darfur, Sudan, genocide, and making reference to other genocides, this Article argues that the genocide prevention strategies which are currently favored by the United Nations are ineffective. The Article details the failures of targeted sanctions, UN peacekeepers, and other anti-genocide programs. Then, the Article analyzes the Genocide Convention and other sources of international human rights law. Because the very strong language of the Genocide Convention forbids any form of complicity in genocide, and because the Genocide Convention is jus cogens (meaning that it prevails over any conflicting national or international law), this Article concludes that the Genocide Convention forbids any interference, including interference based on otherwise-valid laws, against the procurement of defensive arms by groups which are being victimized by genocide.

US Warns of New Rebel Attacks Into Chad From Sudan

From Reuters

The United States warned that Chadian rebel groups could launch new attacks against their government's forces across the Sudanese border after a clash on Sunday that the African country said killed hundreds.

Scores of Chadian soldiers deserted their barracks in late September before regrouping near the border to stage attacks against the government.

The government has accused Sudan of helping the deserters and also using them to fight Sudanese rebels in its eastern region of Darfur.

Chad's army said on Monday its troops had killed about 300 Chadian rebels after they launched a failed offensive on a border town in one of the worst attacks in an escalating conflict.

The United States has contacts that help it monitor fighting in the region because of its deep diplomatic involvement in seeking to resolve Sudan's internal conflict in Darfur -- an area the size of France that borders Chad.

"There is a strong possibility that attacks by rebel groups will continue, and possibly intensify," the U.S. State Department said in an announcement to American citizens about the dangers in traveling to Chad.

Darfur: Annan Condemns "Vicious Attack" That Killed 20

From the UN News Center

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today strongly condemned what he called a vicious attack on a village in West Darfur, Sudan yesterday, in which 20 people, including women and children, are reported to have been murdered by several hundred militia who also burned huts and looted livestock.

“The Secretary-General urges the Government of Sudan to take immediate measures to prevent further attacks, protect its civilian population and to pursue those responsible,” Mr. Annan’s spokesman said in a statement released today.

“The perpetrators of this and other attacks against civilians must be brought to justice,” he added.

Darfur: 1.25 Million Children Beyond Reach of Aid

From the UN News Center

Every day more than 3 million children are affected by the ongoing conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, threatened by malnutrition, illness and violence, with 1.25 million of them beyond the reach of help because of insecurity, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today in a new report.

“Relief efforts have significantly improved the overall situation in Darfur since 2004, but persistent instability and political stalemate means that children have little hope for any meaningful future,” UNICEF country representative Ted Chaiban said of the three-year conflict between Government, paramilitary and rebel forces which has killed tens of thousands and forced 2 million to flee their homes.

The report, Child Alert Darfur, shows that an estimated 1.75 million children in displaced persons camps and surrounding towns in Sudan’s western Darfur, an area the size of France, now have basic social services, largely as a result of humanitarian aid, despite continuing insecurity that plagues their daily lives.

In these camps, mortality rates have fallen below the emergency threshold at 0.79 deaths per 10,000 children per day and malnutrition rates have dropped from 21.8 per cent to 11.9 per cent. But an estimated 1.25 million children remain who cannot be reached because of insecurity and their situation remains largely unknown.

Politics/Media: Jon Karl New Pentagon Face at ABC

I am only linking to this because Karl has written a few pieces on Darfur for the Weekly Standard and ABC News - from mediabistro

Jonathan Karl has been named senior National Security Correspondent based at the Pentagon, ABC News President David Westin announced today. In his new role, Mr. Karl, who has been covering the State Department since he joined ABC News in 2003, will continue to report on foreign affairs and intelligence agencies as well as all issues related to national security. He replaces Martha Raddatz, who was named senior White House correspondent last month.

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While covering the State Department, Mr. Karl has traveled extensively with key members of the Bush administration's foreign policy team, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powel, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney to nearly two dozen countries around the world. In addition to interviewing Secretary Rice five times in the year since she was named Secretary, Mr. Karl has broken several stories most recently on Iran's nuclear program. His exclusive interview with Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe and his groundbreaking reporting out of Sudan took him on three trips to Darfur this year.

Some pieces Karl has written:

Rumble in the Desert

The Darfur Disaster

First-Person Account of One of World's Worst Humanitarian Crises

Dead End in Darfur?

Chad Objects to Sudan Hosting January AU Summit

From Reuters

Chad said on Tuesday its neighbour Sudan should not host an African Union summit next month following rebel attacks on a Chadian border town it said were backed by the Sudanese government.

In a message to foreign ambassadors, Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi accused Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of threatening stability in the region and questioned whether he should host the AU summit scheduled for Jan. 23-24.

"We think it is not appropriate that Khartoum host this summit, since the government of Sudan destabilises Chad and exerts a heavy threat against the peace and security of the sub-region," said Allam-Mi in the message, which was posted on the Chadian government's official Web site on Tuesday.

"Africa should not allow al-Bashir to become the next president of the (African) Union, unless it wants to push him into persevering with his catastrophic and bellicose policies both in his own country and towards his neighbours," he added.

Darfuris Stone Policeman to Death After Attack

From Reuters

Darfuris stoned to death a policeman in the main western town el-Geneina on Tuesday during a protest over a militia attack on a village they say killed 20 people, including children and the elderly.

Relatives of those killed and injured and residents from the town of Abu Surooj demonstrated outside the hospital in the West Darfur state capital.

Authorities flew an attack helicopter low over the crowd to try to disperse them, but the angry crowd marched to the market. In a chaotic scene, with shots sounding in the background, the crowd turned on a policeman.

"They stoned a policeman to death because they were angry that their relatives had been killed," said the head of humanitarian work in el-Geneina al-Tijani Tajeddin.

Trucks full of police carrying machine guns and rifles took to the streets to patrol the tense town.

Witnesses said Monday's attack on Abu Surooj occurred when more than 150 green-khaki clad Arab militia, known locally as Janjaweed, rode into town at 6 a.m. on horses and camels, opening fire randomly and burning houses.

Initial reports indicated 12 people had died, but relatives of the victims said 20 civilians and five policemen were killed, and 16 people were injured.

Relatives said Ali Adarahman Yagoub, who was more than 80 years old and blind, was burnt alive in his house. Three children between the ages of 5 and 10 were also killed, they added.

More than a dozen men and young children lay with gunshot wounds in blood-stained beds in the dusty, rickety hospital in el-Geneina where they had been brought after the attack.

"Everyone who is still there is living in terror," said Ishaq Mohamed Ahmed. "This is the fifth attack in the past month." But he added this was the largest by far.

Chad/Darfur: Fighting Stirs a Witches Brew

From Reuters

The incursion of Chadian troops chasing rebels into neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region risks making worse an already dangerously complicated area, UNICEF said on Tuesday.

Launching a report to highlight the plight of Darfur's 3 million children after nearly three years of fighting in the devastated region the size of France, the United Nations'. Children's Fund appealed for a political solution and far more outside aid.

"Darfur is complicated enough without the Chadians getting involved," Keith McKenzie, UNICEF's special representative for the Darfur Emergency, told reporters.

He said there have been Chadian soldiers inside Darfur for some time but recently the numbers crossing the very fluid border have increased sharply.

Chad's army said on Monday it had killed some 300 rebels after they mounted a failed offensive, chasing them back over the border into Darfur and destroying some of their bases.

To complicate matters, Chad has accused the Sudanese government of supporting the Chadian rebels and using them to combat Sudanese rebel groups in Darfur -- some of which were instrumental in bringing Chad's President Idriss Deby to power.

McKenzie said aid workers had to move around in helicopters because rampant banditry and fighting even between supposedly allied Sudanese rebel factions made many roads impassable in much of Darfur.

"Any convoy that looks like a food convoy is automatically hit," he said.

And it was not just by the rebel groups.

"There are no good guys in Darfur. Pressure has to be applied to all sides," he said.

Darfur: Congress Rebuffs Rice on Troop Funding

From Reuters via POTP

Congress rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's impassioned appeal to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan's Darfur region, the State Department said on Monday.

U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers ends this year and the State Department is concerned that violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found to keep the mission going.

Still, despite the rejection by a Congress under pressure to keep spending down, the U.S. State Department said it would seek to find the money from other foreign aid programs for the Darfur mission.

"We are frustrated and disappointed. The AU plays an important role in Darfur," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

"We will work to reprogram existing funds," he added. "The funding problem is not insurmountable."

Chad: 300 Militants Killed in Clashes

From the AP

Government forces clashed with army deserters in an eastern border town, killing about 300 militants in the biggest recent offensive against rebels, officials said Monday.

Five soldiers and three civilians also died in Sunday's raid to retake control of Adre, 620 miles east of the capital of N'djamena, the army said in a statement read on state-owned Radio Chad.

The clash was with two rebel groups the Rally for Democracy and Freedom and the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy, the army said.

Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa and the army said some 300 rebels were killed, although the claim couldn't be independently verified. Representatives of the rebels were not immediately available for comment.

If true, the death toll would be the largest in recent fighting between government forces and military deserters reportedly seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby.

Chad Says its Forces Destroy Rebel Bases in Sudan

From Reuters

Chadian government forces crossed the border into Sudan after repulsing a rebel attack on a border town and destroyed several rebel bases on Sudanese territory, a minister said on Monday.

Scores of Chadian soldiers deserted their barracks in late September before regrouping near the border, and the government has accused Sudan of using the deserters to fight rebels in Darfur and of backing Chadian rebel activities.

Chadian army deserters launched a failed offensive on the town of Adre on Sunday but were pushed back in fighting that claimed about 100 lives. Chad accused Sudan of backing the attack.

"These attacks were repulsed by the national army, which using its right of pursuit, destroyed some of the rebellion's bases in Sudanese territory," Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi said in a statement.

The clashes raised tensions in Sudan's Darfur where rebels have fought Sudan's central government for almost three years.

Chad's Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said military operations in Adre were continuing on Monday.

"The clean-up is continuing," he told Reuters.

Darfur/Uganda/Zimbabwe: Egeland Urges Action

From the AP [The UN News Center has a similar story - via POTP]

Warning that the lives of millions of Africans are at stake, the U.N. humanitarian chief urged stepped-up international efforts Monday to tackle worsening conflicts in Sudan and Uganda, and severe food shortages in Zimbabwe and southern Africa.

Jan Egeland appealed for an expanded security force to stop rapes, killings, burning and looting in Sudan's Darfur region that is spilling across the border to Chad.

He called for international efforts to curb the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and southern Sudan, and he said Zimbabwe's government must stop further evictions and allow its people to receive international aid.

[edit]

Egeland warned that the largest humanitarian operation in the world, in Darfur, remains "under constant threat, and our operations can now be disrupted completely any day and anywhere in Darfur" because of continuing violence.

[edit]

Egeland called for "an expanded and more effective security presence on the ground as soon as possible" to protect civilians, and he stressed that this beefed-up presence is needed regardless of the outcome of talks in Abuja, Nigeria on a political settlement of the Darfur conflict.

"It cannot be right that we have twice as many humanitarian workers in Darfur as international security personnel," he said.

The African Union currently has 7,000 troops in Darfur and its continued presence is currently being assessed.

On a second crisis, Egeland said that while the number of combatants from the Lord's Resistance Army may not have increased, "they have spread out over a larger area and now constitute a significant threat to regional security, with appalling consequences for several million people."

The LRA is made up of the remnants of a northern rebellion that began after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, took power in 1986. They operate from bases in southern Sudan, which had backed the rebels but is now reconciled with Uganda.

In September, some rebels fled to eastern Congo following pressure from Ugandan troops.

Egeland said rebel attacks have curtailed access to 1.7 million people in camps in northern Uganda and thousands more in southern Sudan, putting many lives at risk, and he denounced a new rebel tactic of targeting humanitarian workers.

He said the Uganda, Congo and Sudan "bear the primary responsibility to protect and assist their populations, as well as to pursue the LRA."
He also called on the Security Council to strongly condemn the LRA attacks, demand an immediate halt to the violence and consider appointing a panel of experts to explore the sources of funding and support for the rebels.

Darfur: Guterres Urges Strong International Support for African Union

From Reuters

Concluding a two-day visit to Ethiopia, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres today strongly urged the international community to bring greater support to both the peace process and the African Union peacekeeping role in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region. Guterres pledged UNHCR's support to the AU in achieving success in this difficult yet necessary mission.

"The success or failure of the Darfur process has the potential to make or break the stability in the whole region, if not the whole continent," the High Commissioner told reporters at UNHCR's office in Addis Ababa on Monday evening.

Earlier, he told Alpha Oumar K Konaré, President of the Commission of the African Union that "the world should help the African Union succeed in Darfur, and I will personally be your advocate for the international community not to shy away from its responsibilities."

Professor Konaré acknowledged that not everything had been done, even on the part of the African countries themselves, to advance the African Union's peace agenda, particularly in the Darfur situation. He said Darfur was a "test case" for the AU's new conflict-prevention and peace building architecture for Africa.

The two leaders also discussed their common vision of a strong African political integration, for which High Commissioner Guterres expressed his admiration. The two also committed themselves to strengthening their organisations' cooperation. They also resolved to jointly approach donors with creative projects to address the gap between short-term humanitarian relief and longer-term development assistance.

"The funds always come too late," said Guterres, alluding particularly to the Southern Sudan situation, where reconstruction should have started early on to allow for the sustainable return of displaced people and the recovery of the country.

On Sunday, Guterres visited some 16,000 Sudanese refugees at Sherkole refugee camp in western Ethiopia and heard their concerns about the absence of basic infrastructure, including health and education, and the presence of landmines in their areas of return.

"You may be worried about the situation back home, doubtful about what would await you and uncertain of the future," Guterres told the refugees. "But UNHCR will organize a mission for your representatives to go and see the situation at home and allow your people to make an informed decision (on going home)."

Darfur: Talks Headed for 2006, Progress Slow

From Reuters

Talks to end the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region are progressing but are likely to spill into 2006, the parties said on Monday, despite intense international pressure to clinch a deal by the end of the year.

The Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel movements are negotiating to end a nearly three-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands and driven more than 2 million people from their homes into refugee camps.

"I feel we are progressing. We will reach an agreement, most probably after the Eid," said Mutrif Siddig, a senior negotiator from the government's side, referring to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha which falls in mid-January.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was due to discuss progress with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and with Khartoum's negotiating team during a one-day visit to the Nigerian capital, where the talks are taking place.

"The president definitely wants to be briefed by the president of Nigeria on outstanding areas which may need resolution, so that he can inject some helpful ideas into the process," Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told Reuters.

Obasanjo hands over the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) to Bashir in January. The union is mediating the Darfur peace talks and has 6,000 troops on the ground struggling to contain violence that has worsened in recent months.

The Darfur rebels object to Bashir taking over the reins of the AU while their conflict with Khartoum is unresolved, arguing that the AU will no longer be neutral, but Akol said the handover would not affect the peace process.

"We believe that President Obasanjo should continue as mediator on Darfur even if the chairmanship goes to President Bashir. These are two separate issues. He has started a process that is ongoing so he should be able to continue."

[edit]

The three main areas under discussion are power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security arrangements.

Both sides said the wealth-sharing talks were making good and swift progress, but on power-sharing two serious sticking points were slowing proceedings. These are the rebels' demands for a Darfur regional government and for the vice-presidency of Sudan to be given to a representative of Darfur.

Positions were so far apart on these issues that talks ceased for all of last week, but they resumed earlier on Monday and both sides said there was a new, more positive approach.

Substantive talks on security arrangements have not started because the sides are still arguing about the agenda.

Chad/Darfur: Chronology

From Reuters

Chadian army deserters crossed the border into Sudan, Darfur rebels said on Monday, after Chad repulsed an attack by its own rebels on a town near the border and blamed its neighbour for fighting that killed about 100 people.

Chad's government said Sunday's attack near the small town of Adre near the border with Sudan's troubled Darfur region, was mounted by army deserters allied to a rebel group called the Rally for Democracy and Liberty (RDL).

Chad accuses Sudan of using the deserters to fight rebels in Darfur and of backing Chadian rebel activities.

Here is a chronology of recent events in Chad and its link with the crisis in Darfur:

Jan/Feb 2004 - Thousands of refugees from Sudan's Darfur region arrive in Chad fleeing government bombings and deadly raids by Arab Janjaweed militias.

April 9 - Chad brokers a ceasefire between the Sudanese government and two Darfur rebel groups.

May 10 - Chad warns Sudan to stop attacks on its soil by Arab militias from Darfur; Khartoum pledges cooperation.

May 16 - Chad's President Idriss Deby quells a mutiny amid mounting dissent over his handling of the cross-border crisis with Sudan.

June 17 - Chad's army kills 69 Janjaweed militiamen in a clash near the border with Darfur.

June 23 - Sudan and Chad agree to disarm militias on both sides of the border.

April 11, 2005 - Chad suspends its mediation in the Darfur crisis, accusing Sudan of supporting rebels threatening its national security. It returns to mediation after promises from Khartoum that it would act against Chadian rebels.

June 5 - Chadians voting in a referendum agree to change their constitution to allow Deby to stand for a third term in office.

Oct. 31 - Deby dissolves his presidential guard after scores of soldiers desert the army and regroup in the volatile east of the country near the border with Darfur. Deby creates a new elite security force charged with ensuring his security.

Dec. 18 - Some 100 people are killed as Chad repulses a rebel attack on a town near the Sudanese border and blames its neighbour for the fighting. Sudan denies involvement.

Chad: Army Deserters Retreat to Sudan After Attack

From Reuters

Chadian army deserters who launched a failed offensive on a military base on Sunday have retreated over the border to Sudan's remote west, Sudanese rebels said on Monday.

A group of Chadian army deserters launched an attack on the border town of Adre on Sunday, but were repulsed after heavy fighting claiming around 100 lives, the Chadian government said, holding Sudan responsible.

The clashes raised tensions in Sudan's Darfur region, where Sudanese rebels have been fighting the central government for almost three years. No fighting was reported in Adre on Monday.

A commander in the Darfur rebel National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD), which controls areas along the border with Chad, said his troops had witnessed the Chadian rebels retreat into Sudan on Sunday in cars.

"Some of them were moving in the direction of el-Geneina," said Hassan Khamis, NMRD commander, referring to the main town in Darfur along the border.

Scores of Chadian soldiers deserted their barracks in late September before regrouping near the border, and the government has accused Sudan of using the deserters to fight rebels in Darfur and of backing Chadian rebel activities.

World Court Rules Against Uganda

From the AP

The International Court of Justice on Monday held Uganda responsible for the killing, torture and cruel treatment of civilians in Congo in the late 1990s and ordered reparations.

The court, the U.N.'s highest judicial body also known as the world court, dismissed Uganda's claims of self defense and called its actions an "unlawful military intervention'' and interference in Congo's internal affairs.

It also ruled that the Democratic Republic of Congo was obliged to compensate Uganda for the destruction of its embassy in Kinshasa and for the mistreatment of its diplomats.

The ruling by the 17-member court denounced the Ugandan military for deploying child soldiers and inciting ethnic conflict as it rampaged through Congo's Ituri province in fighting between August 1998 and July 1999.

"The court concludes that Uganda has violated the sovereignty and also the territorial integrity'' of Congo, the ruling said.

[edit]

The court voted 16-1 in favor of Congo on its several claims against Uganda, with only Tanzanian judge James Kateka dissenting.

Uganda: Children Paying With Their Lives for UN Security Council Inaction

From Oxfam

The United Nations Security Council must put the crisis in northern Uganda on its agenda and pass a resolution urging an end to the violence, international agency Oxfam demanded ahead of a top level Security Council briefing on the situation today.

"The United Nations Security Council has been silent on the war in northern Uganda for two decades," said Greg Puley, Oxfam's Policy Advisor in New York. "In that time over 25,000 children in northern Uganda have been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army and many forced into sexual slavery and made to become child soldiers."

"One thousand people die every week as a direct result of what is now Africa's longest running war. Every single night, up to forty thousand people leave their homes and sleep in town centers in order to escape abduction."

Despite the horrific statistics, Oxfam's Greg Puley said the Security Council's response up to now to the 19-year conflict had been silence and inaction.

"The Security Council cannot plead ignorance to the tragedy taking place in northern Uganda yet they have not passed one single resolution. The Council must act now," Puley said.

UN Under-Secretary General Jan Egeland will today brief the Council on the regional impact of the conflict between the Government of Uganda and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which is now operating in DRC and Sudan.

There is clear evidence that the conflict in northern Uganda threatens to undermine peace efforts in neighboring Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Oxfam is urging the permanent five Security Council members UK, US, France, China and Russia to support a resolution recognizing the threat to international peace and security caused by the conflict and condemning the LRA atrocities in northern Uganda, DRC and Sudan.

Darfur: Militia Attack Kills 12

From Reuters

Arab militias on camels and horses attacked a village in West Darfur on Monday, killing 12 people, rebels and government officials said.

"The Janjaweed attacked this morning and killed 12 innocent civilians, including one man who was over 60-years old," said Hassan Khamis, a commander in the Darfur rebel National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD).

Janjaweed is the local name given to mostly Arab militias, mobilized by the government to fight Darfur rebels.

A source in the government in Darfur confirmed that attack. "It was Arab nomads," he said, asking not to be identified.

"We are not sure yet of the details but the governor has gone to the site of the attack," he added. The attack was on the Abu Surooj village north-west of the main town el-Geneina.

Uganda/Sudan: LRA Reportedly Agrees to Mediation

From Reuters

Rebels in northern Uganda, wanted by a global war crimes tribunal, have agreed to accept mediation from Sudan's southern government, dominated by the former rebel SPLM, an SPLM spokesman said on Sunday.

Walid Hamid, spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), said the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), whose leaders are believed to be hiding in south Sudan, had responded through the Internet to an SPLM offer to mediate talks.

"The (southern) Vice President Riek Machar said that they have agreed for the government of southern Sudan to mediate," though no further details were available, Hamid said.

[edit]

The Sudanese armed forces said on Sunday a new deal had been signed allowing SPLM forces to join the hunt for the LRA in the south. Previously only Ugandan and Sudanese army troops were involved in search operations.

"This does not mean that joint operations will happen," said an armed forces spokesman in Khartoum. "Each force will still have their separate operations."

Rich Nations Must Give More Aid

From the AP

A year of disasters around the world sparked an unprecedented outpouring of aid, but richer nations still are not giving enough money to tackle lingering humanitarian crises, the U.N. humanitarian chief said.

Jan Egeland said, for example, that as many people die in Congo every eight months as in last year's Indian Ocean tsunami.

He also criticized political leaders for failing to take action to end the wars that create humanitarian crises or invest in disaster prevention to mitigate the impact of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods.

The work of U.N. and other relief workers in conflict-wracked eastern Congo, in the Darfur region of western Sudan, and in northern Uganda has become "an alibi for lack of political and security action," Egeland said.

"We are a plaster on a wound which is not healed," he lamented, "because there's no political action to put an end to the wars, and there's too little also invested in preventing natural disasters."

Congo: First Free Vote in 40 Years

From Reuters

Congo held its first national democratic poll in 40 years on Sunday but intimidation and violence at voting stations marred the poll on a post-war constitution meant to end decades of dictatorship, war and chaos.

From schools in the sprawling riverside capital Kinshasa to thatched huts in the jungle and tarpaulin tents in the lawless east of the vast African nation, voters queued from early in the morning for a ballot many regard as crucial to their future -- even though most have never seen the text.

It provides for a decentralized political system with provincial administrations responsible for local decision-making and controlling 40 percent of public funds. It also limits the president to two five-year terms, and requires the president to nominate a prime minister from the parliamentary majority.

"I do not know what is contained in this constitution, but what I know is that today's vote is a vote for peace. Whoever votes "no" in today's referendum to us is an enemy of peace," said motorbike taxi driver Janvier Eilimwa in Goma, eastern Congo.

A woman and a baby died in stampedes near Goma as people rushed into voting booths. The 4-month old baby was crushed after its mother dropped it in the rush. A UN official said a woman was crushed in a similar incident at a different place.

EU observers said turnout was high across the country. But election workers and observers said threats in opposition strongholds had put many people off voting.

"There were threats by opposition supporters," said Francois Mukoka, Independent Electoral Commission spokesman in Eastern Kasai. "This meant people were nervous about coming out to vote but later in the afternoon it seems the situation improved."

Renegade soldiers chased off voting officials from a village in North Kivu province, an electoral commission spokesman said.

Kinshasa riot police clashed with a group of around 20 youths who gathered outside a polling station and told people not to vote. The youths began hurling rocks at the police, who detained at least one of the group.

In Goma, police beat a couple of dozen people with batons as they tried to force a crowd of nearly 200 into a single queue at a polling station, a Reuters reporter witnessed.

Chad Accuses Sudan After Clashes

From the BBC

Chad has accused Sudan of being behind a rebel raid on a border town that reportedly ended in 100 deaths.
A Chadian minister said Sudan was "wholly responsible" for an attack allegedly launched from Sudan on the eastern town of Adre.

Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said the raid was repulsed by the Chadian army.

Several new rebel groups have begun operating in eastern Chad recently, led by mutinous military officers who say President Idriss Deby must step down.

The raid on Adre is the second attack in the area in just three days, the BBC's Stephanie Hancock in Chad reports.

Darfur: A Challenge for Bill O'Reilly

The latest from Nick Kristof

Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that the Christmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say ''Merry Christmas,'' rather than ''Happy Holidays,'' but about helping the needy.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his huge audience and considerable media savvy to save lives and fight genocide, instead of to vilify those he disagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus, rather than in the Assyrians.

Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and other money-changers in the temple will donate the funds they raise exploiting Christmas -- covering the nonexistent ''War on Christmas'' rakes in viewers and advertising -- to feed the hungry and house the homeless.

Amen.

Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox News Channel's crusade against infidels who prefer generic expressions like ''Happy Holidays'' included 58 separate segments in just a five-day period.

After I suggested in last Sunday's column that a better way to honor the season might be to stand up to genocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr. O'Reilly has ignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a ''left-wing ideologue.'' Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, and Merry Christmas to you, too!

Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us print journalists in general as ''a bunch of vicious S.O.B.'s.'' Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll pray harder for the Christmas spirit to soften your pugnacious soul.

Look, I put up a ''Christmas tree,'' rather than a ''holiday tree,'' and I'm sure Mr. O'Reilly is right that political correctness leads to absurd contortions this time of year. But when you've seen what real war does, you don't lightly use the word to describe disagreements about Christmas greetings. And does it really make sense to offer 58 segments on political correctness and zero on genocide?

Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly -- demagogic table-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical ploy to gain attention and money. And I always tell moderate Muslims that they need to stand up to blustery blowhards -- so today, I'm taking my own advice.

Like the fundamentalist Islamic preachers, Mr. O'Reilly is a talented showman, and my sense is that his ranting is a calculated performance. The couple of times I've been on his show, he was mild mannered and amiable until the camera light went on -- and then he burst into aggrieved indignation, because he knew it made good theater.

If Mr. O'Reilly wants to find a Christmas cause, he should invite guests from Catholic Relief Services, World Vision or the National Association of Evangelicals -- among the many faith-based organizations that are doing heroic work battling everything from river blindness to sex trafficking. Indeed, the real victims of Mr. O'Reilly are the authentic religious conservatives, because some viewers falsely assume that ill-informed bombast characterizes the entire religious right.

(I'm tempted to think that Mr. O'Reilly is actually a liberal plant, meant to discredit conservatives. Think about it. Who would be a better plant than a self-righteous bully in the style of Father Coughlin or Joe McCarthy? What better way to caricature the right than by having Mr. O'Reilly urge on air that the staff of Air America be imprisoned: ''Dissent, fine; undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the F.B.I. and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining everything.'')

Some authentic religious conservatives are embarrassed by television phonies. Cal Thomas, the conservative Christian columnist, warned: ''The effort by some cable TV hosts and ministers to force commercial establishments into wishing everyone a 'Merry Christmas' might be more objectionable to the One who is the reason for the season than the 'Happy Holidays' mantra required by some store managers.''

So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you really want to defend traditional values, then come with me on a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce you to mothers who have had their babies clubbed to death in front of them, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped and then mutilated -- and to the government-armed thugs who do these things.

You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll be scared. If you try to bully some of the goons in Darfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'll also meet some genuine conservative Christians -- aid workers who live the Gospel instead of sputtering about it -- and you'll finally be using your talents for an important cause.

So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to a real war against Christmas values, in which the victims aren't offended shoppers but terrified children thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.

Chad: 100 Reportedly Killed in Attack Near Sudan Border

From Reuters

Chadian troops repulsed an attack on a town near the Sudanese border on Sunday in fighting that killed around 100 people, Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said.

"There was an attack this morning in the town of Adre," Doumgor told Reuters. "The army counter-attacked ... there were around 100 killed," he said, adding losses on the rebel side had been worse than on the government side in what aid workers say is the worst offensive to date of a growing conflict.

The death toll could not immediately be verified.

Earlier Sudanese rebels and aid workers reported hearing large explosions and heavy fighting near Adre, a small town a few miles from the border.

"This began last night and until now we can still hear very loud explosions and heavy arms being used from the area of Adre town," said Hassan Khamis, a commander in Sudan's Darfur rebel National Movement for Reform and Development, whose areas of control run along the border.

"We can hear loud explosions from here," said one aid worker in the main West Darfur town of el-Geneina who declined to be named for security reasons.

Scores of Chadian soldiers deserted their barracks in late September before regrouping near the border, and the government has accused Sudan of using the deserters to fight rebels in Darfur and of backing Chadian rebel activities.

Sudanese army sources reported sporadic fighting in recent days, crossing over the long, porous border between the countries, but added the Sudanese army was not involved.

Both Darfuri rebels and aid workers in the region have reported large troop movements during the past two weeks near the border, with reports of Chadian troops patrolling on the Sudanese side of the border.

Chad has said it was prepared to send troops into Darfur to pursue the deserters, who pose a threat to President Idriss Deby by demanding his resignation. They are also accused of attacks on army bases in the capital N'Djamena.

Spotlight on Darfur 3

The Spotlight on Darfur 3 is now up on Allthings2All - among the posts featured is this one from Live From the FDNF, which I thought was particularly good

Conservatives Need To Revoke Bush's Free Pass On Darfur

Nearly two years have passed since the US government first engaged itself with the genocide in Darfur. Pres. Bush and his State Dept. (then led by Colin Powell) made statement after statement for a time about the need for the Sudanese regime responsible for the genocide to halt the killing. Dire consequences were occasionally threatened, such as more sanctions or a referral to the UN Security Council (where incidentally, some of Sudan's best friends reside, such as China, Russia and Algeria). Congress did much of the same, agonizing for nearly two years over a series of bare-bones resolutions and acts that to this date have done little to nothing to halt the slaughter.

There are good and honorable individuals in this tragedy, figures like Robert Zoellick, Sam Brownback, Jon Corzine and Donald Payne who have done the most with their respective positions to do something constructive and effective about Darfur. They were consistently among the few who've shown anything remotely resembling urgency. Meanwhile, tens of thousands (perhaps one to two hundred thousand) have perished, waiting for a rescue, hell, even a genuine effective relief effort that has never come.

All this has happened on Pres. Bush's watch, with his direct knowledge. The man meets with Rwandan genocide survivor Paul Rusesabagina (who urged him to take greater action on Darfur) and yet we see no policy change, no public leadership on Darfur, just the same tired diplomatic dance with a regime that even the Economist recently noted "uses periods when the world's attention is focused on one problem to get away with murder elsewhere." No amount of words can directly save lives in Darfur, but a little moral leadership on the (still) most effective bully pulpit in the world can. That hasn't happened yet, and it looks increasingly unlikely it ever will.

Darfur: No Plan Seen For More Funds

From The Boston Globe

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort this week to persuade Congress to appropriate $50 million in funding for an African Union effort to halt genocidal killings in Sudan's Darfur region.

But congressional aides said yesterday that Rice's attempt may have been a case of too little, too late. They said lawmakers have no plan to add extra funding for Darfur to a federal budget that is stretched thin by Hurricane Katrina reconstruction, the Iraq war, and planning for avian flu.

''It is at the eleventh hour," said John Scofield, spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee. ''At this point, we're about ready to turn out the lights" on budget commitments this year.

The apparent decision not to add new funds for helicopters and other support comes more than a year after the House of Representatives voted unanimously for a resolution that called the killings in Darfur ''genocide" and urged the Bush administration to consider intervening in the conflict.

[edit]

Yesterday, Scofield and two other congressional aides said the major obstacle to securing funding for the African Union troops was that Rice failed to make a formal request for the money through the Office of Management and Budget, as is custom.

''A letter from the secretary is nice, but in the budget world, it's not a formal request," Scofield said, adding that money for Darfur could be taken out of the $179 million that the administration had set aside for other peacekeeping missions in 2006.

A State Department official said that additional funding is needed badly, and that two letters that Rice sent Thursday to the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees should have been sufficient. He said lawmakers are looking for an excuse not to fund the mission.

''Congress can do this if it wants," said one State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ''Time is running out. Congress needs to act quickly."

In her letters, Rice asked lawmakers to set aside ''at least $50 million" for Darfur in a bill they are attempting to hammer out this weekend.

''I have discussed this matter with others in the administration and can assure you that taking immediate action to meet this unanticipated expense is of the highest priority," Rice wrote in a letter to Senator Thad Cochran, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to a copy obtained by the Globe.

Rice's $50 million request represents roughly a third of what the force will need to continue operating for the next five months; the European Union is responsible for most of the rest.

Said Djinnit, the head of peacekeeping for the 53-nation African bloc, told reporters in Ethiopia yesterday that the force could run out of funds by April if donors do not respond.

[edit]

Yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators urged their House counterparts to provide the funding, which had been quietly dropped from an earlier appropriations bill.

''The AU troops, which have succeeded at deterring violence where they have been deployed, are stretched thin and have recently come under attack," said the letter, signed by Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, Jon S. Corzine, Democrat of New Jersey, and Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.

Some supporters of greater Western involvement in Darfur urged lawmakers to step up on the issue.

''The president has said we're in a situation of genocide" in Darfur, said Mark L. Schneider, senior vice president of the International Crisis Group. ''They should recognize the importance to the US national security interests and provide the funding."

Khartoum Triumphant: Managing the Costs of Genocide in Darfur

The latest from Eric Reeves

The National Islamic Front is poised to renew its special place in history as a regime that has successfully deployed genocide as a tool of domestic political and security policy. It joins the Turkish government, which was responsible for the genocidal destruction of perhaps a million Armenians during World War I, and the Nigerian government, which during the late 1960s was responsible for the genocidal destruction of more than a million Ibo people in the Biafra region of southern Nigeria. But unlike the earlier Turkish and Nigerian regimes, the National Islamic Front has been successful in its genocidal efforts on multiple occasions, including its previous genocides in the Nuba Mountains (beginning in 1992) and in the southern oil regions (beginning in 1997). These are the ghastly precedents for current genocide in Darfur.

Darfur: Sudan's Special Court Not Satisfactory, UN Genocide Expert Says

From the UN News Center via POTP

A United Nations genocide expert today voiced disappointment in the efforts of Sudan’s Government to address the crimes committed in the country’s western Darfur region, where conflict has been marked by massive displacement, rights abuses and widespread killings.

The UN Security Council has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe the situation, but earlier this week, the Sudanese Government indicated that it would not cooperate with the ICC.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Juan Mendez, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, pointed out that this was not an option but a legal obligation. “I have consistently stressed that ensuring accountability is an essential element of genocide prevention,” said Mr. Mendez, who visited Darfur in September.

Asked whether the Government was living up to its pledges, he replied: “My impression is very discouraging, quite frankly. For months nothing was done about the literally hundreds of cases of destruction of villages.”

He said the Government’s own special court had also produced “discouraging” results. “They have dealt with some cases that seem to be marginal to the serious events that happened in 2003 and 2004,” he said.

He added that if the Khartoum Government refuses to cooperate with the ICC then “the Security Council should take appropriate action.”

During his visit to Sudan in September, he said, he expected to see a more stable situation. “Unfortunately, the situation that I found was of great concern.” He cited a “significant disconnect” between the account of the Government on its actions to address the situation in Darfur and those of the region’s people.

Darfur: Rice Makes Passionate Appeal to Congress

From Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made an impassioned personal appeal to Congress to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan's Darfur region, officials said on Friday.

U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers runs dry at the end of this year and the State Department is concerned spiking violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found soon to keep the mission going.

"We are in critical need of funding to continue this mission at a robust level into 2006," said Rice in letters sent late on Thursday to the heads of appropriations committees in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

"Taking immediate action to meet this unanticipated expense is of the highest priority," she added in the letter, which was obtained by Reuters.

A State Department official said Rice was trying to convince Congress it must follow through on its vocal concern for the people of Darfur and provide additional funding for the peacekeepers before next week's Christmas break.

"We want to help the peacekeepers and we need this money," said the official, who asked not to be named, as the letter has not been made public.

Darfur: The African Union and the Power to Protect

If you didn't make it to the event hosted by the Committee on Conscience yesterday, you can now listen to it online

Chris Padilla, U.S. State Department:

"We are going to have no money left from the United States for AMIS [African Union Mission in Sudan] after December 31. That's two weeks from now.... If you want to do something to help in the next 24 to 48 hours, issue a press release. We need this money."

Sally Chin, Refugees International:

"...the African Union is finally getting organized enough to be able to provide real presence and security, so it is imperative that the international community give AMIS what it needs to be able to provide security for Darfur."

Claudia Mota Pinto, European Council:

"The success of the African Union in Darfur must be acknowledged..."

If you were unable to join us for our event yesterday, we invite you to listen to it online today. Our speakers covered critical issues for understanding the role of the African Union force in responding to genocide in Darfur. Sally Chin, an advocate with Refugees International, provides an overview of the current status of and difficulties facing the African Union force. She then offers a range of recommendations for how to further support the African Union's capacity to protect civilians at risk in Darfur. Claudia Mota Pinto, Political Counselor at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, reviews the ways that the European Union has provided support for the AU force and details various possibilities for the future of the force. Finally, Chris Padilla, Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, reiterates the US government's commitment to this force, while emphasizing the urgent need for additional funds to support it. He also states that there should be a dual approach, focusing both on a military force on the ground and a strong political solution.

Click here to listen.

NATO's Top Operational Commander Meets with AU Leaders

From the AP - no link available

NATO's top operational commander flew into Ethiopia Friday to meet with African Union leaders who want more help from the West.

NATO airlifted thousands of AU peacekeepers into Sudan's Darfur region earlier this year. NATO's Gen. James Jones said additional assistance could include advice on how to run long-range peacekeeping operations -- NATO has experience in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan -- training for senior officers and more air lifts.

But he stressed there were no plans for NATO troops to become involved on the ground in Darfur, and did not mention more cash for the AU. Earlier Friday, a senior AU official said the continental body will run out of money for its 7,000-strong Darfur mission within four months unless it finds more funding.

Jones's visit was part of wider drive by the United States and its NATO allies to boost military cooperation with Africa to keep international terrorists from taking advantage of conflict, poverty and weak governments to build havens on the continent.

Darfur: News Briefs

The latest Darfur news round-up from the Genocide Intervention Network is available here.

Congo: Set For 'Mystery' Vote

From the BBC

Voters in Democratic Republic of Congo are set to vote on a new constitution on Sunday but many complain they do not know what it contains.

"Maybe the constitution says we should sell our country, who knows?" student Stella Ivinya told the AP news agency.

Others, however, say they will approve it, just to move the peace process on.

If the constitution is rejected, elections due by June next year under a 2002 peace deal may be postponed.

Main opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi has called for a boycott, whilst Catholic leaders have called for a "No" vote.

Congolese police on Friday fired tear gas to disperse a small group of people opposed to the constitution in the capital, Kinshasa. Two people were arrested.

[edit]

Our correspondent says many people may vote "No" to protest at the continued rule of the warlords who agreed a power-sharing deal to end five years of war in 2002.

The electoral commission says it has distributed some 500,000 copies of the constitution around the country in four major Congolese languages - Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba and Swahili.

But our correspondent says even educated people in the capital, Kinshasa, say they have not seen a copy.

From Human Rights Watch

As the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares to launch its first national electoral process in four decades, ongoing divisions in the national army and government repression of civil liberties put the prospect for a peaceful and credible vote at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.

On Sunday and Monday, some 24 million newly registered voters will be able to vote on a constitutional referendum that would decentralize the Congolese government. If the constitution is adopted, Congolese will go forward with presidential and parliamentary elections due to be held before June 30.

“Congolese politicians and international donors alike want to avoid dealing with serious problems like army reform, repression of civil rights, and rebuilding the shattered judicial system until after the elections,” said Alison Des Forges, senior Africa adviser at Human Rights Watch. “They fear upsetting the electoral process and take the attitude of ‘don’t rock the boat.’”

[edit]

Some of the new national army units have joined the United Nations peacekeeping force, known as MONUC, in trying to restore order in eastern Congo where bands of Congolese and foreign combatants continue to prey upon civilians. Moderately successful in some areas, like Ituri, the combined forces are too few and too poorly equipped to bring order everywhere in the vast region. In several places election workers have been attacked by bands opposed to the election.

The arrest of supporters of opposition political parties and journalists, the suspension of various radio stations, and corruption among officials (which may serve to buy political support) also threaten the credibility of the electoral process before it has begun.

Darfur: AU Guards Fragile Ceasefire

From the AP

The presence of African Union troops in Sudan's troubled Darfur region has helped to reduce violations of a fragile ceasefire between the Sudanese government and rebels, according to a statement issued on Thursday by a team of experts that recently toured the area.

The AU Assessment Mission, headed by Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, AU special representative to Sudan, however, acknowledged that the security situation still does not allow for the return of internally displaced persons and refugees in significant numbers.

"The presence of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) has contributed to reducing the number of ceasefire violations and afforded some level of protection for the delivery of humanitarian assistance," said the statement.

The AU presence also enabled IDPs to cultivate and harvest in certain areas of Darfur, and this, in conjunction with humanitarian efforts by the international community, has considerably reduced malnutrition and mortality rates, the report said.

It said the return of refugees and the IDPs was hampered by "banditry, harassment of civilians and tensions and skirmishes between ethnic communities which are rife throughout Darfur and remain an unresolved security challenge".

[edit]

The experts visited the eight areas where some 7 000 AU peacekeepers - including military observers and civilian police - are deployed: El Fasher, Nyala, El Geneina, Kabkabiya, Tine, Zalingei, El Daien and Kutum.

The findings of the Assessment Mission will form the basis of recommendations the AU Commission will make to the AU Peace and Security Council in January 2006 on how to further enhance the effectiveness of the AU forces in Darfur, the statement said.

Darfur: US Urged to Press for UN Force

I haven't seen this reported any where else - from CNSNews

The United States is a leading supporter of peacekeeping efforts in Sudan's war torn Darfur region, but campaigners are urging more U.S. involvement in an area where the African Union (A.U.) says violence is worsening.

According to new A.U. estimates, at least 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million more have been displaced since conflict between two regional rebel groups and Khartoum started in early 2003.

"It is imperative that that the United States, having played an important role in enabling peace in South Sudan, equally focuses greater attention to the Dafur issue," said Peter Khor of the humanitarian Bahr-El-Ghazal Development Group.

"Some sort of sustained pressure is needed," he said.

Darfur: AU Mission Running Out of Cash

From IRIN

The African Union (AU) will run out of cash for its mission in Sudan's troubled Darfur region within four months, the head of peacekeeping for the 53-nation bloc warned on Friday.

AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit told reporters that the mission could be jeopardised without more resources from the international community.

"As of today we have only resources in cash to maintain the mission to the end of March [2006 or] very early April," he said at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

His warning came despite the European Union providing 70 million euros [US $84 million] to the AU on Friday to help cover a shortfall of around $135 million.

"We are concerned about this because we have to maintain the mission and you have to have resources if you want to maintain the mission," he added.

However, Djinnit stressed that the AU had no plans to pull out of Darfur, even with cash shortfalls.

Brownback's Interest in Africa Turns into a Campaign Weapon

From Knight Ridder

The road to the White House typically leads through Iowa and New Hampshire. For Sen. Sam Brownback, it's led to a desolate refugee camp in the hills of eastern Congo.

Visiting here shortly after Thanksgiving, Brownback moved easily among women in colorful dresses and children in ripped T-shirts. Occasionally, he dropped to one knee to listen more closely to tales of human degradation, such as a glassy-eyed farmer describing an ethnic militia attack that slaughtered his village or old women and young girls describing multiple rapes.

"You just can't imagine a thing like that," Brownback said softly.

The Kansas Republican, a leading social conservative, has made Africa a focal point of his expected bid for his party's 2008 presidential nomination. It's a move that blends his longtime interest in the troubled continent with political savvy. Helping Africans plays well not only with evangelical Christians, Brownback's base, but also with more secular voters who otherwise might be turned off by his hard-line views on abortion and gay marriage.

"He represents a genuinely interesting phenomenon," said Allen Hertzke, a University of Oklahoma professor who wrote "Freeing God's Children," a book about the growing left-right alliance on international human rights. "This has been a movement of the past decade, this new evangelical international engagement. It sprang from concern about persecution of fellow believers ... then moved more broadly into human rights concerns."

Brownback sees the movement as a natural evolution, for him and for his party.

"My faith calls to deal with the poor," said Brownback, who was raised an evangelical Christian and converted to Roman Catholicism a few years ago. "And my faith says, as well, if you don't help the poor that is a wrong thing to do."

On the campaign trail, "I talk about it from the standpoint of the Republican Party of hope and ideals," he said. "We need to deal with real problems and big issues. And this is a real problem and a big issue."

Uganda: UK May Bring Situation Before Security Council

From the Daily Monitor Online

THE British government is supporting a move to have a resolution passed on the situation in northern Uganda in the United Nations Security Council.

Britain, which is the current President of the Security Council, might have the resolution adopted in the next sitting on December 19, paving way for a UN intervention in the conflict.

In a written statement posted on the British Parliament website, the British Minister of State for Trade, Mr Ian Pearson, said, "The UK has supported previous efforts to raise northern Uganda in the United Nations (UN) Security Council. As presidency, the UK has invited Jan Egeland, the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator to provide a briefing on humanitarian issues in Africa on December 19."

Ethiopia/Eritrea: Bolton Says UN Must Face Issue

From the Washington File

Resolution of the long-simmering Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute should be the U.N. Security Council's priority, not simply dealing with Eritrea’s rejection of Western peacekeepers, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said December 14.

Eritrea's demand that U.N. troops and civilians from Western countries who are part of the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) leave the country is "unacceptable," Bolton said, but it also brings to the forefront the underlying, unresolved border issue, as well as Security Council effectiveness. (See related article.)

"One of the reasons we are in this dilemma is that the government of Ethiopia has never complied with its obligations under the 2000 agreement and the 2002 border demarcation ... [and also because of] the council's unwillingness or inability to confront Ethiopia's three-year-long refusal to adhere to the very agreement it made in 2000," the ambassador told journalists before attending a closed-door council session on the issue.

It is "an example of what happens when the Security Council is not able to bring an international solution with a U.N. peacekeeping force to a prompt conclusion consistent with the wishes of the parties," he said.

"It is incumbent on the council to use the contemporary dilemma over the Eritrean actions with regard to the peacekeepers to try to bring the underlying political dispute to a conclusion and to get the border dispute resolved rather than to drift as it has for the last three years," Bolton said.

Bolton said that he has asked the council to set a seven-day deadline for deciding how to proceed in resolving the impasse over the border and decide "whether the U.N. is a net contributor to solving the problem or whether it's become part of the problem itself."

Ethiopia and Eritrea, for different reasons, "are simply not facing up to obligations they undertook themselves," the ambassador continued. "If they're not willing to do that, you have to ask what, if any, role the U.N. can play.

Darfur/ICC: Sudan Insists Its Judges Should Try Suspects

From the AP

Sudan insisted Wednesday its own judges, not those of a U.N. war crimes court, should try suspects in Darfur’s atrocities.

"Our judiciary is capable of handling all the cases and Sudan is serious, desirous and capable of trying any of those who committed crimes," Minister of Justice Mohammed Ali al-Mardi was quoted as saying by the state news agency.

The U.N. court "will have no jurisdiction to try any Sudanese national," al-Mardi said, a day after the chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal described the difficulties his investigators had faced.

The Sudanese government has vowed it will never send suspects abroad for trial. Its own Darfur war crimes court issued its first known sentences last month, condemning to death two soldiers for torture and killing in a case about which little else has been reported.

UN: Central Emergency Response Fund

From the UN News Center

The United Nations General Assembly today set up an emergency fund, expected to total $500 million, to bring immediate relief in natural and man-made disasters and save thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost to delay.

In a landmark resolution enacting a key reform sought by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Assembly established the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), replacing the current Central Emergency Revolving Fund, to ensure a swifter response to humanitarian emergencies, with funds made available within three to four days.

In contrast, it took four months between the time when access restrictions were lifted in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region and funds were committed to the relief appeal. In the meantime, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) steadily climbed to 1.6 million and mortality rates rose above emergency levels.

Genocide: The Death of William Proxmire

This is not directly related to the any of the specific issues we normally post on here, but I just wanted to note that former Senator William Proxmire has died.

As Samantha Power explained in her book "A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," Proxmire led the effort to get the United States to ratify the Genocide Convention. It took him 19 years and 3,221 daily speeches on the Senate floor before it happened.

The Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 is better known as "The Proxmire Act."

Sadly, only this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article even bothers to mention it

Proxmire himself felt that his greatest legislative achievement was Senate passage of an anti-genocide treaty.

He delivered more than 3,000 speeches on the Senate floor over 19 years to shame the Senate into ratifying the international agreement. The treaty originally had been adopted in 1948 by the United Nations as a reaction against the murder of more than 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II. The Senate passed it in 1986.

UPDATE: The New York Times also mentions it

But he counted among his most significant accomplishments the government's 1986 approval of an international treaty outlawing genocide, for which he had delivered more than 3,000 speeches in the Senate over a 19-year period and which President Ronald Reagan finally signed into law in 1988. It took 40 years for the United States to join 97 other countries in a treaty outlawing genocide and it would not have done so were it not for Mr. Proxmire's tenacity. For two decades he would deliver a speech in favor of the treaty every morning the Senate was in session.

Burundi: Army Says It Has Kills 120 Rebels Since October

From Reuters

Burundi's army has killed 120 fighters from the only remaining Hutu rebel group and captured more than 600 others since October in a major offensive in the rebels' stronghold.

"The government has launched a campaign against the FNL (Forces for National Liberation). This campaign has been very successful," Burundi's Defence Minister Germain Niyoyankana told a press conference late on Wednesday.

"Since October, 120 rebels have been killed, 646 captured and more than 1,500 people who used to collaborate with that movement have surrendered and are now under the protection of the army," he said.

Burundi is struggling to emerge from a 12-year civil war between rebels from the Hutu majority and a Tutsi elite that has killed 300,000 people in the tiny country since 1993.

Somalia: UN Launches $174 Million Appeal

From IRIN

Civil unrest, a recent wave of assassinations and piracy in Somalia are hampering humanitarian access to over one million vulnerable people in the war-ravaged nation, aid officials said on Wednesday.

"Somalia remains one of the most difficult and dangerous humanitarian operating environments in the world," according to 2006 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), which was launched in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

"The high level of insecurity and increased threats posed by extremist groups has considerably reduced 'humanitarian space' in many areas, and particularly in southern Somalia," the humanitarian appeal document said.

The US $174,000,000 appeal focuses on the protection needs of Somalia's most vulnerable groups, especially the country's 370,000 to 400,000 internally displaced persons.

"This group suffers from a lack of access to basic services and lack of income-generating opportunities as well as being extremely vulnerable to food insecurity," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

Uganda: LRA Kills 8

From Xinhua

Rebels of the Lord 's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed eight civilians in an ambush in the northern Ugandan district of Lira.

The northern army spokesman, Lt. Chris Magezi told Xinhua by telephone on Thursday that the civilians were killed when the rebels attacked a pick-up vehicle they were traveling in on Tuesday afternoon.

The spokesman said among the dead included seven adults and one child.

Congo/Rwanda: Nearly 200 Rebels Disarm

From the BBC

Fighters from the largest Rwandan rebel group based in Democratic Republic of the Congo have left their bases and returned home in order to disarm.

Seraphin Bizimungu, known as General Amani, and 185 of his fighters crossed the border and were met by Rwandan army officers and demobilisation officials.

The rebels were formed from ethnic Hutu extremists, who fled to DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

Their presence in DR Congo has led to years of fighting in the region.

Rwanda has twice invaded DR Congo, saying it is trying to wipe out the rebels.

These Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) fighters - who were formed from Hutu extremists known as the Interahamwe - were supposed to be disarmed under a 2002 peace deal.

In September, General Amani announced that they would lay down their arms, and work towards being re-integrated into Rwanda society.

Sudan: China Muscles into Africa Oil Scramble

From Reuters

With a booming economy to match its global ambitions, China is elbowing its way in to join the scramble for Africa's untapped oil riches.

On the same continent where Cold War enemies the United States and the Soviet Union once sparred through proxy regimes and armies, Chinese oil executives now jostle with western counterparts to win exploration, output and supply contracts.

From the rock-strewn deserts of Sudan and Mauritania to the deep waters off Angola and Nigeria, Chinese energy companies are aggressively hunting for new oil reserves to power the world's fastest growing major economy.

[edit]

U.S. experts say China now receives 28 percent of its oil imports from Africa, mostly from Angola, Sudan and Congo.

Chinese companies are charging into Africa's oil sector, snapping up partnerships in Nigerian and Angolan offshore blocks, building facilities and pipelines in Sudan and prospecting in Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad.

[edit]

Analysts point to the cases of Sudan and Angola, both pillars of Chinese energy investment in Africa.

In Sudan, which is under international scrutiny for what Washington calls "genocide" in Darfur, Chinese state firms have taken a major stake in the oil sector, building a refinery in Khartoum and heavily involving themselves in production.

Darfur: Scores Killed in Ongoing Clashes

From IRIN

Continuing clashes between two communities of Arab nomads near the town of Zalingei in West Darfur have left around 60 people dead and hundreds of families displaced, aid workers said on Thursday.

"The clashes near Zalingei started a month and a half ago, with ups and downs, but they resumed six days ago [on 9 December]. The fighting was very intense," said Lorena Brander, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sudan.

A local observer said the fighting between the cattle-herding Hotiya-Baggara and the camel-herding Newiba-Aballa nomads was probably caused by a dispute over local resources and cattle.

"Around 60 people were reportedly killed in the fighting, which was still continuing on Monday, and forced newly displaced people to IDP [internally displaced person] settlements in Zalingei," Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), said.

During earlier clashes in the area in October, between 150 and 200 people were reportedly killed and thousands of cattle stolen, Achouri added.

Aid workers estimated that by Thursday, around 250 families of between six and eight people each had arrived in Zalingei.

"Our surgical team, which arrived in Zalingei five days ago, has treated 30 war-wounded people so far," Brander noted.

[edit]

Meanwhile, an African Union (AU)-led assessment team that arrived in Sudan on 10 December concluded its review of the operations of the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) after visiting all eight sectors across Darfur where AMIS has an operational presence.

The assessment team concluded that the presence of AMIS had contributed to reducing the number of ceasefire violations and afforded some level of protection for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Several AMIS commanders had also engaged in local reconciliation efforts, to reduce tensions and to prevent violent incidents.

The assessment team noted, however, that the prevailing security situation did not allow for the return of IDPs and refugees in significant numbers.

It said banditry, harassment of civilians, as well as tensions and skirmishes between ethnic communities were rife throughout Darfur and remained an unresolved security challenge.

The findings will form the basis of recommendations the AU Commission will make to the AU Peace and Security Council early in January 2006 on how to further enhance the effectiveness of the 53-nation bloc's forces in Darfur.

Darfur: Rice Urges Congress to Fund Peacekeepers

An update from Reuters on the earlier CongressDaily article

The State Department is pressing Congress to allocate an additional $50 million for peacekeepers in the troubled Darfur region in Sudan where the U.S. budget to pay for African Union troops is running out.

"We are working with Congress on the issue. It is very important that the African Union mission can continue," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told Reuters on Wednesday.

[edit]

The State Department is concerned that violence is on the rise in Darfur and it will only get worse if U.S. funding runs dry for about 6,000 African Union troops who are already stretched thin and struggling to keep the peace.

Last month, lawmakers stripped $50 million in U.S. funding for African troops in Sudan from a foreign funding bill. The State Department hopes to get the money reinstated via the defense appropriations bill under discussion this week.

The $50 million is needed to cover the U.S. share of approximately $10 million per month for the African troops from February through June, said Oxfam America, an aid group lobbying for the funds.

This amount represents about one-third of the monthly cost for the peacekeepers, with the European Union responsible for most of the remainder.

"The defense appropriations bill is the last chance this year for the United States to commit desperately needed and promised funding for the African Union troops in Darfur," said Sarah Margon, policy advisor at Oxfam America.

"If funds are not allocated this week, the troops will be without vital money to operate throughout the first half of 2006," she added.

The administration has so far provided nearly $164 million to the AU in Darfur and airlifted African troops to the region.

[edit]

This week, leading foreign policy experts, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, wrote a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to restore the $50 million.

"Without this funding, the already-stretched AU forces will be unable to meet its mandate of protecting civilians, who are increasingly at risk with the reoccurrence of fighting and insecurity in the region," said the letter.

It added that civilians suffered harassment, beatings, rape, and murder on a daily basis while humanitarian organizations' efforts to provide basic services to hundreds of thousands of displaced people were hampered.

"We urge Congress to resume its leadership role and restore the U.S. commitment to protecting civilians in Darfur by including at least $50 million in funding to support the African Union Mission in Sudan," it added.

Reminder: The African Union and the Power to Protect

An event tomorrow hosted by the Committee on Conscience

Date: December 15, 2005
Time: 2:00PM to 4:00PM
Venue: Classroom A, Concourse, USHMM

It is becoming increasingly accepted that the current African Union force on the ground in Darfur lacks the size, mandate and logistical support to protect civilians from worsening violence. What is the status of the AU force today? What are the chances of increasing its numbers or strengthening its mandate? What options are available to augment the AU mission? Join us for discussion of these and other questions.

Speaker: Sally Chin, Refugees International, co-author, No Power to Protect: The African Union Mission in Sudan

Discussants:

Claudia Mota Pinto, Political Counselor at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, covering Africa, Asia and Human Rights

Chris Padilla, Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick

This event is free and open to the public. It is held at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Pl, SW, Washington, DC, 20024. Metro: Smithsonian. For more information, www.committeeonconscience.org

Eritrea: UN to Pull Out Western Soldiers

From Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has decided pull out North American and European peacekeepers from Eritrea and move them to Ethiopia as the Asmara government demanded, U.N. officials and diplomats said on Wednesday.

The U.N. Security Council, in an informal session, agreed with U.N. officials to redeploy about 180 military observers and civilians from the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Russia from the northeast African country.

Diplomats said other nationalities may also be involved.

The 15-nation body will issue a formal statement later in the day after consultations with capitals.

The draft statement, obtained by Reuters, said the council was taking a temporary action "in the interests of the safety and security" of the U.N. staff.

[edit]

The draft Security Council statement "strongly condemns Eritrea's unacceptable actions and restrictions on UNMEE which have severely hampered the mission's operational capacity and will have implications for UNMEE's future."

It asks again for Eritrea to rescind the order.

In what appeared to be a last ditch effort to rescue the situation, the head of U.N. peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno came to in Eritrea late Monday for talks. But by noon Wednesday, he still had not met Eritrean officials.

[edit]

Before the council meeting, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton questioned whether the operation should continue because Ethiopia as well as Eritrea was making unreasonable demands.

"In a sense Ethiopia is dictating to the council because they won't adhere to the findings of the boundary commission," he said. "And that's why as I say while we need to deal with the Eritrean efforts to restrict the peacekeeping force, I think we need to focus on the larger issue and if we don't do that we are going to miss an opportunity."

He said the council should use the "dilemma over the Eritrean actions with respect to the peacekeepers to try and bring UNMEE to a conclusion and to bring the underlying political dispute to a conclusion and to get the border dispute resolved rather than let it drift on as it has for the last three years."

Darfur: The Need For Justice

From Sleepless in Sudan

What always strikes me most about these conversations is not just the hope that people place in these international proceedings but more importantly the complete and utter distrust that they harbour towards their own government and its ability to bring any justice to Darfur.

It's not just that everyone instinctively mistrusts the government, which has made no secret of the fact that it hates the ICC (and which immediately organised protesters to march through the streets of Khartoum when the UN first asked the ICC to take on the case of Darfur in March 2005) - it also seems that none of my Sudanese friends has any illusions about the existence of an independent judiciary in Darfur.

"Those courts they have set up in Darfur, the ones that they want to use as a substitute for an ICC investigation, are pitiful," one of my friends scoffs when we read about new court rooms opening in Nyala and El Geneina in this week's papers. "They are just going to pick some random people from the streets and convict them for a handful of rapes and murders. They will do nothing for the victims of Darfur - they won't even scare any of the people who have committed the crimes. Anyway, many of them are now working for the police or the military themselves, there is no way these former Janjaweed will turn on their own brothers and arrest them."

The ICC - unlike the local courts - does seem to scare people on the ground. "A lot of the Janjaweed leaders have gotten passports for themselves or members of their families, there are plenty who have already fled to Chad and Lybia since March," colleagues in West Darfur claim.

"This is a real court, you can't buy yourself out of this one if they come after you. Even Bashir can't," one insists. Silently, I hope they are right.

Reminder: Spotlight on Darfur 3

Allthings2all is still accepting submissions until December 15th at midnight.

Darfur: UN Opens Two Roads To Humanitarian Relief

From the UN News Center

Following an upsurge of violence in western Darfur that has limited access to humanitarian relief, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today announced plans to re-open two roads east of the regional capital, Geneina, and immediately begin assessing humanitarian needs in the area.

The decision followed a meeting held by the UN with over 45 community leaders who have given their assurances that humanitarian vehicles would be granted safe passage. UNMIS said additional security assessments are planned for the coming days.

The mission said the opening of the two routes means that UN agencies can travel to areas off the main roads to deliver mobile clinic services and much-needed supplies that have been deemed “no-go” areas for months.

[edit]

Darfur’s overall security situation remains tense, however, according to the mission, which has received reports that last Friday, armed tribesmen attacked eight civilians in a village in South Darfur, killing two, looting their belongings and causing women and children to flee from a nearby displaced persons camp.

Uganda/Sudan: LRA Attacks Major Town

A press release from Ockenden International via POTP

Over the course of the previous two nights security fears have grown in the town of Maridi, southern Sudan, as the rebel Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) launched consecutive attacks on the population.

Ockenden International, who are working on capacity and skills based programmes in the area, have been informed that 3 people were abducted on Monday night and a further five on Tuesday.

The LRA are known to be operating in the Western Equatorial province of Sudan having recently been forced out of Uganda and the DRC. Security has been a concern after several attacks on the main roads in the province specifically targeting NGO and relief agency workers.

Congo: Death Threats Against Reporters

A press release from Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders today called for a concerted effort to establish who was responsible for the death threats that were made against the staff of Journalist in Danger (JED), its partner organisation in Democratic Republic of Congo, the day after JED issued its
annual report on 9 December.

In particular, Reporters Without Borders urged the Vodacom telephone company to identify the person whose telephone was used to send the threatening SMS text message to four senior members of JED, and to pass this
information to the European Union delegation in Kinshasa.

[edit]

JED president Donat M'Baya Tshimanga, secretary-general Tshivis Tshivuadi, Central Africa desk officer Charles Mushizi and DRC desk officer Esther Banakayi all received an identical message on their mobile phones between 4:10 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on 10 December. It said: "JED, who do you think you are? You are going to disappear one by one if you do not publicly announce an end to your activities. You have 10 days. After that, we will act, and even your families could be targets."

[edit]

The day before the threatening messages, JED issued its eighth annual report on press freedom in Central Africa, which received a great deal of coverage in the national and international press. It drew the international
community's attention to the deteriorating situation in DRC where, it said, there was a 63 per cent increase in press freedom violations in the past year. It also called for an independent commission to investigate the murders of Ngyke and wife on 3 November in Kinshasa, which according to the police were unrelated to Ngyke's work as a journalist.

Somalia: A State of Utter Failure

From the Economist

TO MOVE cash the few score miles between Mogadishu, Somalia's lawless official capital, and Jowhar, the seat of its transitional government, a local money-vendor has to pay $6,000. For that he gets an armoured lorry, 30 gunmen and three “technicals”—jeeps with heavy machineguns. What he doesn't get is insurance or any recourse to a state authority if his gunmen are killed, for state authority does not exist. But the money vendor still moves the cash, if the amount is big enough, and still makes a profit.

Somalia is resilient. Consider its amazing currency, the Somali shilling, which has operated for 14 years without a central bank or reserves of any kind, save the will of ordinary Somalis. Though the country has lacked a government, it has never quite ceased to exist. But for all that, Somalia remains Africa's most utterly failed state, as it has been since 1991, when it fell to pieces after tribal militias toppled a dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, then turned on each other. Since then, the place has been torn apart by rival warlords, leaving at least 300,000 dead. The outside world virtually gave up on the country after a disastrous American-led UN intervention ended with the deaths of 18 American troops and perhaps 1,000 Somalis after a ferocious battle in Mogadishu in 1993.

But though the world may have tried to forget Somalia, the country refuses to forget the world. Its anarchy has made it a perfect environment for small but dangerous groups of terrorists and bandits to hide out in. Somali pirates have attacked dozens of ships off the central and southern coast, including a cruise liner and UN food ships. Jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda have also flourished, murdering, among others, foreign aid workers and journalists. Somalia's capacity to export its violence worries both the West and closer neighbours. The interior minister of Yemen, across the Red Sea, says Somalia is “like Afghanistan before the Taliban took over”.

Uganda: Insecurity Hampering Aid Efforts

From IRIN

Continued attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda have made it difficult for humanitarian workers to assist about 2.5 million people in the region to meet their basic needs, a senior UN official said on Monday.

Speaking at the launch of the UN's 2006 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for Uganda, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Mogwanja, said since 2004, the region had "witnessed renewed attacks by the LRA on the civilian population and more recently even on humanitarian workers".

"Let me unreservedly condemn these attacks on innocent civilians and humanitarian workers as serious violations of international humanitarian law," he added. "I call again on the LRA and its supporters to immediately cease attacks on civilians and humanitarians workers and to release all the abducted children immediately."

[edit]

Northern Uganda has remained the scene of a brutal insurgency that pits government forces against the LRA, resulting in the displacement of close to 90 percent of the region's people.

The displaced live in 105 overcrowded camps and rely largely on external assistance for survival while insecurity hinders access of relief workers to IDP camps.

"The killing of humanitarian workers in northern Uganda and southern Sudan between the last week of October and the first week of November has further undermined unhindered access in most of Acholi sub-region and northern Lango," he noted.

"Humanitarian partners whose mandates do not allow the use of military escorts were forced to reduce their activities, while for humanitarian partners whose mandates do allow the use of escorts, the cost of hiring open vehicles for escorts represents an additional cost element that was not often reflected in budgets," he added.

The rebels also frequently attack refugee settlements in the northwestern town of Adjumani. At the same time, LRA activities in southern Sudan have led to the arrival of a new wave of Sudanese refugees.

Kilgour's Retirement Means Darfur Loses a Voice on the Hill

From Embassy

One issue he's become known for in the last two years is the situation in Darfur, where accusations of genocide have surfaced against the Sudanese government. On the home front, Mr. Kilgour has been vocal in condemning what he sees as Canada's reluctance to act seriously on the Darfur situation. On May 19, when a vote was brought to the House on the Liberal-NDP budget, Mr. Kilgour became an unlikely power broker when he thrust forth the Darfur issue by hinting he will vote against the government if it didn't increase aid money for the region--a fact that prompted sections of the Canadian media to dub him "Kilgour of Darfur." His disappointment with the Liberal Party's stance on this issue was part of the reason he quit the party in April, 2005 to sit as an Independent MP.

"The Prime Minister has a week to prove he cares more about the people of Sudan," he told CBC news a week before the crucial vote.

The minority Liberal government, eager to secure his vote, announced $170 million in aid and 100 troops for Darfur. But that didn't prevent Mr. Kilgour from voting against the Liberals. Only the Speaker's vote saved the government that day.

Looking back, Mr. Kilgour says Canada was well placed to take leadership on Darfur. He says had the Liberals wanted, it would have been possible to secure NATO intervention in association with the African Union.

"But Mr. Martin blew it," he says. " He dropped the ball-- he didn't show leadership on this issue. We could have learnt from East Timor, Kosovo and Bosnia. We just botched it up."
Mr. Kilgour says Canada's role in Darfur is too little too late and the situation hasn't improved, arguing that despite the many different opinions on what is taking place in Darfur, he still thinks it's a genocide. But not only is Mr. Kilgour passionate about Darfur, he is also well informed about the situation there.

"Do you know that Sudan is going to head the African Union next year? Imagine that: the perpetrator is going to protect the victim. We are really going to have a nightmare scenario," he says.

He believes there's still room for Canada to redeem itself and abandon what he calls the "we don't do Africa" mentality at Foreign Affairs Canada. He also called for an increase in foreign aid to 0.7 per cent of the GDP instead of the current 0.37 per cent. Mr. Kilgour says he will continue advocating the Darfur cause outside parliament.

Eric Reeves, an expert on Sudan who has campaigned against the Sudanese government's policies in south Sudan and Darfur, calls Mr. Kilgour's exit from politics a "terrible loss for the Canadian conscience."

"In various roles, even when he was in government, we had a tremendously powerful voice for Sudan. Canada should be proud to have politicians who put principle before politics and David Kilgour was that man," he says.

Darfur: State Department Presses for Peacekeeping Funds

From CongressDaily via GovExec.com

With time and money running short, the State Department has issued an urgent plea to Congress to provide up to $75 million to pay for peacekeeping operations in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Noting an uptick in violent incidents in the troubled region in the last two months, department officials said Tuesday that the U.S. contribution to the African Union's peacekeeping mission is running about $8 million a month, and there is only enough funding to last through the end of this month.

"Congress is deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in the past two months," a high-ranking State Department official said in an interview, referring to pending legislation that would beef up sanctions against those responsible for the atrocities.

"But there already are a lot of sanctions in place with respect to Sudan," the official said. "The most constructive thing Congress can do right now is find the money for the African Union peace mission. It's on the ground there now and is the only thing standing between the [marauders and the victims]."

The bipartisan sanctions legislation, sponsored by House International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., and ranking member Tom Lantos, D-Calif., accuses elements of the Sudanese government of genocide in the killing or forced relocation of thousands of people in the vast region.

It would require blocking the assets and denying entry into the United States of any person "who the president determines is responsible, either by commission or omission, for acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in Sudan."

As a policy bill, however, there is no money appropriated for its purposes.

"We understand the desire [in Congress] to take a whack at the bad guys with more legislation," said another State Department official, "but they [lawmakers] could be most helpful right now if they provided money for the peacekeeping efforts."

Department officials believe the most likely opportunity for providing the money is the fiscal 2006 Defense appropriations bill.

Already ticketed for the bill is additional funding for Hurricane Katrina cleanup and an avian flu prevention and treatment program. "If we don't get the money on that bill," an official said, "we will run out."

House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said he and Senate State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have signed off on a reprogramming of $13 million from other State Department programs for the African Union mission.

"That would be enough for about two months," Kolbe said, adding that the department has not submitted a formal request for the remaining $50 million or so that would be needed to carry the mission through fiscal 2006.

"We've offered to support the full $50 million in an emergency supplemental [spending bill]," Kolbe added, "but I don't know where the Senate stands on this. One thing they [State] have to do is tell us what the money is for specifically. They don't seem to have a strategy for how they intend to use the money: air operations, ground operations, protection of refugees, whatever."

Although some members of Congress are said to be enthusiastic about providing the funding, the State Department officials said, others appear to be wary of adding any more emergency funding to the burgeoning deficit.

"Some appropriators are asking why we didn't put this money in our original fiscal '06 request to Congress [early this year]," said one official. "The answer is that we prepared our budget late last year before there even was an African Union operation on the ground there."

Some appropriators, he added, have been pressing the administration for how high a priority this is. "I can tell you, it's a very high priority," he said.

Secretary of State Rice, according to congressional sources, is reportedly making phone calls to key lawmakers to free up the money.

Sudan: Garang's Widow Says Peace Too Slow

From Reuters

Sudan's southern peace deal is being implemented too slowly and the northern ruling party is doing too little to convince its former foes it wants a unified country, says the widow of former vice president John Garang.

Rebecca Garang told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday she also wanted investigators into the helicopter crash which killed her husband five months ago -- three weeks after he became Sudan's first vice president -- to report on progress.

John Garang, a former southern rebel, was the architect of Sudan's southern peace deal signed on Jan. 9 to end a civil war that claimed two million lives over more than two decades.

His death sparked a wave of sectarian violence in August.

"They are slow (with implementation) and I want them to explain to me why they are slow," she said of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's northern party which signed the deal with Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

"If there are circumstances which make them slow down they should explain to the people."

Darfur: Frustration Boils Over in Refugee Camp

An important article from the Los Angeles Times

Aid worker Hadi Ismail came to this teeming camp for the displaced to help refugees.

Kambal Abdul Karim, a displaced farmer, decided it was time for the refugees to help themselves.

Their mutual concern for the plight of 90,000 people living in limbo in the camp in southern Darfur should have made the men natural allies. Instead, they found themselves at opposite ends of a violent standoff that shocked aid workers, blurred the line between victim and offender, and underscored the challenges ahead in restoring peace to the troubled region.

"I just wanted to save people," Ismail, 32, said, recalling his fear and sense of betrayal when hundreds of angry refugees armed with sticks and knives seized control of a cluster of huts used by relief teams, taking Ismail and about three dozen other aid workers hostage.

On the other side of the siege was Karim, 38, a father of five who says he was driven to desperate measures by the government's neglect of this camp where gunshots echo in the night and reports of robbery and killings are growing. "We are fed up," he said.

The spasm of violence at Kalma this fall was only the latest episode of renewed fighting in Darfur, where an estimated 180,000 people have already died and 2 million others have been displaced. After a lull in bloodshed during the first half of the year, battles between rebel groups and government troops have resumed, and rebel groups are fighting among themselves in a struggle for power.

With the conflict that began in February 2003 showing no signs of ending, refugees in Kalma are increasingly impatient. They fear that international attention is waning and accuse the Sudanese government of trying to shut down the camp and force refugees home.

"The camp is a pressure cooker," said Bob Kitchen, field coordinator for International Rescue Committee, an aid group working at Kalma.

Darfur: ICC Prosecutor Uncovers Evidence of Campaign of Atrocities

A good VOA piece on Ocampo's briefing

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo says he is investigating an ongoing series of killings, rapes and other atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region. But in remarks to the Security Council, the Argentine prosecutor said poor security in Darfur and lack of cooperation by the Khartoum government are preventing investigators from getting a first-hand look at conditions there.

"The continuing insecurities in Darfur do not allow for an effective system of victim and witness protection. This has forced my office to investigate outside Darfur, and represents a serious impediment to the conduct of effective investigations in Darfur by national judicial bodies as well," he said.

In a later closed-door meeting with Council ambassadors, Mr. Moreno Ocampo said he was examining evidence that seems to indicate a coordinated pattern to the attacks in Darfur, which the United States has labeled genocide. The Security Council president, British Ambassador Emir Jones-Parry, said the prosecutor is attempting to determine who is responsible for ordering the atrocities.

"What the prosecutor told us was that the nature of attacks in Darfur demonstrated a degree of coordination, a degree of strategic operation, which implied that someone was in command and control of that operation. His intention is to ascertain who it was, and hold them responsible," he noted.

In a written report to the Council this week, Mr. Moreno Ocampo expressed some hope in future cooperation with Sudan's government. But in an interview with the Reuters news agency, Sudan's justice minister said the International Criminal Court prosecutor would not be granted access to Darfur.

Ambassador Jones-Parry said the Council would insist on full cooperation from Khartoum.

"We will judge government of Sudan by its actions," he added. "If it becomes apparent the prosecutor is not receiving cooperation, then the Council will have a report from the prosecutor and we will need to respond to that."

Intervention: Danforth Envisions a Crisis Coalition

From the Kansas City Star

In his first foreign affairs speech since leaving the United Nations, former ambassador Jack Danforth on Tuesday suggested an alternative, armed coalition to respond to crises.

Danforth said a group of mostly Western countries, and possibly Japan, might best be able to respond to terrorism, rogue nations, genocide or ethnic cleansing.
“Who’s responsible for world order when the dangers are very different from what they used to be?” Danforth asked. “Maybe something like NATO.”

The United Nations, he said, simply acts too slowly and is too vulnerable to the whims of individual countries.

“The U.N. Security Council tends to be mush,” said the former U.S. senator from St. Louis.

Danforth told about 600 people at a banquet marking the 50th anniversary of Kansas City’s International Relations Council that he envisions a standing coalition with military capabilities that could respond more decisively.

“The status of the world today is collective insecurity,” he said. “What is not a viable possibility is that we could do nothing to withstand the chaos around us. …
“To do nothing in the face of chaos is to invite chaos.”

For starters, Danforth said, the group of nations would need to be small and share the same principles and willingness to protect human rights — acting as a guard against terror and other forces threatening stability the way the North Atlantic Treaty Organization held ground against the Soviet Union after World War II.

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While in office, he sometimes expressed frustration with the plodding ways of the U.N. General Assembly and its Security Council.

For instance, when the council was reluctant to impose sanctions on Sudan for engaging in mass killings in Darfur, he said: “One wonders about the utility of the General Assembly.”

Darfur: 58 Killed In Clashes Since October

From the BBC - no link available

Text of report by Sudanese newspaper Al-Sahafah on 13 December

Around 58 people have been killed and another 38 wounded in tribal clashes between the two Al-Hutiyah tribes and the tribes of Al-Mahamid, Al-Nawabiyah, and Al-Mahriyah in Western Darfur State.

A statement from the people of Al-Hutiyah tribe in Khartoum State said the clashes, which have been raging on between the two sides since 3 October [2005], were still continuing.

The statement said that the Al-Hutiyah tribe had lost more than 58 people during the clashes and more than 7,000 heads of livestock in Zalingei locality, and it urged the state's authorities to immediately intervene to stop the killings.

The official spokesman of Al-Hutiyah tribe, Iz-al-din Isa Abdallah, said the state and the central authorities had sent the presidential advisor Abdallah Ali Masar as head of a delegation to contain the clashes.

He pointed out that the delegation which had held talks with all the warring parties had not yet published any results.

Darfur: ICC Security Council Briefing

From the UN Security Council

Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, briefed the Security Council this morning on the investigation of the situation in Darfur, which he said was taking place within a context of ongoing violence and multiple efforts to secure peace, as well as a complex process of political transition.

Mr. Moreno Ocampo said his Office would continue to be sensitive to those dynamics and would seek to reinforce the work of the African Union, the United Nations, the Sudan and other States and organizations. At the same time, the Office was conscious of the fact that accountability for the most serious crimes alleged to have been committed in Darfur was an essential component to effective peace and effective transition.

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Having made the first steps towards a cooperative relationship, Mr. Moreno Ocampo said his Office would seek, during the next phase, further assistance and cooperation of the Sudanese Government in relation to the process of fact-finding and evidence gathering. The first phase of the investigation, which he launched on 1 June, had witnessed progress in gathering facts relating to the universe of crimes alleged to have taken place in Darfur, as well as the groups and individuals responsible for those crimes.

In the coming second phase, he continued, the investigation would focus on a selected number of criminal incidents and those persons bearing greatest responsibility for those incidents. His Office had collated a comprehensive picture of the crimes allegedly committed in Darfur since 1 July 2002. From that overall picture, the Office had identified particularly grave events, involving high numbers of killings, mass rapes and other forms of extremely serious gender violence for full investigations. It continued to monitor ongoing violence.

Attacks on humanitarian workers and facilities remained prevalent, including incidents involving the killing of African Union peacekeepers, he noted. The impact of those crimes on the delivery of humanitarian assistance and efforts to secure peace and stability in Darfur had been recently highlighted in the November report of the Secretary-General on Darfur. In some instances, those crimes might fall within the jurisdiction of the Court. He encouraged national and international organizations suffering such attacks to take steps to record and preserve information and evidence and to provide those materials to the Office.

He said there continued to be a great deal of speculation around the list of 51 names prepared by the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur. That list, which remained sealed, represented the conclusions of the Commission and was in no way binding on the Prosecutor. In addition, the activities and objectives of the Sanctions Committee and the Panel of Experts were entirely distinct from the work of his Office. He emphasized that no decisions had been taken at the current stage as to whom to prosecute.

Witness protection, he stressed, was an issue of paramount concern to the Court. The current security situation in Darfur remained volatile with ongoing violence and attacks. The establishment of an effective system for the protection of victims and witnesses was a precondition to the conduct of investigative activities in Darfur. Given the prevailing climate of insecurity and the current absence of an effective system of protection, investigative activities had so far taken place outside Darfur.

Despite those limitations, significant progress had been made in the investigation thanks to the information and other forms of assistance provided by States and organizations. The Office had identified witnesses in 17 countries. Well over a hundred potential witnesses had been screened and a number of formal statements had already been taken. It was currently screening hundreds of additional potential witnesses either directly or with the assistance of States and organizations. To facilitate that process, his Office had established a semi-permanent presence in the region, which provided logistical, security and other support to the process of witness identification and interview.

The International Criminal Court was complementary to national criminal jurisdictions, he said. The legal test was specific to the cases selected for prosecution, and not the state of the Sudanese justice system as a whole. Accordingly, his Office continued to gather and assess information relating to the various mechanisms established by the Sudanese authorities in relation to crimes allegedly committed in Darfur, including the Special Court for Darfur established by decrees issued on 7 and 11 June.

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However, he said, the continuing insecurities in Darfur did not allow for an effective system of victim and witness protection. That had forced his Office to investigate outside the Sudan and represented a serious impediment to the conduct of effective investigations in Darfur by national judicial bodies as well. Up to this point, the work of the Special Court did not suggest that cases likely to be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court would be inadmissible in accordance with the Court’s Statute. His Office would continue to follow closely all national proceedings. The next phase of the investigation would be a decisive one, the success of which would require the full cooperation of the African Union. It was hoped that rapid progress in that relationship would be achieved in the current phase.

During the initial fact-finding phase, it was vital that the Office develop a full understanding of the situation in Darfur and the context in which the alleged crimes took place. In that regard, representatives of his Office and the Court’s Registry visited Khartoum from 17 to 24 November to discuss matters related to the Lord’s Resistance Army and the situation in Darfur. As part of that fact-finding process, a request for assistance was made to the Sudanese authorities to undertake several interviews that could provide insight into the activities of all parties to the conflict in Darfur, as well as an assessment of national proceedings undertaken by the Special Courts and other relevant judicial bodies.

In response to that request, Sudanese officials had agreed to organize a visit to the Sudan by the end of February 2006 by representatives of his Office to meet with the Special Courts and other relevant judicial bodies to assess national proceedings in relation to alleged crimes committed in Darfur. The Office also had contacts with other parties to the conflict, including the main rebel groups. Establishing consistent liaison with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army had been hampered by divisions within the group. However, the Office continued to open channels and offer an opportunity for all parties involved in the conflict to provide information and evidence to the Court during the next phase of the investigation.

Darfur: Sudan Bars ICC Investigators

From Reuters

Sudan will not allow International Criminal Court investigators to enter its Darfur region to probe suspected war crimes committed during the conflict there, the justice minister said on Tuesday.

Mohammed Ali al-Mardi spoke to Reuters as ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the U.N. Security Council that killings, mass rapes and other atrocities had been identified and some criminal incidents would be fully investigated.

But Mardi said the ICC investigation, requested by the Security Council, was not necessary because the Sudanese judicial system was capable of trying any crimes in Darfur.

"The ICC officials have no jurisdiction inside the Sudan or with regards to Sudanese citizens," Mardi told Reuters. "They cannot investigate anything on Darfur -- they have no jurisdiction. This is quite clear and they know it."

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Mardi said the government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the ICC to cooperate on the arrest of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who are suspected of hiding in Sudan's lawless south.

"We are already cooperating with them ... we are discussing with them what we have been doing in Darfur and our readiness to cooperate with them in arresting the leaders of the LRA."

But cooperation on Darfur would be based on talks only, he said, without elaborating.

Mardi said there was no evidence of any systematic killings or rape in Darfur and said a court established to try crimes in Darfur was capable of prosecuting any individuals responsible.

He said no senior government or military officials were under investigation.

[edit]

Mardi said an investigation had been completed into an attack on Hamada village in January in which rights groups said more than 60 civilians died and government Antonov aircraft bombed the area.

But he said no officials had been investigated and the issue of why government planes were used to bombard the village would not be addressed when the case comes to court.

"We don't ask why they were used -- we investigate complaints," he said. He added the only complaints brought before the court were by individuals complaining about tribal strife.

Eritrea Refuses to Meet with U.N. Envoys

From DPA

Eritrea has refused to meet with two top United Nations envoys sent to the troubled Horn region to defuse tensions, according to a diplomatic source in Addis Ababa Tuesday.

'Eritrea has communicated to the United Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) that none of its officials would seek to meet the U.N. emissaries that had earlier visited Addis Ababa,' a diplomat who requested anonymity told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The snub to the head of U.N. Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno and military advisor General Randir Kumar Mehta is the latest in a series of hardline moves Eritrea has shown the global body.

Eritrea recently banned all UNMEE helicopter flights monitoring the border area and also gave all North American, European and Russian peacekeepers ten days to leave the country last Tuesday.

Congo/Uganda/Sudan: UPDF Kills 6 LRA Rebels

From the New Vision

The UPDF attacked the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on the Sudan-Congo border, killing six rebels, reports Emmy Allio.

Five rifles were recovered from the rebels during the brief battle on Friday in the No-man’s land zone.

“We killed six of them on the border areas. Many of them led by Vincent Otti fled deeper into Congo,” an army spokesman, Capt. Paddy Ankunda (left), said yesterday.

“We are not permitted to follow the rebels in Congo’s Garamba National Park,” he added.

Land Forces commander Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala said LRA “can keep running but will not hide.”

Meanwhile, military sources say that LRA chief Joseph Kony is being shielded by some Sudanese army officers around Nisitu, southeast of the capital city of southern Sudan.

Somalia’s Islamists

A new report from the International Crisis Group

Somalia’s long civil conflict and lack of central governing institutions present an international security challenge. Terrorists have taken advantage of the state’s collapse to attack neighbouring countries and transit agents and materiel. The country is a refuge for the al-Qaeda team that bombed a Kenyan resort in 2002 and tried to down an Israeli aircraft. Since 2003, Islamist extremists have been linked to murders of Somalis and foreigners. If governments are to counter the limited but real threat of terrorism in or from Somalia, they need to align closer with Somali priorities – the restoration of peace, legitimate and broad-based government, and essential services – and make clear that their counter-terrorism efforts are aimed at a small number of criminals, many of them foreigners, not the Somali population at large.

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Islamist extremism has failed to take a broader hold in Somalia because of Somali resistance – not foreign counter-terrorism efforts. The vast majority of Somalis desire a government – democratic, broadly-based and responsive – that reflects the Islamic faith as they have practised it for centuries: with tolerance, moderation and respect for variation in religious observance. Ultimately, there is no better way to confront jihadism than to assist Somalis in realising such a government.

That is, of course, more easily said than done. Repeated attempts over the past fifteen years to rebuild the Somali state have ended in failure, and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) formed in October 2004 seems determined to repeat past mistakes. Somalia’s international partners must resist the temptation to back one faction of the divided TFG and struggle instead to breathe life into the transitional federal charter, revive the defunct parliament and establish a broadly inclusive government of national unity. Unless they are prepared to take up this complex challenge, they may continue to score victories in their battles against terrorism in the Horn while losing the wider war.

Kenya: Muslims Seek AU Intervention

From The Standard

The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims is seeking the intervention of the African Union to defuse rising political tension in Kenya.

Supkem leaders said the current standoff between the Government and the Orange Democratic Movement was dangerous.

“The extreme position taken in the formulation of the Cabinet by the government in exclusion of ODM and the latter’s demand for snap polls is worrying,” Supkem leader Prof Abdulghafur El-Busaidy said.

The council appealed to AU leaders to intervene and get the country out of the potentially explosive situation.

“We reiterate our plea to the AU states to come to our assistance now and not later when the situation would be irreparable,” he said.

Burundi to Send Home 2,500 Immigrants

From Reuters

More than 2,500 Rwandan and Congolese illegal immigrants living in Burundi will be sent home from January because they pose a potential threat to security in a volatile border area, a regional governor said on Tuesday.

Years of conflict in the central African neighbouring countries of Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo have forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee, seeking refuge in a country they judge safe.

Samson Ndayizeye, governor of the northwestern province of Citiboke, bordering Congo, said there were signs that Rwandan and Congolese illegal immigrants were collaborating with rebel groups in the tiny coffee-growing country.

"There are some indications showing that those illegal Rwandans and Congolese collaborate with the Rwandan Hutu rebels from the FDLR and Burundi rebels from FNL," he told Reuters.

"In order to control security on our common border, we decided to send them back to their country of origin.

Sudan: Oil Output, Profits Prop Up Economy

From Reuters

Sudan’s economy is set to expand 13.4 percent next year, from an expected 8.3 percent in 2005, amid higher oil output and profits, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

In its mid-year review of the Sudanese economy, the IMF said the increase in oil production from new fields next year was "opportune," given reconstruction needs following the end of more than 20 years of civil war between the Khartoum government in the north and rebels in south.

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Sudan’s oil revenues are expected to be 22 percent higher than originally planned this year, because of increases in world oil prices and despite delays in the start-up of the new fields, the IMF said.

The global lender said Sudan’s budget program had gone off track in 2005 with higher expenditures mainly from a large subsidy for domestic fuel and higher-than-planned spending on aid and security in Darfur.

It said the situation in Darfur was "precarious and pressure is mounting for a political solution to the conflict".

With peace between the north and south, the IMF urged the new unity government to prioritize its spending to benefit the poor and rebuild infrastructure.

"In 2006, higher oil production will help finance additional expenditures, but resources should be allocated to priority sectors and high-return projects within a macroeconomic framework conducive to low inflation," the fund said.

Darfur: ICRC Bulletin

From the ICRC

The security situation in Darfur remains highly unstable. Since armed confrontations and related violence escalated in mid-September, all three states making up the Darfur region have been significantly affected.

Over the past two weeks, armed clashes have occurred near Al Geneina (Western Darfur) and Gereida (Southern Darfur), where the situation remains precarious. ICRC operations in the west of Western Darfur remain suspended in the wake of recent security incidents that have targeted the organization and continue making it difficult for its staff to go about their work in safety. Two vehicles belonging to the ICRC which were stolen by combatants north of Seleia, in Western Darfur, have yet to be recovered (see previous Bulletins - 35 and 36 - for more details).

The ICRC continues to cover some 60% of Western Darfur's territory from its office in Zalengei. Nevertheless, the civilian population in the areas covered by the Al Geneina office along the border with Chad are in need of humanitarian aid and it is therefore essential for the ICRC to resume its work there soon. These areas are also the scene of sporadic armed clashes and growing banditry, which are further weakening security and hampering the ICRC's ability to carry out its humanitarian mandate.

The ICRC has had a lengthy series of discussions with all parties concerned about the problem of its property being stolen by combatants. More importantly, the organization has insisted on real security guarantees from all the relevant armed groups in Western Darfur. This is the only way that the ICRC can resume its humanitarian work.

The ICRC was deeply saddened by the killing of a staff member of the Sudanese Red Crescent in Abu Shok camp for internally displaced people, in the outskirts of El Fasher, the capital of Northern Darfur. On 2 December, the staff member, who worked as a driver in support of the Red Crescent tracing activities in the region, was shot at close range and died soon afterwards in El Fasher hospital.

The incident is under investigation by the local police and is believed to have occurred in a bid to steal the Red Crescent vehicle.

Darfur: ICC Seeks Probe

From Reuters

The prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court said he was investigating killings, mass rapes and other atrocities in lawless Darfur but had not been able to conduct inquiries in Sudan itself.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, whose report was obtained by Reuters, on Tuesday addresses the U.N. Security Council, which asked him last March to prosecute individuals responsible for atrocities in Darfur.

After identifying "particularly grave events" such as the "high numbers of killings," mass rapes and other crimes, he said he had "now selected a number of alleged criminal incidents for full investigation."

But his team of 29 experts has not been able to interview witnesses in Sudan. Instead, Moreno Ocampo, an Argentine, said he had "screened" 100 potential witnesses outside of Sudan and said he expected assistance from 11 nations and 17 advocacy and humanitarian groups.

In addition, he said his office had analyzed more than 2,500 items collected by a U.N.-established inquiry commission that reported last January.

The prosecutor, who has made one trip to Khartoum to talk to government officials, said he hoped to visit Sudan's special court and other judicial bodies investigating crimes in Darfur early next year.

[edit]

Moreno Ocampo gave a list of actions he would or could not take, including the almost impossible task of protecting witnesses. He also said he was considering whether a prosecution would interfere with the peace process.

And he said a list of 51 suspects given to him by the U.N. inquiry commission last April was "in no way binding" and had to be re-investigated by his staff.

Sudan Becoming Dangerous For Aid Workers: UN Refugee Chief

From AFP (no link available)

Sudan is becoming increasingly more dangerous for aid workers because of the mounting violence in the African country, the United Nation's refugee chief said Monday.

"The situation is one of total insecurity where humanitarian workers are risking their lives," said Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in an interview with Lisbon-based Radio Renascenca.

"There are members of our team who can't leave the areas where they are, unless it is by helicopter, to work in the camps because the roads are considered to be totally unsafe," the former Portuguese prime minister added.

Guterres said there had been cases where security forces in the country belonging to the African Union had been kidnapped by armed groups in Sudan.

The African Union, which has a 6,000-strong peacekeeping force in the western region of Darfur, carries out patrols of camps for internally displaced people in Sudan.

Last month militiamen entered a camp in Darfur and fired on civilians, killing two children.

War broke out in Darfur in 2003 when rebel groups began fighting what they say is the political and economic marginalisation of the region's black African tribes by the Arab-led regime in Khartoum.

As many as 300,000 people have died and more than two million fled their homes in what UN aid agencies have dubbed the world's worst humanitarian crisis with reports of rapes, extrajudicial killings and other atrocities rampant.

Uganda: Call-In Day

From the Uganda Conflict Action Network

Tomorrow [December 13th] as part of the Holiday Campaign, Uganda-CAN is asking people throughout the United States to call in to targeted members of the U.S. Congress, demanding attention and action to make northern Uganda a priority in the months ahead. Help us flood the phone lines of key members of Congress, demanding that the United States play a more effective role in civilian protection and peacebuilding in northern Uganda! Click here for phone numbers and more information.

Peter J. Quaranto & Michael Poffenberger, directors of the Uganda Conflict Action Network, also have an op-ed in the the Daily Monitor

The government has a responsibility to not only engage this opportunity for a real peace process, but to exploit it to the fullest by presenting a comprehensive peace proposal. Such a proposal must address amnesty, resettlement and reconciliation for LRA rebels, potentially offering a third country hosting for LRA leadership. The comprehensive proposal can also provide impetus for political resolution and reconciliation, which will be critical for sustainable peace. This is a moment of truth for the Ugandan government - a chance to show where its true intention and commitment lies.

Ultimately, the mistake of the past has been a failure to put the people of northern Uganda as the focus of the peace process. Putting them at the center of the process would raise the stakes and would help keep the parties committed to the process. It would bring light to the reality that this is more than politics; it is about the lives of millions of children and their families struggling for hope and survival. In the coming week, let's hope the LRA and the Government of Uganda don't forget that.

Uganda: Disfigured War Victims Get Reconstructive Surgery

From TODAYonline

A team of doctors began performing reconstructive surgery on some of the hundreds of northern Ugandans who have been horribly disfigured and mutilated by Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

The program, during which many victims will have multiple operations funded by the global medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) and Interplast Holland, got under way in the northern town of Kitgum, officials said.

The first 12 patients in the six-month program are among hundreds believed to have had their lips, ears, noses, fingers and or breasts, hacked off by LRA rebels during its nearly two-decade war with the Kampala government, they said.

"We have selected these first patients based on the fact that their mutilation has made it impossible for them to lead a normal life," said Dr Rein Zeeman, a Dutch reconstructive surgeon, involved in the program.

"You have to realize that it is almost impossible for a person without lips to eat or drink," said Zeeman of Interplast Holland who is leading the surgical team. "We want to help this group as quickly as possible."

Chad: Defectors Protest Deby Rule

From IRIN

President Idriss Deby marked 15 years at the helm of the vast arid nation this weekend amid reports of new defections by members of his inner circle as well as the military.

Army and government sources on Monday said key local government officials as well as several officers had deserted their posts at the weekend, swelling the ranks of rebel forces hiding out in the sandy eastern stretches of the oil-producing nation.

And in a written statement handed to the media, two of his nephews and ex senior aides, Tom and Timane Erdimi, who respectively held top jobs in the country’s oil and cotton sectors, said they were joining those bent on evicting Deby from office.

“Today many Chadians are struggling in various ways and means against the Deby regime, we join them without regret,” they said in the statement.

Ethiopia/Eritrea: Miscalculation May Lead to War

From Reuters

The head of U.N. peacekeeping warned Ethiopia and Eritrea on Monday against war begun by "miscalculation" over a tense border dispute.

Last week Eritrea ordered U.N. peacekeepers from the United States, Canada and European countries to leave the country within 10 days, a move likely to make the world body's observation of the undemarcated border with Ethiopia impossible.

In what appeared to be a last-ditch effort to rescue the situation, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent under-secretary for peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno to the Horn of Africa for talks with regional and African Union officials.

"There is always a risk of war by miscalculation, although the two countries have stressed they do not want to go to war," Guehenno told reporters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Guehenno, accompanied by his top military adviser Major-General Randhir Kumar Mehta, welcomed Ethiopia's decision at the weekend to pull troops away from the border in compliance with a U.N. instruction to avert renewed war.

"We appreciate the decision by Ethiopia to pull back troops from the front line. We believe that there is always a risk (of war) in a situation like that," Guehenno said.

"We have seen it in the past five years that minor incidents can escalate, because of mistrust. Nobody should be complacent in the present situation."

Tensions along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border have grown in recent months with military manoeuvres on both sides of the unmarked 1,000 km (620 mile) frontier fuelling fears of a repeat of a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.

Eritrea's moves to curb U.N. activities are widely viewed as signs of its frustration over Ethiopia's refusal to implement an independent ruling on the location of the border, and the international community's failure to force Ethiopia to do so.

Before ordering the expulsion of Western U.N. peacekeepers, Eritrea imposed an Oct. 5 helicopter flight ban that has crippled the U.N. mission's ability to monitor border movements.

The U.N. has urged Eritrea to rescind both decisions.

Congo: As Militiamen Flee, Calm Descends At Last

From Knight Ridder

After years of false starts and costly failures, peace is finally taking hold in Congo's remote northeastern Ituri region, a key battleground in a pan-African war that's claimed 4 million lives.

In recent weeks, Congo's patchwork national army, backed by United Nations peacekeepers, has chased some 4,000 militiamen into the dense forests near the Ugandan border. It was the most aggressive military action to date against the once-fearsome militias that held sway here.

The militias still control some Ituri villages. But 16,000 have turned in their guns under a 2003 peace agreement, and U.N. and Congolese officials say the militias are on their last legs. They predict that most residents of Ituri will be able to vote in peace in a national constitutional referendum scheduled for Dec. 18 and that the entire province will be secure before national elections scheduled for next June, the first democratic election in this country, formerly known as Zaire, since 1960.

That would be very good news in a region that's been the scene of warfare not only among tribes and warlords but also among the armies of six neighboring countries that are greedy for its rich stores of gold, diamonds and other minerals.

Uganda: Besigye's Trial Set

From Reuters

The trial of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye for treason and rape will begin on December 19, according to a high court schedule made public on Monday.

The schedule, signed by Principle Judge James Ogoola, indicated that Besigye and 22 co-defendants in the treason case would stand trail in the court presided over by Justice John Bosco Katutsi.

However, a judge once again declined to grant Besigye temporary bail after the court referred to the constitutional court his objection to standing trial before a military court, where he faces separate charges of terrorism and illegal possession of fire arms.

In a petition to the constitutional court, Besigye's lawyers have argued that the military has no jurisdiction over civilians and that the court martial proceedings against him are illegal.

Besigye, who heads the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, is widely seen as President Yoweri Museveni's main challenger in presidential elections scheduled for February 2006.

His supporters have condemned the government's decision to prosecute him, saying the trial is intended to prevent him from participating in the polls.

UN Reform: UN Told Not to Water Down Protection of Civilians

From Reuters

The U.N. relief coordinator urged the Security Council on Friday not to water down its resolution on protecting civilians subject to abuse, whether in Northern Uganda, Sudan or the Ivory Coast.

The 15-member council, in an all-day debate among dozens of U.N. ambassadors, is considering a document on how to stop atrocities against women, men and children in war zones.

"The eyes and ears of the world community and human rights and humanitarian workers are on you," Jan Egeland, the humanitarian relief coordinator, told the council, citing the 26 million people forced out of their homes.

"This is not the time to end up with a weak resolution on the protection of civilians," he said. "It would be the ultimate irony when faced with the mass of information of tens of thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of rapes, and tens of thousands of children being abused."

Several council members, including Russia, China and Algeria, have qualms about putting into the resolution a new concept, the "responsibility to protect" civilians under siege. The concept, approved at a U.N. summit in September, would use military intervention as a last resort if the Security Council approves.

British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current council president, said he was confident the resolution, expected to be adopted next week, would include the new concept, considered the most dramatic decision of the U.N. summit.

But a mark-up of the resolution shows objections from several nations and even the United States, which does not depend on U.N. approval for military intervention, on how protecting civilians should be worded. Many developing countries have called the "responsibility to protect" a Trojan horse that allows military intervention by the powerful.

Russia and others called for the General Assembly to define the concept further. In response, France‘s deputy ambassador, Michel Duclos, said that despite work in the assembly, "it is an idea that should guide the work of the council."

And Canada‘s Ambassador Allan Rock said, "We urge Council members to take up the mandate conferred by the world leaders" even if it eventually leads to the use of force. He spoke on behalf of New Zealand and Australia.

AU Struggles to Calm Darfur

From the Christian Science Monitor

As the searing sun rises over the desert landscape of Sudan's troubled Darfur region, officers from about a dozen African countries gather inside a cramped canvas tent near the town of Nyala for their morning ritual of security briefings and daily assignments.

At first, several junior officers grumble about their orders - to patrol a lawless displaced-persons camp overflowing with 90,000 people. Amid rising insecurity in Darfur, even routine patrols have become dangerous. But the ranking officer of this African Union force, a beefy Nigerian named Olusegou Adeleke, cuts them short. "The mandate of the protection force is simply to protect, whether with a pen knife or with stones," he barks. "And protection must be given."

Since its inception in 2004, the African Union's mission to Darfur has been a major test of Africa's collective ability to defuse its own conflicts and protect its civilians. Now amid talk of a United Nations force replacing the AU in Darfur - and, separately, of the AU deploying to Congo to disarm a stubborn rebel group - there's growing focus on how effective the AU's Darfur mission has been, and on what that portends for future AU efforts.

The final verdict isn't in, but it's clear AU troops are struggling often in vain to calm Darfur, a region the size of Texas where attacks by government-backed Arab militias began in 2003 against indigenous-African villages.

Sudan: IDPs Not Safe From Violence, Aid Workers Say

From IRIN

Displaced people in the strife-torn western region of Darfur continue to be threatened and harassed even after their arrival in camps, aid workers say.

"The security situation in Abu Shouk [the second largest camp in Darfur] is deteriorating each day," says a local aid worker.

"IDPs [internally displaced persons] were reporting continuous military presence inside the camps during the nights with threats, detentions, harassment to the civil population and shootings."

Attacks in all three areas of Darfur have been recently reported - in West Darfur on Wednesday, an unknown number of gunmen opened fire on an IDP shelter, killing one man and seriously wounding his wife.

Last month, 13 militiamen entered a camp in North Darfur and fired on civilians, killing two children, aged six and nine, and injuring a teenager and an adult male.

In South Darfur state, humanitarian workers say that armed men attack IDP camps. IDPs say women are raped and belongings looted.

Violence, however, is just one side of the coin. Many IDPs suffer more subtle forms of harassment and abuse that make daily life in the camps a constant misery.

During the Eid holiday at the end of Ramadan in November, for example, trucks delivering food to ZamZam camp outside El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, were denied access by a military checkpoint. Although food deliveries resumed later on, deliveries of sugar were not allowed.

As a result, sugar prices in the ZamZam market - where IDPs can buy or exchange products to complement their food rations - skyrocketed during Eid, when people traditionally prepare a lot of sweets.

"It may sound a bit silly, but it is not when you realise the meaning that this has for the IDPs," the aid worker says. "They are very aware of the intentions behind it."

Darfur: Sudan Says HRW Report "Ridiculous"

From Reuters

The Sudanese government dismissed as "ridiculous" a rights groups' report saying officials at the highest level of government were responsible for abuses in Darfur and should be investigated for war crimes.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Sunday saying Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and 20 other government and army officials and militia leaders should be scrutinised for ordering, condoning or carrying out atrocities.

HRW said it based its report on eyewitness accounts, government papers and its own investigations.

Senior Foreign Ministry official Mutrif Siddig responded on Monday saying, "This report is highly politicised. ... This report is ridiculous, it is baseless, it depends on the propaganda and the campaigns of the rebel groups."

The 85-page report said the government, armed forces and militias were responsible for systematic attacks against civilians and implemented a culture of impunity during the violence, which the United States calls genocide. Khartoum denies the charge.

The report was prepared for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to use in their investigation into alleged war crimes in Darfur. Chief ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is to address the Security Council on Tuesday.

Darfur Betrayed: The African Union Summit in Khartoum

The latest from Eric Reeves

Without public objection from any African leader, the next African Union summit is scheduled to be held in Khartoum, January 23-24, 2006. The countries of the AU have evidently concluded that a regime guilty of massive, ongoing genocidal destruction can serve as an appropriate host for the business of Africa. Such a conclusion is wholly remarkable, since presumably the business of Africa includes the vast human catastrophe in Darfur that has been engineered by this very same regime of genocidaires.

The perversity of the AU decision is only heightened if we reflect on the genocidal history of the Khartoum regime over the past fifteen years, directed against various of Sudan’s African populations. This history will likely soon be extended as Khartoum moves closer to genocidal counter-insurgency against the “Eastern Front,” the rebel movement emerging from the terribly marginalized Beja and Rashaida people in Kassala and Red Sea Provinces.

[edit]

The African Union summit in Khartoum, if it proceeds as scheduled, will come as human mortality in Darfur surges in the wake of accelerating violence and the increasingly likely wholesale collapse of geographically extended humanitarian relief efforts. More than 400,000 people will have perished in the genocide. Escalating military tensions between Sudan and Chad form a highly threatening regional backdrop to peace negotiations in Abuja that have stalemated without yet testing Khartoum’s hardened diplomats in a serious way.

The AU must decide whether or not it is willing to confront a regime responsible for the ongoing, targeted destruction of African tribal groups in Darfur. It must decide whether it will continue to substitute bravado---

“We have not asked for anybody outside of the African continent to deploy troops in Darfur. It’s an African responsibility and we can do it.” (Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa)

---for real civilian protection.

The African Union must decide whether it is the AU or the OAU.

All signs for Darfur, and the peacekeeping future of the AU, look grim indeed.

Sudan: Officials Responsible for Darfur Crimes, Says Rights Watchdog

From IRIN

Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir and other senior officials should be investigated for crimes against humanity in Darfur and placed on a UN sanctions list, the international lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Sunday.

The report, "Entrenching Impunity: Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur", was published in advance of Tuesday's UN Security Council meeting, where the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, is scheduled to report on his investigation into atrocities in Darfur.

The UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in March 2005.

The New York-based human rights watchdog documents the involvement of more than a dozen civilian and military officials in directing and coordinating attacks by the Janjawid militias and the Sudanese armed forces since mid-2003.

"The Sudanese government's systematic attacks on civilians in Darfur have been accompanied by a policy of impunity for all those responsible for the crimes," Peter Takirambudde, HRW's Africa director, said in a statement. "Senior Sudanese officials, including President [Umar al-] Bashir, must be held accountable for the campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur."

The Human Rights Watch report is available here (thanks to POTP for the heads-up.)

Darfur News Briefs

The latest weekly Darfur news round-up is now available from the Genocide Intervention Network.

Be sure to also check out their "Genocide Hits Home" effort.

Ethiopia: Ex-Official Gets Death Sentence For 'Red Terror' Killings

From the AP

A leading member of Ethiopia's former military junta has been sentenced to death for his role in killing more than 900 people during Ethiopia's "Red Terror" of the late 1970s, state-owned radio reported Friday.

Former governor Maj. Melaku Tefera was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity Thursday by the Federal High Court and sentenced the same day, Radio Ethiopia said.

Under Ethiopian law, Tefera's sentence cannot be acted on until President Girma Woldegirogis approves it.

The court found Tefera had a role in the killings of 971 people and the injury of another 83 when he was governor of Gondar Province in northwestern Ethiopia.

The "Red Terror" -- during which hundreds of students, intellectuals and politicians were perceived to oppose the then-military dictatorship -- took place between 1977 and 1978.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi led rebels who seized power in 1991 from the military dictatorship. The junta's leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, fled into exile in Zimbabwe, where he remains.

UN Reform: Backtracking on Agreement Against Genocide

A press release from Oxfam

Members of the United Nations Security Council are backtracking on the landmark agreement reached by world leaders at the UN World Summit in September on their collective responsibility to protect civilians from genocide international agency Oxfam has learned today.

At September's World Summit in New York, United States President George Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin joined world leaders from over 180 other nations in signing an historic measure on their collective responsibility to protect citizens from genocide, crimes against humanity and other similar atrocities where the government of the people fails to do so. Putting this commitment into practice would prevent another Rwanda. It was heralded as a major success of a summit that was otherwise seen to achieve little.

Yet Oxfam warned that Russia, China, Algeria, Brazil and the United States have all sought to weaken or remove the reference to their responsibility to protect civilians from inclusion in a Security Council resolution which is being debated in the Council today.

"Just three months ago we reached a turning point as world leaders declared they were willing to take collective action to protect people against genocide and prevent another Rwanda," said Nicola Reindorp, head of Oxfam's New York office. "Yet less than 90 days since the agreement was signed, China, Russia, and Algeria seem to want to pretend the agreement was not made. The US is also trying to water down their responsibility to act to stop such crimes."

The Security Council is currently preparing to pass a resolution that commits the Council to action to protect civilians in armed conflict. This is the first such resolution for five years and the current draft proposes language that refers to the World Summit Outcome and the Security Council's role in fulfilling the commitments made on the responsibility to protect civilians from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet key Council members have raised objections even to this reference, arguing that the entire provision requires further discussion in the UN's General Assembly.

"Security Council members must recognize the Summit's historic commitment to protect civilians from genocide," said Oxfam's Reindorp. "Backtracking on the World Summit's commitment on the responsibility to protect sends a message that the Security Council is not serious about stopping genocide and similar atrocities.''

Congo: UN Mobilizes Urgent Food Aid

From the UN News Center

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently mobilizing food aid, and needs $20 million in additional funding, for tens of thousands of Congolese fleeing their homes in fear of fresh militia attacks in the Katanga region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“Fortunately, WFP has sufficient contingency food stocks in the Katanga region and is able to respond quickly, moving one month’s supply of food aid to the town of Dubie where an estimated 13,000 displaced Congolese are arriving,” WFP Country Director Felix Bamezon said today.

“We were also able to pre-position food in two other strategic locations to assist some 23,000 others,” he added of Katanga, where the Congolese army, backed by the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), is currently trying to oust militias that have tortured, raped and killed civilians across eastern part of the vast country ever since the five-year civil war ended in 2002.

“However, we urgently need an additional $20 million if we are to continue meeting the needs that we regularly see as the cycle of displacement in Eastern DRC continues,” he declared.

[edit]

The newly displaced exemplify the enormous challenge of providing critical humanitarian assistance in many parts of the huge country. New pockets of insecurity regularly result in a new cycle of displaced who urgently need our help.

“Unless we get sufficient funding, essential stocks are quickly depleted. These contingency stocks are crucial to our ability to respond promptly to very sudden surges of people in need,” Mr. Bamezon said.

Katanga is not the only province experiencing displacement and tens of thousands of people continue to rely on humanitarian assistance elsewhere. In Ituri District, WFP has helped more than 23,000 displaced people; fighting in North Kivu Province has led to 8,000 newly displaced; and in South Kivu Province, militias that have so far refused to be demobilized or reintegrated into the Congolese army continue to roam.

Zimbabwe: Inflation Tops 500 Percent

From United Press International

Zimbabwe says its inflation hit 502.4 percent last month, up from September's 411 percent.

Among factors cheapening the nation's currency is a run on bicycles, the upshot of an acute fuel shortage, and surging home rentals, the upshot of Harare's wholesale demolition of vast swaths of poor neighborhoods around the perimeter of the capital.

Some 700,000 people are seeking shelter since President Robert Mugabe earlier this year ordered their homes destroyed.

U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland recently visited the country earlier this week and said that Zimbabwe was in a "meltdown."

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Says U.N. Envoy "Hypocrite and Liar"

From Reuters

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday accused a top U.N. envoy of being a "hypocrite and a liar" and said he would refuse to accept future emissaries from the world body if they were British agents.

Mugabe told a conference of his ruling ZANU-PF party that U.N. humanitarian affairs and relief coordinator Jan Egeland had gone out of his way to insult and misrepresent Zimbabwe after he ended a four-day tour of the country this week.

"You can see how they raise this, so that the rest of the international community can say 'human rights in Zimbabwe are being violated, people are suffering' in the hope that the United Nations can support the British in their evil campaign to try and have control here," Mugabe said.

"He tells lies ... he's a hypocrite and a liar."

Ignoring the Genocide in Darfur

From FrontPage

Faced with the challenge of massive displacement of people in Darfur, Sudan, a destabilizing flow of refugees to Chad, the systematic and multiple rape of women, and the wide-spread destruction of villages, the United Nations General Assembly voted on November 23 to take "No Action". A "No Action" motion, systematically practiced by China in the Commission on Human Rights, is rarely used in the General Assembly. A "No Action" motion prevents a vote on a resolution and cuts off any debate.

A resolution on Sudan, following the resolution in April by the Commission on Human Rights, was introduced in the General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with human rights, by Britain's UN Ambassador Sir Emyr Jones Parry on behalf of the European Union – Britain currently holding the presidency of the EU. In introducing the resolution, Sir Emyr confirmed that "civilians are still being killed, rape is still widespread, and the situation of hundreds of thousands of displaced people remains dire." The resolution stressed "the continuing climate of impunity in the Darfur region, particularly in the area of violence against women and girls." Ms. Sima Samar, the Special Rapporteur on Sudan of the Commission on Human Rights, had presented a very complete report highlighting the increasingly dangerous situation and the growing danger to humanitarian workers in the Darfur area. She noted that not much had been done (which is diplomatic style for saying that nothing had been done) in terms of disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation of the Janjaweed militia and other military groups.

Despite the fact that there are Nigerian military among the African Union's Mission in Sudan (AMIS) who know that the AU forces are unable to protect civilians, particularly those in internally displaced-persons camps, it was the Nigerian representative which moved the "No Action" motion which passed by 84 votes in favour, 79 against and 12 abstentions. Nigeria currently holds the presidency of the African Union, and Sudan is proposed for that post in 2006.

There was a specifically African aspect to the vote. Partly, this is a reflection of bloc voting. No matter what the situation, States in the UN vote to protect their neighbors from criticism. Thus both the African and the Arab states voted to protect Sudan. The Chinese representatives helped behind the scenes in structuring support for the vote and in explaining the "No Action" procedure. China buys nearly all of Sudan's oil and the Chinese government-owned oil company is the producer/refiner of Sudan oil.

Darfur: Threats Force UN to Ground Some Aid Copters

From Reuters

The United Nations has grounded some aid flights and evacuated workers in parts of West Darfur State because of the escalating violence crippling humanitarian efforts in Sudan's vast west, U.N. officials said on Friday.

Militias attacks have forced aid workers to evacuate, closed off roads, and sent 7,000 Darfuris from their homes in South Darfur and West Darfur, Radhia Achouri, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

"Our humanitarian efforts are being destroyed on the ground," she said.

Zimbabwe: In a State of 'Meltdown', UN Warns

From the Independent

Zimbabwe is in a state of "meltdown" because of the Aids virus and food shortages, the United Nations' head of humanitarian aid has warned.

Jan Egeland also severely criticised the president, Robert Mugabe, for rejecting an offer of temporary shelter for nearly a million people left homeless by the government's slum demolition campaign.

Mr Egeland said the campaign had been a criminal act, and that those behind it should face charges.

Speaking to journalists after a four-day tour of the country, which was once known as the bread basket of Africa because of its rich natural assets and stable economy, Mr Egeland said the situation for most Zimbabweans, already "extremely serious," was "deteriorating".

"When life expectancy goes from more than 60 years to just over 30 years in a 15-year span, it's not just a crisis, it's a meltdown," he said, pointing to "the Aids pandemic, the food insecurity, the total collapse in social services".

Chad: Rights Group Calls on Africa to Extradite Habre

From Reuters

Senegal should extradite Chad's former ruler Hissene Habre to face atrocities charges in Belgium because setting up a tribunal to try him in Africa would be too costly and impractical, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.

An international arrest warrant issued in September in Belgium holds Habre responsible for mass murder and torture carried out by his political police between 1982 and 1990.

Last month an appeals court in Senegal, where Habre has lived in exile since he was deposed 15 years ago, declined to rule on the extradition request saying it was not competent to do so.

The Senegalese government then said the 53-member African Union must decide on where his case should be heard.

"Extraditing Habre to Belgium is the most realistic option for ensuring a prompt and fair trial," said Reed Brody, a lawyer for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch who has campaigned for years for Habre to be brought to trial.

"Creating an ad hoc African tribunal to try Habre would entail enormous political will, years of delay and costs of at least $100 million," he said in a statement.

An African Union summit in Khartoum on Jan. 23-24 is expected to consider Habre's case.

Uganda: LRA Talks Still On, Says Bigombe

From New Vision

ANY chance geared towards peace, must be exploited to the maximum by the Government, Betty Bigombe, the chief mediator between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony and the Government, has said.

Talking to the New Vision at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala yesterday, Bigombe said she had been working quietly and has been in touch with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which indicted the top LRA rebels for crimes against humanity.

“The latest peace gesture is not out of the blue. I have been influencing the rebels quietly to come to the round table. The ICC knows what I am doing because I am constantly in touch with them,” she said.

Last week, the LRA deputy commander, Vincent Otti, said the rebels were ready to hold talks with the government to end the 19-year insurgency.

The government said its doors remained open to any peaceful resolution of the conflict, provided such a move does not conflict with the proceedings of the ICC.
Kony and his top leaders are to be handed over to the ICC by mid 2006 to answer for crimes against humanity.

Welcoming the rebels’ latest call for peace talks, Bigombe said they should be given the benefit of doubt, instead of being dismissed as, “Kony buying time to reorganise.”

On views by Acholi leaders to have Kony tried for crimes against humanity, Bigombe said, “Those are their personal views and I am not part of that. I don’t think those are the views and aspirations of the general public in the war zone. Failure to give the rebels a chance would disrupt the peace gesture by the rebels.”

Voices on Genocide Prevention

The US Holocaust Memorial's Committee on Conscience is now offering podcasts

Stay up-to-date on the crisis in Darfur as well as the continuing challenge of preventing and responding to genocide and related crimes against humanity around the world. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presents a new audio series and podcast service, hosted by Committee on Conscience Staff Director Jerry Fowler, that brings you the voices you want to hear – from human rights defenders to experts to advocates to government officials. Vital voices addressing one of humanity’s most vital issues.

So far, they are offering podcasts featuring Sudanese scholar Albaquir Mukhtar, Nick Kristof, Sen. Sam Brownback, Archbishop Lukudu Loro, and Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam.

The Committee on Conscience is also hosting an "Update on the African Union Monitoring Force in Darfur" on December 15th.

Eritrea: Move 'Cripples' UN Role

From the BBC

Eritrea's decision to expel European and North American peacekeepers from its disputed border with Ethiopia may cripple operations, says the UN.

Tuesday's move will affect 180 staff working in areas like supplies, transport, finance and communications, says mission deputy head Joel Adechi.

Earlier the UN's Security Council said the order for troops to leave within 10 days was unacceptable.

Mr Adechi said the move was unexpected and the consequences being reviewed.

A review would establish the detailed impact of the decision on the UN's mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee), he told reporters.

"At the end of the assessment we will be able to see if we are able to function like this or what other measures need to be taken."

The mission's capacity to monitor the border had already been reduced more than 60% by restrictions on UN helicopter flights, that were imposed by Eritrea in October.

There has been no explanation for Eritrea's decision to expel the peacekeepers or why personnel from the United States, Canada and Europe including Russia were singled out.

China Becomes Top Arms Supplier of Sudan

From United Press International

China has become the top supplier of fighter-bombers to Sudan's Muslim regime, whose attacks on Christian rebels in the south have made Khartoum notorious.

Sudan's air force recently bought $100 million worth of Shenyang fighter planes, including a dozen supersonic F-7 jets, and also purchased 34 other fighter-bombers from Beijing, Middle East Newsline reported Thursday.

In exchange, Chinese oil companies have become big stakeholders in Sudan's oil and natural gas fields.

The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., for example, owns 40 percent of Sudan's largest oil field.

"China rarely attaches any political strings to its assistance to Africa," said a report from the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

"This has opened up space for China to deal quite profitably with some of the more heinous regimes on the continent. It is no coincidence, for example, that Sudan and Zimbabwe now play host to a very large Chinese economic presence."

Darfur: More Clashes Involve Army

From the BBC

The vicious cycle of violence in Darfur has resumed, says the United Nations, with Sudan army involvement increasing.

A UN spokesperson said that last week had seen both government and rebel forces launch attacks, displacing 7,000 people and killing an unknown number.

More than 2m people still live in camps in Darfur, driven from their homes by two and a half years of fighting.

UN spokesperson Radia Aturi said it appeared a joint militia and government offensive took place on three villages.

The following day Darfur's rebels retaliated in another village, which was then followed by pro-government militia destroying all the wells in a town.

The overall level of violence in Darfur continues to fluctuate, with both local and external factors triggering new waves of attacks.

Congo: Brownback Says Conditions Are Dire

From the AP

Back from an eight-day visit to three African nations, Sen. Sam Brownback called the humanitarian crisis in Congo "dire" and said foreign aid programs there need better coordination.

The Kansas Republican said more than 1,000 people a day in eastern Congo are dying from preventable causes, like malaria, diarrhea and a lack of food and water.

"The whole assistance policy really needs to be rethought and there needs to be more prioritizing and self-help involved," Brownback said. "There needs to be a lot more coordination."

Darfur: Desperate for Peacekeepers

An op-ed from Peter Bell, president of CARE USA, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Unless a strengthened peacekeeping force is put in place in war-torn Darfur, Sudan, thousands more Sudanese may perish over the coming months.

Since early 2004, humanitarian agencies have engaged in an all-out effort to save lives and reduce suffering in Sudan and neighboring Chad. But progress is now being reversed by elevated violence and insecurity, and humanitarian workers are increasingly at risk.

[edit]

The breakdown in security is due to many factors, including continued political instability, the fracturing of the two main rebel movements, and the dramatic increase in banditry along main transit routes.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, insecurity has significantly reduced humanitarian access.

The African Union Mission in Sudan is made up of almost 7,000 soldiers, far too few to help stabilize such a large, conflict-wracked region. Insufficient financial and human resources severely undercut the mission's effectiveness. It is tragic that Congress recently turned down a request for $50 million to boost the African Union presence.

The international community must urgently do all it can to help stabilize the security situation before all humanitarian assistance becomes untenable. Specifically, a larger and more robust peace-monitoring or peacekeeping presence in Darfur — whether under African Union or United Nations auspices — is absolutely essential.

Long-term stability and security in Darfur will ultimately depend on all of the contesting forces there reaching a political agreement. For now, however, the only way to avoid an ever-worsening catastrophe in Darfur is to ensure the immediate deployment of a stronger peace-monitoring or peacekeeping force. There is no time to waste.

Darfur: Talks Stumble Over Fresh Rebel Demands

From IRIN

Negotiations to end Sudan’s Darfur conflict have hit new snags in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, after rebels set out new conditions for peace, including a demand for the vice presidency.

Rebels said their demands were “the minimum which Darfurians should have,” Ahmed Hussein, spokesman for the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said on Wednesday.

In addition to the vice presidency, the rebels want Darfur’s borders returned to what they were at independence in 1956 to encompass Karal al-Thoum, Al-A’Troon and Wa’hat al-Sharafi, areas were incorporated into northern Sudan by Khartoum in the 1990s.

“These areas were cut out without consulting the people of Darfur and the institutions representing them,” said Hussein.

Hopes had been high of a major breakthrough at the seventh round of peace talks in Abuja, as it is the first time the two rebel groups have presented a joint position.

The SLM/A and the JEM’s new demands have been jointly submitted to African Union (AU) mediators.

The Sudanese government delegation declined to respond to the rebel demands and called for talks to be broken down into small informal committees “in the hope that we can narrow the gap,” spokesman Umar Rahama said.

AU spokesman Nourredinne Mezni said mediators were studying the rebel submissions in the hope of working out a compromise.

Darfur: Situation Becoming Increasingly Hostile

From IRIN

The humanitarian environment in the western Sudanese region of Darfur is becoming increasingly hostile and clashes between various groups continue to flare up, aid workers warned.

"There has been a huge increase in the number of attacks and robberies [on humanitarian workers]," said Mike McDonagh, senior humanitarian affairs officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Khartoum, on Thursday.

"Harassment is too weak a term," he added. "The physical danger aid workers have been exposed to over the last four months is a huge concern. We are very lucky that none of our staff has been killed so far."

On Saturday, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and militia reportedly jointly attacked the villages of Hemmeda, Um Boru and Koka in the Um Nkunya area, approximately 40 km northeast of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported. The fighting resulted in an unknown number of civilian casualties and displaced about 7,000 people.

"The United Nations is concerned that the parties continue to violate the ceasefire agreement in what seems to be a resumption of the vicious circle of attacks and retaliation that we witnessed in earlier months," Radhia Achouri, UNMIS spokeswoman, told reporters in Khartoum on Wednesday.

According to reports, the attack on Saturday had been launched against the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) in the area. In apparent retaliation the following day, the SLM/A attacked Donkey Dereisa, 60 km south of Nyala.

Another attack occurred in West Darfur on Tuesday when Arab militia raided the town of Congo Harasa. They destroyed all the wells that had been constructed by the humanitarian workers to provide water to the local population.

[edit]

On 5 December, 13 international NGO staff members in West Darfur were relocated with an African Union (AU) escort from Silea to the region's capital, Geneina, due to insecurity in the area.

Insecurity also forced the AU to airlift three international NGO staff from Kulbus to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State. Some local personnel remained behind to provide essential services.

On 4 December, an international NGO compound was caught in the crossfire when fighting broke out between rebel groups and government forces near Masteri. A stray bullet hit a guard in the stomach.

On 1 December, two unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Sudanese driver working for the Sudanese Red Crescent Society in the organisation's premises in Abu Shouk IDP camp on the outskirts of El Fasher.

"The security situation in Abu Shouk is deteriorating each day," said a local source. "IDPs are reporting continuous military presence inside the camps during the nights with threats, detentions, harassment to the civil population and shootings."

Tension had also risen in IDP camps across Darfur due to the proliferation of people posing as community leaders and presenting inflated numbers of newly arrived IDPs to demand food and other relief items.

"They are not just businessmen - they are a real mafia. They sold around 12,000 rations of food in front of our noses," one aid worker said.

"This business is a time bomb for the stability of the camp," he added. "The [genuine community] leaders that try to collaborate [with us] are exhausted and very scared. All of us have been threatened many times."

Zimbabwe: UN Envoy Urges Africa to Address Crisis

From IRIN

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has told South Africa that Africa should be "more outspoken on Zimbabwe".

In an interview with IRIN after his meeting on Wednesday with Sue van der Merwe, South Africa's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Egeland said, "We told them that each time it must not be Europe or any other western country raising issues [around] Zimbabwe."

[edit]

Egeland underlined that the UN could not "become a policeman", but had the "moral authority of the global community" to criticise the "disastrous" eviction campaign, which he described as "wholly irrational in all of its aspects".

He said he had met policemen and other government personnel who had also been left homeless, "which probably was a mistake ... and they will probably be the first to benefit from the government's housing policy".

Egeland noted that the HIV/AIDS and food crises in Zimbabwe posed a "tremendous challenge" to the global community. Last week, the UN launched an appeal for US $276 million for the country, saying at least three million people would require food aid, as only an estimated 600,000 mt of maize had been harvested, compared to a national requirement of 1.8 million mt.

"The food security is now an exploding issue," he said, adding that the need for international aid was "big, and growing".

Eritrea Orders U.N. Peacekeepers Out

From the AP

An Eritrean order to expel Western members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission monitoring its tense border with Ethiopia is raising concerns that war between the two countries could re-ignite.

The U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea received the letter from Eritrea on Tuesday, but details of the expulsion order had yet to be worked out, said Musi Khumalo, the U.N. mission's deputy spokeswoman.

But a Western diplomat who saw a copy of the letter said the government gave the American, Canadian and European members of the peacekeeping force 10 days to leave the Horn of Africa nation. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation, said no reason was given.

A senior U.N. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the expulsion could mean that 90 military observers and 50 civilian staff would have to leave the country, as would a still-to-be-determined number of contractors.

The force has about 3,300 members.

The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said that if the expulsion order covers contractors, the mission's job will become impossible because the peacekeepers will not be able to travel between the two countries.

Congo: Fighting Displaces 25,000

From Reuters

Some 25,000 civilians have fled their homes due to clashes between government soldiers and militiamen in Congo's Katanga province since mid-November, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The wave of displacement brings to just under 100,000 the number of people on the run in the southeastern region, where the army is trying to defeat Mai Mai gunmen, who were armed by the government during Congo's five-year civil war.

"About 25,000 people have been displaced by fighting in northern Katanga since mid-November," said Anne Edgerton, head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs in Katanga's eastern town of Kalemie.

"Prior to these clashes, we were dealing with and trying to look after 70,000 people who had fled their homes," she told Reuters by telephone from Lubumbashi, a major mining town and Katanga's provincial capital.

Reminders

I will be unable to post for most of the day on Wednesday, so I recommend that you visit Passion of the Present for updates.

In the meantime, here are a few reminders:

The Weekly Standard ran a good piece by Jonathan Karl called "Dead End in Darfur?"

Submissions are now being accepted for the "Spotlight on Darfur 3."

Eric from Passion of the Present put together a list of Darfur-realted petitions and other actions from various organizations, including our effort to help Professor Samuel Totten gather signatures.

Self Publication: Kony, Khartoum and the ICC

Below is a piece I wrote on the arrest warrants recently issued by International Criminal Court for Joseph Kony and the leadership of the Lord's Resistance Army and the conflict it creates for the regime in Khatroum.

I submitted it to several different magazines, but it was roundly rejected, so I am posting it here

It took nearly two years from the time Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni referred the crimes of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for arrest warrants to be issued for the LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony and four of his top lieutenants. In that time, Kony’s force continued to terrorize the people of Northern Uganda.

For nearly two decades, the LRA, a rag-tag army made up mostly of kidnapped children, has developed a reputation for carrying out ruthless and seemingly arbitrary attacks against Uganda’s Acholi population; slicing off lips, noses, and ears, burning and looting villages, raping women, and wantonly torturing and killing civilians. Fear of LRA attacks has displaced nearly two million people across the region and has turned ten of thousands of children into “night commuters,” forcing them to walk several miles from their villages into towns every night seeking protection from LRA raids and abductions.

Kony’s army is not so much a political movement as it is a ruthless criminal organization, committed to terrorizing, killing and destroying the lives of those unfortunate enough to inhabit the LRA’s hunting grounds. Though Kony reportedly believes he has been chosen by God to overthrow President Museveni and establish a government based on the Ten Commandments, the LRA has yet to explain its goals or put forth any sort of political agenda.

The arrest warrants issued for Kony and the others are the first handed down by the nascent ICC, which only came into existence three years ago, over much opposition from the United States. Not surprisingly, the potential prosecution of Kony was hailed by human rights organization, perhaps less for the impact it will have on the violence in Uganda than out of hope that the ICC is beginning to establish itself as a legitimate venue for trying those accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

If the ICC is to become a viable instrument of international justice, it is imperative that Joseph Kony’s be prosecuted and convicted for his crimes. And if Kony is indeed going to be brought to The Hague, it is going to require significant coordination, cooperation and luck. But most of all, it is first going to require that Kony be captured.

For years, Kony has eluded capture by the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF), which has itself recently been accused by Human Rights Watch of committing war crimes against civilians in its pursuit of the LRA. Kony is currently believed to be hiding in Southern Sudan, just beyond the so-called “red line”; a designated border sixty miles inside Sudan within which Khartoum has allowed the UPDF to operate in pursuit of Kony and the LRA. While Kony remains in hiding, some of his top lieutenants and an estimated 300 soldiers recently crossed from Sudan into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fleeing the UPDF. Uganda immediately called upon the Congolese government in Kinshasa to capture and disarm the LRA rebels operating in its territory and made clear its willingness to invade the DRC to do the job itself, should Kinshasa refuse, and even began amassing troops on the border in preparation. Congo responded by sending two thousand troops to the region, partly as an attempt to push the LRA out of the country, but also to send a message to Kampala that any invasion from Uganda would be met with force.

There are conflicting reports about whether these LRA soldiers have now crossed back into Sudan. If they have, it is far more likely that they will eventually be tracked down by the UPDF, especially considering that Sudan has lifted the 60-mile “red line” limit for one month and granted Uganda the freedom to pursue the LRA wherever they might be found. Khartoum has even promised to help the UPDF track down and capture the remnants of the LRA still operating in Sudan.

While it looks as if the noose might be tightening around Kony, it is difficult to determine just how serious Khartoum is about eliminating the LRA. For years, Kony’s army has received support from the government of Sudan and been allowed to operate freely in the south, receiving weapons and uniforms and maintaining camps from which it launched raids into Uganda and to which it returned with hundreds of abducted children. Sudan’s support for the LRA was matched by Uganda’s support for the SPLA rebel movement in Southern Sudan; the two countries, in essence, waging a war by proxy across their borders.

In 2002, Sudan agreed to allow Uganda to target the LRA within the “red line” border, but continued to supply it with heavy arms and ammunition. Now that Khartoum has finally made peace with the SPLA, its support for the LRA seems to have diminished, but whether this means Sudan will actually help eliminate it remains to be seen.

There are several reasons to doubt Khartoum’s commitment, among them the fact that it is highly unlikely that Sudan is truly willing to grant the UPDF, a foreign army, unfettered access to its territory. But more importantly, several high level officials in the Sudanese regime are currently being investigated by the same International Criminal Court that has issued the arrest warrants for Kony.

The investigation of Sudan stems from crimes committed over the last two years in the western region of Darfur, where government bombs and Janjaweed militias have killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced several million more. After much wrangling in the UN Security Council, the case was referred to the ICC for investigation and possible prosecution. Shortly thereafter, Secretary General Kofi Annan delivered to the ICC prosecutor a sealed list containing the names of 51 individuals believed to be responsible for crimes committed in Darfur; high-level Sudanese officials undoubtedly among them.

The ICC referral was met with contempt and anger by the Sudanese leadership and led to massive, government-orchestrated demonstrations in the streets of Khartoum. Top-level Sudanese officials have repeatedly stated that they do not recognize the legitimacy or jurisdiction of the ICC and will not hand over any Sudanese national for prosecution by the court.

Since Sudan is not a party to the ICC, it is not legally obligated to comply with the requirement that, upon receiving “a request for provisional arrest or for arrest and surrender shall immediately take steps to arrest the person in question” as dictated by Article 59 of the ICC statute. While Sudan has received just such a “request” regarding Kony and his lieutenants, it has not yet received a similar request from the court’s prosecutor regarding its own leaders, though such warrants will probably be issued in the future. As such, it is not within Khartoum’s self-interest to comply with the ICC warrant for Kony, as doing so will only legitimize the ICC’s reach into Sudan and set a precedent regarding Khartoum’s compliance.

So why would Khartoum agree to cooperate in capturing Kony? Experts on Sudan believe such a pledge is, in all likelihood, a bluff. Khartoum may realize that the LRA’s days are numbered and that supporting it no longer serves its interests. Sudan’s leaders are, in all probability, seeking to use Kony’s capture as an opportunity to win accolades from the international community and perhaps quite the calls that they be held accountable for their own crimes in Darfur. In the words of noted Sudan expert Eric Reeves, if Khartoum is now committed to capturing Kony, “it's simple expediency.”

If Sudan has indeed turned on the LRA and is now dedicated to its destruction, it does not change the fact that it had, for years, supported this murderous movement. Nor does it mitigate in any way the genocide it has committed, and is still committing, in Darfur.

Khartoum is exceedingly clever at bluffing, stalling and stonewalling the international community, as evidenced by the fact that it has managed to keep the UN at bay over Darfur for more than two years. And just as Khartoum has not lived up to its pledges to protect the people of Darfur, seek peace with the rebels, or disarm its proxy militias, it is unlikely that it will live up to its pledge to capture Joseph Kony or dismantle the LRA.

The arrest, prosecution, and conviction of Kony and his top lieutenants will go a long way toward ending twenty years of savage violence in Uganda, as well as establishing the practical legitimacy of the ICC. Ensuring the former may be of little interest to Khartoum, but preventing the latter is undeniably a top priority.

In the end, the fate of the ICC’s first case may very well depend on the cooperation of the men who will be put on trial in its second.

Congo: Militia Leader Arrested in Killing of 9 U.N. Peacekeepers

From Reuters

The Democratic Republic of Congo has arrested a militia leader believed to be responsible for the killing of nine U.N. peacekeepers earlier this year, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Justin Ngole Dalo, known as Koliba, is the main suspect in the murder of the nine Bangladeshi soldiers in an ambush in Congo's violent eastern district Ituri in February.

It was the fourth-deadliest attack on U.N. troops in Africa in the history of the world body's interventions on the continent.

Koliba is also accused of organizing the slaughter of a hundred civilians at the town of Gobu in Ituri in January, which triggered a series of massacres that displaced tens of thousands of people.

"Koliba was arrested by the Congolese army on December 2 and yesterday we transferred him to prison in Kinshasa," said U.N. spokeswoman Rachel Eklou. "We have been putting pressure on the army to execute an existing arrest warrant for Koliba."

Repost: Dead End in Darfur?

I linked to this piece from the Weekly Standard earlier, before I had had a chance to read the entire thing.

It is a very good article and I urge you to read it - here is an excerpt

I heard stories from the young and healthy as well. Two women named Fatima and Marium invited me into their shelter. They had built comparably formidable mud walls for the same reason: to protect themselves and their children from gunfire. Fatima has six children; Marium one. Both were young widows. Fatima told me she had been raped when she ventured out of the camp to gather firewood. Marium said she had also been raped. Three times. They said their rapists were Janjaweed—the Arab marauders who unleashed the terror here two years ago with weapons supplied by the government and who now continue to terrorize the refugees.

Fatima, Marium, and the others I spoke to at Kalma camp were tough, self-reliant people. Before all hell broke loose in 2003, they lived as people in Darfur had for centuries, as farmers in small villages. Now they find themselves stuck in a vast slum of shanties. They hate it here, they said, but they are afraid to go back to their decimated villages. Only now that the camp has come under attack, they are also afraid to stay.

"We have nobody to protect us here in Darfur," Fatima told me. "Just the foreigners and God."

Fatima would have had no way to know about it, but only a day before in Khartoum, Zoellick had made it clear that foreigners—U.S. or otherwise—were not coming to the rescue. The forum was a policy speech at the University of Khartoum. In a speech laced with references to Sudan’s rich and bloody history, Zoellick outlined a "road map" to peace. Zoellick’s road map is based on the U.S.-brokered peace agreement that ended one of Africa’s longest-running and bloodiest civil wars: the 21-year conflict between the Muslims of northern Sudan and the Christians and Animists of southern Sudan. The north-south peace agreement is an unheralded triumph of American diplomacy that ended a war that had killed at least 2 million people. Under the deal, which took several years to negotiate, rebel leader John Garang was brought to Khartoum and made vice president of the very government he had spent most of his life trying to destroy. If fully implemented, the north-south agreement would make the former rebels in the south partners in the federal government and give them a high degree of autonomy.

In his speech, Zoellick said the first step to putting Darfur back together is to get a similar peace agreement between the government and the rebels in Darfur. Clearly the speech was written before those rebels walked out on him in Nairobi.

During the Q & A session, somebody in the audience demanded to know how peace could be achieved if the African Union peacekeepers now in Darfur—which are technically only an observer force—are not empowered to disarm the government-sponsored militias that have inflicted so much terror. Zoellick was about to lose his patience again. Before answering, he rephrased the question. "Will the outside world come and clean this up?" His answer: "I don’t think we can clean it up." He continued: "It’s a tribal war that has been exacerbated by other conditions and, frankly, I don’t think foreign forces ought to get themselves in the middle of a tribal war of Sudanese."

A tribal war? That sounds like a drastic departure from President Bush’s stark portrayal of the crisis in Sudan as genocide.

[edit]

But in its centuries of conflict, Darfur has never witnessed anything like the widespread, orchestrated terror campaign of the last two and a half years. When Churchill wrote, Darfur was a land of farmers, who lived in small villages, and nomadic herders. The herders and the farmers often clashed over access to land and water, but the Darfur of two and a half years ago looked a lot like the Darfur of Churchill’s and even Gordon’s time. In the violence of the last two years, many of Darfur’s villages have been wiped off the map, replaced by vast slums like the Kalma refugee camp. More than two million hardened and independent people have been bombed and burned out of their homes and made almost completely dependent on relief agencies. In the process, more than 200,000 have been killed. You can debate whether or not this is genocide, but this isn’t just another in a long series of tribal wars.

Darfur: UN Refugee Agency Calls for Urgent Action

From the AP

The head of the U.N. refugee agency called on the international community to take a united stance and give urgently needed help to Sudan’s embattled Darfur region.

"It is, without any doubts, the worst problem we’re facing in the world today," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told reporters in Denmark.

"We’re very worried about the whole picture in Sudan. ... The international community needs to act, to act quickly and to act united to make sure that all the parties understand that peace is the only way."

Darfur: Take Action

Eric from Passion of the Present kindly - and wisely - put together this list of Darfur-realted petitions and other actions from various organizations

“National Call-In Day” (Tuesday, December 6th; from the Save Darfur Coalition and the Genocide Intervention Network)

“Genocide in Darfur: How Can We Not Act?”
(comprehensive call to action from Physicians for Human Rights)

Human Rights First’s “HOPE for Darfur” campaign

“Urge Congress to Restore Funding for African Union Troops in Darfur” (from Refugees International)

“Children of Darfur: Picturing Genocide” (“Send a Postcard to the President”; from Africa Action)

“Send a Message to President Bush” (from the Save Darfur Coalition)

Petition on behalf of Dr. Samuel Totten of the University of Arkansas (Coalition for Darfur)

“Take Action to Stop Genocide in the Sudan” (from the American Jewish Committee)

“Support Congressional Action on Darfur” (from Church World Service)

Petition from Catholic Relief Services

Spotlight on Darfur 3 -Posts Invited

From Allthings2all

As Christmas approaches I am very mindful of the ongoing situation in Darfur. One of the ways we can assist is to use some of our online time to once again put the Spotlight on Darfur. I am inviting posts for Spotlight on Darfur 3: Christmas Edition. Any posts you have on Darfur that were posted since the last Spotlight (October 17) can be sent in. Posts don't have to be long. You may want to post on what is happening and/or include info on a suitable aid agency for donations. This will be one way of giving something for Christmas to the refugees of the Darfur genocide crisis. Here are the details:

Spotlight on Darfur 3: Christmas Edition will be hosted on 16 December. Please send the following info for your post by 15 December:

1. The name of your blog
2. The URL of your blog
3. The title of your post
4. The URL of your post
5. A description of your post

Send your post details to:
catez2003 ATT yahoo DOTT com

I'd appreciate if you'd follow those guidelines. It makes it easier for me to have all that in your email. I am waiting to hear from a possible host - but if they can't host then the Christmas Edition will be hosted here at Allthings 2all.

Our last two Spotlights on Darfur went really well and it was a privilege to be part of them. If you didn't see them, or if you are wondering what the Spotlights are like here they are:
Spotlight on Darfur 2
Spotlight on Darfur 1

Uganda: Gulu Leaders Want Kony Dead

From New Vision

GULU Leaders want the international community to arrest Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) top commanders, before organising peace talks, reports Mariam Nalunkuuma.

Briefing journalists yesterday at Nakasero on Otti's remarks about peace talks with the Government, the leaders said Kony and Otti should be killed.

"Issuing arrest warrants for Kony and his colleagues by the International Criminal Court is not enough. If killing them is the only solution to ending the 20-year insurgency, then government should not waste time on having peace talks," Gulu LC5 chairman Col. Walter Ochora said.

"The UN has not played its role to end the war in the north. In other countries it has made interventions, rescued those abducted but this has not happened in Uganda. In Angola, Dr. Jonas Savimbi was killed. Can't that happen to Kony?" Ochora asked.

He added, "We have learnt beyond reasonable doubt that Kony and Otti will never talk peace and there should be no excitement about this offer. How can peace talks go on with Kony in Sudan and Otti in Congo? That's impossible."

Sudan: Southern Constitution Signed as SPLA Forces Enter Juba

From Reuters

The signing on Monday of a new constitution for south Sudan marks an important milestone in the implementation of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), an analyst said.

Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Sudanese first vice-president and president of southern Sudan, signed the document in Juba, two days after the official arrival of two full battalions of southern troops in the region's capital.

[edit]

In a related development, thousands of SPLA soldiers, coming from the southern town of Yei, entered Juba on Saturday during a festive parade. The SPLA troops will form so-called joint integrated units with the northern Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), as foreseen under the CPA.

"Thousands of soldiers marched into town, with their armour, tanks, artillery, rocket launchers, large trucks, and technicals with mounted heavy guns," said a local observer.

"It was the biggest display of SPLA forces in Juba so far and they were really claiming the town," he added.

One battalion would stay in Juba while another was scheduled to continue to Torit, where Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have been terrorising the region.

Congo: Relief Efforts Blocked in Northern Katanga as Fighting Continues

From IRIN

The French charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says that the army in northern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has blocked relief workers from entering the area since beginning a military campaign against local militias there in mid-November.

"We think there are many people who need assistance," the coordinator of MSF's Emergency Team in the DRC, Laurence Sailly, told IRIN on Monday from Kinshasa.

However, MSF said as it could not get close to the front line it could not give a reliable estimate of the scale of the problem.

Reeves Urges Awareness of Genocide in Darfur

From the University of Wisconsin's Daily Cardinal

Seven thousand miles away nearly 400,000 African civilians have died violently in the past two years, and Smith College professor Eric Reeves wants UW-Madison students to take action.

Reeves spoke Monday night to a crowded room of UW-Madison students and community members about the genocide occurring in Darfur, the western region of Sudan.

“All of us need to take a heightened scrutiny of our commitments, our actions and our investments,” he said.

Dead End in Darfur?

A recent piece from the Weekly Standard - reprinted on the Sudan Tribune

The negotiating tables had been set with green tablecloths in an open air room at one of the finest hotels in Nairobi. Each setting included a glass of water, a microphone, and a headset for translation. There were seats for the rebels, some of them dressed in desert battle fatigues and stylish camouflage turbans. There were also seats for the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, and even Canada: a coalition to warm the heart of the most fervent multilateralist. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick came in ready to deal, but by the time he took his seat, the rebels, unable to agree on who their leader was, had walked out.

And there sat Robert Zoellick, alone.

For thirty minutes he waited quietly, taking notes and, one assumes, wondering how he ended up with one of the most thankless jobs in American diplomacy: head of the U.S. effort to stop a humanitarian crisis in Sudan that the United States has labeled genocide.

The rebels were from the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) of Sudan’s Darfur region. This is the antigovernment group that launched a few attacks on police stations and government warplanes in Darfur in early 2003. Those attacks provoked the massive counterattack by government forces and government-supported "Janjaweed" militias that has caused the current crisis. Zoellick believes the only way to fix Darfur is to get a peace agreement between the rebels and the government. But there’s a problem: The rebels are now fighting amongst themselves, leaving two factions that claim to lead the SLA. The two groups so detest each other that they refused to be together in the same room.

And so, Robert Zoellick sat alone.

Darfur: Talks Need Progress on Land Rights, Security

From Reuters

Finding a consensus on land rights and disarmament is essential to advance peace talks between Sudan's government and Darfur rebels, African mediators said, although both sides were far apart on the issues.

The latest talks to end the violence in Darfur opened last week in Abuja with the rebels, presenting a unified front, forcing the government to tackle the key theme of power sharing for the first time after six previous negotiating rounds.

[edit]

Rebel leaders at the Abuja talks say the refugees must be allowed to go back to their homes so they can continue farming.

"Everyone must return to their homes first and then traditional solutions can be found for land rights," said Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, one of the leaders of the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).

But the government refuses to even discuss the issue in the Nigerian capital, saying it should be left to a conference for all Darfur tribes after a peace deal is reached.

"Land is at the root of this whole conflict," said Sam Ibok, one of the top African Union mediators at the Abuja peace negotiations. "There's a very polarised approach to it."

Conflict over land between sedentary farmers and mostly Arab nomadic cattle herders is at the heart of the Darfur violence, which was exacerbated by desertification and the rebel revolt.

[edit]

After almost a week of informal talks in Abjua, the government and rebels also held seemingly intractable positions over security arrangements for Darfur, which Ibok described as "make or break for the negotiations.

[edit]

The government wants the Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to be disarmed simultaneously with the rebel groups.

"You cannot ask some tribes to disarm when the other still carries arms," government spokesman Amin Hassan Omar said.

But rebels want the Janjaweed, who many say even the government can no longer control, to be disarmed first and then to be integrated into joint army units in Darfur.

Reminder - National Call-In Day Tomorrow

From Save Darfur and GI-Net

After the success of our last National Call-In Day for Darfur, we hope that you will join us in picking up the phone once again this Tuesday, December 6.

Experts from the State Department, NATO, and leading think-tanks have repeatedly said that funding the African Union is absolutely critical to stopping what both the President and Congress have declared to be genocide. Unfortunately, $50 million intended for African Union troops in Darfur was cut out of the recent Foreign Operations spending bill. There is, however, one last chance to get that funding back before the end of the year. An effort is underway to include those funds in the Defense Appropriations Conference Report when Congress comes back into session next week. It is vital that we do everything we can to make sure that Congress knows that their constituents are paying attention to this bill, and that we expect them to include these funds. Please call your Representative and your two Senators and make your voice heard on this incredibly important issue.

Cote d'Ivoire: UN Special Adviser Calls for End to Impunity

From the UN News Center

The Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General for the Prevention of Genocide has called on the authorities in to Côte d'Ivoire to break the cycle of impunity for human rights abuses so as to eliminate mistrust and hatred between communities in the divided West African country.

At a news conference at the end of his four-day visit to Côte d'Ivoire, Juan Mendez said his mandate was not to determine whether there had been genocide, but to prevent it.

He said he was delighted that no massacres had been recorded since June, even though the situation remained tense. In that regard, however, the serious violations of human rights and the inter-communal hatred in the rebel-held north and Government-ruled south had to be monitored, he said.

He deplored the climate of mistrust, as well as the misinformation and rumours spread by those in positions of authority and those in the media, fuelling division and hatred. He urged both of those groups to ensure that they did not pour oil on the fire by making or relaying irresponsible statements.

Besides that, the massacres that have aroused the indignation of the international community have met only a local political impasse and persistent impunity. Noting the presence of many illegally-armed and well organized militias across the country; Mr. Mendez called for their immediate disarming.

Darfur: Newsletter

The Genocide Intervention Network has release its latest newsletter. There is way to much information to excerpt, so just go read it.

Zimbabwe: Stench in Streets Signals Crisis

From the AP

The smell of sewage and rotting garbage wafts into homes. Acrid smoke hangs in the air where families have tried to burn household waste. Dysentery, food poisoning and diarrhea break out.

With no foreign currency for gas and equipment, garbage collection is the latest casualty as Zimbabwe's economy crumbles.

The start of seasonal rains means the effects are becoming unbearable in this poor township in the capital, Harare. Trash is piled waist-high in the narrow streets, and reeking water stagnates in potholes, blocked sewers and drains.

"It is symptomatic of general decline and the national crisis as a whole," said Mike Davies, an official of the Combined Harare Ratepayers Association.

Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, blamed largely on the often-violent seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks. Four years of erratic rainfall also have disrupted the agriculture-based economy, leaving up to 4 million people in need of food aid in what was once a regional breadbasket.

Nigeria: Biafran Separatists Shut Down Southeast

From AFP

Millions of Nigerians deserted the normally bustling streets and markets of cities in the southeast of the country as police cracked down violently on a protest called to demand independence for the 40-million-strong Igbo people.

Riot police fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse gangs of youths who blocked the roads of Onitsha with burning barricades in a bid to enforce a total business shut-down called by a separatist group which dreams of resurrecting the breakaway Biafran Republic.

Police spokesman Haz Iwendi was uncompromising in his message to demonstrators, saying: "All trouble-makers will be crushed."

US, China Wage Diplomatic Battle on 'Playing Field' of Africa

An AFP article on the Council on Foreign Relations report mentioned earlier

China is challenging US interests and values in Africa, shielding "rogue states," trampling the environment and thwarting anti-corruption drives, according to a new independent survey of US policy on the continent.

Beijing and the United States are on opposite sides in a new struggle for influence and resources in the new "playing field" of Africa, the study by a non partisan task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations found.

The communist giant has wielded its veto to frustrate United Nations Security Council sanctions against Sudan over Darfur, and is the "principal supporter" of vilified Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, the report said.

It would be wrong however, to describe Beijing as an "adversary" in Africa, the task force said, and a senior US official who recently returned from Beijing disputed the idea of a Sino-US race for influence.

China's rise posed three challenges to the United States in Africa, the report said, firstly over Beijing's "protection of rogue states like Sudan and Zimbabwe in the face of egregious human rights violations."

Beijing was also able to use its growing economic might to undermine US and Western efforts to use aid and investments to lever African governments to flush out corruption and embrace good governance.

Darfur: Africa Action

Two new things from Africa Action via POTP:

A call to "re-hat" the AU mission

As the security situation in Darfur, Sudan continues to deteriorate, there is a growing consensus around the need for a more robust mandate for the African Union (AU) mission and a larger international intervention force to support the AU and provide protection to the people of Darfur. Africa Action today declares that the United Nations (UN) is the appropriate vehicle for such an intervention, and that this is a viable option that should immediately be pursued by the international community.

Africa Action calls upon the U.S. to immediately introduce a resolution at the UN to "re-hat" the AU mission as a UN operation, granting it a strong civilian protection mandate from the international community, and to authorize a UN force to be deployed as soon as possible to the region. Based on African precedents, Africa Action asserts that such a UN action in support of the AU can and will provide critical support to the AU mission and provide security to the people of Darfur.

And a "Die-In"

It has been three months since “A Day for Darfur: Stop the Genocide, Protect the People”. Only hours after the rally on September 8th Special Assistant to President Bush and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council called Africa Action to request a meeting. Africa Action and many other organizations and committed individuals have continued to host public education events, strategy meetings and dialogue with decision-makers in order to push the U.S. to work with the international community to stop genocide in Darfur. Unfortunately, the U.S. Administration has failed to take the action necessary to stop the genocide. It is time, once again, to take to the streets and escalate our pressure on the Bush Administration.

Join Africa Action and friends as we rally at the State Department to challenge Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice to take immediate action to stop genocide in Darfur, Sudan. To represent the 400,000 people who have died in Darfur since the genocide began, activists will risk arrest by staging a “die-in” at the entrance of the State Department, surrounded by drawings made by children survivors in Darfur. Participants that do NOT want to risk arrest will have a safe area and can still participate in the rally.

December 8th 2005

12:00 noon

U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington DC

Sudan: Crisis Looming Between Peace Partners

From United Press International

Sudan's peace partner, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army/Movement, complained Monday of the government's slowness in implementing peace accords.

SPLA/M official Denk Alor said Monday his group will seek international pressures on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to prompt implementation of peace accords, especially an international arbitration ruling on the disputed Abyei region.

Alor, Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the government of National Unity, said "slowness in the application of the peace agreement triggered doubts and suspicion about the stance of the National Congress Party," the SPLA/M peace partner led by President al-Bashir.

The peace accord was signed early 2005, putting an end to Sudan's long-protracted civil war that lasted more than 20 years.

Alor was highly critical of the government's evasive attitude when it comes to implementing the international ruling on Abyei, located on the border between north and South Sudan, which was allocated to the south. Al-Bashir's government has expressed reservations on the ruling.

Alor said the SPLA/M will resort to the African Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which had sponsored peace negotiations, to exert strong pressure on the Sudanese government to implement the protocol that decided the fate of Abyei.

Alor stressed that his group is committed to the implementation of the ruling on Abyei, warning against challenging it.

"We will not accept to go back to negotiations over the region of Abyei," but stressed that dialogue is welcomed on securing the peaceful coexistence which existed in the past before the region was disputed between north and south.

Darfur: National Call-In Day

From Save Darfur and GI-Net - via POTP

After the success of our last National Call-In Day for Darfur, we hope that you will join us in picking up the phone once again this Tuesday, December 6.

Experts from the State Department, NATO, and leading think-tanks have repeatedly said that funding the African Union is absolutely critical to stopping what both the President and Congress have declared to be genocide. Unfortunately, $50 million intended for African Union troops in Darfur was cut out of the recent Foreign Operations spending bill. There is, however, one last chance to get that funding back before the end of the year. An effort is underway to include those funds in the Defense Appropriations Conference Report when Congress comes back into session next week. It is vital that we do everything we can to make sure that Congress knows that their constituents are paying attention to this bill, and that we expect them to include these funds. Please call your Representative and your two Senators and make your voice heard on this incredibly important issue.

Darfur: More Than Humanitarianism

The Council on Foreign Relations has released a new report - "More Than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach Toward Africa" - which contains much discussion of Darfur.

Here is an excerpt

Failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda was a major moral failure for the international community. The loss of life was horrific. It was also a political failure, lowering the credibility of the international community’s readiness to live up to its commitments under the Convention to Prevent Genocide and the promises of “Never Again.” The genocide also touched off the instability and warfare that has engulfed Central Africa ever since.

The ongoing fighting in Darfur, nevertheless, represents another deeply disturbing instance of genocidal acts and crimes against humanity. President Bush wrote “Not on my watch” when he read of the earlier Rwanda debacle. As a result, the United States condemned the killings in Darfur as genocide, urging strong UN actions against the government of Sudan, and along with the EU assisting the deployment of an African peacekeeping force. Currently, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is devoting his personnel and dedicating attention to resolving this crisis and the other aspects of peace in Sudan. Yet, two years and as many as 100,000 deaths later, the international response remains woeful. More than two million people remain displaced from their homes, subject to periodic attack, and without sufficient protection from either AU or other peacekeepers. Meanwhile the government of Sudan, the sponsor of the acts, which the United States and the UN have condemned, remains free of serious sanctions.

The United States must press for urgent international action. First, the AU must be convinced that despite its efforts to do so, it is not capable of mobilizing and deploying the full 13,000 peacekeepers it has promised. The AU is concerned about losing credibility if it seeks outside help in deployment and command. But it risks an even worse loss of credibility if the situation continues to deteriorate. The AU should request that the UN authorize a coalition of willing countries to provide a protective force, including from Africa, for the internally displaced persons within Sudan. This coalition could serve as a bridging force to UN “blue helmets” (i.e., UN soldiers). The need is urgent and only a non-UN coalition could deploy rapidly enough to meet the current need. The force should have a mandate to defend the population against further attacks and to take military action as necessary to counter the threat. This includes enforcing the no-fly zone against the government of Sudan. An AU request would moreover serve to override previous Sudanese objections to a non-African force.

The UN Security Council remains blocked by the Chinese and Russians from imposing strong sanctions against the government of Sudan. The United States and its European partners should begin to impose further sanctions of their own on companies doing business in Sudan, and on arms shipments to Sudan, and should even consider ways to inhibit Sudanese oil exports. China should be put on notice that continued blocking of UN sanctions is a serious issue for the United States, and that U.S. and European sanctions are in the works and that this issue could well provoke a serious confrontation between China and the United States.

The rebel forces continue to be part of the problem. Now splintered, and without a clearly defined political agenda, they are poorly equipped to participate in the negotiations to end the conflict hosted by the AU. Rebel forces are increasingly guilty of attacking aid workers and stealing humanitarian supplies. The United States, together with interested European countries, must continue to engage the rebels on these matters and as Deputy Secretary Zoellick began in Nairobi, provide technical assistance to them for political negotiations, and take a strong position against further attacks on humanitarian missions. The United States should make great efforts with Eritrea, Chad, and factions in southern Sudan, to cease material support to the rebels and to help guide the rebels to a more constructive negotiating position.

The United States should press southern Sudanese leaders, now members of the central government, to take a much more active role in stopping government attacks in Darfur. Southern attention to Darfur has declined with the death of former Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) leader John Garang. The United States should condition the delivery of the large amounts of aid pledged to southern Sudan on active southern involvement in achieving a negotiated settlement in Darfur.

The Darfur crisis is part of a larger situation in Sudan in which the Khartoum government has failed to share power and resources with outlying regions. Both northern and southern members of the government of Sudan should be put on notice that without broadening representation in the government and sharing resources with marginalized areas of the country like Darfur and eastern Sudan, the United States will not provide the full political or economic support promised under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January 2005, which ended the north-south civil war.

Uganda/Congo: Museveni Blasts MONUC Over LRA

From the New Vision

President Yoweri Museveni has again criticised the UN mission in Congo (MONUC) for failing to apprehend rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) holed up in the Garamba National Game Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Speaking at a public rally at Teremunga primary school playground in Koboko town on Saturday, Museveni said the MONUC troops had reacted reluctantly to calls to apprehend the rebels who are believed to be under the command of Joseph Kony's deputy, Vincent Otti.

He vowed that the army would crush Otti and his forces if they tried to attack West Nile.

"We are working very closely with SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) and if it was not for the UN group in Congo who are just there, the LRA in Congo would be history by now," Museveni said.

He applauded the SPLA and the Khartoum government headed by President Omar al Bashir for granting the UPDF a protocol that allows them to hunt down Kony and his allies inside Sudan.

Darfur: Talks Restart in Bid to Solve Power-Sharing Dispute

From AFP

The African Union was due to bring all the delegates to peace talks on the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur back together Monday after a 72-hour break to allow the parties to resolve a dispute over a power-sharing deal to end the conlfict.

Mediators said they hoped the plenary session would find a solution to the row, which has pushed the seventh session of the talks close to collapse, but rebel representatives warned that they were still not ready to compromise on certain key issues.

"The government of Sudan does not want to concede the vice presidency to the south nor to Darfur. It also does not want Darfur to be considered a single region," said Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman for the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

"This is the crux of the matter as these are the issues that are of paramount importance to our people," he added.

Government spokesman Omar Amin conceded that these issues were "difficult ones" but expressed confidence that the plenary talks session would resolve the issue.

The row over the power-sharing agreement comes just a week after the long-running talks restarted and is the first sign that this round could fall into the same stalemate as all previous attempts to resolve a 33-month-old crisis which has left 300,000 civilians dead.

Uganda: Reconcile With the Living, Not Just the Dead

A column from Mahmood Mamdani - a professor Columbia University, Director of the Institute of African Studies, and author of "When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda" - in The Monitor

For a long time, the war in the North seemed to simmer as a local affair with local consequences. Even if most people were content to leave its conduct to the government, a growing number wondered why there was no end to it, why every round of peace talks was broken up by war talk, calling for a military victory amidst a military stalemate. The government pointed the finger north, to meddling by the government of Sudan.

But now that war has ended even in the south of Sudan, that explanation can no longer suffice. Ugandans are compelled to look internally for an explanation as to why the northern war has continued for a second decade.

The facts are as evident as they are puzzling. First, the LRA guerrillas are estimated in the hundreds, rather than the thousands, with elementary training and rudimentary technology.

Second, whereas the LRA preys on civilians, the government has interned most of the population (over a million) in barbed-wire camps, without providing them adequate security, food or medicine. I visited a camp of roughly 15,000 internees two years ago; it was 'protected' by 15 armed soldiers, and periodically raided by the LRA. Recent figures, both official and unofficial, show that the level of excess deaths in the internment camps far exceeds those killed by the LRA.

Finally, and not surprisingly, most of the local population seems to have kept a distance from both the LRA and the government. So why does the northern war continue?

Does the answer lie in revenge, a vendetta rationalised as the pursuit of justice? Or does it lie in advantage? The case for both grows with time.

Zimbabwe: UN Envoy Visits Camps Housing the Evicted

From Reuters

U.N. humanitarian envoy Jan Egeland tramped through deep mud in squalid camps housing victims of Zimbabwe's shantytown demolitions on Monday, declaring their plight "very bad".

President Robert Mugabe's government has bulldozed urban slums and what it called illegal structures in an operation the U.N. says left 700,000 people homeless or without a livelihood and affected 2.4 million others.

On Monday Egeland visited people living in hundreds of makeshift plastic-sheeting shelters in the Hatcliffe informal settlement 20 km (12 miles) outsude Harare, a camp often waterlogged by rain.

"I have ... now seen the great shortage for those who have been affected by the evictions," Egeland, the U.N.'s coordinator of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, told reporters.

"It is very clear that the needs are great, the needs are tremendous and the people are living under very bad conditions."

Congo: Earthquake Kills Several

From the AP

A powerful earthquake struck the Lake Tanganyika region of East Africa on Monday, toppling dozens of homes in a Congolese town and burying children in the rubble, aid workers said. Several people were reported killed.

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, struck at 2:20 p.m. (7:20 a.m. EST) and was centered near the Congo-Tanzania border, about 600 miles southwest of the Kenyan capital, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.

"Dozens of houses have collapsed, several children were buried by the roofs of their houses," said Jean-Donne Owali, a Congolese humanitarian worker in the lakeside town of Kalemie, Congo, about 35 miles from the epicenter.

"Injured people have been sent to local hospitals," Owali told The Associated Press by telephone. He said he saw children at one clinic bleeding from head injuries after their mud-and-thatch homes collapsed on them.

Sudan: Only a Fraction of Pledged Aid Received

From Reuters

Sudan has received only a fraction of the $4.5 billion in aid pledged by international donors for post-war reconstruction for the south, a Sudanese diplomat said on Monday.

Taib Ali Ahmed, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on aid held in Ethiopia, said only $130 million had been transferred and he urged the foreign community to honor the full pledge.

"So far the government of Sudan has received only $130 million out of the pledge of $4.5 billion for the 2005-07 first phase," said Ahmed, referring to a so-called first phase of post conflict development in southern Sudan in 2005/07.

"This is too little to bring comprehensive development to war-wrecked south Sudan. We hope the international community will honor its pledges and speed up assistance," said Ahmed, a senior Sudanese envoy in Ethiopia.

Darfur: Rebels Would Welcome U.N., Gov't Cautious

From Reuters

Darfur rebels would welcome the United Nations taking over an African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's western region, their leaders said on Monday, but government delegates at peace talks in Nigeria reacted negatively to the possibility.

A joint mission will assess problems facing the 6,000-strong AU force monitoring a rocky ceasefire in Darfur on Dec. 10 and look at the idea of the United Nations taking over, diplomats and U.N officials in New York said.

"We will welcome and cooperate with any international force in Darfur," said Ahmed Tugod Lissan, chief negotiator of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the smaller of two rebel groups at the Abuja talks.

The main Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said the AU was doing a good job, but needed more troops, help with equipment and logistics, and a wider mandate to protect civilians.

AU forces currently have a mandate to monitor ceasefire violations, but only limited powers to intervene.

"Right now civilians are being raped, killed and burned and the AU is just writing reports," said one of two SLA leaders, Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur. "They need at minimum 20,000 troops, more vehicles and a clearer mandate."

The Sudanese government has in the past rejected any proposal for the United Nations to deploy in Darfur and Amin Hassan Omar, a government spokesman at the talks, said it preferred the AU because they were Africans and understood the culture of Darfur.

"The government will look at the proposal on its merits when it is made," he said. "But we don't want the U.N. to control so much of our country," he added.

Darfur: News Briefs

The latest round-up of Darfur news from the Genocide Intervention Network is available here - be sure to read it.

Darfur: What You Can Do

Sleepless in Sudan has a post with some recommendations of what people can do to help in Darfur here - also, be sure to read her post on the AU's limitations.

Darfur: Students Urge Genocide Response

From The Harvard Crimson

More than 200 student activists from across the country gathered in Boylston Hall this weekend for the December Darfur Conference, sponsored by the national student group Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND).

[edit]

At the conference, students heard from experts about the history of Darfur and its current situation.

On Friday night, panelists described the pattern of rape and murder in the western region of Sudan. Andrew B. Loewenstein, a human rights lawyer commissioned by the U.S. State Department to investigate the genocide in Darfur, talked about his interviews with refugees in Eastern Chad.

He said he heard stories of five-year-old African boys being “slaughtered like animals” or thrown into burning tents by the Janjaweed, Arab militia of armed horsemen sponsored by the Sudanese government. He said locals rape women as they leave the refugee camps to gather firewood, sometimes gang-raping up to 60 women at a time with animal whips.

[edit]

In coordination with the Save Darfur Coalition and the GI Network, STAND introduced the “Power to Protect” campaign. From January through April, they hope to collect one million letters to deliver to Congress and the President. Their first goal is to pressure the House to pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which would give $50 million to African Union forces.