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."

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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.

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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.

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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.