Darfur: UN Mission Reports Continuing Clashes

From the UN News Center

Violent clashes between Sudanese Government forces, allied militias and rebel groups continue to plague the strife-torn Darfur region, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported today, while a UN humanitarian convoy has also been ambushed.

UNMIS reported that the security situation in Darfur’s north and west is particularly volatile, with ongoing clashes over the past three days, a UN spokesperson told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.

In the area around Kulkul in North Darfur, Sudanese Government forces fought members of the rebel group known as the National Redemption Front, prompting internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area to flee towards the provincial capital, El Fasher.

In West Darfur, a convoy of 29 trucks belonging to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was ambushed by six armed men on Saturday as it was returning to its base in the provincial capital, Geneina, after distributing food in the district around Habila. The spokesperson said no injuries were reported.

Uganda: Rights Activists Oppose Kony, Otti Arrest

From The Monitor

THE International Criminal Court's pressure on Uganda to apprehend the LRA five top commanders is a "problematic option", human rights activists have said.

Mr Zachary Lomo, the executive director of the Refugee Law Project at Makerere University and his counterpart from Human Rights Focus, Mr James Otto, argued that the threat to prosecute Joseph Kony and his top commanders could derail the peace talks between the government and the rebels.

"Insistence on prosecution would demand that Uganda jeopardises this chance to pursue peace," they said in a July 24 press statement.

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"The presence of the LRA delegation in Juba [Southern Sudan capital] and the government's openness in engaging in the talks suggest that the parties are taking this [mediation] process seriously," the statement said.

"Given the International community's overriding commitment to contributing to peace, the logic of prosecution is untenable."

Darfur: Show President Bush You Want to Stop the Genocide

An email from Save Darfur

Thanks to you and other Darfur activists like you, since Wednesday, over 74,000 messages have been sent to Members of Congress urging adequate funding to protect the people of Darfur.

That's impressive! But we must keep the pressure on all our elected leaders – including President Bush. That's why we’re about to do something we’ve never done before.

President Bush is soon headed to his Texas ranch. To keep the Darfur genocide on his mind even while he’s on vacation, we’re going to run a full-page advertisement in the Waco, Texas, newspaper (the closest big newspaper to President Bush’s Crawford ranch).

Now we are asking for your help to pay for the ad. For a contribution of at least $50, you can sign on and have your name printed in the advertisement in the Waco Tribune-Herald.

But we can only fit the names of 1,000 citizens calling on President Bush to take stronger action in Darfur, so please make your contribution soon.

Click here to make a $50 donation and see what the ad will look like.

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P.S. Don’t forget! September 17 is the Global Day for Darfur with activities around the country and around the world. In New York City, the Save Darfur Coalition is hosting "Save Darfur Now: Voices to Stop Genocide," a rally/concert calling on the United Nations to deploy international peacekeepers to Darfur. Visit http://www.savedarfur.org/now for information and updates.

Uganda: Officials Meet Kony

From Sapa-AFP

Ugandan government officials met overnight with the elusive Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony ahead of the resumption of peace talks aimed at ending a 19-year-old insurgency, officials said on Monday.

The spokesperson for the Ugandan delegation to the peace talks said Walter Ochora, a district commissioner for northern Uganda's Gulu District, met the rebel supremo in Nabanga, a small trading post along the southern Sudan-Democratic Republic of Congo border.

"We know that Kony met with Ochola last night. We shall get details of their discussion later," spokesperson Paddy Ankunda told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Kampala.

In 1994, Kony held face-to-face talks with Betty Bigombe, who was the minister in charge of northern Uganda. Since then, Bogombe, who later became a peace mediator, made several failed attempts to launch peace talks.

The Nabanga meeting came as both sides prepared to resume talks mediated by Riak Machar, the vice-president of the semi-autonomous region of southern Sudan, to end the bloody conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced about two million people.

LRA spokesperson Obonyo Olweny told AFP the delegates were scheduled to meet traditional and religious elders who will "actively participate in the reconciliation and confidence-building phase of the talks".

Have You Thought of Darfur Lately?

From Nat Hentoff

Years after that, writing of the world's silence before and during the genocide in Rwanda -- with the considerable research help of the "Frontline" documentary "Ghosts of Rwanda" (April 1, 2004, on PBS) -- I found that Kofi Annan, then head of peacekeeping at the United Nations, had ordered Gen. Romeo Dallaire, U.N. Force commander in Rwanda, not to intervene, although Gen. Dallaire had advance word of what was to happen and could have stopped it.

And from President Clinton, at the time, came orders to the State Department not to use the word "genocide" in answer to reporters' questions about our refusal to intervene. Four years after the corpses had filled the rivers of Rwanda, Mr. Clinton, speaking in Rwanda, said: "All over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror."

Then why was the State Department ordered by the White House to avoid the dread word "genocide," which might well have impelled many Americans, in 1994, to ask why we did not get involved.

Now, thinking of this doomsday chronicle of world leaders who have been silent during massive crimes against humanity on their watch, I am depressed and puzzled at why -- when knowledge of the genocide in Darfur cannot be escaped -- so many Americans are indifferent.

Yes, there have been rallies and a persistent network of American human-rights activists. But, aside from them, among the millions fiercely opposing our involvement in Iraq, I see and hear no public, organized horror at the killings in Darfur. And from those Americans who never miss an opportunity to attack the government of Israel, that fury does not encompass the Khartoum government of Sudan.

Among my own family, friends and acquaintances, the reaction when I speak of Darfur is mostly only polite attempts at showing concern. Often there is no reaction at all, as if I were an utterly boring ancient mariner with a tale of the suffering that befell his crew when he shot an albatross. (Today's ancient mariner is the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, who keeps bringing us the naked truth of these endless Kristallnachts in Darfur.)

For all I know, there are occasional sermons in our places of worship about Darfur; but there are no rising, insistent, horrified winds and gales of protest around this country to shake the timbers of Congress and the White House.

Is there nothing meaningful the world's most powerful nation can do? Well, with what's going on in the Mideast and the coming midterm elections here, that question isn't being asked at all. Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, head of the U.N.'s humanitarian operations, says of Darfur: "I think we're headed toward total chaos. Our people in the field are increasingly desperate."

This fall, will any candidates of either party even mention Darfur in their campaign?

Darfur: Tearfund Confirms Death of Worker

From Tearfund

It is with shock and deep sadness that Tearfund confirms the death on Thursday, (July 27), of a Sudanese member of its relief team working in West Darfur, Sudan.

Rashid Mohamed Mohamed Adam, a hired driver, was one of five Tearfund team members in two vehicles caught up in civil unrest while collecting seedlings, as part of a tree planting programme, from a camp for displaced people in Deleig, north of Garsilla. The team was attacked during the unrest.

Three of Tearfund's team managed to escape the attack, but Rashid and another team member, Taha Adurahhman, who suffered serious but not life threatening injuries, were set upon by a crowd.

Ian Wallace, Tearfund's International Regions Director, said: 'We are very shocked and we are doing all we can to support Rashid's family and the rest of the Tearfund team, who are extremely shaken. We take the safety and security of our staff on overseas operations very seriously. Currently our relief teams are staying close to their base in Garsilla, while we review security and investigate why this violent incident occurred in one of the previously safest places in Darfur to work.'

Violence is persisting in Darfur, western Sudan, despite the recent signing of a peace deal. Thousands of civilians are being forced from their homes as fighting continues between different rebel factions and government militia.

Recent attacks on aid workers in Zalinge and Geneina, west Darfur, have led some aid agencies to suspend work in the area.

Uganda: LRA Abductees Cry for Home

From IRIN

With tears in her eyes, the 18-year-old girl (name withheld) stood before a small group of rebels and aid workers, pleading: "We want to go back home, to be reunited with our families and go to school."

She was part of a group of more than 100 children paraded by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to officials of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in a camp near the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday.

The rebels, led by Capt Sunday Ochaya, inhibited the children from talking openly. "I am from Gulu [northern Uganda] and have been here for two years. I want to go back home," the girl added, as more tears rolled down her scarred face.

Among the children were 18 boys aged from eight years, 20 mothers carrying babies aged from two months to two-and-a-half years and more than 60 girls aged 12 and over. Most were dressed in rags and begged for medical help.

"More than 500 boys and girls from various places in northern Uganda and southern Sudan are still in our camps," said Ochaya, who is also the coordinator between the LRA and the southern Sudan government. "They will be brought later, [because] they will have to walk for four hours."

A few metres away, a 16-year-old boy (name withheld) stood quietly in army trousers and a dirty white shirt. "I was abducted six years ago from Kitgum [northern Uganda]. But I got tired after the grass cut my feet and I could not walk so other boys carried me through the bush. I saw six men who failed to walk. They were chopped to death."

He was hesitant to discuss the details under the watchful eye of the rebels. "One of the commanders was my uncle. We walked until we came to a river where we stayed for seven days, eating only boiled sorghum. Then we were led to a place surrounded by mountains. Eventually a group came from Sudan and led us to a town.

"Here we were taken by car across a bridge to a place where we walked to where we are now. I have since been [a soldier]," he added, just before the interview was cut short by one LRA officer, who ordered him to stop talking to strangers.

As the meeting ended and the cars carrying the Unicef team, reporters and mediators in the peace talks revved up their engines, some of the children wept uncontrollably. "We wish our leaders could sign a peace agreement, so the suffering ends," one of them sobbed.

Una McCauley, Unicef's child protection officer in south Sudan told the children: "We are ready to support you to go back to school when you rejoin your families in southern Sudan or northern Uganda."

The meeting between the children and Unicef officials was part of an ongoing peace process that started on 14 July in Juba, southern Sudan. It followed a decision by the Ugandan government to begin peace negotiations with the rebels.

Several meetings are being held in jungle locations between the rebels, Sudanese officials, led by the Vice-President of the south, Riek Machar, and various Ugandan groups, including religious leaders, chiefs and government officials.

"I have many children [in camps] who were abducted from both northern Uganda and southern Sudan," Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, told leaders from his Acholi region in a separate meeting on Sunday. "We are ready to release them so they can continue with their studies, with their families. We are sorry for what happened [to them]."

DRC: Food Shortages For 80,600 IDPs

From IRIN

Food aid is running short for about 80,600 people displaced by insecurity in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a local official of the UN World Food Programme in Ituri District said on Friday.

"We have only 40 to 60 tonnes in stock for the displaced in camps, and with 40 tonnes we can only serve pregnant women, nursing mothers and children," said François Djissou, the WFP official in charge of the agency's Ituri office in Bunia.

The agency does not yet know when food aid might resume, Djissou added. It is seeking donor assistance for its programme in Ituri.

WFP, he said, had planned to deliver food to internally displaced people in Bunia and Gety on Saturday but that was not possible. However, in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, Stephanie Savariaud, the WFP Public Information Officer, East and Central Africa Office, said on Monday there would be food distribution in Gety "very soon".

Between 40,000 and 50,000 of Ituri's 150,000 to 200,000 IDPs are in Gety, according to humanitarian agencies.

The area some 30 km south of Gety is teeming with fighters of the Front résistance patriotique en Ituri (FRPI) and their Mouvement revolutionnaire congolais (MRC) allies. Their presence has made it impossible for many displaced persons to reach humanitarian organisations in Gety.

As a result, Djissou said, humanitarian NGOs were overwhelmed. The mobile hospital in Gety run by Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland was overcrowded with malnourished and sick children. In addition, the 120-bed therapeutic nutritional centre run by the Italian NGO COOPI is now caring for 169 severely malnourished children.

"Infections will get worse since diseases are always related to food," Djissou said.

DRC: First Multiparty Election in 46 Years

From the New York Times

Jules Mabuisi had waited a long time for this.

At the age of 80, he has been ruled by Belgians, dictators and a cadre of warlords who carved up his country and then watched it rot. On Sunday, for the first time in decades, he was allowed to cast a meaningful vote.

“Where do I mark?” Mr. Mabuisi asked, staring at a ballot with hundreds of names and little faces on it.

He was among the millions of Congolese who streamed to polling places on Sunday — on foot, by bike, even by log canoe — for the first multiparty vote since shortly after independence in an election meant to bring peace to Congo and elsewhere in Central Africa, one of the poorest, most violent regions on earth. Nearly four million people have died as a result of fighting and chaos in Congo since 1998, according to the International Rescue Committee.

In Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, people waited in long, mostly orderly lines, including men in double-breasted suits and women in African finery balancing buckets of baguettes on their heads.

Sporadic violence occurred before the vote, including an episode a few days ago at a political rally where a policeman was doused with gasoline and burned to death. But election day went off without widespread complications, said officials of the United Nations, which organized and supervised the voting.

That was no small feat. Congo is a country the size of Western Europe with impressive mineral riches and 60 million people but only 300 miles of paved roads. Much of it is nearly impenetrable jungle that can be reached only by helicopter or boat.

Because of the number of candidates — about 9,700 for 500 national assembly seats and 33 for president — the ballots were huge, weighing a total of 3.6 million pounds. There were 50,000 polling places. The election cost $458 million and was the biggest and most complicated the United Nations has ever run.

Because of all the logistical challenges, the official election results are not expected for weeks. If no presidential candidate gets a majority, a runoff is scheduled for fall.

Darfur: Cracks Emerge in Peace Deal

From the BBC - via Sudan Watch

As the sun beats down on Darfur's dry flat desert, the order goes out from a leader to his men: "Solve lora infernis, unleash hell! We will not tolerate this any more."

These men are not the Janjaweed - the feared militia backed by the Khartoum government and responsible for the worst atrocities of this war. A hundred thousand people have died and two million have been displaced.

They are not the Darfur rebels either - a sprawling mess of armed groups who have targeted aid workers and food convoys.

No, this is the African Union (AU) - the organisation sent to bring peace to Sudan's far west.

Barking out the orders is a man who would not be out of place in a Hollywood film - South African sector commander Richard Lourens.

A veteran of wars in Angola and Namibia, he is not a man who takes failure well.

Sporting a closely trimmed black beard and a macho swagger, he has been in Darfur just a few months but he has had enough of being pushed around in this messy conflict.

Large parts of the surrounding desert are off limits to his patrols and twice in the past two weeks Colonel Lourens' men have suffered the ultimate military humiliation.

Stopped by rebels on a road, the South African soldiers handed over their weapons and vehicles without a shot being fired. Some 45 machine guns and four vehicles were taken.

s Colonel Lourens reads the riot act, the man at the centre of Darfur's confusion is being acclaimed in Washington as a peacemaker.

For Minni Minnawi, a photo opportunity with President Bush is his reward for bowing to international pressure and signing an African Union-sponsored peace agreement with the Sudanese government.

The problem is that Mr Minnawi's signature has made the situation in Darfur worse, not better.

A former primary school teacher, Mr Minnawi leads his own faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) - the only rebel group in Darfur to have agreed terms with the Khartoum government.

But the deal has done little for the region's traumatised population and new rebel alliances spring up every few days.

The one positive note is that fighting has now stopped between Mr Minnawi's rebel faction and the Sudanese government.

But with both hands now free he has been able to devote his full attention to what had previously only been a side issue - attacking rival rebel leaders and their supporters.

In one of the African Union camps I spoke to a West African commander. He loaded a detailed map on to his laptop.

"This town is Korma," he said.

Korma and the surrounding villages are dominated by a tribe loyal to SLM Wahid, a rebel group which is opposed to Mr Minnawi and outside the peace agreement.

Taking me through events in meticulous detail, the commander explained how Mr Minnawi's rebels spent the first few days of July clearing villages of people en route to capturing Korma.

At least 80 people had been killed, he said, 18,000 fled for their lives.

"This was ethnic cleansing," he told me. Remaining villagers were being shot on sight, and he said he had seen pictures of two mass graves.

Mr Minnawi's violence has left the African Union humiliated and deeply compromised. When the deal was signed the AU had welcomed him with open arms.

The rebel leader stays inside AU headquarters, eats AU food and his men drive, and on some occasions crash, AU cars. Atrocities have been brushed under the carpet and when Mr Minnawi wants to go into the field, an African Union helicopter is made available to fly him there.

The men of the African Union went to Darfur to help protect its displaced people.

Now they are seen as part of the problem: on the side of the Sudanese government and of Minni Minnawi. They are not welcome in many of the camps they are supposed to be protecting and despite the best efforts of people like Colonel Lourens, their men are demoralised.

Darfur: Gov't Attacks Rebel Bases, Say Sources

From Reuters

Sudanese government forces and allied militias attacked bases of a new rebel alliance in Darfur despite a ceasefire in the violent west, officials and rebels said on Saturday.

An unpopular African Union-mediated peace deal was signed in May by only one of three rebel negotiating factions. Many leaders who did not sign formed a new group called the National Redemption Front (NRF), which began military operations earlier this month in the Kordofan area neighboring Darfur.

"Yesterday (Friday) all day and until the evening the government of Sudan with the Janjaweed attacked Jabel Moun and Kulkul, north of el-Fasher," Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, a rebel NRF commander, told Reuters from Darfur on Saturday.

Jabel Moun is a mountainous area on the Sudan-Chad border. Kulkul is 35 km (22 miles) north of Darfur's main town el-Fasher.

Nur said the government used Antonov planes and three attack helicopters to bombard the areas, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee their homes and seek refuge in el-Fasher.

The Sudanese armed forces confirmed clashes in both areas, but denied using any planes or Janjaweed militias.

"We moved an administrative force from el-Fasher which was ambushed by the NRF near Kulkul," said an army spokesman, adding one soldier was killed and another injured.

"In Jabel Moun we have security forces at the entry and exit points to stop rebel forces who are looting from civilians and these clashes are happening daily," he added.

Sudan: Gov't Arming Militias in South

From Reuters

Sudanese armed forces are still arming and supporting militias in southern Sudan in violation of a peace deal which ended two decades of a bloody civil war, a southern official said on Saturday.

Under the north-south peace deal signed in January 2005 all southern militias were told to join the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) or the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army, or lay down their arms.

But hundreds of people have been killed in continued clashes between militias in the south east Upper Nile region and the areas around Sudan's main oil fields which are in the south.

Pagan Amum, secretary-general of the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) which joined the coalition government in Khartoum with the northern National Congress Party under the 2005 peace deal, accused the NCP of violating the peace deal.

"The continuation of support to militias in the south from elements of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is a violation of the peace agreement," Amum told reporters in Khartoum.

"It is known who is giving them arms, it is known who is giving them money ... elements from SAF are continuing to arm them," Amum said.

Uganda: Otti 'Attends Talks'

From the BBC

A key Ugandan rebel leader has attended peace talks, the Associated Press news agency has reported.

Vincent Otti, deputy leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), was said to have turned up for the meeting in a clearing on the DR Congo-Sudan border.

The talks are aimed at persuading rebel leaders to end 20 years of conflict.

Mr Otti is among LRA leaders indicted by the International Criminal Court over their 20-year campaign, which has cost thousands of civilian lives.

Darfur: News Brief

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

Darfur: UN and AU Condemn Fresh Round of Clashes

From the UN News Center

The senior United Nations envoy to Sudan and his African Union (AU) counterpart have issued a joint statement voicing deep concern at today’s violent clashes in the strife-torn Darfur region involving Sudanese Government forces, allied militias and rebel groups.

In their statement, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Jan Pronk and the AU Commission Chairperson’s Special Representative Baba Gana Kingibe said they were especially worried about the fate of civilians in the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur, where the fighting is reported to be taking place.

Mr. Pronk and Mr. Kingibe warned that an attack on any party to the conflict in Darfur violates either the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), which was signed in May, or an earlier accord known as the N’Djamena Ceasefire Agreement.

The statement noted that, according to reports received by the African Union’s mission in Sudan (AMIS), Sudanese Government forces and Janjaweed militias were involved in a combined operation against in Jebel Moon against a rebel group which has not signed the DPA.

Congo: Betting on Democracy to Heal a Nation

From the Chicago Tribune

Putting on elections in Congo is a daunting task.

The vast Central African country, the size of the United States east of the Mississippi, has few passable roads and armed rebel movements in the east and south.

The man many Congolese would choose as their next president is not running in Sunday's elections, and the hugely respected Roman Catholic Church, one of the few functioning institutions in a deeply dysfunctional state, is threatening to demand a boycott of the country's first democratic vote in more than 40 years.

With 33 presidential candidates and 9,600 parliamentary hopefuls vying for office, Congo's road-map-size foldout ballot has six pages and is so bulky that flying 1,800 tons of them into the country took 75 aircraft. Getting the ballots transferred to 46,000 remote polling places, often by helicopter or boat through thick rain forest, and providing security and salaries for an army of election staff is costing international donors $3 million a day.

"It's a massive operation," said William Lacy Swing, a former U.S. diplomat and the United Nations' lead official in Congo. But if the long-awaited elections can help bring lasting peace to sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest country, where nearly 4 million people have perished from conflict-related causes since 1998, "that could change the face of Africa," he said. "It could have greater positive impact than ending any other conflict on the continent," including that in Sudan's Darfur region.

The question for many anxious Congolese and international officials, however, is whether Sunday's landmark elections will be the start of lasting peace--or the spark that reignites all-out war.

One of the most powerful presidential challengers, former warlord and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, has hinted he might reactivate his private militia if the results of the election are seen as something less than free and fair. Joseph Kabila, Congo's current leader and the favorite to win, is widely popular but also dismissed by detractors as a foreigner--he was raised in Tanzania--and as a puppet of foreign leaders eager to get their hands on Congo's vast mineral wealth.

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Voters have plenty of choice Sunday. Among the presidential candidates are a wealthy former central bank chief under Mobutu, a Boston-based oncologist now seeking power at home and either a son or daughter of every postindependence leader. So many parliamentary candidates are running that many campaign posters simply focus on helping voters find their choice on the massive ballot. "No. 534, Page 4," one notes.

The one name notably not on the presidential ballot is that of 74-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi, a widely admired opposition leader who long fought for multiparty democracy and against Mobutu's corrupt 32-year rule. Citing concerns that elections were being rushed and would not be fair, he declined to run, leaving his legions of supporters frustrated and wondering where to turn.

One major worry in Congo is that international backers may see Sunday's vote as the end of a transition to peace and democracy, rather than the start. The United States, the main contributor to the $1 billion annual budget for 17,500 UN peacekeepers in Congo, is eager to move troops on to other conflicts. But a premature pullout could sink chances for lasting peace as Congolese expectations rise after the election, Swing said.

The country still faces widespread illegal mining of its mineral resources, large-scale corruption, an abusive army, a powerful rebellion in the east and a heart-wrenching death toll of 1,200 a day--including many children--from conflict-related violence and diseases like malaria, human-rights groups say.

"Elections don't magically change a country," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a Human Rights Watch expert on Congo. "It's what happens after the elections that will decide whether this country turns a corner."

Uganda: No Amnesty for Atrocities

From Human Rights Watch

Genuine initiatives aimed at ending the devastating armed conflict in northern Uganda are welcome, but amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity must not be on offer, Human Rights Watch said today.

On July 14 peace talks began between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Juba, the capital of the regional government of Southern Sudan. As part of a peace package, the Ugandan government delegation is offering amnesty to all LRA combatants, including five top LRA leaders for whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Human Rights Watch has documented human rights violations committed by the LRA over the years, including torture, sexual abuse, mutilations, recruitment of child soldiers, and forcing children to kill even members of their own families.

"The LRA Five are accused of widespread sexual slavery, murder, and brutalization of children over two decades," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "Amnesty or similar measures can not be on the table when it comes to these kinds of crimes."

International law rejects impunity for serious crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture. International treaties, including the U.N. Convention against Torture, the Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, require parties to ensure alleged perpetrators of serious crimes are prosecuted. Uganda has ratified each of these in addition to numerous other human rights treaties.

According to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, amnesties cannot be granted for serious crimes under international law, and peace agreements endorsed by the United Nations can never provide such amnesties.

The creation of the International Criminal Court and other international criminal tribunals to prosecute genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or other serious violations of humanitarian law illustrates the strong international commitment to justice for serious crimes.

"We have seen time and again that turning a blind eye to justice only undercuts durable peace," said Dicker. "How long can a peace based on this kind of deal last?"

The United Nations and key governments, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, should continue to speak out strongly against amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

DRC: Militia Groups Agree to Disarm

From the AP

The last two main militia groups in Congo’s most troubled province agreed to disarm in exchange for amnesty and army positions, officials said Thursday as violence erupted in the capital reportedly killing seven people ahead of historic weekend elections.

Police fired tear gas at a campaign rally in Kinshasa that turned violent after a fire broke out at a camp for militiamen loyal to rebel-leader-turned presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba.

A mob attacked and killed one soldier who allegedly fired into the crowd near the rally that drew 20,000 Bemba supporters to a stadium in the capital. Crowds of angry youths ran through the streets, burning and looting a nearby church where they saw posters of President Joseph Kabila.

The U.N. said two police were killed in the mayhem, and Bemba’s officials said three civilians also died. A fire also broke out at the home of Bemba’s bodyguard in which two children died, witnesses told The Associated Press.

Sunday’s vote will be Congo’s first democratic presidential election since independence from Belgium in 1960. Many hope the poll will bring an end to years of corruption and conflict since back-to-back wars that began in 1996.

Though a peace deal ended most fighting in 2002, much of the east, including the northeastern Ituri province, remained lawless, wracked by sporadic fighting. Clashes between rival militias in Ituri alone has left more than 50,000 dead since 1999.

The militias’ agreement to lay down arms marks a momentous breakthrough that could end fighting in the northeast and ensure a peaceful presidential vote.

Sudan: A Year After Garang

From IRIN

Several people in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba still pay their respects every day at the grave of John Garang de Mabior, former leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), a year after his death.

Buried at the top of the hill, Garang lies symbolically between the new parliament of southern Sudan and the army barracks, in a grave guarded by SPLA soldiers.

"Many people expected the SPLM to disintegrate with the death of our late chairman; that did not happen," said Pagan Amum, Secretary-General of the movement. "Many people thought that even the interim period would not happen; what happened was the contrary."

Garang died in a helicopter crash on 30 July 2005 while flying back to his base in southern Sudan from a meeting with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni. The MI-72 Ugandan presidential helicopter carrying him and 13 other people came down in bad weather on the Sudan-Uganda border.

Observers say the man who founded the SPLM/A, but died three weeks after taking office as the First Vice-President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan, remains a colossus in the south. As the undisputed leader of the former southern rebel movement and architect of the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the SPLM/A and the northern National Congress Party that ended the 21-year southern civil war, the impact of his sudden death on Sudan was bound to be significant.

The peace accord provided for a six-year period of interim rule headed by a government of national unity (GNU). After this interim period, the south would hold a referendum to decide whether to remain part of a united Sudan or to break away o form a separate state.

When riots erupted around the country following the news of his death - leaving approximately 130 dead - many feared the disintegration of the SPLM/A, the collapse of the CPA and a return to civil war. A year later, however, Garang's legacy proves remarkably resilient.

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Former members of SPLM's Leadership Council, Pagan Amum and Nhial Deng Nhial, who helped negotiate the CPA, were appointed adviser for diplomatic affairs and minister of regional cooperation, respectively. According to Taban, however, these were "redundant positions", as the key responsibility lay with the ministry of foreign affairs in Khartoum. Nhial recently resigned and moved to Britain.

Garang's death also weakened the SPLM's position in the GNU. "The SPLM is a junior partner in this government," Taban said.

Amum told IRIN he was aware of the criticism that the SPLM had not played its expected role in national politics, in the resolution of the conflict in Darfur and in a number of other issues, but said it was inevitable after Garang's death. "If people are disappointed that the SPLM has not done the things expected from it, that could be true. But we are trying; we are trying to assume our responsibility," he said.

Darfur: Podcast With Ken Bacon

The lastest podcast from the Committee on Conscience, featuring Ken Bacon of Refugees International

JERRY FOWLER: How does the situation on this trip compare to your previous visits? You have been there twice.

KEN BACON: I would say there are a couple of fundamental changes. As you know, there was a peace agreement signed in May, on May 5th, and it was signed between the government of Sudan and one of three rebel groups; that is the Sudan Liberation Army faction, headed by a person named Minni Minawi. After that peace agreement was signed, there has been a fairly marked increase in violence and displacement. I will talk a little more about that later, but that is the first deleterious impact of the peace agreement. The second is that it has made some of the large refugee camps very edgy, and at times, violent. This is pretty new. The camps have generally been calm, but since the peace agreement was signed, there have been some killings; an African Union interpreter was killed in Kalma Camp in Nyala shortly after the agreement was signed, some African Union vehicles have been burned in the camps, and there have been other killings and massive demonstrations against the Darfur Peace Agreement. Basically, the peace agreement has not brought peace; it has brought increased violence.

[edit]

JERRY FOWLER: To explore a little bit the nature of their dissatisfaction, is it a matter of following the lead of Abdul Wahid, or was there much substantive familiarity with the details of the agreement and unhappiness with substantive details?

KEN BACON: In almost every camp we encountered a local leader or sheik who had either read the agreement, been briefed on it, or heard accounts on the BBC or Voice of America. In general, the people had not read the agreement and did not know much about it, but this is what they do know: They know that security has gotten worse rather than better. In the life of the internally displaced in Darfur, security is everything. Security is what they want more than anything else. When security gets worse, they turn against what they think caused it to get worse, and they think that there is a relationship between the growing insecurity on the one hand, and the Darfur Peace Agreement on the other. They tend to be against the agreement on those grounds.

[edit]

JERRY FOWLER: How would it be possible to move to greater security? Who is going to provide that security?

KEN BACON: There are two things. First, despite the greater fighting stirred by Minawi’s troops—and I should tell you that this is a different type of fighting than we have seen from the SLA and Minawi in the past. In the past, the fighting between the two factions of the Sudan Liberation Army has been force on force. It has been groups of soldiers versus other groups of rebel soldiers. The most recent fighting has been soldiers versus civilians, and this way it imitates what the Janjaweed has done, and it indicates what we have called, and what you have called, genocide. The Zaghawa are now coming into camps and they are concentrating on killing young men and boys. They are saying, “If you are not for the peace agreement, if you are not for us, you are against us, and we are going to punish you; we are going to kill you.” It has taken a very disturbing turn against civilians that did not exist in the past from the Minawi group. This is very, very bad news. Now, what is going to change this? I am hoping that during his visit to Washington, the Bush Administration and members of Congress who meet with Minawi will make it absolutely clear that we cannot deal with anybody, even one who signed the peace agreement, if he is killing civilians in Darfur, and therefore, he will put out the orders to his commanders. Second, the good thing that has happened is that the Janjaweed has basically been more under control—this is the Arab-backed militia groups that cooperates with the government—it has not been launching its signature attacks on civilians recently. It has continued banditry, but it has not been attacking and killing large groups of civilians in villages, at least not over the last two months. I hope that continues. One, Minawi will order his troops to stop this fighting, stop the killing. Two, as you know, we are all working very hard to get a United Nations peacekeeping force into Darfur to replace the very undermanned, overwhelmed African Union force that has been there for the last two years. A United Nations force will not be a miracle, it will not bring instant peace and stability, but it should have a better chance of stabilizing the situation than the African Union force has.

[edit]

JERRY FOWLER: You are in Khartoum now; you are hoping, I think, to meet with some government officials. Have you been in Khartoum long enough to get a sense of what the attitude is? What are we seeing on the international level is firm statements by Omar al Bashir, the Sudanese President, that under no circumstances will he allow United Nations to come in, even though there seems to be a growing consensus internationally that the United Nations does need to go in. Do you have any sense about whether that attitude is softening?

KEN BACON: There were—I think someone is trying to call me on this line unfortunately—there were demonstrations today against a United Nations force, but there were also stories in the paper saying that maybe they would accept a force made out of troops from Muslim countries; that could range from Turkey to Bangladesh to Indonesia, there is a wide range of Muslim countries. The idea that they will not allow United Nations or international troops in Sudan is just crazy. They have 10,000 international United Nations troops that are peacekeeping right now in South Sudan, so they have already done that. At one point, the President al Bashir said that he would not accept African Union forces. There are 7,000 African Union forces in Darfur, and they have been there for two years. He has changed his mind in the past; we have to hope he will change it in the future. Frankly, what I think is going on here is that he wants to make sure that a United Nations force does not come in with a mandate to arrest him or other people in this government if there is an indictment by the International Criminal Court. There have not been any indictments of Sudanese officials, but the International Criminal Court is investigating events in Darfur; they have found evidence of crimes according to the prosecutor, but they have not indicted anybody yet. I cannot predict whether they will or they will not, but I think that al Bashir, the President, is very keen to avoid any sort of force in Darfur that might arrest him or other people in his Administration.

JERRY FOWLER: I would like to, as we conclude, to step back a little bit. You were in the United States government for a good part of the nineties as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, so you saw first hand United States government response to, I believe, to Rwanda, to Bosnia, to Kosovo, East Timor, challenges like that. Where do you think we stand today in terms of United States government response and international response to these episodes of mass violence?

KEN BACON: The language of a response is better; at least we are admitting that genocide is taking place. We did not do that back in the nineties, during Rwanda or during the Balkans, but the substance of a response is no better. We are not taking a strong against genocide, so we have a curious situation where President Bush, I think, has been correct, and honest and forthright in calling what is happening in Darfur, genocide, but he is not carrying out the action that I believe anybody who is concerned about Darfur would carry out. We have depended on diplomacy, not military action to stop this. Diplomacy, obviously, is the first choice, but if it does not work, I think we should look at something else.

Darfur: Attack and Rape of 17 Women Outside Kalma

From SOAT via the Sudan Tribune

On 24 July 2006, approximately 25 armed militias, some in army uniform attacked twenty women outside Kalma internally displaced camp in Nyala, Southern Darfur. The women were attacked whilst they were collecting firewood. The women had gone outside the camp as a collective in the false belief that they would be safe from attack as a group.

During the attack, the militias beat the women with the butt of their guns and flogged them before raping seventeen of the women.

Darfur: Rebel Faction Fighting Spreads, Fuels Ethnic Violence

From Bloomberg

Spreading clashes between rebel factions in Sudan's western region of Darfur are threatening to unleash an ethnic conflict, United Nations officials, African Union officers and refugees said.

Forces loyal to rebel leader Minni Minnawi in the past month have overrun North Darfur villages inhabited by the Fur people, Darfur's largest ethnic group, which mainly supports a rival rebel faction headed by Abdel Wahid Mohamed el-Nur.

Minnawi, from the minority Zaghawa tribe, in a telephone interview yesterday, said he told President George W. Bush at a July 25 meeting in Washington that his troops weren't attacking civilians. Minnawi and the Sudanese government in May signed a peace agreement that was rejected by Nur's faction in the Sudan Liberation Army.

"People fear it's becoming more an inter-tribal conflict,'' Cate Steains, the head of the Protection Unit of the UN Mission in Sudan in Darfur, said in a July 26 interview in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. ``The situation has deteriorated significantly. The level of fighting, the level of attacks and the level of displacement."

[edit]

Refugees from the recent fighting who live in grass huts outside the town of Tawilla described raids by Minnawi's Zaghawa kinsmen using tactics reminiscent of the Janjaweed.

"The Zaghawa came with cars and some riding camels and horses and attacked us," said Hawa Ibrahim Sala, a 57-year-old mother of six who arrived in Tawilla a week ago from a village about 10 miles (16 kilometers) to the north. "They looted our camels, our clothes, our food and beat us with sticks."

Those displaced by the fighting have reported beatings, rapes and abductions of men between the ages of 18 and 40 and killings of others, said Steains.

Minnawi, speaking in a telephone interview from Washington yesterday, denied his troops were guilty of such atrocities.

"Certain allegations have been made and are not true," Minnawi said. "I explained to President Bush that we are defending ourselves and he said you have the right to protect yourself but don't attack civilians."

Supply Lines

The latest fighting in North Darfur centred on the village of Korma, which has been controlled by both Minnawi's and Nur's forces since March.

After Nur's faction captured Korma in June, Minnawi's fighters responded by targeting Fur villages throughout the area in an attempt to cut off Nur's supply line, according to an African Union report.

For villagers living in the area, it was further evidence that the Darfur peace agreement, mediated by the African Union and the U.S., has failed to end the fighting.

"After the signing of the agreement our life has become worse than before," said Abakar Mohammed, a 44-year-old sheikh, or village leader who fled to Tawilla July 17. "Before, the two SLA groups were united, but because one side signed and other didn't, now they are coming to attack us and loot our goods."

Nur's decision not to sign the peace agreement has convinced most Fur civilians to reject it.

"They are following primordial instincts," Major General Ihekire, the commander of the African Union's contingent, said in an interview yesterday. "They don't even want hear about it or see it, to hear alternative views that can convince them that this document is good."

Nur wants changes to the peace accord to provide more political appointments for Darfurians, stronger guarantees about the disarmament of pro-government militias and greater compensation for war victims.

The refugees at Tawilla also said they need UN troops to be deployed in Darfur to protect them.

Sudanese President Umar Hassan Bashir has so far rejected calls by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the African Union and President Bush to permit the deployment of as many as 15,000 UN peacekeepers in Darfur.

"As long as it is two military factions fighting each other, it is one thing," said Steains of the UN. ``But once you get to the state that it is the people who have enormous animosity towards people of another group, this is where things can get very much out of control."

Sudan/Uganda: Kiir Works to End Regional Strife

From VOA

Kiir says there are practical and moral reasons for his Southern People's Liberation Movement to take on the job of mediating the Ugandan conflict. One is that it is clear that while the Ugandan army has hurt the Lord's Resistance Army militarily, it has not been able to defeat the rebels entirely.

Kiir says another is that the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court are not realistic. He says that is because there exists no mechanism to find Kony and his top associates, who are believed to be hiding in Congo, and bring them to court. He says no country - Sudan, Uganda or the Democratic Republic of Congo - can implement such an order.

The other reason to push for the peace option is based on the fact that Kony's fighters are operating from bases in southern Sudan - and, as such, inflicting terrible abuses on Kiir's own people.

"The women and girls that were being raped every day and abducted were southern Sudanese," he added. "And the same thing with looting, torturing and so forth - these were all southern Sudanese."

Kiir adds that when deciding to lead mediation efforts, he wanted first and foremost to send the message to Kony and his rebel fighters that they have options.

"The first option was for them [the Ugandan rebels] to take the initiative to negotiate with the government of Uganda so that they find a peaceful solution to the conflict," he said. "And we can assist them to reach that agreement. The second option in case they do not want to negotiate; then, they have to leave southern Sudan. The third option would be if they do not negotiate and they do not leave southern Sudan, SPLA will be left with no choice but will have to fight them."

But that option is the least desirable, Kiir says, because defeating a guerilla movement such as the Lord's Resistance Army will merely result in more suffering for ordinary people.

International Crisis Group Senior Analyst John Prendergast says the efforts of the regional government of southern Sudan to end Uganda's civil war are noble. But he adds that Kiir and his team cannot achieve this alone.

"International partners have to be involved in this very directly if it is going to work," he explained. "But it has to be countries that have leverage and that means, first and foremost, the United States, which is missing in action on this one. The U.S. needs an envoy. And the confusion about who is going to bring the kind of leverage the United States has, but is not exercising. It really demands action very quickly on the part of President Bush to name somebody."

Somalia: Experts See Proxy War Under Way

From the AP

A mysterious Russian-built cargo plane believed to be loaded with weapons landed in this capital Wednesday, setting off a fresh round of allegations that Somalia has become a proxy battleground for its neighbors Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Somalia‘s virtually powerless government charged on Wednesday that the Ilyushin-76, only the second flight to land at Mogadishu International Airport in a decade, was packed with land mines, bombs and guns. It said the shipment had come from Eritrea, which supports the Islamic militia that has seized the capital along with most of southern Somalia.

Somali government leaders and Ethiopia‘s Foreign Ministry previously have denied Ethiopian soldiers were in the county. However, many witnesses have confirmed their presence.

"Ethiopia and Eritrea are competing throughout the region, opening up new fronts in their Cold War whenever the opportunity arises," said John Prendergast, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group, which monitors conflict zones.

The United States has accused the Islamic militia of ties to al-Qaida, whose leader, Osama bin Laden , called for support of the militia in a recent recording. The Associated Press also recently obtained videotape of Arab Islamic fighters alongside Somali militiamen.

The new proxy fight between Ethiopia and Eritrea is officially denied by both countries, despite witness accounts and reports by the United Nations describing Somalia‘s plight.

DRC: U.N. Blames Gov't for Violence

From the AP

The U.N. said Wednesday that politically motivated human rights violations in Congo have risen ahead of historic elections and blamed government security forces for most of the violence, including killings and rapes.

The report covers January to June 2006, when the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo documented 905 human rights abuses and said more than 80 percent of the violence was committed by members of the nation's security services.

The exact number of violations considered political wasn't given, but the U.N. said it saw "a significant increase in the number of politically motivated human rights violations linked to the electoral campaigning," ahead of Sunday's vote.

"Members of the security forces have been involved in repressing the civil liberties of individuals suspected of holding certain political affiliations," it said.

Abuses blamed on the army, police and other government agencies included summary executions and rapes, particularly in the east where fighting with militia groups continues despite the official 2002 end to back-to-back wars in Congo.

Government representatives weren't immediately available for comment. President Joseph Kabila earlier acknowledged abuses by his security services, but blamed them on rogue elements and vowed any alleged crimes would be prosecuted.

Darfur: Availability of Weapons Sparks Surge in Militia Fighting

From the UN News Center

Fighting between tribal militia groups in Darfur is on the rise, driven by the prevalence of weapons in the region, the senior United Nations envoy to Sudan warned today.

The situation in Darfur’s north and west, where clashes have become more violent recently because of the greater availability of weaponry, is particularly tense, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Jan Pronk told reporters during a press conference in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

He added that both fighting between the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) and other groups, as well as fighting among rebel groups, has heavily affected the civilian population.

The recent deaths of three government workers at a West Darfur camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) have led Mr. Pronk to raise repeated concerns over weapons found inside the camps.

Noting that IDPs are increasingly polarized for or against the DPA, the envoy expressed disappointment at the withdrawal of African Union peacekeeping forces from many camps, stressing that an AU presence is essential in preventing violence from erupting in those centres.

In the press conference Mr. Pronk also stressed the need to convene peace talks immediately with the two other main rebel groups who have withheld signing the accord. This would expand support for the DPA and consolidate peace and reconciliation efforts, he said.

Chad/Sudan: More on the New Deal

From Reuters

Chad and Sudan revived a shaky deal on Wednesday to defuse tension on their common border, where the two governments have accused each other of backing rebels involved in Sudan's violent Darfur conflict.

The two countries agreed in February to ban rebels from establishing bases on their territory, but attacks on both sides of the border and mutual recriminations have continued.

"The two parties agree to overcome all their differences, to turn a page on the past and open a new page in their relations," said an agreement signed on Wednesday by Chad's Territorial Administration Minister Mahamat Ali Abdallah Nassour and Sudan's Foreign Minister Lam Akol in the Chadian capital N'Djamena.

The deal follows a visit by Chad's foreign minister to the Sudanese capital Khartoum this month to patch up relations.

Chadian President Idriss Deby, who faces armed uprising in the east of his country near the border with Sudan's Darfur, broke off diplomatic relations with Khartoum in April after rebels launched an attack on N'Djamena from the east.

Wednesday's deal, meant to be implemented within a month, left any decision on renewing diplomatic ties up to Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The text repeated much of the February agreement, each country promising not to allow its territory to be used by rebel groups or for hostile actions against the other.

It also provided for a mixed military commission to monitor the border and a mixed military force to deploy in a dozen border zones including some towns like Adre, Ade and Tine in Chad which have been targeted by rebels trying to topple Deby.

From IRIN

Military representatives from Sudan travelled to N’djamena, the capital of neighbouring Chad, where on Wednesday both sides agreed to stop hosting each other’s rebel forces in their territory.

Chad cut diplomatic relations with Sudan on 14 April, one day after Chadian government forces repelled a rebel attack on N’djamena. Chad blamed Sudan for backing the rebels.

Meanwhile, Sudan accuses Chad of supporting rebels in Darfur. Fighting there has pushed some 200,000 Sudanese refugees into Chad.

Under Wednesday’s deal, the two sides agreed to set up a joint military commission to monitor their shared border that stretches some 1,000 km north-south through the Sahara desert.

At the close of the meeting, delegates said that the talks had been called to “surmount all the points of difference between us, to turn a page on the past and to turn a new page on our relations for better mutual understanding”.

This military reunion comes ahead of a scheduled meeting between the two heads of state, President Idriss Deby of Chad and Sudan's President Umar Hassan al-Bashir in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, in August. That meeting will be chaired by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and could see the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

DRC: World Must Stay Engaged After Polls

From Reuters

The United Nations must sustain its peacekeeping and aid role in Congo after historic elections on Sunday, as Lebanon and other conflicts threaten to divert resources away, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.

Ross Mountain, No. 2 in the U.N. Democratic Republic of Congo mission, said the international community should not make the mistake of thinking that elections alone would provide a quick solution to the country's major reconstruction needs.

Sunday's elections will be the first democratic multi-party polls in the former Belgian central African colony after four decades of dictatorship, war and chaos. They are costing the international community more than $400 million.

The vote will be the biggest and most expensive ever organised by the United Nations, which has its largest peacekeeping force in the world -- 17,000 strong -- thinly stretched across the country the size of western Europe.

Mountain said a debate was already under way within the United Nations about whether the mission should be cut back to allow peacekeepers and resources to be redeployed in Lebanon or Sudan's Darfur region, where such forces were now also required.

"I think it's a real danger," he told Reuters in an interview at U.N. mission headquarters in Kinshasa.

"I'd like to hope that the international community will see the value of sustaining this investment (in Congo)," he added.