Darfur:Security Council Expands Mandate of UN Mission in Sudan

A statement from the UN Security Council

The Security Council decided this morning to expand the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) to include its deployment to Darfur, without prejudice to its existing mandate and operations, in order to support the early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement.

As it adopted resolution 1706 (2006) by a vote of 12 in favour with 3 abstentions ( China, Qatar, Russian Federation), the Council invited the consent of the Sudanese Government of National Unity for that deployment, and called on Member States to ensure an expeditious deployment. It requested the Secretary-General to arrange the rapid deployment of additional capabilities to enable UNMIS to deploy in Darfur.

Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Council authorized UNMIS to use all necessary means as it deemed within its capabilities: to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment; to ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, assessment and evaluation commission personnel; to prevent disruption of the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement by armed groups, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of the Sudan; to protect civilians under threat of physical violence; and to seize or collect arms or related material whose presence in Darfur was in violation of the Agreements and the measures imposed by resolution 1556, and to dispose of such arms and related material as appropriate.

The Council decided also that the mandate of UNMIS would be, among other things, to support implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the N’djamena Agreement on Humanitarian Cease-fire on the Conflict in Darfur, including by: monitoring and verifying the implementation by the parties to those agreements; observing and monitoring movement of armed groups and redeployment of forces in areas of UNMIS deployment by ground and aerial means; investigating violations of the Agreements and reporting them to the Cease-fire Commission; monitoring transborder activities of armed groups along the Sudanese borders with Chad and the Central African Republic; and ensuring an adequate human rights and gender presence, capacity and expertise within the Mission to carry out human rights promotion, civilian protection and monitoring activities, including particular attention to the needs of women and children.

In a related provision of the text, the Council decided further that the mandate of UNMIS in Darfur would also include assisting in international efforts to improve the security situation in the neighbouring regions along the borders between the Sudan and Chad and between the Sudan and the Central African Republic. It requested that the Secretary-General and the Governments of Chad and the Central African Republic conclude status-of-forces agreements as soon as possible, taking into consideration General Assembly resolution 58/82 on the scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. Pending the conclusion of such an agreement with either country, the model status-of-forces agreement dated 9 October 1990 (document A/45/594) would apply provisionally with respect to UNMIS forces operating in that country.

The Council decided also that UNMIS would be strengthened by up to 17,300 military personnel and by an appropriate civilian component including up to 3,300 civilian police personnel and up to 16 Formed Police Units. It expressed its determination to keep the Mission’s strength and structure under regular review, taking into account the evolution of the situation on the ground.

By further terms of the text, the Council requested the Secretary-General to consult jointly with the African Union, in close and continuing consultation with the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement, including the Government of National Unity, on a plan and timetable for a transition from the African Mission in the Sudan to a United Nations operation in Darfur.

The resolution was co-sponsored by Argentina, Denmark, France, Ghana, Greece, Slovakia, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania and the United States.

Darfur: Headed for Humanitarian Calamity

From Reuters

Darfur is headed for a humanitarian calamity unless Sudan's Khartoum-based government ends renewed fighting in the western region and allows a U.N. peacekeeping force in, Britain said on Thursday.

Speaking just before the U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-British resolution proposing up to 22,500 U.N. troops for Darfur, British Foreign Office Minister David Triesman said the humanitarian crisis there had reached a decisive moment.

Rebels have reported renewed fighting in the north of the region in the last two days between the government and rebel groups who refused to sign a May peace accord.

"The chances of the humanitarian and food distribution operations working in an environment where war has broken out again are very, very poor indeed," Triesman said.

"We were in a bad situation two days ago. We are rapidly going towards a calamity."

Reacting to the Security Council vote to create the peacekeeping force, Triesman said later that it was important the resolution was now translated into action on the ground. "The crisis in Darfur, which should never have started, has gone on far too long," he said in a statement.

[edit]

"The vital thing to say is that this resolution does address the international humanitarian catastrophe and it does address the security issues which would make it possible to do something about that catastrophe," Triesman said.

The U.N. resolution's success is contingent on Khartoum's consent for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers. But the government's dominant National Congress Party has branded the resolution an exercise in Western colonialism.

Darfur: U.N. Passes Resolution

More on the passage of the resolution from the AP

One central element of the resolution would give the peacekeepers new power to intervene to protect civilians in Darfur. The current African Union force has had little authority to intervene to stop such attacks.

Peacekeeping authority for the Darfur mission would be in the hands of a separate U.N. force already deployed in Sudan's south. That peacekeeping force, which now has about 10,000 troops, would be expanded to 17,000 military personnel and up to 3,300 civilian police to cover both areas.

The African Union has called for the U.N. to take control of the peacekeeping force, whose formal mandate expires on Sept. 30.

Al-Bashir has offered to send government troops to Darfur but Western nations insist that would not help.

In a new bid to win Sudan's consent, the council has planned a high-level meeting for Sept. 8 to discuss the issue with Sudanese officials as well as representatives from the African Union, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The resolution is the first to refer to the "responsibility to protect" - a notion agreed to at a summit of world leaders a year ago, in which the international community vowed to intervene to protect civilians if their government could not.

"The test before the council today was whether it was prepared to act to mandate the resolution and assume its responsibilities to the people of Darfur," Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce said. "The adoption of this resolution shows that it is."

Darfur: Frazer Expresses Confidence on U.N. Force

From the AP

A U.S. State Department official who met with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir this week said Thursday she is "absolutely confident" that el-Bashir will accept a U.N. peacekeeping force in his country's embattled Darfur region.

Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer told reporters she would telephone Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol and urge him to visit Washington "sooner rather than later" to talk over developments.

El-Bashir told Frazer he would send an envoy in response to a message from President George W. Bush requesting entry of the U.N. force into Darfur, where three years of fighting has killed more than 200,000 people. At the United Nations, the Security Council gave final approval Thursday to deployment of the force.

Kristen Silverberg, assistant secretary of state for international organizations, said "we are very pleased" with passage of the resolution.

At a joint news conference with Frazer, Silverberg called Russia's abstention on the resolution "inexplicable." A "no" vote by Russia rather than its abstention would have defeated the resolution.

Darfur: Khartoum Rejects UN Resolution

From Reuters

Sudan rejected a Security Council resolution passed on Thursday to deploy more than 20,000 U.N. troops and police to its violent Darfur region as illegal and contravening a May peace accord, officials said.

"Our stand is very clear, that the Sudanese government has not been consulted and it is not appropriate to pass a resolution before they seek the permission of Sudan," said Presidential Advisor Ali Tamim Fartak.

The presidential advisor responsible for Darfur, Majzoub al-Khalifa, told Al Jazeera television that the resolution was completely rejected by Sudan.

"We completely reject this resolution...which is illegal," he said. "This resolution is opposing the Darfur peace agreement."

The Security Council vote on Thursday was 12 in favour, with abstentions from Russia, China and Qatar, the only Arab council member, despite Sudanese and Arab requests the vote be postponed.

But the troops cannot be deployed until Sudan agrees. The United Nations wants to replace or absorb an African Union force in Darfur, which has funds until mid-October and whose mandate expires on Sept. 30.

More from the AP

Sudan on Thursday rejected a U.N. resolution giving the world body authority over peacekeepers in the war-torn region of Darfur on condition that the government in Khartoum gives its consent.

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir chaired a meeting of the ruling National Congress party leadership which rejected the resolution passed by the Security Council earlier Thursday, the SUNA official news agency said.

"The Sudanese people will not consent to any resolution that will violate its sovereignty," the leadership said in a statement, quoted by the agency.

The ruling party's leadership said it regarded the approval of the resolution as "unjustifiable hostility against Sudan." It called on the Sudanese people to "strengthen further their cohesion and ranks and prepare to face any development."

Darfur: Resolution 1706

The Genocide Intervention Network has made the text of the UN resolution [PDF] available - here are the key parts

Determining that the situation in the Sudan continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security,

1. Decides, without prejudice to its existing mandate and operations as provided for in Resolution 1590 (2005) and in order to support the early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, that UNMIS’ mandate shall be expanded as specified in paragraphs 8, 9 and 12 below, that it shall deploy to Darfur, and therefore invites the consent of the Government of National Unity for this deployment, and urges member states to provide the capability for an expeditious deployment;

2. Requests the Secretary-General to arrange the rapid deployment of additional capabilities for UNMIS, in order that it may deploy in Darfur, in accordance with the recommendation contained in his report dated 28 July 2006;

3. Decides that UNMIS shall be strengthened by up to 17,300 military personnel and by an appropriate civilian component including up to 3,300 civilian police personnel and up to 16 Formed Police Units, and expresses its determination to keep UNMIS’ strength and structure under regular review, taking into account the evolution of the situation on the ground and without prejudice to its current operations and mandate as provided for in Resolution 1590 (2005);

4. Expresses its intention to consider authorising possible additional temporary reinforcements of the military component of UNMIS, at the request of the Secretary General, within the limits of the troop levels recommended in paragraph 87 of his report dated 28 July 2006;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to consult jointly with the African Union, in close and continuing consultation with the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement, including the Government of National Unity, on a plan and timetable for transition from AMIS to a United Nations operation in Darfur; decides that those elements outlined in paragraphs 40 to 58 of the Secretary General's report of 28 July 2006 shall begin to be deployed no later than 1 October 2006, that thereafter as part of the process of transition to a United Nations operation additional capabilities shall be deployed as soon as feasible and that UNMIS shall take over from AMIS responsibility for supporting the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement upon the expiration of AMIS’ mandate but in any event no later than 31 December 2006;

6. Notes that the Status of Forces Agreement for UNMIS with the Sudan, as outlined in Resolution 1590 (2005), shall apply to UNMIS’ operations throughout the Sudan, including in Darfur;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps to strengthen AMIS through the use of existing and additional United Nations resources with a view to transition to a United Nations operation in Darfur; and authorizes the Secretary-General during this transition to implement the longer-term support to AMIS outlined in the report of the Secretary-General of 28 July 2006, including provision of air assets, ground mobility package, training, engineering and logistics, mobile communications capacity and broad public information assistance;

8. Decides that the mandate of UNMIS in Darfur shall be to support implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement of 5 May 2006 and the N’djamena Agreement on Humanitarian Cease-fire on the Conflict in Darfur ("the Agreements"), including by performing the following tasks:

(a) To monitor and verify the implementation by the parties of Chapter 3 (“Comprehensive Cease-fire and Final Security Arrangements”) of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the N’djamena Agreement on Humanitarian Cease-fire on the Conflict in Darfur;

(b) To observe and monitor movement of armed groups and redeployment of forces in areas of UNMIS deployment by ground and aerial means in accordance with the Agreements;

(c) To investigate violations of the Agreements and to report violations to the Cease-fire Commission; as well as to co-operate and co-ordinate, together with other International Actors, with the Cease-fire Commission, the Joint Commission, and the Joint Humanitarian Facilitation and Monitoring Unit established pursuant to the Agreements including through provision of technical assistance and logistical support;

(d) To maintain, in particular, a presence in key areas, such as buffer zones established pursuant to the Darfur Peace Agreement, areas inside internally displaced persons camps and demilitarised zones around and inside internally displaced persons camps, in order to promote the re-establishment of confidence, to discourage violence, in particular by deterring use of force;

(e) To monitor trans-border activities of armed groups along the Sudanese borders with Chad and the Central African Republic in particular through regular ground and aerial reconnaissance activities;

(f) To assist with development and implementation of a comprehensive and sustainable programme for disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants and women and children associated with combatants, as called for in the Darfur Peace Agreement and in accordance with Resolutions 1556 (2004) and 1564 (2004);

(g) To assist the parties, in co-operation with other international actors in the preparations for and conduct of referenda provided for in the Darfur Peace Agreement;

(h) To assist the parties to the Agreements in promoting understanding of the peace accord and of the role of UNMIS, including by means of an effective public information campaign, targeted at all sectors of society, in co-ordination with the African Union;

(i) To co-operate closely with the Chairperson of the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC), provide support and technical assistance to him, and co-ordinate other United Nations agencies’ activities to this effect, as well as to assist the parties to the DDDC in addressing the need for an all-inclusive approach, including the role of women, towards reconciliation and peace-building;

(j) To assist the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement, in co-ordination with bilateral and multilateral assistance programmes, in restructuring the police service in the Sudan, consistent with democratic policing, to develop a police training and evaluation programme, and to otherwise assist in the training of civilian police;

(k) To assist the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement in promoting the rule of law, including an independent judiciary, and the protection of human rights of all people of the Sudan through a comprehensive and co-ordinated strategy with the aim of combating impunity and contributing to long-term peace and stability and to assist the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement to develop and consolidate the national legal framework;

(l) To ensure an adequate human rights and gender presence, capacity and expertise within UNMIS to carry out human rights promotion, civilian protection and monitoring activities that include particular attention to the needs of women and children;

9. Decides further that the mandate of UNMIS in Darfur shall also include the following:

(a) To facilitate and co-ordinate in close co-operation with relevant United Nations agencies, within its capabilities and in its areas of deployment, the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons, and humanitarian assistance inter alia by helping to establish the necessary security conditions in Darfur;

(b) To contribute towards international efforts to protect, promote and monitor human rights in Darfur, as well as to co-ordinate international efforts towards the protection of civilians with particular attention to vulnerable groups including internally displaced persons, returning refugees, and women and children;

(c) To assist the parties to the Agreements, in co-operation with other international partners in the mine action sector, by providing humanitarian de-mining assistance, technical advice, and co-ordination, as well as mine awareness programmes targeted at all sectors of society;

(d) To assist in addressing regional security issues in close liaison with international efforts to improve the security situation in the neighbouring regions along the borders between the Sudan and Chad and between the Sudan and the Central African Republic, including through the establishment of a multi-dimensional presence consisting of political, humanitarian, military and civilian police liaison officers in key locations in Chad, including in internally displaced persons and refugee camps, and if necessary, in the Central African Republic, and to contribute to the implementation of the Agreement between the Sudan and Chad signed on 26 July 2006;

10. Calls upon all Member States to ensure the free, unhindered and expeditious movement to the Sudan of all personnel, as well as equipment, provisions, supplies and other goods, including vehicles and spare parts, which are for the exclusive and official use of UNMIS in Darfur;

11. Requests the Secretary-General to keep the Council regularly informed of the progress in implementing the Darfur Peace Agreement, respect for the cease-fire, and the implementation of the mandate of UNMIS in Darfur, and to report to the Council, as appropriate, on the steps taken to implement this resolution and any failure to comply with its demands;

12. Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,

(a) decides that UNMIS is authorised to use all necessary means, in the areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities:

- to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, to ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, assessment and evaluation commission personnel, to prevent disruption of the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement by armed groups, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of the Sudan, to protect civilians under threat of physical violence,

- in order to support early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, to prevent attacks and threats against civilians,

- to seize or collect, as appropriate, arms or related material whose presence in Darfur is in violation of the Agreements and the measures imposed by paragraphs 7 and 8 of Resolution 1556, and to dispose of such arms and related material as appropriate;

(b) Requests that the Secretary-General and the Governments of Chad and the Central African Republic conclude status-of-forces agreements as soon as possible, taking into consideration General Assembly resolution 58/82 on the scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associate Personnel, and decides that pending the conclusion of such an agreement with either country, the model status-of-forces agreement dated 9 October 1990 (A/45/594) shall apply provisionally with respect to UNMIS forces operating in that country;

13. Requests the Secretary General to report to the Council on the protection of civilians in refugee and internally displaced persons camps in Chad and on how to improve the security situation on the Chadian side of the border with Sudan;

14. Calls upon the parties to the Darfur Peace Agreement to respect their commitments and implement the agreement without delay, urges those parties that have not signed the Agreement to do so without delay and not to act in any way that would impede implementation of the Agreement, and reiterates its intention to take, including in response to a request by the African Union, strong and effective measures, such as an asset freeze or travel ban, against any individual or group that violates or attempts to block the implementation of the Agreement or commits human rights violations;

15. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Darfur: Reactions to Resolution

Genocide Intervention Network

The Genocide Intervention Network today commends the work of the United States and Great Britain in gaining passage for a resolution in the United Nations Security Council authorizing a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, Sudan, where genocide has raged for the past three years.

The resolution (PDF) allows for 22,500 UN peacekeepers and immediate support for the African Union force, which has a mandate expiring at the end of September. It passed with abstentions from China, Russia and Qatar, a significant show of international approval.

The UN will now wait to expand peacekeeping operations, currently in place in Southern Sudan, until the government of Sudan permits the civilian protection to take place.

“Sudan should immediately allow the expansion of the current UN force in Southern Sudan into Darfur,” says GI-Net Executive Director Mark Hanis. “Any further delay will result in more lives lost to a genocide in which — just this month — UN humanitarian head Jan Egeland said ‘our nightmares have become realities.’ Should Sudan decline to allow effective protection of their own civilians, the UN should not hesitate to proceed, given the clear international support for ending the genocide.”

Save Darfur

The Save Darfur Coalition today maintained cautious optimism following the United Nations Security Council decision to authorize a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur, Sudan. The 12-0-3 vote is a clear demonstration of the international community’s will to end the genocide in Darfur. The international community, however, must now overcome the Government of Sudan’s objections to the U.N. peacekeeping force before the desperately needed troops can be deployed.

“While we applaud the hard work that has gone into passing this resolution, the United States and other Security Council member nations must now turn their attention to making sure that this newly authorized peacekeeping force is actually deployed, and deployed soon,” said David Rubenstein of the Save Darfur Coalition.

The peacekeeping mission will function under a similarly worded mandate to current U.N. peacekeeping mission in south Sudan, and is authorized to take “all necessary means” to protect civilians from attack and ensure the unfettered continuation of the peace process as agreed to in the Darfur Peace Agreement. The U.N. mission in Darfur would comprise up to 22,600 military and police personnel.

“Only the actual presence of these peacekeepers will provide the security the people of Darfur so desperately need,” continued Rubenstein. “We must turn words on paper into boots on the ground.”

Human Rights First

Human Rights First today expressed dismay that international efforts on Darfur, in particular the draft Security Council resolution sponsored by the United States and Britain, fall far short of what is needed.

“There is a real danger that a Security Council resolution authorizing a U.N. force to protect civilians in Darfur will be an empty promise,” said Maureen Byrnes, Executive Director of Human Rights First. “The resolution even risks being counterproductive because it gives the appearance of action when in fact the Khartoum government will have veto power over the U.N.'s role in providing security.”

Darfur: U.N. Votes To Create Peace Force, Once Khatroum Agrees

From Reuters

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday voted to create a United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region, despite the Khartoum government's strong opposition.

The vote was 12 in favor, with abstentions from Russia, China and Qatar, the only Arab council member.

The troops will not be deployed until Sudan agrees. The United Nations wants to replace or absorb an African Union force in Darfur, which has only enough money to exist until its mandate expires on September 30 and has been unable to end the humanitarian crisis in the lawless west of the country.

The resolution calls for up to 22,500 U.N. troops and police officers and an immediate injection of air, engineering and communications support for the 7,000-member African force.

The measure, drafted by Britain and the United States, is designed to allow planning and recruitment of troops for an eventual handover.

UPDATE: More from IRIN

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted to create a UN peacekeeping force for Sudan's western Darfur region, but the troops would be deployed only with the approval of the Sudanese government.

Sudan has been rejecting a UN force for Darfur and has proposed sending its own troops to the region. The three-year conflict has displaced at least two million people and claimed an estimated 200,000 lives.

Resolution 1706, backed by the United States and Britain, passed with 12 votes and three abstentions: China, Russia and Qatar. It provides for the transfer of African Union peacekeepers currently in Darfur to the UN force.

"Paragraph one of the resolution invites the government of Sudan to consent to deployment, though nothing in this language requires their consent," John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, told council members after the vote. "We expect their full and unconditional cooperation and support with the new UN peacekeeping force. Failure on the government of Sudan's part to do so will significantly undermine the Darfur peace agreement and prolong the humanitarian crisis in Darfur."

Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters before entering the council chamber that China disagreed with the timing of the resolution.

In his explanation of the vote, Wang said, "We feel [the vote] … will not stop further deterioration of the situation in Darfur … and will cause problems in implementing the Darfur peace process".

China had complained that the draft resolution seemed to impose the UN force on Sudan.

Last-minute changes to the resolution on Wednesday appeared to address this issue by reaffirming the council's "strong commitment to the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Sudan, which would be unaffected by transition to a United Nations operation in Darfur".

"The council is here to help Sudan not threaten it. It is here to aid Sudan, not undermine it," said Karen Pierce, deputy British ambassador to the UN.

Darfur: War Looms

I am highlighting this article from the New York Times that I posted last night because it is important - also, the NYT has a slide show that accompanies the article.

At the airstrip here in the heart of Darfur, the Ilyushin cargo planes fly in day after day, their holds packed with the stuff of war: troops, trucks, bombs and guns.

So far, negotiations over a proposed United Nations force to shore up the shaky peace in Darfur have limped along with no sign of compromise. The opposing sides in the conflict now seem headed toward a large-scale military confrontation, bringing Darfur to the edge of a new abyss — perhaps the deepest it has faced.

“Unfortunately, things seem to be headed in that direction,” said Gen. Collins Ihekire, commander of the beleaguered 7,000-member African Union force that is enforcing a fragile peace agreement between the government and one rebel group.

Nearly four months after signing the agreement, the government is preparing a fresh assault against the rebel groups that refused to sign. Years of conflict have already killed hundreds of thousands of people here and sent 2.5 million fleeing their homes. But that may be a prelude of the death likely to come from further fighting, hunger and disease. In the past few months, killings of aid workers and hijackings of their vehicles, mostly by rebel groups, have forced aid groups to curtail programs to feed, clothe and shelter hundreds of thousands of people.

“We have less access now than we did in 2004 when things were really bad,” said one senior aid official in El Fasher, speaking on the condition of anonymity because outspoken aid workers have been penalized and expelled by the government. “If there were a major military offensive you could be looking at a complete evacuation of humanitarian workers in Northern Darfur, which would leave millions without a lifeline.”

Diplomatically, Sudan has taken a hard line, refusing to allow any international peacekeepers other than the small and relatively powerless African Union force already in place.

Darfur: Rebels Say Gov't Attacked

From Reuters

Darfur rebels said Sudanese planes and troops attacked villages in the western region ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote on Thursday on the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to the region.

Rights groups and Washington have accused Sudan's Khartoum-based government, which opposes the U.N. troop deployment, of a huge military build-up in recent weeks.

The rebels said the new offensive began two days ago as government forces attacked and occupied Kulkul about 35 km (22 miles) north of Darfur's main town el-Fasher.

"Government forces have moved north of Kulkul with about 90 vehicles and are attacking the area of Um Sifir, bombing with Antonov planes," said Jar el-Neby, a rebel leader from a faction which did not sign a May peace deal.

A Sudanese armed forces spokesman said the army did have forces in Kulkul but that the area had always belonged to them.

"There are no new operations. Only before many days to confront an attack by the (rebel) National Redemption Front (NRF)," he added.

The NRF are a new alliance of rebels who did not sign the May deal and whom the government has branded as "terrorists" after their decision to renew hostilities.

Darfur: JEM Says UN Resolution Undermines Peace Process

From the Sudan Tribune

A Darfur rebel group leader criticised the draft resolution debated in UN Security Council, he said it undermines the right of Darfur people for political solution and for a sustainable peace in Darfur.

The chairperson of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Khalil Ibrahim told Radio France Internationale, that this Draft resolution “tries to impose unacceptable peace of Abuja while Darfur people reject this agreement.

The UN Security Council was set to vote Thursday on a proposal to deploy a robust UN force in Sudan’s Darfur region with the expectation of Khartoum’s consent, with co-sponsors confident of securing overwhelming support.

The draft text calls for a 17,000-strong UN force to take over from the ill-equipped and underfunded African Union (AU) mission, which has been unable to prevent killings, rape and the internal displacement of civilians in Darfur.

Khalil Ibrahim, who rejected to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) last May, considers priority must be to find an agreement over the demands of the Darfur holdout rebels groups constituting the majority in the troubled region.

“Increasing the number of the troops only will not solve the problem of Darfur, but the political solution should come first. The DPA should be reconsidered and made comprehensive and then, the international troops should come to maintain the peace process,” he said.

Darfur: UN Vote Nears

From Reuters

The AU supports international attempts to arrange a U.N. takeover of their mission, but Khartoum's dominant National Congress Party refuses, calling it an attempt at Western colonialism.

Opposition politicians mostly support U.N. transition in Darfur and say the NCP fears U.N. troops will arrest officials likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court investigating war crimes allegations in the region.

"It is now clear that the wrangling over the deployment of international forces has turned into a confrontation between the Sudanese people and foreign parties," said the state-owned Sudan Vision paper in an editorial on Thursday.

The vote on the resolution, which can be delayed until Friday if any of the 15 U.N. Security Council members request it, calls for up to 22,500 U.N. troops and police officers and an immediate injection of air, engineering and communications support for the 7,000-member African force.

Council members predict 13 nations will vote in favour. Qatar, the only Arab member, is expected to vote "No" while China, which has close government ties, may abstain.

Darfur: Text of Sudan’s Plan for Restoration of Stability

The Sudan Tribune has posted a copy of the letter sent by Khartoum to the UN laying out its plan for Darfur. You can access it here.

Darfur: From Shakespeare to Sudan

A profile of Eric Reeves from the Christian Science Monitor

If an issue like African famine and strife was ever ready for American prime time, it was not in early 1999 when headlines and late-night punch lines were consumed with Bill Clinton's impeachment and the NATO air war in Kosovo. The American attention span - as measured by talk shows, op-ed pages, and the nascent blogging scene - was booked.

So it seemed an oddly naive time for Eric Reeves, a renaissance scholar (as in Shakespeare and Milton), to start sending distress signals about Sudan (as in perennial ground zero of African ills) from his ivory tower at an elite women's college in the Berkshires. Here was a virtual unknown in diplomatic and humanitarian circles suddenly trying to elbow his way to the table of world conversation.

It was an "overwhelming experience of rejection," recalls the professor, who at the time had never set foot on the African continent but was peddling op-eds to major newspapers about Sudan's struggles with famine, ethnic violence, civil war, and oil intrigue.

The understandable, if cynical, question shadowing his dogged effort was: Who is this guy, and how did he get from Shakespeare to Sudan? Did he throw a dart at a map? "This guy," it turned out, was a formidable new brand of citizen activist. Empowered by the modern bullhorn of the Internet and uncommon moral fortitude, this English professor did find a seat at the table of world conversation - and an influential one at that.

If the Bush administration calls the Darfur crisis in western Sudan "genocide," if those green "Not on our watch" banners cropping up around the nation prick your conscience, and if Hollywood stars drop in on the issue, it's due in no small part to the work of the relentless Smith College professor with a laptop and a thick hide. "As a one-man nongovernmental organization, he has done more than any other individual or group I know of to keep the crisis in Darfur on the agenda of political leaders and the public," says Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights.

In the past seven years, Reeves has published hundreds of tart essays. His signature weekly analytical blog is read religiously by hundreds of policymakers involved with Sudan, and Congress has called him to testify several times.

"This is a man who decided to make a difference - and he has," says Ted Dagne, an Africa expert at the Congressional Research Service.

Uganda: Kony Accuses Army of Breaking Truce

From Reuters

Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony has accused government troops of violating a truce in his first comments since the start of an agreement seen as a major breakthrough in ending his 20-year insurgency.

The military denied it violated the truce and said it was "religiously" observing the deal struck on Saturday that gives Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerrillas three weeks to assemble at camps in south Sudan while talks continue in its capital Juba.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume there on Monday.

But in a satellite telephone call to a radio station in northern Uganda late on Wednesday, Kony protested against safe routes chosen by the military for his fighters to trek across the border, and accused the army of already breaking the truce.

"When my forces from Pader (district) were heading to Kitgum to meet another group on how to move to the designated area to assemble, UPDF (Uganda People's Defence Forces) attacked them," Kony told Mega FM, based in Gulu town.

"What cessation of hostilities are they talking about?"

More than a dozen "safe" corridors declared by the military for his rebels to walk to the Sudanese camp at Owiny-ki-Bul were too narrow, he said, and it was unfair of the government to order no southern movements at all.

"Most of my field commanders need to send messengers on foot to gather my soldiers under them, to assemble in one area before they begin to move," Kony said.

Uganda's army spokesman rejected the LRA chief's comments and denied there had been any new fighting.

"We did not attack his people at all. We are following the truce religiously," said Major Felix Kulayigye.

DRC: 30,000 Ex-Fighters Ready to Disarm

From Reuters

Civil-war veteran Olivier Ngouebo, 39, has had enough of war after the bitter experiences of fighting in his home region of Niari between 1998 and 1999 and again in 2002.

"It is time for me to take care of myself and my children," he said recently in Dolisie, capital of Niari Department, about 370 km southwest of the Republic of Congo's capital, Brazzaville.

Rather than walk the streets aimlessly or resort to criminality, he seized an opportunity to put a business idea into reality. In 2002, he secured backing for his fish-farming project from which he supports his wife and four children.

"I was among other ex-combatants whose projects were financed by the local High Commission for Reintegration," he said.

Today, at least 30,000 more ex-combatants, due to be disarmed, demobilised and reintegrated (DDR) into society, could eventually benefit from a similar programme slated to begin in September.

The immediate plan is to bring into the programme 5,000 fighters from the "ninjas" of former warlord Frédéric Bintsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, and 6,000 from the national police force.

Some ninja fighters still cling to their guns and harass residents in Pool, an administrative department immediately to the north and west of Brazzaville.

"We are working each day to see how we can end all the misunderstandings that could pose an obstacle to Ntoumi's aides," Michel Ngakala, the high commissioner for the eeintegration of former combatants, said.

Darfur: War Looms

From the New York Times - via the International Herald Tribune

There is plenty of frantic shuttle diplomacy happening in the corridors of power in Khartoum, Washington and New York to avoid a new bloodbath in Darfur.

But here in the tense heart of the region, where the bombs will drop and the bullets will fly, everyone is nervously watching the Ilyushin cargo planes landing on El Fasher's busy airstrip, their holds packed with the stuff of war: troops, trucks, bombs and guns.

"The planes land, day after day, week after week, night after night," said a foreign military official at the airport who had seen the planes land and unload their cargoes.

As negotiations over a proposed UN force to shore up the shaky peace in Darfur limp along with no sign of compromise, the opposing sides in the conflict seem headed toward a large-scale military confrontation.

"Unfortunately, things seem to be headed in that direction," said General Collins Ihekire, commander of the beleaguered 7,000-member African Union force that is enforcing a fragile peace agreement between the government and one rebel group.

Nearly four months after signing the agreement, the government is preparing a new assault against the rebel groups that refused to sign, bringing Darfur to the edge of a new abyss, perhaps the deepest it has faced. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes. But that may be a prelude to the deaths likely to come from fighting, hunger and disease.

In the past few months, killings of aid workers and hijackings of their vehicles, mostly by rebel groups, have forced aid groups to curtail programs to feed, clothe and shelter hundreds of thousands of people.

"We have less access now than we did in 2004 when things were really bad," said a senior aid official in El Fasher, speaking on the condition of anonymity because outspoken aid workers have been sanctioned and expelled by the government. "If there were a major military offensive you could be looking at a complete evacuation of humanitarian workers in North Darfur, which would leave millions without a lifeline."

Diplomatically, Sudan has taken a hard line, refusing to allow any international peacekeepers other than the small and powerless African Union force already in place, despite a request from the union to hand over its command to the United Nations.

A visit to Khartoum this week by Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, failed to produce an agreement, and Sudan has so far snubbed the United Nations, potentially leaving the people of Darfur without any international peacekeepers to protect them.

The African Union force has enough money to keep going only until Sept. 30, when its mandate ends. It is perpetually running short of fuel, food and equipment, and its suppliers - like its soldiers - have waited months for payment and are reluctant to make new deliveries.

Worse, the force is finding itself increasingly drawn into battles between the government and the rebels.

Rebel leaders deny they were involved in an ambush on a fuel convoy this month in which two Rwandan soldiers were killed, but they say that the African Union is biased in any case because it brokered a peace agreement that they reject.

Most ominous is the looming confrontation between government troops and rebel holdouts, set to take place on a battlefield that is home to a quarter- million people and could easily set off a chain of battles across Darfur.

"In terms of loss of life it could dwarf the killings in 2003 and 2004," said a senior aid official, asking not to be named.

In that period alone, at least 180,000 people died from attacks on villages by government forces and their allied Arab militias, known as the janjaweed, and in battles with non-Arab rebel groups seeking greater power for their fellow tribesmen in the long marginalized region. The violence brought on widespread hunger and disease, often the most lethal killers here.

El Fasher was once a sleepy state capital in an impoverished, backward part of Sudan. Now it is a garrison town swarming with government troops in crisp new uniforms driving shiny trucks mounted with guns.

The government has made no secret of its intentions - it submitted a plan to the Security Council this month in response to a resolution calling for 20,000 UN troops here. Instead, the government said it planned to use 10,500 of its own troops to crush the rebellion, a move that would violate the peace agreement it just signed, according to Ihekire.

The rebel movements that refused to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement have massed in a vast swath of territory north of here, gaining strength and flexing their muscle in attacks on government troops and its allies, as well as on the African Union forces.

In an interview deep in the territory they hold, commanders of the new rebel alliance, the National Redemption Front, said they were ready for a fight. "Our capabilities are unlimited, on the air and on the ground, to repel them," said Jarnabi Abdul Kareem, a commander.

The splintering and reforming of the rebel groups in the chaotic period since the peace agreement was signed was evident in their makeshift logos. On one truck, the initials of the rebel group had been changed so many times that the jumble of acronyms had become a collection of illegible smears.

Seated in a circle under a thorny tree, leaders of the front, joined in collective hatred for the signers of the peace agreement, say they came back to the battlefield reluctantly. "We are holding arms in our left hand but an olive branch in our right," said Abubakar Hamid Nour, a commander of the Justice and Equality Movement, an Islamist group that has joined with a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army to fight the government.

The battles over this patch of earth have already exacted a terrible toll. On the outskirts of Hashaba, people displaced by the fighting as far back as 2003 have settled, their camps becoming semi-permanent villages. There are few men here - just a handful among dozens of drawn-faced women and wiry children with ochre-tinted hair, a telltale sign of malnourishment.

At a clinic run by the International Rescue Committee, an aid organization, Hassan Ibrahim Isaac said he opens the clinic every day, writing futile prescriptions for the sicknesses that kill here: malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia. But the clinic's pharmacy ran out of antibiotics and anti-malarial drugs long ago.

"I still come because I don't want people to give up hope," Isaac said. "But now fewer people come. They know I have nothing to give them."

Military officials for the African Union said the new government assault could take shape in two ways - government troops could build up along an axis between El Fasher and the towns of Mellit and Kutum, using a scissor-like advance aided by Antonov bombers and attack helicopters to wipe out as many rebels as they can, then force the rest to flee north.

Another possibility is that the government will attack from the south, where it holds ground north of El Fasher, and airlift troops to swoop down from the north as well.

Bombing attacks on Kulkul, a town that has changed hands several times in the chaotic period since the Darfur Peace Agreement was signed but had been a stronghold of the newly united rebel groups, already have pushed those rebels north to Umm Sidir and beyond, African Union commanders said.

Armed conflict on a vast scale seems so likely and the hope of a UN peacekeeping force arriving to ease the tensions so distant that a joke has been making the rounds of the military and aid officials here: The most important peacekeeper in Darfur now is the rain.

It turns the rough, dusty tracks that crisscross the arid plains and mountains into impassable bogs, and swells once-dry riverbeds into rivers easily capable of carrying off a Toyota Landcruiser, the military vehicle of choice.

But the rains end in the next couple of weeks.

Darfur: Sudan May Consent to U.N. Force

From Reuters

Sudan may consent to a U.N. peacekeeping force sooner than expected once the Security Council adopts a resolution authorizing the operation, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Wednesday.

Despite Khartoum's opposition, the United States and Britain are pushing for a vote on Thursday on a resolution that would augment an African Union force immediately with air, engineering and communications support and authorize a U.N. operation of up to 22,500 troops and police next year.

The six-page, 2,600-word resolution appears to have gained enough support to pass, despite opposition from Qatar, the only Arab member of the council, which supports Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who had raised strong objections.

"I think there is a chicken and an egg situation here," Bolton told reporters. "Once the resolution is passed, the consent may be forthcoming more rapidly than people think."

The document makes clear that the U.N. force cannot be deployed without the agreement of Bashir's government, although diplomats believe Sudan would be in a weak position to oppose U.N. strengthening of the 7,000-strong African Union force, which is under-financed and on the verge of collapse.

Ghanaian Ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng, this month's council president, said after closed-door council discussions, that "all indications are that it will be adopted" on Thursday.

"But it doesn't mean we are shutting the door to negotiations with the Government of Sudan," he said.

However, he said, "This council also has certain responsibilities that it has to live up to."

Effah-Apenteng, whose country has troops with the African Union in Darfur and supports a U.N. force, said the council was inviting high-level officials from Sudan, the Arab League and the Islamic Conference to a meeting on September 8. Sudan had boycotted a similar council invitation on Monday.

[edit]

The Arab League would like a delay in adopting the resolution, which is aimed at putting pressure on Sudan as well as allowing the United Nations to assemble a force.

But Bolton said, "Each day that you delay adopting the resolution is a day that pushes out the planning and logistical work that has to take place."

The latest draft gives wide latitude to a U.N. operation to use force to protect U.N. personnel, humanitarian workers and to prevent attacks against civilians. The troops are also to collect and dispose of unauthorized weapons.

The document also sets up political, humanitarian, military and civilian police liaison officers in neighboring Chad, where Sudan refugees had fled and villagers along the Sudanese border have been evicted from their homes.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to report to the Security Council on how civilians can be protected in camps on the Chadian side of the Darfur border.

Darfur: Security Council Discusses Draft Resolution

From the AP

The UN Security Council held private talks on a proposal to deploy a robust UN force in Sudan's Darfur region with the expectation of Khartoum's consent and decided to vote on it.

The 15-member body huddled for nearly two hours to consider an amended US-British draft that specifically states that the force would be deployed "on the basis of the acceptance of the (Sudanese) government," an effort to overcome Khartoum's strong opposition to the deployment.

After the meeting, US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told reporters: "Our intention to put have a vote tomorrow... We hoping for unanimous support."

The draft text calls for a 17,000-strong UN force to take over from the ill-equipped and underfunded African Union (AU) mission, which has been unable to prevent killings, rape and the internal displacement of civilians in Darfur.

Deploying UN peacekeepers is seen as crucial to the success of a fragile Darfur peace agreement signed by the Khartoum government and the main rebel faction in May.

Ghana's UN Ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng, the council president for August, stressed that adopting the resolution would not mean "shutting the door to negotiations" with Khartoum.

He said bilateral and multilateral channels would continue to be used to win over the Sudanese government, which strenuously opposed a strong UN presence in Darfur.

He said charges that the UN would infringe on Sudanese sovereignty did not make sense since a UN mission is already operating in Sudan with the consent of Khartoum.

The draft said the Darfur mission would be carried by expanding the mandate of the 12,273-strong United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) currently operating in the vast African country, and it urged "member states to provide the capability for an expeditious deployment."

UNMIS was created in March 2005 to help maintain the tenuous peace between Sudan's government and former southern rebels who in January of that year signed a peace agreement after 21 years of civil war.

Its role was also to liaise with AU forces working in Darfur.

The US-British text calls for raising UNMIS strength to up to 17,300 troops and up to 3,300 civilian police to monitor implementation of the Darfur peace deal, deploy to buffer zones and refugee camps, and work with Sudanese authorities in rebuilding shattered institutions.

Alluding to Tuesday's talks in Khartoum between Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, Bolton said changes would be incorporated in the draft as a result of those discussions.

Beshir apparently rebuffed a plea from Frazer to allow a UN force into Darfur. However, the State Department said Beshir would send an envoy to Washington in the near future.

"We said from the outset we did not contemplate that the UN peacekeeping force was going to fight its way into Darfur," Bolton said. "But we think it's important that the question of consent not hold up the operational steps at need to be taken to get this force deployed as rapidly as possible."

"Once the resolution is passed, the consent (from Khartoum) may be forthcoming more rapidly than people think," he added.

Acting under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, which authorizes military action in cases of threats to international peace and security, the UN force would be mandated to use all necessary means to protect UN personnel, humanitarian workers and Darfur civilians.

Darfur: Protests Heat Up in Khartoum

From VOA

A government-sponsored demonstration in Khartoum has protested international attempts to coax Sudan into accepting a U.N. mission in Darfur. The demonstration followed a visit this week by Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer.

Several hundred Sudanese rallied in the center of Khartoum, chanting anti-U.N. and anti-U.S. slogans, saying they would fight to protect Sudan from international intervention. Hundreds more drove through the capital in buses, waving banners and singing nationalist songs.

The government-backed protest was largely non-violent. Many demonstrators were students who had been released from school to attend the rally.

Ahmed Adam told VOA he is prepared to fight if the United Nations comes to Darfur.

"The Sudanese have said, 'No, no U.S.A.' No fighting, but peace in Sudan," said Ahmed Adam. "All of the students and the people and the members of Sudan stand for this day. [They] said by one voice, no, no for America, no United Nations. All of the people say by one voice, no, no, no, no, no."

Student Adam El Tayib was equally adamant.

"Any American who comes to Sudan will die in Darfur," said El Tayib. "Any American comes to Sudan, he will die."

Darfur: Red Cross Worker Killed

From Reuters

A Sudanese national working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who was abducted in Sudan's Darfur region by an armed group two weeks ago, is dead, the humanitarian agency said on Wednesday.

The Swiss-based agency said that it had not yet recovered the body of the 31-year-old man, who was not named, nor had it any details of how he was killed.

He was the first ICRC staff member to die in Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes since a revolt began in early 2003.

"The ICRC is shocked by his death, which comes amid a deterioration in security conditions in Darfur that has claimed the lives of other humanitarian workers in recent weeks," the agency said in a statement.

The man was abducted east of the Jebel Marra mountains in north Darfur on August 16 after an ICRC team was stopped by an armed group -- also not identified in the statement.

The team had been distributing food and the man was forced to drive one of two vehicles stolen in the attack, the agency said.

Eleven aid workers have been killed in rising violence since a May peace deal between the Sudanese government and one of three rebel groups active in the vast region the size of France.

Darfur: Highlights from UN Resolution

From Reuters

DEPLOYMENT OF FORCE

-- To deploy a peacekeeping force in Darfur "on the basis of the acceptance" by the Sudan government, as an addition to the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which has 10,000 personnel in southern Sudan.

-- Creates an UNMIS mission in DARFUR of up to 22,600 military and police personnel: 17,300 military, 3,300 police and 2,000 in formed police units. The final number has not yet been agreed.

-- Asks U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to consult with African Union and Sudanese parties on a plan and timetable for transition from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to a U.N. operation. Deployment should begin no later than Oct. 1. During the transition AMIS is to be provided with air assets, ground mobility training, engineering and logistics and mobile communications capacity.

MANDATE

-- Support implementation of the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement; investigate violations; establish a buffer or demilitarized zones inside and around camps of villagers driven from their homes.

-- Monitor armed groups in Darfur and along Sudan's borders with Chad and the Central African Republic.

-- Help develop a disarmament program for combatants and their families.

-- Work with the national police, including training and restructuring and mentoring and monitor their performance on joint patrols; help support an independence judiciary and professional corrections system to combat impunity.

-- Help coordinate voluntary return of refugees and other displaced people to their homes by establishing the necessary security conditions.

MANDATE PROVISIONS UNDER CHAPTER VII, U.N. CHARTER (which allows use of force)

-- UNMIS is authorized to "use all necessary means" within its capabilities to protect U.N. personnel and facilities; prevent disruption of the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement by armed groups, and prevent attacks and threats against civilians.

-- UNMIS is to seize or collect arms whose presence in Darfur is in violation of the peace agreements and to "dispose of such arms and related material as appropriate."

CHAD, CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC

-- Sets up political, humanitarian, military and civilian police liaison officers in key locations in Chad, where Sudan refugees had fled and villagers along the Sudanese border have been evicted from their homes. If necessary, the same system can be set up in the Central African Republic.

-- Requests Annan to report to the Security Council on the protection of civilians in refugee and displaced persons camps in Chad and on how to improve the security situation on the Chadian side of the border with Sudan.

SANCTIONS

The measure threatens, in response to a request by the African Union, to impose sanctions, such as an an asset freeze or travel ban, against any individual or group that violates or attempts to block the implementation of the Darfur agreement or commits human rights violations.

Darfur: Bush Offers to Meet With Bashir to Pave Way for U.N. Force

From the Washington Post

President Bush has proposed meeting with Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, as an incentive for Bashir to lift his adamant opposition to the introduction of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, according to a Sudanese government spokesman and U.S. government officials.

The offer of a high-profile meeting on the sidelines of next month's U.N. General Assembly debate was made yesterday by Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer in a meeting with Bashir in Khartoum. The Sudanese president had kept Frazer waiting since Saturday, citing a busy schedule, even though he knew that she was bringing a message from Bush.

[edit]

A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Frazer carried a letter from Bush to Bashir, which generally discussed Bush's concern about Darfur. She told Bashir that cooperation on Darfur could bring many benefits for Khartoum, though the official declined to specifically confirm them.

Bashir has long pushed for the lifting of economic sanctions related to Sudan's long support of terrorism. The official stressed that any incentives, such as a presidential meeting, would come only after positive actions by Sudan, such as the acceptance of a U.N. force.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Some analysts doubted Bashir would be impressed by the offer.

"President Bush's expression of a willingness to meet with Khartoum's brutal leader inevitably works to confer international legitimacy upon his genocidal regime and policies," said Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who closely tracks events in Sudan. "But the grim irony here is that this expediency, this moral capitulation, only emboldens the regime, convincing these genocidaires that they hold the upper hand and need not agree to a U.N. force."

Darfur: Bashir Sees Western Conspiracy

From the AP

Sudan‘s president accused the United States and Britain Tuesday of conspiring against his country as diplomats at the United Nations said Washington and ally London want the Security Council to adopt a resolution in two days giving the U.N. authority over peacekeepers in Darfur.

"Everybody knows the Americans and British are scheming against the Sudan," al-Bashir said at a rally to muster support for his opposition to the proposed deployment.

Al-Bashir spoke less than an hour before a visiting U.S. envoy delivered a written message to him from President Bush calling for better relations between the two countries and urging the Sudanese president to accept U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, al-Bashir‘s spokesman Mahjud Fadul Bedry said.

On Monday, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland told the Security Council that since a May peace agreement was reached by the Sudanese government and one of the region‘s major rebel groups, violence, sexual abuse and displacement has increased dramatically. He cited a report that more than 200 women and girls in one camp have been sexually assaulted in less than two months.

The Security Council planned to meet Wednesday to discuss the British and American draft. If no one objects, the resolution could be adopted Thursday.

One stumbling block to a quick adoption has been China, which wants to make sure that the troops would not come under U.N. command without Sudan‘s consent.

"The Americans and the British are not seeking peace but war," he said.

Chad/Darfur: UN Aid Chief Warns of Regional Disaster

From the UN News Center

The top United Nations aid official in Chad, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Sudanese who have fled the violence in neighbouring Darfur, warned today of a regional “humanitarian disaster” unless the two African Governments put their differences aside and work together to stop the escalating militia violence.

“What will happen in our view if the Darfur crisis is not resolved is that we will continue to have armed groups…operating in all the areas around the border, they may continue to weaken Government institutions and…make the life of the ordinary citizens almost impossible,” Kingsley Amaning, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad, told reporters in New York.

If Sudan and Chad do not work together to find a more durable solution, he warned, “we will have a general deterioration of the stability in those areas and in the sub-region and that will create a humanitarian disaster.”

Mr. Amaning said that over 240,000 Sudanese refugees had fled to Chad because of the crisis in Darfur and these were being assisted in 12 camps despite difficulties associated with inhospitable terrain, overcrowding and especially insecurity.

“It’s obvious that the [Darfur] situation is bleak, it is not improving and that is causing us tremendous worry in Chad because there’s a clear linkage between what we’re doing in Chad, which is trying to save lives, [and this is] put in danger by the crisis in Darfur.”

He also warned that the “whole scenario” of militia groups attacking other groups in Darfur was now being repeated in Chad, and he blamed this on ethnicity as well as the “militarization of the region” which has allowed people to have easy access to weapons.

Chad/Darfur: Displaced Again and Again

From ACT-Caritas

In Chad, the native administrator, Mohammed Jibril, generously provided the Darfurians with land so that they could build houses and farm. Some also received seeds, tools and blankets from aid agencies. Protected by police points and security patrols in the villages, the people felt safe.

But with the escalation of violence in Chad in March this year, the Chadian government recalled all security forces from the villages. With no force to protect them, armed militias attacked the very villages where the Darfurians had sought refuge.

Again fleeing on foot, but this time with the Chadians who had shown them such hospitality, Juguma, back across the border, seemed the safest option. The military presence in Juguma acts as a deterrent to armed militias.

"The military helps us," says one sheikh. "They stop the militias attacking our homes."

But the military cannot prevent armed men from entering the town.

"Every day we see men around the town. They are in uniforms and armed with Kalashnikovs and other types of guns," says an Omdah, a native administrator for the area.

"If they see you and you have something they want -- it could be your donkey, your watch, or even your shoes -- they will stop you, point their gun at you, and ask you to give it to them."

The Chadians have now gone home, but the Darfurians remain in Juguma. "We can never go home to our villages," declares one sheikh, "because there is no peace."

"All around Juguma there is insecurity - even now. We are afraid," affirms another sheikh.

"When your own eyes see your brother being killed, and you see the people that killed him still going around with guns, you are deeply afraid," explains the Omdah.

Some people have returned to the villages to farm during the rainy season, but the sheikhs say that after planting, they will return to Juguma. "At the moment they are living in danger."

"On the 28th May, the village of Tulil was attacked and looted by armed men on horses and camels," says another sheikh. "We cannot but expect more attacks."

Darfur: Expel Sudan from the UN

From CNS

Sudan should be suspended from the United Nations and eventually expelled if it continues to defy U.N. resolutions and international human rights law with its abuses in Darfur, a non-governmental organization said Tuesday.

The Geneva-based NGO, U.N. Watch, launched a campaign urging people around the world to send messages calling for Sudan's suspension to the Security Council's permanent members and General Assembly President Jan Eliasson.

U.N. Watch executive director Hillel Neuer noted that the U.N. Charter's article five empowers the world body to suspend a state against which the Security Council has taken enforcement action, as in the case with Sudan.

"Although an extreme sanction, we believe that suspension is wholly appropriate in Sudan's case," Neuer said. "The Khartoum government has flouted one Security Council resolution after another and now appears to be about to escalate its genocidal campaign in Darfur."

Neuer said if the suspension did not persuade the Sudanese government to change course, then the U.N. should expel Sudan under the Charter's article six.

Darfur: UN Troops ASAP, Say Rights Workers

From the AP

Amid fears that escalating violence could unleash another round of humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan‘s Darfur region, rights advocacy groups are urging the world community to take immediate steps to protect civilians.

"Rape, murder, and forced displacement continue in Darfur," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, "because Russia, China, Qatar, and others have protected Khartoum from tough measures by the Security Council."

"We know the Security Council‘s attention is focused on Iran and Lebanon," he added in a statement, "but the United States, Britain, and France must step up efforts to ensure that Darfur is a priority also."

The U.S. proposal calls for a gradual transition from the Africa Union (AU) force in Darfur, which has failed to take effective measures against violence, mainly due to lack of resources. The AU mandate is due to expire at the end of September.

But human rights groups say such a move would prove to be a disaster.

Human Rights Watch‘s Takirambudde agreed.

However, the Sudanese troops have already started arriving in some parts of northern Darfur, according to Africa Action, a Washington, DC-based independent group, which has accused the Sudanese government of using force against Darfuri refugees who have resettled in the outskirts of Khartoum.

"The humanitarian crisis and outright violence has reached a crescendo that demands an international response," the group said in a statement, calling for the immediate deployment of UN troops.

Uganda: Safe Routes for LRA Not Chosen Yet

From Reuters

Uganda's army on Wednesday has not yet chosen the safe routes northern rebels are supposed to take from the bush to camps in south Sudan as part of a truce that may mark the end of one of Africa's longest wars.

The delay announcing the routes, expected to have been broadcast on radio late on Tuesday, should not deter Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerrillas in the north from setting off on foot for the remote border, a government spokesman said.

"Military commanders are still planning where the routes will go, but if LRA members are seen heading in the right direction, obviously no one is going to harm them," said Robert Kabushenga. "We are waiting to see what they do."

Nearly two million people have been uprooted in northern Uganda by 20 years of fighting between troops and LRA rebels notorious for killing civilians, mutilating survivors and forcing thousands of abducted children to serve in its ranks.

Under a truce agreed on Saturday at peace talks in southern Sudan, rebel fighters in northern Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo have three weeks to gather at two south Sudanese camps as negotiations continue.

Few, if any, LRA are expected at the remote locations for days, where they will be monitored by south Sudanese forces.

If they come at all, the LRA's elusive leader Joseph Kony and his deputies are expected to arrive last because they fear being arrested and sent to The Hague for war crimes trials at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Guerrilla officials have insisted both men will move to the Sudan camps within the three-week deadline.

Experts say the rebels have few choices left, cut off from years of support from Sudan's government in Khartoum, which had used them against its own rebels, and ringed by states legally obliged to hand them over to the ICC.

The ICC has no police force, so is relying on Ugandan, Sudanese and former southern Sudanese rebels to make arrests. On Monday, the court said it still hoped that would happen, despite a Ugandan amnesty offer under the terms of the truce.

Experts say if Kony and Otti leave Congo for the camps, it would be the biggest boost so far for the negotiations, meaning the LRA was ready to sign a comprehensive peace deal.

If the talks collapse, Saturday's truce lets the rebels leave the assembly areas peacefully, but diplomats say that is unlikely to happen -- especially if the wanted men are present.

Uganda: Preparing to Start a New Life

From IRIN

An uneasy calm has returned to most parts of northern Uganda, 20 years after the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) launched its war against the Ugandan government.

Attacks on civilians by the rebels that have wreaked havoc across the region have decreased considerably, according to the Ugandan army. The security situation should improve even more rapidly if the cessation of hostilities agreement between the rebels and the Ugandan government lasts.

"The general situation in northern Uganda from the military angle is very promising," said Major Felix Kulaigye, spokesman for the Uganda People's Defence Forces. He said the LRA no longer had the capacity for large-scale abductions and mass killings, having lost the logistical support and supplies it used to receive from Sudan. The formation of a government in southern Sudan had given a fillip to efforts by the Ugandan army to defeat the LRA.

He reckoned there were 200-300 LRA fighters in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and inside Uganda were bands of between 10 and 15 fighters hiding in the bush, occasionally stealing food from farms to survive.

All these fighters, under the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in Juba on Saturday, are supposed to assemble at agreed points in southern Sudan within three weeks. They will be supervised by southern Sudan forces.

However, the humanitarian effects of the conflict are still evident across the region. Years in the camps have made most internally displaced people (IDPs) virtually destitute. They lack the resources to acquire the basic necessities to restart their lives in the villages, which are now all overgrown with bush - most homes were torched by LRA fighters over the years and farms abandoned.

"We have our own land. We do not want to remain here and live in poverty for ever. We would rather go back home and till our land," said Charles Omona, a resident of Alero camp in Gulu district. Still sceptical of the peace, he said residents of the camp were not yet sure that the relative security in the area would endure, but wanted to leave the camp and move closer to their original villages to work in their fields. "Access to land is the main motivation [for the desire to return]," said Omona.

According to Francis Musa Ecweru, Uganda's Minister of State for Relief and Disaster Preparedness, the government has devised a two-pronged plan for the resettlement of IDPs in the strife-torn northern region.

"The areas that are relatively peaceful, that is Lango and Teso, are for return and reintegration; the areas of Acholi sub-region, which are a little bit unpredictable, are for decongestion. We are trying to encourage the populations from huge camps of say 40,000-50,000 to move into smaller satellite camps near their fields, of say 7,000 to 10,000 [people] so that we easily contain communicable diseases. From there they can access their fields to supplement the emergency relief that the humanitarian agencies have continued to extend to them," he said.

Under a government-supported 'decongestion programme', thousands of IDPs have moved out of the main camps to smaller settlements from where they are able to access their own farms.

But a lack of shelter material, food scarcity, a dearth of farm implements and the collapse of infrastructure and amenities such as schools, health centres and water services are all deterring people from returning home.

DRC: Returning Villagers Strain Aid Efforts

From Reuters

Over 100,000 displaced people are flooding home as militias disarm in southeast Congo but with many houses destroyed they pose a fresh humanitarian challenge for the devastated country, a U.N. official said.

Democratic Republic of Congo, which is preparing for a tense presidential run-off vote in October, saw fierce battles between the army and Mai Mai militia in mineral-rich Katanga province as Kinshasa tried to assert control after a ruinous 1998-2003 war.

Mai Mai fighters, drafted to repulse rebels backed by neighbouring Rwanda during the war, had until recently refused to participate in a U.N.-backed disarmament programme.

But breakthroughs in the last six months have brought greater stability to Katanga, Congo's copper heartland, and more than halved the number of displaced people there from 200,000 to an estimated 80,000 today.

"The situation in Katanga has greatly improved. The new challenge is to assist people who are returning home," Gerson Brandao, the local humanitarian affairs officer for U.N. aid coordination office OCHA, told Reuters late on Tuesday.

"There are 100,000 people in Katanga starting to return home but their homes do not exist any more. We do not have the resources to help these people."

The United Nations launched an appeal in February to raise $680 million for humanitarian aid across Congo, but so far it has received only 36 percent of that, Brandao said.

"The people returning have absolutely nothing: their villages have been destroyed by the militias or the Congolese army. There are no schools, no health centres and nothing to eat," he said.

Day For Darfur

An upcoming event - September 17th

Thousands of people are still losing their lives...

Despite the signing of a Darfur peace agreement on 5 May 2006, the violence in western Sudan has not stopped; in fact, in some parts of Darfur, the violence has grown worse.

People are still being killed and raped and displaced - every single day.

On September 17 people around the world will take part in the Global Day for Darfur to show world-wide support for the Darfuri people and to put pressure on our Governments to protect the civilians.

We hope that you will be able to join us on the Global Day for Darfur.

Wear a blue hat on September 17th

When UN peacekeeping forces enter a region, they are recognized by the blue berets and helmets they wear.

Wearing a blue hat will symbolize the urgent need to protect the people of Darfur with UN peacekeeping forces.

More from Human Rights First

On September 17 people in over 15 countries across the world will show their support for the people of Darfur.

Efforts to mark the day are now being planned in Abuja (Nigeria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Berlin (Germany), Cairo (Egypt), Hong Kong, Kigali (Rwanda), Kampala (Uganda), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), London (United Kingdom), Melbourne (Australia), Moscow (Russia), Nairobi (Kenya), New York (USA), Paris (France), Pretoria (South Africa), Toronto and Vancouver (Canada).

“We’re all saying the same thing, whether at a small candlelight vigil or mass concert; our governments need to step up now and put an end to the mass slaughter that is going on in Darfur,” said Jill Savitt, Campaigns Director at Human Rights First.

Thousands of people will call on their governments to do more to pressure the Security Council to protect civilians in Darfur including wearing blue hats on the day to symbolize the blue berets that U.N. peacekeeping forces wear. “African Union troops have done what they can under very difficult circumstances, but the time has come for U.N. troops to be sent in to protect the people of Darfur,” said Savitt.

September 17th marks the one-year anniversary of the United Nations' pledge to provide security for civilians around the world. People all over the world will gather to remind the UN of its unfulfilled responsibility and the continuing suffering in Darfur.

Darfur: Bearing Witness

An upcoming event in NY

On September 5, 2006 at 8pm Ruth Messinger will speak about her recent trip to Darfur. She will be joined by Congressman Anthony
Weiner and Sudanese refugee Daowd Salih.

Ms. Messinger is the executive director of American Jewish World Service, a humanitarian organization providing support to grassroots social change projects throughout the world. She has been to the Darfur region twice and witnessed some of the most horrific tragedies going on in the world today.

Congressman Weiner has spoken out on the floor of the House of Representatives, urging the international community to take stronger action in Darfur and has called upon the United Nations Security Council to pass that will be consequential in the lives of the people of Darfur.

Daowd Salih left everything behind in Darfur, but he was lucky, he survived the ethnic cleansing and slaughter going on in the region. He has been working hard to raise awareness and he is Vice Chairman of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, part of the SaveDarfur Coalition.

The UN has described the situation in Darfur as "the worst humanitarian and human rights situation in the world."

The meeting will be held at the Forest Hills Jewish Center, 106-06 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, NY

Darfur: U.S., Britain Seek Resolution Vote Thursday

From Reuters

Britain and the United States called for a vote on Thursday on a U.N. resolution to allow the United Nations to begin assembling a peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region, despite opposition from the government in Khartoum.

The resolution would require the Sudanese government's consent before actual deployment, but Western powers expect Khartoum to eventually accept a U.N. presence in Darfur, as it already has in southern Sudan.

"I think council colleagues understand why we really do need to act" in Darfur, British U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said on Tuesday after two weeks of Security Council deliberations on the measure drafted by Washington and London.

"Our judgment here is that we think we've found a formulation that would win acceptance on the council and achieve the objective we've been seeking, which is the early transfer of (peacekeeping) responsibility in Darfur to the United Nations," said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton.

The envoys spoke with reporters a day after U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland warned the 15-nation council of a looming new humanitarian disaster in Darfur and said U.N. inaction could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The two ambassadors said a revised text would be circulated before council talks set for Wednesday.

Diplomats said it would state explicitly that the force could go in only with the Sudan government's consent, since council members agreed deployment would be impossible without it.

"It will address consent among other issues and will be clear on how the transition will take place," Jones Parry said.

Darfur: Bashir Again Rejects UN Force

From Reuters

After a two-day wait, top U.S. official Jendayi Frazer met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Tuesday but failed to achieve her mission to persuade him to accept U.N. troops in the violent Darfur region.

Frazer, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, had flown to Khartoum to convince Sudan to agree to the deployment of more than 20,000 U.N. troops and police in Darfur to take over from a struggling African Union mission there.

"They met ... Frazer delivered her message and she has left," said Katherine Moseley from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.

Frazer canceled all meetings with the media, which one Sudanese official said was because she had "nothing new to report." She had waited nearly two days to meet Bashir.

Bashir on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to the deployment of U.N. troops, instead praising the AU troops in Darfur in a speech. "We are not calling for confrontation or war but we are calling for peace and stability," he said.

UPDATE: More from Reuters

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Frazer had delivered a message from President George W. Bush that Sudan needed to accept a U.N. force in Darfur.

"She made a very clear case of what U.S. policy is and he certainly listened to what she had to say," he said.

Casey said Bashir said he would send an envoy to Washington to reply directly to Bush's message, which according to one U.S. official had included incentives if Sudan accepted a U.N. force.

Casey declined to comment on the contents of the message but said Washington had made clear its bilateral relationship would "only move forward in a positive direction" if the situation in Darfur improved.

[edit]

During her meeting with Bashir, Frazer also raised the case of jailed U.S. journalist Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who has been charged with espionage in Sudan.

"We want to see a speedy and fair trial," said Casey of Salopek's case.

Darfur: Bashir Reportedly Meets Frazer, After Snub

From Reuters

Sudan's president met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday after failing to secure a meeting with him a day earlier, John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said.

Frazer went to Khartoum at the weekend to deliver a strong message to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that he must accept U.N. peacekeeping troops in the war-torn western Darfur region. She extended her stay on Monday after she was unable to meet with him.

"My understanding is he (Bashir) was maybe too busy yesterday but he did meet with her this morning," Bolton told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. "I know that she saw President Bashir."

He said he had no details of what was said during the meeting, however.

Darfur: US Wants Vote This Week on UN Peacekeepers

From VOA

The United States is pushing the Security Council to vote by the end of the week on a British-American sponsored resolution to send UN troops to Darfur. U.N. humanitarian officials are also urging the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to avert a disaster.

The draft resolution calls for UN peacekeepers to take over and expand an African Union force that has been unable to stop the violence and protect civilians in Darfur.

Britain and the United States introduced the resolution August 17. But the Sudanese government rejected the proposal and announced it will send troops to the region. UN diplomats say a Sudanese force does not fulfill the terms of the peace agreement signed in May.

Sudanese diplomats were invited to Monday's Security Council meeting to discuss the resolution and the dire humanitarian situation in Darfur, but did not attend.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton says Council members must take a clear stand even though many are concerned about sending U.N peacekeepers into a nation that has not given its consent to the mission. "I think we have all made it clear that nobody expects the U.N force to fight its way into Darfur. But at the same time, for us simply to withhold while the Darfur peace agreement itself becomes shakier and shakier, not the least of which because of actions by the government of Sudan, risks the situation simply getting out of control. So I think we still have a lot of obstacles to overcome. But I think the determination that I am trying to express is that we have undertaken many efforts to accommodate the concerns of the government of Sudan and those on the Council who are speaking for it. There comes a time ultimately when you just have to stand up and vote," he said.

Bolton wants the Security Council to vote on the resolution soon because of the deteriorating situation in Darfur and also because the Council's president for the month of August is an African, Ghanaian ambassador Nana Effah Apenteng.

The U.S. ambassador say the transition should take place October 1, just after the U.N. mandate for the African Union forces expires.

Uganda: Army Halts Operations as Ceasefire Goes Into Effect

From IRIN

The Ugandan army has halted operations against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in northern Uganda and southern Sudan as a truce aimed at underpinning peace talks took effect on Tuesday morning, officials said.

"The Commander in Chief of the UPDF [Uganda People's Defense Forces] has directed the UPDF to cease all search and destroy operations against the LRA," army spokesman Felix Kulaije said. "It is hereby directed that the UPDF should withdraw to their barracks and to the guarding of internally displaced people. They should not shoot at the LRA unless in defence of the population."

Kulaije said President Yoweri Museveni, the Commander in Chief of the army, issued the order as the "cessation of hostilities" agreement signed on Saturday in the southern Sudanese town of Juba came into force at 6:00 am (0300 GMT).

The LRA commander, Joseph Kony, who declared a unilateral ceasefire on 4 August, was expected to make an announcement reaffirming the earlier truce, according to LRA officials.

Under the terms of the agreement, Uganda will guarantee the rebels - who number anywhere between 500 and 5,000 - safe passage to two assembly points in autonomous southern Sudan.

Addressing a news conference on Tuesday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, after the ceasefire order had been given, Uganda's junior Defence Minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, said the military was mapping out safe corridors that the LRA fighters would use to reach the designated sites.

The president, she added, had appointed two senior military officers to the monitoring team that is overseeing the implementation of the agreement.

"We expect the LRA to start using these corridors when they are properly announced later in the day," Nankabirwa said. She warned that the military would remain on alert and respond "appropriately" if the LRA carried out any attacks on civilians.

"The UPDF still has the duty and constitutional mandate to protect the people. They have been ordered not to shoot at the LRA unless to protect the people," the minister said. "We are now under a period of silence and we do not expect any shooting in northern Uganda or the areas designated as safe corridors."

The rebels, who will assemble in the two camps, will stay there for the duration of the talks under the protection of the government of southern Sudan. The talks, being mediated by the southern Sudanese government, are scheduled to resume on Thursday.

[edit]

On Monday, Museveni warned that his military would re-engage the LRA if the talks were not successful. "If the LRA does not come out and take the opportunity for a peaceful solution, we shall hunt them," he told a news conference with visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Uganda: Widespread Support for Forgiveness

From IRIN

To most of the world, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a notorious rebel group accused of committing mass murder, mutilations, rape, abductions, conscripting child soldiers and forcing minors into sex slavery over two decades.

To people in northern Uganda, the rebels - who have agreed a cessation of hostilities with Kampala effective Tuesday - should be forgiven, in line with the Ugandan government's amnesty to the rank and file of LRA fighters, as well as the leadership, if they renounce violence.

"This amnesty is a very good option," said Simon Lakwonyero, a resident of Alero displaced persons' camp in Gulu district. "For 20 years the government failed to protect the people, the war persisted but still it was the civilians who suffered most."

To Lakwonyero, the Acholi community, which has borne the brunt of the violence, should be allowed to use its own justice system, known as Mat Oput, which provides for restitution and reconciliation.

Grace Anena, a 16-year-old former LRA captive, who is recovering from bullet wounds sustained in 2004 during a clash between the LRA and the Ugandan army, however believes the amnesty should only be extended to Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, if he confesses that he committed crimes. "If he accepts that he abducted [people] and committed atrocities, he should be forgiven. If he refuses to acknowledge his mistakes, he should be tried," she added.

Patrick Kweyo, a 48-year-old father of four, whose son, Simon, was abducted from a village in Gulu district on his way to school in 1999, expressed optimism about the amnesty, saying it could enable his son to come back home. "I like to believe that he is still alive, despite the horror stories I have heard from those who returned. Nothing would give me more joy than to see him again," said Kweyo.

The chairman of the Amnesty Commission, Peter Onega, also argues in favour of allowing the Acholi traditional justice system to take its course, despite indictments issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Kony and four of his commanders.

"The amnesty idea originated in Acholi where the rebels were killing their own people. The people came up with this idea of amnesty and up to now they still uphold the idea of amnesty," said Onega.

"They thought that if amnesty was extended, the people who feared they would be prosecuted would be able to come back and the conflict would end. Of course they find themselves in tricky situation, because the [rebels] are their own people. If our children are in the bush and we were asked if we would give them amnesty if they came home, most likely we would say, 'let my child come back'.

"The situation is further complicated by the fact that most of these people were taken against their will, abducted, then indoctrinated. In the first place, society should be blamed for failing to protect them. We have a duty to protect our own people. If we fail to protect them and they fall prey to such elements then we are the ones [responsible]," he added.

Onega said that while the commission was more interested in finding a lasting solution to the conflict in northern Uganda, the ICC wanted to prosecute perpetrators of the violence. This, he added, put the Ugandan government in an awkward situation, having itself invited the ICC to investigate the LRA's culpability in war crimes.

"The government is party to the ICC statute. The government took the trouble to make a reference to the ICC. The ICC came and carried out preliminary investigations and found sufficient evidence to prosecute and has come up with warrants. Now it is the same government telling the ICC to hold on a little. It presents a very difficult situation because it would mean the government is backing out of its international obligations.

"However, if you look at the situation on the ground people are really suffering, people are crying, the victims themselves are saying, 'We don't care so long as the war ends immediately. The trial of one person or five people in The Hague is not going to help end our war immediately'.

"The military approach has taken [a] long [time] and has not ended the war and people are rather sceptical. If you took Kony to the ICC, tried and convicted him, the ICC is going to impose life sentences - they talk in terms of 20, 30 years. A man who has been living in the bush under very difficult and harsh conditions will find conditions very nice in prison where he will be well looked after. For an ordinary Acholi it will not be a kind of punishment at all," said Onega.

Walter Ochora Odoch, the resident district commissioner of Gulu and a strong proponent of the traditional conflict resolution method, described the ICC indictments as "paper warrants", saying the international tribunal was unlikely to succeed in its efforts to have the LRA commanders arrested. "People have suffered for 20 years and we now have an opportunity for peace, let us not lose [it]. Among the Acholi the culture of forgiveness has been there for thousands of years," he said.

DRC/ICC: War Crime Charge for Rebel

From the BBC

The leader of a Democratic Republic of Congo militia has become the first war crimes suspect to be charged at the International Criminal Court.

Thomas Lubanga, who led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia group based in eastern DR Congo, is accused of recruiting child soldiers.

International human rights groups argue that charges of murder, torture and rape should be brought against him.

The ICC was set up in 2002 to deal with war crimes and genocide worldwide.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other international watchdog bodies welcomed the charges, but said they did not go far enough.

"Enlisting, conscripting and using children as soldiers in armed conflict are serious crimes that should be condemned and appropriately punished. However, much more is needed," HRW said in a statement addressed to the International Criminal Court last month.

"We believe that you, as the prosecutor, must send a clear signal to the victims in Ituri and the people of the DRC that those who perpetrate crimes such as rape, torture and summary executions will be held to account," the statement said.

ICC deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the court had begun with the charges related to child soldiers because evidence was available.

"This doens't mean the door is shut to other crimes," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"The office of the prosecutor is in no way saying other offences were not committed. But the quality of the evidence we have is also important."

Darfur: Briefing by Jan Egeland

From the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Our entire humanitarian operation in Darfur – the only lifeline for more than three million people – is presently at risk. We need immediate action on the political front to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe with massive loss of life. Since 2004 we have seen tens of thousands of deaths each year. If the humanitarian operation were to collapse, we could see hundreds of thousands of deaths. In short, we may end up with a man-made catastrophe of an unprecedented scale in Darfur. Several factors point to this.

First, since May there has been a dramatic increase of violence, sexual abuse, and displacement. The fighting between, on one side, Government forces and SLA-Minawi, and on the other, the rebels who did not sign the DPA, has resulted in hundreds of deaths, despicable gender based violence, systematic looting, and an estimated 50,000 displaced in the last 8 weeks. IRC issued a press release last week reporting that more than 200 women and girls have been sexually assaulted in the last five weeks alone around only one camp, Kalma in South Darfur. An additional 200 women and girls say they have been attacked in other ways during the same period, including being beaten, punched and kicked by assailants who lie in wait a few miles outside the camp. The brave women of Kalma, who have endured so much, have taken the unprecedented step of openly appealing for help. Most other survivors of rape are too scared to seek medical help for fear of intimidation, harassment and arrest.

Farmers in North and West Darfur are reporting that they are being harassed, beaten, whipped, and in some cases shot and killed to prevent them from cultivating the land. Humanitarian agencies have carried out seed distributions in many areas, but as a result of insecurity and population displacement too little planting has taken place to avoid massive humanitarian needs in Darfur well into 2007.

The second factor pointing toward the abyss is more deadly attacks on humanitarian staff than ever before. Attacks against humanitarians are at an all-time high, with 9 humanitarian workers killed in the month of July alone. More than 25 UN or NGO vehicles have been ambushed or hijacked in the last two months, with one organization losing three vehicles to hijackings in a two-day period. If this continues, one organization after the other will be leaving Darfur because we cannot expose our staff to such unacceptable risks to their lives.

Thirdly, there has been a dramatic reduction in access. Access is at its lowest levels since it all started in 2003-2004. We have no access at all to large areas in the Jebel Marra, northern North Darfur, and northern West Darfur and inaccessible areas are expanding by the day. Even in some areas where we do have access, organizations have been forced to suspend all but the most essential operations as a result of insecurity.

NGOs in North Darfur are largely confined to the capital. Again, key organizations feel paralyzed and have raised the prospect of full withdrawal. Hundreds of thousands would then be left without any humanitarian assistance. The World Health Organization has reported that 40% of the population in North Darfur are not receiving health care as its NGO implementing partners have been forced to withdraw from numerous locations across the state. Vaccinations in the state have dropped from 90% in 2005 to a mere 20% in 2006. WFP have reported that 470,000 people across Darfur did not receive their monthly rations in July, up from the 290,000 who could not be reached in June. We can expect that once again this month half a million people will not receive the food on which they depend for their very survival.

Mr. President,

While all this is going on, AMIS’ impact is diminishing. The allegations that AMIS is partial to the Government and the SLA-Minawi faction may force humanitarian organizations to rethink their engagement with AMIS, for fear of compromising their own impartiality. Some rebel groups have indicated that they consider the AU to be their enemy, and the AU is increasingly targeted, with tragic consequences last weekend when two AMIS soldiers were killed in an attack in North Darfur.

The final piece of this bleak scenario is humanitarian funding. Humanitarian requirements in Darfur are facing a shortfall of almost $300 million for this year alone. The humanitarian component of the Work Plan for Darfur is only 63% funded, with many sectors less than 35% funded. WFP was forced to cut rations to 50% in May, but thanks to some important contributions announced while I was in Darfur, in early June, they were able to raise rations back up to 85%. Without new contributions in the coming weeks, WFP recently warned that it may be forced to introduce new dramatic cuts in rations in October in order to stretch limited resources into the early months of 2007.

Mr. President,

In the past months I have repeatedly called for attention to the deteriorating situation in Darfur. As you have heard today our warnings have become a black reality that calls for immediate action: insecurity is at its highest levels since 2004, access at its lowest levels since that date and we may well be on the brink of a return to all-out war. This would mean the withdrawal of international staff from Darfur, leaving millions of vulnerable Darfuris to suffer their fate without assistance and with few outsiders to witness. A return to war would not just affect Darfur. It would severely impact on neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic, further destabilizing and endangering the entire region.

A collapse can still be averted, if you the member states will take action now. What should be done? Let me propose the following: All parties to the conflict must be reminded that there can be no military solution in Darfur, and the Government must be convinced that its planned military campaign is a prescription for disaster. AMIS must be funded, strengthened and revitalized to allow it to continue until there is a more effective UN force on the ground. And as we operate in ever more difficult and dangerous environments, humanitarian operations, which represent a lifeline for millions of people in Darfur, must be urgently funded.

Mr. President,

In recent weeks we have all been distracted by developments in other parts of the world. In the meantime in Darfur all of our nightmares have become realities. Over the last two years the international humanitarian community has gave a glimmer of hope to the suffering of Darfur – we made significant progress in improving health, education, nutrition and water and sanitation indicators to commendable levels. This has been achieved through the generous contribution of donors and more importantly the courage – and tragically the lives – of humanitarians on the ground.

This can all be lost within weeks – not months. I cannot give a starker warning than to say that we are at a point where even hope may escape us and the lives of hundreds of thousands could be needlessly lost. The Security Council and member states around this table with influence on the parties to the conflict must act now. Hundreds of humanitarian organizations from around the world are watching what you will be doing or may refrain from doing in the coming weeks.

Uganda: ICC Still Calling for Kony's Arrest

From Reuters

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors said on Monday they still hoped for the arrest of leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) despite an offer of amnesty by Uganda under the terms of a truce.

Leaders of the cult-like rebels, who are infamous for massacring civilians, mutilating survivors and kidnapping thousands of children, are wanted by the Hague-based Court to face war crimes charges.

"We believe that the countries or the states which have an obligation to execute the arrest warrant will do so," the court's deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told journalists.

"We still maintain that because we think those persons who bear the greatest responsibility should not go unpunished."

He was speaking at a news conference called to discuss a separate case and reiterating the Court's position.

The ICC issued arrest warrants against LRA leader Joseph Kony and his deputies last year but has no police force to hunt down its targets, so must rely on Ugandan, Sudanese and former southern Sudanese rebel troops to bring them to justice.

Under the terms of a truce agreed on Saturday, Uganda has offered amnesty to LRA leaders, including those hunted by the ICC, if they abandon their hideouts and assemble at two Sudanese camps within the next three weeks to thrash out a final deal.

The LRA said all leaders including the ICC indictees would come to the camps.

Asked about Uganda's truce offer, Bensouda said: "We certainly hope that they will execute the warrant that has been issued against the top leaders of the LRA."

Darfur: Egeland Warns of "Massive Loss of Life"

An updated Reuters article contains this new info

he U.N. began a closed-door Security Council meeting in New York on Monday to discuss a U.S. and British sponsored draft resolution to deploy around 20,000 troops and police to Darfur.

The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, said Sudan had decided to boycott the meeting.

Bashir, whose government has consistently rejected U.N. forces in western Sudan, calls the resolution an attempt at a Western invasion.

U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland warned the Security Council that Darfur was on the brink of a fresh humanitarian disaster threatening "massive loss of life."

Without safer conditions for aid workers, greater access to those in need and an end to the violence, the international humanitarian operation could collapse, threatening hundreds of thousands of deaths, he said.

"Insecurity is at its highest levels since 2004, (humanitarian) access at its lowest levels since that date and we may well be on the brink of a return to all-out war," Egeland told the council, according to a text of his remarks.

Darfur: Frazer Leaves Without Meeting Bashir

From the AP

A senior U.S. diplomat left Sudan without meeting President Omar al-Beshir after Khartoum rejected demands that it approve the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in war-torn Darfur.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer ended her mission to Sudan late Sunday, a day before the U.N. Security Council was to discuss a draft resolution on the peacekeepers.

Frazer had been expected to deliver a message from U.S. President George W. Bush to al-Beshir, apparently pressing the Sudanese president to end his rejection of the U.N. deployment.

But al-Bashir was unable to meet the American diplomat "due to his crowded schedule," the president's office said.

Instead, Frazer handed the message to presidential adviser Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmed, who in turn gave her a message from al-Bashir repeating his rejection of the U.N. force, presidential spokesman Mahjub Badry, told reporters.

UPDATE: The BBC reports Frazer is staying an extra day

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer has announced she is staying in Sudan for an extra day in order to meet President Omar al-Bashir.

Darfur: Divided UN Security Council Debates Crisis

From AFP

A divided Security Council met behind closed doors here Monday to debate the deteriorating situation in Darfur as the United States accused China of blocking a deal to deploy UN peacekeepers in Sudan's war-torn western region.

The meeting of the 15-member body came as Sudan rejected US pressure to accept a US-British draft resolution calling for the deployment of a robust UN force in Darfur.

The proposed 17,000-strong force would take over from the ill-equipped and under-funded African Union (AU) mission, which has proved unable to prevent killings, rape and internal displacement of civilians in the region.

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, who travelled to Khartoum to soften Sudanese government opposition to the UN force, looked set to leave empty-handed but for a letter addressed to US President George W. Bush in which Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir reiterated his firm opposition to the deployment of UN troops.

Frazer's two-day visit was aimed at winning over the Sudanese government, which is seen as crucial to bolstering a fragile peace deal signed in May and preventing further bloodshed.

"We felt for many months the Security Council is not going to be able to be unified and have a strong voice on the Sudan issue," Rick Grenell, a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations told reporters Monday.

"The country that is showing the most interest in making sure that we don't move forward on the issue (of Sudan) is China," he added.

China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the council which has close energy ties with Khartoum, and a couple of African countries on the council "don't view Sudan as a priority", Grenell added.

Darfur: Bashir Snubs Frazer

From Sapa-AFP

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir will not meet the envoy sent to Khartoum by US President George W. Bush to push for the deployment of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in Darfur, his spokesman has said.

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer arrived in Sudan on Saturday with a message calling on Beshir to accept a draft US-British resolution for the deployment of UN troops in war-torn Darfur.

However, Sudanese presidential spokesman Mahjub Fadul Badri said: "Beshir will not meet (Frazer) due to scheduling constraints".

Frazer was expected to leave Khartoum on Monday. She delivered her message to Beshir adviser Majzub al-Khalifa Ahmed on Sunday.

"A reply was given to her in which Beshir repeats that he is still opposed to the deployment of UN troops," Badri added.

Washington's lead diplomat for Africa was greeted at the airport on Saturday by an angry mob chanting anti-US slogans and protesters also followed her to the US embassy in Khartoum on Sunday.

Darfur: Sudan Set for Confrontation on UN Force

From Reuters

Sudan ignored U.S. pressure to accept U.N. troops in Darfur, sidelining Washington's top diplomat on Africa on Monday ahead of a critical U.N. Security Council debate on taming Sudan's violent western region.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer hoped to deliver a strong message to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that he must accept U.N. troops but it was not clear he would meet with her.

Frazer was greeted by an angry crowd telling her to go home on her arrival in Khartoum on Saturday. Her meetings with Sudanese officials since then have been described by one Foreign Ministry official as "just protocol meetings nothing else".

Sudan snubbed an invitation to send high-level officials to a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Monday to discuss a U.S. and British sponsored draft resolution to deploy around 20,000 troops and police to Darfur.

Bashir, whose government has consistently rejected U.N. forces in western Sudan, calls the resolution an attempt at a Western invasion.

"I don't think the foreign minister will be going and of course the Sudanese representative to the United Nations may or may not attend," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Jamal Ibrahim.

Sudan had asked for the meeting to be delayed and Ibrahim said Khartoum had not received an answer to that request.

Arab League foreign ministers, who had also appealed to the Security Council to delay the meeting, have said they would either not participate or send only low-level officials.

[edit]

But rights groups say there are also indications Sudan may not want international forces in Darfur because it is not prepared to end its military operation there.

Amnesty International, in a statement on Monday, supported U.S. claims the Sudanese government was preparing a new offensive in Darfur against some rebel factions who did not sign a May peace deal.

"Eyewitnesses in el-Fasher in North Darfur are telling us that Sudanese government military flights are flying in troops and arms on a daily basis," said Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International's executive deputy secretary general.

Khartoum submitted a plan to the Security Council which would send 10,500 more government troops to Darfur to stop the violence instead of a U.N. force.

"Displaced people in Darfur are absolutely terrified that the same soldiers that expelled them from their homes and villages may now be sent supposedly to protect them," Gilmore said.

An editorial in the state-owned Sudan Vision on Monday said Sudan would never give in to pressure to accept U.N. forces.

"Britain and the American administration ... were required to lead the international community in boosting Sudan's peace instead of destabilising it," it said.

"Both of them have chosen to drag Sudan into confrontation with the United Nations of which Sudan is a member."

From AFP

US envoy Jendayi Frazer faced an uphill struggle Sunday to convince a defiant Sudanese regime that UN peacekeepers should be deployed in strife-torn Darfur. When she arrived in Khartoum Saturday, she was greeted by an angry mob asking her to go home.

The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs is not expected to get a much warmer welcome when she meets government officials to push for a UN deployment in the western Sudanese region.

President Omar al-Bashir was quoted by the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat Sunday as saying that Frazer's mission would do little to change his country's position.

"We will not hand over our country to international forces, whether Frazer comes here or not ... Frazer might be accustomed to hearing 'yes' from many leaders but here she'll get a 'no,'" Bashir said.

Frazer went into talks with Foreign Minister Lam Akol and was expected to hold a news conference Monday.

Bashir adviser Majzub al-Khalifa Ahmad told reporters Sunday that the president reiterated "Sudan's firm rejection of a British draft resolution calling for dispatching international forces to Darfur" during a meeting on Saturday with African Union chairman Alpha Oumar Konare.

Before leaving Washington, Frazer had warned of a massive military buildup in Darfur, adding that both government forces and rebel factions that rejected the Abuja peace deal appeared poised for fresh fighting.

Frazer stressed that Washington was not seeking a UN deployment without a green light from Khartoum.

She also suggested that some of the sanctions already in place against the Sudanese government for suspected terrorism links and human rights violations might be lifted if it agreed to accept UN peacekeepers.

In a further sign that Khartoum was not about to soften its stance, an American journalist and two Chadian assistants were charged with espionage by a court in Darfur's largest town of Al-Fasher Saturday.

Darfur: Government Troop Build-up Signals Looming Human Rights Crisis

From Amnesty International

Amnesty International today warned that the build-up of Sudanese troops in Darfur could lead to a human rights catastrophe in the very near future, and urged the UN Security Council to take immediate action to protect the people of the region.

"Eyewitnesses in al-Fasher in North Darfur are telling us that Sudanese government military flights are flying in troops and arms on a daily basis," said Kate Gilmore, Amnesty International's Executive Deputy Secretary General. "Displaced people in Darfur are absolutely terrified that the same soldiers that expelled them from their homes and villages may now be sent supposedly to protect them."

The organization urged the UN Security Council to exert maximum pressure on Sudan to accept UN peacekeeping troops in Darfur -- including imposing further targeted sanctions against Sudanese authorities.

The Security Council is due to meet today to discuss a draft resolution on the crisis in Darfur.

The Sudanese government has proposed its own protection plan for the people of Darfur -- a plan that reportedly involves bringing up to 26,000 government troops into the region.

"The Sudanese government's 'protection plan' is a sham and must be firmly rejected," said Kate Gilmore. "How can Sudan -- which appears to be about to launch its own offensive in Darfur -- realistically propose being a peacekeeper in a conflict to which it is a major party and perpetrator of grave human rights violations?"

On 29 July, the Sudanese government bombed villages in North Darfur, violating a March 2005 UN Security Council resolution banning offensive flights in Darfur. Armed opposition groups have also perpetrated grave human rights abuses, including attacking humanitarian convoys.

Darfur: Khartoum and the Arab League

A piece by Robert O. Collins, co-author of "Darfur: The Long Road to Disaster," on the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Policy Watch

By its firm support for al-Bashir’s intransigent opposition to a UN peacekeeping force, the Arab League chose not to become directly involved in a conflict in which its members had no immediate self-interest in a land populated by a people for whom their historic perceptions and prejudices gave them no reason to lend anything but minor assistance. Unfortunately, Bush’s special envoy, Jendayi Fraser, has little leverage in her diplomatic satchel, which will enable al-Bashir to respond as usual with pious pronouncements that, in turn, will soon disappear into the sands of the Sudan and confirm the Arab League’s decision to reverse its secretary-general. Having refused to intervene in the past, Arab League members will continue to distance themselves from any responsibilities in Darfur. As the Abuja peace agreement continues to unravel, the Arab League—despite Musa’s urgings—will continue to remain aloof, preoccupied by other issues.

Darfur: UN Must Adopt Resolution to Send Peacekeepers

From Human Rights Watch

The United Nations Security Council should adopt a resolution to send a 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force to Darfur as a first step to enhancing civilian protection, Human Rights Watch said today. The Security Council will meet today to discuss a draft resolution against the backdrop of rapidly deteriorating security in Darfur and a buildup of Sudanese government troops in the region.
“With the looming threat of fresh military action by the Sudanese army, the Security Council must deploy peacekeepers urgently to protect civilians,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Adopting a resolution is a crucial first step toward stopping the bloodshed in Darfur, but member states must also do all they can to compel Sudan to accept a U.N. force.”

Despite opposition from the government of Sudan, the United States and the United Kingdom introduced a draft resolution to the Security Council on August 17 that would give a U.N. force broad powers to protect civilians in Darfur. The proposal calls for a gradual transition from the under-funded and overwhelmed African Union (AU) force in Darfur, which has been unable to prevent widespread abuses against civilians, to a U.N. protection force of 17,500, in addition to 3,300 civilian police.

With the AU mandate expiring at the end of September, AU officials have asked in vain that the Sudanese government agree to a transition to the U.N. force, in which many AU soldiers would be “re-hatted” and become U.N. peacekeepers. While legal mechanisms exist to deploy U.N. peacekeepers to a country against its will, Security Council members to date have indicated that they would only send peacekeepers to Darfur with Khartoum’s consent.

Sudanese President Omar El Bashir has categorically rejected a U.N. peacekeeping force. In an August 21 letter to the president of the Security Council, Bashir stated that the transition from the African Union to the U.N. was widely unpopular in Darfur. However, First Vice President Salva Kiir and Minni Minawi, the former rebel who is now senior assistant to the president, have publicly supported the U.N. deployment, as have many internally displaced persons in Darfur.

With violence against civilians escalating in Darfur, Human Rights Watch urged members of the Security Council to pass the draft resolution to send in U.N. peacekeepers, and then use maximum leverage on the countries that have influence on Sudan, particularly China, Russia and Qatar, to secure its consent for the U.N. force.

“Rape, murder and forced displacement continue in Darfur, in large part because Russia, China, Qatar and others have protected Khartoum from tough measures by the Security Council,” said Takirambudde. “We know the Security Council’s attention is focused on Iran and Lebanon, but the United States, Britain and France must step up efforts to ensure that Darfur is a priority also.”

In the event that Sudan does not consent to a U.N. force, Human Rights Watch urged the Security Council to apply targeted sanctions to the Sudanese officials responsible for blocking U.N. efforts to protect civilians in Darfur. The draft resolution to deploy U.N. peacekeepers envisions sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, for individuals who block implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement or commit human rights violations.

Khartoum, which is rejecting the resolution to deploy U.N. peacekeepers in increasingly strident terms, has also introduced a proposal to the Security Council, under which it would send 22,500 new government troops to Darfur in a bid to end the crisis. The plan makes no mention of many provisions in the Darfur Peace Agreement signed on May 5, such as demilitarized zones and the disarmament of the government backed “Janjaweed” militias. But it details Sudanese government troop deployments to Darfur, in direct violation of the agreement. Government troops have been massing in recent weeks in Fashir and other locations in North Darfur, where rebels are active.

“Sudanese government soldiers are not an alternative to international peacekeepers,” said Takirambudde. “Any new military operations by government forces or rebels would inevitably have devastating consequences for civilians.”

The U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations will present a point-by-point analysis of Sudan’s proposal to the Security Council on August 28.

Uganda: Readying for Return of Captives

From Reuters

The United Nations and aid workers prepared on Monday to receive hundreds of children who are supposed to be freed under a landmark truce between Uganda's government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

Under the deal agreed on Saturday at peace talks in southern Sudan, the guerrillas -- and their ranks of abducted child soldiers, porters and sex slaves -- have three weeks to assemble at two south Sudan camps while negotiations continue.

"We are standing by to help ensure the safe and smooth release and return of women and children who have been separated from their communities for so long," said Chulho Hyun, Uganda spokesman for the U.N. children's charity UNICEF.

Northern Uganda's 20-year conflict is one of Africa's longest wars. Nearly 2 million people have been displaced by fighting between troops and LRA rebels infamous for forcing thousands of abducted children to serve the cult-like group.

Many are indoctrinated into the movement by being made to kill or mutilate neighbours, other children and relatives. Young girls are handed out to rebel commanders as "wives".

Both sides have now agreed to cease all attacks, and if the truce holds, several hundred children may begin trudging into the Sudanese camps in the coming days.

"The immediate priority will be taking care of whatever medical needs they may have. Then there are longer term concerns. Being away from society for so many years, many children may have serious psycho-social traumas," Hyun said.

"Child mothers and girls who were "married" to the LRA may face extra problems of stigmatisation and fear," he added.

The possibility of the abductees finally coming home was given an extra boost on Sunday when LRA deputy leader Vincent Otti called a northern Ugandan radio station to back the truce.

Fighters in the north should join whichever of two commanders was closer and await further instructions, he said in a satellite telephone call to Mega FM in Gulu town from his jungle hideout in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

On the way, they should not kidnap or harm anyone, ambush Ugandan soldiers or loot any food or supplies, Otti ordered.

Ugandan state media said up to 200 LRA, including women and children, were already walking towards Uganda from the rebels' main base deep in Congo's remote Garamba forest.

Quoting security sources, it said it seemed the group intended to surrender, but that Ugandan troops on the border had been reinforced and put on high alert for any eventuality.

"We can't take any chances," said one military spokesman.

Uganda: Gov't and LRA Sure of an End to 20-year Conflict

From IRIN

Both the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) were upbeat on Monday about a peaceful end to their 20-year-old war that has killed thousands and displaced almost two million people in the north of the country.

The signing on Saturday of an agreement to cease hostilities gave both sides new hope that a comprehensive agreement was in sight, although they acknowledged the need for continued vigilance.

"In spite of a rocky start to the talks, there is currently an unprecedented will from both sides to reach an agreement. We are confident of reaching an agreement, though there are still a few things we do not agree on, but we see a better rapport, we see more commitment and all of us agree on the need to have peace in northern Uganda," the head of the Ugandan delegation to the talks, Ruhakana Rugunda, the Interior Minister, said on Sunday.

His LRA counterpart, Martin Ojul, agreed, telling IRIN by phone from Juba, southern Sudan, where the talks are being held: "Hopefully, the government will [consolidate] the cessation of hostilities agreement, but the LRA is more committed to this process than ever before. We are committed to the process, however long it may take."

In the next round of talks, according to analysts in Kampala, the mediators will have to find a compromise, especially to LRA demands that include huge cuts in the military, LRA representation in all political appointments and total autonomy of northern Uganda.

Other sensitive issues will include wealth- and power-sharing as well as the economic and social development of northern Uganda.

Rugunda agreed, saying the next three weeks would be crucial to the process as rebels start assembling in two areas in southern Sudan, but he was hopeful that a compromise such as that reached during the debate on halting hostilities would also be reached on other outstanding issues.

The Ugandan government and LRA on Saturday signed an agreement to cease hostilities with effect from 29 August. Rugunda said the process would require all stakeholders, including the Ugandan population, to be vigilant. "There are still suspicions and we should not give detractors a chance to exploit any weak points that may show in the implementation of the agreement," he said.

The truce calls for the safe passage of LRA forces to two sites designated as assembly points, one at Owiny-ki-Bul in Sudan's eastern Equatoria on the east side of the Nile, for those rebels in southern Sudan and in Uganda, and another for those in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at Ri-Kwangba in western Equatoria to the west of the Nile.

Those fighters in Uganda who cannot move to southern Sudan are allowed to assemble in any place of worship in Uganda, according to the agreement.

"The forces of the LRA shall surface wherever they may be present ... places of worship in Uganda, designated in consultation with religious leaders, may serve as sanctuary for the LRA forces," the agreement states.

LRA's second in command, Vincent Otti, called a local radio in the northern Uganda town of Gulu on Sunday to urge LRA fighters to respect the cessation of hostilities deal, saying it was "real".

"Do not abduct people or steal food. If you want food, ask the community. Do not commit atrocities and no ambushes as you move," Otti said on MEGA FM, a semi-official broadcaster. He said he had spoken to LRA commanders who were expected to lead their forces to the two designated assembly areas in southern Sudan.

[edit]

A truce-monitoring group led by the southern Sudan government will comprise two members from the LRA and two each from the Ugandan government and the African Union. They are supposed to be in Juba by Tuesday to begin monitoring the implementation of the agreement.

Darfur: The Final Decision

The latest from Eric Reeves

This is the final stage in Khartoum’s genocidal campaign in Darfur. It occurs against a backdrop of extraordinary suffering and continually declining humanitarian access and resources. In July the UN’s World Food Program was unable to reach almost 500,000 people in need of food relief. More broadly, Annabi stressed in his briefing of the Security Council that:

“humanitarian organizations now have full access to only slightly more than fifty percent of the 3.6 million civilians affected by the conflict [again, there are an additional 350,000 conflict-affected persons in eastern Chad---ER]. If conditions deteriorate further, many humanitarian organizations may be forced to completely withdraw from North Darfur, where more than 1.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.” (Paragraph 4)

Cholera is poised to explode if water sanitation or supplies deteriorate further. A shocking nine humanitarian aid workers were killed in July. Khartoum continues its policy of systematically obstructing and harassing humanitarian workers and operations. We should remember that in June Khartoum “punished” the UN for moving rebel leader and humanitarian coordinator Suleiman Jamous by shutting down all UN operations in Darfur except those of UNICEF and WFP; the same threat still looms for some other “provocation.” Rape has recently soared in the area of the giant Kalma camp south of Nyala, a terrible reality unto itself and a telling barometer of insecurity. Malnutrition rates are rising rapidly. Humanitarian resources and funding are declining just as rapidly. Some 50,000 civilians have been displaced in recent weeks (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks [dateline: Nairobi], August 24, 2006). And the full brunt of renewed violence has yet to be felt, though it is only a matter of days---weeks at most---before this changes.

If under these circumstances the international community is unwilling even to threaten non-consensual intervention to protect civilians and humanitarians in Darfur, then Khartoum may rightly, in full throat, exult in its savage triumph. It is a triumph that has been long in coming; one that might have been stopped with sufficient will at any point; but one that is now terribly close to culmination.

Darfur: Pulitzer Winner Accused of Spying

From the AP

A Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune was charged in a Sudanese court Saturday with espionage and other crimes.

Paul Salopek, 44, was charged in a 40-minute hearing with espionage, passing information illegally and writing "false news," the Tribune reported on its Web site. His driver and interpreter, both Chadian nationals, faced the same charges.

The three men were arrested Aug. 6 by pro-government forces in the war-torn province of Darfur, the paper said. Salopek, who lives in New Mexico, was working on a freelance assignment for National Geographic magazine during his arrest.

"He is not a spy," said Ann Marie Lipinski, editor and senior vice president of the Tribune. "Our fervent hope is that the authorities in Sudan will recognize his innocence and quickly allow Paul to return home to his wife, Linda, and to his colleagues."

Salopek was in Sudan writing an article on a sub-Saharan African region known as the Sahel, said Chris Johns, National Geographic's editor in chief.

"He had no agenda other than to fairly and accurately report on the region," Johns said.

Salopek has made telephone calls to National Geographic and Tribune editors, who have "worked through political and diplomatic channels in the U.S. and overseas to secure their release," the paper said.

"We are deeply worried about Paul and his well-being, and appeal to the government of Sudan to return him safely home," said Lipinski, who called the two-time Pulitzer winner "one of the most accomplished and admired journalists of our time."

A judge in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, granted a defense motion for a continuance, delaying the start of the trial until Sept. 10.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who is in Africa on a two-week tour of several nations, is monitoring the situation and talking to the U.S. State Department, spokesman Robert Gibbs said from Kenya.

Two U.S. congressman visited Salopek Tuesday at a police station in El Fasher, one of the congressman said.

"He had a very gentle presence and he was very appreciative of our being there," Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn, told The Associated Press. "We just told him we would pass on to his wife that he loved her very much and he was looking forward to seeing her."

During the hourlong visit in the police chief's office, Salopek said he was being held in a 20-foot-by-20-foot cell with 15 other inmates and no toilet facilities. Salopek later was moved to better quarters, Shays said.

"We were deeply concerned that they had arrested someone and held him so long without letting his family know about it," Shays said.

Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., and Cameron Hume, the U.S. charge d'affaires to Sudan, also attended the meeting, Shays said.

The Sudanese daily Al-Rai Al-Amm reported Saturday, before the hearing, that the trial would begin for an American in El Fasher on charges of entering the country without a visa. It did not identify the American or mention any espionage charges. Sudanese officials could not be reached for comment.

Darfur: Protesters Mob US Envoy's Car

From AFP - via Sudan Watch

Angry demonstrators mobbed the car of US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer after she arrived in Sudan, and demanded that she return home.

Frazer was officially greeted by senior officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and international cooperation.

But dozens of protesters, chanting slogans and raising banners reading "Go Back Home", "You Want War" and "We Want Peace" showed up at the airport, covered her car with banners and blocked her way before police intervened.

Darfur: Pressure Mounts on Sudan to Accept U.N. Force

From Reuters

As pressure mounts on Sudan to accept U.N. troops in its violent Darfur region, the Khartoum government is closing ranks in defiance, raising fears of a deadlock that could hasten Darfur's descent into chaos.

The top U.S. diplomat on Africa, Jendayi Frazer, is to arrive in Khartoum on Saturday carrying a strong message from President George W. Bush that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir should drop his opposition to a U.N. takeover of a struggling African Union mission in Sudan's west.

During a two-day visit, Frazer hopes to meet Sudanese officials ahead of a Security Council meeting on Monday to discuss a British draft resolution to deploy around 20,000 U.N. police and soldiers to Darfur.

But as Frazer was due to arrive, government officials and state press stepped up their attacks on the United Nations and reiterated public refusals of any U.N. deployment.

"UNMIS (the U.N. mission in Sudan) position and statements were either chilly or biased in contrast to those of the African Union," an editorial in state-owned Sudan Vision daily paper said on Saturday.

And any reported divisions between Bashir and his deputy on a U.N. presence in Darfur have disappeared with Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha's first direct and public rebuke of the international community.

"Dialogue is maintained with the international community and it is one of the principles of the foreign policy of Sudan, but it does not mean surrender and cancellation of the national identity and the national will," the state news agency SUNA quoted Taha as saying on Thursday.

AU and European diplomats say Taha had in private agreed last year to a U.N. takeover in Darfur once a peace deal was reached. Since the AU-brokered deal was signed in May, Taha had kept largely quiet on the issue.

In contrast Bashir has made speeches almost daily for the past few weeks, on each occasion making sure to repeat his rejection of the force.

One Western diplomat who declined to be named said: "I think there is little to be positive about at this stage."

[edit]

Bashir depicts a U.N. presence in Darfur as a Western attempt to colonise Sudan. But other politicians say his party is worried the troops would be used to arrest officials likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating alleged war crimes in the region.

"(There are some who) don't want to accept the U.N. forces if this at the end will mean the signature of their own death certificates," said Ghazi Suleiman, a member of parliament for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which formed a coalition government with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in 2005.

He said the SPLM would not be part of any confrontation with the international community and said privately Bashir's only worry was about the mandate of the U.N. troops.

"There are reactionary statements but when it comes to real diplomacy real decision-making, the president just wants to be satisfied about the mandate of these forces," Suleiman added.

Uganda: Ceasefire Reached

From Reuters

Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels agreed on Saturday to leave their hideouts and assemble at two south Sudanese camps in a major breakthrough in efforts to end one of Africa's longest wars, mediators said.

Under the deal signed with Ugandan government negotiators, LRA fighters now have three weeks to gather at the two locations while talks continue to end their two-decade insurgency.

"We hope that now the two principals will take action so that the guns can go silent," said the chief mediator, southern Sudan's Vice-President Riek Machar, referring to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and LRA commander Joseph Kony.

The deal is due to take effect at 0600 GMT on August 29 and also commits both sides to ceasing attacks and propaganda, although the sides have only clashed sporadically for months.

After that, LRA rebels based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and northern Uganda will move to the assembly points where they will be monitored by southern Sudanese forces.

Guerrillas in Congo agreed to gather at Ri-Kwangba, close to Sudan's western border with DRC, while those in Uganda will travel to Owiny-ki-Bul, east of the Nile near Sudan's border with Uganda, according to a copy of the deal seen by Reuters.

Once the deal took effect, it said, Uganda's military would guarantee the LRA in Uganda safe passage across the border.

"In the event of failure of the peace talks, the LRA shall be allowed to leave the assembly areas peacefully," it added.

Darfur: U.S. Journalist Held for Espionage

From Reuters

An American journalist appeared in court in Darfur on Saturday on charges of espionage and entering the country illegally, his lawyers and other sources said.

Paul Salopek, a photographer for National Geographic magazine, was arrested last week for crossing into Sudan via Darfur's long and porous border with neighbouring Chad.

"He obtained an adjournment for two weeks for us to prepare our case," said his lawyer, Mohamed Khalil. "The court atmosphere was very good."

Khalil did not confirm the exact charges facing Salopek but two other U.S. sources said he had been charged with espionage and entering the country illegally.

Update: Salopek is a writer, not a photographer, according to this press release

Paul Salopek, who was traveling in Africa to report on the culture and history of the Sahel for National Geographic magazine, was detained by Sudanese authorities and on Aug. 26 charged with espionage in a North Darfur court in El Fashir, Sudan. National Geographic magazine vigorously protests this accusation and
appeals to Sudan for his immediate release and the release of two Chadians
assisting him.

"Paul Salopek was on assignment for National Geographic magazine to write a comprehensive feature article on the swath of sub-Saharan Africa known as the Sahel," said National Geographic Magazine Editor in Chief Chris Johns. "He had no agenda other than to fairly and accurately report on the region. He is a world-recognized journalist of the highest standing, with a deep knowledge and respect for the continent of Africa and its people."

Salopek and his Chadian driver and interpreter were formally charged with criminal acts of espionage, reporting official documents, reporting false information and entering Sudan without a visa. The men's attorney Omer Hassan filed a motion for a continuance which was granted. The trial is scheduled to begin September 10 in El Fashir in Northern Darfur Province, Sudan.

Salopek, 44, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and has been a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune since 1996.

National Geographic has been diligently working with the Chicago Tribune and many others in and out of Sudan to secure the release of Salopek and the two men assisting him.

Darfur: Sudan Rejects UN Proposal for Peacekeeping Force

An interview with Eric Reeves from Democracy Now!

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about this latest news and the reaction of the Sudanese government?

ERIC REEVES: There are many facets to Khartoum's decision. It’s to date paid no real price for its obduracy, its refusal to abide by international norms, either in the North-South conflict, which nominally ended in January 2005, or in its genocidal conduct of war in Darfur. What I am hearing from my sources on the ground and what the Hedi Annabi, the head of U.N. peacekeeping, recently said in a report to the Security Council that I have seen, is that Khartoum is right now planning a massive military offensive in North Darfur, which has been the most violent of the three Darfur states.

If this offensive takes place, there will be massive, massive civilian destruction. I think we're also likely to see a withdrawal of virtually all humanitarian workers. This will leave some 1.2 million people completely dependent on humanitarian aid, without any assistance whatsoever. By my own calculation, some 500,000 people have already died. As many more could die in the coming year if current trends continue.

Only with the deployment of an effective -- and I emphasize effective -- international force can genocidal destruction be brought to a halt. Khartoum gives no sign of capitulating on this, and I'll be very interested to know what Jendayi Frazer, President Bush's envoy to Khartoum, takes with her in the way of sticks and pressures to bring to bear on this recalcitrant regime.

Darfur: News Round-Up

The latest news round-up from the Genocide Intervention Network

The UN Security Council will convene a meeting next week to discuss the British and US-proposed resolution to deploy a UN force to Darfur. Sudan has presented a plan to send its own troops into Darfur, but has refused to attend the Security Council meeting. The US and human rights groups have expressed deep skepticism about Sudan’s plan for peacekeeping and continue to advocate for a UN force.

Darfur: U.S. to Press Sudan's Leader to Accept U.N. Force

From the New York Times - via POTP

On Sept. 12, 2001, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, the man who had once played host to Osama bin Laden, sent a message to President Bush and the American people.

He called the attack on the World Trade Center “a crime against humanity and morality,” adding that Sudan and the rest of the world must “cooperate and work diligently in combating all forms of terrorism.”

It seemed to be a missive prompted by fear. After a decade as a pariah state, Sudan’s economy had been battered by sanctions and its treasury has been sagged with debt. Given its jihadist past and suspected ties to terrorism, the threat of military action by the United States hung heavily over the country, jeopardizing a fledgling oil boom. The very survival of the current government, ruled by a tiny elite since the overthrow of an elected one in 1989, seemed to be at stake.

Nearly five years later, it is Mr. Bush’s turn to send a message to Mr. Bashir, by way of the top American diplomat for Africa, who is to meet with Mr. Bashir on Saturday and press him to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur to salvage the dying peace agreement that the United States worked hard to arrange.

The message will be blunt, Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, said in a briefing in Washington today before leaving for Khartoum. Despite Sudanese objections to the peacekeeping force, she said, she expected the Security Council to adopt a resolution authorizing it, and the dispatch of at least some troops, by October 1.

But Ms. Frazer will arrive in a very different Khartoum than the cowed one that sent the message in 2001. The Sudanese capital today is defiant and transformed, a boomtown built on oil money and investments from the Persian Gulf, China and Malaysia, buoyed by a changing geopolitical landscape in which it seems convinced it has little to fear from thumbing its nose at the world’s only superpower.

“They seem to be playing on Washington’s weakness and their relative strength,” said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, whose writings helped shape the Bush administration’s Sudan policy.

“The U.S. is completely pinned down with Iraq and Lebanon and related issues; there is a surge of investment capital coming into Khartoum,” Mr. Morrison said. “It looks to me like they are calculating that time is on their side, and they don’t have to compromise. Immediately after 9/11, they came under a serious, credible threat from U.S., but now I think the equation has changed to where the threats are not there and not credible.”

[edit]

On Sept. 12, 2001, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, the man who had once played host to Osama bin Laden, sent a message to President Bush and the American people.

He called the attack on the World Trade Center “a crime against humanity and morality,” adding that Sudan and the rest of the world must “cooperate and work diligently in combating all forms of terrorism.”

It seemed to be a missive prompted by fear. After a decade as a pariah state, Sudan’s economy had been battered by sanctions and its treasury has been sagged with debt. Given its jihadist past and suspected ties to terrorism, the threat of military action by the United States hung heavily over the country, jeopardizing a fledgling oil boom. The very survival of the current government, ruled by a tiny elite since the overthrow of an elected one in 1989, seemed to be at stake.

Nearly five years later, it is Mr. Bush’s turn to send a message to Mr. Bashir, by way of the top American diplomat for Africa, who is to meet with Mr. Bashir on Saturday and press him to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur to salvage the dying peace agreement that the United States worked hard to arrange.

The message will be blunt, Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, said in a briefing in Washington today before leaving for Khartoum. Despite Sudanese objections to the peacekeeping force, she said, she expected the Security Council to adopt a resolution authorizing it, and the dispatch of at least some troops, by October 1.

But Ms. Frazer will arrive in a very different Khartoum than the cowed one that sent the message in 2001. The Sudanese capital today is defiant and transformed, a boomtown built on oil money and investments from the Persian Gulf, China and Malaysia, buoyed by a changing geopolitical landscape in which it seems convinced it has little to fear from thumbing its nose at the world’s only superpower.

“They seem to be playing on Washington’s weakness and their relative strength,” said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, whose writings helped shape the Bush administration’s Sudan policy.

“The U.S. is completely pinned down with Iraq and Lebanon and related issues; there is a surge of investment capital coming into Khartoum,” Mr. Morrison said. “It looks to me like they are calculating that time is on their side, and they don’t have to compromise. Immediately after 9/11, they came under a serious, credible threat from U.S., but now I think the equation has changed to where the threats are not there and not credible.”

“This has to do with a power struggle in Khartoum, not anything outside,” said Mr. Ateya. “They are doing what they are doing for complicated, internal reasons that have more to do with the need for a small centralized group to hold power.”

Intrigue and power struggles abound, from the Islamists who think the current regime has taken the side of the infidel, to the Arab nationalists who think any accommodation to the West is a capitulation of Arab pride, to the internationalists who urge compromise and accommodation to ensure even greater wealth.

Given the proposal put forward by Sudan last week, which calls for 10,500 Sudanese troops to quell the rebellion in Darfur among those who did not sign a peace agreement in May ending the conflict, it seems that the hard-liners, for the moment, have Mr. Bashir’s ear.

[edit]

Many people here in Khartoum, asked about the United Nations force, shrugged and said it did not really matter to them.

“We want more openness,” said Mazin Aboud, a 27-year-old computer engineer with two constantly chirping cell phones and hopes for a lucrative career in telecommunications. “We want to be part of the world, to develop and to have communication. We don’t Sudan to be isolated anymore.”

But if the aftermath of Sept. 11 pushed Sudan to compromise with the United States, end a brutal civil war with the south and cooperate with Washington in fighting terrorism, the current era leaves the United States with few carrots or sticks as it tried to end the conflict in Darfur, which Mr. Bush has called genocide.

Mr. Morrison, who proposed the blueprint that led to United States engagement with Sudan to end its war in the south even before Sept. 11, said with little leverage left, the United States should focus on preventing the total collapse of the vast aid effort in Darfur, a lifeline to millions, and on stopping the bloodbath of that the impending onslaught by the Sudanese Army would surely cause.

“I don’t mean to pretend there is any fix here,” Mr. Morrison said. “What is an option is to face up to a fact that we are in a slide right now and we need to push back and contain the slide to prevent a catastrophe.”

Darfur: US Warns UN Force Needed

From the AP

A senior State Department official said Friday deployment of a U.N. force in Darfur is essential to help stop what she described as a planned Sudanese government offensive in its western border region.

Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer spoke to reporters hours before leaving for Sudan to exhort Sudanese officials to accept the presence of a peacekeeping force representing the United Nations.

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, who opposes such a force on Sudanese territory, has said he plans to send troops to Darfur to pacify the region where a small and largely ineffectual African Union force now patrols.

Frazer said the people of Darfur wouldn't regard government troops as a neutral force because of Khartoum's record of supporting Janjaweed militias who have terrorized the region.

At the same time, she said, the abuses of anti-government rebel forces in Darfur shouldn't be ignored. Despite a peace agreement signed last May between the government and the largest rebel organization, rebels have been killing civilians and burning villages, she said.

Frazer, who will meet with el-Bashir in the coming days, said she is willing to go the "last mile" to overcome his opposition to a U.N. force.

The financially strapped 7,000-strong AU force now deployed in Darfur is to cease to exist on Sept. 30. Under a proposal that Frazer says has broad backing in the U.N. Security Council, the Africans would be "rehatted" as a U.N. force the next day and eventually be joined by other soldiers.

Unless the U.N. force can be created, there will be no force in place in Darfur "to stop this government from carrying out what has been the genocide," Frazer said.

She predicted that her mission to Khartoum will be successful. "I'm fully confident there will be a transition to a U.N. force," she said.

More from VOA

The U.S. State Department's Africa policy chief warned Friday of a severe deterioration in security conditions in Sudan's western Darfur region, unless a proposed United Nations force is allowed to deploy. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer is heading to Sudan for a new effort to persuade authorities to accept an upgraded peacekeeping presence.

Assistant Secretary Frazer gave the grim assessment as she prepared to depart for Khartoum to deliver a message from President Bush to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, urging him to end delaying tactics and accept a revamped Darfur security force.

She said that with Sudan threatening a new military offensive in Darfur, and local rebel groups apparently making similar plans, the security situation could lurch out of control unless the proposed upgrade of the current African Union monitoring mission into a full-scale U.N. peacekeeping force goes forward: "We're very concerned. It's not just the government of Sudan that's preparing for an offensive. We also have heard reports that the non-signatories to the Darfur Peace Agreement, the National Resistance Movement and others, are also preparing and rearming themselves and preparing for an offensive. So we think the security environment is deteriorating and deteriorating very quickly and we're extremely concerned about this," she said.

When they signed the Darfur peace accord in Nigeria in May, leaders of the Khartoum government signaled acceptance of the plan to upgrade the current seven-thousand member A.U. mission into a much larger United Nations force.

But they have since reneged, with President Bashir even suggesting that Sudan might forcibly resist the introduction of U.N. soldiers.

Assistant Secretary Frazer said one reason for her hastily arranged mission will be to brief the Sudanese leader on details of the peacekeeping plan, and counter complaints by the Sudanese government that it has not been adequately consulted. "We believe that we have consulted them. But we will go the last mile to make sure that we have been able to directly talk to them about the re-hatting (converting) of this force and what U.S. intentions are. This is, of course coordinated with other international actors who I think are delivering a very similar message. But I think that the key to success in Darfur in terms of getting a credible, non-partisan, as such, peacekeeping force there, is for the international community to act together," she said.

The African Union mission has suffered from logistical and budget problems and its mandate expires at the end of September.

Frazer said the United States and its allies want a Security Council resolution enacted by the end of this month that will authorize the force upgrade.

The State Department official said more than five thousand of the best-trained A.U. troops would form the nucleus of the United Nations force on October first, and at least 12,000 more U.N. soldiers would be phased in later.

She said if the transformation was not to occur until the beginning of next year, as some U.N. officials have proposed, the situation in Darfur could slide back to the level of violence that prevailed in 2004, which the United States termed genocide.

In the talk with reporters which immediately preceded her departure for Khartoum, Frazer said she did not expect a Chinese veto of the resolution enabling the new force, despite reservations expressed by Beijing.

She also said she believes the Khartoum government will, in the end, accept the new Darfur force, noting that a U.N. peacekeeping mission is already in the country monitoring the north-south Sudanese peace accord concluded last year.

Darfur: Senegalese President Backs UN Force

From VOA

In regards to Sudan, he says that African nations must be willing to help each other but that international assistance may be necessary.

“It’s easy to say African solution to our African problems. But then we have to put our hands in our pocket, pull out the resources needed. We need 400 million dollars to launch a true peacekeeping mission in Sudan, and then we have to give some additional 8,000 troops. If African countries can do it, then they don’t need anybody else. But unfortunately I don’t think that people are ready to do it, and I don’t think also that the suffering population of Darfur have the time to wait for African leaders and African countries to make up their minds and give the right number of troops and the right money to handle the mission. So that’s why Senegal believes that we start with African forces and then transform those African forces into an international force,” he said.

Darfur: PHR Condemns Sudanese Government's Plan

From Physicians for Human Rights

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) strongly condemns the Government of Sudan's plans to send 10,500 of its own troops to quell continuing violence in Darfur, and calls on the United Nations Security Council instead to pass the resolution expediting the deployment of a robust United Nations peacekeeping force to the region. The Sudanese government, and its proxy forces, the Janjaweed rebels, have been implicated in the violence that has wracked the westernmost region of Darfur since early 2003, resulting in the death of 200,000-400,000 people and displacement of nearly three million.

"It is absurd to imagine that the Government of Sudan would protect the people of Darfur - this is the same government that has been arming the Janjaweed, razing villages to the ground and killing civilians for the past three years," said PHR's Deputy Director, Susannah Sirkin, who recently returned from Darfur. "A government that has shown a clear intent to eradicate the people of Darfur cannot be entrusted with their security."

There are currently approximately 7,000 African Union (AMIS) troops stationed in Darfur, enforcing the fragile ceasefire. AMIS' mission has suffered from funding shortfalls and a weak mandate that does not allow them to directly protect civilians. Without further funding the force will withdraw at the end of September 2006. The United Nations Security Council has been deliberating whether to send a peacekeeping force to the region to augment the AMIS force, a move that Sudan's President, LT. Gen. Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, has vowed to block.

"It's long past time for the Security Council to take a unified and effective stance and deploy a strong peacekeeping force. Only a robust, well-equipped United Nations force can stop the violence in Darfur that has continued since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May, and which now includes different Darfurian factions attacking civilians," said Sirkin.

Darfur: Islamists Threaten to Fight U.N. Force

From Reuters

Sudanese Islamist leaders say they will take up arms against United Nations peacekeepers if they deploy to Darfur, and some have warned they will also fight the Khartoum government if it agrees to the force.

The threats conjure up a disturbing image of more bloodshed in the western Darfur region, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in more than three years of conflict, described as "genocide" by the United States.

Despite Sudan's objections, the United States and Britain have introduced a Security Council resolution that would deploy up to 17,000 troops and 3,000 police in Darfur, where an overstretched African Union force is monitoring a shaky truce.

Leaders of Al Qaeda have called on Muslims to fight any U.N. force in Darfur and while the diplomatic wrangling continues, Khartoum's many Islamic groups have delivered a clear message.

"We categorically refuse U.N. troops in Darfur," said Abdel Wahhab Mohamed Ali Ahmed, head of the Sudanese higher council for the coordination of Islamic groups, formed last year.

"And if they come we will fight them until they leave."

The council is composed of representatives from Sudan's main Islamist movements, including Ansar al-Sunna and the Hizb ut-Tahrir group, outlawed in neighbouring Egypt.

The U.N. force would take over from the 7,000 AU troops already in Darfur, who are short of cash and capabilities.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has said he will personally lead the resistance to a U.N. force, comparing it to a Western invasion to colonise Sudan.

This position has brought him closer to Islamist leaders, who in the past have differed with Bashir over how sharia, or Islamic law, is implemented in Sudan.

About 70 percent of Sudan's 36 million people are Muslim. One of the catalysts for a separate two decades-long civil war between the mostly Christian and animist south and the Islamist government in Khartoum was the imposition of sharia in 1983.

"The colonialists have united all the Muslim groups in Sudan ... and we support the government in this position," said Ahmed Malik, another member of the higher council.

[edit]

Islamist leaders say they oppose even those troops, calling the United Nations a front for U.S. imperialism.

"We are an equal member of the African Union but in the United Nations one country, the United States, continuously uses its veto to force the world to follow its agenda," said Ahmed.

University professor and respected Islamist preacher Sadiq al-Hajj Abu Dafirah said any U.N. troops had to be given the choice to convert to Islam or leave the country.

"We will use dialogue but finally we would be obliged to fight them if they don't see the validity of our arguments," he said. He added talks could last years.

"A Muslim, when he is forced to fight, does so with sorrow."

[edit]

Sudan's Islamists say they are not entirely in agreement with Al Qaeda's methods but Ahmed said they would happily take help from anyone to prevent U.N. troops deploying.

"We have camps here and we are training. We are ready."

Others, like preacher Abu Dafirah, were more circumspect.

"I'm sorry to say that yes (Al Qaeda) would find some support here," he said.

The United Nations is aware of the hostility.

It recently raised its security level in Khartoum, where hundreds of U.N. staff live and work, because of what officials called "credible threats to their security."

Islamist leaders said even Bashir would have cause to fear them if he gave in to international pressure on a Darfur force.

"Bashir cannot give in now, his people would not respect him, even his wife would not respect him if he did," said Malik.

Ahmed sai if Bashir's government agreed to allow U.N. troops in Darfur, "Then we will fight them too."

Darfur: Government Asks Security Council to be Patient

From IRIN

Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir has called on the United Nations Security Council to “be patient” in resolving the conflict in Darfur and indicated, in a letter to the Council President earlier this week, that the UK-US draft resolution for a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur was unacceptable to Khartoum.

“We request the Security Council to be patient and not to be in a hurry to adopt a new resolution on the matter, and to allow the government of the Sudan sufficient time to resolve the situation in Darfur,” according to the August 21 letter to Council President, Ghanian Ambassador Nana Effah-Apentang.

According to the latest UN report, over 200,000 people are estimated to have died, with millions more displaced throughout the country while 200,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad. The Sudan government has been implicated in arming local Arab militias who embarked on a campaign of violence against civilians in Darfur since 2003.

The UK-US draft resolution, which calls for the deployment of a 17,500-strong UN force and an additional 3,300 civilian police, is the latest attempt to address the spiraling violence. With the AMIS mandate due to expire on September 30, the draft resolution calls for an expanded logistical role for the UN.

“We want to transition from a strengthened AMIS force to a UN peacekeeping force in January 2007,” said a senior diplomat close to the negotiations, who indicated that the AMIS mandate should be extended until December.

However, Sudanese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Omar Bashir Manis said his government remained opposed to a UN deployment. “Legally speaking the AU has not the right to transfer [the mandate to the UN]. The Sudanese government is opposing the sending of troops and I cannot see how anyone can envisage sending troops to a country which is not welcoming those troops,” he told reporters earlier this week.

While it had been hoped that the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed between the Khartoum government and two rebel groups on May 5 would end the three year civil war in Darfur, fighting has since escalated between signatories and non-signatories of the peace deal.

The 7,000 troops of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) - under-funded and poorly-equipped – are considered to be largely ineffective at containing the violence in a region roughly the size of France. The killing of two Rwandan AMIS soldiers in an ambush by armed elements on Saturday in North Darfur State is the latest in a string of incidents aimed at the international humanitarian and security presence.

According to the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Sudanese proposal fails to address the protection of civilians, a key tenet of the peace agreement.

“There is nothing about demobilization, disarmament or the withdrawal of forces. If this government plan is accepted there will be nothing left of the peace agreement,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa Director at HRW.

A HRW researcher, Jemera Rone, said that the Sudanese government had made a promise at the AU summit. “Since then, everyone has been waiting for them to deliver a plan. Now the plan has come and it is worse than you would have imagined. It’s just more war,” she said.

Darfur: U.S. Envoy to Press Sudan for U.N. Peacekeepers

From the Los Angeles Times

After months of increasingly belligerent refusals by Sudan to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force into the Darfur region, the Bush administration said Thursday that it was sending a senior diplomat to Khartoum to pressure the Sudanese government to accept international troops.

The mission, which is scheduled to leave Washington today, comes as Darfur has experienced its most intense violence in more than two years. Sudanese officials are threatening to send 10,000 troops to the troubled region to suppress rebel groups, a move human rights groups fear could reignite the region's civil war.

"The government of Sudan believes that somehow it can solve this problem on its own, and that's not the case," said Jendayi E. Frazer, the State Department's assistant secretary for African affairs, who will head the mission. "We have reports every day that the government of Sudan is preparing to launch an offensive" against the rebels. "That's not acceptable," she said.

The Bush administration had hoped a U.S.-brokered peace accord in May between the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum and one of the largest non-Arab rebel groups in Darfur would pave the way for the 20,000-strong United Nations force and a lasting peace.

Instead, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir has become more vehement in his rejections. He recently likened a potential U.N. deployment to Israel's incursion into Lebanon. In addition, non-Arab rebels who did not sign the agreement have broken off and begun to rearm in preparation for a government offensive.

An ill-equipped force of 7,000 African Union troops is in Darfur, a region of western Sudan, assigned to monitor the May peace accord. But the force has found itself under siege — two Rwandan peacekeepers were killed this month — and could be routed if all-out war were to resume. Its mandate and funding run out at the end of September.

"The capacity of the African Union is declining every single day, so there is no time to delay," Frazer said. "Right now, they're sitting ducks."

Uganda: Gov't Offers Tough Ceasefire Terms

From AFP

Uganda on Friday laid out tough terms for a conditional truce with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army under which its fighters must gather in two camps supervised by a neutral force.

The offer was made at halting peace talks now underway in southern Sudan where the government had previously rejected calls from the LRA to reciprocate a unilateral ceasefire they announced on August 4.

Under Kampala's proposal, the government would guarantee the safety of LRA fighters traveling to the sites and arrange for their welfare under the care and guard of forces from the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLM).

The SPLM is mediating the peace talks and has agreed to the idea, according to Ugandan officials in Kampala and at the talks' venue in Juba, the capital of autonomous southern Sudan.

There was no immediate response from the LRA, whose demands for sweeping cuts in the military and radical constitutional reform have been dismissed by the government, although they were unlikely to view the offer favorably.

But Ugandan officials maintained the proposal was a fair compromise noting their initial position precluded any truce outside a comprehensive settlement to end the brutal, nearly 20-year insurgency.

President Yoweri Museveni "has agreed that a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities should be given but with conditions", deputy defense minister Ruth Nankabirwa told reporters in Kampala.

For the government to declare a ceasefire, the LRA must send its fighters to two sites -- one on Uganda's northern border with southern Sudan and one on southern Sudan's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The movement of rebels must be complete within two weeks and once at the "assembly points", the rebels will be guarded by the SPLM, officials said.

"When they agree, an agreement will be signed and the government will immediately make a cessation of hostilities announcement," Nankabirwa said.

"The army will stop its operations and stop any attacks against the LRA and rebel fighters still loitering around so that they can move to the assembly points," she said.

In Juba, the spokesman for Kampala's delegation to the peace talks, Paddy Ankunda, said the government ceasefire would take effect as soon as the LRA fighters were gathered in the designated areas.

Although there was no immediate reaction from the rebel delegation in Juba, observers said they did not expect a positive response from LRA negotiators who have in recent days made numerous major demands.

The rebels have called for whopping cuts in the army and 40-percent representation in the new force, absolute autonomy from their northern region and a huge share of Uganda's national wealth.

The government has dismissed these as "ridiculous" and urged the rebels to negotiate in good faith so the two parties can reach a final peace deal by a September 12 deadline set by Museveni.

On Thursday, Ankunda warned that unless the LRA gets serious, Museveni will rescind an amnesty offer for rebel supremo Joseph Kony and top commanders who have been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

DRC: Risk of Massive Plague Epidemic

From AlertNet - via POTP

massive plague epidemic could hit eastern Congo after an alarming spike in infections in recent weeks, a German medical charity warned on Thursday.

There have been 1,400 cases so far this year, 600 of them in June and July, said Alfred Kinzelbach, regional coordinator for aid agency Malteser International. That compares with 800 cases for the whole of 2005.

Health workers are particularly concerned about a sudden increase in extremely contagious pneumonic plague. Most of the cases are bubonic plague, which is spread by infected rat fleas, but pneumonic plague, an airborne disease, can pass between humans.

"If you have two cases of pneumonic plague then perhaps the whole village will get it, so it spreads much quicker than the bubonic plague," Kinzelbach told AlertNet in an interview. "People can die within 24 hours so you have to treat it quickly."

Around 10 percent of people who catch the plague are dying - double the rate last year, he said.

"We fear a massive epidemic, if we do not immediately treat the sick people, inform the population of the risks and fight the vectors, the fleas of rodents," Malteser said in a statement.

Zimbabwe: An Opposition Strategy

From the International Crisis Group - via POTP

To avoid an explosion in Zimbabwe that could cost thousands of lives and shatter Southern Africa, the opposition may need to launch a risky strategy of nationwide, non-violent protest.

Zimbabwe: An Opposition Strategy, is the eighteenth report or briefing the International Crisis Group has written on Zimbabwe over six years. They tell a depressingly consistent story of a potentially rich land sinking further into economic and political distress, and bringing ever closer the prospect of a violent explosion whose shock waves would rattle a region that has otherwise mostly demonstrated considerable stability and progress. In this time, outside actors have seemed incapable of helping to reverse this downward direction.

“Two lessons are clear in Zimbabwe”, says John Norris, Crisis Group’s Africa Program Executive. “The first is that, despite his deserved standing as a hero of the anti-colonial struggle in the past, the 82-year old President Robert Mugabe is the key obstacle to a more hopeful future. The second is that to avoid the abyss, change must start from within”.

Zimbabwe is more polarised today than ever, and in many ways, prospects for change seem to be slipping further away. Political reform is blocked, and nearly every economic indicator is heading downward. Inflation, poverty and malnutrition are ever more acute.

The political opposition and civil society organisations have yet to tap effectively into the dissatisfaction based on declining living standards, but they could become the spark that finally sets Zimbabwe toward change. The course is risky, but Zimbabwe’s splintered opposition needs to come together to formulate a campaign of non-violent resistance that channels anger and frustration into pressure on Mugabe to keep his word to retire by 2008 and on his ruling ZANU-PF party to negotiate a transition seriously.

However, a tightly organised campaign directed toward confrontation at one or two especially sensitive points, such as downtown Harare, or on an overarching political issue, such as a new constitution, would probably be both unachievable and highly dangerous. A better tactic might be a decentralised campaign of widespread non-violent demonstrations on specific bread-and-butter issues.

If a critical mass of such demonstrations can be achieved, opposition leaders should then be prepared to rapidly address the Mugabe issue. If the goal is the earliest possible change, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) should explore a deal with ZANU-PF, including, possibly, a “retirement package” for Mugabe. Afterwards, it would be much easier for the two parties to return to the constitutional talks they nearly completed in 2004, to move on to a power-sharing arrangement and to create the conditions necessary for free and fair elections.

Darfur: Bush Sending Frazer to Sudan

From Reuters

President George W. Bush is sending a top U.S. diplomat to Khartoum to try to persuade Sudan to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur, the State Department said on Thursday.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said she would leave for Sudan on Friday to tell President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that a U.N. force was needed urgently in Darfur to end what Washington has called genocide.

"Darfur is on the verge of a dangerous downward spiral," Frazer told reporters. "We must stop the genocide."

"I'm going out with a message from him (Bush) to President Bashir," added Frazer.

Frazer said she would make clear to Sudan's leaders that atrocities and violence could not continue in Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have died in more than three years of conflict.

The United States is particularly concerned over plans by Sudan's government to send 10,500 of its own troops to Darfur. Many of the war victims say the government is behind the violence and these troops would exacerbate the situation.

"I plan to discuss with them how we can work together to deploy a credible and legitimate U.N. force," said Frazer.

[edit]

"We cannot allow foot-dragging at the U.N., or be held hostage to the Sudanese government's refusal to allow U.N. peacekeepers to keep us from taking morally just and humane action in Darfur," said Frazer.

She said African Union troops were stretched to "breaking point" trying to keep the peace in an area the size of France, and they needed help fast.

But while a U.N. force was imperative, Frazer said it could not "fight" its way into Darfur and would need the acceptance of Sudan's government,

She said the bulk of the force would consist of African troops and that Sudan, which fears there are attempts to colonize part of the country, should not be concerned about some form of "Western domination".

Uganda: LRA Demand Full Autonomy for North

From AFP

Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on Thursday demanded radical changes to the country's power structure, calling for complete autonomy for their northern region under a new federal Constitution.

In addition, the rebels, who have already had their demand for huge cuts in the army dismissed out of hand, said poverty stricken northern Uganda should get at least 22% of all government revenue under a new wealth-sharing formula.

The new positions were laid out at faltering peace talks being held in southern Sudan in a bid to end northern Uganda's brutal, nearly 20-year-long war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced almost two million.

Presenting their last list of demands, the rebels said the government were "consummate liars", claiming they "intentionally under-developed and impoverished eastern and northern Uganda as a political tool of control and repression".

They also accused Kampala of genocide on the north and said the government military were deliberately spreading the Aids virus through the rape of civilians.

"It is for this very reason that we demand total federalism in eastern and northern Uganda, and throughout the country," the rebels said in a position paper read by Martin Ojul, the leader of the LRA delegation.

It said a new Constitution must be adopted to replace the current charter, which the LRA maintains gives too much power to the president, with one that provides for a major regional autonomy.

"To have peace, there must be an equitable share of wealth and power," LRA spokesman Godfrey Ayoo said, adding that a reasonable formula would give the north 22% of government wealth.

"We want to empower people, to create a federal system in a new country, so that the north, south, east and west can all cater for their own affairs, and not to leave all the power in the hands of the central government," he said.

The paper also calls for a minimum of 30% of all government and civil-service jobs to be given to people from northern and eastern Uganda.

The Ugandan delegation to the talks, which are being mediated by the autonomous government of southern Sudan in the regional capital of Juba, reacted with incredulity to the rebel demands, saying they were "out of the question".

The spokesperson for the team, Paddy Ankunda, said the LRA was vastly overreaching and that if it did not tone down its rhetoric the talks would collapse and it would be destroyed militarily.

He said unless the LRA became serious Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni would drop an amnesty offer to rebel supremo Joseph Kony and other top commanders charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

"The Juba peace process should focus on delivering a soft landing for the LRA indictees," Ankunda said. "If they don't want that, then they can have the alternative at The Hague."

Darfur: Security Council to Meet Without Khartoum

From DPA

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting next week to discuss the peace process in Sudan's Darfur region despite Khartoum's refusal to participate, the council president said Thursday. The meeting on Monday will discuss further a draft resolution by the United States and Britain to transfer the African Union peacekeeping operation in Darfur to the UN, a move opposed by Khartoum.

"We want to keep the doors open for dialogue, if they want to come, it's fine, otherwise we will proceed," Ghana Ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng said following a close-door meeting of the 15-nation council to discuss Khartoum's rejection of the invitation to attend.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Wednesday informed Effah-Apenteng that he would not send a delegation to New York for the Monday session. Effah-Apenteng also invited the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference and African Union, which did not respond.

Effah-Apenteng said the situation in Darfur has become "very grave," requiring council attention to end the ethnic conflict which continued despite the May 5 peace accords signed between Khartoum and a the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).

Chad/Darfur: JEM Rebels Turned Over to African Union

From IRIN

Chadian Public Security Minister Routouang Yoma Golom said on Thursday five suspected Sudanese rebels detained in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, had been turned over to African Union (AU) officials.

"This gesture of the Chadian government is testimony to Chad’s genuine will for peace to reign in Darfur," Golom told reporters.

A police official said the suspected rebels, reportedly from the Justice and Equality Movement, which did not sign an AU-brokered peace deal for Darfur in May, had been detained in N’Djamena. He said at least one suspected rebel was arrested in Abeche, a village in eastern Chad near the border with Darfur, Sudan's western region.

DRC: Foreign Troops Pledge to Police Fragile Truce

From Reuters

International peacekeepers warned political factions in Congo on Thursday they would intervene to enforce a fragile truce, after gun battles in Kinshasa this week threatened to derail historic elections.

European Union and U.N. peacekeepers mounted joint patrols on the streets of the sprawling riverside capital after a deal on Tuesday ended three days of clashes between President Joseph Kabila's military commanders and troops loyal to Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba.

An uneasy tranquillity reigned on Thursday on Kinshasa's streets, despite a demonstration by a thousand angry Bemba supporters outside his residence, some of whom chanted "Kill them, Kill them" at foreign journalists.

The commander of the 2,000-strong European force, EUFOR, appealed to Congolese to remain calm after the clashes, which erupted on Sunday when electoral officials announced Kabila and Bemba would contest an Oct. 29 presidential run-off.

At least 16 people were killed in the fighting, which marred what had otherwise been remarkably peaceful elections in Democratic Republic of Congo on July 30.

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Political analysts and diplomats warned that Tuesday's peace deal -- which foresaw a joint commission including the United Nations and representatives of Bemba and Kabila's camps to review grievances -- could be short-lived.

"The situation is still very tense, there are too many nervous men wandering around with guns, but we have moved on from the clashes earlier this week," one diplomat said, saying truce would now need to be strictly implemented.

Darfur: Sudan Rejects U.N. Resolution on Peace Force

From Reuters

Sudan's ruling party rejects a draft U.N. resolution to deploy a 20,000-strong U.N. force to stem the violence in its western Darfur region, state media reported on Thursday.

Britain has drafted a Security Council resolution to send 17,000 soldiers and 3,000 police to the vast region, and said it hoped the resolution would be adopted by the end of August.

But Khartoum has repeatedly rejected proposals for a U.N. mission in Darfur, which some government officials call an attempt to colonise the country, and did so again in response to the British plan.

"Any country that would adopt this resolution would be from a hostile position towards Sudan and thus it is rejected and non-negotiable," the state-owned news agency SUNA quoted Ghazi Salaheddin, head of the ruling National Congress Party's (NCP) parliamentary body, as saying.

"Our position hasn't changed," Foreign Minister Lam Akol said on Thursday of the draft resolution.

Many opposition parties support U.N. deployment to Darfur and war victims, including many of the 2.5 million who fled to makeshift camps during the fighting, have asked for the world body to intervene since the conflict began in early 2003.

But the NCP, which dominates both government and parliament, refuses. Critics say they fear U.N. troops would be used to arrest any officials likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court investigating alleged war crimes in the region.

From the AP

Sudan‘s ruling party has rejected a proposed Security Council resolution to transfer peacekeeping duties in conflict-wracked Darfur to a U.N. force, saying it would violate national sovereignty, official media reported Thursday.

"The draft resolution is worse than the previous ones because it constitutes an attempt to impose complete guardianship on the Sudan," lawmaker Ghazi Salah Eldin Atabani said after the meeting.

In a letter circulated Wednesday, al-Bashir asked the U.N. Security Council U.N. Security Council to give him time to bring peace to Darfur and urged it to delay action on transferring peacekeeping duties to the U.N. force.

Al-Bashir said there was strong opposition from residents and leaders in Darfur to the U.N. force and warned that deployment would lead "to acts of violence and unmanageable confrontations among all parties in Darfur, including the United Nations forces."

Aid groups, the United Nations and beleaguered AU peacekeepers say rebel factions are seeking to gain advantage before a permanent peace plan is instituted in the Darfur region. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2 million have fled their homes since 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government.

In his letter, Al-Bashir said he wants to concentrate on implementing the peace agreement under a six-month plan he already submitted to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan . He said it calls for the government, in cooperation with the African Union and U.N. agencies, to "return the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur to normal."

From AFP

Sudan's ruling party has rejected as unacceptable a draft United Nations resolution calling for deployment of 17 000 UN peacekeepers to the strife-torn region of Darfur, the media reported on Thursday.

"The draft resolution is worse than previous ones as it is an attempt to impose complete tutelage on the Sudan," National Congress Party chairman Ghazi Salah Eldin Atabani was quoted as saying after a meeting on Wednesday.

"Any state that sponsors this draft resolution will be regarded as assuming a hostile attitude against the Sudan," said the official, describing the draft as "unacceptable and not negotiable under any sort of pressure".

Darfur: Khartoum Rejects UN Meeting

From DPA

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Wednesday declined an invitation to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting next week to explain his plan to deploy more than 10,000 Sudanese troops to Darfur instead of a UN peacekeeping operation.

The Khartoum government had been asked by council president, Ghana Ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng, to send a delegation to the meeting on Monday. He also invited the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and African Union to the same meeting.

Al-Bashir said such a meeting was welcome to consolidate the peace process in Darfur.

But he added: "In view of having a fruitful discussion of the council on the matter, with the effective participation of regional organisations strongly engaged in the situation in Darfur, we deem it appropriate to postpone the meeting to enable better preparations."

There was no immediate response from Effah-Apenteng as the council had no formal meeting on Wednesday. The three organisations invited did not respond.

From the AP

Sudan's president asked the U.N. Security Council to give him time to bring peace to conflict-wracked Darfur and urged it to delay action on transferring peacekeeping duties to a U.N. force, according to a letter circulated Wednesday.

Omar al-Bashir said there was strong opposition from residents and leaders in Darfur to the U.N. force and warned that deployment would lead "to acts of violence and unmanageable confrontations among all parties in Darfur, including the United Nations forces."

With the situation in Darfur worsening and violence escalating, the United States and Britain have introduced a resolution that would transfer peacekeeping from the financially strapped African Union to a much larger and better equipped U.N. force. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he hoped it could be adopted by the end of August.

Al-Bashir's letter seeking more time to restore peace appeared to be a response to an invitation from the current Security Council president to the Sudanese government and other key players in Darfur to a meeting Monday to discuss the draft resolution.

The Security Council was scheduled to meet Thursday morning to discuss Al-Bashir's letter.

[edit]

In the letter, Al-Bashir said he wants to concentrate on implementing the peace agreement under a six-month plan he already submitted to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He said it calls for the government, in cooperation with the African Union and U.N. agencies, to "return the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur to normal."

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric reiterated Annan's alarm at the worsening violence in Darfur and the secretary-general's strong support for a handover to U.N. peacekeepers.

"It is clear the situation in Darfur needs to be addressed, and addressed quickly," he said.

Uganda: When Int'l Justice and Internal Peace Are at Odds

An op-ed by Helena Cobban in the Christian Science Monitor

Luis Moreno-Ocampo is an idealist. "Our goal is to end the worst crimes," he told me. He is the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), established by a 1998 treaty among, now, some 120 states. The United States is not a member of the ICC, but many American rights advocates support it strongly.

Now, Mr. Ocampo's idealism is encountering some obstacles that raise tough questions about the identity of the main stakeholders in the ICC's success. To whom, at the end of the day, should the court be accountable? The people in the communities that are the main victims of the crimes it tries - or some more amorphous group, such as "the international community?"

Ocampo faces these questions particularly starkly with the landmark prosecutions he has brought regarding northern Uganda. Five of the six arrest warrants he has issued so far have been against participants in the long-running conflict there: Joseph Kony and four other leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebellion. (One of the LRA indictees, Raska Lukwiya, was recently reported killed.)

These prosecutions are crucial to the new court as it defines its role and could affect the willingness of member states to continue funding its $90 million a year budget.

Complicating Ocampo's job is the fact that the government of Uganda, which referred the northern Ugandan situation to the ICC back in 2004, has recently changed course. Since mid-July, the government of Uganda has been actively negotiating with the LRA leaders a peace deal that would also give them amnesty. If this peace initiative succeeds, Ocampo's first big criminal case could collapse. (He also has a smaller case under way involving an indictee from the Democratic Republic of Congo.)

Uganda's peace overture to the LRA has been strongly supported by the Acholi ethnic group from which Mr. Kony and his cohorts come - and which has also borne the brunt of their atrocities. One leader in the Acholis' pro-peace campaign has been Morris Ogenga-Latigo, the head of Uganda's parliamentary opposition.

Speaking with me in the Ugandan capital of Kampala recently, Mr. Ogenga-Latigo said, "The ICC has become an impediment to our efforts. Should we sacrifice our peacemaking process here so they can test and develop their criminal-justice procedures there at the ICC? Punishment has to be quite secondary to the goal of resolving this conflict." Ugandan President Yuweri Museveni now seems clearly to agree. He has said that if Kony accepts the terms of the amnesty being offered, then he, the president, would "fight tooth and nail" to protect Kony.

Norbert Mao, a graduate of Yale Law School who was recently elected chair of the majority-Acholi Gulu District Council, expressed a nuanced view of the ICC's efforts: "As a lawyer, I know the ICC has its role.... And in general, that's an important role. All societies need to have an accountability system.... The essence of the court is to ensure accountability. But we have accountability systems in northern Uganda, too - our traditional systems."

Mr. Mao explained that the Acholi system of conflict resolution, called mat oput or "drinking the bitter root," requires perpetrators to acknowledge their crimes, show remorse for them, and ask the community for forgiveness. Western-style criminal proceedings require none of these things, though a perpetrator who shows remorse can sometimes win a lighter sentence.

Now, Mao, Ogenga-Latigo, and their allies are working fast to have the main points of mat oput codified and incorporated into Ugandan law. (Other countries that have incorporated traditional systems into national law in this way include New Zealand and Rwanda.) Mao told me he hopes this will enable Uganda to tell the ICC that if the LRA leaders undergo mat oput, then they have been fully dealt with under Ugandan law, and therefore the ICC should withdraw its indictments. Uganda's peace campaigners have also recently won the right, as recognized victims of Kony's crimes, to be represented in a "pretrial" hearing here at the ICC: They plan to use that hearing to argue strongly, as victims, that the indictments be dropped.

Darfur: Increased Sexual Assaults Signal Downward Slide

From the International Rescue Committee

More than 200 women have been sexually assaulted in the last five weeks alone around Darfur's largest displaced camp, Kalma, an alarming trend that is yet another sign of the region's plummeting security situation.

The situation is so dire that about 300 women convened a meeting in Kalma on Aug. 7 to plead for more help from the outside world -- particularly from African Union troops mandated to protect civilians.

"This is a massive spike in figures. We are used to hearing of 2 to 4 incidents of sexual assault per month in Kalma camp," said Kurt Tjossem of the International Rescue Committee, which collected the figures.

The numbers from Kalma, in south Darfur, are one measure of Darfur's downward spiral, which is also being reflected in rising attacks on aid workers and in numbers of people fleeing their homes for displaced camps. The signing of a peace deal on May 5 has done nothing to halt the insecurity. Since the beginning of July, 14,780 newly displaced people have arrived at As Salaam camp in El Fasher, some after having spent two days on foot or riding donkeys to escape violence in north Darfur. They are among 50,000 people who have been displaced across Darfur in recent weeks. Last month alone, nine humanitarian aid workers were killed and 20 vehicles were hijacked in Darfur.

The women of Darfur are particularly vulnerable. They have no choice but to leave their camp confines in search of firewood - expeditions that force them to walk several miles into the bush. If men went instead, they would be killed. "We have chosen to risk being raped rather than let the men risk being killed," one woman said at the Aug. 7 meeting, summarizing how hopeless their plight has become. Victims range in age from 13 to 50.

In addition to the sexual assaults, which include rapes, an additional 200 women and girls say they have been attacked in other ways in the last five weeks, including being beaten, punched, and kicked by assailants who lie in wait a few miles outside Kalma.

Darfur: Chad Detains Rebel Leaders

From Reuters

Chad said on Wednesday it had detained and would expel seven leaders of a Darfur rebel group as part of its efforts to improve relations with neighbouring Sudan.

The leaders of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which did not sign a peace deal for Darfur brokered by the African Union in May, had been detained and would be handed over to the AU, Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-mi told Reuters.

"We have normalised our relations with Sudan and each party has to live up to its commitments," Allam-mi said.

Chad and Sudan agreed two weeks ago to restore diplomatic relations and reopen their border region, which has been plagued by violence linked to the conflict in Darfur.

The two governments had long accused each other of backing rebel groups operating on either side of the border but agreed at a summit in Tripoli in February to stop insurgents setting up bases on their territories.

"These detentions come in the light of the Abuja peace deal and in the light of our obligations from the Tripoli accord," Allam-mi said.

JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim said the detained leaders had done nothing wrong and called on Chad's President Idriss Deby to order their release.

"I appeal to the president to release them. ... Everyone knows we do not have a single soldier in Chad," Ibrahim told Reuters by telephone from Paris.

Darfur: NRF Says Int'l Community Must Recognize Reality

A statement from the NRF

Reports after reports on Darfur still cling to the misconception that the forces making up the National Redemption Front (NRF) constitute a minority in Darfur while forces of Minni Minnawi, the newly appointed Senior Assistant to President Albashir enjoy a dominant position in the Region.

The international community must desist from this self evident deception and address reality as it exists on the ground. The fallacy of dominance of Minni’s branch of the SLM is so clear cut that it is laughable to conceive that eminent members of the international community can still regurgitate this fallacy at every venue. The danger of such an approach is futile if not outright lethal for the people of Darfur. It justifies a support for an agreement that is described by nobody other than Mr. Jan Pronk, the UN Special Representative for Sudan, as “paralysed”, “does not resonate with Darfur People” and requires “major rewriting”. Mr. Pronk must come clean and follows his revelation to its logical conclusion.

Moreover, insistence that Minnawi’s SLM is the biggest Movement in Darfur encourages others, particularly the NRF to prove it otherwise. As an invitation to war, it cannot be more explicit.

International leaders must be honest with themselves and stop deceiving the world. Minnawi’s SLM is not the biggest Movement in Darfur and never had been. Various attempts to make it so by the GoS, its Janjaweed and the African Union, could not shift this simple basic truth. It is time that we face reality, admit mistakes and proceed to rewrite the DPA.

Uganda: Army Pursues LRA After Attack on Ambulance

From IRIN

The Ugandan military said on Wednesday it was pursuing six rebel fighters who had ambushed an ambulance a day earlier before setting it ablaze in the northern Pader district.

"Our units [have been] pursing them since then, but they have not caught up with them," northern Uganda based military spokesman, Lieutenant Chris Magezi, told IRIN by phone from Gulu. "That is the Lord's Resistance Army [LRA] for you. They declared a ceasefire, but they are still carrying out attacks, including ambushing an ambulance, which is not supposed to be attacked even during a conflict," he added.

Magezi said the insurgents looted some of the drugs before they set the Kalongo missionary hospital's ambulance on fire. The occupants were not hurt. "About six medics who were on board jumped out of the ambulance and fled into the bush unhurt and were rescued by [Ugandan People's Defence Forces] soldiers who were nearby. The rebels burned the ambulance and looted some drugs," he said.

Uganda: Kony Applies for Asylum, UN and US Support Suspension of ICC Indictment

From The Monitor

THE rebel Lord's Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony has formally approached the Central African Republic [CAR] government pleading for asylum, Daily Monitor has reliably established.

Highly placed sources said yesterday that the LRA warlord made the request for sanctuary, under the auspices of CAR President, Gen Francois Bozizé, sometime last week.

President Bozizé on receiving the request, Daily Monitor has learnt, dispatched his Chief of Staff, over the weekend, to meet President Yoweri Museveni over the matter.

Dr E. Jebbari arrived in the country on Saturday and met Mr Museveni on Monday, before flying back to Bangui, the CAR capital, the same day.

State House officials yesterday claimed ignorance about Dr Jebbari's visit and maintained that the visit "certainly was not on the President's official programme."

The President's Press Secretary, Mr Onapito Ekomoloit, said, "There was no such meeting my office has covered."

However, a source to the meeting said Jebbari met Museveni at State House, Nakasero, and told the President that his government had received Kony's request but could not take any decisive action until it had formally contacted Kampala.

"He [Dr Jebbari] said that his country could not grant Kony asylum without consulting President Museveni," the source said.

Previously, intelligence sources within the UPDF claimed that Kony likes the CAR, and that he has a base at Bamboute, 1362 km east of Bangui. But authorities in CAR denied the reports.

Kony has in the past said he cannot settle in Uganda, even when the LRA and Kampala sign a comprehensive peace agreement. He said he would be comfortable settling in CAR, Southern Sudan and DR Congo among other countries.

It also emerged yesterday that the LRA has written to South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, asking for help to establish a truth and reconciliation commission on northern Uganda.

The letter written by the LRA head of delegation, Martin Ojul, is inviting the Bishop to advise both sides on how the commission can deal with crimes committed, since the commencement of the northern conflict.

In Juba, a cross section of Uganda's team of observers who include legislators, religious leaders and cultural leaders from northern Uganda, returned yesterday to brief Parliament and Museveni on the status of the peace talks. Gulu Archdioceses Bishop, John Baptist Odama and his Anglican counterpart, Nelson Onono, also returned from Juba.

Ms Betty Amongi [MP Apac] and Johnson Malinga [Kapelebyong] led the group. Parliament heard yesterday that the UN and the US have promised to support the suspension of the indictment of top LRA leaders by the ICC.

Ms Among said, "The President [Kiir] has assured us that he has already consulted various governments that have pledged to support his government in stopping the prosecution, should the Juba peace talks succeed."

Sudan: Children Still Drawn into War

From Reuters

Children are still being abducted, killed, raped and pressed into warfare as soldiers by armed groups in Sudan -- including the country's army -- despite peace deals in the south and west, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.

Other groups abducting and recruiting children for war in the country's western Darfur region included the government-backed Janjaweed militias and the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in the report to the Security Council.

In southern Sudan, the report accuses the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, or SPLA -- now the region's official army -- of killing and recruiting children as soldiers, along with the national army -- the Sudanese Armed Forces.

The report blames the Sudanese Armed Forces and Janjaweed militias for sexual violence against children in Darfur.

There were no reports of armed groups sexually abusing children in southern or eastern Sudan from the May-July period covered by the report, Annan said.

His report was based on confirmed incidents but gave no numbers.

"The numerous armed forces and groups that are parties to the conflict in the Sudan have a long history of using children for military purposes," the report said, calling on all such groups to end the abuse of children in war.

"The current peace processes in Darfur and southern Sudan offer a real opportunity for the leaders of the Sudan to end the practice of recruitment and use of children once and for all," Annan said.

From the UN News Center

As the humanitarian and security situation in Sudan continues to worsen, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on all parties to put an end to grave child rights violations and grant humanitarian workers unfettered access to children.

In a report released today, the Secretary-General details the abuse of children during the armed conflict, which has continued despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in May. He strongly urges the leaders of the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan to end child recruitment.

“The current peace processes in Darfur and southern Sudan offer a real opportunity for the leaders of the Sudan to end the practice of recruitment and use of children once and for all.”

Mr. Annan also details the recruitment, killing and rape of children by various parties, ranging from the Janjaweed militias and rebel groups in Darfur to Chadian opposition forces and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

While individual commanders of armed groups bear responsibility for grave violations by their forces, Mr. Annan says that the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan are also directly accountable for violations by individuals under their command.

“This responsibility of the Government must be stressed, particularly in the present context of shifting alliances and arrangements in the Sudan,” he says in the report.

The Secretary-General adds that he is deeply concerned about the increase in sexual violence against girls and women, particularly in Darfur, as well about reports of the systematic abduction and kidnapping of children there. He also expresses his deep concern over the continued lack of access in many areas of Sudan for child protection activities, particularly in the east.

In other news, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) says it has successfully completed a community-driven voluntary disarmament exercise, the first of its kind. According to UNMIS, residents in the southern state of Jonglei handed in roughly 1,250 weapons between 14 July and 30 July. The Government of Southern Sudan says it plans to carry out the peaceful disarmament program throughout all of Jonglei.

Darfur: U.S. Opposes Sudan Plan to Send Own Troops

From Reuters

The United States on Tuesday strongly criticized Sudan's plan to send more of its own troops into troubled Darfur region and said a "credible and legitimate" U.N. force was needed to stop the carnage.

Sudan's government opposes U.N. peacekeepers going to Darfur, where tens out thousands of people have died in more than three years of conflict, and instead wants to send 10,500 of its own troops there. The Arab League backed this proposal over the weekend.

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the United States was very concerned about the plan and urged Sudan's government to allow a U.N. force into Darfur without delay to stop what the United States say is genocide.

"Only a large, mobile, fast-reacting and robust (U.N.) force is capable of confronting the military challenges that exist in Darfur," Gallegos told Reuters.

"This credible and legitimate U.N. force, with African forces forming its core, should include Africans in key leadership positions," he said.

The African Union has about 7,000 under-funded troops struggling to halt the violence in Darfur where the trouble has worsened since the government and one of the main rebel groups signed a peace deal in May.

Gallegos said the goal of a U.N. force would be to help those displaced by the conflict and to stop increasing attacks on humanitarian workers as well as get life-saving humanitarian aid to those who needed it most.

"The Sudanese government must do its part to enable this transition to move forward immediately," he said.

Last week, Britain and the United States introduced a Security Council resolution to send some 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur region no later than Oct. 1 and Gallegos said work was still continuing on this resolution.

He strongly condemned the attack on an African Union convoy last week in Darfur that killed two peacekeepers.

Gallegos urged Sudan's government to cooperate fully in an investigation into the attack, which he said was another indication of the lack of security in Darfur and the need for a U.N. force.

A coalition of eight Darfuri groups based in the United States sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday urging the quick deployment of a U.N. force and condemning Sudan's plans to send their own troops there.

"Our brothers and sisters still in Darfur cannot afford another month of debate. The time to act is now," said Suliman Giddo of the group Darfur Peace and Development.

"The United Nations must not delay sending real help to Darfur and must not for one instant consider allowing the perpetrators of genocide to reinforce their Janjaweed militias," he said, referring to the Arab militia mobilized by Sudan's government in response to a rebel uprising in Darfur.

Darfur: A Crisis within a Crisis

From ACT-Caritass

Rumours of intentions to poison internally displaced persons (IDPs) through water, food, and vaccinations led to insecurity and attacks on aid workers in camps in west Darfur at the end of July.

With IDPs already anxious about ongoing insecurity, the peace agreement, rebel fragmentation, and tribal tensions, the rumours acted as a spark which lit the fire. Humanitarian organisations were forced to suspend activities in several camps in order to guarantee staff safety. A community centre belonging to the Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO), an ACT-Caritas partner, an ACT-Caritas temporary shelter for hygiene promotion, and two vehicles from Tearfund were set on fire and one driver from Tearfund was killed in an attack in Deleig camp.

The rumours made people highly suspicious of humanitarian water provisions and without skilled staff in the camps to monitor and ensure a regular supply of clean and safe water, organisations feared that there would be an outbreak of disease in the confined living quarters.

[edit]

However, it has not been easy to get people in the camps involved in the committees. In the initial stages of the emergency response in Darfur, the urgency to provide services meant that beneficiaries were never consulted or involved in the planning and implementation of humanitarian services. As a result, a dependent, donor-beneficiary relationship was set up. The IDPs wanted to be paid for their input.

The IDPs were also reluctant to take responsibility for the provision of services as they saw it as a sign of humanitarian organisations leaving. "Since we were displaced, the government has never once come to see us," said one member of the committee. Another member added, "Nobody has helped us but the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and if the NGOs leave, we will die."

[edit]

Yet, if insecurity in the camps had been sustained and the suspension prolonged, the situation would have soon become critical. The generator would eventually run out of fuel, chemical supplies would have been used up, and any mechanical breakdown would have needed a qualified technician and spare parts to be fixed. The water would have simply stopped flowing.

The fundamental issue is money. As one committee member related: "The community itself does not have anything. Before we had money from our cattle and farming, but we lost all this when our homes and land were attacked by armed militias."

"The need for water in this area is so great. This is the only source of water that we have close to us. We have no other source," declared Zahra Mohammed Adam Bahar. The bladder in Jeddah provides over 3,000 people with water. Yet, the committee reported that the need for water continues to increase as more people enter the camp.

With no money for essential inputs such as fuel, chlorine, and spare parts, the water committees are compromised. Help from humanitarian organisations is as vital as ever.

DRC: Capital Returns to Relative Calm

From the AP

Businesses reopened and people reappeared on the streets of Congo's capital Wednesday as a cease-fire appeared to have stopped three days of fighting between troops loyal to the country's two presidential candidates.

The fighting erupted after officials announced President Joseph Kabila failed to win an outright majority in Congo's first balloting in more than four decades, meaning he would face former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba in a second round of voting. At least 14 people were reported killed Sunday, but no casualty figures were available for the ensuing two days.

Heavy gunfire rang out before dawn Tuesday and fighting raged for hours, then appeared to tail off after the United Nations, with 17,500 peacekeepers in Congo, demanded a halt to hostilities and the European Union sent reinforcements.

``The cease-fire is holding, so far,'' U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said Wednesday morning. ``Transportation is back to normal.''

There were cars on the streets of Kinshasa, though much fewer than normal. Vendors opened their stalls, and people walked along the streets around Bemba's house, the scene of violence Tuesday.

U.N. envoy William Lacey Swing was trying to broker peace talks, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

Witnesses said Kabila's special presidential guards, who wear black uniforms and red berets, had withdrawn from outside Bemba's house, where Swing and other diplomats had been meeting with Bemba when fighting erupted outside Monday. EU and U.N. troops evacuated the foreign envoys.

Aides said Kabila ordered his loyalists back to their barracks and that Bemba, who is also a vice president in Kabila's national-unity government, had done similarly.

The U.N. said all Congo army troops had been ordered back to their original positions and that international troops had begun patrolling Kinshasa's street alongside Congo's police Tuesday night.

Fusalba said 180 German and Irish troops arrived Tuesday in Kinshasa from Gabon, joining a contingent of 50 French, Portuguese and Swedish troops who arrived overnight with attack and transport helicopters.

About 1,000 EU troops were already in Congo helping the U.N. peace force last month oversee the first elections in 45 years of coups, corrupt rule and war.

DRC: Violence Forces Obama to Cancel Visit

From MCT

As the United Nations called for an end to days of deadly violence in Congo, Sen. Barack Obama canceled a long-scheduled trip to the Central African nation that has been roiled by fighting between followers of the country's two presidential candidates.

The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, the Congo capital, asked Obama on Tuesday to suspend his visit in the wake of reports that 14 people had been killed during three days of clashes. The hostility has intensified as Congo voters prepare to select a leader in a run-off election in late October.

"Obviously, it's still a touch-and-go situation," the Democrat from Illinois said, relaying to reporters here the situation in Congo. "My hope is that this is just sporadic and everybody else settles down."

For weeks, Obama had been planning to visit Congo. He had hoped to promote his first stand-alone Senate bill that was designed to provide $52 million in assistance to Congo, a 25 percent increase from previous years.

But security conditions would not allow Obama to enter the country Thursday as planned. He was scheduled to travel to Kigali, Rwanda, on Wednesday and take a U.N. helicopter to Goma, but those plans were shelved after U.S. Embassy officials became overwhelmed in Kinshasa and could not escort him in Goma.

Darfur: Sudan Invited to Brief UN Security Council

From Reuters

Sudan's government has been invited to brief the U.N. Security Council next week on its plan to send troops to Darfur and its opposition to U.N. peacekeepers there, a key council member said on Tuesday.

The 15-nation council has set the meeting for Monday, in the form of an open briefing, said Nana Effah-Apenteng, Ghana's U.N. ambassador and the council president for August.

"On the basis of that decision, I have issued invitations to the Arab League, the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference), the government of Sudan and the African Union to join us for discussions," he told reporters.

[edit]

Arab League U.N. Observer Yahya Mahmassani said he had pressed Effah-Apenteng to hold the planned council meeting behind closed doors, so that participants could speak frankly.

"An open meeting is very bad. If they want to do something, let's have a closed meeting (or) everyone speaks to the media, to the street," he said.

The goal of such a meeting should be to convince Khartoum to accept a U.N. force, he said. "If you can, give them some guarantees, give them some explanation, don't give them a diktat," he said.

Peacekeeping: UN Fears Overstretch

From the Financial Times

The prospect of large new peacekeeping missions in Lebanon and Darfur would push the number of troops under United Nations command to an all-time high, officials have warned, posing a daunting logistical challenge as the world body seeks to restore its battered reputation.

The UN is struggling to piece together a 15,000-strong force to monitor and enforce a fragile peace agreement in Lebanon, while the UK and US called last week for more than 17,000 troops to stem the bloodshed in Darfur.

Another force in East Timor is also a possibility, raising the prospect of the UN commanding 120,000 troops in almost 20 countries – the second largest overseas military deployment after the US. It is far from clear where the resources to support their deployment will come from.

In Lebanon, despite initial calls by Washington for a “multinational force” led by a powerful nation with the capacity to intervene quickly, the region demanded a fully fledged UN force instead.

But UN peacekeeping missions usually take months to assemble, and planners face serious obstacles in deploying 3,500 new troops by September, a further 3,500 by early October and another 3,000 by early November, according to the schedule presented last week.

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The UN is warning that it will need to shortcut normal rules governing hiring, logistics, provisions and legal agreements with contributors, to speed things up. “In order to get what we need on the ground in Lebanon, we are going to look at a different way of doing business,” one UN official said.

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But officials are also nervous that the UN may once more be asked to do what its members cannot, without the necessary resources or conducive political conditions, leading to scapegoating if it does not work.

It is a familiar problem. In the early 1990s, early optimism over a big new role for the UN was shattered by its ill-prepared response to disasters in Somalia, Rwanda and Bosnia.

The organisation went through a long period of introspection, leading to a more realistic doctrine over what it could or could not achieve. By 2003 peacekeeping was surging once more, but new fears of overstretch began to mount.

“In August 2000, there were 17 UN peacekeeping operations under way with a total of about 48,000 personnel. That figure was perceived to be exceptionally high,” Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of UN peacekeeping, told funders earlier this year. “At the end of 2005, we had 17 peacekeeping operations with almost double the personnel, over 86,000.

“It is time for us to acknowledge that peacekeeping is a flagship of the UN organisation and as such requires a sustained and comprehensive approach.”

Simon Chesterman, head of the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University, said there was a danger that “we could be approaching a situation like the early 1990s, where the UN is seen as a solution to all the intractable problems”.

DRC: Election Foes Agree to U.N. Cease-Fire

From the New York Times

United Nations officials struck a cease-fire deal today with warring militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo after peacekeepers plunged into the middle of the fray and rescued foreign diplomats trapped by fighting.

More than 15 people have been killed in Kinshasa, the Congo’s capital, since Sunday in violence that was triggered by the announcement of results from the country’s first free elections in more than 40 years.

Those results indicated that president Joseph Kabila failed to win a majority of votes and must face Jean-Pierre Bemba, a tycoon and rebel leader accused of war crimes, in a runoff in October.

Today, militias loyal to the two men hammered each other with high-powered machine guns in downtown Kinshasa as residents packed up their belongings and fled.

Though Congo has been wracked by war for almost 10 years, most of the fighting has been in the east, hundreds of miles from the slums and boulevards of Kinshasa. Foreign diplomats and others are now worried about the stability of the capital, where supporters of the various factions essentially live on top of each other.

“It’s only going to get worse,” said Lily Tshimpumpu, an aide to Oscar Kashala, a politician who is thought to be somewhat neutral and independent. “There are so many militias here. They will blow this place up.”

The fighting began on Sunday afternoon, just hours before election officials announced that President Kabila had won 45 percent of the vote, compared with Mr. Bemba’s 20 percent.

President Kabila’s aides said that Mr. Bemba’s troops started firing in the air in an attempt to shut down the city and prevent the announcement. Mr. Bemba’s aides, on the other hand, said they were attacked by the president’s troops who were upset that Mr. Bemba had pushed the election into a runoff. The first round of voting was held on July 30 and cost the United Nations and donor nations more than $450 million.

The fighting escalated on Monday, with the presidential guard pounding Mr. Bemba’s house with tanks and destroying his helicopter. Again, there was a dispute about who started it, with the president’s men saying Mr. Bemba’s militia kidnapped two presidential guards, while Mr. Bemba’s forces said President Kabila’s militia was trying to assassinate Mr. Bemba. Several high-ranking diplomats were meeting with Mr. Bemba at the time and had to be rescued from his house by United Nations peacekeepers.

“We can only assume that Kabila’s troops attacked Bemba’s residence to kill him,” said a spokesman for Mr. Bemba, Dully Sesanga.

The fighting was mostly limited to the neighborhood where Mr. Bemba lives and continued until this afternoon, when United Nations officials called a meeting with President Kabila to establish a cease-fire. Many Congolese have accused the United Nations of favoring Mr. Kabila, and the fact that Mr. Bemba was not invited seemed to reinforce these suspicions. However, Mr. Bemba’s military commanders were invited to a meeting later to iron out cease-fire details.

United Nations officials released a short statement today saying, “It is imperative that the confrontations cease immediately and that the two candidates for the presidential election meet urgently for the good of the democratic process.”

Both President Kabila and Mr. Bemba are backed by large militias who have a history of fighting each other. International human rights groups have accused Mr. Bemba of encouraging his men to brutalize civilians and have been trying to get him indicted for war crimes.

Darfur: Security Council President Seeks Meeting Next Week

From the AP

The Security Council president has invited the key players in Darfur to a meeting next week on a proposed new resolution to transfer peacekeeping in the conflict-wracked region to a U.N. force, a move the Sudanese government strongly opposes.

Last week, the U.S. and U.K. introduced a resolution that would authorize the financially strapped African Union to hand over peacekeeping to a much larger and better equipped U.N. force.

The African Union has requested the transfer, saying it is not able to do long-term peacekeeping, but Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir remains staunchly opposed and has warned that Sudan's army would fight any U.N. forces sent to Darfur.

Ghana's U.N. Ambassador, Nana Effah-Apenteng, the council president for August, said Monday he sent invitations last week to the African Union, the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Sudanese government to meet the council to discuss the proposed resolution.

He said the Arab League and the OIC accepted in principle and he was waiting for the others to reply. "We haven't finalized it," he said.

Council diplomats said that during the council's closed-door discussion of the Darfur meeting, Effah-Apenteng proposed holding it next Monday. But Qatar, the only Arab member of the council, objected, saying it was too early to suggest a meeting or consider a resolution, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

Darfur: Khartoum's Plan Involves Its Own Force

From the New York Times

Sudan’s government has proposed using more than 10,000 of its own troops to quell the violence in the troubled region of Darfur instead of the United Nations peacekeeping force that it has repeatedly refused.

The Sudanese plan was presented to the United Nations Security Council last week, but whether it is a serious blueprint or another tactic in the country’s efforts to stall or thwart a United Nations peacekeeping force remains to be seen. Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has been engaged in an escalating war of words over the proposed United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur, declaring that Sudan would “defeat any forces entering the country just as Hezbollah has defeated the Israeli forces,” according to the state-run news agency, Suna.

Under the plan, the Sudanese government would use the troops to “gain control of the security situation and achieve stability in Darfur” and to “deal with the threats posed by the activities of groups that have rejected the Darfur peace agreement,” which was signed on May 5.

The plan does not explicitly reject a United Nations force, which the United States and others have advocated to secure the shaky peace agreement. But it makes clear that Sudan believes it should be responsible for stabilizing the worsening crisis in Darfur.

“The restoration of stability and the protection of civilians are central responsibilities of the government of the Sudan,” Mr. Bashir wrote in a letter to Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations.

But the Sudanese proposal, taken with what advisers for the African Union, human rights groups and aid organizations describe as a large buildup of military forces in Darfur, indicate that the government may intend to deal with the escalating crisis in its western provinces by force.

“More than a diplomatic road map, this is showing their military intentions,” said David Buchbinder, a Darfur researcher at Human Rights Watch. “I don’t think this in any way is going to protect civilians.”

[edit]

Sudan has argued that the current African Union force should be strengthened and given the responsibility of carrying out the peace agreement in Darfur. But the 7,000-member force has struggled to carry out even its limited mandate, which allows them to monitor but not enforce the cease-fire agreement. Criticized as ineffective and badly managed, the force will run out of money at the end of September, and donors at a conference held last month in Brussels to raise money for the force refused to extend its life beyond that deadline.

“We will be almost completely out of money,” said Lt. Col. Ferdinand Eze, a top military adviser with the African Union. “We cannot cope with the mission we have now, never mind additional duties.”

Darfur: US Urges UN Force 'Without Delay'

From VOA

The United States Monday called on the government of Sudan to allow deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur "without delay." The current African Union observer mission in the region is ill-equipped and under-funded, and lost two members killed in an ambush Saturday.

Officials here are pointing to Saturday's ambush as further evidence of a deteriorating security situation in Darfur that they say requires the early deployment of a full-scale U.N. peace force.

The United States and Britain last week introduced a resolution in the Security Council that would re-make the current African Union mission in Darfur into a United Nations peacekeeping force.

But the Sudanese government continues to oppose the idea, with President Omar al-Bashir threatening to forcibly resist its introduction.

In a statement, Acting State Department Spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos condemned the attack by unknown assailants in northern Darfur that killed two Rwandan members of the African Union Mission in Sudan, AMIS, and wounded several others.

Gallegos called on the Sudanese government to cooperate fully with AMIS to arrest and prosecute those behind the attack.

He said the violence is another sign of the lack of security in the troubled region hampering humanitarian relief efforts, and underlines why the United States and international partners are pressing for the peacekeeping upgrade:

"The United Nations force must deploy without delay," said Gonzalo Gallegos. "Only a large, mobile, fast-reacting and robust U.N. force, with African Union forces forming its core, is capable of stopping the fighting, protecting civilians and humanitarian workers, allowing for continued and full implementation of the Darfur peace agreement, and providing a safe and secure environment where internally displaced persons and refugees of Darfur can return to their homes. We call on the government of Sudan to do its part to enable this transition to move forward."

Darfur: Genocide, Continued

An editorial from the Washington Post

SUDAN'S DIPLOMATS have sometimes had the gall to describe the killing in Darfur as a problem of underdevelopment. Poverty creates desperation and violence, they plead; rather than blaming the Sudanese government for the suffering that results, the United States and its allies should show that they care about Africans by offering practical assistance. Well, last week Britain and the United States circulated a U.N. Security Council resolution that would get about 20,000 peacekeeping troops and police officers into Darfur; if such a force were actually deployed, it would represent the greatest step forward for Darfur since the killing started. But Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, seems determined to frustrate this offer of assistance.

The resolution is said to have the support of most members of the Security Council. It was developed in consultation with France, which initially tried to minimize the proposed number of troops but then accepted the Anglo-American position. China, which bends over backward not to offend Sudan's government because of its oil investments in the country, nonetheless has yet to veto any Sudan resolution at the United Nations and would probably go along with this one.

The only outspoken critic of the resolution on the Security Council is Qatar, which is reflecting the collective unwisdom of the Arab League. The Arabs have long opposed a U.N. deployment in Darfur, apparently because they believe in the sovereign right of governments to slaughter civilians. To disguise the brutality of this position, the Arabs have in the past professed a preference for the existing African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, even offering to provide resources to it. But that was just talk. Virtually all the funding for the African Union force has come from Europe and the United States. It will dry up at the end of September, making a U.N. follow-on force vital.

Fortunately, the Arabs' cynical stance need not prevent the resolution from being adopted. But to deploy the proposed force, the United Nations will need cooperation from Sudan's government; it cannot fight its way into Darfur. Mr. Bashir has already accepted a 12,000-member U.N. force in Sudan's south, so he can't claim a principled objection to the presence of U.N. peacekeepers in his country. But he retains an unprincipled determination to keep the United Nations out of Darfur, even though the need for a peacekeeping force is clearer than ever.

The world needs to be clear what Mr. Bashir's position amounts to. As a result of his government's systematic destruction of African villages in Darfur, more than 2 million displaced people there depend on humanitarian relief, but mounting violence that claimed the lives of eight aid workers last month makes the delivery of relief extremely difficult. In these circumstances, barring the entry of peacekeepers is to condemn thousands of displaced civilians to starvation. It is to continue the policy of genocide that has marked this crisis from the outset.

DRC: Heavy Gunfire Erupts in Capital

From the AP

Heavy gunfire erupted Tuesday morning around the home of Congo's top presidential challenger, a day after fighters trapped diplomats who had to be evacuated by U.N. peacekeepers.

U.N. spokesman Kemar Saiki said the United Nations has called on European forces to help secure the area. The European Union forces were already stationed in the region to maintain security during Congo's first multiparty presidential ballot in more than four decades.

Fighting first broke out in the capital of Kinshasa Sunday night as official results for the first round were announced. No candidate received a majority of votes, setting the stage for an October runoff between President Joseph Kabila and ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba.

Troops loyal to the two fought Monday around Bemba's house in the northeastern Gombe district of Kinshasa. Bemba's political party said Kabila's guards attacked the house, drawing return fire from Bemba's guards. Bemba's helicopter caught fire inside the compound.

The party characterized the fighting as an attempt on Bemba's life.

A party spokesman said Bemba was evacuated from his house along with the foreign diplomats Monday, but troops continued to attack the candidate's house Tuesday.

"They're still attacking the residence of Vice President Bemba," said Dully Sesanga, Congo's planning minister and spokesman for Bemba's party.

The envoys evacuated from Bemba's residence included the head of the U.N.'s 17,500-troop peacekeeping mission, William Swing, and diplomats from the United States, France, China and other countries. U.N. spokesman Jean-Tobias Okala said 150 U.N. troops in 20 armored personnel took the diplomats from Bemba's home hours after they arrived for a meeting.

It was not clear if the diplomats were ambassadors or lower-ranking officials. The U.S. Embassy had no comment and others were not immediately reachable for comment.

Uganda: LRA Insists Gov't Disband UPDF

From the New Vision

THE LRA has demanded that the Government reveals the locations and strength of the UPDF and all militias and assemble them for demobilisation.

In its paper on disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration (DDR) presented to mediators yesterday, the LRA re-asserted that the UPDF, like any post-colonial Ugandan army, was not national in character.

"In their place, Uganda shall constitute and build a new national army that guarantees security, peace and sustainable prosperity of the people of Uganda," LRA chairman Martin Ojulu said.

But Capt. Paddy Ankunda, the spokesperson of the government delegation, dismissed the demand as ridiculous, saying, "The LRA should swallow their pride and know that this is mere soft landing for them. We shall not disclose our strength neither shall we disband the UPDF.

"If they insist on this, we shall know they want to overturn constitutional order because the UPDF is a constitutional institution.

They have to know the situation they are in and efforts of the Uganda government to get them out of it. These ridiculous demands will not take them anywhere."

The LRA demanded "full details" of all state security organs, their personnel, strength, particulars of its members and locations. They also asked for the deployment of peacekeeping troops in the north and east to monitor who violates the comprehensive peace agreement.

"Both parties in the conflict shall, after signing a comprehensive peace agreement, assemble their troops, including all militias, within 30 days in designated areas," the LRA said.

Darfur: Arab Call for UN Delay Puzzles Envoy

From Reuters

A key U.N. Security Council member said on Monday he was puzzled by an Arab League request for an indefinite delay in a planned council meeting on the crisis in Darfur.

Ghanaian U.N. ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng, the Security Council president for August, said he got a positive response when he asked the Arab League about the meeting last week.

"The initial response I had from the Arab League was that they were positive with respect to such a meeting. So if we do schedule the meeting, I expect the Arab League to participate," Effah-Apenteng said.

The Sudanese government, African Union and Organization of the Islamic Conference were also approached about the meeting, tentatively set for next Monday and intended to explore the way ahead in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, he said.

[edit]

With U.N. officials warning of a deteriorating humanitarian situation, the United States and Britain want the council to quickly adopt a resolution clearing the way for the 7,000-strong African Union force now serving in Darfur to be replaced by a bigger and better equipped U.N. force.

But the Arab-dominated Sudanese government has so far refused to accept a U.N. force, and Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo asked the council on Sunday to postpone its planned meeting even before it was made public.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol called on Arab nations to instead support a Sudanese plan, under which the Khartoum government would send 10,500 new government troops to Darfur.

Sudan: Ghosts Haunt Former Slave

From Reuters

Ezekiel Ibrahim spent nine years working as a slave in Sudan's south but even after escaping his captors, he was shackled to the ghosts of his past.

Images of his captors tormented his mind and drove the 17-year-old to attempt suicide by slicing at his throat with a blunt knife.

"They came to me at night and they wanted to kill me, so I cut my throat but I felt nothing," said Ibrahim, who has been diagnosed with psychotic depression. A dirty shirt had been tied around the infected wounds in his neck.

In the 19th century, Sudan was at the centre of a slave trade that saw northern, mostly Arab tribes capture non-Arab southerners to sell to Western countries to work on plantations or farms.

During a north-south civil war that lasted two decades from the mid-1980s, abductions and slavery re-emerged as the government armed Arab nomadic tribes to fight mainly animist or Christian southern rebels.

The nomadic tribes, known locally as "Murahileen", abducted women and children who were used as workers, sex slaves or forced to marry their captors.

Ibrahim was taken when he was just seven years old.

He had been separated from his family when they fled a government attack on his village in the Nuba Mountains area in the late 1990s. Alone, he stumbled across a camp for displaced people and eventually, he says, an Arab man said he would adopt him until he found his family.

"They tricked me," said Ibrahim. The man's family hired him out to another tribe, the Misseriya, to work as a cattle herder for three years. After that, he was rented out to cut wood and to farm. But the Arab man took the money Ibrahim earned.

Ibrahim, a Christian, was also forced to convert to Islam -- the religion of his captors -- and taught by Islamic teachers every day to memorise the Koran. He was renamed Mohamed.

"They used to write verses and then wash off the ink and make me drink the dirty water," he said.

Darfur: Sudan Using Jailed Envoy to Warn Int'l Community

From the Sudan Tribune

The lawyer of presidential envoy to Darfur Tomo Kriznar who is jailed in Sudan, Halil Tukras is of the opinion that Khartoum wants to use Kriznar’s arrest as a warning to the international community not to interfere with Sudanese matters.

In an interview for TV Slovenia, Halil Tukras said that the Khartoum higher court discussing appeals has already debated the Kriznar case and would probably soon inform the public about its ruling.

Kriznar is allegedly treated well in prison. According to Tukras, Kriznar is a victim in a political game.

In the lawyer’s opinion, the Slovene Justice Ministry should be more active because a court ruling can be annulled either by the state president or the justice minister. Turkas believes that a more active ministry would increase chances for an agreement.

President Janez Drnovsek’s special envoy Hamdija Blekic has good knowledge about legal procedures in Sudan and also knows influential people. He said in a short telephone interview for TV Slovenia that he was very optimistic after Sunday talks in Khartoum. He is of the opinion that Kriznar will soon be released. Blekic has got a permission to visit him in the Al-Fashir jail and he is also trying to move the court case to Khartoum.

Following Drnovsek instructions, Blekic will call upon President Omar al-Bashir to pardon Kriznar. Blekic will call a special news conference during which he will apologize for Kriznar’s mistake - entering Sudan illegally. Blekic is already discussing a televised statement with Al-Jazeera TV and with the Sudanese state TV.

At the meantime, Slovene consul Andrej Dernovscek is in Khartoum. Together with his German colleagues and members of the international organizations, he is preparing his visit to Al-Fashir.

On Saturday, he was received at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry. Andrej Ster of the Slovene Foreign Ministry said for TV Slovenia that this was a complicated process which needed enough time. He was more careful in his predictions about Kriznar’s release, saying that he did not expect it soon.

Slovene Prime Minster Janez Jansa and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel are displeased with President Janez Drnovsek’s new solo move designed to save his envoy to Sudan, pointing to a "new problem" which could arise with the president’s new "private envoy" Hamdija Blekic, the daily Dnevnik observes on Monday 21 August.

The so far completely unknown Blekic told the public broadcaster that he has succeeded in meeting Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha in only 24 hours, adding that Tomo Kriznar’s release is only a question of time.

Darfur: US Citizen Who Entered Sudan Illegally Arrested

From BBC Monitoring

Excerpt from report by Sudanese independent Al-Mashahir (Almshaheer) website on 20 August

The minister of justice, Muhammad Ali al-Mardi, has stated that the three suspects, one US national and two Chadians who were arrested by the government of Northern Darfur State entered the country illegally from Chad, adding that the three are being treated well.

The minister told journalists yesterday that the US national, Paul Soulbuk [second element as published] was allowed to contact his lawyer and family via telephone and that he will be given his full rights considering that a suspect is innocent until proved guilty.

The minister said the government does not target certain nationalities for arrest but, it will not play around with the security of the country. Al-Mardi added that documents found in possession of the US suspect indicates a connection to the leaders of [the rebel] National Redemption Front [NRF] and others signalling that he met Sudanese refugees in Chad.

The US national admitted that he has earlier entered Sudan on two occasions through the UN. The other two Chadian suspects arrested with him are a driver and translator.

DRC: Gunmen Attack Bemba's Residence, Foreign Diplomats Trapped

From Bloomberg

Gunmen attacked the home of Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a rival of President Joseph Kabila to lead the African nation, the United Nations said.

The Associated Press said the UN was now carrying out a military operation to rescue an unknown number of foreign diplomats trapped in the residence in Kinshasa, the capital. Bemba was meeting with the diplomats at the time, AP said, citing unidentified envoys.

Yves Sorokobi, a UN spokesman, said the world body received early reports that the ``situation was rather tense and violent'' and the UN was working to get more information.

The UN said it couldn't confirm a report that five people had been killed. Bemba was a top rival of Kabila in the July 30 election, its first free vote in the country in four decades. The UN supervised the election, its largest ever electoral effort.

From the AP

Battles between forces loyal to President Joseph Kabila and those of his main campaign rival raged for second day Monday, and the U.N. sent scores of peacekeepers to evacuate foreign diplomats who were trapped inside the challenger's besieged home when gunfire broke out.

The fighting in the Central African nation came after election officials announced Sunday that President Joseph Kabila had failed to win an outright majority in Congo's first balloting in more than four decades and would face former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba in a second round in October.

U.N. spokesman Jean-Tobias Okala said 150 U.N. troops in 20 armored personnel carriers were to take the foreign envoys from Bemba's home, where they were meeting the candidate when fighting erupted outside his compound. The head of the world body's 17,500-troop peacekeeping mission, William Swing, was inside, along with envoys from the United States, France, China and other countries.

``An operation has been launched to extract the ambassadors,'' Okala said.

All the foreign officials were safe, he said. It was not clear if the diplomats were ambassadors or lower-ranking officials. The U.S. Embassy had no comment and others were not immediately reachable for comment.

A U.N. official at its headquarters in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the mission, said peacekeepers were there ``to assist in an evacuation ... of VIPs from Bemba's compound.''

In a bid to quell the violence, the army issued orders Monday for all soldiers in the Congolese capital to lay down their arms.

Army spokesman Col. Richard Leon Kasonga appeared on national television and issued orders barring all troops from carrying their weapons in public without a written exemption. He appealed for calm, saying, ``We're all members of the same army.''

Bemba's political party said Kabila's guards attacked the house, drawing return fire from Bemba's guards. Bemba was in his office when the fighting started, said his spokesman, Moise Musangana.

A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of prohibitions on dealing with the media, confirmed that Kabila's special presidential guards were battling members of the postwar military drawn from Bemba's insurgent ranks. But the official said Bemba's guards provoked the battle.

Darfur: Khartoum Opposes UN Plan to Deploy Peacekeepers

From VOA

The Sudanese government in Khartoum is denouncing a proposal to deploy a United Nations peacekeeping mission to restore order in the war-torn region of Darfur. The African Union and aid agencies, meanwhile, are warning that the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate.

Sudanese Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Madhi told reporters on Sunday that a draft U.N. resolution to deploy 17,000 peacekeeping troops in Sudan's Darfur region would be considered a military occupation.

The draft resolution, drawn up by Britain and supported by the United States, proposes a joint operation to help the 7,000 ill-equipped African Union peacekeeping troops.

The African Union has agreed that the United Nations should take over operations with a larger and better equipped peacekeeping force in the area.

A political analyst on Sudan, Mariam Jooma, says the potential success of any U.N. peacekeeping mission depends on the cooperation of the Sudanese parties, especially the government and the rebel factions that refused to sign a peace deal in May.

Also worrying, Jooma says, is that a U.N. mission may have wider repercussions, due to the situation in the Middle East.

"The politicization of any deployment is so likely to be manipulated by belligerents, as you've seen in Sudan," said Mariam Jooma. "President Bashir is saying, they will not allow another invasion, as they have in Iraq. I think is very worrying because whatever the good will from the United Nations, the actual deployment itself is sure to throw up questions of national authority, as well as on the war on terror."

Darfur: Last Chance?

A post from Mark Leon Goldberg on UN Dispatch

With the Security Council otherwise consumed by back-to-back crises in North Korea and Lebanon, Darfur received scant attention this summer. In the midst of the chaos in Turtle Bay in late July, Kofi Annan issued a little noticed but hugely important thirty page report on Darfur. This report (pdf), which was delivered to the Security Council on July 29th, could be the last chance to save Darfur.

Annan outlines a broad mandate for a United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to take over from the African Union, which currently fields only 7,000 troops that operate under a limited mandate. By contrast, UNMIS would include some 17,300 peacekeepers, and many thousands of civilians experts to secure, rehabilitate, rebuild and enforce a ceasefire in Darfur. However, Annan acknowledges the hurdles to assembling a peacekeeping force for Darfur. So, as something of a stop-gap measure, Annan proposes that the UN appropriate resources including communications, logistics, and command and control assets, as well as military equipment such as aircraft and armored personnel carriers, to the African Union.

This is a novel idea. And if the Security Council approves it would create what the informative Security Council Report calls "a hybrid force, never before tried by the UN, with UN assets and personnel placed under the command of another institution [the AU]." As envisioned by Annan, the hybridization would commence immediately and continue until the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is able to deploy a robust peacekeeping force in Darfur.

At least for the moment, Annan's proposal seems to have inspired some members of the Security Council to refocus on Darfur. In the Council's first meeting on Darfur in over six weeks, representatives from the United States and United Kingdom explicitly endorsed Annan's plan in a draft resolution they circulated. Further, the US-UK draft resolution would place eventual peacekeepers under Chapter VII, which seems to heed Annan's call that UNMIS be mandated to protect civilians and keep open lines of humanitarian access, even if this means dealing "proactively with spoilers, including in a pre-emptive manner."

Per Annan's recommendation the US-UK draft proposes 17,300 UNMIS troops for Darfur, with two additional battalions on the ready. And to be sure, the same obstacles that have prevented the deployment of blue helmets to Darfur since May exist to this day; the countries with the most influence over Khartoum continue to refuse to make Sudan's acquiescing to a peacekeeping force a priority in their bilateral relations.

Uganda: Peace Talks Re-Open

From IRIN

Talks aimed at ending two decades of fighting in northern Uganda re-opened in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Monday, with the government and rebels discussing the cessation of hostilities and the demobilisation of fighters, officials said.

The spokesman for the Ugandan delegation, Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda, told IRIN by phone from Juba that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had presented its position on several issues, including a ceasefire and demobilisation and disarmament exercise.

"We have resumed the talks. The LRA has presented its position on the cessation of hostilities, on reconciliation and accountability and the DDRR [Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration and Resettlement] programme," he said.

According to sources at the talks, the rebels want their fighters to be free to move around northern Uganda and insist the government army should not be deployed in a radius of 18 kilometres from any of their assembly places.

"They also want charges against their leaders before the International Criminal Court [ICC] dropped," an official at the talks, who refused to be named, said. Kony and four of his top commanders have been charged with war crimes by the ICC and rejected appeals to participate directly in the talks, citing fears they might be arrested.

The resumption of the talks, mediated by the southern Sudanese government, comes despite tough talk at the weekend from Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who said his government would not accept a ceasefire unless the rebel fighters agreed to assemble at designated areas in southern Sudan.

The Ugandan leader on Saturday also warned that should negotiations break down, the armies of Uganda, south Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would attack LRA leader Joseph Kony and his top commanders, who are in the DRC's Garamba National Park.

"If Kony doesn't use this chance, the attack awaits him," Museveni told reporters at a news conference in Kampala after meeting Sudanese Vice-President Salva Kiir, who is also president of southern Sudan.

Museveni claimed DRC President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba had approved a joint incursion should the talks fail.

"We floated our ideas, specifically the idea of ... operating against Kony and both Kabila and Vice President Bemba supported that idea," Museveni told reporters, saying his security minister Amama Mbabazi had been in Kinshasa to sound out the two men about the deal. "That is what is on the menu for Kony if he doesn't want a soft landing."

The Ugandan leader has set a 12 September deadline for the rebels to take advantage of an amnesty offer and sign an accord but LRA negotiators have said more time will probably be needed to forge an agreement.

Darfur: To Halt Sudan's Atrocities, Follow the Money

An op-ed by Nick Grono and John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group in the International Herald Tribune

Until significant costs are imposed on it, Khartoum has no incentive to stop its current campaign of atrocities - let alone agree to the deployment of a UN force, disarm the janjaweed militias, and implement its other obligations under the Darfur Peace Agreement. Achieving these outcomes will require significant international political will and tough, targeted sanctions. What the international community needs to do is follow the money.

UN member states must change the calculus of self-interest for the Sudanese regime, and one of the most effective ways of doing this is to target its sources of illicit income and unravel the Sudanese leadership's shadowy web of commercial interests. These interests fall into three categories.

The first includes secret companies run by senior figures in the ruling National Congress Party. These are often registered as private companies under the names of party loyalists. The second encompasses a parallel set of secret companies, run by Sudan's National Security Agency, and known in Sudan as "al-Sharikat al-Amniya" or "Security Companies." The third category consists of so-called "charitable companies" that are affiliated with Islamic charities but controlled by Islamists within the regime, and which also support less charitable activities, such as the training of Popular Defense Forces, a paramilitary force responsible for many atrocities during a decade of jihadist war campaigns in southern Sudan.

These three sets of commercial interests operate across the entire economic spectrum in Sudan, and are dominant in the construction, oil and communication sectors. Despite efforts by regime leaders to conceal them, their existence is well known within Sudan, as the companies have managed to acquire a sizable portion of the country's assets and have in the process produced a new breed of Islamist nouveaux- riches whose wealth is on display.

It is the cash flows from these off-budget entities that enable the regime to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders, and through them the janjaweed militias, and pay the salaries and equipment of its foot soldiers.

The UN Security Council's panel of experts for Sudan, and national and multilateral agencies looking into the financial networks that sustain international terrorism, need to focus squarely on this parallel economic network run by Sudan's regime.

Targeting the ruling party's assets and those of its security agencies and fraudulent charities could inflict real damage on the regime's ability to sustain its ethnic cleansing campaign. But much more investigative work has to be done to clearly identify these commercial interests and the nature of their activities.

Appeals to Khartoum's conscience, and requests for its assistance in winding back its ethnic cleansing campaign, are destined to fail. The regime will only change its behavior in response to realistic threats of punishment. Until it changes Khartoum's calculus of self-interest, the international community will continue to flail around helplessly while the conflict and suffering in Darfur get worse.

Darfur: UN Condemns Killing of AU Peacekeepers

From IRIN

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has condemned the killing of two African Union (AU) peacekeepers in the Darfur region, calling it a serious violation of international law.

A fuel convoy of the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) travelling from El Nahud to El Fasher in North Darfur State was ambushed in the Kuma area by an unidentified group of armed men on Saturday. Two Rwandan soldiers were killed in the attack, while three were wounded.

"UNMIS calls on all parties to the Darfur conflict to respect the neutral and impartial status of AMIS," the UN mission said in a statement on Sunday. Any attack against AU personnel deployed in Darfur constituted a breach of existing ceasefire agreements and contravened the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, it added.

The AU called the attack "unprovoked" and "outrageous". It said it would hold the leaders of those groups found responsible personally accountable.

The security situation in Darfur has worsened since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) on 5 May, as fighting has escalated between signatories and non-signatories of the peace deal.

The DPA was signed by the Sudanese government and the largest of the three main rebel factions, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) of Minni Minnawi. Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, the leader of another faction of the SLM/A, and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), refused to sign, however, claiming it did not fulfil their demands.

The attack against the AU occurred days after the Pan-African organisation had expelled non-signatory rebel representatives from the commissions overseeing the shaky ceasefire in the region, saying it could no longer guarantee their safety because the government called them terrorists after some of the groups had attacked Sudanese forces.

The JEM claimed that the decision effectively dismantled the existing ceasefire agreements and turned the AU "into an executive body for [Sudanese President Umar] al-Bashir's junta".

Last week, the AU called on the rebel movements to refrain from targeting its personnel and stressed that it remained a neutral body that was trying to help end the conflict and the suffering of the people of Darfur.

Meanwhile, commander Ahmed Abdulshafi Bassey confirmed that SLM/A field commanders had relieved al-Nur from his duties as chairman of his SLM/A faction and that he would replace al-Nur as the new leader of the movement.

Reiterating his group's respect for previous ceasefire obligations, Bassey announced that he would convene an all-SLM/A conference in Darfur within 45 days, to fill the "organisational vacuum" of the rebel faction.

Sudan: United Nations Situation Report

From the United Nations Country Team in Sudan

On 19 August, an unidentified group of armed men attacked an AMIS convoy near El Fashir, killing two AMIS soldiers and wounding three. The AU and UNMIS issued statements condemning the attack.

On 19 August, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told local media that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant government bodies are studying the draft Security Council Resolution on Darfur, and that the government would declare its position as soon as the study was complete.

On 17 August, the British Special Envoy for Darfur had handed to Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Lam Akol a letter from Prime Minister Blair to President Bashir expressing concern on Darfur.

On 18 August, the NCP and SLM-Minawi held a meeting at NCP headquarters in Khartoum, co-chaired by Minni Minawi and Assistant to the President Dr Nafie Ali Nafie. According to local press, the two sides affirmed their commitment to implement the DPA. Minawi revealed that the SLM has started discussions with the DPA non-signatory groups to encourage them to join the peace process.

On 18 August, Ugandan President Museveni rejected LRA calls for South African mediation for the GoU LRA talks, expressing confidence in GoSS FVP Riek Machar. President Museveni also reiterated his promise of protection for LRA leader Joseph Kony should he join the talks.

On 19 August, in a joint press conference with GoSS President Salva Kiir in Kampala, President Museveni threatened to attack LRA strongholds should the talks fail. President Museveni claimed that DR Congo had authorized Ugandan forces to attack LRA bases inside the DR Congo.

On 18 August, SLM Field Commander Ahmed Abdel Shafi issued a press statement announcing plans for an all SLM/A Conference within 45 days, and reiterating his group s respect for previous ceasefire obligations.

On 17 August, Eritrean mediators announced in Asmara that the GoS and EF working committees had agreed on an extensive developmental initiative for Eastern Sudan ; however disputes remain over the source and quantity of funding for the initiative. The mediators announced that the security technical committee will meet on 21 August in Asmara.

On 19 August, the Iranian Agriculture Minister discussed with GNU Minister for International Co-operation the implementation of the five MoUs signed on 21 June in Tehran.

The Iranian Minister is also carrying a message from Iranian President Ahmadinejad to President Bashir.

[edit]

UNMIS Military:

Critical incidents

Following the shooting incident on 17 August in Diel, Jonglei State at UNMIS patrol boats, SAF and SPLA commanders have assured UNMIS that no action would be taken to escalate the security situation and that their investigations on the firing on the UN Boats have commenced.

[edit]

North Darfur

Security:

Representatives from Amburunga community expressed support to AMIS operations in the area, asking it to continue its usual confidence building patrol in the area. The presence of armed SLM/MM soldiers at Tawilla market was also reported. People appealed to AMIS to help stop this menace which is causing panic amongst the traders from the area.

South Darfur

Security:

On 17 August, 10 armed men on horses ambushed 2 commercial trucks en route from Gereida to Nyala. One man was killed and another passenger was wounded. They looted the goods and personal properties of the passengers. The armed men left in the north east direction.

On 17 August IDPs in Duma camp complained about the activity of the Arab nomads whose animals are grazing on their farms but no incident was recorded. UNMIS requested the GoS Military detachment at the Camp to arrange for a meeting with the nomads to discuss the issue.

West Darfur

Security:

On 15 August in Sarif-Umra Township two horses were stolen by some armed men who shot indiscriminately to threaten the owners of the horses. The case was reported to GoS Police.

Southern Sudan

Security:

On 17 August an UNMIS international staff member was attacked by 4 unidentified persons in the Market area of Malakal, when she came out of a local restaurant and was about to leave for her residence. The staff member was rescued by an individual who appeared on the scene and foiled the attempt to molest her. The attackers fled the area. The staff member sustained injuries and was admitted to hospital in Malakal.

On 18 August, the Local Assembly in Wau debated the decree issued by the Wau Commissioner last week whereby he declared that women would not be allowed to enter any UNMIS, UN Agency and/or NGO office premises or accommodation without being registered by his office. The Local Assembly concluded that the move of the Commissioner was illegal, and violated women's rights and freedoms. In the meantime, some women in Wau organized themselves and marched to the Commissioner's office with a CPA book in order to read for him the relevant chapters which pertain to the freedoms of both men and women.

Darfur: Sudan Denounces UN Resolution as "Wicked" and "Misleading"

From the AP

Sudan’s justice minister on Sunday denounced a U.S.-British draft U.N. resolution that would transfer peacekeeping in Sudan’s conflict-ravaged Darfur region from the African Union to a U.N. force, calling it "wicked" and "misleading."

Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al Mardhi also warned that the government would not protect international forces against attacks from the Sudanese people and individuals from neighboring countries.

The "draft resolution that will be presented to the U.N. Security Council is full of wicked and misleading elements," al Mardhi told reporters.

The financially strapped African Union has requested to hand over peacekeeping to a more robust U.N. mission, but Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is opposed and has warned that Sudan’s army would fight any U.N. forces sent to Darfur.

Britain’s U.N. ambassador has stressed that no U.N. force will deploy in Darfur without the consent of the government, but the United States’ deputy ambassador has said the Sudanese government’s consent is not required by the resolution.

Al Mardhi said the resolution ignores the Sudanese government.

It "discusses the issue of deploying international forces as if there is no government in the country," he said.

Darfur: UN Strongly Condemns Attack on AU Mission

From UNMIS

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) strongly condemns the attack on the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and the killing of two of its soldiers on 19 August by an unidentified group of armed men in the Kuma area in North Darfur.

UNMIS extends its condolences to the families of the victims and to the African Union Mission in Sudan.

UNMIS calls on all parties to the Darfur conflict to respect the neutral and impartial status of AMIS and recalls that any attack against the African Union personnel deployed in Darfur is a serious violation of international law, constitutes a breach of existing cease agreements, and contravenes relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

UNMIS supports the AMIS decision to carry out a thorough investigation to identify the perpetrators of the attack. UNMIS urges all parties to fully cooperate with AMIS to ensure that those responsible for this attack are held accountable and brought to justice.

Darfur: Kigali Confirms the Death of Two AU Soldiers

From the Sudan Tribune

Rwandan government confirled the death of two Rwandan soldiers who were among the African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan in an ambush suspected to have been carried out by a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army.

It was also said three Rwandan soldiers were seriously injured in the attack.

According to a press release by the African Union in Sudan, a convoy that was travelling from Al-Nahud in Western Kordofan State to the capital of North Darfur State Al-Fashir was ambushed in the Kuma area by an unidentified group of armed men.

The African Union mission in Sudan condemned the outrageous attack against its forces in Darfur and that it tends to carry out a thorough investigation to identify the perpetrators of the attack and will hold the leaders of those groups found responsible accountable.

The African Union also said that the unprovoked ambush against the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) peacekeepers was a clear sign of the breach of the cease-fire agreement which all parties are bound to comply. The African Union also wishes to remind all parties that such violations will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Sudan: Report Says Australia Should Do More

From AAP

AUSTRALIA should increase its military commitment and aid to Sudan to help avert the collapse of the United Nations mission, a report says.

An Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) study says Australia would most probably be asked to contribute further to an expanded United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

Australia has 15 defence personnel attached to the mission.

Report author Dr Claude Rakisits, a former foreign affairs official and government adviser, said Australia, like other western nations engaged in the war on terror, had an enduring interest in not seeing another failed state in an already unstable region.

He said it was in Australia's interest to help in any way possible with reconstruction, whether in Darfur or the south.

"Unfortunately given our extensive commitments (particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Solomon Islands and East Timor) and our need to be ready for any new regional contingency, the Australian Defence Force has very little spare capacity," he said.

"However, if possible, the Australian Government should consider increasing slightly the current Australian deployment in the south, for even that would relieve some pressure on the UN."

Dr Rakisits said Australian Federal Police were also heavily involved in our region, but it too should send additional personnel to UNMIS if possible.

He said Australia had contributed $47 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan, with $12 million going to the south and $35 million to Darfur.

"Given the continuing dire situation in Darfur, and Australia's limited available military capability to assist the UN, the Australian Government should consider providing additional funds or emergency aid (such as blankets, water and food), particularly during this very delicate period of transition to a UN operation," he said.

Darfur: Rebel Leader Calls for United Front

From the Sudan Tribune

The leader of a rebel group opposed to the Darfur Peace Agreement called upon Sudanese political forces to form a large front for the marginalized region in the country, affirming that the safeguard of the Sudanese unity still best option.

The leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Dr Khalil Ibrahim, invited all the political forces form the different Sudanese regions to constitute a large front to defeat the ruling National Congress Party in the future elections.

Khalil, who was speaking Sunday in a political meeting with Sudanese community in Paris, said all the political regional forces have to unify their efforts to break the domination of northern forces represented today by the National Congress Party. He added that marginalized northern Sudanese have also to join us.

He further said the Sudan people’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) should join us with the Eastern Sudan Front, the Nouba Mountains and any marginalized people in the country. He underscored that the objective of this front is to realize a just repartition of wealth and to assure political representation of all regions in the central government.

The JEM leader insisted that the unity of the Sudan is the best solution for the benefit of all the Sudanese. He added that some southern Sudanese think they have oil and they can choose the independence. “Actually oil is everywhere in the Sudan, and all of us have great benefit to establish a big internal market, because great states are countries that have big internal market. So, we have no interest to establish a small state”.

Last June during a visit to Slovenia, the JEM leader said "Now as the next step that means that we will ask for self-determination - we’re going to have our own country".

DRC: Capital Tense After Gun Battle

From Reuters

The United Nations called for calm in Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday after gun battles surrounding the announcement of a presidential election run-off stoked fears of a violent political showdown.

Congo's election race is headed for a second round between President Joseph Kabila and former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba, according to provisional results from the July 30 polls, the first free national vote for more than four decades.

The decisive run-off is due to be held on October 29.

Soldiers loyal to the two leading candidates fought gun battles in the capital Kinshasa late on Sunday when results showing neither candidate had won outright in the first round were announced. The United Nations said five people were killed.

"We appeal to everyone to remain calm and respect the results from the vote," said Jean-Tobie Okala, deputy spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo.

"The police are the only force that should be out taking care of the situation. But there are men from Kabila's and Bemba's guards. We don't need these other forces," he said.

There was sporadic shooting through the night and a short burst of gunfire on Monday near Bemba's party headquarters, where his guards had set up roadblocks. Tank tracks marked a main boulevard where Kabila's presidential guard, Congolese policemen and U.N. peacekeeping troops were on patrol.

The middle of the city, which is normally bustling, was nearly empty save for a handful of pedestrians inspecting spent bullet casings and the bodies of two men lying in the street.

"There are people who wanted to disrupt the situation but we will not allow this," Information Minister Henri Mova Sakanyi told Reuters. "We can't spoil the progress we have made so far. We know that things will remain tense for a few days."

Kabila, with 44.81 percent of the votes, finished well ahead of Bemba, who had 20.03 percent, but failed to gain the more than 50 percent needed to win the presidency in the July 30 first round, electoral officials said.

"Yesterday's incident does not bode well for a good climate for a second round of elections. It looks to be tense and conflictual," Jason Stearns, analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, told Reuters.

Uganda: Ready to Forgive 20 Years' Brutality

From The Telegraph

Ugandans beaten, raped, abducted or orphaned by the Lord's Resistance Army say they are so desperate for peace that they are ready to forgive the rebel commanders for 20 years of atrocities.

Tens of thousands of villagers have been killed, two million have fled, and 25,000 children have been abducted as soldiers, porters and sex slaves in two decades of vicious guerrilla warfare.

But now most of those squatting in the relative safety of camps around northern Uganda's main towns want the LRA's commanders, especially its quasi-mystical leader, Joseph Kony, pardoned.

This widespread view is a slap in the face for the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague. Its first warrants, issued in October, were for Kony and four key lieutenants for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The ICC should drop its case. It should stop hunting these people and leave us to do things our own way," said Wilson Okot, 67, a sad-eyed grandfather whose 13 children were all killed by the rebels.

"This prosecution will not bring them out of the bush; they are our children, the sons of this soil, and they should come and ask us as their fathers for forgiveness."

In the shade of a tree outside his hut in Amida camp in Kitgum, 200 miles north of Kampala, he added: "We are ready to sit with them, talk with them and give them that forgiveness and begin again our lives in peace."

Filda Abalo, 30, was one of 32 women kidnapped when the LRA raided a school dormitory. For two weeks before she escaped during an ambush on the LRA camp by the Ugandan army, she was repeatedly raped, beaten and forced to carry loot stolen by the rebels on raids on villages.

Her younger sister, held for three years, has just returned to her family, all but mute, traumatised and with an 18-month-old son from a rape by a teenage rebel soldier.

But even Miss Abalo is ready to forgive her tormentors. Only one of the more than three dozen displaced villagers interviewed by The Daily Telegraph last week supported the ICC's prosecution.

The remainder talk of the Acholi tribe's traditional ceremony of mato oput, in which sworn enemies meet with elders deep in the bush to talk and plead forgiveness before sharing a brew of herbal beer to show that they are reconciled.

"The government has failed to capture these people all these years. The only way they will stop fighting is if they know they will be pardoned," said Miss Abalo.

The Ugandan government offered an amnesty to the LRA rank and file in 2002. Thousands of rebels handed in their weapons. However, Kony and his senior commanders were excluded. Peace talks, which resumed in southern Sudan on Friday, have brought the government and the rebels as close to a ceasefire as they have ever been, but could stall because Kony will not take part for fear of being arrested.

The ICC has said it will not drop its charges.

Darfur: Arab Govts Want UN to Give Sudan More Time

From Reuters

Arab governments on Sunday asked the U.N. Security Council to postpone a meeting on Darfur and give the Sudanese government more time to explain its plan to restore order in the troubled region.

After a one-day meeting in Cairo, Arab foreign ministers also backed an extension of the mandate of the African Union peace force in Darfur until the end of the year.

The United States and Britain have introduced a resolution in the Security Council that would deploy up to 17,000 troops and 3,000 police in the western Sudanese region, despite opposition from the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

Junior diplomats have started negotiations on the draft, drawn up by Britain, and will resume work on Tuesday.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told the meeting, at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, that the diplomatic activity at the United Nations was "tendentious" and Arab countries should support Sudan's plan instead.

Under the Sudanese plan, the Khartoum government would send 10,500 new government troops to Darfur. The rights group Human Rights Watch says the plan would violate a peace deal and was just a way to avert the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers.

The African Union has about 7,000 soldiers struggling to halt violence in Darfur but the trouble has worsened since the government and rebels signed a peace deal in May.

The United States and its allies have argued that the African Union forces do not have the manpower, resources or financial means to keep the peace there.

A resolution passed by the Arab League council of foreign ministers said: "(The council) asks the Security Council to give the Sudanese government more time to implement its plan to improve conditions and preserve security in Darfur, which it presented to the United Nations on August 2."

It added: "It calls for the postponement of the U.N. Security Council meeting which is due to take place next week in New York...to allow time for consultation and coordination between regional organisations on the role of AU forces in Darfur."

The resolution did not specifically mention the new proposals by the United States and Britain, which reflect frustration with the Sudanese government's refusal to approve a U.N. role in Darfur peacekeeping.

However, it called on Arab countries to fulfil a promise, made at a summit in Khartoum in March, to finance the African Union peace operation in Darfur for six months from Oct 1. The operation has been costing about $17 million a month.

Uganda: Museveni Warns LRA Should Talks Fail

From Reuters

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday Congo had authorised Uganda forces to attack the base of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in its northeast if ongoing peace talks between the two sides failed.

Kinshasa has rejected repeated requests in the past from Uganda to send its troops into the remote region, where LRA guerrillas killed eight United Nations peacekeepers in January.

But at a joint news conference with south Sudan's leader Salva Kiir, Museveni said Congo's President Joseph Kabila and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba had both approved a joint incursion should ongoing peace talks in south Sudan fail.

Any attack against the rebels in lawless Garamba forest would involve Uganda, south Sudanese and U.N. forces, he said.

"We floated our ideas, specifically the idea of ... operating against Kony and both Kabila and Vice President Bemba supported that idea," Museveni told reporters.

"That is what is on the menu for Kony if he doesn't want a soft landing," he said, referring to LRA leader Joseph Kony.

Kony's fighters have waged a 20-year insurgency, one of the world's most brutal, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 2 million. Its top leaders left hideouts in south Sudan late last year for Democratic Republic of Congo.

Museveni said he believed Kony and his deputy Vincent Otti wanted to end the war, but were being misled by individuals from their northern Acholi tribe now living overseas.

"I know from good authority Kony and Otti really want to save their skins, but there are opportunists who ... keep frightening them and misinforming them, because they don't want this problem to be over," Museveni said.

South Sudan says it wants to broker an end to one of Africa's longest conflicts. Talks resumed in its capital Juba on Friday after being postponed this week when Uganda killed a top rebel wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Kiir said his regional government was committed to finding a peaceful end to the war, which has destabilised south Sudan.

"The military option will come in when we are convinced it isn't deliverable," Kiir said. "We have a time limit for ourselves and we think that the (LRA) delegates know it."

Darfur: Armed Group Kills 2 AU Peacekeepers

From the AP

Two African Union peacekeepers were killed and three wounded when their convoy was ambushed in Sudan's Darfur region Saturday, the AU said in a statement.

A group of unidentified armed men attacked an AU fuel convoy traveling to the African Union's headquarters of El Fasher in North Darfur, the statement said.
The AU "condemns in the strongest possible terms this outrageous attack against its forces in Darfur," it said. The statement didn't say from which country the killed and wounded African peacekeepers came from.

Leaders of the groups found responsible for this "despicable attack" will be held "personally accountable," said the AU, without specifying which armed groups it suspected of being involved.

Darfur is teeming with various rebel factions, pro-government paramilitary and tribal militia who regularly clash against each other or plunder the camps where some 2 million have taken refuge from the fighting.

The attack came days after the African Union asked delegates from several rebel groups to leave its facilities because they refuse to endorse the Darfur Peace Agreement signed May 5 between Khartoum and main rebel leader Minni Minnawi, who heads the Sudan Liberation Movement.

[edit]

International observers agree government forces have stepped down violence since signing the agreement, but say that inter-rebel fighting has increased and that the humanitarian crisis in Darfur has worsened.

African Union officials have asked the international community to provide more funding and better equipment, warning that the AU force would otherwise have to leave Darfur at the end of September when its initial mandate ends.

On Thursday, the U.S. and the U.K. introduced a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would transfer peacekeeping efforts from the AU to a much larger and effective U.N. force, but the Sudanese president strongly opposes such a move.

Separately in Khartoum, a lawmaker who heads the Sudan People's Liberation Movement opposition group in parliament accused police of arresting two of the party's MPs.

"They have been beaten up and thrown in prison, regardless of their lawmakers' immunity," Yaser Arman told Al Jazeera television. He did not say why police had arrested the MPs, one of whom represents West Darfur.

Authorities weren't immediately available to comment this information.

Darfur: Gov't Plan a Bid to Stop UN troops

From Reuters - the HRW press release is here

udan's plan to send 10,500 new government troops to its Darfur region would violate a peace deal and is just a bid by Khartoum to stop the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers, a rights watchdog said on Friday.

Human Rights Watch said it had obtained a copy of the plan by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is opposed to a U.N. force taking over from the under-financed African Union troops that have been the only bulwark against violence in Darfur.

Britain and the United States introduced a Security Council resolution on Thursday to send some 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur, where more than 2.5 million people have been made homeless since 2003 by a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

"The Sudanese government's plan is a recipe for inflicting even more abuses on a devastated civilian population," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.

"Khartoum wants the U.N. to endorse a plan that would throw out the Darfur peace agreement. It wouldn't help protect civilians from constant attack or make it safe enough for them to return home."

The May peace deal was signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions and rejected by tens of thousands of people in Sudan's vast west.

Then in July Darfur saw the bloodiest month for the world's largest aid operation since the conflict began with eight humanitarian workers killed and access to the 3.6 million people dependent on aid is at its lowest ever level.

"This Sudanese plan is just the latest maneuver to prevent a U.N. force from helping protect civilians in Darfur," Takirambudde said.

Darfur: News Round-Up

The weekly news round-up from the Genocide Intervention Networkr is available.

Darfur: US Expects Sudanese Acceptance of UN Force

From VOA

The State Department said Friday it believes the Sudanese government ultimately will accept a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur despite its stated opposition to the proposed force. The United States and Britain introduced a U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday that would authorize upgrading the current African Union observer mission in the area to a full-fledged U.N. force.

Sudan has strongly opposed the proposed upgrade of the international peacekeeping presence in Darfur, with President Omar al-Bashir even threatening to forcibly resist the introduction of U.N. troops.

However, officials here say they think the Khartoum government will eventually relent, and they make clear that the introduction of Thursday's U.N. resolution is aimed at building international pressure on the Sudanese leadership to reconsider.

The U.S.-British draft would upgrade the current 7,000-member African Union mission in Darfur by more than doubling it in size and making it a blue-helmeted United Nations peace force.

The African Union force has had severe financial and logistical problems, and its mandate expires at the end of September.

At a news briefing, State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey noted that Sudanese officials initially signaled acceptance of the force upgrade when a Darfur peace agreement was forged between the government and rebel groups last May in Nigeria.

He suggested that once the global community, through the Security Council, has spoken forcefully about the need for the Darfur force, the Sudanese government will reconsider.

"Once the international community has spoken to this issue, then let's see what the reaction of the Sudanese government is," said Mr. Casey. "Again, I think if you look historically at what's occurred here, the government of Sudan has, when appropriately presented with facts on the ground, responded to them. I think at this point what we need to do is not worry about where they are today, but worry about where they are once we get a resolution passed that authorizes this force."

Casey noted that there already is a United Nations force in Sudan working to implement the country's north-south peace accord, and that the envisaged 17,000-member Darfur peacekeeping mission would be built on the existing African Union presence.

United Nations officials warned Thursday that because of its funding problems, the A.U. force might have to cease operations within a matter of weeks.

Veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China have expressed reservations about the U.S.-British draft but spokesman Casey said the Bush administration is optimistic about chances for its early adoption.

He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, though nominally on vacation, has been conducting telephone diplomacy on behalf of the resolution and spoke about it this week with, among others, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Darfur: Deteriorating Situation Leaves UN ‘Extraordinarily Concerned’

From the UN News Center

Warning that “something very ugly is brewing” in Darfur, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown today urged the international community to pay close attention to the crisis in the impoverished and strife-torn region of western Sudan.

“We are extraordinarily concerned,” Mr. Malloch Brown told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, calling attention to the worsening humanitarian and security situation in the remote region in recent months and “the absence of a clear political path to the deployment of a UN force.”

A draft resolution circulating among Security Council members outlines the size and scope of a possible UN peacekeeping operation, which would replace the current mission of the African Union (AU). But so far the Sudanese Government has said it is opposed to having blue helmets in Darfur.

In a closed-door briefing yesterday, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi told the Council that Khartoum is building up its armed forces in Darfur, an apparent sign that it is determined to pursue a major military offensive there soon.

The period since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in early May has been marked not only by fierce fighting, but also by an unprecedented number of attacks on humanitarian workers – in July alone there were 36 reported incidents that led to nine deaths.

Mr. Annabi said some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have indicated they may be forced to withdraw entirely from North Darfur, one of three states which comprise the region, because of the dangers to their staff members. Last week Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote to the Council to express his alarm about the situation, pointing out it has become much harder for those aid workers who remain to direct humanitarian assistance to those in need. As many as 1.6 million people are currently inaccessible, Mr. Annan said in his letter. Today, Mr. Malloch Brown urged the reporters to not forget about Darfur, despite the importance of other crises in the world.

He acknowledged that it is “hard to keep two stories in the air at once” but stressed that “it is very, very important that we all pay lots of attention to Darfur.” Scores of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million others have been displaced since conflict erupted in 2003 between rebels, Government forces and allied militia groups in Darfur, a region roughly the size of France.

Darfur: U.S. Dismisses Bashir's Threat

From the AP

The Bush administration on Friday dismissed a threat by Sudan's president to fire on any U.N. force sent to Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003.

The African Union, which has peacekeeping troops in the western Sudanese region, would mak