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DARFUR IN THE NEWS
October 17, 2007
Discovering An Underground Lake: Will It Lead to Peace? - Christian Science Monitor
Farouk el-Baz has been peering into the deserts of the world for 21 years – from hundreds of miles up and 10,000 miles away. The Egyptian-born geologist and his staff pore over satellite imagery at Boston University's Center for Remote Sensing, seeking clues to deserts' most precious resource: water. The water reserves he announced in April may increase an even more precious resource: peace in Darfur.
"Providing a source of clean water in this region would remove one of the main sources of conflict," Mr. Baz says, sitting in an office lined with bookshelves, awards, photos of him with various world leaders, and a giant image of the Arabian desert.
So important is the potential Massachusetts-size underground aquifer, the remains of a lake that dried up 5,000 to 11,000 years ago, that when the news broke, Baz got a call to speak to the head of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon. [MORE]
Actor Don Cheadle Screens 'Darfur Now' in NYC - Newsday.com
Don Cheadle will be on hand for a special screening of the new film "Darfur Now," this Thursday at the Paley Center in New York City.
The Oscar-nominated star of "Hotel Rwanda" and "Talk to Me" appears as himself in Theodore Braun's documentary, which focuses on the efforts of six people to derail the ongoing African genocide, which has killed 200,000 and displaced 2.5 million.
Among the other real-life characters in the film are Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criiminal Court in the Hague, Pable Recalde, who runs the World Food Program in Darfur and divestment activist Adam Sterling. There is also an appearance by Cheadle's friend and "Ocean's Eleven" comrade George Clooney. [MORE]
Report: Government Troops Massacred Civilians in Southern Darfur - USA Today Online
International observers are investigating reports of another massacre in the Darfur region of Sudan, according to The New York Times.
“They dragged my father and the others out of the mosque and slashed their throats,” Ayoub Jalal, a mechanic, tells the Times during a telephone interview.
The paper quotes several residents of a small town in southern Darfur saying that "two columns of uniformed government troops, along with dozens of militiamen not in uniform, surrounded the town around noon on Oct. 8 and stormed the market. Muhagiriya was a stronghold of one of Darfur’s many rebel factions, but witnesses said there were few rebels there at the time and that government forces turned their guns — and knives — on civilians."
U.N. and African Union officials confirmed that "dozens" of civilians were killed by attackers the witnesses described as government soldiers, the paper says.
The Sudanese government denied any responsibility for the deaths. [Full Story]
Chad Declares Emergency In East Over Border Clashes - Reuters
N'DJAMENA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chad on Tuesday declared a state of emergency along its eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region and in its remote desert north to tackle a fresh flare-up of ethnic violence that killed at least 20 people.
President Idriss Deby's government said the 12-day emergency period applied to the eastern Ouaddai and Wadi Fira regions and the northern part of Chad known as the BET.
The move gave local governors 24-hour search and arrest powers and the authority to restrict movement of people and vehicles, meetings and media coverage. The media controls would apply across the whole national territory, officials said. [MORE]
Sept. 20, 2007
HRW Report Claims Civilians Still Under Attack in Darfur - Human Rights Watch
(New York, September 20, 2007) – As the United Nations and African Union prepare to deploy the world’s largest-ever peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Sudanese government forces, allied “Janjaweed” militia, rebels and former rebels have free rein to attack civilians and humanitarian workers in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The situation in Darfur has evolved from an armed conflict between rebels and the government into a violent scramble for power and resources involving government forces, Janjaweed militia, rebels and former rebels, and bandits. But these complexities should not deflect attention from Khartoum’s responsibility for indiscriminate aerial and ground attacks, complicity in Janjaweed attacks against civilians, failure to hold rights abusers accountable, and its unwillingness to establish a policing force that can protect civilians. [MORE]
Archbiship TuTu Leads Peace Mission to Sudan - AllAfrica.com
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is to lead a delegation of The Elders, influential statesmen, in the latest initiative to bring peace to Darfur.
At least 200 000 people have died and some 2 million forced from their homes during the four year conflict.
The UK-based think-tank Ekklesia has reported that the Elders will travel to Khartoum at the end of the month to meet representatives from all sides of the conflict. [MORE]
UN Says Thousands More Fleeing Violence in Darfur - AllAfrica.com
Violence in Sudan's remote western region of Darfur has forced nearly a quarter of a million people to flee their homes this year, increasing the pressure on the humanitarian effort, the United Nations said in a report.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also expressed concern over worsening security conditions in Darfur.
"Over 240,000 people have been newly displaced or re-displaced during 2007," according to the report prepared by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in collaboration with partner UN agencies and NGOs. Thousands of people were fleeing their homes each week, the report added.
It came as the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels prepare for peace talks next month aimed at ending more than four years of conflict that has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and displaced some two million people from their homes. [MORE]
Aug. 9, 2007
UN Receives List of Troop Pledges for Darfur Peacekeeping Mission - Taipei Times
The UN said it has received pledges of troops and police for a predominantly African peacekeeping force to help end the four-year conflict in Darfur that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, which would meet a key Sudanese demand.
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the new Department of Field Support issued a preliminary list of countries that have offered military and police personnel for the 26,000-strong joint African Union (AU)-UN force. It includes a large number of countries from Africa, several from Asia, one from the Middle East and none from the West.
"We are hitting the target of a predominantly African force and we're very pleased about that," Assistant Secretary-General Jane Holl Lute, acting head of the Department of Field Support, said on Tuesday. [MORE]
Darfur Documentary "Sand and Sorrow" To Air on HBO - World Screen News
NEW YORK, August 8: This December, HBO in the U.S. will broadcast Sand and Sorrow, a documentary about the crisis in Darfur from Paul Freedman and narrated by George Clooney.
“The tragic events taking place in Darfur unfortunately are a continuation of the lack of response from the international community in protecting millions of innocent lives from their own government,” Freedman said. “Without humanitarian aid and political resolve from the U.S. and other countries, these displaced people from Darfur could suffer the same fate as those innocents from Eastern Europe, Cambodia and Rwanda.” [MORE]
July 23, 2007
Vast Underground Lake Discovered in Darfur by Boston University Researchers - NPR
Remote sensing experts say they may have found a huge reservoir of water underneath one of the driest and most troubled places in the world. The so-called "mega-lake" was found beneath Darfur, in western Sudan. In recent years, more than 200,000 people have died in conflicts in Dafur. These conflicts are partly due to disputes over water and other natural resources.
Farouk El-Baz, director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, found the buried lakebed — the size of Massachusetts — while examining satellite maps of underground rock formations in western Sudan. [MORE]
New UN Resolution Draft Will Include Timeline for Peacekeeper Deployment - BBC News
A draft Security Council resolution to authorise deploying a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region has run into opposition.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for it to be approved quickly, but key nations object to a sanctions threat.
Meanwhile, talks in Libya on the four-year conflict have made progress towards setting up future peace talks. [MORE]
Chadians Feel Cross-Border Violence; Some Move to Darfur At Arab Invite - Sudan Tribune
July 14, 2007 (LONDON) — Arabs from Chad and Niger are crossing into Darfur in "unprecedented" numbers, prompting claims that the Sudanese government is trying systematically to repopulate the war- ravaged region, The Independent reported.
An internal UN report, obtained by The Independent, shows that up to 30,000 Arabs have crossed the border in the past two months. Most arrived with all their belongings and large flocks. They were greeted by Sudanese Arabs who took them to empty villages cleared by government and janjaweed forces.
One UN official said the process "appeared to have been well planned". The official continued: "This movement is very large. We have not seen such numbers come into west Darfur before." [MORE]
EU Planning Military Support Operation in Chad to Protect Darfuri Refugees - International Herald-Tribune
BRUSSELS, Belgium: European Union nations agreed Monday to start planning for a possible 3,000-strong peacekeeping mission to Chad to help protect aid to tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Darfur.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers said that any mission had to be backed by the United Nations "with a clearly defined exit strategy" and in cooperation with the African Union, neighboring countries and humanitarian aid groups.
They said in a statement that the EU could provide forces "in support of the ... U.N. presence in eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic with a view to improving security in those areas." [MORE]
Sudanese President Bashir Claims Darfur Region is Pacified - International Herald-Tribune
KHARTOUM, Sudan: The Sudanese president and Cabinet ministers convened for an exceptional session in Darfur on Sunday as part of a government effort to showcase that the troubled western Sudanese region is now largely pacified.
"We would like to stress that the situation in Darfur is not the (world's) worst humanitarian tragedy, as western media describe it," President Omar al-Bashir told thousands of supporters at a rally in the North Darfur state capital of El Fasher after holding his Cabinet meeting. [MORE]
Sudan Ruling Party Condemns SPLM's Actions in Darfur As Political Machinations - Sudan Tribune
July 21, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — War of words has once more flared up between the Naivasha partners after a year’s lull. The National Congress Party (NCP), a main partner in the Government of National Unity (GoNU), blasted the SPLM, describing their role in Darfur as a sheer “political brokerage” only intended to polish their image at the international arena.
In a press statements published by the Arabic language al-Ray Al-Aam on Friday July 14, 2007, the NCP advised the SPLM to leave Darfur alone as long as they have nothing offer, stating that the SPLM leadership had so far failed to bring together the Darfur rebel leaders. [MORE]
June 11, 2007
Sudan Agrees to UN/AU Hybrid Force – The Scotsman
The president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, has agreed to a joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur, diplomats confirmed last night.
Mr Bashir backed the move after a meeting with Security Council envoys in Khartoum, according to Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's UN ambassador. The UN visit came after months of Sudanese dallying on the exact nature and mandate of a 19,000-strong hybrid force due to deploy in Darfur. [MORE]
UN Chief Blames Darfur Tragedy on Global Warming – The Australian
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said global warming caused the Darfur slaughter, and warned more such conflicts may be looming.
"The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change," Mr Ban said in a Washington Post opinion piece. [MORE]
OXFAM Pulls Operations in Darfur Permanently – Pravda
The British aid group Oxfam permanently stopped its operation in Darfur's largest refugee camp because of insecurity.
With some 130,000 refugees, the South Darfur Camp of Gereida is among the largest in the world. The compounds of several aid groups in the camp were attacked in a raid last December during which a female French aid worker was raped and several others endured mock executions while some Sudanese aid workers were severely beaten up.
Oxfam said it had scaled down operations in the camp since, and was now pulling out of the zone because security was not improving.
"The humanitarian need in Gereida remains enormous," said Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's Sudan Program Manager. "It is with great regret that our security concerns have not been addressed, leaving us with no choice but to relocate our programmes elsewhere," she said in a statement. [MORE]
June 4, 2007
Darfur Rebel Faction Suspends Contact with SPLM - Sudan Tribune
ُEsameldin Elhag, the spokesperson of a rebel faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), said in a press statement that his faction suspended contacts with the SPLM which intends to organize a finding common ground meeting in Juba for the different rebel factions before to engage peace talks with Khartoum. [MORE]
Should Warren Buffet Dump Petro-China Connection? - Bloggingstocks.com
I'm just about as big of a Warren Buffett fan as you'll find, but I found myself somewhat disillusioned when he declined to divest Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.A) stake in PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), after critics proposed such a move because of the company's ties to Darfur. Fidelity Investments recently sold its share of PetroChina for just that reason. [MORE]
Young Activists Learn from Survivors of Shoah, Darfur, Rwanda Genocides - Jerusalem Post
Survivors of the Nazi, Rwandan and Darfur genocides sat together last week to explore issues of racism, anti-Semitism and genocide, in a seminar conducted by the World Jewish Congress and the World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and at the Foreign Ministry's Tel Aviv office. [MORE]
Bush Highlights Darfur Agenda - Christian Broadcasting Network
And this week, my Administration took several important steps to advance peace and opportunity across the world. On Tuesday, America took new actions to address the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
On my orders, the Department of Treasury tightened our existing economic sanctions against Sudan and imposed additional ones. I also directed Secretary Rice to work with our allies on a new U.N. Security Council Resolution that will seek to impose new sanctions, expand the arms embargo, and prohibit Sudan's government from conducting offensive military flights over this troubled region. [MORE]
May 23, 2007
Former Chief Rabbi Pleads For Release of Darfur Prisoners - JTA
A former chief rabbi of Israel asked the Israeli government to consider releasing Sudanese from Darfur being detained in Israeli jails and giving them refugee status.
In a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert released to the media Tuesday, Rabbi Yisrael Lau, a Holocaust survivor, reminded the prime minister of the genocide being perpetuated in Darfur and the Jewish tradition of treating strangers with compassion.
Lau recently visited Sudanese at an Israeli prison, where they are being held while their security backgrounds are checked. They were arrested as enemy aliens for crossing into Israel illegally from the Egyptian border.
Sudan is considered an enemy state of Israel, spurring fears that some among the 300 Darfur migrants who have come to Israel in the past two years could represent security threats. To date, none of the Sudanese has been found to be a security problem; slowly some are being released to work on kibbutzim, moshavim and hotels around the country. [Whole Story]
China Warns Against Darfur Sanctions - Independent Online
A Chinese envoy warned that threats of sanctions against the Sudanese government will not bring peace to Darfur as he toured the war-wracked western region on Tuesday, official media reported.
Liu Guijin, the Chinese foreign ministry's Africa director, said the language of threats would only prolong the suffering of the 2,5 million people who have been displaced by the four-year-old conflict, the official SUNA news agency said. [MORE]
Sen. Biden Favors Troops for Darfur - Associated Press/ABC News
Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph Biden called again Monday for U.S. troops to help quell the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, drawing a strong rebuke from Sudan's U.N. envoy.
The comments from the Delaware senator, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came as he led a bipartisan delegation to the United Nations for talks with key U.N. officials. [MORE]
Fresh Clashes Blamed on Sudanese Government - AllAfrica.com
A Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) faction has blamed Sudanese government forces for fresh attacks on its positions in North Darfur, saying aerial bombardment had been employed against its fighters.
Sudanese government forces clashed with rebels over the weekend in the Rockero area of North Darfur state, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported, adding that it was unable to estimate the number of casualties following the violence. [MORE]
Kansas Divests from Darfur - WIBW 13 News
Governor Kathleen Sebelius is placing Kansas squarely against the genocide in the Darfur region of the African nation of Sudan. The Governor on Monday ordered Kansas to stop investing in any companies whose profits benefit the government in Sudan.
That total is only eight companies, less than one percent of the entire portfolio contributing to the state's pension funds. It is a small amount, but was hailed by a Sudanese delegation visiting the Statehouse as a large gesture and show of support for their cause. Kansas joins 11 other states in divesting its resources from Sudanese profits. [MORE]
May 15, 2007
Sudan Says Signing Peace Agreement Was Mistake - Sudan Tribune
May 13, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has acknowledged that the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement with one rebel faction was a mistake, nonetheless it reaffirmed commitment to the peace deal signed in Abuja on May 2006.
Presidential Advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail admitted that his government made a mistake by signing the peace agreement in Abuja with one faction only, something that made the factions that did not sign seek to weaken the faction that did sign. [MORE]
EU Approves 40 Million Euro in Aid for Darfur - Sudan Tribune
May 14, 2007 (BRUSSELS) — EU foreign ministers on Monday gave the green light for a 40-million euro aid package to the African Union peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur, EU officials said.
For the money to be released, the decision must still be approved at a meeting between EU and foreign ministers from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations in Brussels on May 25.
This is because the 40 million euros would in effect be pulled out of unused European development funds which are co-managed by the EU and the ACP. [MORE]
Spielberg Calls China Out on Darfur - Femalefirst.co.uk
Steven SPIELBERG has appealed to Chinese President HU JINTAO to pressure Sudan over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
The director is serving as an artistic advisor for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and hopes the host country can help persuade the African nation to allow access to United Nations peacekeepers in the troubled region.
In a letter to Jintao,Spielberg writes, "I share the concern of many around the world who believe that China should be a clear advocate for United Nations action to bring the genocide in Darfur to an end. [MORE]
Jolie-Pitt Foundation Donates $1 Million to Ease Darfur Suffering - Javno.com
More than two million people were left without their homes in Sudan and about 240,000 more fled to Chad.
The UN refugee agency announced the donation yesterday, as Angelina is a UN goodwill ambassador. The money will also be distributed to the SOS Children's Villages.
Angelina and Brad not only donate money for refugees, but are also careful not to pollute the environment. [MORE]
May 10, 2007
Gadafi Renounces Sudan Peace Agreement - SomailNet
Muammar Gaddafi, the President of Libya has said a peace deal signed last week in the Saudi capital to end bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region was "laughable" as it was no different to an agreement he brokered in April.
The reconciliation pact was signed in Riyadh on May 3 under the auspices of Saudi King Abdullah by Sudan and Chad who are at rivalry over military clashes and rebel activity on their countries' volatile border. [MORE]
Congress Warns China To Influence Sudan; China Defiant - Reuters
BEIJING, May 10 (Reuters) - China defended its approach to the strife-riven Darfur region on Thursday, while pointedly avoiding a war of words with U.S. lawmakers who warned of an Olympics backlash if Beijing did not add to pressure on Sudan.
Human rights groups have condemned China over its policies about Sudan's Darfur, where state-linked militia have been fighting rebels, causing widespread bloodshed. [MORE]
Israel Considering $5 Million Aid Package for Darfur - Middle East Times
JERUSALEM -- Israel's foreign ministry has recommended donating $5 million in aid and supplies to help refugees in Sudan's war-torn western Darfur region.
Daniel Miron, head of the ministry's Human Rights Division, made the announcement in Jerusalem Wednesday, saying that the recommendation was to give $4 million to four international aid organizations and to purchase $1 million in medicine and water purification equipment from Israeli companies for the refugees, YNetNews reported. [MORE]
UN Secretary General Urges Cessation of Hostilities in Darfur - SomaliNet
SomaliNet - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that the Sudanese government and parties in conflict in Darfur should cease all military attacks and co-operate with the UN and African Union in their efforts to end the war there.
The UN chief further said he was deeply concerned by reports of aerial bombings and helicopter attacks over the last three weeks, causing destruction and loss of life. He said a school in Um Rai was destroyed by a rocket fired from a government helicopter. [MORE]
UN Condemns Attack on UNHCR Workers - Sudan Tribune
May 1,2007 (KHARTOUM) — UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Manuel Aranda da Silva condemned today the temporary abduction of six (6) staff members of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the hijacking of the refugee agency’s vehicles by unknown armed men in Um Shalaya, West Darfur.
Six UNHCR staff members in a two-vehicle convoy, clearly marked with the UN refugee agency’s logo, were attacked yesterday morning while they were on their way for a routine visit to Um Shalaya refugee camp, located approximately 80 km west-south-west of El Geneina, UNMIS said in a press release. [MORE]
April 30, 2007
Rally Held in Decatur, Ga - Atlanta Journal Constitution
A paper banner with 100,000 faces fluttered in the wind beneath the feet of passers-by at Decatur's courthouse square Sunday.
Each represented a person killed in the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. Organizers from Darfur Urgent Action Coalition of Georgia, Amnesty International and other local groups unfurled the banner Sunday afternoon, hoping to draw attention to their cause. [MORE]
Gadhafi Convenes Conference to Help End Darfur Crisis - Africast
TRIPOLI, April 30 -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged African, Arab and Western diplomats to work with Sudanese rebels to find an immediate solution to the crisis in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
Libya is hosting a two-day conference aimed at exploring ways to persuade all the groups fighting in Darfur to sign a comprehensive peace agreement, officials said. The Sudanese government and one major rebel group signed the Darfur Peace Agreement last year, but other factions have rejected the deal, saying it is insufficient. [MORE]
World Unites for Darfur - Los Angeles Chronicle/Associated Press
By JILL LAWLESS - Thousands of people protested outside Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence Sunday to demand decisive action against the violence in Darfur, holding up a 7-foot hourglass filled with artificial blood.
Protests were also held in the U.S., Israel and other countries on what campaigners designated a global day of action.
Protesters in London handed a letter to Gareth Thomas, a government minister with responsibility for international development, calling for the quick deployment of a strong peacekeeping force in Sudan's western region where a four-year war has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million. [MORE]
UN Renews Sudan Mission; condemns Darfur violence - Reuters
UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Monday extended the U.N. mission in southern Sudan for six months, lamented the lack of a chief U.N. envoy and called for an end to atrocities in the Darfur region.
But the United States, which drafted the resolution, was forced to water down the text on Darfur and delete calls for a large U.N. force in the western Sudanese region. [MORE]
April 23, 2007
Aid Agency Halts Operations Because of Violence - Oxfam/Save the Children Spain
Aid agencies working in Um Dukhun, West Darfur, have temporarily suspended all but essential work following a sharp rise in violent attacks on aid workers in and around the town. Vital assistance to about 100,000 people - including conflict-affected Darfurians and refugees from Chad and the Central African Republic - will be disrupted as a result.
In the last three weeks a humanitarian convoy was shot at and robbed while travelling outside the town, an aid agency security guard was severely beaten by armed men and remains in critical condition, and most recently a vehicle belonging to Oxfam was hijacked and stolen in a camp sheltering refugees and people displaced by the conflict. [MORE]
Armenians Point to Darfur In Remembrance of Own Genocide - Worcester Telegram & Gazette
WORCESTER— The region’s Armenian community yesterday recognized a genocide that for many has a meaning with an intensifying importance.
References to Darfur and the recent slaying of a journalist who defied the Turkish government were made throughout yesterday’s commemoration of what is known as the Armenian genocide. On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, notably political leaders, were rounded up and eventually killed by the Turkish government. More than 1.5 million Armenians would later die at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, with thousands forcibly removed from Armenia to Syria, where many died in the desert of thirst and hunger. [MORE]
Nobu, Mia Farrow, Others Use Food to Shine Spotlight on Darfur - Bloomberg.com
April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bring a good appetite to BLT Prime or Nobu and you'll help raise money for a good cause.
Chefs and artists in New York are staging separate benefits this week to raise money to help victims of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
The events coincide with ``Global Days for Darfur,'' a week of nationwide rallies, marches and vigils that begins today and is organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 religious and human-rights organizations. The group said at least 345 events are scheduled in the U.S. this week. [MORE]
Egypt to Become Involved in Seeking End to Darfur Conflict - Xinhua Agencies
April 22, 2007 (CAIRO) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will deliver a message to his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir to defuse tensions in Sudan’s Darfur region, said a statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Sunday.
According to the statement, an Egyptian mission headed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman will leave for Khartoum Monday with Mubarak’s message of concern on the recent developments of the Darfur crisis.
In the statement, Abul Gheit said the talks between the Egyptian mission and the Sudanese side will focus on means to convince all rebel factions to join the political process as well as the three stages of support for the African peacekeepers. [MORE]
April 16, 2007
UN To Host High Level Meeting with AU on Darfur - Agence France-Presse
Ban and Konare "will consider how best to give new impetus to the political process and the efforts of the special envoys wich are indispensable for the attainment of a lasting peace in Darfur," she added
Also Monday the UN special envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, and his AU counterpart Selim Ahmad Selim, who are tasked with reviving and broadening the wobbly peace agreement reached between Khartoum and Darfur rebels last May, were to brief the Security Council on the political track of the UN settlement plan. [MORE]
A New Alliance Could Reshape Conflict in Darfur - Sudan Tribune
April 14, 2007 (ABECHE, Chad) — The two rebels sitting together on a dry riverbed could just as easily have been sworn enemies, perched on opposite sides of an abyss that has cleaved their homeland in two.
But their talks on a military alliance of Arab and non-Arab tribes in Darfur could radically reshape the conflict, giving new life to rebel groups that have fought for more than four years against Khartoum and undermining the government’s use of Arab militias to quell the rebellion.
Adam Shogar, a commander of the Sudan Liberation Army, the non-Arab rebels at the center of the Darfur conflict, stretched a coal-black arm at Yassine Yousef Abdul Rahman, his copper-skinned, brown-eyed counterpart from an Arab insurgency group also opposed to the government, studying him carefully with midnight eyes.
"We are brothers for Darfur," Shogar said. "We are in the same struggle for our rights." [MORE]
China, With Olympics Ahead, Joins World Pressure on Darfur - DPA
China, in its efforts to shake off a bad record on human rights, has joined the international community to heap pressure on Sudan to end the ethnic conflict in Darfur that has killed hundreds of thousands of people in four years.
Sudan, ranked among countries with the worst human rights records, has been reluctant to admit more international peacekeepers under United Nations auspices, fearing wrongly a new wave of colonization. [MORE]
April 11, 2007
Sudan to Allow Limited UN Force in Darfur - Al Jazeera
Sudan has reached an agreement with the United Nations and African Union to allow limited UN troops and police to support the 7,000-strong AU force in Darfur.
Marie Okabe, a UN deputy spokeswoman, said a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday, paved the way for the deployment of more than 3,000 UN troops and police. [MORE]
Google Earth and USHMM Join To Create Satellite Maps of Darfur Devastation - TechShout.com
Yesterday, Google’s online satellite imaging site Google Earth announced that it would be adding features that allow users to zoom in on the crisis in Sudan’s Western Darfur region. Sadly, since 2003 more than 200,000 people have been killed in strife-torn region of Darfur, and some of this carnage has been detailed by Google Earth.
Google is working with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in a joint project, in which the search giant has updated its Google Earth service with high-resolution satellite images of the region to document destroyed villages, displaced people and refugee camps. [MORE]
Sudan Considering Military Conflict with Chad - Al Jazeera
Sudan has vowed a firm response, including possible military action, to what it said was a Chadian army attack that killed 17 of its soldiers.
Chad admitted on Tuesday that its forces crossed the border into Sudan in pursuit of anti-government forces who had launched an attack from its neighbour's territory. [MORE]
April 9, 2007
Chinese Envoy Visits Darfur - Sudan Tribune/Xinhua
April 9, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Special Envoy of the Chinese government and Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun visited the western Sudanese region of Darfur Saturday and held talks with local officials.
Respectively in al-Fashir and Nyala, the Chinese envoy held meetings with Governor of North Darfur Osman Mohammed Yousef Kibir and Governor of South Darfur al-Haj Ata al-Manan, listened to introductions of the situation in the region, inspected three refugee camps and had dialogues with representatives of local residents and refugees. [MORE]
Sudanese Minister Promises To Investigate UN Rape Report - Angola Press
Nairobi, Kenya 04/09 - Sudan is ready to investigate and prosecute cases of sexual violence in the war-ravaged region of Darfur, Sudanese Justice Minister Ali al-Mardhi affirmed here Saturday.
Sudan has set up a committee, staffed with prosecutors and policewomen to combat sexual violence in the western region of Darfur, said al-Mardhi, who is also Sudan`s Attorney-General. [MORE]
Sudan Again Denies UN Peacekeeping Mission - Angola Press
Nairobi, Kenya 04/09 - Sudanese justice minister Ali al-Mardhi said here Saturday that his country was ready to accept financial help for an African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, but would not admit "foreign forces" under the UN-AU hybrid mission.
"We are ready to accept financial, technical and logistical support for the African Union forces already in Darfur but not the blue helmet forces (United Nations peacekeepers)," al-Mardhi told a news conference in Nairobi. [MORE]
South Africa's Mbeki To Press Khartoum on Peacekeepers - Sudan Tribune
April 9, 2007 (JOHANNESBURG) — South African President Thabo Mbeki is to travel to Sudan on Tuesday in a bid to persuade the government in Khartoum to accept a beefed up peacekeeping force in the war-torn Darfur region.
Mbeki, who will be accompanied on the visit by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, will meet with his counterpart Omar el-Beshir in Khartoum as well as travel to Juba which is the capital of autonomous southern Sudan, according to a South African government statement. [MORE]
APRIL 5, 2007
Sudan reiterates opposition to Darfur peacekeeping forces - Sudan Tribune
(KHARTOUM) — Sudan today reiterated its opposition to deploying UN peacekeeping forces in Darfur in separate meetings with a bipartisan delegation from the US congress and the EU Special Representative to Sudan Pekka Haavisto.
The Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadiq said that the African Union (AU) forces in Darfur only need financial and logistical support to carry on their mission. [MORE]
DARFUR: DEADLY MILITIA ATTACK ON CHADIAN VILLAGES DISPLACES SCORES - AKI
Geneva, 4 April (AKI) - A deadly weekend attack on two villages in south-eastern Chad, possibly carried out by Janjaweed militias from Sudan's neighbouring Darfur region, has forced at least 2,000 people to flee their homes and seek safety in nearby camps, the United Nations refugee agency reports. At least 65 people were killed and 70 others were wounded, half of them seriously, according to preliminary reports following the attack, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Ron Redmond said Tuesday.
The killings took place on Saturday in the villages of Tiero and Marena, when armed men on horseback and camelback, as well as in motor vehicles, surrounded the two villages and began to fire at random before pursuing and robbing the locals as they tried to flee. [MORE]
U.N. chief says urgent action needed in Darfur - Sioux City Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. humanitarian chief said Wednesday the number of displaced persons in Sudan's Darfur region and neighboring countries has risen dramatically and urgent political action was needed to bring peace to the region.
John Holmes delivered his grim report to the U.N. Security Council after a week-long visit to Sudan and neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. [MORE]
APRIL 3, 2007
China Offers Sudan Closer Military Ties - Sydney Morning Herald
China and Sudan have agreed to strengthen military ties, state media reported, underscoring the two countries' close and controversial cooperation as some Western nations seek UN action over bloodshed in Darfur.
The United States and other Western powers have sought to pressure Sudan into accepting United Nations peacekeepers to quell violence in Sudan's western province of Darfur, where government-backed militia have been fighting rebel forces. African Union forces there have failed to stop massacres. [MORE]
Rebel Ambush in Darfur Kills 5 African Union Peacekeepers in Deadliest Attack On the Force - New York Times
DAKAR, Senegal, April 2 — Five African Union peacekeepers were killed in a brazen rebel ambush in Darfur less than a mile from their base along Sudan’s border with Chad on Sunday evening, the African Union said Monday.
It was the deadliest attack on the beleaguered African Union force since it was deployed to monitor a shaky cease-fire agreement in 2004. The motive for the ambush appeared to be theft — the rebels took one of the peacekeepers’ trucks, though reinforcements killed three of the attackers, African Union officials said. [MORE]
APRIL 1, 2007
Olympics-China Slams Critics of Darfur Policy - Sudan Tribune
March 29, 2007 (BEIJING) — China slammed calls by actress Mia Farrow and French politicians to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics over its position on the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, and said they failed to understand China’s policies.
In an article published in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Farrow accused Beijing of "bankrolling Darfur’s genocide" and called on director Steven Spielberg and four corporate sponsors to "add their ... voices to the growing calls for Chinese action to end the slaughter..." [MORE]
Official: Darfur Destabilizing Region - Reuters South Africa
John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, concluded a 10-day tour of the region by saying he was struck by "the magnitude of the humanitarian challenge in these three countries" and calling for a strong political effort to end the growing chaos.
"Problems (in the region) are exacerbated by Darfur, but not caused by Darfur," Holmes told The Associated Press in an interview.
"Beyond the immediate humanitarian action, the international community must help find a solid political solution for the region," he said. "We need to address all the problems in the region in an integrated way because they all spill over into each other." [MORE]
Darfur Conflict Spreads - Kuwait Times
GOZ BEIDA: The sultan of Silla looked worried: Arab-African violence spilling over from Darfur is threatening this part of Chad, too, in what is quickly growing into a regional conflict. He pleaded with the visiting UN humanitarian chief to help stop it. "The picture is so bleak," Sultan Said Brahim told John Holmes, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, during Holmes' visit here earlier this week. "I can't even tell you how bad things are getting." [MORE]
March 28, 2007
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ENOUGH Releases a Comprehensive Strategy for Ending the Crisis in Darfur
Click here to download the report (PDF)
March 27, 2007, Washington, DC - "The Answer to Darfur: How to Resolve the World's Hottest War", presents a comprehensive plan for resolving the crisis in Darfur. This strategy paper is the first in a series to be released by ENOUGH, a joint initiative of the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress.
Authored by Senior Advisor to the International Crisis Group John Prendergast, the paper calls for intensified U.S. and international engagement to resolve the crisis in Darfur, backed by a series of punitive measures that go beyond the Bush administration's vague "Plan B" threats.
The paper proposes a "Rubik's cube" of policy recommendations - all six of which must be pursued simultaneously - to bring an end to the conflict. Specifically, Prendergast argues that the U.S. and the international community must: support rebel unity; build an effective peace process; secure full-time, high-level U.S. diplomacy; accelerate military planning and action for protection; impose punitive measures now; and ramp up global citizen activism.
Ultimately, ENOUGH concludes that with the right policies and increased levels of engagement on the issue, Darfur might be stabilized within a year. "If not," Prendergast said, "it is almost a foregone conclusion that hundreds of thousands more will be killed on our watch in 2007." |
Sudan repeats rejection of UN in Darfur - Independent Online
Riyadh - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday underlined his rejection of UN peacekeepers in the war-torn Darfur region, saying the UN should only provide financial and technical help to African peacekeepers. [MORE]
Latest Sudan Darfur pledge raises "partial" hopes - Reuters South Africa
KHARTOUM, March 28 (Reuters) - The Khartoum government's latest promise of better cooperation with aid groups struggling in war-ravaged Darfur has eased the anxieties of the top U.N. humanitarian official in Sudan.
But an already overwhelmed Manuel da Silva warned of more crises ahead without a comprehensive political deal, including tribal fighting that is exacting a heavy death toll and complicating efforts to end the suffering. [MORE]
Blair wants no-fly zone enforced over Darfur - Mail and Guardian Online
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is pushing the United Nations to declare a no-fly zone over Darfur, enforced if necessary by the bombing of Sudanese military airfields used for raids on the province.
The prospect of a no-fly zone was welcomed by the independent International Crisis Group think tank. "The government in Khartoum is using its air force to bomb its own civilians and to resupply its troops and allied militias killing its own people. That's a pretty good reason for a no-fly zone," Andrew Stroehlein, the ICG's media director, said. [MORE]
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