October 18, 2007 (LONDON) — Aid agencies working in Sudan’s Darfur hope incoming United Nations and African Union peacekeepers will help protect them, but there are also fears they could spark new violence against unarmed relief staff.
The 26,000-person hybrid force is due to arrive in Darfur in the coming months against a backdrop of escalating violence targeting the world’s largest humanitarian relief operation.
Gunman killed three U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) drivers in the last week, while agency compounds have been raided, staff abducted and equipment stolen.
The new peacekeepers — mainly African infantry with a handful of troops from other nations — will replace a much smaller African Union force that has largely failed to halt violence in a region the size of France.
Aid agencies — some of whom have lobbied for years for U.N. peacekeepers — say their situation now is so bad that they have to withdraw from some areas and cut back operations. Some reports suggest malnutrition rates are rising as a result.
"The way it is now for humanitarian agencies cannot continue," former U.N. undersecretary general Jan Egeland, one of the strongest advocates for the force, told Reuters last month.
"When the humanitarians or the refugees themselves say they are threatened, the force has to deploy protectively and defend. And fight, if necessary."
International experts say some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes in Darfur since 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government, which in turn mobilised predominantly Arab militias to squelch the revolt.
Khartoum, which long resisted demands for a U.N. force, says only 9,000 are dead and the crisis has been exaggerated.
While many aid workers accuse the government of trying to frustrate their work, they blame most attacks on rebel groups and bandits intent on stealing equipment and vehicles, a practice experts say has become almost an industry in Darfur.
Aid groups hope more peacekeepers might reduce that risk. But at the same time, if the larger force takes more aggressive action than its AU predecessor it may make enemies — either militia or rebels — who may hit aid workers as a soft target.
KEEPING SEPARATE
"Of course it is possible and you can expect anything," said Francois Grignon, Africa project director for the International Crisis Group. "It is a risk with all peacekeeping operations. They will have to co-operate in terms of security."
He said the new force risked simply being too weak to change the situation on the ground, particularly if peace talks in Libya later this month failed to produce a concrete peace deal.
Former U.N. aid chief Egeland said there had been incidents in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere in West Africa where aid workers had been attacked or compounds burnt in retaliation for action by peacekeepers.
"We have been discussing that risk for years," he said. "Generally, it has been exaggerated. ... In the short term it may decrease security but in the long-term hopefully it will help."
Experts say it is important the aid effort maintains its distance from the peacekeepers if it is to maintain any impression of neutrality and work with all sides.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Western and U.N. aid agencies sent in large missions. Later that year, a truck bomb attack on the U.N. compound killed 22. Other attacks, kidnappings and killings forced most aid groups out.
"I think our mistake our was to send in so many people so fast on the back of an invasion force who looked just like us," Egeland said. "That is one of the reasons it is so important that the force in Darfur looks and feels African."
A much better equipped European Union force will be deployed across the border in neighbouring Chad and Central African Republic, but will not be authorised to cross into Darfur.
Subject to eventual Sudanese approval, there will be a small Western component to the Darfur force, primarily a battalion of 400 Norwegian and Swedish army engineers.
Their main remit will be building camps and bases for the main force. Their commander said they could help with sanitation and construction in refugee camps but would not do so unless asked by the main aid effort for fear of blurring the lines.
" We can’t just walk in and take over their missions," said Lieutenant Colonel Anstein Aasen in Oslo. "They have to to ask us and not the other way around."
(Reuters)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Armed groups carry out daily attack on Darfur Kalama displaced
Friday 19 October 2007.
October 18, 2007 (NYALA) — Khartoum backed armed groups carry out daily attacks inside Darfur biggest camp in order to spread violence and force internally displaced persons to evacuate the camps, reports received from South Darfur say.
A Sudanese woman refugee arriving from Labado protects herself from the wind at Kalma Camp, near Nyala in Sudan’s South Darfur region 09 January 2005. (AFP).
Kalma camp is the most volatile one, but also the biggest IDPs camps. It is seen as supporting the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Movement founder and chairman Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, who refuse to take part in the ongoing peace process demanding security for Darfur civilians before talks.
Since two days armed groups enter to the camp of Kalma in South Darfur state and attack habitants of the camp. Armed militia elements killed on Wednesday a displaced called Mahmoud Ishac, Sudan Tribune has learnt.
Asked by telephone, al-Nur confirmed the reports. He further accused Sudanese government of organizing regular attacks against civilians. "Civilians fear attacks and they are terrorized" he said.
The rebel leader urged the international community to accelerate the deployment of the 26, 000 peacekeepers in the region. He also urged pressures on the Sudanese government to stop the killing of Darfur civilian.
Up to last year, the government backed janjaweed militia attacked the IDPs particularly women who go out the camp to collect wood. The militia were always present out side the camps.
Sudanese forces surrounded and attacked Darfur’s most volatile camp on Tuesday August 21 to flush out rebels they say are behind attacks on two police posts.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.
Khartoum agreed to a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force which will absorb the AU mission and try to stop violence which has hampered the world’s largest aid operation in Darfur. Some 500,000 people are out of reach of relief workers.
(ST)
October 18, 2007 (NYALA) — Khartoum backed armed groups carry out daily attacks inside Darfur biggest camp in order to spread violence and force internally displaced persons to evacuate the camps, reports received from South Darfur say.
A Sudanese woman refugee arriving from Labado protects herself from the wind at Kalma Camp, near Nyala in Sudan’s South Darfur region 09 January 2005. (AFP).
Kalma camp is the most volatile one, but also the biggest IDPs camps. It is seen as supporting the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Movement founder and chairman Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, who refuse to take part in the ongoing peace process demanding security for Darfur civilians before talks.
Since two days armed groups enter to the camp of Kalma in South Darfur state and attack habitants of the camp. Armed militia elements killed on Wednesday a displaced called Mahmoud Ishac, Sudan Tribune has learnt.
Asked by telephone, al-Nur confirmed the reports. He further accused Sudanese government of organizing regular attacks against civilians. "Civilians fear attacks and they are terrorized" he said.
The rebel leader urged the international community to accelerate the deployment of the 26, 000 peacekeepers in the region. He also urged pressures on the Sudanese government to stop the killing of Darfur civilian.
Up to last year, the government backed janjaweed militia attacked the IDPs particularly women who go out the camp to collect wood. The militia were always present out side the camps.
Sudanese forces surrounded and attacked Darfur’s most volatile camp on Tuesday August 21 to flush out rebels they say are behind attacks on two police posts.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.
Khartoum agreed to a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force which will absorb the AU mission and try to stop violence which has hampered the world’s largest aid operation in Darfur. Some 500,000 people are out of reach of relief workers.
(ST)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Sudan rivals try to resolve split
South Sudan's leader Salva Kiir is travelling to meet the president in an effort to resolve a crisis that has threatened to tear the country apart.
Mr Kiir's ex-rebel group withdrew its ministers from government last week saying elements of a 2005 north-south peace pact were being ignored.
President Omar al-Bashir agreed in part to a request for a cabinet reshuffle.
But border demarcations and redeploying northern troops from the south are some of the things yet to be implemented.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in the capital, Khartoum, says tensions have been brewing for months between the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the governing National Congress Party.
The two signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) two years ago that ended the 21-year civil war.
Under the CPA, the SPLM controls the southern regional government and participates in the national government in Khartoum.
But the enemies in war have struggled to become partners in peace, our reporter says.
Deadline
Mr Kiir - who is also the country's national vice-president - is travelling to Khartoum for the meeting.
Our correspondent says it is hoped the men can stop the crisis from escalating further.
On Wednesday, Mr Bashir reshuffled his cabinet removing Lam Akol as foreign minister.
Mr Akol, although a southerner, was seen as too close to the NCP.
But the SPLM says not all their suggestions for ministers from the south were agreed to.
After meeting Mr Bashir on Tuesday, Sudan Vice-President Riak Machar told the BBC that parts of the CPA that had not been implemented included:
The redeployment of northern troops from the south, especially from Unity and Upper Nile states
Issues of oil management and marketing
The final border demarcation which means the division of oil wealth cannot be completed
Issues to pave the way for a census in 2011, when the south could decide to split from the north.
Mr Riak said the north had until 9 January 2008, the third anniversary of the signing of the CPA, to resolve these issues.
Some 1.5m people died in Sudan's conflict - Africa's longest civil war - which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the Animist and Christian south before the CPA was agreed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7050351.stm
Mr Kiir's ex-rebel group withdrew its ministers from government last week saying elements of a 2005 north-south peace pact were being ignored.
President Omar al-Bashir agreed in part to a request for a cabinet reshuffle.
But border demarcations and redeploying northern troops from the south are some of the things yet to be implemented.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in the capital, Khartoum, says tensions have been brewing for months between the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the governing National Congress Party.
The two signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) two years ago that ended the 21-year civil war.
Under the CPA, the SPLM controls the southern regional government and participates in the national government in Khartoum.
But the enemies in war have struggled to become partners in peace, our reporter says.
Deadline
Mr Kiir - who is also the country's national vice-president - is travelling to Khartoum for the meeting.
Our correspondent says it is hoped the men can stop the crisis from escalating further.
On Wednesday, Mr Bashir reshuffled his cabinet removing Lam Akol as foreign minister.
Mr Akol, although a southerner, was seen as too close to the NCP.
But the SPLM says not all their suggestions for ministers from the south were agreed to.
After meeting Mr Bashir on Tuesday, Sudan Vice-President Riak Machar told the BBC that parts of the CPA that had not been implemented included:
The redeployment of northern troops from the south, especially from Unity and Upper Nile states
Issues of oil management and marketing
The final border demarcation which means the division of oil wealth cannot be completed
Issues to pave the way for a census in 2011, when the south could decide to split from the north.
Mr Riak said the north had until 9 January 2008, the third anniversary of the signing of the CPA, to resolve these issues.
Some 1.5m people died in Sudan's conflict - Africa's longest civil war - which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the Animist and Christian south before the CPA was agreed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7050351.stm
Sunday, October 14, 2007
SUDAN: Darfur attack "targeted women and children"
NAIROBI, 10 October 2007 (IRIN) - The recent attack on Muhajiriya town in South Darfur, in which 45 people died and thousands fled their homes, mainly targeted women, children and the elderly, a rebel faction said.
"The government moved forces into the town two days earlier," Mohammed Bashir, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said from Khartoum, the capital. "With air cover, they attacked the town, burnt down half of it and killed mainly children, women and the elderly."
The Sudanese army denied involvement in the 8 October attack, saying violence in Muhajiriya was a result of "tribal fighting between the citizens of the area".
Bashir said residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their homes were in desperate need of assistance. "They fled into [the bush]," he told IRIN by telephone on 10 October. "Although the town is calm now, they are still scared of going back to their homes."
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 45,000 internally displaced people were being assisted in and around Muhajiriya.
National and international aid workers from two NGOs were temporarily relocated after the attack, disrupting humanitarian operations.
"There are 20 wounded civilians who need to be taken to hospital," Bashir said. The SLA faction of Minni Minnawi, who signed a May 2006 peace deal and joined the Khartoum government, controls the area.
Amnesty International said the attack was supported by an Antonov, which had been painted in white UN colours. Since 2005, Sudan has been prohibited from offensive flights over Darfur and has been criticised for painting aircraft white, it said.
But spokesman Brigadier Osman Mohamed Al-Aghbash said the army had nothing to do with the incidents at Muhajiriya, adding that its planes had only conducted reconnaissance missions in Haskanita area under an arrangement with the African Union (AU).
"If these kinds of attacks continue, we will not sit without defending ourselves," the SLA spokesman warned. "It will also destroy trust ahead of the Libya talks."
The talks due to start in Sirte on 27 October are expected to bring together Darfur's armed factions and the Sudanese government to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in the region. Fears have, however, arisen that recent attacks could force some of the groups to boycott the event.
Amnesty, in a statement, warned that more attacks were imminent in northern Darfur. Sudanese forces, it added, were gathering in large numbers in at least six towns, including Tine, Kornoy, Um Baru, Kutum.
"The northern area of North Darfur is under the control of armed opposition groups and it looks as though the Sudan Armed Forces want to attack this area before peace talks scheduled to take place in Libya before the end of the month," according to Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty's Africa Programme.
"We fear that civilians will once more suffer killing and displacement, with no force able to protect them."
The Muhajiriya attack followed an earlier one on Haskanita on 29 September. Ten AU peacekeepers were killed. Aid workers said that attack was carried out by an armed opposition group, but the town was occupied by Sudanese forces afterwards.
A UN assessment mission later found Haskanita had been burnt down. Sudanese authorities said the team had exaggerated its findings, adding that only the market was destroyed by a fire. The AU is investigating.
"The gathering of forces in the north, the burning of Haskanita last week, and yesterday's attack on Muhajiriya show the vital importance of ensuring that UNAMID [proposed UN-AU peacekeeping force] is deployed as soon as possible and has the resources available to protect civilians," said Hondora.
Preparations to deploy the force are ongoing, but the mission still lacks ground transport, light tactical helicopters and transport helicopters, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.
Aid workers fear the upsurge in violence will further restrict the ability of the few humanitarian workers left in Darfur to reach thousands of vulnerable civilians.
"The government moved forces into the town two days earlier," Mohammed Bashir, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said from Khartoum, the capital. "With air cover, they attacked the town, burnt down half of it and killed mainly children, women and the elderly."
The Sudanese army denied involvement in the 8 October attack, saying violence in Muhajiriya was a result of "tribal fighting between the citizens of the area".
Bashir said residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their homes were in desperate need of assistance. "They fled into [the bush]," he told IRIN by telephone on 10 October. "Although the town is calm now, they are still scared of going back to their homes."
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 45,000 internally displaced people were being assisted in and around Muhajiriya.
National and international aid workers from two NGOs were temporarily relocated after the attack, disrupting humanitarian operations.
"There are 20 wounded civilians who need to be taken to hospital," Bashir said. The SLA faction of Minni Minnawi, who signed a May 2006 peace deal and joined the Khartoum government, controls the area.
Amnesty International said the attack was supported by an Antonov, which had been painted in white UN colours. Since 2005, Sudan has been prohibited from offensive flights over Darfur and has been criticised for painting aircraft white, it said.
But spokesman Brigadier Osman Mohamed Al-Aghbash said the army had nothing to do with the incidents at Muhajiriya, adding that its planes had only conducted reconnaissance missions in Haskanita area under an arrangement with the African Union (AU).
"If these kinds of attacks continue, we will not sit without defending ourselves," the SLA spokesman warned. "It will also destroy trust ahead of the Libya talks."
The talks due to start in Sirte on 27 October are expected to bring together Darfur's armed factions and the Sudanese government to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in the region. Fears have, however, arisen that recent attacks could force some of the groups to boycott the event.
Amnesty, in a statement, warned that more attacks were imminent in northern Darfur. Sudanese forces, it added, were gathering in large numbers in at least six towns, including Tine, Kornoy, Um Baru, Kutum.
"The northern area of North Darfur is under the control of armed opposition groups and it looks as though the Sudan Armed Forces want to attack this area before peace talks scheduled to take place in Libya before the end of the month," according to Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty's Africa Programme.
"We fear that civilians will once more suffer killing and displacement, with no force able to protect them."
The Muhajiriya attack followed an earlier one on Haskanita on 29 September. Ten AU peacekeepers were killed. Aid workers said that attack was carried out by an armed opposition group, but the town was occupied by Sudanese forces afterwards.
A UN assessment mission later found Haskanita had been burnt down. Sudanese authorities said the team had exaggerated its findings, adding that only the market was destroyed by a fire. The AU is investigating.
"The gathering of forces in the north, the burning of Haskanita last week, and yesterday's attack on Muhajiriya show the vital importance of ensuring that UNAMID [proposed UN-AU peacekeeping force] is deployed as soon as possible and has the resources available to protect civilians," said Hondora.
Preparations to deploy the force are ongoing, but the mission still lacks ground transport, light tactical helicopters and transport helicopters, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.
Aid workers fear the upsurge in violence will further restrict the ability of the few humanitarian workers left in Darfur to reach thousands of vulnerable civilians.
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