From the Los Angeles Times
By Edmund Sanders
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 6, 2008
KHARTOUM, SUDAN -- — The American presidential race and a genocide investigation by the International Criminal Court are propelling Sudanese officials to renew efforts to strike a deal with the U.S. aimed at normalizing relations and improving stability in the volatile Darfur region.
Many in the Khartoum government fear frosty U.S.-Sudanese relations could worsen under the next U.S. president.
Sen. Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, has called for American military intervention in Darfur. Other members of the foreign policy team assembled by presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama are former hawks from the Clinton administration, which lobbed cruise missiles at Khartoum in 1998 after labeling the regime a state sponsor of terrorism.
"We want to do something with the Bush administration before they leave," said Sudan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ali Sadiq. "Our experience with the Democrats has been bitter."
Prospects under Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, don't appear much better, Sudanese officials say. McCain's key Africa advisor once dismissed leaders here as "thugs," and McCain has called Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir a liar.
Richard Williamson, the U.S. envoy to Sudan, who reopened talks last month, is scheduled to resume direct negotiations in mid-September, Sudanese officials said.
Under discussion is a proposed agreement by the U.S. to not fight Sudan's bid to postpone an impending ICC arrest warrant for Bashir, officials said.
In return, Khartoum would agree to concessions, including accelerated deployment of United Nations peacekeepers, increased anti-terrorism cooperation and improved humanitarian assistance for the western region of Darfur.
Negotiations broke down this summer amid renewed bloodshed and outrage from Darfur advocacy groups and Democrats over the Bush administration's overtures toward Sudan.
"This reckless and cynical initiative would reward a regime in Khartoum that has a record of failing to live up to its commitments," Obama said in April.
The momentum for renewed talks grew in July after the ICC's prosecutor announced that he would seek an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of genocide.
ICC judges are expected to rule on the request in the coming months, but the Sudanese government has launched a vigorous campaign to press the U.N. Security Council to use its authority to postpone the case. The government argues that an arrest warrant would hinder peace efforts and destabilize Africa's biggest country.
John Prendergast, founder of Enough Project, an anti-genocide advocacy group, said the ICC case strengthened the U.S. negotiating position.
"This gives the U.S. unprecedented leverage," he said. "The U.S. has the chance to do something constructive in the dying days of this administration."
Bush administration officials have been approaching with caution, fearing that further public backlash might hurt McCain's campaign. They've urged Sudanese officials to make bold gestures and demonstrate a commitment to reform so that any deal will be acceptable to the American public and Congress.
There have been mixed signals from Sudan. During a visit to Darfur in July, Bashir announced the creation of a presidential commission to tackle the region's problems, and he appointed a Sudanese prosecutor to investigate ICC allegations.
But it's unclear whether such steps will yield results before the ICC reaches a decision on the arrest warrant or before the issue comes up before the U.N., both of which could occur as early as October. Mistrust is apparent on both sides.
Andrew Natsios, a former U.S. special envoy to Sudan, said any deal with Khartoum would face strong opposition in the U.S. and that it was unlikely one would be reached before the presidential election in November. "Politically, in Washington, it's untenable," he said.
Sudan also accuses the U.S. of reneging on promises to lift sanctions and remove the terrorism designation, even after Khartoum met agreed-upon benchmarks.
"We are very interested in normalizing relations with the U.S.," said Nafie Ali Nafie, a top presidential advisor who is leading Sudan's negotiating team. "But if people believe we are cornered, we won't do it."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-sudan6-2008sep06,0,2975870,print.story
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
ICC and Complicity
At long last, it has happened that charges of genocide and crimes against humanity have been brought against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court. Undoubtedly and quite unfortunately, these charges will wreak further havoc in the short run for the people of Darfur in the form of reprisal attacks orchestrated by Bashir’s government Ironically, a statement released by Bashir;s National Congress Party through Sudanese state television promising “more violence and bloodshed” in Darfur in the wake of these charges only offer further proof of his leadership role in the genocide. The deadly impact that these reprisals may well have cannot and must not be undermined: if anything, they are a potent reminder of why it is so important to push for peace in the region. Still, the ICC’s charges must be applauded because in the long run, they should mark the end of the international community’s feeble excuse-making for its impotence regarding Darfur and the whole of Sudan. The charges must ultimately be used to provide both the stick and the carrot to draw Bashir to peace talks which will finally halt the genocide.
Charging Omar al-Bashir with genocide represents the most hopeful scrap of news that Darfuris have had for a long time. Ironically enough, however, the United States - the first and only nation to publicly recognize the atrocities in Darfur as genocide - may well serve as a great impediment towards allowing the ICC charges to achieve their full potential as leverage with which to pressure for immediate and lasting peace in Darfur. The US’s generally cold attitude towards the ICC must not be allowed to impede potential progress towards peace. The United States has itself condemned Khartoum for the same crimes that the Court has brought to bear against Bashir: for the U.S. to fail to utilize the great opportunity that these charges represent would amount to a shamelessly continued complicity in the genocide. For if Mr. Bashir is guilty of these crimes - and we are aware of these gross violations of humanity - then how can we, who fail to do all in our power to stop it, help but think of ourselves as bearing the weight of complicity with genocide?
Charging Omar al-Bashir with genocide represents the most hopeful scrap of news that Darfuris have had for a long time. Ironically enough, however, the United States - the first and only nation to publicly recognize the atrocities in Darfur as genocide - may well serve as a great impediment towards allowing the ICC charges to achieve their full potential as leverage with which to pressure for immediate and lasting peace in Darfur. The US’s generally cold attitude towards the ICC must not be allowed to impede potential progress towards peace. The United States has itself condemned Khartoum for the same crimes that the Court has brought to bear against Bashir: for the U.S. to fail to utilize the great opportunity that these charges represent would amount to a shamelessly continued complicity in the genocide. For if Mr. Bashir is guilty of these crimes - and we are aware of these gross violations of humanity - then how can we, who fail to do all in our power to stop it, help but think of ourselves as bearing the weight of complicity with genocide?
Sudan war crime charges expected
The Sudanese president is expected to be accused of genocide and crimes against humanity by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Luis Moreno-Ocampo is set to ask judges at The Hague to charge Omar al-Bashir, following investigations into alleged war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.
Sudan's government has warned the move will undermine the peace process there.
This will be the first time the court's prosecutor has tried to make a case against a sitting head of state.
The three-judge panel is expected to take at least six weeks to decide whether to indict the president.
Sudan does not recognise the ICC and has refused to hand over two suspects who Mr Moreno-Ocampo charged last year, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb.
It has also labelled Mr Moreno-Ocampo a criminal, and warned that any indictment could stall peace talks and cause mayhem in Sudan.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at The Hague says that while some will welcome this move as a victory for justice, others fear it will undermine the peace process in Darfur and spark further violence.
The UN estimates that some 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur since 2003, while more than two million people have fled their homes.
Sudan's government is accused of mobilising Arab militias to attack black African civilians in Darfur, after rebels took up arms in 2003 - charges it denies.
'Disastrous'
Mr Moreno-Ocampo's office has said he will submit to the ICC on Monday "evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" and seek to charge an individual or individuals.
The prosecutor said last month that Sudan's "entire state apparatus" was involved in an organised campaign to attack civilians in Darfur, and that he would present evidence implicating senior officials.
On Sunday, thousands of people rallied in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to show their support for Mr Bashir and to denounce the anticipated charges.
"With our souls, with our blood we die for Bashir," the demonstrators chanted outside an office where the president was chairing an emergency meeting.
Sudan's representative at the United Nations told the BBC that any charges against Mr Bashir would be disastrous for the security and stability of Sudan.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this move by this criminal Ocampo," said Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad.
The ruling National Congress party has meanwhile warned of "more violence and blood" in Darfur.
Mr Bashir said he had been angered by talk of his possible arrest, but added that it made him more determined to push for peace.
I'm very worried, but nobody can evade justice
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
"Our decisive response to them is that our issues are progressing and as before, our programmes are moving, and that this matter only increases our determination and seriousness to progress in the same direction," he told state radio.
"This talk has angered us and prompted us to move this way. We will move forward, God willing. We are committed to remove the country from a crisis."
But a leader of one of the factions of the Sudan Liberation Army rebel group told the BBC it would welcome any action by the ICC.
"The regime in Khartoum committed a big crime… We think the ICC is going the right way," Abdul Khalil said.
Peacekeeping fears
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the French newspaper, Le Figaro, that he was "very worried" about the possible impact of any indictment on peacekeeping operations and the political process, but added that "nobody can evade justice".
Earlier, a UN spokeswoman said it had raised the security alert level for its staff in Darfur.
The joint United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid), which has 9,000 troops, has been struggling to contain the violence.
It has raised the security alert for its staff to "level four", which stops short of evacuating all staff, but relocates foreign workers who are not directly involved in relief or security operations.
John O'Shea, director of Irish aid agency Goal, warned the Sudanese government and its supporters not to seek revenge against international aid agencies and peacekeepers for the ICC's moves.
"Should the Sudanese government take that type of action, they're in a way shooting themselves in the foot," he told the BBC.
"The NGO community and the UN agencies have done a very good job in the context of looking after hundreds of thousands of vulnerable and desperately poor people."
The ICC was set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court.
Other international courts have previously indicted Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic and President Charles Taylor of Liberia while they were in office.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7504640.stm
Published: 2008/07/14 09:54:04 GMT
Luis Moreno-Ocampo is set to ask judges at The Hague to charge Omar al-Bashir, following investigations into alleged war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.
Sudan's government has warned the move will undermine the peace process there.
This will be the first time the court's prosecutor has tried to make a case against a sitting head of state.
The three-judge panel is expected to take at least six weeks to decide whether to indict the president.
Sudan does not recognise the ICC and has refused to hand over two suspects who Mr Moreno-Ocampo charged last year, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb.
It has also labelled Mr Moreno-Ocampo a criminal, and warned that any indictment could stall peace talks and cause mayhem in Sudan.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at The Hague says that while some will welcome this move as a victory for justice, others fear it will undermine the peace process in Darfur and spark further violence.
The UN estimates that some 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur since 2003, while more than two million people have fled their homes.
Sudan's government is accused of mobilising Arab militias to attack black African civilians in Darfur, after rebels took up arms in 2003 - charges it denies.
'Disastrous'
Mr Moreno-Ocampo's office has said he will submit to the ICC on Monday "evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" and seek to charge an individual or individuals.
The prosecutor said last month that Sudan's "entire state apparatus" was involved in an organised campaign to attack civilians in Darfur, and that he would present evidence implicating senior officials.
On Sunday, thousands of people rallied in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to show their support for Mr Bashir and to denounce the anticipated charges.
"With our souls, with our blood we die for Bashir," the demonstrators chanted outside an office where the president was chairing an emergency meeting.
Sudan's representative at the United Nations told the BBC that any charges against Mr Bashir would be disastrous for the security and stability of Sudan.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this move by this criminal Ocampo," said Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad.
The ruling National Congress party has meanwhile warned of "more violence and blood" in Darfur.
Mr Bashir said he had been angered by talk of his possible arrest, but added that it made him more determined to push for peace.
I'm very worried, but nobody can evade justice
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
"Our decisive response to them is that our issues are progressing and as before, our programmes are moving, and that this matter only increases our determination and seriousness to progress in the same direction," he told state radio.
"This talk has angered us and prompted us to move this way. We will move forward, God willing. We are committed to remove the country from a crisis."
But a leader of one of the factions of the Sudan Liberation Army rebel group told the BBC it would welcome any action by the ICC.
"The regime in Khartoum committed a big crime… We think the ICC is going the right way," Abdul Khalil said.
Peacekeeping fears
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the French newspaper, Le Figaro, that he was "very worried" about the possible impact of any indictment on peacekeeping operations and the political process, but added that "nobody can evade justice".
Earlier, a UN spokeswoman said it had raised the security alert level for its staff in Darfur.
The joint United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid), which has 9,000 troops, has been struggling to contain the violence.
It has raised the security alert for its staff to "level four", which stops short of evacuating all staff, but relocates foreign workers who are not directly involved in relief or security operations.
John O'Shea, director of Irish aid agency Goal, warned the Sudanese government and its supporters not to seek revenge against international aid agencies and peacekeepers for the ICC's moves.
"Should the Sudanese government take that type of action, they're in a way shooting themselves in the foot," he told the BBC.
"The NGO community and the UN agencies have done a very good job in the context of looking after hundreds of thousands of vulnerable and desperately poor people."
The ICC was set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court.
Other international courts have previously indicted Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic and President Charles Taylor of Liberia while they were in office.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7504640.stm
Published: 2008/07/14 09:54:04 GMT
Monday, June 9, 2008
Sudan seeks arbitration to solve oil region crisis
Sun Jun 8, 2008 10:20am EDT
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's president and south Sudan's leader said on Sunday they would turn to international arbitrators to solve a bitter dispute over an oil-rich region that many fear could escalate into civil war.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Salva Kiir met to agree a package of measures to defuse the most recent clashes over the central Abyei territory that last month left at least 20 soldiers dead and drove tens of thousands from their homes.
But officials from Khartoum and the semi-autonomous south said they had still not resolved their long-standing disagreement over the final borders of region.
The leaders said they would give themselves a month to agree on the best global body to help them reach an agreement over the boundaries and other fundamental issues, the officials said.
The borders of Abyei were left undecided in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended two decades of north-south war and created a national coalition government between the northern National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
At stake in Abyei is control over a large part of Sudan's oil wealth -- Abyei town is surrounded by lucrative oilfields connected by a key pipeline that runs through the disputed territory.
Last month, a local dispute escalated into sporadic and often heavy fighting between northern and southern troops in the town.
INTERIM ADMINISTRATION
Bashir and Kiir, who is both President of South Sudan and First Vice President of Sudan as a whole, on Sunday agreed to set up an interim administration in the region, and to respect an interim border for Abyei ahead of the final arbitration, said officials.
Northern and southern troops, who are still in a stand-off in the region, would be replaced by a new "joint integrated unit" made up of soldiers from both sides, they added.
The leaders had also decided to give the United Nations free access to the area to help displaced people return to their homes by June 30 at the latest, the officials said.
"It was an important and historical meeting," Yasir Arman, the SPLM's deputy secretary general told reporters after the discussions between the two leaders.
Arman said the new administration and border would follow the terms of the Abyei protocol, an interim agreement made at the time of the 2005 peace deal that each side accuses the other of ignoring.
The final arbitration cold take up to nine months to complete, said Arman.
Didiri Mohamed Ahmed, the lead northern official in charge of Abyei, said if the sides failed to agree on an international arbitrator after a month, they would turn to the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague to help them pick an organization.
"We think what has taken place should revitalize all of the CPA (the Comprehensive Peace Agreement) and rejuvenate the efforts of the two parties," he added.
A report by US campaign group Enough in January described Abyei as "Sudan's Kashmir" that could spark another civil war if left unresolved. But south Sudan's Minister of Energy John Luk Jok on Sunday insisted the south wanted to avoid conflict.
"No one wants to go to war, it's the last thing we need in Sudan," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Asian Oil and Gas Conference in the Malaysian capital.
(Additional reporting by Luke Pachymuthu in Kuala Lumpur; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Oil/idUSL0836159420080608?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's president and south Sudan's leader said on Sunday they would turn to international arbitrators to solve a bitter dispute over an oil-rich region that many fear could escalate into civil war.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Salva Kiir met to agree a package of measures to defuse the most recent clashes over the central Abyei territory that last month left at least 20 soldiers dead and drove tens of thousands from their homes.
But officials from Khartoum and the semi-autonomous south said they had still not resolved their long-standing disagreement over the final borders of region.
The leaders said they would give themselves a month to agree on the best global body to help them reach an agreement over the boundaries and other fundamental issues, the officials said.
The borders of Abyei were left undecided in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended two decades of north-south war and created a national coalition government between the northern National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
At stake in Abyei is control over a large part of Sudan's oil wealth -- Abyei town is surrounded by lucrative oilfields connected by a key pipeline that runs through the disputed territory.
Last month, a local dispute escalated into sporadic and often heavy fighting between northern and southern troops in the town.
INTERIM ADMINISTRATION
Bashir and Kiir, who is both President of South Sudan and First Vice President of Sudan as a whole, on Sunday agreed to set up an interim administration in the region, and to respect an interim border for Abyei ahead of the final arbitration, said officials.
Northern and southern troops, who are still in a stand-off in the region, would be replaced by a new "joint integrated unit" made up of soldiers from both sides, they added.
The leaders had also decided to give the United Nations free access to the area to help displaced people return to their homes by June 30 at the latest, the officials said.
"It was an important and historical meeting," Yasir Arman, the SPLM's deputy secretary general told reporters after the discussions between the two leaders.
Arman said the new administration and border would follow the terms of the Abyei protocol, an interim agreement made at the time of the 2005 peace deal that each side accuses the other of ignoring.
The final arbitration cold take up to nine months to complete, said Arman.
Didiri Mohamed Ahmed, the lead northern official in charge of Abyei, said if the sides failed to agree on an international arbitrator after a month, they would turn to the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague to help them pick an organization.
"We think what has taken place should revitalize all of the CPA (the Comprehensive Peace Agreement) and rejuvenate the efforts of the two parties," he added.
A report by US campaign group Enough in January described Abyei as "Sudan's Kashmir" that could spark another civil war if left unresolved. But south Sudan's Minister of Energy John Luk Jok on Sunday insisted the south wanted to avoid conflict.
"No one wants to go to war, it's the last thing we need in Sudan," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Asian Oil and Gas Conference in the Malaysian capital.
(Additional reporting by Luke Pachymuthu in Kuala Lumpur; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Oil/idUSL0836159420080608?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Sudan ‘covering up’ crimes in Darfur - ICC prosecutor
By Wasil Ali
June 5, 2008 (NEW YORK) – The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) pointed fingers at the Sudanese government and accused it of mobilizing “the whole state apparatus” to commit crimes in Darfur.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a press conference in the Hague February 27, 2007 (AP)
Luis Moreno-Ocampo delivered his semi-annual report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) today in which he provided his current investigations into the ongoing attacks against civilians in the war ravaged region.
The Argentinean born lawyer also informed the UNSC of his intention to file charges against unidentified Sudanese officials a in a few weeks time. The ICC conducted its investigation without going on the ground in Darfur because of the security situation and the inability to protect witnesses and their families there.
But Ocampo told Sudan Tribune in an interview that he has enough evidence to proceed before the judges next month.
“We have strong evidence. We never move without overwhelming evidence” he said.
The low-key prosecutor stressed that he collected evidence from different sources including the Sudanese government which has refused to cooperate with his office since the issuance of arrest warrants in May 2007 against Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb.
“I have a duty to do an impartial investigation so I got information from a number of sources including the government of Sudan, the Attorney general in Khartoum and the suspects. I have all sorts of evidence. I have insiders, witnesses, victims and UN reports. There are tons of documents” Ocampo said.
“You cannot commit these types of crimes in the entire Darfur region and pretend you can hide these crimes” he added.
But the prosecutor acknowledged that arresting the suspects would be a difficult task. The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir told the visiting UNSC delegation in Khartoum today that he has no intention of cooperating with the ICC. The two suspects Haroun and Kushayb are still at large.
One of the tactics deployed by Ocampo in the cases of Uganda, the Congo and Central African Republic is the issuance of secret arrest warrants which boosts chances that the suspects would be arrested. In late May the ICC managed to nab the former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba in Belgium. Bemba’s arrest warrant was not made public until he was actually arrested.
However Ocampo made it clear that he does not intend to mimic the same approach in the coming case next month.
“The second case will be a public application. I think it is important to be transparent and clear in what happened. The Judges will decide the merits of this case” he said.
The ICC is also working on a fourth case against Darfur rebels attacking peacekeepers and aid workers. However he said the case is not complete yet.
Last September armed raiders overran the African Union (AU) base in the southern Darfur town of Haskanita killing 10 AU peacekeepers and injuring many others.
“We are still working on the Haskanita case and getting information about the rebel commanders involved so we can confirm the information. I don’t have enough evidence to go to the judges but I am collecting information” he said.
“I am also considering other crimes against aid workers and peacekeepers and maybe I can add other incidents. We are still doing the investigation and not ready to go to trial” Ocampo added.
HAROUN’S CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
The first suspect named in the Darfur case Ahmed Haroun seemed to be the main focus of Ocampo when talking to world officials.
Haroun has been promoted by the Sudanese government and was given more responsibilities, particularly handling the relationship with the Southern ex-rebels. The Sudanese TV has also tended to focus the cameras on Haroun in any public event he attends.
Even today the Sudanese minister was supposed to attend meeting between President Al-Bashir and the UNSC delegation but was a no-show.
“From the beginning I focused on those who are most responsible. In first case evidence showed Haroun as the most responsible because he was the head of the ‘Darfur Security Desk’ He coordinated the activities of Ali Kushayb and others” Ocampo said.
Haroun, who was also the state minister for interior, denied any wrongdoings and dismissed the case against him as ‘political’ and that he had a clear conscience. He also said that he is prepared to stand before the world court if his government asked him to.
Ocampo took Haroun’s remarks at face value and called on him to surrender himself to the ICC and guaranteed him a fair trial.
Haroun is wanted by the ICC for 42 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The judges they found ‘reasonable evidence to believe’ that he was responsible for persecuting, raping, attacking and killing civilians in four western Darfur villages in 2003 and 2004.
It was also reported that his family was shocked when his name came out as a war crimes suspect and that friends and relatives flocked to his home in Khartoum to offer what almost appeared to be condolences.
No extra security measures have been placed on Haroun since the ICC arrest warrants. Last year Haroun’s cell phone was stolen during a wedding he was attending in Khartoum.
HAROUN’S ESCAPE ATTEMPT
The ICC prosecutor also made the breathtaking disclosure that his office was close to arresting Haroun last December.
Earlier this year a well placed source in Khartoum told Sudan Tribune that Haroun, wanted to fly to Saudi Arabia on a forged passport.
Haroun ended up cancelling his travel plans after the Sudanese government found out, the source added.
Ocampo confirmed this piece of information and revealed more details on the Haroun’s travel plans.
“We were getting ready to divert his plane” he said.
Asked whether he had received help from other states in his attempt to arrest the Sudanese minister, Ocampo said “Absolutely. This is a UNSC resolution so all countries have a duty to support”. However he declined to name these countries.
“Some countries were willing to support and provide information on Haroun [travel] plans. We organized the logistics. Everything was settled” he said.
Ocampo said the Saudi Arabian government was aware of the plans to divert Haroun’s plane.
“The Saudis were informed. We respect states so the information was clear to them. They knew about this” he said.
“As soon as Haroun leaves Sudan he will be arrested. He is a fugitive. Inside Sudan he could have freedom. Outside Sudan he will be in jail” the ICC Prosecutor said.
Ocampo said he is receiving help from countries in tracing the Haroun and Kushayb as to “when they are moving and where are they moving”.
The prosecutor did not rule out the possibility that Haroun might make further attempts to travel abroad.
“He [Haroun] has medical problems so he could attempt. He sometimes he needs to go outside using different passports” he said.
The Sudanese official was in Jordan, the only Arab country who is party to the ICC, for medical treatment when the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo publicly announced charges against him in February 2007. The Sudanese minister returned immediately to Khartoum that day.
Last September Haroun told daily Al-Rayaam newspaper that he is not concerned about the International Police (INTERPOL) red notices distributed worldwide asking for his arrest and he will travel if needed.
ICC INVESTIGATION DANGER TO PEACE IN DARFUR?
Sudan’s U.N. ambassador Abdel-Mahmood Mohamad today lashed out at the ICC prosecutor and accused him of being a threat to peace in Darfur.
“Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan," Mohamad said.
The Sudanese diplomat has been one of the most outspoken critics of Ocampo and one point called for him to be tried in a court of law.
"This is very serious and we hold him accountable and responsible for destroying the peace process in our country," Mohamad said. "It revealed his professional bankruptcy, he deserves no respect, not to say cooperation, because we are not going to cooperate with him in any form," he said.
But Ocampo rejected Mohamad’s claims saying that the crimes committed are the obstacle to peace.
“The main obstacle for peace in Darfur today is the crimes that are being committed and also the criminals who committed crimes in positions like Haroun. They are the main obstacle” he said.
“While it is important to provide aid and peacekeepers, we have to be sure that people like Haroun are arrested. If we don’t get rid of the arsonists there will never be enough number of firefighters. The arsonists today are in charge of the fire so we try to arrest them” he added.
COVER-UP AND RESPONSIBILITY OF SUDAN GOVERNMENT
In his report to the UNSC, Ocampo made his harshest condemnation of Khartoum saying that he collected evidence of a “criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system”.
The ICC official also said that his office is investigating who “is maintaining Haroun in a position to commit crimes; who is instructing him and others”.
The statements by Ocampo were taken to suggest that he is going after senior Sudanese officials.
“When you use the state apparatus to commit crimes you are giving instructions to public servants. They have to be sure they will protect them because they are asking them to do something illegal. The state apparatus requires protection. In this sense protection could be used to establish legal responsibility” Ocampo said.
The prosecutor went on to explain the concept of cover up in the case of Darfur by giving an example of an incident that happened in Argentina during the 70’s to two French nuns who disappeared during the rule of the military Junta.
“The navy officers abducted the nuns and they took pictures of them with a sign of the guerilla behind them and they took statements from the guerilla leaders saying they abducted the nuns. This lie was not a mistake. It is a cover up [by government]” he said.
“For example last January when a UN convoy was shot at in Darfur, the Sudanese UN ambassador said that it was the rebels. In Khartoum they said no it was the government. All the state is part of the cover-up. They are minimizing the numbers of rapes and pretend that peacekeepers deployment is moving smoothly. This is all not correct” he added.
But while Ocampo recognized that he can’t charge the whole system and that he is focusing on “few people who are most responsible”.
“The rest will take many years. We start with the most responsible” he stressed.
UN & INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO THE ICC
Last October Ocampo criticized the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for neglecting the issue of justice in his monthly reports on Sudan.
“Justice was not mentioned in the UNSG subsequent reports on Darfur where the UN secretariat developed a three prong approach with a humanitarian, political and security components only” Ocampo said in prepared remarks to the 11th diplomatic briefing at the ICC headquarters in the Hague.
But today Ocampo hailed the efforts of the UN chief on the issue of extraditing the war crimes suspects.
“The Secretary General was very active on this issue and as you know he raised it with President Al-Bashir personally. I think he made great effort.”
The prosecutor also hailed the encouraging remarks made by UNSC during his briefing today.
“At least 9 of the UNSC members were very open and strong about the need to send a clear message that Sudan has to cooperate with the court”.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council (UNSC) invoked the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.
(ST)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=27428
June 5, 2008 (NEW YORK) – The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) pointed fingers at the Sudanese government and accused it of mobilizing “the whole state apparatus” to commit crimes in Darfur.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a press conference in the Hague February 27, 2007 (AP)
Luis Moreno-Ocampo delivered his semi-annual report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) today in which he provided his current investigations into the ongoing attacks against civilians in the war ravaged region.
The Argentinean born lawyer also informed the UNSC of his intention to file charges against unidentified Sudanese officials a in a few weeks time. The ICC conducted its investigation without going on the ground in Darfur because of the security situation and the inability to protect witnesses and their families there.
But Ocampo told Sudan Tribune in an interview that he has enough evidence to proceed before the judges next month.
“We have strong evidence. We never move without overwhelming evidence” he said.
The low-key prosecutor stressed that he collected evidence from different sources including the Sudanese government which has refused to cooperate with his office since the issuance of arrest warrants in May 2007 against Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb.
“I have a duty to do an impartial investigation so I got information from a number of sources including the government of Sudan, the Attorney general in Khartoum and the suspects. I have all sorts of evidence. I have insiders, witnesses, victims and UN reports. There are tons of documents” Ocampo said.
“You cannot commit these types of crimes in the entire Darfur region and pretend you can hide these crimes” he added.
But the prosecutor acknowledged that arresting the suspects would be a difficult task. The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir told the visiting UNSC delegation in Khartoum today that he has no intention of cooperating with the ICC. The two suspects Haroun and Kushayb are still at large.
One of the tactics deployed by Ocampo in the cases of Uganda, the Congo and Central African Republic is the issuance of secret arrest warrants which boosts chances that the suspects would be arrested. In late May the ICC managed to nab the former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba in Belgium. Bemba’s arrest warrant was not made public until he was actually arrested.
However Ocampo made it clear that he does not intend to mimic the same approach in the coming case next month.
“The second case will be a public application. I think it is important to be transparent and clear in what happened. The Judges will decide the merits of this case” he said.
The ICC is also working on a fourth case against Darfur rebels attacking peacekeepers and aid workers. However he said the case is not complete yet.
Last September armed raiders overran the African Union (AU) base in the southern Darfur town of Haskanita killing 10 AU peacekeepers and injuring many others.
“We are still working on the Haskanita case and getting information about the rebel commanders involved so we can confirm the information. I don’t have enough evidence to go to the judges but I am collecting information” he said.
“I am also considering other crimes against aid workers and peacekeepers and maybe I can add other incidents. We are still doing the investigation and not ready to go to trial” Ocampo added.
HAROUN’S CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
The first suspect named in the Darfur case Ahmed Haroun seemed to be the main focus of Ocampo when talking to world officials.
Haroun has been promoted by the Sudanese government and was given more responsibilities, particularly handling the relationship with the Southern ex-rebels. The Sudanese TV has also tended to focus the cameras on Haroun in any public event he attends.
Even today the Sudanese minister was supposed to attend meeting between President Al-Bashir and the UNSC delegation but was a no-show.
“From the beginning I focused on those who are most responsible. In first case evidence showed Haroun as the most responsible because he was the head of the ‘Darfur Security Desk’ He coordinated the activities of Ali Kushayb and others” Ocampo said.
Haroun, who was also the state minister for interior, denied any wrongdoings and dismissed the case against him as ‘political’ and that he had a clear conscience. He also said that he is prepared to stand before the world court if his government asked him to.
Ocampo took Haroun’s remarks at face value and called on him to surrender himself to the ICC and guaranteed him a fair trial.
Haroun is wanted by the ICC for 42 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The judges they found ‘reasonable evidence to believe’ that he was responsible for persecuting, raping, attacking and killing civilians in four western Darfur villages in 2003 and 2004.
It was also reported that his family was shocked when his name came out as a war crimes suspect and that friends and relatives flocked to his home in Khartoum to offer what almost appeared to be condolences.
No extra security measures have been placed on Haroun since the ICC arrest warrants. Last year Haroun’s cell phone was stolen during a wedding he was attending in Khartoum.
HAROUN’S ESCAPE ATTEMPT
The ICC prosecutor also made the breathtaking disclosure that his office was close to arresting Haroun last December.
Earlier this year a well placed source in Khartoum told Sudan Tribune that Haroun, wanted to fly to Saudi Arabia on a forged passport.
Haroun ended up cancelling his travel plans after the Sudanese government found out, the source added.
Ocampo confirmed this piece of information and revealed more details on the Haroun’s travel plans.
“We were getting ready to divert his plane” he said.
Asked whether he had received help from other states in his attempt to arrest the Sudanese minister, Ocampo said “Absolutely. This is a UNSC resolution so all countries have a duty to support”. However he declined to name these countries.
“Some countries were willing to support and provide information on Haroun [travel] plans. We organized the logistics. Everything was settled” he said.
Ocampo said the Saudi Arabian government was aware of the plans to divert Haroun’s plane.
“The Saudis were informed. We respect states so the information was clear to them. They knew about this” he said.
“As soon as Haroun leaves Sudan he will be arrested. He is a fugitive. Inside Sudan he could have freedom. Outside Sudan he will be in jail” the ICC Prosecutor said.
Ocampo said he is receiving help from countries in tracing the Haroun and Kushayb as to “when they are moving and where are they moving”.
The prosecutor did not rule out the possibility that Haroun might make further attempts to travel abroad.
“He [Haroun] has medical problems so he could attempt. He sometimes he needs to go outside using different passports” he said.
The Sudanese official was in Jordan, the only Arab country who is party to the ICC, for medical treatment when the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo publicly announced charges against him in February 2007. The Sudanese minister returned immediately to Khartoum that day.
Last September Haroun told daily Al-Rayaam newspaper that he is not concerned about the International Police (INTERPOL) red notices distributed worldwide asking for his arrest and he will travel if needed.
ICC INVESTIGATION DANGER TO PEACE IN DARFUR?
Sudan’s U.N. ambassador Abdel-Mahmood Mohamad today lashed out at the ICC prosecutor and accused him of being a threat to peace in Darfur.
“Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan," Mohamad said.
The Sudanese diplomat has been one of the most outspoken critics of Ocampo and one point called for him to be tried in a court of law.
"This is very serious and we hold him accountable and responsible for destroying the peace process in our country," Mohamad said. "It revealed his professional bankruptcy, he deserves no respect, not to say cooperation, because we are not going to cooperate with him in any form," he said.
But Ocampo rejected Mohamad’s claims saying that the crimes committed are the obstacle to peace.
“The main obstacle for peace in Darfur today is the crimes that are being committed and also the criminals who committed crimes in positions like Haroun. They are the main obstacle” he said.
“While it is important to provide aid and peacekeepers, we have to be sure that people like Haroun are arrested. If we don’t get rid of the arsonists there will never be enough number of firefighters. The arsonists today are in charge of the fire so we try to arrest them” he added.
COVER-UP AND RESPONSIBILITY OF SUDAN GOVERNMENT
In his report to the UNSC, Ocampo made his harshest condemnation of Khartoum saying that he collected evidence of a “criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system”.
The ICC official also said that his office is investigating who “is maintaining Haroun in a position to commit crimes; who is instructing him and others”.
The statements by Ocampo were taken to suggest that he is going after senior Sudanese officials.
“When you use the state apparatus to commit crimes you are giving instructions to public servants. They have to be sure they will protect them because they are asking them to do something illegal. The state apparatus requires protection. In this sense protection could be used to establish legal responsibility” Ocampo said.
The prosecutor went on to explain the concept of cover up in the case of Darfur by giving an example of an incident that happened in Argentina during the 70’s to two French nuns who disappeared during the rule of the military Junta.
“The navy officers abducted the nuns and they took pictures of them with a sign of the guerilla behind them and they took statements from the guerilla leaders saying they abducted the nuns. This lie was not a mistake. It is a cover up [by government]” he said.
“For example last January when a UN convoy was shot at in Darfur, the Sudanese UN ambassador said that it was the rebels. In Khartoum they said no it was the government. All the state is part of the cover-up. They are minimizing the numbers of rapes and pretend that peacekeepers deployment is moving smoothly. This is all not correct” he added.
But while Ocampo recognized that he can’t charge the whole system and that he is focusing on “few people who are most responsible”.
“The rest will take many years. We start with the most responsible” he stressed.
UN & INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO THE ICC
Last October Ocampo criticized the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for neglecting the issue of justice in his monthly reports on Sudan.
“Justice was not mentioned in the UNSG subsequent reports on Darfur where the UN secretariat developed a three prong approach with a humanitarian, political and security components only” Ocampo said in prepared remarks to the 11th diplomatic briefing at the ICC headquarters in the Hague.
But today Ocampo hailed the efforts of the UN chief on the issue of extraditing the war crimes suspects.
“The Secretary General was very active on this issue and as you know he raised it with President Al-Bashir personally. I think he made great effort.”
The prosecutor also hailed the encouraging remarks made by UNSC during his briefing today.
“At least 9 of the UNSC members were very open and strong about the need to send a clear message that Sudan has to cooperate with the court”.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council (UNSC) invoked the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.
(ST)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=27428
Friday, June 6, 2008
ICC Prosecutor : Darfur is a huge crime scene
The Hague, 5 June 2008
Today in New York, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo informed the United Nations Security Council that he will present in July a second Darfur case before the ICC judges.
“The entire Darfur region is a crime scene. For 5 years, civilians have been attacked relentlessly. In their villages. Then into the camps. They cannot return. Their land has been usurped. To plan and commit such crimes, on such a scale, over such a period of time, the criminals had to mobilize and coordinate the whole state apparatus, from the security services to the public information bureaucracies and the judiciary. Cover up of crimes by Sudanese officials, pretending that all is well in Darfur, blaming crimes on others, is a characteristic of the criminal system at work. We have seen it before, in Rwanda, in the former Yugoslavia, in my own country Argentina during the military dictatorship’.
“The victims are being attacked by the Sudanese officials who have to protect them. If the international community is persuaded to look away and fails to recognize the situation for what it is - the execution of a massive criminal plan to destroy entire communities in Darfur - it would be a final blow to the victims.” The Prosecutor said, asking the UNSC to issue a statement requesting full cooperation of the Sudanese with the Court.
He also mentioned that one year after the first arrest warrants were issued by the ICC, the Government of Sudan has not complied with Resolution 1593, has not arrested Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb, a militia Janjaweed leader. They remain free and involved in criminal acts against civilians in Darfur.
“They are fugitives from the ICC” the Prosecutor said. ‘Ahmed Harun is still Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs; he is a member of the committee overseeing the deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers. Impunity is not an empty word. Ahmed Harun is attacking civilians; he is hindering the delivery of aid and the protective functions of the peacekeepers. The international community is sending firefighters and the Government of the Sudan is promoting the arsonist’ added Luis Moreno Ocampo.
“As long as Harun and Kushayb remain free in Sudan, the criminal system will remain at work. Girls will continue to be raped. Schools will be attacked. Land will be usurped. Entire groups will disintegrate. Impunity emboldens the criminals.”
The International Criminal Court is an independent, permanent court that investigates and prosecutes persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes if national authorities with jurisdiction are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely. The Office of the Prosecutor is currently investigating in four situations: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Uganda, the Darfur region of Sudan, and the Central African Republic, all still engulfed in various degrees of conflict with victims in urgent need of protection.
http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/375.html
Today in New York, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo informed the United Nations Security Council that he will present in July a second Darfur case before the ICC judges.
“The entire Darfur region is a crime scene. For 5 years, civilians have been attacked relentlessly. In their villages. Then into the camps. They cannot return. Their land has been usurped. To plan and commit such crimes, on such a scale, over such a period of time, the criminals had to mobilize and coordinate the whole state apparatus, from the security services to the public information bureaucracies and the judiciary. Cover up of crimes by Sudanese officials, pretending that all is well in Darfur, blaming crimes on others, is a characteristic of the criminal system at work. We have seen it before, in Rwanda, in the former Yugoslavia, in my own country Argentina during the military dictatorship’.
“The victims are being attacked by the Sudanese officials who have to protect them. If the international community is persuaded to look away and fails to recognize the situation for what it is - the execution of a massive criminal plan to destroy entire communities in Darfur - it would be a final blow to the victims.” The Prosecutor said, asking the UNSC to issue a statement requesting full cooperation of the Sudanese with the Court.
He also mentioned that one year after the first arrest warrants were issued by the ICC, the Government of Sudan has not complied with Resolution 1593, has not arrested Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb, a militia Janjaweed leader. They remain free and involved in criminal acts against civilians in Darfur.
“They are fugitives from the ICC” the Prosecutor said. ‘Ahmed Harun is still Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs; he is a member of the committee overseeing the deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers. Impunity is not an empty word. Ahmed Harun is attacking civilians; he is hindering the delivery of aid and the protective functions of the peacekeepers. The international community is sending firefighters and the Government of the Sudan is promoting the arsonist’ added Luis Moreno Ocampo.
“As long as Harun and Kushayb remain free in Sudan, the criminal system will remain at work. Girls will continue to be raped. Schools will be attacked. Land will be usurped. Entire groups will disintegrate. Impunity emboldens the criminals.”
The International Criminal Court is an independent, permanent court that investigates and prosecutes persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes if national authorities with jurisdiction are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely. The Office of the Prosecutor is currently investigating in four situations: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Uganda, the Darfur region of Sudan, and the Central African Republic, all still engulfed in various degrees of conflict with victims in urgent need of protection.
http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/375.html
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Displacement in Abyei is a remake of Darfur – rebel chief
Wednesday 4 June 2008.
June 3, 2008 (PARIS) — Speaking about the massive displacement of civilians from the disputed Abyei, a Darfur rebel leader said what has been done in Abyei is a remake of what Khartoum did in western Sudan.
Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur
The International Organisation for Migration said 50,000 to 60,000 people had fled to Agok, 25 km south of Abyei, and neighbouring villages, while another 10,000 were believed to have walked south toward the town of Turalei.
Abdel-Wahid al-Nur the leader of Sudan Liberation Movement condemned the displacement of Abyei population saying “world have to think twice about dealing with the government of the National Congress Party.”
Al-Nur accused Khartoum of deliberately igniting violence in the disputed Abyei in order to change the demographic composition of the region and the settle Arab tribes to ensure its control over oil fields in the contested area.
The rebel leader further said what Khartoum did in Darfur with regard to the displacement of civilians and the settlement of Arab new comers from neighboring countries is now implemented in Abyei.
He said that this "Islamist government" extrapolated this policy to other parts of Sudan in order to ensure its hegemony on the country. He cited the forcible relocation of Kajabar population and the projected settlement of Egyptian farmers in central Sudan stated of White Nile.
Al-Nur added that the Sudanese government proves again through the non implementation of Abyei Protocol that it has no consideration to the signed deal and do not recognise the authority of the international institutions. "They just know the language of violence and not admit democracy because it will exclude them." He said.
The rebel leader also said the US envoy Richard Williamson had a very instructive stay in Sudan where he had the occasion to verify the true nature of the ruling National Congress Party.
He further exhorted the US administration particularly and the international community generally should learn from this experience that their current approach with Sudanese government has failed.
The U.S. has suspended talks to normalize relations with Sudan, U.S. and Sudanese officials said Tuesday.
(ST)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=27405
June 3, 2008 (PARIS) — Speaking about the massive displacement of civilians from the disputed Abyei, a Darfur rebel leader said what has been done in Abyei is a remake of what Khartoum did in western Sudan.
Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur
The International Organisation for Migration said 50,000 to 60,000 people had fled to Agok, 25 km south of Abyei, and neighbouring villages, while another 10,000 were believed to have walked south toward the town of Turalei.
Abdel-Wahid al-Nur the leader of Sudan Liberation Movement condemned the displacement of Abyei population saying “world have to think twice about dealing with the government of the National Congress Party.”
Al-Nur accused Khartoum of deliberately igniting violence in the disputed Abyei in order to change the demographic composition of the region and the settle Arab tribes to ensure its control over oil fields in the contested area.
The rebel leader further said what Khartoum did in Darfur with regard to the displacement of civilians and the settlement of Arab new comers from neighboring countries is now implemented in Abyei.
He said that this "Islamist government" extrapolated this policy to other parts of Sudan in order to ensure its hegemony on the country. He cited the forcible relocation of Kajabar population and the projected settlement of Egyptian farmers in central Sudan stated of White Nile.
Al-Nur added that the Sudanese government proves again through the non implementation of Abyei Protocol that it has no consideration to the signed deal and do not recognise the authority of the international institutions. "They just know the language of violence and not admit democracy because it will exclude them." He said.
The rebel leader also said the US envoy Richard Williamson had a very instructive stay in Sudan where he had the occasion to verify the true nature of the ruling National Congress Party.
He further exhorted the US administration particularly and the international community generally should learn from this experience that their current approach with Sudanese government has failed.
The U.S. has suspended talks to normalize relations with Sudan, U.S. and Sudanese officials said Tuesday.
(ST)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=27405
Europe is willing to consider sanctions against Sudan over ICC
Thursday 5 June 2008.
June 4, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The European Union is willing to consider penalties against Sudan should Khartoum continue to harbor suspected Darfur war criminals charged by the world court, a top diplomat said Wednesday.
French ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose country assumes the rotating E.U. presidency next month, criticized Sudan’s refusal to surrender two alleged war criminals to the International Criminal Court.
Ripert was speaking after a meeting with presidential advisor Nafie Ali Nafie. He was traveling in a U.N. Security Council mission, which held talks Wednesday with the Sudanese government during a 10-day tour of African troublespots.
"France and the European Union are ready to consider additional measures against the government of Sudan if it continues to refuse to cooperate," Ripert told reporters in Khartoum.
"All the Europeans present supported me. It’s the first time that six European countries (those in the U.N. Security Council) state clearly that this U.N. resolution must be respected," he added.
Three years ago, the Security Council referred Darfur justice to the ICC, and human rights watchdogs used the U.N. visit to Khartoum Wednesday to again urge the delegation to persuade Sudan to hand over suspects facing arrest warrants.
Sudan has consistently ignored ICC arrest warrants for secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kosheib, and says it has established its own court to try Darfur cases.
"It is time to respond to Khartoum’s flagrant obstruction with a clear resolution reminding Sudan of its obligations to the court and to the victims," said Niemat Ahmadi from the faith-based Save Darfur Coalition.
Thursday, the U.N. Security Council mission is to travel to Darfur - the same day that ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will unveil details of a second case against senior figures in the five-year Darfur war.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Haroun and Kosheib April 27, 2007. They are charged with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, persecution, torture, rape and forcible displacement.
The 15 U.N. ambassadors Wednesday met Foreign Minister Deng Alor and Vice President Ali Osman Taha as well as Nafie.
Alor, who belongs to the southern former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement that has shared power with the National Congress of President Omar al-Beshir since the end of a 21-year civil war, said his party favored cooperation.
"I am not talking as a minister of foreign affairs. In this particular issue I’m speaking as SPLM and SPLM calls for cooperation. That’s what I said in my briefing with the ambassadors," Alor said.
But Sudan’s ambassador to the U.N., Abdalmahmood Mohamad, said Khartoum would never extradite any Sudanese to The Hague and launched a stinging attack on ICC prosecutor Ocampo.
"We are not a member of the ICC. They have no jurisdiction over us. We will never submit any Sudanese citizen to The Hague," he said.
In July 2007, Sudan told the U.N. Human Rights Committee that it was handling cases against soldiers and police officers accused of crimes in Darfur.
"He (Ocampo) is one of the major destroyers of the peace process in Sudan. It reveals his professional bankruptcy because he is dealing with an activist not a jurist," the U.N. ambassador told reporters.
"He is serving certain agendas to keep this country in an intensive care unit," he added.
Last year, Sudan highlighted more than a dozen cases against soldiers or "senior officers" in Darfur which resulted in the death penalty, jail sentences and damages paid to victims’ families for murder, torture and rape.
The U.S. has called on the European Union to match U.S. financial sanctions against Sudan in order to force Khartoum to accept the deployment of a U.N.-led peacekeeping force in Darfur.
The U.N. says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.
The conflict began when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.
(AFP)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=27412
June 4, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The European Union is willing to consider penalties against Sudan should Khartoum continue to harbor suspected Darfur war criminals charged by the world court, a top diplomat said Wednesday.
French ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Maurice Ripert, whose country assumes the rotating E.U. presidency next month, criticized Sudan’s refusal to surrender two alleged war criminals to the International Criminal Court.
Ripert was speaking after a meeting with presidential advisor Nafie Ali Nafie. He was traveling in a U.N. Security Council mission, which held talks Wednesday with the Sudanese government during a 10-day tour of African troublespots.
"France and the European Union are ready to consider additional measures against the government of Sudan if it continues to refuse to cooperate," Ripert told reporters in Khartoum.
"All the Europeans present supported me. It’s the first time that six European countries (those in the U.N. Security Council) state clearly that this U.N. resolution must be respected," he added.
Three years ago, the Security Council referred Darfur justice to the ICC, and human rights watchdogs used the U.N. visit to Khartoum Wednesday to again urge the delegation to persuade Sudan to hand over suspects facing arrest warrants.
Sudan has consistently ignored ICC arrest warrants for secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kosheib, and says it has established its own court to try Darfur cases.
"It is time to respond to Khartoum’s flagrant obstruction with a clear resolution reminding Sudan of its obligations to the court and to the victims," said Niemat Ahmadi from the faith-based Save Darfur Coalition.
Thursday, the U.N. Security Council mission is to travel to Darfur - the same day that ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will unveil details of a second case against senior figures in the five-year Darfur war.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Haroun and Kosheib April 27, 2007. They are charged with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, persecution, torture, rape and forcible displacement.
The 15 U.N. ambassadors Wednesday met Foreign Minister Deng Alor and Vice President Ali Osman Taha as well as Nafie.
Alor, who belongs to the southern former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement that has shared power with the National Congress of President Omar al-Beshir since the end of a 21-year civil war, said his party favored cooperation.
"I am not talking as a minister of foreign affairs. In this particular issue I’m speaking as SPLM and SPLM calls for cooperation. That’s what I said in my briefing with the ambassadors," Alor said.
But Sudan’s ambassador to the U.N., Abdalmahmood Mohamad, said Khartoum would never extradite any Sudanese to The Hague and launched a stinging attack on ICC prosecutor Ocampo.
"We are not a member of the ICC. They have no jurisdiction over us. We will never submit any Sudanese citizen to The Hague," he said.
In July 2007, Sudan told the U.N. Human Rights Committee that it was handling cases against soldiers and police officers accused of crimes in Darfur.
"He (Ocampo) is one of the major destroyers of the peace process in Sudan. It reveals his professional bankruptcy because he is dealing with an activist not a jurist," the U.N. ambassador told reporters.
"He is serving certain agendas to keep this country in an intensive care unit," he added.
Last year, Sudan highlighted more than a dozen cases against soldiers or "senior officers" in Darfur which resulted in the death penalty, jail sentences and damages paid to victims’ families for murder, torture and rape.
The U.S. has called on the European Union to match U.S. financial sanctions against Sudan in order to force Khartoum to accept the deployment of a U.N.-led peacekeeping force in Darfur.
The U.N. says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.
The conflict began when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.
(AFP)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?page=imprimable&id_article=27412
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
'Whole state' behind Darfur crime
The "whole state apparatus" of Sudan is implicated in crimes against humanity in Darfur, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo's report into the crisis in western Sudan, due on Thursday, coincides with a visit to the region by the UN Security Council.
Sudan's ambassador to the UN said the comments were "fictitious and vicious" and harmful to the prospects of peace.
The UN ambassadors are in the country to try to end the conflict.
In the report on the situation in Sudan, to be delivered to the UN Security Council, Mr Moreno-Ocampo repeats his earlier call for the council to demand that Sudan hand over two men who face charges of crimes against humanity.
Time for sanctions
The treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC) was intended to hold individuals, not entire states, responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
By accusing Sudan's "whole state apparatus" of helping shield criminals, correspondents say, the prosecutor is implicating some of the highest officials of the government.
The Sudanese ambassador to the UN responded angrily that his country will not bend to the will of the ICC.
"We will never submit any of our citizens to be tried in The Hague," Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed said.
"Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan."
Mr Moreno-Ocampo's report comes as the Aegis Trust campaign group released a 17-minute film featuring harrowing eyewitness accounts of the war crimes allegedly committed by the two men whom the ICC accuses the Sudanese government of harbouring.
During the five-year conflict, pro-government Arab militias stand accused of committing atrocities against black Africans.
It is a conflict that has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and caused 2.5m people to flee their homes.
Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Janjaweed militia, and Ahmad Harun, Sudan's current Humanitarian Affairs Minister, are both charged with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, persecution, torture, rape and forcible displacement.
Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, said the time had come for the Security Council to increase the pressure.
"It is time the Security Council placed targeted sanctions - travel bans at least - on those in Sudan who harbour those wanted for war crimes."
France's ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, who is taking part in the visit to Africa's trouble spots, said Europe would be willing to penalise Sudan if it did not cooperate with the ICC.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/7436472.stm
Published: 2008/06/04 22:33:41 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Luis Moreno-Ocampo's report into the crisis in western Sudan, due on Thursday, coincides with a visit to the region by the UN Security Council.
Sudan's ambassador to the UN said the comments were "fictitious and vicious" and harmful to the prospects of peace.
The UN ambassadors are in the country to try to end the conflict.
In the report on the situation in Sudan, to be delivered to the UN Security Council, Mr Moreno-Ocampo repeats his earlier call for the council to demand that Sudan hand over two men who face charges of crimes against humanity.
Time for sanctions
The treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC) was intended to hold individuals, not entire states, responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
By accusing Sudan's "whole state apparatus" of helping shield criminals, correspondents say, the prosecutor is implicating some of the highest officials of the government.
The Sudanese ambassador to the UN responded angrily that his country will not bend to the will of the ICC.
"We will never submit any of our citizens to be tried in The Hague," Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed said.
"Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan."
Mr Moreno-Ocampo's report comes as the Aegis Trust campaign group released a 17-minute film featuring harrowing eyewitness accounts of the war crimes allegedly committed by the two men whom the ICC accuses the Sudanese government of harbouring.
During the five-year conflict, pro-government Arab militias stand accused of committing atrocities against black Africans.
It is a conflict that has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and caused 2.5m people to flee their homes.
Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Janjaweed militia, and Ahmad Harun, Sudan's current Humanitarian Affairs Minister, are both charged with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, persecution, torture, rape and forcible displacement.
Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, said the time had come for the Security Council to increase the pressure.
"It is time the Security Council placed targeted sanctions - travel bans at least - on those in Sudan who harbour those wanted for war crimes."
France's ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, who is taking part in the visit to Africa's trouble spots, said Europe would be willing to penalise Sudan if it did not cooperate with the ICC.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/7436472.stm
Published: 2008/06/04 22:33:41 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
An Up-close View of Brutality in Darfur
Christian Science Monitor, May 12, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008 - 12:17 AM
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0512/p09s02-coop.html
By Eric Reeves
NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS - The brutality of the Khartoum regime's military actions in the Darfur region of western Sudan continually forces a question that seems to have no morally intelligible answer: Is there no act of civilian destruction so cruel, so savage, that the international community will finally respond vigorously and unambiguously?
On May 4, at about 4 p.m., a school was bombed in the village of Shegeg Karo in North Darfur; one classroom was destroyed, killing six students and injuring others. The village marketplace was also bombed, killing several people and destroying most of the shops in this vestige of a shattered agricultural economy.
The plane that dropped the bombs was an Antonov. It's not a bomber by design, but a retrofitted Russian cargo plane from which crude, shrapnel-loaded barrel bombs are simply rolled out the back cargo bay. There is no bombing guidance system, so Antonovs are useless as true military weapons. But they are exquisitely suited for their real purpose in Darfur: civilian terror.
Khartoum refuses to acknowledge or accept responsibility for the attacks, even as it refused to allow UN personnel to evacuate badly wounded children. But only Khartoum flies military aircraft in Darfur, so there can be very little doubt that the attacks were authorized by the military command of the National Islamic Front. As Human Rights Watch has conclusively demonstrated, Khartoum's chain of command – both military and civilian – is powerfully hierarchical. This was not the action of a rogue commander, but almost certainly an act of deliberate civilian destruction countenanced by senior officials.
Highly reliable sources report that the Antonov hovered over Shegeg Karo for a while before finally dropping its bomb load. There could have been no mistaking the civilian nature of the target.
This is hardly surprising. We have countless reports of similar bombing attacks in Darfur as well as during Sudan's earlier north/south conflict. Indeed, in southern Sudan, Khartoum repeatedly and deliberately attacked the sites of humanitarian operations.
This bombing attack, on a conspicuously civilian target, violates not only international law but a ban on all military flights in Darfur, nominally imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1591 in March 2005. Khartoum has shown nothing but contempt for both, and the international community has watched with nothing but idle words and unctuous hand-wringing Рa fact not lost on the regime's g̩nocidaires as they calculate the costs of their continuing campaign of civilian destruction.
Who are the victims of this international cowardice? Who suffers when the world refuses to demand justice of those who would deliberately kill children? Let's at least grant the dignity of names to the victims of this most recent barbarism:
•Fatima Suleiman Adam Omar, 3rd grade, 10 years old
•Fatima Ahmad Bashir, 2nd grade, 8 years old
•Mubarak Mohammed Ahmad, 3rd grade, 10 years old
•Yusuf Adam Hamid, kindergarten, 5 years old
•Munira Suleiman Adam, 2nd grade, 7 years old
•Adam Ahmad Yusuf, 4th grade, 11 years old
How would Americans respond if terrorists acting on behalf of another country deliberately killed, with complete military impunity, six young children in one of our nation's schools? Outrage would bring the country to a halt. It would change the very nature of the presidential campaign. News coverage would be unending. Washington's response against the offending nation would be swift and destructive.
And yet in Darfur, an act all too analogous barely registers here. Darfur's victims are people whose lives have long since endured a ghastly moral discounting. These are not "our children," these are not "our problems," this is not "our responsibility."
The whole world should respond vigorously to a nation that barbarously bombs kindergartners such as Yusuf Adam Hamid. Instead, we lamely bow in deference to Sudan's "national sovereignty." Do we have the courage to accept the stark implications of our refusal to hold accountable those responsible for his death? The answer is painfully, disgracefully obvious.
[Eric Reeves, a professor of English language and literature at Smith College, is the author of "A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide"]
CORRECTION:
May 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
UPDATE ON SHEGEG KARO BOMBING
Shegeg Karo village in North Darfur was bombed repeatedly by an Antonov aircraft on Sunday, May 4th. The bombing happened between 2-3pm, not at 4pm as reported in the May 5 press release from “Darfur Diaries”.
The Shegeg Karo market was hit directly and was completely burned, as confirmed by a UNAMID press release on May 10th. The school facilities, which had been reported as hit in the May 5 press release, we are now informed were unaffected. We have since been told that the six school children who were killed had already left the school and were in the adjacent market when the bombs dropped.
On Tuesday afternoon, May 6th, after waiting for 48 hours for medical help from UNAMID or a humanitarian organization the villagers drove cars with the most severely wounded in search of medical treatment. The four most severely injured civilians were reportedly taken to Bir Maza, a four hour drive away, including an unconscious eight year old girl they believed had a broken back and a fourteen year old boy they believed had a broken arm and leg and who had lost a lot of blood. A further eight more moderately injured civilians were driven by the villagers to Bahai, Chad to seek medical treatment.
Shegeg Karo received no help from UNAMID or humanitarian organizations until Wednesday, May 7th, when the ICRC came by land to treat the wounded.
A UNAMIS assessment team did not arrive to the village until Thursday, May 8, four days after the bombing, although the World Health Organization and the UN Department of Safety and Security had been notified just hours after the attack and UNICEF health division notified the following morning.
The Shegeg Karo school is funded by the Darfur Diaries project in cooperation with the Darfur Peace and Development Organization (www.darfurdiaries.org)
For more information, please contact:
Jen Marlowe, Darfur Diaries, or 1.202.375.3492
jenmarlowe@hotmail.com
www.darfurdiaries.org
http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article214.html
Monday, May 12, 2008 - 12:17 AM
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0512/p09s02-coop.html
By Eric Reeves
NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS - The brutality of the Khartoum regime's military actions in the Darfur region of western Sudan continually forces a question that seems to have no morally intelligible answer: Is there no act of civilian destruction so cruel, so savage, that the international community will finally respond vigorously and unambiguously?
On May 4, at about 4 p.m., a school was bombed in the village of Shegeg Karo in North Darfur; one classroom was destroyed, killing six students and injuring others. The village marketplace was also bombed, killing several people and destroying most of the shops in this vestige of a shattered agricultural economy.
The plane that dropped the bombs was an Antonov. It's not a bomber by design, but a retrofitted Russian cargo plane from which crude, shrapnel-loaded barrel bombs are simply rolled out the back cargo bay. There is no bombing guidance system, so Antonovs are useless as true military weapons. But they are exquisitely suited for their real purpose in Darfur: civilian terror.
Khartoum refuses to acknowledge or accept responsibility for the attacks, even as it refused to allow UN personnel to evacuate badly wounded children. But only Khartoum flies military aircraft in Darfur, so there can be very little doubt that the attacks were authorized by the military command of the National Islamic Front. As Human Rights Watch has conclusively demonstrated, Khartoum's chain of command – both military and civilian – is powerfully hierarchical. This was not the action of a rogue commander, but almost certainly an act of deliberate civilian destruction countenanced by senior officials.
Highly reliable sources report that the Antonov hovered over Shegeg Karo for a while before finally dropping its bomb load. There could have been no mistaking the civilian nature of the target.
This is hardly surprising. We have countless reports of similar bombing attacks in Darfur as well as during Sudan's earlier north/south conflict. Indeed, in southern Sudan, Khartoum repeatedly and deliberately attacked the sites of humanitarian operations.
This bombing attack, on a conspicuously civilian target, violates not only international law but a ban on all military flights in Darfur, nominally imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1591 in March 2005. Khartoum has shown nothing but contempt for both, and the international community has watched with nothing but idle words and unctuous hand-wringing Рa fact not lost on the regime's g̩nocidaires as they calculate the costs of their continuing campaign of civilian destruction.
Who are the victims of this international cowardice? Who suffers when the world refuses to demand justice of those who would deliberately kill children? Let's at least grant the dignity of names to the victims of this most recent barbarism:
•Fatima Suleiman Adam Omar, 3rd grade, 10 years old
•Fatima Ahmad Bashir, 2nd grade, 8 years old
•Mubarak Mohammed Ahmad, 3rd grade, 10 years old
•Yusuf Adam Hamid, kindergarten, 5 years old
•Munira Suleiman Adam, 2nd grade, 7 years old
•Adam Ahmad Yusuf, 4th grade, 11 years old
How would Americans respond if terrorists acting on behalf of another country deliberately killed, with complete military impunity, six young children in one of our nation's schools? Outrage would bring the country to a halt. It would change the very nature of the presidential campaign. News coverage would be unending. Washington's response against the offending nation would be swift and destructive.
And yet in Darfur, an act all too analogous barely registers here. Darfur's victims are people whose lives have long since endured a ghastly moral discounting. These are not "our children," these are not "our problems," this is not "our responsibility."
The whole world should respond vigorously to a nation that barbarously bombs kindergartners such as Yusuf Adam Hamid. Instead, we lamely bow in deference to Sudan's "national sovereignty." Do we have the courage to accept the stark implications of our refusal to hold accountable those responsible for his death? The answer is painfully, disgracefully obvious.
[Eric Reeves, a professor of English language and literature at Smith College, is the author of "A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide"]
CORRECTION:
May 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
UPDATE ON SHEGEG KARO BOMBING
Shegeg Karo village in North Darfur was bombed repeatedly by an Antonov aircraft on Sunday, May 4th. The bombing happened between 2-3pm, not at 4pm as reported in the May 5 press release from “Darfur Diaries”.
The Shegeg Karo market was hit directly and was completely burned, as confirmed by a UNAMID press release on May 10th. The school facilities, which had been reported as hit in the May 5 press release, we are now informed were unaffected. We have since been told that the six school children who were killed had already left the school and were in the adjacent market when the bombs dropped.
On Tuesday afternoon, May 6th, after waiting for 48 hours for medical help from UNAMID or a humanitarian organization the villagers drove cars with the most severely wounded in search of medical treatment. The four most severely injured civilians were reportedly taken to Bir Maza, a four hour drive away, including an unconscious eight year old girl they believed had a broken back and a fourteen year old boy they believed had a broken arm and leg and who had lost a lot of blood. A further eight more moderately injured civilians were driven by the villagers to Bahai, Chad to seek medical treatment.
Shegeg Karo received no help from UNAMID or humanitarian organizations until Wednesday, May 7th, when the ICRC came by land to treat the wounded.
A UNAMIS assessment team did not arrive to the village until Thursday, May 8, four days after the bombing, although the World Health Organization and the UN Department of Safety and Security had been notified just hours after the attack and UNICEF health division notified the following morning.
The Shegeg Karo school is funded by the Darfur Diaries project in cooperation with the Darfur Peace and Development Organization (www.darfurdiaries.org)
For more information, please contact:
Jen Marlowe, Darfur Diaries, or 1.202.375.3492
jenmarlowe@hotmail.com
www.darfurdiaries.org
http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article214.html
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sudan "on brink" of north-south war - southern official
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, May 26 (Reuters) - Sudan is on the brink of a new civil war following more than a week of north-south clashes in the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei, a senior southern official said on Monday.
Pagan Amum, secretary general of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), told reporters northern troops were building up around the remote central town, with southern troops likely to follow.
Amum said the way to avoid a full-scale conflict was for all troops to leave the town, to be replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force or, eventually, joint north-south military units.
"We are on the brink of war as we speak. Clashes have already happened and forces are building up," he said before a news conference in Khartoum.
Sudan has witnessed sporadic, sometimes fierce fighting in recent weeks in the Abyei region, which is claimed by both Khartoum and the southern government.
Some 21 northern Sudanese army soldiers and an unknown number of southerners were killed last week in fighting that followed a week of skirmishes sparked by a local dispute. The clashes have displaced tens of thousands of people.
A two-decade-long civil war fought by Sudan's government and southern rebels and complicated by issues of ethnicity, ideology and oil ended with a 2005 peace deal and a coalition government formed by the SPLM and the northern National Congress Party (NCP).
But ties have been strained by the failure to agree on borders or a local government for Abyei. At stake are a nearby oil pipeline and installations that produce around half of Sudan's daily output of 500,000 barrels of oil, and grazing grounds and territory coveted by northerners and southerners.
Amum said northern government forces had been building up positions close to the town since last week's heavy clashes.
"I'm sure this will get a response from the SPLA," he added, referring to the armed wing of the SPLM -- now the army of Sudan's semi-autonomous southern government.
Amum said the south was doing all it could to avoid war. "For us, war is not an option ... Moving forces out of the area is the most important step now," he said.
"The only logical common sense is to demilitarise the area, deploy U.N. forces into the area, then after that we can proceed to deploy fresh joint integrated forces into the area."
"If the parties cannot agree to form a joint administration, let there be an international administration," he said.
Amum accused northern forces of starting the clashes to clear the area's population and claim the land as their own.
"(They) might have thought they could find a final solution to the problem of Abyei by replacing the population of Abyei."
He said the SPLM condemned "this barbaric act" by the Sudan government. "This was an act perpetrated by SAF (northern Sudan Armed Forces) under the direct leadership and command of the National Congress Party," Amum said.
Didiri Mohamed Ahmed, the NCP official in charge of Abyei, said he would not respond to Amum's comments ahead of a meeting of military officers and senior officials from both the north and south, due to take place in Khartoum on Tuesday.
He said he was also waiting for the results of a U.N.-led investigation into who sparked the latest clashes in Abyei. "When we know the culprit, hopefully both sides will have the courage to take the culprit to account," he added.
Sudan's ruling party last week denied southern accusations Khartoum was sending more troops to Abyei.
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSL26564278?sp=true
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
KHARTOUM, May 26 (Reuters) - Sudan is on the brink of a new civil war following more than a week of north-south clashes in the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei, a senior southern official said on Monday.
Pagan Amum, secretary general of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), told reporters northern troops were building up around the remote central town, with southern troops likely to follow.
Amum said the way to avoid a full-scale conflict was for all troops to leave the town, to be replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force or, eventually, joint north-south military units.
"We are on the brink of war as we speak. Clashes have already happened and forces are building up," he said before a news conference in Khartoum.
Sudan has witnessed sporadic, sometimes fierce fighting in recent weeks in the Abyei region, which is claimed by both Khartoum and the southern government.
Some 21 northern Sudanese army soldiers and an unknown number of southerners were killed last week in fighting that followed a week of skirmishes sparked by a local dispute. The clashes have displaced tens of thousands of people.
A two-decade-long civil war fought by Sudan's government and southern rebels and complicated by issues of ethnicity, ideology and oil ended with a 2005 peace deal and a coalition government formed by the SPLM and the northern National Congress Party (NCP).
But ties have been strained by the failure to agree on borders or a local government for Abyei. At stake are a nearby oil pipeline and installations that produce around half of Sudan's daily output of 500,000 barrels of oil, and grazing grounds and territory coveted by northerners and southerners.
Amum said northern government forces had been building up positions close to the town since last week's heavy clashes.
"I'm sure this will get a response from the SPLA," he added, referring to the armed wing of the SPLM -- now the army of Sudan's semi-autonomous southern government.
Amum said the south was doing all it could to avoid war. "For us, war is not an option ... Moving forces out of the area is the most important step now," he said.
"The only logical common sense is to demilitarise the area, deploy U.N. forces into the area, then after that we can proceed to deploy fresh joint integrated forces into the area."
"If the parties cannot agree to form a joint administration, let there be an international administration," he said.
Amum accused northern forces of starting the clashes to clear the area's population and claim the land as their own.
"(They) might have thought they could find a final solution to the problem of Abyei by replacing the population of Abyei."
He said the SPLM condemned "this barbaric act" by the Sudan government. "This was an act perpetrated by SAF (northern Sudan Armed Forces) under the direct leadership and command of the National Congress Party," Amum said.
Didiri Mohamed Ahmed, the NCP official in charge of Abyei, said he would not respond to Amum's comments ahead of a meeting of military officers and senior officials from both the north and south, due to take place in Khartoum on Tuesday.
He said he was also waiting for the results of a U.N.-led investigation into who sparked the latest clashes in Abyei. "When we know the culprit, hopefully both sides will have the courage to take the culprit to account," he added.
Sudan's ruling party last week denied southern accusations Khartoum was sending more troops to Abyei.
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSL26564278?sp=true
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Saturday, May 24, 2008
"They Shot Us As We Fled": HRW
In their most recent report on the situation on the ground in Darfur, Human Rights Watch outlines the massive human scale of the war crimes that were committed in West Darfur in February 2008 (as well as in attacks in April). The political and militaristic relations between Chad and Sudan are explored and analyzed in terms of its effects on the conflict in Darfur. HRW calls on the UN to impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for violating international human rights laws, as well as pressing for the ensured full-equipped deployment of UNAMID peacekeeping troops to the region. Not only is it the imperative of international law to fully address these crimes: it is also the imperative of humanity to ensure that the hell described below can never occur again.
"The attacks were carried out in a similar pattern in all locations, using aerial and
ground forces that included airplanes, helicopters, ground troops and large numbers
of Janjaweed militia on horse and camels. Working in concert, these forces killed,
assaulted, raped, and abducted civilians, destroyed their homes and villages, and
looted and destroyed their property, including food and water stores. The
government forces targeted civilians, particularly men, as they fled. In two cases
documented by Human Rights Watch, attackers shot at fleeing women with babies
on their backs, killing the babies. Humanitarian organizations, including clinics,
were robbed and vandalized."(The full report can be found in various forms at http://hrw.org/reports/2008/darfur0508/)
"The attacks were carried out in a similar pattern in all locations, using aerial and
ground forces that included airplanes, helicopters, ground troops and large numbers
of Janjaweed militia on horse and camels. Working in concert, these forces killed,
assaulted, raped, and abducted civilians, destroyed their homes and villages, and
looted and destroyed their property, including food and water stores. The
government forces targeted civilians, particularly men, as they fled. In two cases
documented by Human Rights Watch, attackers shot at fleeing women with babies
on their backs, killing the babies. Humanitarian organizations, including clinics,
were robbed and vandalized."(The full report can be found in various forms at http://hrw.org/reports/2008/darfur0508/)
Darfur crisis reaches Sudanese capital: Amnesty
23 May 2008
Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the Sudanese security forces’ crackdown following the incursion into Khartoum, by an armed group. The crackdown has been characterized by serious human rights violations including hundreds of arbitrary arrests, cases of ill-treatment, as well as extra-judicial executions. These violations have mostly been targeted at Darfuris.
On Saturday 10 May 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur based armed opposition group launched a military attack on the outskirts of Khartoum. The attack marked the beginning of a new phase of the conflict in Darfur, with an armed opposition group reaching the edges of the capital for the first time since the conflict’s inception in 2003. Many members of the JEM were reportedly killed during the attack and scores were arrested.
The government’s response to this military attack has since included hundreds of arbitrary arrests and some cases of extra-judicial executions. These have been carried out by the Sudanese police and National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and targeted at Darfuris, particularly from the Zaghawa ethnic tribe. Since the Sudanese forces repelled the attack a curfew was installed in Omdurman and check points were set up throughout the streets of the capital, allowing the arrest and detention of people travelling in buses and cars, while the NISS and the police have been raiding houses of Darfuris and their families.
“Civilians, mainly youths, have been brutally arrested in the streets, in their homes, and taken to yet unknown places of detention. The arrests in public places have been mostly based on their appearance, age, accent, and the colour of their skin.” With these words, a prominent Sudanese lawyer expressed his concerns to Amnesty International over the arbitrary nature of arrests – with individuals arrested on the basis of their ethnicity and age -, the associated ill-treatment and the lack of information about the places of detention. He told Amnesty International that young men, including minors, were more at risk because the JEM is known by the government to partially rely on young recruits. Eyewitnesses reported that those under threat of arrest were asked to pronounce certain words, to judge whether they were Darfuris or not.
The arrests include Darfuri men and women as well as entire families. Amnesty International further received reports of lawyers, journalists and at least one human rights activist having been arrested over the past week.
As of 21 May 2008, five members of the Popular Congress Party (PCP), a political opposition party, remain in detention after its leader Hassan Al Turabi and other members of the PCP were released.
Amnesty International condemns the arbitrary arrest of hundreds of people and urges the Sudanese Government to immediately and unconditionally release all those that were solely detained on the basis of their ethnicity or for the peaceful expression of their opinion.
Amnesty International asks the Sudanese Government to charge all other detainees with a recognizable criminal offence, or else release them immediately.
Eye witnesses spoke to Amnesty of the ill-treatment experienced by some of those arrested by the police and NISS during the arrest. One lawyer, who was released two days after he was detained, described how he and members of his family were dragged from their home and how he was beaten with rifles on his head and legs, leaving him with several serious injuries. Other witnesses spoke of extra-judicial executions of men and at least one woman in public in Omdurman. According to various reports, the woman was shot on 11 May by the NISS in the streets of Umbada in Omdurman, after she had protested against the arrest of her younger brother.
According to reports from his family, a 31 year old man from the White Nile was arrested by the NISS on either 16 or 17 May and taken to a NISS detention centre. He had already been arrested and released one day before, after he was accused of giving shelter to members of the JEM in one of his houses. On 19 May, when a relative went to inquire about his place of detention, he was informed by the NISS that the person in question had died of kidney failure whilst in detention. The NISS informed the relative that the condition had occurred on his first day of detention and that they had sent him to a NISS hospital, where he died after which he was transferred to a morgue. On 19 May, his family requested the morgue’s doctor to perform a forensic examination before taking delivery of his body. The examinations revealed that he died from a heavy internal bleeding as a result of several severe injuries and bruising on different parts of his body.
Amnesty International calls on the government of Sudan to condemn and investigate all allegations of ill-treatment, torture and all extra-judicial executions that have taken place in the aftermath of the JEM attack.
Although a number of detainees, according to reports, might be held in Kober prison in Khartoum, the whereabouts of most of those arrested remain unknown. In the case of many, namely those who were arrested in the streets, their detaining authority is also unknown. Families of those arrested consider them as missing. Amnesty International is concerned that many may have been subject to enforced disappearance.
The numbers and circumstances in which people are being arrested, the uncertainty surrounding their whereabouts and the ill-treatment associated with the arrests all lead to serious concerns over the fate of those detained. Amnesty International is gravely concerned over those held in incommunicado detention, possibly in non-recognised detention centres, with no access to lawyers or relatives, putting them at increased risk of torture and extra-judicial killings.
Amnesty International is further concerned over the fate of persons without identification living in the capital. The arrests are widespread and taking place throughout the city and on public transport, putting those who are unable to provide a proof of their identity more at risk.
Amnesty International received unconfirmed reports of mass graves following the attack by JEM on 10 May, one of them allegedly in Western Omdurman. Amnesty International demands that these possible sites are identified and secured so that independent investigators, with the requisite expertise, can examine them.
Amnesty International further urges the authorities to repeal Article 31 of the National Security Forces Act, which allows detainees to be held for up to nine months without access to judicial review.
Amnesty International reminds the Government of Sudan of its past commitment to grant Human Rights Officers from the United Nations Mission in Sudan access to places of detention and urges the Sudanese Government to immediately account for the whereabouts of all those in custody and to grant total access to Human Rights Officers, family, lawyers and doctors to places of detention.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/darfur-crisis-reaches-sudanese-capital-20080523
Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the Sudanese security forces’ crackdown following the incursion into Khartoum, by an armed group. The crackdown has been characterized by serious human rights violations including hundreds of arbitrary arrests, cases of ill-treatment, as well as extra-judicial executions. These violations have mostly been targeted at Darfuris.
On Saturday 10 May 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur based armed opposition group launched a military attack on the outskirts of Khartoum. The attack marked the beginning of a new phase of the conflict in Darfur, with an armed opposition group reaching the edges of the capital for the first time since the conflict’s inception in 2003. Many members of the JEM were reportedly killed during the attack and scores were arrested.
The government’s response to this military attack has since included hundreds of arbitrary arrests and some cases of extra-judicial executions. These have been carried out by the Sudanese police and National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and targeted at Darfuris, particularly from the Zaghawa ethnic tribe. Since the Sudanese forces repelled the attack a curfew was installed in Omdurman and check points were set up throughout the streets of the capital, allowing the arrest and detention of people travelling in buses and cars, while the NISS and the police have been raiding houses of Darfuris and their families.
“Civilians, mainly youths, have been brutally arrested in the streets, in their homes, and taken to yet unknown places of detention. The arrests in public places have been mostly based on their appearance, age, accent, and the colour of their skin.” With these words, a prominent Sudanese lawyer expressed his concerns to Amnesty International over the arbitrary nature of arrests – with individuals arrested on the basis of their ethnicity and age -, the associated ill-treatment and the lack of information about the places of detention. He told Amnesty International that young men, including minors, were more at risk because the JEM is known by the government to partially rely on young recruits. Eyewitnesses reported that those under threat of arrest were asked to pronounce certain words, to judge whether they were Darfuris or not.
The arrests include Darfuri men and women as well as entire families. Amnesty International further received reports of lawyers, journalists and at least one human rights activist having been arrested over the past week.
As of 21 May 2008, five members of the Popular Congress Party (PCP), a political opposition party, remain in detention after its leader Hassan Al Turabi and other members of the PCP were released.
Amnesty International condemns the arbitrary arrest of hundreds of people and urges the Sudanese Government to immediately and unconditionally release all those that were solely detained on the basis of their ethnicity or for the peaceful expression of their opinion.
Amnesty International asks the Sudanese Government to charge all other detainees with a recognizable criminal offence, or else release them immediately.
Eye witnesses spoke to Amnesty of the ill-treatment experienced by some of those arrested by the police and NISS during the arrest. One lawyer, who was released two days after he was detained, described how he and members of his family were dragged from their home and how he was beaten with rifles on his head and legs, leaving him with several serious injuries. Other witnesses spoke of extra-judicial executions of men and at least one woman in public in Omdurman. According to various reports, the woman was shot on 11 May by the NISS in the streets of Umbada in Omdurman, after she had protested against the arrest of her younger brother.
According to reports from his family, a 31 year old man from the White Nile was arrested by the NISS on either 16 or 17 May and taken to a NISS detention centre. He had already been arrested and released one day before, after he was accused of giving shelter to members of the JEM in one of his houses. On 19 May, when a relative went to inquire about his place of detention, he was informed by the NISS that the person in question had died of kidney failure whilst in detention. The NISS informed the relative that the condition had occurred on his first day of detention and that they had sent him to a NISS hospital, where he died after which he was transferred to a morgue. On 19 May, his family requested the morgue’s doctor to perform a forensic examination before taking delivery of his body. The examinations revealed that he died from a heavy internal bleeding as a result of several severe injuries and bruising on different parts of his body.
Amnesty International calls on the government of Sudan to condemn and investigate all allegations of ill-treatment, torture and all extra-judicial executions that have taken place in the aftermath of the JEM attack.
Although a number of detainees, according to reports, might be held in Kober prison in Khartoum, the whereabouts of most of those arrested remain unknown. In the case of many, namely those who were arrested in the streets, their detaining authority is also unknown. Families of those arrested consider them as missing. Amnesty International is concerned that many may have been subject to enforced disappearance.
The numbers and circumstances in which people are being arrested, the uncertainty surrounding their whereabouts and the ill-treatment associated with the arrests all lead to serious concerns over the fate of those detained. Amnesty International is gravely concerned over those held in incommunicado detention, possibly in non-recognised detention centres, with no access to lawyers or relatives, putting them at increased risk of torture and extra-judicial killings.
Amnesty International is further concerned over the fate of persons without identification living in the capital. The arrests are widespread and taking place throughout the city and on public transport, putting those who are unable to provide a proof of their identity more at risk.
Amnesty International received unconfirmed reports of mass graves following the attack by JEM on 10 May, one of them allegedly in Western Omdurman. Amnesty International demands that these possible sites are identified and secured so that independent investigators, with the requisite expertise, can examine them.
Amnesty International further urges the authorities to repeal Article 31 of the National Security Forces Act, which allows detainees to be held for up to nine months without access to judicial review.
Amnesty International reminds the Government of Sudan of its past commitment to grant Human Rights Officers from the United Nations Mission in Sudan access to places of detention and urges the Sudanese Government to immediately account for the whereabouts of all those in custody and to grant total access to Human Rights Officers, family, lawyers and doctors to places of detention.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/darfur-crisis-reaches-sudanese-capital-20080523
Friday, May 23, 2008
Horseback raid on Darfur troops
Armed men on horseback have attacked and stolen the weapons of Nigerian UN peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region.
The joint UN-African Union troops were ambushed by up to 60 men armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades on Wednesday, the Unamid peace force said.
It is not clear who was behind the attack, which has been made public for the first time.
The UN took joint control of the force in January but has not been able to bring peace to the region.
It has just 9,000 of the planned 26,000 troops.
"We are a peacekeeping organisation but there is no peace on the ground to keep," Unamid spokesman Noureddine Mezni told Reuters news agency.
He said the incident had been kept quiet while attempts were made to identify the attackers.
"We have bandits and we have armed groups and we have the [rebel] factions. With our very limited number of troops, it is not an easy job."
The attack happened near the West Darfur capital, Geneina.
The conflict began five years ago, when rebels took up arms in protest at alleged government discrimination against the region.
Pro-government Arab militias have been accused of widespread atrocities against the black African population.
But the rebel groups have split into numerous different factions, making a settlement difficult.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7416961.stm
Published: 2008/05/23 13:02:05 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
The joint UN-African Union troops were ambushed by up to 60 men armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades on Wednesday, the Unamid peace force said.
It is not clear who was behind the attack, which has been made public for the first time.
The UN took joint control of the force in January but has not been able to bring peace to the region.
It has just 9,000 of the planned 26,000 troops.
"We are a peacekeeping organisation but there is no peace on the ground to keep," Unamid spokesman Noureddine Mezni told Reuters news agency.
He said the incident had been kept quiet while attempts were made to identify the attackers.
"We have bandits and we have armed groups and we have the [rebel] factions. With our very limited number of troops, it is not an easy job."
The attack happened near the West Darfur capital, Geneina.
The conflict began five years ago, when rebels took up arms in protest at alleged government discrimination against the region.
Pro-government Arab militias have been accused of widespread atrocities against the black African population.
But the rebel groups have split into numerous different factions, making a settlement difficult.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7416961.stm
Published: 2008/05/23 13:02:05 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Chad rebels 'cross from Sudan'
Heavily-armed rebels have entered the east of the country from Sudan, Chad's government is saying.
An announcement on national radio reported that "mercenaries crossed the border in the area of Moudeina", north of the border town of Ade.
A rebel attempt to overthrow President Idriss Deby's government was thwarted last month.
Mr Deby is due to sign a non-aggression pact in the next few hours with President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
There is no independent confirmation of the incursion, but it was reportedly denied by the leader of the main Chadian rebel alliance, Mahamat Nouri.
According to the AFP news agency, General Nouri accused Chad's government of looking for "an excuse" not to sign the peace agreement with Sudan.
"There is no fresh offensive", it reported him as saying. "Nothing in particular is going on."
Accusations
Chad has accused Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels.
These charges are denied by Khartoum, which in turn accuses Chad of backing rebels in Sudan's Darfur region.
The two leaders were expected to meet on Wednesday, but President Bashir failed to turn up, blaming a headache after a long journey to get to the meeting in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
They are due to sign a deal to stop supporting rebels in each other's territory, in an agreement overseen by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Previous agreements between the two countries have collapsed.
Coup attempt
In recent weeks Chad has taken steps to prevent attacks from rebels, including digging a deep trench around the capital, N'Djamena, and cutting down trees which could provide cover for attackers.
The government fought off last month's attempted coup in a fierce two-day battle.
Rebel columns in pick-up trucks rode into N'Djamena on 2 February, aiming to overthrow Mr Deby, who took shelter in his palace as street fighting raged.
The attack took place just before the deployment of a European peacekeeping force, to safeguard refugees from Darfur in eastern Chad and the Central African Republic.
A state of emergency was imposed to restore order after the coup attempt.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7293933.stm
Published: 2008/03/13 11:50:10 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
An announcement on national radio reported that "mercenaries crossed the border in the area of Moudeina", north of the border town of Ade.
A rebel attempt to overthrow President Idriss Deby's government was thwarted last month.
Mr Deby is due to sign a non-aggression pact in the next few hours with President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
There is no independent confirmation of the incursion, but it was reportedly denied by the leader of the main Chadian rebel alliance, Mahamat Nouri.
According to the AFP news agency, General Nouri accused Chad's government of looking for "an excuse" not to sign the peace agreement with Sudan.
"There is no fresh offensive", it reported him as saying. "Nothing in particular is going on."
Accusations
Chad has accused Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels.
These charges are denied by Khartoum, which in turn accuses Chad of backing rebels in Sudan's Darfur region.
The two leaders were expected to meet on Wednesday, but President Bashir failed to turn up, blaming a headache after a long journey to get to the meeting in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
They are due to sign a deal to stop supporting rebels in each other's territory, in an agreement overseen by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Previous agreements between the two countries have collapsed.
Coup attempt
In recent weeks Chad has taken steps to prevent attacks from rebels, including digging a deep trench around the capital, N'Djamena, and cutting down trees which could provide cover for attackers.
The government fought off last month's attempted coup in a fierce two-day battle.
Rebel columns in pick-up trucks rode into N'Djamena on 2 February, aiming to overthrow Mr Deby, who took shelter in his palace as street fighting raged.
The attack took place just before the deployment of a European peacekeeping force, to safeguard refugees from Darfur in eastern Chad and the Central African Republic.
A state of emergency was imposed to restore order after the coup attempt.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7293933.stm
Published: 2008/03/13 11:50:10 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Thursday, March 6, 2008
China says ready to work with West on Darfur
Thursday 6 March 2008.
March 5, 2008 (PARIS) — China’s special envoy to Darfur said Wednesday Beijing was ready to work with Western powers for a peaceful end to bloodshed in the war-torn region, but remains opposed to sanctions against Khartoum.
"There is no fundamental difference between China and Western countries. China is ready to cooperate sincerely, and is not looking for confrontation with the West" on Darfur, Liu Giujin told reporters in Paris.
As Sudan’s main overseas supporter and a key arms supplier, China has come under growing pressure to use its influence on the east African regime to end the six-year old conflict in the western region.
Liu, who was in Paris after travelling to Darfur and neighbouring Chad late last month, said China shared "the same objective" as Western nations, but that its approach was "not the same".
"China is opposed to the arbitrary use of sanctions and an embargo that only worsens the situation," he said.
Western powers including Britain, France and the United States have backed the idea of sanctions against Khartoum for resisting the full deployment of a joint AU-UN mission to keep the fragile peace in Darfur.
"China wants to exert a positive influence over (the Sudanese government). What we want is for the crisis to be solved as quickly as possible through dialogue and negotiation, not by force," Liu said.
He said foreign states must build a dialogue of equals with the "legitimate" government in Khartoum, "whether or not we approve of it".
"We must talk to it as an equal, as a partner, to create a minimum of trust. We must ask it what approach best suits its interests," he said.
Liu repeated a call for Western powers to use their "important influence over rebel groups" in Darfur, and "speak with a single voice" to bring them back to the negotiating table.
One of the main rebel leaders from Darfur, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, whose Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) spearheaded a 2003 uprising at the start of the current spiral of violence, lives in exile in Paris.
The Darfur conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people and displaced 2.2 million, has raged since 2003 when rebel groups demanded a greater share of the country’s resources.
Pressure for China to use its influence on Khartoum has mounted ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
Hollywood film-maker Steven Spielberg resigned last month as artistic consultant for the Games over the conflict, which the United States describes as the first genocide of the 21st century.
Nobel Prize winners and Olympic athletes have also written to Chinese President Hu Jintao, asking him to put pressure on Sudan over Darfur.
Liu argued that it was "unfair" to insist on China’s responsibility as arms supplier to Khartoum, saying it was one of seven weapons suppliers to the regime, and accounted for eight percent of its imports.
"In addition, Sudan is Africa’s third arms producer behind Egypt and South Africa, and is self-sufficient in conventional arms and ammunition," Liu said.
"The country will always find a way to obtain arms. It is unfair to accuse China."
(AFP)
March 5, 2008 (PARIS) — China’s special envoy to Darfur said Wednesday Beijing was ready to work with Western powers for a peaceful end to bloodshed in the war-torn region, but remains opposed to sanctions against Khartoum.
"There is no fundamental difference between China and Western countries. China is ready to cooperate sincerely, and is not looking for confrontation with the West" on Darfur, Liu Giujin told reporters in Paris.
As Sudan’s main overseas supporter and a key arms supplier, China has come under growing pressure to use its influence on the east African regime to end the six-year old conflict in the western region.
Liu, who was in Paris after travelling to Darfur and neighbouring Chad late last month, said China shared "the same objective" as Western nations, but that its approach was "not the same".
"China is opposed to the arbitrary use of sanctions and an embargo that only worsens the situation," he said.
Western powers including Britain, France and the United States have backed the idea of sanctions against Khartoum for resisting the full deployment of a joint AU-UN mission to keep the fragile peace in Darfur.
"China wants to exert a positive influence over (the Sudanese government). What we want is for the crisis to be solved as quickly as possible through dialogue and negotiation, not by force," Liu said.
He said foreign states must build a dialogue of equals with the "legitimate" government in Khartoum, "whether or not we approve of it".
"We must talk to it as an equal, as a partner, to create a minimum of trust. We must ask it what approach best suits its interests," he said.
Liu repeated a call for Western powers to use their "important influence over rebel groups" in Darfur, and "speak with a single voice" to bring them back to the negotiating table.
One of the main rebel leaders from Darfur, Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, whose Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) spearheaded a 2003 uprising at the start of the current spiral of violence, lives in exile in Paris.
The Darfur conflict, which the United Nations says has claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people and displaced 2.2 million, has raged since 2003 when rebel groups demanded a greater share of the country’s resources.
Pressure for China to use its influence on Khartoum has mounted ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
Hollywood film-maker Steven Spielberg resigned last month as artistic consultant for the Games over the conflict, which the United States describes as the first genocide of the 21st century.
Nobel Prize winners and Olympic athletes have also written to Chinese President Hu Jintao, asking him to put pressure on Sudan over Darfur.
Liu argued that it was "unfair" to insist on China’s responsibility as arms supplier to Khartoum, saying it was one of seven weapons suppliers to the regime, and accounted for eight percent of its imports.
"In addition, Sudan is Africa’s third arms producer behind Egypt and South Africa, and is self-sufficient in conventional arms and ammunition," Liu said.
"The country will always find a way to obtain arms. It is unfair to accuse China."
(AFP)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Fighting 'traps' Darfur refugees
Thousands of people are trapped in Sudan's Darfur region, unable to cross into Chad, amid a government offensive, rebels and aid workers say.
Aid agencies say the civilians took refuge in the Jebel Moun mountains following government bombing of three rebel-held towns earlier this month.
The rebels say Sudanese troops are stopping civilians crossing the border.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press (AP) news agency it was unaware of any stranded refugees.
But a UN spokeswoman in Sudan, Orla Clinton, told AP at least 8,000 refugees were trapped in the mountainous part of western Darfur.
Aid struggle
Sudanese forces say they have taken control of Jebel Moun and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem).
Jem accused the government of indiscriminately bombing civilians and killing 15 people.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier condemned the bombing of a camp for displaced people by Sudanese government aircraft at Jebel Moun on Tuesday.
The camp was empty at the time. Eyewitnesses and rebels said army helicopters, Antonov aircraft and state-backed militias had carried out a three-pronged offensive.
Aid agencies were already struggling to cope with a wave of around 12,000 people who fled Darfur into Chad after bombing raids earlier this month.
More than 100 people were killed in that offensive against three major towns, residents say.
At least 200,000 people have died in five years of conflict between rebels, the army and pro-government militias in Darfur.
France has urged the Sudanese authorities to ensure immediate free access to the area for humanitarian workers.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Darfur says Jebel Moun remains out of bounds to aid workers and the UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Unamid, raising major concerns about thousands of people living in the area.
Unamid began deploying in January but the force still lacks most of the 26,000 personnel planned for the mission.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7255750.stm
Aid agencies say the civilians took refuge in the Jebel Moun mountains following government bombing of three rebel-held towns earlier this month.
The rebels say Sudanese troops are stopping civilians crossing the border.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press (AP) news agency it was unaware of any stranded refugees.
But a UN spokeswoman in Sudan, Orla Clinton, told AP at least 8,000 refugees were trapped in the mountainous part of western Darfur.
Aid struggle
Sudanese forces say they have taken control of Jebel Moun and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem).
Jem accused the government of indiscriminately bombing civilians and killing 15 people.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier condemned the bombing of a camp for displaced people by Sudanese government aircraft at Jebel Moun on Tuesday.
The camp was empty at the time. Eyewitnesses and rebels said army helicopters, Antonov aircraft and state-backed militias had carried out a three-pronged offensive.
Aid agencies were already struggling to cope with a wave of around 12,000 people who fled Darfur into Chad after bombing raids earlier this month.
More than 100 people were killed in that offensive against three major towns, residents say.
At least 200,000 people have died in five years of conflict between rebels, the army and pro-government militias in Darfur.
France has urged the Sudanese authorities to ensure immediate free access to the area for humanitarian workers.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Darfur says Jebel Moun remains out of bounds to aid workers and the UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Unamid, raising major concerns about thousands of people living in the area.
Unamid began deploying in January but the force still lacks most of the 26,000 personnel planned for the mission.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7255750.stm
Saturday, February 16, 2008
China sells arms to Sudan
February 15, 2008 (HONG KONG) — China has exported more advanced weapon systems to Sudan.
TV video footage of a military parade during the 52nd anniversary of Sudanese independence last year shows that the country already had new-generation Chinese T96 and upgraded T59D main battle tanks and T92 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles fitted with Russian 2A72 30-mm cannon guns.
China acquired the technology from Russia to produce 2A72 30-mm cannon guns, which is believed to have been used to upgrade the Chinese PLA ground forces’ T86 infantry fighting vehicles, or IFVs. Installing 2A72 guns on T92 wheeled IFVs for export to Sudan is a recent development. So far the T-92 wheeled IFVs have been known to be provided only to the Chinese No.38 Group Army.
This appears to be the first time China has exported T92 wheeled IFVs and T96 MBTs to an African nation. The technological standard of this equipment is far superior to ground force equipment China has previously exported to Africa.
At the International Defense Exhibition and Conference 2007 held in Abu Dhabi last year, China introduced the upgraded variant of the T59D tank. African countries that are now using T59 tanks include Zambia and Tanzania.
In recent years, China has largely reinforced military cooperation with African countries through the strategy of trading oil for weapons. Both Sudan and Nigeria have purchased China-made F7M fighters. In 2005 Sudan exported to China 6.62 million tons of crude oil, about 5.2 percent of China’s total oil imports that year. China has a 40-percent stake in Sudan’s largest international oil consortium.
Other Chinese weapons currently in service in the Sudanese forces include Type 54 122-mm howitzers, Type 59-I 130-mm cannons, Type 81 122-mm rocket guns, Type 59 57-mm air-defense guns, mortars of different calibers, eight J-6 fighters and a number of J-7M fighters.
Sudan has also expressed interest in purchasing 12 Chinese FC1 fighters, and the two sides are now negotiating technical details of the deal. In 1996 Sudan purchased six F7M fighters from China, and another two Y8 transport aircraft are also in service. Western military observers believe that those Chinese weapons were paid for with Sudanese oil.
The Sudan military parade in 2007 had a strong Chinese color, as most of the armored weapons were from China. The same parade revealed that the Sudan air force had Chinese-made K8 military trainers. Three K8 trainers and three MiG-29s flew over the capital during the parade. Images from the parade have revealed to the world that the Sudanese army resembles a second Chinese Liberation Army.
(UPI)
TV video footage of a military parade during the 52nd anniversary of Sudanese independence last year shows that the country already had new-generation Chinese T96 and upgraded T59D main battle tanks and T92 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles fitted with Russian 2A72 30-mm cannon guns.
China acquired the technology from Russia to produce 2A72 30-mm cannon guns, which is believed to have been used to upgrade the Chinese PLA ground forces’ T86 infantry fighting vehicles, or IFVs. Installing 2A72 guns on T92 wheeled IFVs for export to Sudan is a recent development. So far the T-92 wheeled IFVs have been known to be provided only to the Chinese No.38 Group Army.
This appears to be the first time China has exported T92 wheeled IFVs and T96 MBTs to an African nation. The technological standard of this equipment is far superior to ground force equipment China has previously exported to Africa.
At the International Defense Exhibition and Conference 2007 held in Abu Dhabi last year, China introduced the upgraded variant of the T59D tank. African countries that are now using T59 tanks include Zambia and Tanzania.
In recent years, China has largely reinforced military cooperation with African countries through the strategy of trading oil for weapons. Both Sudan and Nigeria have purchased China-made F7M fighters. In 2005 Sudan exported to China 6.62 million tons of crude oil, about 5.2 percent of China’s total oil imports that year. China has a 40-percent stake in Sudan’s largest international oil consortium.
Other Chinese weapons currently in service in the Sudanese forces include Type 54 122-mm howitzers, Type 59-I 130-mm cannons, Type 81 122-mm rocket guns, Type 59 57-mm air-defense guns, mortars of different calibers, eight J-6 fighters and a number of J-7M fighters.
Sudan has also expressed interest in purchasing 12 Chinese FC1 fighters, and the two sides are now negotiating technical details of the deal. In 1996 Sudan purchased six F7M fighters from China, and another two Y8 transport aircraft are also in service. Western military observers believe that those Chinese weapons were paid for with Sudanese oil.
The Sudan military parade in 2007 had a strong Chinese color, as most of the armored weapons were from China. The same parade revealed that the Sudan air force had Chinese-made K8 military trainers. Three K8 trainers and three MiG-29s flew over the capital during the parade. Images from the parade have revealed to the world that the Sudanese army resembles a second Chinese Liberation Army.
(UPI)
Gunmen block Darfur refugees at Chad Border - UN
February 15, 2008 (N’DJAMENA) — Unknown armed men prevented humanitarian workers from moving traumatized, new arrivals from Darfur away from Chad’s volatile border with Sudan, the U.N. refugee agency reported Friday.
On Tuesday, gunmen blocked a group of about 1,000 refugees from boarding trucks. They are among some 8,000 refugees who have fled across the border since Sudan bombed three border towns last week.
It was unclear if the move was connected to Chad’s threat on Monday to expel Sudanese refugees if the international community failed to move them out of the Central African nation. Analysts had seen the threat as a ploy to encourage a speedy deployment of a European Union peacekeeping force being sent to protect more than half a million refugees in a volatile triangle where the borders of Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic meet.
"The newly arrived refugees are exhausted. Women report being raped. Children have been separated from their families," said a statement from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
Spokeswoman Helene Caux said the agency had trucks ready to move the refugees to the relative safety of a camp. But they were awaiting permission from Chad’s government, she said.
Caux said it was impossible to say who the gunmen were. Several armed groups operate along Chad’s border with Sudan.
Chadian President Idriss Deby declared a nationwide state of emergency on Thursday, with a midnight to dawn curfew. He also banned most meeting and set limits on what the media can publish, measures he said were needed to restore order after the rebel attacks.
The rebels attacked the capital, N’Djamena, on Feb. 2-3, fighting to oust Deby, whom they accuse of corruption and embezzling millions in oil revenue. After a weekend of fighting in which clashes reached the gate of the presidential palace, Chad’s army repelled the rebels from N’Djamena and pursued them eastward toward the Sudanese border.
Deby said the emergency measures would be in place for 15 days, starting Friday, as allowed in Chad’s constitution. After 15 days, Chad’s national assembly can decide whether to allow an extension.
His declaration also gives extra powers to regional governors to control the movement of people and vehicles.
(ST)
On Tuesday, gunmen blocked a group of about 1,000 refugees from boarding trucks. They are among some 8,000 refugees who have fled across the border since Sudan bombed three border towns last week.
It was unclear if the move was connected to Chad’s threat on Monday to expel Sudanese refugees if the international community failed to move them out of the Central African nation. Analysts had seen the threat as a ploy to encourage a speedy deployment of a European Union peacekeeping force being sent to protect more than half a million refugees in a volatile triangle where the borders of Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic meet.
"The newly arrived refugees are exhausted. Women report being raped. Children have been separated from their families," said a statement from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
Spokeswoman Helene Caux said the agency had trucks ready to move the refugees to the relative safety of a camp. But they were awaiting permission from Chad’s government, she said.
Caux said it was impossible to say who the gunmen were. Several armed groups operate along Chad’s border with Sudan.
Chadian President Idriss Deby declared a nationwide state of emergency on Thursday, with a midnight to dawn curfew. He also banned most meeting and set limits on what the media can publish, measures he said were needed to restore order after the rebel attacks.
The rebels attacked the capital, N’Djamena, on Feb. 2-3, fighting to oust Deby, whom they accuse of corruption and embezzling millions in oil revenue. After a weekend of fighting in which clashes reached the gate of the presidential palace, Chad’s army repelled the rebels from N’Djamena and pursued them eastward toward the Sudanese border.
Deby said the emergency measures would be in place for 15 days, starting Friday, as allowed in Chad’s constitution. After 15 days, Chad’s national assembly can decide whether to allow an extension.
His declaration also gives extra powers to regional governors to control the movement of people and vehicles.
(ST)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Darfur towns burned in government attacks: U.N.
By Andrew Heavens
Tue Feb 12, 7:17 AM ET
KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) - A major assault by the Sudanese army and allied militia has left two Darfur towns badly damaged by fire, sources close to a U.N. reconnaissance mission to the region said on Tuesday.
The news came as the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed one of its staff members had been killed in the offensive. Aid group MSF Switzerland said a small number of its staff had gone missing after the attacks.
Sudan said its forces attacked the western towns of Abu Surouj, Sirba and Suleia on Friday to clear out fighters from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
The U.N.'s refugee agency said at least 12,000 Darfuris fled into neighboring Chad to escape the violence. Residents, who claimed there were no rebels present in the towns, said 47 people were killed in one settlement alone.
A U.N. assessment mission to Abu Surouj and Sirba found buildings burned to the ground and reports of sustained air and ground assaults.
"Both places were partially burned down," said the source close to the U.N./African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) which took part in the investigation mission that ended its trip late Monday.
"We confirmed that they were attacked on February 8. Helicopter gunships were seen. Antonov aircraft were seen. Witnesses said they were also attacked by men riding on horseback accompanied by vehicles."
Residents left in Sirba had been too scared to talk openly to the investigation mission because of the presence of Sudanese army soldiers, said the source, adding that the team had not managed to visit the third settlement of Suleia.
Chad threatened on Monday to expel any more refugees arriving from Darfur, saying their presence was triggering insecurity.
RED CROSS WORKED KILLED
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday confirmed earlier reports that one of its Sudanese staff members had died during the assault on Suleia.
The 45-year-old father-of-six was killed inside the ICRC's office in the town, said the organization, adding that it was planning to investigate the incident "as security conditions permit."
"The ICRC extends its condolences to the family of the victim, who was not only a colleague but also a friend," said a spokesperson. "His death is a loss for the entire organization."
Humanitarian agencies on Tuesday said their access to west Darfur had been severely hampered for weeks by increasing unrest.
"This is the biggest and deadliest attack in many, many months," said one aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for MSF Switzerland said the organization was still trying to trace staff that had been based in Suleia. "Most of our workers managed to get into Chad but we haven't been able to confirm the location of a small number of them," he said.
West Darfuris have been caught up in increasingly violent clashes involving Sudan's Armed Forces, insurgent groups, and the forces of neighboring Chad. The Chadian airforce in January bombed positions in West Darfur it said were held by Chadian rebels supported by Khartoum.
The increased Chadian involvement has brought additional turmoil to a region torn apart by almost five years of conflict.
International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in fighting since early 2003, when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur, accusing the government of neglect.
Khartoum says 9,000 have died and accuses the West of exaggerating the scale of the conflict and the casualties.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
Tue Feb 12, 7:17 AM ET
KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) - A major assault by the Sudanese army and allied militia has left two Darfur towns badly damaged by fire, sources close to a U.N. reconnaissance mission to the region said on Tuesday.
The news came as the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed one of its staff members had been killed in the offensive. Aid group MSF Switzerland said a small number of its staff had gone missing after the attacks.
Sudan said its forces attacked the western towns of Abu Surouj, Sirba and Suleia on Friday to clear out fighters from the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
The U.N.'s refugee agency said at least 12,000 Darfuris fled into neighboring Chad to escape the violence. Residents, who claimed there were no rebels present in the towns, said 47 people were killed in one settlement alone.
A U.N. assessment mission to Abu Surouj and Sirba found buildings burned to the ground and reports of sustained air and ground assaults.
"Both places were partially burned down," said the source close to the U.N./African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) which took part in the investigation mission that ended its trip late Monday.
"We confirmed that they were attacked on February 8. Helicopter gunships were seen. Antonov aircraft were seen. Witnesses said they were also attacked by men riding on horseback accompanied by vehicles."
Residents left in Sirba had been too scared to talk openly to the investigation mission because of the presence of Sudanese army soldiers, said the source, adding that the team had not managed to visit the third settlement of Suleia.
Chad threatened on Monday to expel any more refugees arriving from Darfur, saying their presence was triggering insecurity.
RED CROSS WORKED KILLED
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday confirmed earlier reports that one of its Sudanese staff members had died during the assault on Suleia.
The 45-year-old father-of-six was killed inside the ICRC's office in the town, said the organization, adding that it was planning to investigate the incident "as security conditions permit."
"The ICRC extends its condolences to the family of the victim, who was not only a colleague but also a friend," said a spokesperson. "His death is a loss for the entire organization."
Humanitarian agencies on Tuesday said their access to west Darfur had been severely hampered for weeks by increasing unrest.
"This is the biggest and deadliest attack in many, many months," said one aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for MSF Switzerland said the organization was still trying to trace staff that had been based in Suleia. "Most of our workers managed to get into Chad but we haven't been able to confirm the location of a small number of them," he said.
West Darfuris have been caught up in increasingly violent clashes involving Sudan's Armed Forces, insurgent groups, and the forces of neighboring Chad. The Chadian airforce in January bombed positions in West Darfur it said were held by Chadian rebels supported by Khartoum.
The increased Chadian involvement has brought additional turmoil to a region torn apart by almost five years of conflict.
International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in fighting since early 2003, when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur, accusing the government of neglect.
Khartoum says 9,000 have died and accuses the West of exaggerating the scale of the conflict and the casualties.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
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