October 18, 2007 (LONDON) — Aid agencies working in Sudan’s Darfur hope incoming United Nations and African Union peacekeepers will help protect them, but there are also fears they could spark new violence against unarmed relief staff.
The 26,000-person hybrid force is due to arrive in Darfur in the coming months against a backdrop of escalating violence targeting the world’s largest humanitarian relief operation.
Gunman killed three U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) drivers in the last week, while agency compounds have been raided, staff abducted and equipment stolen.
The new peacekeepers — mainly African infantry with a handful of troops from other nations — will replace a much smaller African Union force that has largely failed to halt violence in a region the size of France.
Aid agencies — some of whom have lobbied for years for U.N. peacekeepers — say their situation now is so bad that they have to withdraw from some areas and cut back operations. Some reports suggest malnutrition rates are rising as a result.
"The way it is now for humanitarian agencies cannot continue," former U.N. undersecretary general Jan Egeland, one of the strongest advocates for the force, told Reuters last month.
"When the humanitarians or the refugees themselves say they are threatened, the force has to deploy protectively and defend. And fight, if necessary."
International experts say some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have fled their homes in Darfur since 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government, which in turn mobilised predominantly Arab militias to squelch the revolt.
Khartoum, which long resisted demands for a U.N. force, says only 9,000 are dead and the crisis has been exaggerated.
While many aid workers accuse the government of trying to frustrate their work, they blame most attacks on rebel groups and bandits intent on stealing equipment and vehicles, a practice experts say has become almost an industry in Darfur.
Aid groups hope more peacekeepers might reduce that risk. But at the same time, if the larger force takes more aggressive action than its AU predecessor it may make enemies — either militia or rebels — who may hit aid workers as a soft target.
KEEPING SEPARATE
"Of course it is possible and you can expect anything," said Francois Grignon, Africa project director for the International Crisis Group. "It is a risk with all peacekeeping operations. They will have to co-operate in terms of security."
He said the new force risked simply being too weak to change the situation on the ground, particularly if peace talks in Libya later this month failed to produce a concrete peace deal.
Former U.N. aid chief Egeland said there had been incidents in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere in West Africa where aid workers had been attacked or compounds burnt in retaliation for action by peacekeepers.
"We have been discussing that risk for years," he said. "Generally, it has been exaggerated. ... In the short term it may decrease security but in the long-term hopefully it will help."
Experts say it is important the aid effort maintains its distance from the peacekeepers if it is to maintain any impression of neutrality and work with all sides.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Western and U.N. aid agencies sent in large missions. Later that year, a truck bomb attack on the U.N. compound killed 22. Other attacks, kidnappings and killings forced most aid groups out.
"I think our mistake our was to send in so many people so fast on the back of an invasion force who looked just like us," Egeland said. "That is one of the reasons it is so important that the force in Darfur looks and feels African."
A much better equipped European Union force will be deployed across the border in neighbouring Chad and Central African Republic, but will not be authorised to cross into Darfur.
Subject to eventual Sudanese approval, there will be a small Western component to the Darfur force, primarily a battalion of 400 Norwegian and Swedish army engineers.
Their main remit will be building camps and bases for the main force. Their commander said they could help with sanitation and construction in refugee camps but would not do so unless asked by the main aid effort for fear of blurring the lines.
" We can’t just walk in and take over their missions," said Lieutenant Colonel Anstein Aasen in Oslo. "They have to to ask us and not the other way around."
(Reuters)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Armed groups carry out daily attack on Darfur Kalama displaced
Friday 19 October 2007.
October 18, 2007 (NYALA) — Khartoum backed armed groups carry out daily attacks inside Darfur biggest camp in order to spread violence and force internally displaced persons to evacuate the camps, reports received from South Darfur say.
A Sudanese woman refugee arriving from Labado protects herself from the wind at Kalma Camp, near Nyala in Sudan’s South Darfur region 09 January 2005. (AFP).
Kalma camp is the most volatile one, but also the biggest IDPs camps. It is seen as supporting the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Movement founder and chairman Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, who refuse to take part in the ongoing peace process demanding security for Darfur civilians before talks.
Since two days armed groups enter to the camp of Kalma in South Darfur state and attack habitants of the camp. Armed militia elements killed on Wednesday a displaced called Mahmoud Ishac, Sudan Tribune has learnt.
Asked by telephone, al-Nur confirmed the reports. He further accused Sudanese government of organizing regular attacks against civilians. "Civilians fear attacks and they are terrorized" he said.
The rebel leader urged the international community to accelerate the deployment of the 26, 000 peacekeepers in the region. He also urged pressures on the Sudanese government to stop the killing of Darfur civilian.
Up to last year, the government backed janjaweed militia attacked the IDPs particularly women who go out the camp to collect wood. The militia were always present out side the camps.
Sudanese forces surrounded and attacked Darfur’s most volatile camp on Tuesday August 21 to flush out rebels they say are behind attacks on two police posts.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.
Khartoum agreed to a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force which will absorb the AU mission and try to stop violence which has hampered the world’s largest aid operation in Darfur. Some 500,000 people are out of reach of relief workers.
(ST)
October 18, 2007 (NYALA) — Khartoum backed armed groups carry out daily attacks inside Darfur biggest camp in order to spread violence and force internally displaced persons to evacuate the camps, reports received from South Darfur say.
A Sudanese woman refugee arriving from Labado protects herself from the wind at Kalma Camp, near Nyala in Sudan’s South Darfur region 09 January 2005. (AFP).
Kalma camp is the most volatile one, but also the biggest IDPs camps. It is seen as supporting the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Movement founder and chairman Abdelwahid Mohamed al-Nur, who refuse to take part in the ongoing peace process demanding security for Darfur civilians before talks.
Since two days armed groups enter to the camp of Kalma in South Darfur state and attack habitants of the camp. Armed militia elements killed on Wednesday a displaced called Mahmoud Ishac, Sudan Tribune has learnt.
Asked by telephone, al-Nur confirmed the reports. He further accused Sudanese government of organizing regular attacks against civilians. "Civilians fear attacks and they are terrorized" he said.
The rebel leader urged the international community to accelerate the deployment of the 26, 000 peacekeepers in the region. He also urged pressures on the Sudanese government to stop the killing of Darfur civilian.
Up to last year, the government backed janjaweed militia attacked the IDPs particularly women who go out the camp to collect wood. The militia were always present out side the camps.
Sudanese forces surrounded and attacked Darfur’s most volatile camp on Tuesday August 21 to flush out rebels they say are behind attacks on two police posts.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003.
Khartoum agreed to a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force which will absorb the AU mission and try to stop violence which has hampered the world’s largest aid operation in Darfur. Some 500,000 people are out of reach of relief workers.
(ST)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Sudan rivals try to resolve split
South Sudan's leader Salva Kiir is travelling to meet the president in an effort to resolve a crisis that has threatened to tear the country apart.
Mr Kiir's ex-rebel group withdrew its ministers from government last week saying elements of a 2005 north-south peace pact were being ignored.
President Omar al-Bashir agreed in part to a request for a cabinet reshuffle.
But border demarcations and redeploying northern troops from the south are some of the things yet to be implemented.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in the capital, Khartoum, says tensions have been brewing for months between the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the governing National Congress Party.
The two signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) two years ago that ended the 21-year civil war.
Under the CPA, the SPLM controls the southern regional government and participates in the national government in Khartoum.
But the enemies in war have struggled to become partners in peace, our reporter says.
Deadline
Mr Kiir - who is also the country's national vice-president - is travelling to Khartoum for the meeting.
Our correspondent says it is hoped the men can stop the crisis from escalating further.
On Wednesday, Mr Bashir reshuffled his cabinet removing Lam Akol as foreign minister.
Mr Akol, although a southerner, was seen as too close to the NCP.
But the SPLM says not all their suggestions for ministers from the south were agreed to.
After meeting Mr Bashir on Tuesday, Sudan Vice-President Riak Machar told the BBC that parts of the CPA that had not been implemented included:
The redeployment of northern troops from the south, especially from Unity and Upper Nile states
Issues of oil management and marketing
The final border demarcation which means the division of oil wealth cannot be completed
Issues to pave the way for a census in 2011, when the south could decide to split from the north.
Mr Riak said the north had until 9 January 2008, the third anniversary of the signing of the CPA, to resolve these issues.
Some 1.5m people died in Sudan's conflict - Africa's longest civil war - which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the Animist and Christian south before the CPA was agreed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7050351.stm
Mr Kiir's ex-rebel group withdrew its ministers from government last week saying elements of a 2005 north-south peace pact were being ignored.
President Omar al-Bashir agreed in part to a request for a cabinet reshuffle.
But border demarcations and redeploying northern troops from the south are some of the things yet to be implemented.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in the capital, Khartoum, says tensions have been brewing for months between the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the governing National Congress Party.
The two signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) two years ago that ended the 21-year civil war.
Under the CPA, the SPLM controls the southern regional government and participates in the national government in Khartoum.
But the enemies in war have struggled to become partners in peace, our reporter says.
Deadline
Mr Kiir - who is also the country's national vice-president - is travelling to Khartoum for the meeting.
Our correspondent says it is hoped the men can stop the crisis from escalating further.
On Wednesday, Mr Bashir reshuffled his cabinet removing Lam Akol as foreign minister.
Mr Akol, although a southerner, was seen as too close to the NCP.
But the SPLM says not all their suggestions for ministers from the south were agreed to.
After meeting Mr Bashir on Tuesday, Sudan Vice-President Riak Machar told the BBC that parts of the CPA that had not been implemented included:
The redeployment of northern troops from the south, especially from Unity and Upper Nile states
Issues of oil management and marketing
The final border demarcation which means the division of oil wealth cannot be completed
Issues to pave the way for a census in 2011, when the south could decide to split from the north.
Mr Riak said the north had until 9 January 2008, the third anniversary of the signing of the CPA, to resolve these issues.
Some 1.5m people died in Sudan's conflict - Africa's longest civil war - which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the Animist and Christian south before the CPA was agreed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7050351.stm
Sunday, October 14, 2007
SUDAN: Darfur attack "targeted women and children"
NAIROBI, 10 October 2007 (IRIN) - The recent attack on Muhajiriya town in South Darfur, in which 45 people died and thousands fled their homes, mainly targeted women, children and the elderly, a rebel faction said.
"The government moved forces into the town two days earlier," Mohammed Bashir, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said from Khartoum, the capital. "With air cover, they attacked the town, burnt down half of it and killed mainly children, women and the elderly."
The Sudanese army denied involvement in the 8 October attack, saying violence in Muhajiriya was a result of "tribal fighting between the citizens of the area".
Bashir said residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their homes were in desperate need of assistance. "They fled into [the bush]," he told IRIN by telephone on 10 October. "Although the town is calm now, they are still scared of going back to their homes."
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 45,000 internally displaced people were being assisted in and around Muhajiriya.
National and international aid workers from two NGOs were temporarily relocated after the attack, disrupting humanitarian operations.
"There are 20 wounded civilians who need to be taken to hospital," Bashir said. The SLA faction of Minni Minnawi, who signed a May 2006 peace deal and joined the Khartoum government, controls the area.
Amnesty International said the attack was supported by an Antonov, which had been painted in white UN colours. Since 2005, Sudan has been prohibited from offensive flights over Darfur and has been criticised for painting aircraft white, it said.
But spokesman Brigadier Osman Mohamed Al-Aghbash said the army had nothing to do with the incidents at Muhajiriya, adding that its planes had only conducted reconnaissance missions in Haskanita area under an arrangement with the African Union (AU).
"If these kinds of attacks continue, we will not sit without defending ourselves," the SLA spokesman warned. "It will also destroy trust ahead of the Libya talks."
The talks due to start in Sirte on 27 October are expected to bring together Darfur's armed factions and the Sudanese government to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in the region. Fears have, however, arisen that recent attacks could force some of the groups to boycott the event.
Amnesty, in a statement, warned that more attacks were imminent in northern Darfur. Sudanese forces, it added, were gathering in large numbers in at least six towns, including Tine, Kornoy, Um Baru, Kutum.
"The northern area of North Darfur is under the control of armed opposition groups and it looks as though the Sudan Armed Forces want to attack this area before peace talks scheduled to take place in Libya before the end of the month," according to Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty's Africa Programme.
"We fear that civilians will once more suffer killing and displacement, with no force able to protect them."
The Muhajiriya attack followed an earlier one on Haskanita on 29 September. Ten AU peacekeepers were killed. Aid workers said that attack was carried out by an armed opposition group, but the town was occupied by Sudanese forces afterwards.
A UN assessment mission later found Haskanita had been burnt down. Sudanese authorities said the team had exaggerated its findings, adding that only the market was destroyed by a fire. The AU is investigating.
"The gathering of forces in the north, the burning of Haskanita last week, and yesterday's attack on Muhajiriya show the vital importance of ensuring that UNAMID [proposed UN-AU peacekeeping force] is deployed as soon as possible and has the resources available to protect civilians," said Hondora.
Preparations to deploy the force are ongoing, but the mission still lacks ground transport, light tactical helicopters and transport helicopters, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.
Aid workers fear the upsurge in violence will further restrict the ability of the few humanitarian workers left in Darfur to reach thousands of vulnerable civilians.
"The government moved forces into the town two days earlier," Mohammed Bashir, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said from Khartoum, the capital. "With air cover, they attacked the town, burnt down half of it and killed mainly children, women and the elderly."
The Sudanese army denied involvement in the 8 October attack, saying violence in Muhajiriya was a result of "tribal fighting between the citizens of the area".
Bashir said residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their homes were in desperate need of assistance. "They fled into [the bush]," he told IRIN by telephone on 10 October. "Although the town is calm now, they are still scared of going back to their homes."
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 45,000 internally displaced people were being assisted in and around Muhajiriya.
National and international aid workers from two NGOs were temporarily relocated after the attack, disrupting humanitarian operations.
"There are 20 wounded civilians who need to be taken to hospital," Bashir said. The SLA faction of Minni Minnawi, who signed a May 2006 peace deal and joined the Khartoum government, controls the area.
Amnesty International said the attack was supported by an Antonov, which had been painted in white UN colours. Since 2005, Sudan has been prohibited from offensive flights over Darfur and has been criticised for painting aircraft white, it said.
But spokesman Brigadier Osman Mohamed Al-Aghbash said the army had nothing to do with the incidents at Muhajiriya, adding that its planes had only conducted reconnaissance missions in Haskanita area under an arrangement with the African Union (AU).
"If these kinds of attacks continue, we will not sit without defending ourselves," the SLA spokesman warned. "It will also destroy trust ahead of the Libya talks."
The talks due to start in Sirte on 27 October are expected to bring together Darfur's armed factions and the Sudanese government to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in the region. Fears have, however, arisen that recent attacks could force some of the groups to boycott the event.
Amnesty, in a statement, warned that more attacks were imminent in northern Darfur. Sudanese forces, it added, were gathering in large numbers in at least six towns, including Tine, Kornoy, Um Baru, Kutum.
"The northern area of North Darfur is under the control of armed opposition groups and it looks as though the Sudan Armed Forces want to attack this area before peace talks scheduled to take place in Libya before the end of the month," according to Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty's Africa Programme.
"We fear that civilians will once more suffer killing and displacement, with no force able to protect them."
The Muhajiriya attack followed an earlier one on Haskanita on 29 September. Ten AU peacekeepers were killed. Aid workers said that attack was carried out by an armed opposition group, but the town was occupied by Sudanese forces afterwards.
A UN assessment mission later found Haskanita had been burnt down. Sudanese authorities said the team had exaggerated its findings, adding that only the market was destroyed by a fire. The AU is investigating.
"The gathering of forces in the north, the burning of Haskanita last week, and yesterday's attack on Muhajiriya show the vital importance of ensuring that UNAMID [proposed UN-AU peacekeeping force] is deployed as soon as possible and has the resources available to protect civilians," said Hondora.
Preparations to deploy the force are ongoing, but the mission still lacks ground transport, light tactical helicopters and transport helicopters, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs, Jean-Marie Guéhenno.
Aid workers fear the upsurge in violence will further restrict the ability of the few humanitarian workers left in Darfur to reach thousands of vulnerable civilians.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Violence forces MSF to evacuate team from Muhajariya, South Darfur
October 9, 2007
The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) evacuated a team of 16 aid workers from Muhajariya in South Darfur, Sudan, yesterday, following an intense attack on the town.
Shooting was first heard in Muhajariya in the morning on October 8. By 1 p.m., it had intensified, and patients started to flee the hospital. The MSF team sought shelter in their compound while shooting and mortar fire continued. One person reached the MSF compound and was treated for a gunshot wound. Some staff members fled in an attempt to get their families to safety.
Early on October 9, shooting started up again in the market area. When the team reached the hospital, the structure was completely deserted. Houses and huts in the neighborhood were also emptied as people gathered their possessions and fled.
Prior to the attack, there were 43 patients hospitalized, including pregnant women about to deliver, 15 children with severe pneumonia, and malnourished children in the feeding center.
An estimated additional 39 wounded people are among the thousands seeking refuge on the outskirts of Muhajariya and further away. MSF medical teams attempted to set up a small treatment center to provide care for the wounded, but with ongoing fighting and rumors of more attacks, it is too dangerous to keep a medical team on the ground.
Since MSF runs the only hospital in Muhajariya, the evacuation of the team means that people are urgently in need of medical care. MSF hopes to be able to return to the area as soon as possible to provide medical assistance.
Since July 2004, MSF has provided humanitarian medical assistance to the resident population and successive waves of displaced people in Muhajariya. With an average of 4,000 consultations a month this year, the hospital provides care for patients suffering from diarrhea and respiratory infections; ante- and post-natal services for women; emergency surgery; and a children's nutrition program for a population of 70,000. Today, Darfur is one of MSF's largest missions with 120 international and more than 1,800 national staff working throughout an area the size of France.
© 2007 Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) evacuated a team of 16 aid workers from Muhajariya in South Darfur, Sudan, yesterday, following an intense attack on the town.
Shooting was first heard in Muhajariya in the morning on October 8. By 1 p.m., it had intensified, and patients started to flee the hospital. The MSF team sought shelter in their compound while shooting and mortar fire continued. One person reached the MSF compound and was treated for a gunshot wound. Some staff members fled in an attempt to get their families to safety.
Early on October 9, shooting started up again in the market area. When the team reached the hospital, the structure was completely deserted. Houses and huts in the neighborhood were also emptied as people gathered their possessions and fled.
Prior to the attack, there were 43 patients hospitalized, including pregnant women about to deliver, 15 children with severe pneumonia, and malnourished children in the feeding center.
An estimated additional 39 wounded people are among the thousands seeking refuge on the outskirts of Muhajariya and further away. MSF medical teams attempted to set up a small treatment center to provide care for the wounded, but with ongoing fighting and rumors of more attacks, it is too dangerous to keep a medical team on the ground.
Since MSF runs the only hospital in Muhajariya, the evacuation of the team means that people are urgently in need of medical care. MSF hopes to be able to return to the area as soon as possible to provide medical assistance.
Since July 2004, MSF has provided humanitarian medical assistance to the resident population and successive waves of displaced people in Muhajariya. With an average of 4,000 consultations a month this year, the hospital provides care for patients suffering from diarrhea and respiratory infections; ante- and post-natal services for women; emergency surgery; and a children's nutrition program for a population of 70,000. Today, Darfur is one of MSF's largest missions with 120 international and more than 1,800 national staff working throughout an area the size of France.
© 2007 Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Monday, October 1, 2007
Influential rebel condemns Darfur attack on AU troops
01 Oct 2007 09:34:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
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Background
Darfur conflict
Sudan conflicts
More
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 1 (Reuters) - An influential member of a rebel group blamed for the deadliest attack on African Union peacekeepers in Darfur condemned the assault and called on Monday for the group's leaders to withdraw from the area.
Eighteen AU soldiers were killed or injured and 40 were missing after a "deliberate and sustained" assault on the Haskanita base in Darfur on Saturday night by armed men in 30 vehicles, who looted and destroyed the base, the AU said.
It was the worst single attack on AU forces since the 7,000-strong mission was deployed in 2004.
Suleiman Jamous, a member of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Unity faction which is one of two groups accused of the attack, said if his faction was involved it was a local decision, not ordered by the leadership.
"I have asked the leadership of SLA Unity to withdraw all the troops from the area, to where they can be under the direct control of the military command," Jamous said.
"And I have asked them to investigate to find out who, if any, SLA Unity commanders were involved. They have attacked the mediators and I offer my condolences to the families of the AU soldiers," said the elder rebel who is not in Darfur.
SLA Unity and a breakaway faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Bahr Idriss Abu Garda have forces in the Haskanita area. Other JEM commanders said Abu Garda and a SLA Unity commander had the stolen AU vehicles.
While AU convoys and individuals have been ambushed -- around 40 killed in the three years prior to the Haskanita attack -- this was the first time an entire base was targeted.
NO PLAN FOR DEFENCE
AU force commander Martin Luther Agwai said the mission was making contingency plans and reassessing security. But he said little more could be done without getting desperately needed additional equipment and troops into Darfur.
"We've come up with contingency plans, we have to improve," said Agwai, who took up his post only a few months ago. "We are reassessing everything and we have learned some lessons."
After a long day evacuating all the bodies, injured and traumatised survivors, Agwai defended the AU force, whose mission was to stem the violence in Darfur.
"People did deployment on the premise that there was an (peace) agreement and they were coming to inspect and act as observers -- there was no planning for people to be able defend themselves," he said.
The AU mediated a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels in May 2006 but only one of three rebel negotiating factions signed the deal. Since then, rebels have split into a dozen factions.
The violence, which includes militias and tribal conflicts, has severely curtailed the world's largest aid operation.
The AU has long complained of a lack of equipment, including attack helicopters and rapid response vehicles. They have also said their force was too small to contain the conflict in the vast and arid region.
"I don't know how they want us to do it without the facilities," Agwai said, adding driving normally it would take 4-1/2 hours to reinforce Haskanita and under attack, an entire day.
"We are just 5,000 plus military men scattered in an area as big as France with no roads," he added.
Agwai will command the joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping force of 26,000 troops and police due to absorb the AU mission and remedy the chaotic security situation in Darfur.
SECURE THE AREA
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in Darfur, with 2.5 million driven from their homes as mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect. Khartoum mobilised mainly Arab militias to quell the revolt.
Emphasising the AU's inability to deal with such an attack, it asked for Khartoum's help to secure the area and evacuate personnel using Sudan Armed Forces planes, the army said.
"We offered all the help we could. We have secured the area and moved the injured," a SAF spokesman said.
The attack is likely to overshadow AU-U.N.-mediated talks due to begin in Libya on Oct. 27. Mediators Salim Ahmed Salim and Jan Eliasson expressed "shock and dismay" at the attack.
"The Special Envoys urge all parties to the conflict to demonstrate a serious commitment to the peace process and to cease hostilities," they said in a statement.
The attack preceded a visit of "elders" to Sudan, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter, veteran peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and womens and children's rights advocate Graca Machel.
On Monday they are due to meet Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The trip to Darfur and southern Sudan is the group's first public mission since its inception this year.
AlertNet news
Source: Reuters
Alert Me | Print | Email this article | RSS
Background
Darfur conflict
Sudan conflicts
More
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 1 (Reuters) - An influential member of a rebel group blamed for the deadliest attack on African Union peacekeepers in Darfur condemned the assault and called on Monday for the group's leaders to withdraw from the area.
Eighteen AU soldiers were killed or injured and 40 were missing after a "deliberate and sustained" assault on the Haskanita base in Darfur on Saturday night by armed men in 30 vehicles, who looted and destroyed the base, the AU said.
It was the worst single attack on AU forces since the 7,000-strong mission was deployed in 2004.
Suleiman Jamous, a member of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Unity faction which is one of two groups accused of the attack, said if his faction was involved it was a local decision, not ordered by the leadership.
"I have asked the leadership of SLA Unity to withdraw all the troops from the area, to where they can be under the direct control of the military command," Jamous said.
"And I have asked them to investigate to find out who, if any, SLA Unity commanders were involved. They have attacked the mediators and I offer my condolences to the families of the AU soldiers," said the elder rebel who is not in Darfur.
SLA Unity and a breakaway faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Bahr Idriss Abu Garda have forces in the Haskanita area. Other JEM commanders said Abu Garda and a SLA Unity commander had the stolen AU vehicles.
While AU convoys and individuals have been ambushed -- around 40 killed in the three years prior to the Haskanita attack -- this was the first time an entire base was targeted.
NO PLAN FOR DEFENCE
AU force commander Martin Luther Agwai said the mission was making contingency plans and reassessing security. But he said little more could be done without getting desperately needed additional equipment and troops into Darfur.
"We've come up with contingency plans, we have to improve," said Agwai, who took up his post only a few months ago. "We are reassessing everything and we have learned some lessons."
After a long day evacuating all the bodies, injured and traumatised survivors, Agwai defended the AU force, whose mission was to stem the violence in Darfur.
"People did deployment on the premise that there was an (peace) agreement and they were coming to inspect and act as observers -- there was no planning for people to be able defend themselves," he said.
The AU mediated a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels in May 2006 but only one of three rebel negotiating factions signed the deal. Since then, rebels have split into a dozen factions.
The violence, which includes militias and tribal conflicts, has severely curtailed the world's largest aid operation.
The AU has long complained of a lack of equipment, including attack helicopters and rapid response vehicles. They have also said their force was too small to contain the conflict in the vast and arid region.
"I don't know how they want us to do it without the facilities," Agwai said, adding driving normally it would take 4-1/2 hours to reinforce Haskanita and under attack, an entire day.
"We are just 5,000 plus military men scattered in an area as big as France with no roads," he added.
Agwai will command the joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping force of 26,000 troops and police due to absorb the AU mission and remedy the chaotic security situation in Darfur.
SECURE THE AREA
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in Darfur, with 2.5 million driven from their homes as mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect. Khartoum mobilised mainly Arab militias to quell the revolt.
Emphasising the AU's inability to deal with such an attack, it asked for Khartoum's help to secure the area and evacuate personnel using Sudan Armed Forces planes, the army said.
"We offered all the help we could. We have secured the area and moved the injured," a SAF spokesman said.
The attack is likely to overshadow AU-U.N.-mediated talks due to begin in Libya on Oct. 27. Mediators Salim Ahmed Salim and Jan Eliasson expressed "shock and dismay" at the attack.
"The Special Envoys urge all parties to the conflict to demonstrate a serious commitment to the peace process and to cease hostilities," they said in a statement.
The attack preceded a visit of "elders" to Sudan, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter, veteran peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and womens and children's rights advocate Graca Machel.
On Monday they are due to meet Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The trip to Darfur and southern Sudan is the group's first public mission since its inception this year.
AlertNet news
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Eastern Congo: IRC Launches Response in North Kivu, Delivering Medicine to Desperate Village
Rutshuru, Congo 26 Sep 2007 - The International Rescue Committee’s emergency team has delivered medicine to a village in North Kivu’s Rutshuru District, launching a relief effort that aims to provide lifesaving assistance to tens of thousands of people hit by spiraling violence.
The IRC team brought a month’s worth of drugs to a clinic that had completely run out in the tiny village of Kabaya, where some 4,000 displaced people are seeking refuge—more than doubling the size of the already destitute hamlet.
“The displaced have crowded into the village’s school and church and others are staying with families who hardly have the means to care for themselves,” says Bob Kitchen, who is leading the emergency response operation.
“Aside from a clinic with no drugs and a squalid delivery room, we also found that there are no water points within Kabaya. The women have to walk out of the village to the closest water source, which is unprotected, dirty and also happens to be at the start of rebel-held territory. It’s risky any way you look at it,” Kitchen adds.
Female members of the team met with displaced women who spoke of sexual assaults by all armed forces in the conflict and no where to go for help.
The IRC initially plans to provide technical support and more medical supplies to the Kabaya clinic and similar assistance for two other clinics in the volatile district, as well as aid for sexual violence survivors. The IRC is also preparing to improve water supply and sanitation services in areas hosting displaced communities.
After a brief period of calm, clashes resumed this week between government troops and rebels groups, the largest made up of fighters loyal to General Laurent Nkunda.
Kitchen expressed concern that the fighting is leading to road closures which are severely hampering access to people in need of humanitarian aid.
The IRC team brought a month’s worth of drugs to a clinic that had completely run out in the tiny village of Kabaya, where some 4,000 displaced people are seeking refuge—more than doubling the size of the already destitute hamlet.
“The displaced have crowded into the village’s school and church and others are staying with families who hardly have the means to care for themselves,” says Bob Kitchen, who is leading the emergency response operation.
“Aside from a clinic with no drugs and a squalid delivery room, we also found that there are no water points within Kabaya. The women have to walk out of the village to the closest water source, which is unprotected, dirty and also happens to be at the start of rebel-held territory. It’s risky any way you look at it,” Kitchen adds.
Female members of the team met with displaced women who spoke of sexual assaults by all armed forces in the conflict and no where to go for help.
The IRC initially plans to provide technical support and more medical supplies to the Kabaya clinic and similar assistance for two other clinics in the volatile district, as well as aid for sexual violence survivors. The IRC is also preparing to improve water supply and sanitation services in areas hosting displaced communities.
After a brief period of calm, clashes resumed this week between government troops and rebels groups, the largest made up of fighters loyal to General Laurent Nkunda.
Kitchen expressed concern that the fighting is leading to road closures which are severely hampering access to people in need of humanitarian aid.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Eritrea insists Ethiopia implements border ruling
NAIROBI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Eritrea maintains its demand that Ethiopia implement a border ruling agreed under a pact to end their 1998-2000 war, a minister said on Wednesday after Ethiopia threatened to call off the peace agreement.
In a letter to Eritrea's Foreign Minister on Tuesday, Ethiopia accused Asmara of violating the deal on several fronts including coordinating "terrorist activity".
Addis Ababa said as a result it was considering terminating or suspending all or part the Algiers agreement that ended the two-year border conflict that killed 70,000 people.
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said Asmara had no knowledge of any such letter and that it was Ethiopia's concern.
"That's not our business. It's up to them," he told Reuters by telephone.
"What we know is there has been a legal verdict and what we want is the implementation of that. No more, no less."
Relations between the Horn of Africa neighbours plummeted when Ethiopia initially rejected a 2002 ruling by an independent border commission, despite agreeing beforehand to accept whatever the commission ruled as final and binding.
Earlier this month, Ethiopia said its soldiers were just metres (yards) apart from Eritrean troops who moved into what is supposed to be a neutral buffer zone.
Analysts and diplomats say neither country wants to go to war, in spite of the inflammatory rhetoric on both sides. But they worry that an unplanned skirmish could trigger conflict.
The two countries are on opposite sides of the conflict in Somalia, with Ethiopia backing the government and Eritrea Islamists forced out of Mogadishu in December.
Eritrea denies Ethiopia's allegations of support for armed groups. This month, it accused Ethiopia of scuppering demarcation talks on their 1,000 km (620 mile) frontier.
Abdu ruled out any dialogue.
"There was not, there is not and there will not be any direct communication between us," he said.
AlertNet news is provided by Reuters
In a letter to Eritrea's Foreign Minister on Tuesday, Ethiopia accused Asmara of violating the deal on several fronts including coordinating "terrorist activity".
Addis Ababa said as a result it was considering terminating or suspending all or part the Algiers agreement that ended the two-year border conflict that killed 70,000 people.
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said Asmara had no knowledge of any such letter and that it was Ethiopia's concern.
"That's not our business. It's up to them," he told Reuters by telephone.
"What we know is there has been a legal verdict and what we want is the implementation of that. No more, no less."
Relations between the Horn of Africa neighbours plummeted when Ethiopia initially rejected a 2002 ruling by an independent border commission, despite agreeing beforehand to accept whatever the commission ruled as final and binding.
Earlier this month, Ethiopia said its soldiers were just metres (yards) apart from Eritrean troops who moved into what is supposed to be a neutral buffer zone.
Analysts and diplomats say neither country wants to go to war, in spite of the inflammatory rhetoric on both sides. But they worry that an unplanned skirmish could trigger conflict.
The two countries are on opposite sides of the conflict in Somalia, with Ethiopia backing the government and Eritrea Islamists forced out of Mogadishu in December.
Eritrea denies Ethiopia's allegations of support for armed groups. This month, it accused Ethiopia of scuppering demarcation talks on their 1,000 km (620 mile) frontier.
Abdu ruled out any dialogue.
"There was not, there is not and there will not be any direct communication between us," he said.
AlertNet news is provided by Reuters
UNHCR welcomes resolution on Chad, Central African Republic
NEW YORK – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres welcomed the adoption today of a UN Security Council resolution establishing a multi-dimensional UN mission in Chad and Central African Republic (MINURCAT) that will help strengthen security in the region.
He looks forward to an early decision of the European Union to send military troops so that MINURCAT can deploy in the coming weeks and months.
Improving the security of the refugees, IDPs and other civilians in danger as well as facilitating the provision of humanitarian assistance will greatly contribute toward stabilizing the humanitarian situation in eastern Chad and may contribute to the return of displaced persons, Guterres said.
This is most urgent given that the humanitarian situation in eastern Chad is "very difficult and serious" and the fear of increasing violence, causing more people to flee, with the approaching end of the rainy season.
He also emphasized the need for a comprehensive and sub-regional approach to the conflicts in the Darfur region, eastern Chad and north-eastern CAR. In the longer term, UNHCR appeals to the international community to provide recovery and development assistance so that the displaced can return and restart their lives as well as rebuild communities, given the heavy burden the people of Chad and CAR face.
Since 2004, eastern Chad has hosted some 240,000 Sudanese refugees in 12 camps who have fled the fighting in Darfur. In addition, Chad is facing a surge in the number of internally displaced persons, now totaling more than 170,000.
North-eastern CAR hosts some 2,660 refugees from Darfur.
Today's resolution establishes MINURCAT for a period of one year, with a mandate focusing on the security and protection of civilians – particularly refugees, IDPs and civilians in danger – and on human rights and the rule of law in eastern Chad and north-eastern CAR.
MINURCAT will consist of three components:
- a UN multidimensional presence, composed of UN police, rule of law, human rights and other civilian officers;
- a special Chadian police/gendarmes unit (some 850) dedicated exclusively to maintaining law and order in refugee camps, sites with concentrations of IDPs and key towns, and assisting in securing humanitarian activities in eastern Chad;
- an EU military deployment (under Chapter VII).
The military contingent would have a mandate to contribute to the protection of civilians in danger, particularly refugees and displaced persons; to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the free movement of humanitarian personnel by helping to improve security in the area of operation; and to contribute to protecting UN personnel, facilities, installations and equipment and to ensuring the security and freedom of movement of its staff and UN and associated personnel.
UNHCR news
He looks forward to an early decision of the European Union to send military troops so that MINURCAT can deploy in the coming weeks and months.
Improving the security of the refugees, IDPs and other civilians in danger as well as facilitating the provision of humanitarian assistance will greatly contribute toward stabilizing the humanitarian situation in eastern Chad and may contribute to the return of displaced persons, Guterres said.
This is most urgent given that the humanitarian situation in eastern Chad is "very difficult and serious" and the fear of increasing violence, causing more people to flee, with the approaching end of the rainy season.
He also emphasized the need for a comprehensive and sub-regional approach to the conflicts in the Darfur region, eastern Chad and north-eastern CAR. In the longer term, UNHCR appeals to the international community to provide recovery and development assistance so that the displaced can return and restart their lives as well as rebuild communities, given the heavy burden the people of Chad and CAR face.
Since 2004, eastern Chad has hosted some 240,000 Sudanese refugees in 12 camps who have fled the fighting in Darfur. In addition, Chad is facing a surge in the number of internally displaced persons, now totaling more than 170,000.
North-eastern CAR hosts some 2,660 refugees from Darfur.
Today's resolution establishes MINURCAT for a period of one year, with a mandate focusing on the security and protection of civilians – particularly refugees, IDPs and civilians in danger – and on human rights and the rule of law in eastern Chad and north-eastern CAR.
MINURCAT will consist of three components:
- a UN multidimensional presence, composed of UN police, rule of law, human rights and other civilian officers;
- a special Chadian police/gendarmes unit (some 850) dedicated exclusively to maintaining law and order in refugee camps, sites with concentrations of IDPs and key towns, and assisting in securing humanitarian activities in eastern Chad;
- an EU military deployment (under Chapter VII).
The military contingent would have a mandate to contribute to the protection of civilians in danger, particularly refugees and displaced persons; to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the free movement of humanitarian personnel by helping to improve security in the area of operation; and to contribute to protecting UN personnel, facilities, installations and equipment and to ensuring the security and freedom of movement of its staff and UN and associated personnel.
UNHCR news
Darfur: Three ACT-Caritas staff detained and released into police custody in Zalingei
GENEVA, September 26, 2007--Three ACT-Caritas staff have been released into police custody after they were detained by an armed group over the weekend in Zalingei, west Darfur. The three staff were held for close to 30 hours and work for ACT-Caritas through ACT member, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA).
Immediately following the incident, all non-life saving ACT-Caritas operations in and around Zalingei were suspended and non-essential staff were sent home.
John Distefano, director of the ACT-Caritas Darfur Emergency Response, said, "We are very pleased that our three staff members are safe and we expect them to be in our care as soon as possible. A team is also currently investigating the entire matter."
"We have strict security protocols in place to safeguard our staff and ensure that we don't inadvertently put those we assist at risk, but security is very fluid in this area," added Mr. Distefano.
Over the past two months insecurity had already reduced the ability of the ACT-Caritas operation to provide humanitarian assistance in and around Zalingei.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in August that insecurity is negatively affecting the quantity and quality of aid to hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur.
Further details on the incident and future operations in Zalingei will be released in the near future.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/222031/119079222693.htm
Immediately following the incident, all non-life saving ACT-Caritas operations in and around Zalingei were suspended and non-essential staff were sent home.
John Distefano, director of the ACT-Caritas Darfur Emergency Response, said, "We are very pleased that our three staff members are safe and we expect them to be in our care as soon as possible. A team is also currently investigating the entire matter."
"We have strict security protocols in place to safeguard our staff and ensure that we don't inadvertently put those we assist at risk, but security is very fluid in this area," added Mr. Distefano.
Over the past two months insecurity had already reduced the ability of the ACT-Caritas operation to provide humanitarian assistance in and around Zalingei.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in August that insecurity is negatively affecting the quantity and quality of aid to hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur.
Further details on the incident and future operations in Zalingei will be released in the near future.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/222031/119079222693.htm
China sends 250 tons of aid materials to Darfur
Tuesday 25 September 2007.
September 24, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A special train carrying 250 tons of aid materials donated by the Chinese government left the Khartoum Railway Station on Monday for Sudan’s restive western region of Darfur.
The aid materials, including generators, water tankers and medical equipment for 30 water stations and 25 rural hospitals, is expected to arrive in Nyala, capital city of the South Darfur State, in five days.
This is one part of a total of RMB 80 million Chinese support to the Darfur region, which have been delayed by anti-government riots and tribal clashes since February 2003.
Besides the humanitarian assistances, a Chinese engineer unit consisting of 315 soldiers will be deployed in Darfur region in early October, to take part in a hybrid peacekeeping operation run by the United Nations and the African Union.
While addressing at a ceremony held for the aid delivery, Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining Awad Ahmed Mohamed al-Jaz expressed his country’s appreciation for the positions of China and its support for the projects of development and public services in Sudan, especially in Darfur.
He appreciated the Chinese support as critical for the peace and stability in Darfur, saying it would promote the services and encourage the return of the refugees and displaced people to their homelands.
"We will start with the projects of water and health then the ones of education, housing and electricity," the Sudanese minister said.
Ahmed Mohammed Harun, the Sudanese minister of state for humanitarian affairs, also thanks Chinese government for providing such comprehensive support which covered all the vital fields.
He said this support indicated "the depth and solidity of the relations between Sudan and China."
Thanks to the cohesion of the Sudanese people and the support of Sudan’s friends, the Darfur cause was moving steadily forward towards a final solution, said Harun.
This was the third batch provided by the Chinese government and the previous two had been delivered to the Darfur region.
Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Li Chengwen reiterated China’s support to the efforts exerted by the Sudanese government to realize the social and political stability in Darfur for achieving a final and lasting peace in the region.
"We are desirous to push the development process, promote the production, enhance the services and provide the humanitarian assistance for the citizens in Darfur," Li said.
(Xinhua)
September 24, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A special train carrying 250 tons of aid materials donated by the Chinese government left the Khartoum Railway Station on Monday for Sudan’s restive western region of Darfur.
The aid materials, including generators, water tankers and medical equipment for 30 water stations and 25 rural hospitals, is expected to arrive in Nyala, capital city of the South Darfur State, in five days.
This is one part of a total of RMB 80 million Chinese support to the Darfur region, which have been delayed by anti-government riots and tribal clashes since February 2003.
Besides the humanitarian assistances, a Chinese engineer unit consisting of 315 soldiers will be deployed in Darfur region in early October, to take part in a hybrid peacekeeping operation run by the United Nations and the African Union.
While addressing at a ceremony held for the aid delivery, Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining Awad Ahmed Mohamed al-Jaz expressed his country’s appreciation for the positions of China and its support for the projects of development and public services in Sudan, especially in Darfur.
He appreciated the Chinese support as critical for the peace and stability in Darfur, saying it would promote the services and encourage the return of the refugees and displaced people to their homelands.
"We will start with the projects of water and health then the ones of education, housing and electricity," the Sudanese minister said.
Ahmed Mohammed Harun, the Sudanese minister of state for humanitarian affairs, also thanks Chinese government for providing such comprehensive support which covered all the vital fields.
He said this support indicated "the depth and solidity of the relations between Sudan and China."
Thanks to the cohesion of the Sudanese people and the support of Sudan’s friends, the Darfur cause was moving steadily forward towards a final solution, said Harun.
This was the third batch provided by the Chinese government and the previous two had been delivered to the Darfur region.
Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Li Chengwen reiterated China’s support to the efforts exerted by the Sudanese government to realize the social and political stability in Darfur for achieving a final and lasting peace in the region.
"We are desirous to push the development process, promote the production, enhance the services and provide the humanitarian assistance for the citizens in Darfur," Li said.
(Xinhua)
Cooperation with China reached "outstanding" stage - Ethiopia
Tuesday 25 September 2007.
September 24, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Monday the bilateral cooperation between Ethiopia and China has reached an "outstanding" stage.
During his talks with Li Ruogu, chairman of China Exim Bank, Meles said Ethiopia is keen to step up its current relationship with China.
China has been providing support to Ethiopia in various sectors, Meles said, adding that the cooperation in the areas of development projects should further be strengthened.
He also underlined China has been cooperating with African countries, particularly Ethiopia, in various sectors.
Li told journalists after the talks that the cooperation between Ethiopia and China has been gaining momentum from time to time.
The Chinese banker said his country is keen to beef up the development cooperation underway between the two countries.
Li arrived here on Sunday for a working visit.
(Xinhua)
September 24, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Monday the bilateral cooperation between Ethiopia and China has reached an "outstanding" stage.
During his talks with Li Ruogu, chairman of China Exim Bank, Meles said Ethiopia is keen to step up its current relationship with China.
China has been providing support to Ethiopia in various sectors, Meles said, adding that the cooperation in the areas of development projects should further be strengthened.
He also underlined China has been cooperating with African countries, particularly Ethiopia, in various sectors.
Li told journalists after the talks that the cooperation between Ethiopia and China has been gaining momentum from time to time.
The Chinese banker said his country is keen to beef up the development cooperation underway between the two countries.
Li arrived here on Sunday for a working visit.
(Xinhua)
Serious abuse continuing in Darfur - UN experts
Tuesday 25 September 2007.
September 24, 2007 (GENEVA) — A group of UN experts monitoring Darfur said Monday that serious human rights violations appeared to be continuing in the strife-torn western Sudanese region.
Sudanese Darfur survivor Ibrahim scratching through the dust where he says the remains of 25 of his friends and fellow villagers lie, at the site of a mass grave on the outskirts of the West Darfur town of Mukjar, Sudan, April 23, 2007. (AP)
In a report to the UN’s Human Rights Council, the experts said the Sudanese government was implementing some of their recommendations to prevent violations in the region, although progress on the ground so far appeared to be limited.
"The group of experts reiterates its concern about reports of ongoing serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights by various parties to the conflict," the report said.
It called on Khartoum to address the issue of impunity and ensure that all perpetrators of abuses are brought to justice. The experts did not list the reported incidents.
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour issued a similar warning last week, saying that human rights violations in Darfur were still "of the same nature and largely on the same scale."
She also said there was little indication that the Sudanese government was willing to respond to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.
UN envoy Walter Kaelin, a member of the group, on Monday praised Khartoum’s "excellent cooperation" and its efforts to implement measures to stop abuse in Darfur.
But he told the 47-nation Council: "The group reiterates that the ultimate measure of the government’s implementation of the recommendations compiled by the group has to be concrete improvement in the human rights situation on the ground in Darfur."
"It is possible to note at this time that while certain recommendations have been at least partially implemented, it is not in a position to report that a clear impact on the ground has been identified yet," he added.
Kaelin said the experts wanted to give Khartoum "the maximum possible time" to fulfill its undertakings and promised a comprehensive evaluation in December.
Sudan’s delegation at the Council described the report as "very constructive."
In June the experts laid out more than 30 detailed "recommendations" or targets that Sudan should meet — including clear orders to stop attacks on civilians, disarming militia and full cooperation with the ICC.
They also included indicators — such as the numbers of attacks in Darfur or the number of people handed over to the ICC — that would allow an assessment of progress.
The report acknowledged that the multiplication of the number of warring parties was hampering efforts on the ground, but it cautioned that they "cannot be invoked as obstacles" in stopping violations.
Rebels in Darfur have split into different factions, with some rejecting a peace agreement, and are divided over further talks with Khartoum next month.
More than two million people have fled their homes and at least 200,000 have died from the combined effects of famine and conflict since Khartoum enlisted militia allies to put down a local revolt in 2003, according to the United Nations.
(AFP)
September 24, 2007 (GENEVA) — A group of UN experts monitoring Darfur said Monday that serious human rights violations appeared to be continuing in the strife-torn western Sudanese region.
Sudanese Darfur survivor Ibrahim scratching through the dust where he says the remains of 25 of his friends and fellow villagers lie, at the site of a mass grave on the outskirts of the West Darfur town of Mukjar, Sudan, April 23, 2007. (AP)
In a report to the UN’s Human Rights Council, the experts said the Sudanese government was implementing some of their recommendations to prevent violations in the region, although progress on the ground so far appeared to be limited.
"The group of experts reiterates its concern about reports of ongoing serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights by various parties to the conflict," the report said.
It called on Khartoum to address the issue of impunity and ensure that all perpetrators of abuses are brought to justice. The experts did not list the reported incidents.
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour issued a similar warning last week, saying that human rights violations in Darfur were still "of the same nature and largely on the same scale."
She also said there was little indication that the Sudanese government was willing to respond to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.
UN envoy Walter Kaelin, a member of the group, on Monday praised Khartoum’s "excellent cooperation" and its efforts to implement measures to stop abuse in Darfur.
But he told the 47-nation Council: "The group reiterates that the ultimate measure of the government’s implementation of the recommendations compiled by the group has to be concrete improvement in the human rights situation on the ground in Darfur."
"It is possible to note at this time that while certain recommendations have been at least partially implemented, it is not in a position to report that a clear impact on the ground has been identified yet," he added.
Kaelin said the experts wanted to give Khartoum "the maximum possible time" to fulfill its undertakings and promised a comprehensive evaluation in December.
Sudan’s delegation at the Council described the report as "very constructive."
In June the experts laid out more than 30 detailed "recommendations" or targets that Sudan should meet — including clear orders to stop attacks on civilians, disarming militia and full cooperation with the ICC.
They also included indicators — such as the numbers of attacks in Darfur or the number of people handed over to the ICC — that would allow an assessment of progress.
The report acknowledged that the multiplication of the number of warring parties was hampering efforts on the ground, but it cautioned that they "cannot be invoked as obstacles" in stopping violations.
Rebels in Darfur have split into different factions, with some rejecting a peace agreement, and are divided over further talks with Khartoum next month.
More than two million people have fled their homes and at least 200,000 have died from the combined effects of famine and conflict since Khartoum enlisted militia allies to put down a local revolt in 2003, according to the United Nations.
(AFP)
Lack of security may force Oxfam to stop Darfur’s operation
Tuesday 25 September 2007.
September 24, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Oxfam could withdraw from Darfur if security worsens, its country director said on Monday, amid reports of 10 attacks in the past four days in Sudan’s violent and remote west.
Despite a peace deal signed last year by the government and one rebel faction and intense international focus on ending the conflict, Darfur has descended into chaos forcing the world’s largest aid operation to evacuate some areas and work at high risk in others to provide assistance to some 4 million people.
"It’s certainly a strong possibility that if things get any worse Oxfam would have to withdraw," the British aid agency’s country director Caroline Nursey told Reuters.
"Oxfam is operating at the limits of what it can tolerate as an organisation. In most circumstances if the security situation were as bad as it is in Darfur we would withdraw.
"The only reason we are still there is that we are aware of very large numbers of people who are totally dependent on us for services," said Nursey, who has worked on Sudan for four years — the last 18 months based in Khartoum.
Oxfam provides water and sanitation to 500,000 people in Darfur and neighbouring Chad, where the conflict that began in Darfur in early 2003 has spilled across the border.
Two weeks ago an Oxfam vehicle was taken in broad daylight by armed men in South Darfur’s massive and volatile Kalma camp. Nursey said the driver overheard the men debating whether to kill the two Oxfam staff members.
Last year an Oxfam driver was killed in North Darfur and staff faced mock executions in an attack in Gereida, South Darfur.
CHAOTIC SCENARIO
Since the conflict began when mostly non-Arabs revolted, accusing the government in Khartoum of neglect, some 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 2.5 million have fled their homes for sprawling camps run by aid groups.
Around 7,000 African Union police and troops have failed to stem the violence, and have been accused of bias for mediating the 2006 deal which many in Darfur’s makeshift camps reject as inadequate. Only one of three rebel factions signed the deal.
Since the peace deal rebels factionalised into more than a dozen rival groups and mostly Arab militias began fighting each other or the government which had mobilised them to quell the revolt, creating a chaotic security scenario.
Rebels, government-backed militias and bandits have all been blamed for recent attacks. Some violence has also been tribal.
Between Sept. 19-22, a U.N. statement reported eight attacks on aid convoys, compounds and police by unknown armed men in Darfur, a vast, arid area the size of France.
On Monday a government official in West Darfur told Reuters Nertiti, in the central Jabel Marra area, was attacked two days ago. One civilian was killed and four injured.
On Sunday nearby Suloo was also attacked. Four policemen were injured.
After months of negotiations and threats, Khartoum accepted a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-African Union force to absorb the struggling AU mission.
But U.N. officials in New York have said Khartoum and the AU have rejected non-African infantry battalions for the force.
Rebels say they prefer non-Africans as the AU had not managed to control the crisis. They took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglecting the remote region.
Officials have also said Western nations have not come up with the necessary logistical and technical support needed to launch the massive peacekeeping mission.
(Reuters)
September 24, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Oxfam could withdraw from Darfur if security worsens, its country director said on Monday, amid reports of 10 attacks in the past four days in Sudan’s violent and remote west.
Despite a peace deal signed last year by the government and one rebel faction and intense international focus on ending the conflict, Darfur has descended into chaos forcing the world’s largest aid operation to evacuate some areas and work at high risk in others to provide assistance to some 4 million people.
"It’s certainly a strong possibility that if things get any worse Oxfam would have to withdraw," the British aid agency’s country director Caroline Nursey told Reuters.
"Oxfam is operating at the limits of what it can tolerate as an organisation. In most circumstances if the security situation were as bad as it is in Darfur we would withdraw.
"The only reason we are still there is that we are aware of very large numbers of people who are totally dependent on us for services," said Nursey, who has worked on Sudan for four years — the last 18 months based in Khartoum.
Oxfam provides water and sanitation to 500,000 people in Darfur and neighbouring Chad, where the conflict that began in Darfur in early 2003 has spilled across the border.
Two weeks ago an Oxfam vehicle was taken in broad daylight by armed men in South Darfur’s massive and volatile Kalma camp. Nursey said the driver overheard the men debating whether to kill the two Oxfam staff members.
Last year an Oxfam driver was killed in North Darfur and staff faced mock executions in an attack in Gereida, South Darfur.
CHAOTIC SCENARIO
Since the conflict began when mostly non-Arabs revolted, accusing the government in Khartoum of neglect, some 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 2.5 million have fled their homes for sprawling camps run by aid groups.
Around 7,000 African Union police and troops have failed to stem the violence, and have been accused of bias for mediating the 2006 deal which many in Darfur’s makeshift camps reject as inadequate. Only one of three rebel factions signed the deal.
Since the peace deal rebels factionalised into more than a dozen rival groups and mostly Arab militias began fighting each other or the government which had mobilised them to quell the revolt, creating a chaotic security scenario.
Rebels, government-backed militias and bandits have all been blamed for recent attacks. Some violence has also been tribal.
Between Sept. 19-22, a U.N. statement reported eight attacks on aid convoys, compounds and police by unknown armed men in Darfur, a vast, arid area the size of France.
On Monday a government official in West Darfur told Reuters Nertiti, in the central Jabel Marra area, was attacked two days ago. One civilian was killed and four injured.
On Sunday nearby Suloo was also attacked. Four policemen were injured.
After months of negotiations and threats, Khartoum accepted a 26,000-strong joint U.N.-African Union force to absorb the struggling AU mission.
But U.N. officials in New York have said Khartoum and the AU have rejected non-African infantry battalions for the force.
Rebels say they prefer non-Africans as the AU had not managed to control the crisis. They took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglecting the remote region.
Officials have also said Western nations have not come up with the necessary logistical and technical support needed to launch the massive peacekeeping mission.
(Reuters)
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Unknown gunmen attack aid workers in Darfur
Sunday 23 September 2007.
September 22, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Three aid workers are wounded in an ambush staged by unidentified gunmen in South Darfur near Bulbul Timisgo, a small village on the main road between Nyala and Kass, the UN said today.
A convoy from U.S.-based World Vision International, which included eight staff members, was attacked on Thursday September 20. The three wounded aid workers are Sudanese; two of them were transported to Khartoum for medical attention while the third is treated in Nyala due to the severity of his injuries.
Attacks against relief workers increased by 150% from June 2006 to June 2007, the UN said. Since the start of 2007, some 98 vehicles have been hijacked, some 105 staff were temporarily taken hostage, more than 66 humanitarian personnel have been physically or sexually assaulted, and 61 convoys have been ambushed and looted.
John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, condemned the attack and urged the Sudanese government to find the attackers and to punish them.
“This is a horrifying and brutal attack on aid staff who are working to save the lives of Sudanese people,” said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. “We call on the Government of Sudan to act with all speed to identify those responsible and ensure that they are held accountable for their crime,” he added.
The UN statement didn’t identify the attackers but underscored that "clashes among rival Arab tribes in this area in 2007 have caused significant levels of destruction and displacement."
"The area is also beset by banditry and violence." The UN further said.
World Vision, one of the world’s largest NGOs, provides a wide range of relief assistance in South Darfur, with projects in food aid, nutrition, water, education, sanitation, and agriculture, among others. They employ several hundred staff there.
(ST)
September 22, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — Three aid workers are wounded in an ambush staged by unidentified gunmen in South Darfur near Bulbul Timisgo, a small village on the main road between Nyala and Kass, the UN said today.
A convoy from U.S.-based World Vision International, which included eight staff members, was attacked on Thursday September 20. The three wounded aid workers are Sudanese; two of them were transported to Khartoum for medical attention while the third is treated in Nyala due to the severity of his injuries.
Attacks against relief workers increased by 150% from June 2006 to June 2007, the UN said. Since the start of 2007, some 98 vehicles have been hijacked, some 105 staff were temporarily taken hostage, more than 66 humanitarian personnel have been physically or sexually assaulted, and 61 convoys have been ambushed and looted.
John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, condemned the attack and urged the Sudanese government to find the attackers and to punish them.
“This is a horrifying and brutal attack on aid staff who are working to save the lives of Sudanese people,” said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. “We call on the Government of Sudan to act with all speed to identify those responsible and ensure that they are held accountable for their crime,” he added.
The UN statement didn’t identify the attackers but underscored that "clashes among rival Arab tribes in this area in 2007 have caused significant levels of destruction and displacement."
"The area is also beset by banditry and violence." The UN further said.
World Vision, one of the world’s largest NGOs, provides a wide range of relief assistance in South Darfur, with projects in food aid, nutrition, water, education, sanitation, and agriculture, among others. They employ several hundred staff there.
(ST)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region worsens - UN
Thursday 20 September 2007.
September 19, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia) — The United Nations said Wednesday that the situation in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region has "deteriorated rapidly," and called for an independent investigation into the humanitarian issues there.
The U.N. sent a fact-finding mission to the Ogaden in the country’s volatile east from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6.
"The mission observed the recent fighting has led to a worsening humanitarian situation, in which the price of food has nearly doubled," the U.N. said in a statement released late Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The mission also called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid to the impoverished region where rebels have been fighting for increased autonomy for more than a decade.
The U.N. mission was sent after months of fighting that followed a crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The government says the rebels, who killed 74 members of a Chinese-run oil exploration team, are terrorists, funded by its archenemy Eritrea.
The rebels have accused the Ethiopian government of genocide - a charge the government denies. In a statement on Sept. 13, the front said the government was punishing civilians for the rebel activities and that the fact-finding mission had not visited areas where war crimes were being committed.
"The Ethiopian regime’s policy in Ogaden continues to be a campaign of state-sponsored terror that largely avoids engagements with ONLF forces and instead focuses on collectively punishing our civilian population," the statement said. "Victims of the regime’s war crimes include victims of rape, torture, gunshot wounds and those fleeing burnt villages," it said.
The front called on the international community to stop "yet another preventable African genocide," and urged the U.N. to investigate further in the region, saying the recent trip had been too tightly controlled by the government.
Bereket Simon, the special adviser to the prime minister, dismissed the rebels’ claims after the statement was issued last week.
"They said it is good that the U.N. has sent the fact-finding mission. And now when the facts from the ground are found to be not supporting their claims, they are fighting the fact-finding mission," he said.
The group is fighting for greater political rights for the region, which is ethnically Somali.
(AP)
September 19, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia) — The United Nations said Wednesday that the situation in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region has "deteriorated rapidly," and called for an independent investigation into the humanitarian issues there.
The U.N. sent a fact-finding mission to the Ogaden in the country’s volatile east from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6.
"The mission observed the recent fighting has led to a worsening humanitarian situation, in which the price of food has nearly doubled," the U.N. said in a statement released late Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The mission also called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid to the impoverished region where rebels have been fighting for increased autonomy for more than a decade.
The U.N. mission was sent after months of fighting that followed a crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The government says the rebels, who killed 74 members of a Chinese-run oil exploration team, are terrorists, funded by its archenemy Eritrea.
The rebels have accused the Ethiopian government of genocide - a charge the government denies. In a statement on Sept. 13, the front said the government was punishing civilians for the rebel activities and that the fact-finding mission had not visited areas where war crimes were being committed.
"The Ethiopian regime’s policy in Ogaden continues to be a campaign of state-sponsored terror that largely avoids engagements with ONLF forces and instead focuses on collectively punishing our civilian population," the statement said. "Victims of the regime’s war crimes include victims of rape, torture, gunshot wounds and those fleeing burnt villages," it said.
The front called on the international community to stop "yet another preventable African genocide," and urged the U.N. to investigate further in the region, saying the recent trip had been too tightly controlled by the government.
Bereket Simon, the special adviser to the prime minister, dismissed the rebels’ claims after the statement was issued last week.
"They said it is good that the U.N. has sent the fact-finding mission. And now when the facts from the ground are found to be not supporting their claims, they are fighting the fact-finding mission," he said.
The group is fighting for greater political rights for the region, which is ethnically Somali.
(AP)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Rights violations are contining with impunity in Darfur - UN
Tuesday 18 September 2007.
September 17, 2007 (GENEVA) — The United Nations top human rights official warned on Monday that rights violations are contining in Darfur and that the Sudanese government has yet to make serious progress on tackling impunity for offenders.
Louise Arbour
"Darfur continues to be a matter of serious preoccupation," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told journalists.
"Human rights violations continue to be of the same nature and largely on the same scale," she said.
People forced into camps after fleeing their homes continue to be targeted, with women in particular vulnerable to sexual attacks, she said.
Arbour warned that there was "very little progress on national efforts to combat the culture of impunity."
"There is very little indication of a change of attitude for the better on the part of the government of Sudan to respond to the warrants issued by the International Criminal Court," she added.
In May, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Haroun, the secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, and pro-government Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kosheib, but Sudan has refused to hand them over.
However, Arbour did say that the "slightly more energised peace process" and the prospect of a joint UN-African Union "hybrid" peacekeeping force give some hope of new momentum towards a peaceful settlement.
"These two initiatives certainly give cause for some optimism that the human rights situation could improve," she said.
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir met with Italian prime minister Romano Prodi last week and reportedly promised "total cooperation" with a hybrid peacekeeping force.
According to UN estimates, more than 200,000 people have died and some two million have been displaced in Darfur as a result of the combined effect of war and famine since the conflict erupted more than four years ago.
Khartoum disputes the figures and says only 9,000 people died.
(AFP)
September 17, 2007 (GENEVA) — The United Nations top human rights official warned on Monday that rights violations are contining in Darfur and that the Sudanese government has yet to make serious progress on tackling impunity for offenders.
Louise Arbour
"Darfur continues to be a matter of serious preoccupation," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told journalists.
"Human rights violations continue to be of the same nature and largely on the same scale," she said.
People forced into camps after fleeing their homes continue to be targeted, with women in particular vulnerable to sexual attacks, she said.
Arbour warned that there was "very little progress on national efforts to combat the culture of impunity."
"There is very little indication of a change of attitude for the better on the part of the government of Sudan to respond to the warrants issued by the International Criminal Court," she added.
In May, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Haroun, the secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, and pro-government Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kosheib, but Sudan has refused to hand them over.
However, Arbour did say that the "slightly more energised peace process" and the prospect of a joint UN-African Union "hybrid" peacekeeping force give some hope of new momentum towards a peaceful settlement.
"These two initiatives certainly give cause for some optimism that the human rights situation could improve," she said.
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir met with Italian prime minister Romano Prodi last week and reportedly promised "total cooperation" with a hybrid peacekeeping force.
According to UN estimates, more than 200,000 people have died and some two million have been displaced in Darfur as a result of the combined effect of war and famine since the conflict erupted more than four years ago.
Khartoum disputes the figures and says only 9,000 people died.
(AFP)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Sudan to issue arrest warrants for Darfur rebels
Tuesday 11 September 2007.
September 10, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan is preparing arrest warrants for six Darfur rebel leaders, accusing them of masterminding a bloody attack on a government base, the Justice Ministry said on Monday.
Khartoum said 41 people were killed when the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked a police base in the town of Wad Banda in Kordofan region, 200 km (125 miles) from the border with war-torn Darfur late last month.
The ministry said in a statement carried by state-run media the attack was "a criminal and terrorist act".
"Arrest warrants would be issued in cooperation with the Interpol against six leaders of the JEM responsible for the attack," the ministry said. It did not name suspects.
JEM claimed responsibility for the August 29 attack, but insisted it was on a military base, manned by 1,700 troops and used for launching government-backed raids against southern Darfur. The government denies the charges.
JEM commanders were not available for comment.
The announcement of the arrest warrants came seven weeks before the start of peace talks between Khartoum and rebel groups, expected to take place in Libya on October 27.
It also coincided with fresh reports of violence and lawlessness in war-torn Darfur.
The United Nations on Monday reported crowds of displaced Sudanese had killed four men who had tried to hijack a U.N. vehicle in south Darfur’s Kalma camp on Thursday. A day earlier, gunmen killed one resident of the nearby Bilal camp and kidnapped another.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in more than four years of conflict in Darfur and 2.5 million others have been driven from their homes by rape, looting and killing. Washington calls the violence genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use.
Khartoum says only 9,000 people have been killed, blaming Western media for exaggerating the conflict.
(Reuters)
September 10, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan is preparing arrest warrants for six Darfur rebel leaders, accusing them of masterminding a bloody attack on a government base, the Justice Ministry said on Monday.
Khartoum said 41 people were killed when the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked a police base in the town of Wad Banda in Kordofan region, 200 km (125 miles) from the border with war-torn Darfur late last month.
The ministry said in a statement carried by state-run media the attack was "a criminal and terrorist act".
"Arrest warrants would be issued in cooperation with the Interpol against six leaders of the JEM responsible for the attack," the ministry said. It did not name suspects.
JEM claimed responsibility for the August 29 attack, but insisted it was on a military base, manned by 1,700 troops and used for launching government-backed raids against southern Darfur. The government denies the charges.
JEM commanders were not available for comment.
The announcement of the arrest warrants came seven weeks before the start of peace talks between Khartoum and rebel groups, expected to take place in Libya on October 27.
It also coincided with fresh reports of violence and lawlessness in war-torn Darfur.
The United Nations on Monday reported crowds of displaced Sudanese had killed four men who had tried to hijack a U.N. vehicle in south Darfur’s Kalma camp on Thursday. A day earlier, gunmen killed one resident of the nearby Bilal camp and kidnapped another.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in more than four years of conflict in Darfur and 2.5 million others have been driven from their homes by rape, looting and killing. Washington calls the violence genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use.
Khartoum says only 9,000 people have been killed, blaming Western media for exaggerating the conflict.
(Reuters)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Ethiopia blocking civilian access to medicine in Ogaden - MSF
Wednesday 5 September 2007
September 4, 2007 (NAIROBI) — Ethiopian soldiers have chased women and children from wells in the desert and blocked civilians from getting medical care in an eastern Ethiopian region where a rebellion is brewing, the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Tuesday.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) militants display their weapons during a 2006 photocall in Mogadishu. (AFP)
Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Local and international staff of the agency, also known as Doctors Without Borders, withdrew from most of the Ogaden region in July because of insecurity.
Later, the agency felt security had improved but several attempts to return have failed because authorities said aid groups were being held back for their own safety and would be allowed to return once military operations had ended, said Loris de Filippi, the agency’s operational coordinator for Ethiopia.
Eileen Skinnider of Doctors Without Borders said she saw soldiers driving women and children away from wells in the Ogaden and a team treated several victims of beatings and some civilians with gunshot wounds. Skinnider described driving through roads lined with burnt-out or mostly deserted villages, with elderly and sick inhabitants cowering in their huts.
"They first hid when they heard the sound of vehicles approaching," Skinnider said about a trip to one village. "They told us that they were afraid that if they were still found in their village, it would be burnt."
"In one incident I saw, a donkey that was being used to transport water got stabbed to death by soldiers," said Dr. Sieke Felix, who has not been allowed to return since July. She said she also saw a woman who had been beaten by soldiers when she was looking for her children and a 10 year-old injured by a mine.
Following the withdrawal of Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross, which says it was ordered to leave by the government last month, there are no foreign aid workers in the region and no reliable information about what is happening.
De Filippi said that in the three worst pockets of fighting in the Ogaden, 400,000 people share one physician. Doctors Without Borders had not been able to deliver vital drugs for six months, he said, adding that to get help women suffering from complications while giving birth would have to make an arduous journey that takes up to nine hours by car.
Doctors Without Borders said it was impossible to know how many people were hungry or sick in the parched, famine-prone area without being able to do an assessment, but the agency’s staff had seen no commercial trucks carrying food in areas where the fighting was fiercest and had seen several cases of malnutrition before pulling out in July.
Clashes between Ethiopian soldiers and rebels intensified in the region after Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels killed 74 members of a Chinese-run oil exploration team in April.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which says it is fighting for the rights of the region’s roughly 4 million ethnic Somali people, has accused the government of burning down villages, blocking food aid and attacking civilians.
The government says the rebels are backed by Ethiopia’s bitter enemy Eritrea in an attempt to destabilize the country.
No journalists or aid workers are currently allowed in the region, although a U.N. assessment team is currently in the region. The rebels have declared a unilateral cease-fire until the U.N. mission completes its work. Filippi said so far the U.N. team had not visited any of the areas worst affected by the fighting.
(AP)
September 4, 2007 (NAIROBI) — Ethiopian soldiers have chased women and children from wells in the desert and blocked civilians from getting medical care in an eastern Ethiopian region where a rebellion is brewing, the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Tuesday.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) militants display their weapons during a 2006 photocall in Mogadishu. (AFP)
Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Local and international staff of the agency, also known as Doctors Without Borders, withdrew from most of the Ogaden region in July because of insecurity.
Later, the agency felt security had improved but several attempts to return have failed because authorities said aid groups were being held back for their own safety and would be allowed to return once military operations had ended, said Loris de Filippi, the agency’s operational coordinator for Ethiopia.
Eileen Skinnider of Doctors Without Borders said she saw soldiers driving women and children away from wells in the Ogaden and a team treated several victims of beatings and some civilians with gunshot wounds. Skinnider described driving through roads lined with burnt-out or mostly deserted villages, with elderly and sick inhabitants cowering in their huts.
"They first hid when they heard the sound of vehicles approaching," Skinnider said about a trip to one village. "They told us that they were afraid that if they were still found in their village, it would be burnt."
"In one incident I saw, a donkey that was being used to transport water got stabbed to death by soldiers," said Dr. Sieke Felix, who has not been allowed to return since July. She said she also saw a woman who had been beaten by soldiers when she was looking for her children and a 10 year-old injured by a mine.
Following the withdrawal of Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross, which says it was ordered to leave by the government last month, there are no foreign aid workers in the region and no reliable information about what is happening.
De Filippi said that in the three worst pockets of fighting in the Ogaden, 400,000 people share one physician. Doctors Without Borders had not been able to deliver vital drugs for six months, he said, adding that to get help women suffering from complications while giving birth would have to make an arduous journey that takes up to nine hours by car.
Doctors Without Borders said it was impossible to know how many people were hungry or sick in the parched, famine-prone area without being able to do an assessment, but the agency’s staff had seen no commercial trucks carrying food in areas where the fighting was fiercest and had seen several cases of malnutrition before pulling out in July.
Clashes between Ethiopian soldiers and rebels intensified in the region after Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels killed 74 members of a Chinese-run oil exploration team in April.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which says it is fighting for the rights of the region’s roughly 4 million ethnic Somali people, has accused the government of burning down villages, blocking food aid and attacking civilians.
The government says the rebels are backed by Ethiopia’s bitter enemy Eritrea in an attempt to destabilize the country.
No journalists or aid workers are currently allowed in the region, although a U.N. assessment team is currently in the region. The rebels have declared a unilateral cease-fire until the U.N. mission completes its work. Filippi said so far the U.N. team had not visited any of the areas worst affected by the fighting.
(AP)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Ethiopia orders Norwegian diplomats to Leave
Tuesday 28 August 2007.
August 27, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia has ordered six Norwegian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 15, expressing "dissatisfaction" with Norway’s conduct in the Horn of Africa region, the Norwegian foreign affairs minister said Monday.
"We are surprised and regret the Ethiopian authorities’ unilateral decision," Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.
Norway had urged Ethiopia to reconsider its decision, but Ethiopia had maintained its position and so six Norwegian diplomats would be leaving, the statement added.
"This sharp reduction in staffing means that we may not be able to maintain our development cooperation with Ethiopia at the current level," Stoere added. "We regret the impact this will have on our partners."
Junior foreign minister Raymond Johansen told AFP: "The Ethiopian decision was passed to us on August 15 in a totally unexpected manner."
Ethiopia had accused Norway of trying to promote the interests of its enemy Eritrea in the course of its mediation work to bring about peace in the region, said Johansen.
In particular they raised Norway’s contacts with Eritrea in the course of its efforts to work end the conflicts in Somalia and Sudan, he added.
The Norwegian foreign ministry statement however said that the expulsion of the diplomats didn’t "imply" a break in diplomatic relations with Ethiopia.
Norway’s embassy in Ethiopia is also responsible for relations with the African Union, which has its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Addis Ababa is seen to be wary of Norway’s backing of Asmara, which supports some rebel groups in Somalia and Sudan. Oslo actively backed Asmara during its liberation struggle.
Somalia and Ethiopia allege that Eritrea is trying to destabilize the interim government in Somalia by arming insurgents who have staged some of the worst fighting in the capital Mogadishu in more than a decade.
Asmara denies the charge and in turn says Ethiopia is guilty of breaking international law by "invading" Somalia and interfering with the country’s right to chose its own leaders.
(AFP/AP)
August 27, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia has ordered six Norwegian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 15, expressing "dissatisfaction" with Norway’s conduct in the Horn of Africa region, the Norwegian foreign affairs minister said Monday.
"We are surprised and regret the Ethiopian authorities’ unilateral decision," Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.
Norway had urged Ethiopia to reconsider its decision, but Ethiopia had maintained its position and so six Norwegian diplomats would be leaving, the statement added.
"This sharp reduction in staffing means that we may not be able to maintain our development cooperation with Ethiopia at the current level," Stoere added. "We regret the impact this will have on our partners."
Junior foreign minister Raymond Johansen told AFP: "The Ethiopian decision was passed to us on August 15 in a totally unexpected manner."
Ethiopia had accused Norway of trying to promote the interests of its enemy Eritrea in the course of its mediation work to bring about peace in the region, said Johansen.
In particular they raised Norway’s contacts with Eritrea in the course of its efforts to work end the conflicts in Somalia and Sudan, he added.
The Norwegian foreign ministry statement however said that the expulsion of the diplomats didn’t "imply" a break in diplomatic relations with Ethiopia.
Norway’s embassy in Ethiopia is also responsible for relations with the African Union, which has its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Addis Ababa is seen to be wary of Norway’s backing of Asmara, which supports some rebel groups in Somalia and Sudan. Oslo actively backed Asmara during its liberation struggle.
Somalia and Ethiopia allege that Eritrea is trying to destabilize the interim government in Somalia by arming insurgents who have staged some of the worst fighting in the capital Mogadishu in more than a decade.
Asmara denies the charge and in turn says Ethiopia is guilty of breaking international law by "invading" Somalia and interfering with the country’s right to chose its own leaders.
(AFP/AP)
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