Bashir experienced ‘severe panic’ in Ethiopia by the sight of chartered plane with a US flag

The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir went through thirty minutes of panic at an airport in northern Tigray region during an official visit last month, an Ethiopian news paper reported today.

‘The Reporter’ independent daily which is published in native Amharic language said that the Sudanese delegation headed by Bashir was stuck in the presidential jet at Mekele Airport waiting for the boarding ladder.

Al-Bashir had arrived to lead Sudan at the meetings of the supreme joint committee co-chaired by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

The Sudanese head of state visit to Ethiopia was the latest in a series of trips abroad in a show of defiance to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for him in March in connection with war crimes committed in the Darfur region.

However all the countries he visited were non-parties to the Rome Statute which is the founding text of the ICC, which means they have no legal obligation to apprehend Al-Bashir on their territory.

The newspaper said that the delay by airport authorities in bringing the boarding ladder caused “severe panic” among the embattled president and his entourage.

Quoting eyewitnesses, the newspaper said the panic was exacerbated by the sight of chartered plane with a US flag close to Al-Bashir’s plane.

Prior to the Bashir’s trips abroad since the arrest warrant, Sudanese officials have expressed fears that a Western power would attempt an operation to arrest him through military bases in Africa. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sudan: Is Judgment Day Near for Omar Al-Bashir?

Mahmood Mamdani's recent article Beware of human rights fundamentalism substantively goes through the reasoning the author has repeatedly made over the past few years regarding the Darfur imbroglio. This time he is offering gratuitous advice to former South African President Thabo Mbeki about the arguments he should make to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and interested parties on how to deal with the African Union's (AU) call for him to negotiate a postponement of the ICC's indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.

Leading a panel and mandated by the AU, Mbeki has started work on a possible African-led resolution of the crisis in Darfur. The panel has been advised by AU members to call for a year's deferment of the process of the ICC war crimes indictments against Sudan's president. The eight-member panel includes three former African heads of state: South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Burundi's Pierre Buyoya and Nigeria's General Abdusalam Abubakar.

During the opening session of the exercise at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa various delegates argued that the ICC indictments against President al-Bashir will in effect undermine attempts to arrange peace in Darfur. The suggestion is that deferring the ICC indictments will allow time for African-led peace efforts in Darfur to take firm shape. Mbeki argued that the AU charter claims primary authority over African peace and security issues: 'The African Union has taken the clear and unequivocal decision the continent must act not only to end war and violent conflict in Africa, but also to ensure that where war does anyway break out, all belligerents must know that war crimes, crimes against humanity and other abuses will be punished resolutely, and that a culture of impunity will not be permitted to take root and entrench itself.'

There are certainly legions of problems with the self-appointment of the ICC to sit in judgment on all of us when we are neither all in agreement with the terms of the mandate or the moral credentials of the powers that be. These are general considerations. Its use cannot be ruled out however. Slobadan Milosevic, Charles Taylor and Thomas Lubanga are clear cases in point. In the specific instance of President Omar al-Bashir and his genocidal project in Darfur, is judgment day is near?

Taking a page from the book of the South African settlement which brought apartheid to a close, Mamdani's plea on behalf of al-Bashir is that, 'The rationale was simple: where there was no victor, one would need the cooperation of the very leaders who would otherwise be charged with war crimes to end the fighting and initiate political reforms. The essence of Kempton Park can be summed up in a single phrase: forgive but do not forget. Forgive all past crimes - in plain words, immunity from prosecution - provided both sides agree to change the rules to assure political justice for the living.' In other words, the recommended course of action should be based more on political expediency than justice. There are many who would swallow this suggestion, in spite of the bad taste it leaves in the mouth. Some will also argue that in light of the history of Arab-African agreements from time immemorial in the Sudan, the peace, if it is so loosely structured, will degenerate into a 'practico-inert'. We must remember that the Kempton Park meetings formally ended apartheid. Will al-Bashir end his brutal and genocidal policies in Darfur? Kicking out humanitarian NGOs does not speak well for magnanimity and reconciliation. As Abel Alier, the Southern Sudanese former vice-president under Muhammad Ja'far Numeiri, put the case in his book with the same title, there have been 'too many agreements dishonored' Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Darfur refugees urge AU to pursue Beshir arrest

N'DJAMENA (AFP) — Sudenese refugees urged a high-level African Union mission to speed up the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for President Omar al-Beshir for war crimes, Chadian state radio said Friday.

Refugees at a camp in Djabal in the east of Chad accused Beshir of causing "genocide, rape and pillage" and said they would not return to Darfur until peace is established between Khartoum and N'Djamena, the station added.

Their plea came as they met an AU delegation led by South African ex-president Thabo Mbeki, former Nigerian president Abdusalami Abubakar and Pierre Buyoya, the ex-Burundian president.

The delegation travelled to the east Chadian towns of Abeche, Goz Beida and Djabal on Thursday as part of its efforts to help broker peace talks in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur province, the radio station added.

Diplomatic relations between Chad and Sudan are severely strained, with each accusing the other of supporting rebel movements in its territory.

Several hundred Sudanese refugees have fled across the border to escape the conflict in Darfur, for which the international community has largely blamed the Khartoum government.

The ICC on March 4 issued the warrant to arrest Beshir for alleged crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Five members of congress arrested at Darfur protest

Reporters had been forewarned by the Save Darfur Coalition that Monday’s protest, featuring a handful of House Democrats, would involve “civil disobedience.”

And sure enough, Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) wandered past the official police line at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington on Monday morning — and were gently cuffed and carted away by the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting foreign dignitaries.

The five — who were protesting deteriorating human rights conditions in Sudan — were held on misdemeanor trespassing charges and released in time for their afternoon votes, a Woolsey representative said.

Lewis — a legendary civil rights leader who was severely beaten by racists in the early 1960s in Alabama — issued a brief statement prior to his arrest:

“I don’t understand how the world can just stand by and watch the slaughter of innocent victims in Darfur,” he said. “Haven’t we learned the hard lessons of Rwanda and Bosnia, of the Holocaust?” Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur Week to Raise Genocide Awareness

Gustavus Adolphus College will host a series of events and activities during the week of Monday, April 20 to raise awareness of genocide. The week is titled “Darfur Week: Protect, Prevent, Prosecute, Remember.”

The week’s scheduled events will begin Monday, April 20 with Camp Darfur, a traveling refugee camp that highlights the history and consequences of genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibit will be set up on Eckman Mall outside of the College’s C. Charles Jackson Campus Center.

Gabriel Stauring and Katie-Jay Scott, directors of Camp Darfur and the grassroots organization Stop Genocide Now, will speak throughout the day. Both Stauring and Scott have visited and worked at refugee camps on the border of Sudan and Chad. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur survivors stage protest

Hundreds of survivors of the ongoing crisis in Darfur gathered outside Downing Street to plea for more support in the strife-torn region.

Protesters chanted "You don't forget" in a bid to remind political leaders that millions were still facing disease, starvation and conflict.

Fatima Abdelshafi, 30, who sought asylum in the UK two years ago, said the rescue job was only half done. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Nine men executed in Sudan following unfair trial

The Sudanese government executed nine people who may have been innocent on Monday. The nine men were convicted of murder, but their confessions were extracted under torture.

Amnesty International has called on the Sudanese authorities to abolish the death penalty immediately. The organization opposes the death penalty unconditionally in all situations as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

"This case is a tragic example of what happens when an irreversible punishment such as the death penalty is applied," said Tawanda Hondora, Deputy Director of the Amnesty International's Africa Programme. "The execution of the nine men is outrageous. They were arbitrarily arrested, tortured and then subjected to an unfair trial."

The nine men executed were Ishaq Mohammed Sanousi (thought to have been 71 years old), Abdel Hay Omar, Mustafa Adam, Mohammed Birgid,Hassan Adam Fadel, Adam Ibrahim, Jamaleddin Isa, Abdel Magid Ali Abdel Magid and Sabir Hassan. They were found guilty of the murder of newspaper editor Mohamed Taha in September 2006.

All those executed on Monday had said that they had been tortured to confess to the murder and been forced to sign confessions, which were later produced in court. All 10 people retracted their confessions in court, but the Appeal Court accepted the confessions as evidence against them to issue them with the death penalty.

Defence lawyers asked for medical examinations into their torture, but these were refused, even though many of those arrested carried marks of torture on their bodies. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Amnesty International is concerned that the use of torture to extract confessions is built into the Sudanese system of justice by Article 10(i) of the Law of Evidence of 1993, which states that "… evidence is not dismissed solely because it has been obtained through an improper procedure, if the court is satisfied that it is independent and admissible".

Dead man walking

By Yilma Bekele

"Why, O my friends, did ye so often puff me up, telling me that I was fortunate? For he that is fallen low did never firmly stand."
— Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy

When the prison guard shouts: Dead man walking! You step aside. The guard is warning people that the inmate walking by is on death row and he has nothing to lose by killing you. You just step out of the way and let the dead man keep his date with destiny.

The President of Sudan General Bashir is a dead man walking. He has a date with the International Criminal Court (ICC). A year ago ICC warned the General that his actions in Darfur were a cause for concern. Human Right watch put him on notice. Amnesty international said Al bashir was abusing his authority.

General Bashir was intoxicated with power. The General with the brain of a foot solder was not in any mood to listen to reason. He told his army full speed ahead. Scorched-earth policy of raping, killing and destroying villages was in effect. Why would he listen to a bunch of ‘liars’ bent in tarnishing his image?

He has friends. He is famous. He is the president of Sudan. He doesn’t have to listen to anybody. He has always said the western colonialists are out to get him. So what if they complain? General bashir is smart. Now that he has oil, he is rich too. They want his oil and those greedy westerners will not lift a finger against him. Especially since his newfound friends the Chinese are not concerned with such trivia as Darfur or human right he is safe. That is right he will play his Chinese hand no one will touch him. Not to mention that he is also surrounded with good honorable friends. No one can ask for better criminal neighbors than Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt and Libya.

So ICC in its slow and deliberative process went ahead gathering information, interviewing victims and buttressing the case. There was no hysteria here. ICC knew this process couldn’t be hurried. Accusing someone of genocide, torture, and human rights abuse is a grave matter. Warning shots were fired for those who can hear. Close friends of the tyrant were briefed. The media was kept in the loop. Al Bashir due to his unsurpassed ability to bully the Sudanese people was not to be bothered by some prosecutor in far away Europe.

The African Union and fellow tyrants were recruited to warn the ICC of the dire consequences if an indictment was returned. Delegates were sent to European capitals to explain how democracy works in Africa. The Ethiopian Foreign Minster appealed to Turkey to stop this process. It was said that Africans have their own solution and it cannot be hurried. In the mean time Al Bashir kept busy by denying the scope of his crimes, accusing the court of lack of jurisdiction and insulting the prosecutor as unrepentant colonialist hell bent on interfering in the internal affairs of Sudan. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Court prosecutor: isolate Sudan's president

By MIKE CORDER - Associated Press Writer

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court's deputy prosecutor urged world leaders on Tuesday to cut ties with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the court for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

The U.N.-backed tribunal issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir last month on charges including genocide for allegedly orchestrating efforts to wipe out three African tribes in his oil-rich country's Darfur region.

Since then, al-Bashir has made a series of trips to neighboring African countries and an Arab League summit in Qatar. He also expelled 13 major relief organizations from Darfur - a move denounced around the world.

The international court has no police force and relies on other countries to execute arrest warrants.

The 22-member Arab League said, however, it decided not to enforce the warrant when al-Bashir attended the Qatar summit March 30, as many Arab and African countries have said pursuing al-Bashir could further destabilize the region.

The court's deputy prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, urged nations to "deny Omar al-Bashir any form of support."

"States should implement a consistent diplomatic campaign to support the court's decision," she told diplomats in The Hague. "Nonessential contacts with Omar al-Bashir should be severed." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Who are the real criminals?

Written by Henry Srebrnik

A number of human rights organizations accused Israel of committing war crimes in its recent war against Hamas in Gaza.
A report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council made the same charge. (The Council includes such stalwarts of democracy as Angola, China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.)

Similar allegations were made during Israel’s incursion into Lebanon in 2006, when battling the Hezbollah guerrillas. Israel denied this and after conducting its own investigation found the charges to be without merit.

But who has really been engaged in war crimes? We need look no further than Sudan. Its president, Omar al-Bashir, was indicted by the International Criminal Court in early March on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

He is accused by the court of orchestrating attacks that have involved killings, rapes and other atrocities against civilians. Hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered.
But for Israel’s opponents, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, crimes against humanity seem to be in the eye of the beholder. While all three have accused Israel of genocide, especially after the recent war in Gaza, they all jumped to Sudan’s defence. Sudan and its allies have called the whole campaign to stop the killings in Darfur a “Zionist plot.”

Of course, as the world discovered recently, Sudan has also been a pipeline for Iranian weapons bound for Hamas in Gaza. In March Iranian Defence Minister Mustafa Muhammad Najar visited Sudan and signed a series of military cooperation agreements. This followed a visit to Iran two months earlier by his Sudanese counterpart, Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein.

Meanwhile, Bashir seems to have taken a “victory lap” around the Arab world to mock the ICC indictment. Qatar’s leader gave him a red-carpet welcome as he arrived to attend an Arab League summit at the end of March, and Bashir took a prominent role at the two-day meeting. The Sudanese leader had earlier visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya.

Even before the summit began, Amr Moussa, the general-secretary of the Arab League, said the member states would “continue our efforts to halt the implementation of the warrant.” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, opened the conference by asking all Arab leaders to reject the court’s action.

“What is happening now with regards to Sudan is a new chapter in the chapters that consider the Arabs weak and disrespect the sovereignty of their countries,” he declared.

“We must also take a decisive stance of solidarity alongside fraternal Sudan and President Omar al-Bashir,” added Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. And he’s the moderate! Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Rally puts spotlight on Darfur atrocities

A rally is being organized by a coalition of more than 50 Manatee and Sarasota organizations to bring attention to the conditions in Darfur and hoping to inspire people to show support of the preservation of humanity.


On April 19, Omer Ismail will bring his dire message, "Why the World Failed to Stop Genocide in Darfur," to Sarasota as the keynote speaker of the third annual Humanity Working to End Genocide Rally for Darfur.

Ismail knows what it is like to be a refugee.

Born in El Fashir, Western Sudan, Ismail graduated from Khartoum University and worked as a research assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Sudan. His work with international relief and development organizations continued until 1988, when he became operations manager for the United Nations Operation Life Line Sudan, the largest relief operation in the world at the time.

When the National Islamic Front took power in 1989, Ismail fled Sudan and has since lived as a refugee in the United States. Today, Ismail is the spokesman of the advocacy group Darfur Union and co-founder of Darfur Peace and Development.

According to the Sarasota-based Humanity Working to End Genocide. Read more >>>>>>>>>

ICC Chief Prosecutor: Sudan's Bashir Will Face Justice

By Lisa Bryant
Paris

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir continues to defy an international arrest warrant, recently returning from an Arab League meeting in Qatar. But the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, says he is confident Mr. Bashir will be brought to justice. Lisa Bryant spoke with Moreno-Ocampo in The Hague.

The International Criminal Court issued the arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir in early March. It is the first arrest warrant against a sitting head of state and charges the Sudanese leader with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Those crimes center of the conflict in Darfur, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced almost three million.

But so far, the only major impact the arrest warrant seems to have generated is Mr. Bashir's decision to expel more than a dozen international humanitarian groups working in Darfur, a desolate, impoverished stretch of land in western Sudan. Read more >>>>>>>>>

A peek into Darfur

By Nicholas Kristof

Since aid workers were expelled from Darfur, we’ve heard very little about conditions in the camps there. And of course, Sudan isn’t giving me a visa to report there. But this anonymous former aid worker describes conditions in a couple of camps that are consistent what I’m hearing:

Zam Zam camp in North Darfur has virtually doubled in size in the past two months. 36,000 people have arrived there since the end of January, fleeing fighting between government and rebels. They are homeless, hungry and desperate, and urgently in need of help. Many are women and children. Helping so many new arrivals would always be an enormous challenge, but with many of the biggest aid agencies now gone it is going to be nearly impossible. As a result, these families are not receiving the food and water they need. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Sudan's wanted president arrives at Arab summit

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Sudan's president, who is sought by an international court on charges of war crimes in Darfur, has arrived in Qatar to attend this week's Arab League summit.

President Omar al-Bashir was greeted warmly by Qatar's emir in a red-carpet welcome at Doha's airport on Sunday. He later had coffee with the emir and the head of the Arab League. The summit begins Monday.

The 22-nation Arab League has already said it would not enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest order for al-Bashir issued on March 4 and the Sudanese leader visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya over the past week in a show of defiance.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Catch me if you can - Sudan's president

(Economist.com) — OMAR AL-BASHIR certainly gets around. In defiance of the arrest warrant for war crimes issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4th, the Sudanese president has spent the past week jetting about northern Africa. He visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya and was planning a trip to Ethiopia. Having called on some of his neighbours, he is making up his mind whether to attend a summit of the Arab League in Qatar on Monday March 30th.

Mr Bashir is scathing about the allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes that are levelled against him. As he travelled, a spokesman for the Sudanese foreign ministry said that the president considers the warrant for his arrest “not worth the ink it is written with—and this is the message of this trip.”

For now the ICC is putting on a brave face. Speaking to al-Jazeera television the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, retorted that Mr Bashir’s trip is “a sign of desperation rather than a challenge to the ICC”. In fact the trip demonstrates the enormous difficulty faced by the court in getting those indicted into the dock.

Within Sudan Mr Bashir faces no threat of arrest. In Khartoum, the capital, people prefer to avoid talking in public about the indictment of the president. When pressed, a typical response is no more than a resigned shrug of the shoulders. A few dissidents explain that after two decades of military rule, it is time for Mr Bashir to go. Those more sympathetic to Mr Bashir, notably in government and business, suggest that the warrant is part of a broad American conspiracy to steal resources (mainly oil) from Sudan. For them, the president’s wanderings are welcome evidence of his thumbing his nose at the court. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

One million people at risk in Darfur, U.N. says

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- More than one million people in Darfur are at risk of losing food, water and shelter in coming months, following the expulsion of international aid groups by Sudan's government, the United Nations' chief humanitarian coordinator said Tuesday.
The statement by coordinator John Holmes comes after a joint U.N.-Sudanese assessment of the situation.

The information was gathered from March 11-18 in hopes of stemming further troubles in Darfur after Sudan's government expelled 13 international relief organizations from the wartorn region.

The announcement came on the same day that President Omar al-Bashir, now an indicted war criminal, ignored the threat of arrest by traveling abroad to Eritrea. Also Tuesday, a Sudanese staffer working for a Canadian relief group was shot dead in Darfur.

A full report of the assessment will be released soon, according to the U.N., but an executive summary and recommendations were made available on Tuesday. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Expulsion of Aid Groups Puts Millions at Risk in Darfur

NYALA, Sudan — The sign outside the clinic in Otash camp reads “8-hour service daily.”

On Friday, Haider Ismael al-Amin lay in his mother’s arms, his 10-year-old body withered and weak from dehydration after a night of vomiting. But the door to the clinic was locked. After 30 minutes of waiting, his family gave up.

“The white people used to come every day,” said Hawa Hamal Mohammed, a relative of the boy. “Now the clinic is closed.”

The American aid group that operated the clinic, the International Rescue Committee, was one of more than a dozen aid groups expelled from Darfur this month by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He accused them of cooperating with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which had issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes in the conflict that has consumed Darfur for years.

Since then, local health workers have been struggling, with almost no medicine, to keep the clinic open on a limited basis. Thousands of people in this sprawling camp depend on it for primary care.
But on Friday it was closed altogether. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur, an ICC Arrest Warrant, and the Humanitarian Imperative

By Eric Reeves

EARLIER this month, Sudan’s National Islamic Front regime expelled 13
humanitarian organizations from Darfur and Northern Sudan. The expulsion
order followed immediately the announcement by the International
Criminal Court of an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar
al-Bashir, charging him with crimes against humanity and war crimes. All
evidence points to a well-planned response by Khartoum to a judicial
decision that was universally expected.

The consequences of these expulsions are enormous. All expelled
organizations played key roles in humanitarian assistance; together they
constituted more than 50 percent of total aid capacity. Now 1.5 million
people no longer have access to primary healthcare, and a deadly
meningitis outbreak threatens tens of thousands. General food
distributions to more than 1 million people have been halted, including
to children and the malnourished. More than 1 million people will no
longer have access to clean water; shortages are already being reported,
and will spread quickly.

On Monday, the regime went further and announced its intention to
expel all international aid organizations within a year, despite being
unable to replace the work or resources of these organizations. This
amounts to genocide by other means. With many months to anticipate the
inevitable ICC announcement, Khartoum was determined to make the most of
the occasion, and elimination of an international humanitarian presence
in Darfur had long been a central ambition. The ICC announcement was not
so much the cause of the expulsions as a singularly opportune pretext. Read more >>>>>>>>.

SUDAN: Fallout scenarios

CAIRO, 20 March 2009 (IRIN) - The expulsion or closure of 16 aid groups in Sudan could worsen North-South relations, stall the Darfur peace process and deter future humanitarian action, analysts said.

The decision, and the 16 March announcement that Sudan would "nationalise" all humanitarian work within one year, have attracted condemnation from the highest levels of the UN and the US.

"The ICC [International Criminal Court] row in general, and the expulsion of the aid agencies in particular, certainly have the potential to destabilise North-South relations," says Wolfram Lacher, a Sudan analyst with the London-based Control Risks Group consultancy.

Though partners in a national unity government since a 2005 peace deal, the North's National Congress Party (NCP) and the South's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) have been at odds over the border demarcation, distribution of oil revenue and timing of elections.

"The [expulsion] decisions were made by the NCP without consultation and against the will of the SPLM and that certainly puts an additional strain on relations between the two parties," Lacher said. "The relations between the two are very volatile, very fragile, and on these relations depends the big question whether the North and the South will go back to war in the next few years." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Time for justice in Darfur

For the first time in history, an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for an acting Head of State. On March 4, President Omar al Bashir of Sudan was charged with seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

Congratulations world. We finally acknowledged that a man who has orchestrated the genocide of more than 300,000 people and the displacement of nearly 2.7 million people should be punished. But this begs the question: who is going to arrest him? And more importantly, who will bring peace to Darfur? With no Jack Bauer-led ICC police force in existence, the responsibility falls to a motley crew called the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (known as UNAMID). However, only with a more robust mandate, more troops and better co-ordination with aid organizations could they possibly become Darfur’s saviour.

Unfortunately, due to the overriding right to sovereignty, foreign forces can only enter Sudan with permission from the criminal in question or by military invasion endorsed by the UN Security Council. Considering Sudan has a 394,250 member army supported by 95,000 reserve troops, not to mention tanks, fighter jets and helicopters kindly supplied by China in exchange for oil and influence, I doubt anyone currently has the balls to try. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Where is the Arab outrage over Darfur?

In recent years, a media revolution has been taking place in the Arab world, so that the media now reflect to a great extent the atmosphere of the Arab street as well as the consensus in the Arab regimes. Criticism against the crimes committed by the Zionist occupier in Palestine receives substantial resonance, whereas other horrors that take place in the region get little coverage, especially when they are the work of local players and not of Europeans, Americans or Jews. The regional condemnation of Israel doesn't reflect global humanitarian standards but is reserved especially for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


The criticism against Israel, by its volume and severity, overshadows the coverage of the ongoing conflict in Darfur, for example, which in the past few years has already claimed a quarter of a million victims and created millions of refugees. The ethnic cleansing taking place in Darfur is far worse than any other regional crisis and cannot be compared to the Israeli-Palestinian political conflict, neither in volume nor in essence. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Sudan's Bashir rallies Arab tribesmen in Darfur

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's president rallied thousands of spear-waving Arab tribesmen in Darfur on Wednesday as he maintained his defiant stance against international moves to arrest him for war crimes.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed to confront Western "colonisers" at the gathering of Rizeigat tribespeople -- a group including clans that have produced some of the fiercest pro-government militias in the Darfur conflict.

Bashir's emotional speech came amid signs of a growing standoff between Sudan and the West following the International Criminal Court's decision to indict him for masterminding atrocities in Darfur.

The president sparked international outrage this month when he expelled 13 foreign aid groups, and shut down three local organisations, accusing them of assisting the court.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday stepped up pressure on Khartoum by saying Bashir would be responsible for every death caused by the resulting drop in humanitarian cover in the remote region.

The vast crowd of Rizeigat tribespeople, many riding horses and camels, swore a mass oath of allegiance to the president at the rally in the remote Sibdu valley area in south Darfur.

In a speech broadcast live on Sudan TV, Bashir told the gathering the West was trying to remove him from power, but he was ready to confront any attack.

"These knights on horseback now have spears, but tomorrow on the battlefield they will have machine guns," he said, referring to the crowd. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Clinton Says Bashir Will Be Held Responsible for Darfur Deaths

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will be held responsible for any deaths among Darfur refugees caused by his decision to expel foreign aid groups from the country. Clinton says the Obama administration will soon name a special envoy for Sudan.

Clinton had harsh words for both the Sudanese leader and countries that have been protective of his government, saying that President Bashir will be held responsible for any deaths in Darfur that result from his decisions, while his international allies should make up for the assistance lost due to his expulsion order.

The secretary's remarks, at a news conference with the top officials of the Northern Ireland administration, were the strongest to date by a senior U.S. official over the Sudanese leader's decision last week to expel 13 international aid groups and subsequent order that all such groups cease activity in Sudan by the end of the year.

Clinton said Mr. Bashir's actions, an apparent response to the International Criminal Court arrest order against him for allegedly orchestrating Darfur war crimes, has created a "horrendous situation" that will cause untold misery and suffering in Darfur, especially in refugee camps. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

SLIDESHOW: Life inside Darfur displacement camp

Sudan has closed 13 foreign and three local aid groups saying they helped Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.



Before the expulsions, the United Nations and aid groups were running the world's largest humanitarian operation in Darfur where, international experts say, almost six years of conflict have killed 200,000 people and displaced more than 2.7 million people from their homes.



U.N. agencies in Sudan have said it would be impossible to fill the gap left by the expelled organisations which made up around 40 percent of the humanitarian work force in Darfur.



Here is a look into life of displaced Sudanese people at Zam Zam IDP camp in Al Fasher, northern Darfur. Pictures taken by Zohra Bensemra/REUTERS



Scroll over photos for captions and more information.


For members to download photos please click here

250 suicide attacks vowed worldwide

250 suicide attacks vowed
A coalition of Sudanese Islamist militants have vowed to carry out 250 suicide attacks against countries that support the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a report said yesterday.
The Coalition of Jihad and Martyrdom Movements, made their threat in a statement released on Monday, the Akhir Lahzah newspaper reported.
“The (coalition) announces it will execute 250 jihadi martyrdom operations against the countries supporting the ICC’s decisions in their territories,” the newspaper quoted the statement as saying.
It also called for the death of ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Sudanese rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim, whom it labelled “a Zionist agent,” the newspaper reported.
The statement was reportedly signed by Mussa Hilal, a former leader of a pro-Khartoum militia in Darfur who became a government advisor, Read more >>>>>>>>

Your comments on my Darfur column

Your comments on my Darfur column
By Nicholas Kristof
My Sunday column is about the aid workers being expelled from Darfur. Surprisingly, the United Nations reacted with rather more vigor than the Obama administration, especially at first. Ban Ki-moon issued a tough statement and has been busy calling up leaders in the region to try to get this reversed, and the heads of WFP and other agencies made strong statements as well. In contrast, the initial State Department comment was pathetic, although it was strengthened to a condemnation on Friday. Obama, Biden, Clinton were all tough on Darfur when they were in the Senate and when they were running for office, so let’s hope they aren’t backing down now that they are in office.

Let me also try to clarify something. There are still many aid workers who have not been expelled (World Vision is one of the biggest groups that remains in place), and of course they will try to pick up the slack. But they won’t be able to, except at the margins, for a couple of reasons. First they have their own missions, and everybody is understaffed. Second, Sudan security officials have closed the offices and confiscated the equipment of the expelled NGO’s, and you can’t do a food distribution if you don’t have lists of people who are supposed to get aid; a communications technician for a group that remains can’t shift to treating children with diarrhea, particularly if the clinic and medications have been confiscated. In some areas, the camp managers were expelled, so there is no longer anyone who even knows what is needed. Third, there is a wide variation in the regional impact of the expelled NGO’s. For example, almost all the aid groups in West Darfur were expelled, but a World Vision staff member in South Darfur can’t do anything to save lives in West Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Justice for Darfur

Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir has responded to the International Criminal Court's warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes by retaliating against the civilians of Darfur. He ordered the expulsion of 13 international agencies that provide food, water and medical care to more than 4 million Darfuris, offering yet another reason to bring him to justice.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the expulsions would cause "irrevocable damage to humanitarian operations," provoking a new tragedy for people who already have suffered mass murder, rape and torture. At least 300,000 people have died in Darfur in the fighting between ethnic African rebels and Arab militiamen working for the Khartoum government, and 2.7 million have been driven out of their homes. Arguing that peace is more urgent than justice, some African and Arab leaders have criticized the ICC's decision to issue the warrant now, saying it will destabilize the region and jeopardize an already shaky deal to end the civil war between northern and southern Sudan. This is a false argument; impunity only begets more violence. Their criticism should be directed at Bashir, not at the court.


The U.N. Security Council asked the court to investigate crimes in Darfur in the first place, and has the power to defer the warrant. China, which is a member of the council and buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports, supports that idea. But it would be a mistake. Legal proceedings in the court should not be held up for political purposes. The international community should stand behind the court's action and press the government of Sudan to stop its collective punishment of Darfuris and fulfill its obligations under the 2005 peace agreement. The Sudanese government is obliged under international law to protect its citizens. World leaders should be pressing Bashir to allow relief in and to prevent further atrocities.Read more >>>>>>>>

ICC issues a warrant of arrest for Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan

ICC issues a warrant of arrest for Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan
ICC-CPI-20090304-PR394 عربي


Situation: Darfur, Sudan


Today, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of Sudan, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is suspected of being criminally responsible, as an indirect (co-)perpetrator, for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property. This is the first warrant of arrest ever issued for a sitting Head of State by the ICC.

Omar Al Bashir’s official capacity as a sitting Head of State does not exclude his criminal responsibility, nor does it grant him immunity against prosecution before the ICC, according to Pre-Trial Chamber I.

According to the Judges, the above-mentioned crimes were allegedly committed during a five year counter-insurgency campaign by the Government of Sudan against the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and other armed groups opposing the Government of Sudan in Darfur. It is alleged that this campaign started soon after the April 2003 attack on El Fasher airport as a result of a common plan agreed upon at the highest level of the Government of Sudan by Omar Al Bashir and other high-ranking Sudanese political and military leaders. It lasted at least until 14 July 2008, the date of the filing of the Prosecution’s Application for the warrant of arrest for Omar Al Bashir.

A core component of that campaign was the unlawful attack on that part of the civilian population of Darfur – belonging largely to the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups – perceived to be close to the organised armed groups opposing the Government of Sudan in Darfur. The said civilian population was to be unlawfully attacked by Government of Sudan forces, including the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied Janjaweed Militia, the Sudanese Police Force, the National Intelligence and Security Service and the Humanitarian Aid Commission.

The Chamber found that Omar al Bashir, as the de jure and de facto President of Sudan and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, is suspected of having coordinated the design and implementation of the counter-insurgency campaign. In the alternative, it also found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that he was in control of all branches of the “apparatus” of the State of Sudan and used such control to secure the implementation of the counter-insurgency campaign.

The counts

The warrant of arrest for Omar Al Bashir lists 7 counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (article 25(3)(a)) including:

five counts of crimes against humanity: murder – article 7(1)(a); extermination – article 7(1)(b); forcible transfer – article 7(1)(d);
torture – article 7(1)(f); and rape – article 7(1)(g);
two counts of war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities – article 8(2)(e)(i); and pillaging – article 8(2)(e)(v). Read more >>>>>>>>

VIDEO: Darfur genocide charges possible

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor says there is strong evidence to charge Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Bashir was accused in July 2008 by the ICC chief prosecutor of masterminding a campaign of genocide in Darfur. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague is set to announce whether it will issue an arrest warrant for Bashir, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Penny Tweedie reports. Watch the video >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur Enmeshed Within Sudan’s Broadening National Crisis (Part 3 of 3)

Eric Reeves
March 3, 2009

On the eve of the ICC announcement of a warrant for the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, charging him with atrocity crimes, security in Darfur reaches a nadir; humanitarians continue to evacuate and their operations to contract amidst growing evidence that UNAMID cannot protect them, or civilians.

KHARTOUM’S THREATS

This analysis appears immediately prior to a much anticipated announcement (scheduled for March 4, 2009) by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court. The Court will almost certainly issue an arrest warrant for National Islamic Front/National Congress Party President Omar al-Bashir---charging him with atrocity crimes in Darfur, including crimes against humanity. The consequences of this announcement are uncertain, though alarm on the part of al-Bashir and his regime has become increasingly conspicuous over the past several months. This alarm has been reflected in a wide range of threats against the international community, including supporters of the ICC, humanitarian workers in Darfur, the UN/African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, as well as the linchpin north/south Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005).

The most recent and revealing threat came from the head of the National Security and Intelligence Service, the powerful Saleh Abdalla Gosh. Gosh ominously threatened supporters of ICC actions with the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism in Sudan; he declared that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) would again become, in effect, the National Islamic Front (NIF)---the name for the current regime when it came to power by military coup in 1989, deposing an elected government, and deliberately aborting Sudan’s most promising chance for peace since Independence in 1956:Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Prosecutor: Strong case against Sudanese leader

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The International Criminal Court announces Wednesday whether it will issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of masterminding genocide in Darfur - a move that could provoke a violent backlash.

The chief prosecutor says dozens of witnesses will testify that al-Bashir controlled a genocidal campaign aimed at wiping out three ethnic African tribes in the vast nation south of Egypt.

"We have strong evidence against Mr. Bashir," prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said Tuesday. "More than 30 witnesses will (testify) how he managed to control everything and we have strong evidence of his intention. I never present a case without strong evidence." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

ICC decides on the indictment of Al-Bashir

In relation to the pending announcement of the judges of the International Criminal Court in the indictment case of A-Bashir, president of the Sudan, Darfur Call and Darfur Union (both are Darfuri Grassroots organizations in The Netherlands) will organize a memorial for the victims of crimes committed in Darfur and a manifestation to support the decision of the judges of ICC. In addition a joint statement by several NOGs will be released.

Place: International Criminal Court, The Hague
Date: 04 March 2009
Time: 12:00 till 17:00

Darfuris in different European countries (UK, Belgium, France and Italy) are organizing similar events.

darfurcall@gmail.com

darfurunion@yahoo.com

DJABAL REFUGEE CAMP, Chad

After Barack Obama was elected president in November, the Darfur refugees here were so thrilled that they erupted in spontaneous dancing and singing.

Soon afterward, the refugees renamed the School No. 1 in this dusty camp the Obama School. It’s a pathetic building of mud bricks with a tin roof, and the windows are holes in the walls, but it’s caulked with hope that President Obama may help end the long slaughter and instability in Sudan.

Soon we’ll see whether those hopes are justified. Next Wednesday, the International Criminal Court is expected to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

That would be historic — the first time the court has called for the arrest of a sitting head of state. It would be the clearest assertion that in the 21st century, mass murder is no longer a ruler’s prerogative. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Justice is going to Darfur

Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision concerning President Al Bashir of Sudan to be announced during press conference on 4 March 2009

Press Release: 26.02.2009



Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision concerning President Al Bashir of Sudan to be announced during press conference on 4 March 2009
ICC-CPI-20090226-MA35


Situation: Darfur, Sudan


The decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court with regard to the Prosecution application of 14 July 2008 for the issuance of a warrant of arrest against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan will be announced during a press conference which will take place on 4 March 2009 at the seat of the Court. The press conference will start at 2 p.m.

The Registrar, Ms Silvana Arbia, and the ICC Spokesperson, Ms Laurence Blairon, will make statements in English, after which there will be an opportunity for journalists to ask them questions. Interpretation into French and Arabic will be available.

Separate interviews after the press conference with audiovisual media are possible but will need to be arranged in advance. Please note that only a limited number of such requests will be granted. Read more >>>>>>>>>

Decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I concerning President Al Bashir of Sudan to be issued on Wednesday 4 March 2009

Situation: Darfur, Sudan

Today Pre-Trial Chamber I announced that it would issue on Wednesday 4 March 2009 its decision concerning the Prosecution application of 14 July 2008 for the issuance of a warrant of arrest against President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan.

The decision will be made public by the normal way of a press release and publication on the Court’s website. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Sisters, Victims, Heroes

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

GOZ BEIDA, Chad

So I’m bunking with George Clooney in a little room in a guest house here in eastern Chad, near Darfur in Sudan. We each have a mattress on the floor, the “shower” is a rubber hose that doesn’t actually produce any water, and George’s side of the room has a big splotch of something that sure looks like blood.

He’s using me to learn more about Darfur, and I’m using him to ease you into a column about genocide. Manipulation all around — and, luckily, neither of us snores. (But stay tuned to this series for salacious gossip if he talks in his sleep.)

The slaughter in Darfur has continued for six years largely because world leaders have been complacent and preoccupied. In the coming weeks, the International Criminal Court is expected to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for orchestrating the killings — and that will give the world a new opportunity to end the slaughter.

But to seize that opportunity, world leaders will have to summon some of the same moral courage that Darfuris show all the time.

Take Suad Ahmed, who is in the pantheon of my personal heroes. I introduced her to George in her little thatch hut.

Suad, 27, fled from Darfur to a refugee camp in Chad five years ago with her husband and beloved younger sister, Halima, who is now 12 — if she is still alive. Read more >>>>>>>>>

Ex-SPLM official says Sudan’s Bashir must ‘face ICC or commit suicide’

February 19, 2009 (CAIRO) — Edward Lino, a former official with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) which rules the semi-autonomous south urged the Sudanese government to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) if an arrest warrant is issued for president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Lino who was the former SPLM administrator for Abyei region told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida that Sudan is a member of the United Nations and is therefore obligated to comply with the ICC.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) issued resolution 1593 under chapter VII in March 2005 referring the situation in Darfur to the ICC.

The ICC judges are expected to release a decision before the end of the month in which they agree to issue an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir on an unspecified number of counts. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

U.N. says 30,000 displaced by South Darfur fighting

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - At least 30,000 people have fled their homes in South Darfur state in western Sudan in recent days because of fighting between rebels and government forces, the United Nations said in a statement received on Friday.

The office of the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan said the people were from the Muhajiriya and Shearia areas. The Sudanese army said on Wednesday it had captured Muhajiriya town from rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement.

In three weeks of clashes around Muhajiriya, 80 km (50 miles) from the South Darfur capital of Nyala, at least 30 people were killed, U.N. officials have said. Read more >>>>>>

Obama’s Envoy Voices Support for International Court

By Bill Varner

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Ambassador Susan Rice signaled a shift in U.S. policy toward support for the International Criminal Court, a tribunal the Bush administration opposed, in her first speech to the United Nations Security Council.

The International Criminal Court “looks to become an important and credible instrument for trying to hold accountable the senior leadership responsible for atrocities committed in the Congo, Uganda and Darfur,” Rice said in a closed council meeting, according to a text provided by the U.S. mission.

President George W. Bush opposed U.S. ratification of the treaty that created the court out of concern that it didn’t include adequate protections against politically motivated prosecutions. The U.S. sought and received UN immunity for its citizens from tribunal prosecution from 2002 to 2004.

Crimes against humanity in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Cambodia gave impetus to creation of the Hague court, whose jurisdiction took effect on July 1, 2002. The court’s prosecutor last July sought the arrest of Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir for war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Rice’s remarks at the Security Council meeting on international humanitarian law won praise from envoys used to seeing the U.S. isolated on issues such as the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction.

‘She Was Incredible’ Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Condemnation of Darfur Bombings

Press Statement

Robert Wood

Acting Spokesman

Washington, DC

January 27, 2009

The United States condemns the military activity carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in North and South Darfur since January 22, as well as the incursion by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) into Muhajaria and other areas of South Darfur, which resulted in an increase of violence over the last week. This fighting and subsequent Government of Sudan bombing campaigns have reportedly resulted in the deaths, injuries and displacements of civilians. The bombing campaigns in particular are a violation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, of the Government of Sudan-initiated ceasefire, and of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Darfur. We welcome the statement by the Secretary-General condemning these hostilities. We demand that all parties to the conflict, including rebel movements, cease all violence and provocations in Darfur immediately, and commit to the peace process under the leadership of Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Yipènè Bassolé.

2009/083

Barack Obama on Darfur

Darfur Project

U.N. condemns Sudan air bombing in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The United Nations is calling for an end to hostilities in the Darfur region of Sudan after the government launched airstrikes Thursday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday said military violence would not bring peace to the war-ravaged Darfur, where ongoing violence between government forces and the rebel militants has resulted in an estimated 300,000 deaths and the displacement of millions of civilians.

Thursday the Sudanese government launched an aerial bombing campaign and ground offensive targeting militiamen in the southern Muhajeria region of Darfur. Ban called on the Sudanese government and rebel leaders to end the military aggression, the United Nations reported. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

High noon at genocide in Darfur

Sudan's president, Gen. Omar al-Bashir, is scared. Having flimflammed the United Nations and flouted its resolutions warning him to stop the mass killings and rapings of his black citizens in Darfur, the victims' avenger Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, may finally be close to bringing this monstrous dictator to trial, the first sitting president indicted by the World Court.

Last July, Moreno-Ocampo had asked the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Al-Bashir on three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and two of murder. The legal definition of genocide is: "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group."

The prosecutor accuses Al-Bashir of a campaign to eliminate African Darfur tribes.

After the ICC asked for more supporting material to justify arrest warrants, on Nov. 21, Moreno-Ocampo submitted more than 700 pages of documented evidence, including witness statements. All of his previous requests for arrest warrants in other cases have been successful.

Adding to Al-Bashir's fears is the prospect of national elections next year demanded by foreign donor governments, and supported by the United Nations and many in Sudan. The Economist (Nov. 20) reports that the dictator and his henchmen "know that if even vaguely free and fair ballots were to take place throughout Sudan, they would lose heavily." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Add your voice for Darfur

JEFFREY GOVENDO, Hopkinton

Overshadowed by the barrage of news stories on the economy and two wars we are fighting, is the genocide in Sudan which has entered its 6th year. Up to 400,000 have perished, with nearly three million displaced and living in refugee camps with insufficient food, water and medicine.

Darfur activists have been heartened by the election of Barack Obama, who during the campaign promised "unstinting resolve" to end the genocide against the Darfuri people by the government and its surrogates.

We need to hold him to his word. The national Save Darfur Coalition is coordinating a nationwide postcard campaign - one million voices for Darfur - to be delivered electronically or in person to our new president during his first week in office.

Please add your voice! Go to www.AddYourVoice.org and let President Obama know that you support America exerting its leadership in bringing this tragedy to an end. Read more >>>>>>>>>

Darfur Enmeshed Within Sudan’s Broadening National Crisis

By: Eric Reeves

As Darfur’s humanitarian crisis deepens, potential intra-national conflict reveals the broader failures of the National Islamic Front regime---and the ultimate threats to international humanitarian and development assistance throughout the country

With dismaying predictability, the continuing catastrophe in Darfur commands less and less news attention, largely because it has settled into a grim “genocide by attrition,” defined not so much by massive atrocities---although these continue to occur---as by relentless, if undramatic, human suffering and destruction consequent upon the Khartoum regime’s deliberate exacerbating of insecurity confronting civilians and aid workers. Most of the region has only a tenuous and fitful humanitarian presence, and many distressed populations are completely beyond reach (see UN access map at http://www.unsudanig.org/library/mapcatalogue/darfur/index.php?fid=access). Darfur’s visibility has diminished not only because the observational presence of humanitarian workers is much reduced (even as their fear of speaking out has increased), but because the Khartoum regime has imposed severe restrictions on journalists seeking access to Darfur.

As the conflict enters its seventh year, with no end in sight, the risk is that it will become perceived as a chronic problem rather than an acute threat to the lives of millions of conflict-affected Darfuris. This number has now reached a staggering 4.7 million civilians according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Darfur Humanitarian Profile No. 33, representing conditions as of October 1, 2008 [hereafter DHP 33] at www.unsudanig.org/docs/DHP33_narrative_1%20October%202008.pdf )---three quarters of Darfur’s pre-war population. Conditions for these people vary tremendously, but at least 3 million depend upon international aid for all or some of their food. And yet because of insecurity, the UN’s World Food Program can provide Darfuris with only 70 percent of the minimum daily human food requirements. Malnutrition is again on the rise, and recent data from West Darfur reveal that Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) has reached the emergency threshold (and this comes following the fall harvests, an extremely ominous development). Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), affecting primarily children under five, is approaching 3 percent, portending significant mortality. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur: The tragedy continues

WHILE THE CURTAIN descends on 2008, a great tragedy continues to play out unabated onstage: genocide in Darfur. Since 2003, more than 300,000 people have died in the western Sudan region and 2.7 million have been forced to flee their homes. The world's response? Impotence.

The Darfurian conflict is the latest segment in a half-century of strife in Sudan. A war between the largely Muslim north and the Christian south escalated in 1983 after the north tried to impose Muslim law on the entire nation. That violence killed nearly 2 million people and left millions homeless or orphaned. A 2005 treaty ended the conflict and gave the south autonomy for six years, after which a referendum will determine the region's fate.

As the north-south conflagration began to die down, hostilities between Arab and black Sudanese heated up. The janjaweed militia, Arabs armed by the government and riding horses or camels, raided Darfurian villages, killed the men, raped the women, and forced survivors to flee to camps farther west, or across the border in Chad. Their intent was "ethnic cleansing," reducing the number of blacks or diluting their race through rape.

Even in the camps, the Darfurians are not safe. Women and girls who venture away from camp looking for firewood are raped and/or abducted and used as sexual slaves, according to the human rights group Darfur Consortium. For those in the camps, disease, famine, and hopelessness are their daily fare. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

A New Chance for Darfur

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

If Barack Obama wants to help end the genocide in Darfur, he doesn’t have to look far for ideas of how to accomplish that. President Bush and his top aides have been given, and ignored, a menu of options for tough steps to squeeze Sudan — even destroy its air force — and those will soon be on the new president’s desk.
The State Department’s policy planning staff prepared the first set of possible responses back in 2004 (never pursued), and this year Ambassador Richard Williamson has privately pushed the White House to squeeze Sudan until it stops the killing.

Mr. Williamson, who is President Bush’s special envoy to Sudan, wrote a tough memo to Mr. Bush this fall outlining three particular steps the United States could take to press Sudan’s leader, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Read more >>>>>>

The Arab and Muslim Indifference Regarding the Suffering in Darfur

The Arab and Muslim Indifference Regarding the Suffering in Darfur


Muslims suffer in the hands of an Arab regime, then there is barely any condemnation of the violence and crimes in the Arab and Muslim world, notes Savo Heleta.


When Muslims suffer around the world in the hands of Americans, Russians, Serbs, or Israelis, the Arab and Muslim countries are very active in condemning the attacks and violence. Their governments complain and raise funds, diplomats protest, the media report, and the citizens demonstrate against "crusaders and infidels."


But when Muslims suffer in the hands of an Arab regime, then there is barely any condemnation of the violence and crimes in the Arab and Muslim world.


Since 2003, Sudan's western province of Darfur is an epicenter of a conflict between the mainly "African" rebels and the Arab-controlled Sudanese government and their proxy militias. It is estimated that about 200,000 people have died in the conflict from fighting, disease, and starvation. The UN and aid agencies estimate that over two million Darfurians, out of a population of about six million, are living in refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring countries.


The Sudan's ruling elite portrays itself as an "Arab" regime both at home and abroad. Some would say that this explains the lack of concern for the Darfur conflict in the Arab world. But things change when we consider the fact that both sides in the Darfur conflict are Muslim and that the Darfurians, both Arabs and Africans, are Sudan's most devout Muslims.


Even though Muslims are the victims in Darfur, the fact that they are the victims of an Arab regime prevents Arab and Muslim countries from acknowledging the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, let alone speaking against the horrendous crimes committed against innocent civilians in this Sudanese province.


Many people in the Arab world don't even know about the conflict and human suffering in Darfur as there is hardly any news about Darfur in the Arab media. The only exceptions are the Aljazeera and Alarabya news networks.


According to Lawrence Pintak, a journalist and Arab media expert, the Darfur conflict is not covered by the Arab media as "it does not fit the template of Arabs being the victims and other people the aggressors."


The involvement of many international humanitarian organizations in Darfur and the attention given to the conflict by the Western governments and media are "perceived by a large portion of Arab public opinion as yet another 'Western intervention' in an Arab country's affairs." Some Arab journalists even claim that the Darfur conflict is nothing but a "Zionist-American conspiracy to carve up Sudan and plunder its resources." Read more >>>>>>>

The great Darfur singer ABDU KUKA

Kalma Outrage Victims Demand Investigation

Kalma Outrage Victims Demand Investigation
They say an ICC probe would deter further attacks on the internal refugee camp.

By Tajeldin Adam in Belgium and Katy Glassborow in The Hague (AR No. 196, 17-Dec-08)

Victims of a brutal attack on a Darfur camp for displaced people, in which over 30 civilians were killed and scores more injured, are calling on the International Criminal Court, ICC, to investigate the outrage.

In August, Sudanese government, GoS, forces and allied janjaweed militias are reported to have surrounded the Kalma camp near Nyala in south Darfur, before allegedly pounding it with machine-gun fire, in an apparent bid to root out rebels they believed to be stashing weapons there.

Kalma is one of the largest internal refugee camps in Darfur, housing about 90,000 displaced people, or IDPs. Those who survived the attack, like Mariam Ishak, want the ICC to launch a thorough investigation, and hold the perpetrators to account.

“I want the ICC to punish these criminals and stop their crimes so that we [can] live in peace like any human being,” said Ishak.

The woman described scenes of terror during the onslaught, which lasted for two hours.

“I looked outside and saw men in uniform with rifles shouting and shooting indiscriminately at people. They just wanted to kill people. A few metres from our shelter, I saw a very small child covered with blood and lying helpless; he was dying after being shot.

“I approached to help him, but my husband didn't let me; afraid that I could become another victim. The shooting was so intense; flying bullets filled the air. It was hell. When the armed men left, the child was already dead.

“We buried him with the other victims the same day. I [will] never forget that horror for the rest of [my] life.” Read more >>>>>>>>>

'Thousands made slaves' in Darfur

Strong evidence has emerged of children and adults being used as slaves in Sudan's Darfur region, a study says.

Kidnapped men have been forced to work on farmland controlled by Janjaweed militias, a coalition of African charities says.

Eyewitnesses also say the Sudanese army has been involved in abducting women and children to be sex slaves and domestic staff for troops in Khartoum.

But Khartoum said the report was "very naive" and called the authors ignorant.

"The government does not condone abductions and it is not government policy," a government spokesman told the BBC.

"We are working hard to stop such violations. The rebel factions are mostly to blame for abductions in Darfur."
Up to 300,000 people have died since conflict began in Darfur in 2003 and at least 2.7 million people have fled their homes. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bush urges Obama to keep Darfur pressure on Sudan

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush, in a message seemingly aimed at successor Barack Obama, said Wednesday the United States must keep pressure on Sudan's government over its war-torn Darfur region.

Bush, meeting in his Oval Office with a leading activist for suffering Darfuris, also said he was "frustrated" with the sluggish pace of deployment of a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force.

"I am frustrated with the pace of activities," Bush said as he met in his Oval Office with Halima Bashir, adding "the United Nations must expedite on sending troops, peacekeepers to provide security."

"The United States must continue to rally the international community to put pressure on the government as well," the US president, who leaves office January 20, told reporters.

Bashir, a doctor and co-author of "Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur," peered out from behind a striking red, white and black head-to-toe covering that White House aides said she put on just before journalists entered the room, as protection from possible reprisals.

"We do not need to wait any more. We need UN action," she said in a soft, muffled voice. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

ICC prosecutor: Sudan leader ‘inciting violence‘

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said President Omar al-Bashir has been "inciting violence" over the court‘s charges by threatening civilians and peacekeepers in the joint U.N.-African Union force.

The prosecutor‘s briefing to the Security Council was his last before the court decides whether to issue a warrant for al-Bashir. There have been no rulings on the warrant yet; a court decision is expected by early next year.

Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes in five years of fighting. The ICC last year issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese government minister and for a commander in the government-backed janjaweed militia, which has been blamed for the worst atrocities in Darfur.

The court is not part of the United Nations, but the 107 nations that ratified the 1998 treaty creating it, along with the U.N., are responsible for responding to the ICC‘s requests for cooperation. The U.S. was opposed to its creation, but is now a strident supporter of bringing al-Bashir before the court on genocide charges.

He accused the rebels of committing war crimes, including murder, pillaging and deliberately attacking peacekeepers.

Both China and Russia are accused of arming Sudan, but both also approved the council‘s 2005 resolution ordering Moreno-Ocampo to investigate crimes in Darfur.

"We are not lawyers, we are not prosecutors," Kumalo added. "We sit here having to make decisions ... to balance the two things between the maintenance of international security and for fighting impunity." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Crimes of humanity in Darfur

Bashir's day of reckoning may soon be near
Nat Hentoff

A hero of this young century, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is coming closer to arresting the president of Sudan, Lt. Gen. Omar Bashir, and bringing him to be tried at The Hague for genocide, among other crimes against humanity in Darfur.

In July, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo asked the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Gen. Bashir on three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity and two of murder. The legal definition of genocide is the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethinic, racial or religious group." The prosecutor accuses Gen. Bashir of a campaign to eliminate African Darfur tribes (Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa).

After the ICC asked for more supporting material to justify arrest warrants, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo submitted more than 700 pages of documented evidence, including witness statements. All of his previous requests for arrest warrants in other cases have been successful.

Adding to Gen. Bashir's fears is the prospect of national elections next year - which have been demanded by foreign donor governments and supported by the United Nations and many in Sudan. The Economist reports

that the dictator and his henchmen "know that if even vaguely free and fair ballots were to take place throughout Sudan, they would lose heavily." If Gen. Bashir is subject to actual arrest by the ICC, he would find it exceedingly hard to rig the elections.

In order to prevent attempts to take the dictator into custody by the ICC, there is a concerted, insistent attempt to get the United Nations to exercise its authority to defer any further action by the ICC. Ostensibly to assure "stability in the area," this Praetorian Guard protecting Al-Bashir includes the Arab states, some members of the African Union - and of course China and Russia. Read more >>>>

Mariam Amu singer

ICC Prosecutor: States must gear up for arrests

Today, in his briefing to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Darfur, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo called on States to prepare themselves “sooner rather than later” for the decision of the Judges on President Omar Hassan Al Bashir of the Sudan.

“Massive crimes are being committed in Darfur now; they are taking place because President Bashir wills them to take place” said the Prosecutor.

“What can UNAMID do when those controlling its deployment are the same people ordering the crimes? How long are we going to just tally the casualties, the displacements and the rapes?” he asked.

“If Security Council members can act together, the crimes will stop and millions of lives will be saved. If different interests prevent a strong and consistent position in support of the Court’s decisions, if they give room to false promises, rapes will continue, destruction will continue. An opportunity is coming. A united Security Council can make a difference” said the Prosecutor.

Last June, Presidential Statement 21 was a strong message that the UNSC is united in its efforts to bring justice to the people of Darfur. The future of the Darfuris depends on the ability of the Council to move forward together. Members must as a matter of urgency agree on a course of action. Read more >>>>>>>

Rape as genocide

'In this society if you rape one woman, you have raped the entire tribe" - so said one observer of the mass rape occurring in Darfur.

People hear the word genocide and think of six million victims of the Holocaust or an estimated 800,000 dead in Rwanda. They do not imagine that mass rape can be so well planned and targeted that it wipes out a substantial part of an ethnic group as thoroughly, though more slowly, than widespread killings. Yet three judges sitting on the International Criminal Court will decide soon whether to confirm an arrest warrant against a head of state, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, on grounds that he masterminded rape as genocide against three ethnic groups in Darfur that have challenged his power.

The ICC's prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has filed war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against Bashir. But the centerpiece of Moreno-Ocampo's application is the charge of rape as genocide "causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group" and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." Such acts of genocide arising from rape rather than from murder can be prosecuted as stand-alone crimes before the International Criminal Court. Read more >>>>>>>>

Rights Groups: Sudan Lying About Improvements in Darfur

By VOA News

15 human rights organizations said in a joint report released Tuesday, the Sudanese government is lying about improvements in the situation in Darfur.

Human Rights Watch, Save Darfur Coalition and 13 other rights organizations said the Sudanese government continues to conduct large-scale military attacks against populated areas, harass aid workers, and allow impunity for the worst crimes committed in Darfur.

Sudan wants the U.N. Security Council to suspend the International Criminal Court's consideration of an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.


The new human rights report said Sudanese officials have been lobbying Security Council members to order the suspension of the ICC investigation of Mr. Bashir.

The ICC prosecutor is scheduled to brief the Security Council Wednesday about the progress of his investigation. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

Obama Pick for UN Envoy May Face Resistance Over Darfur

By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

While much attention will be focused Monday on President-elect Obama’s announcement that former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton will assume the top diplomatic post in his administration, his nominee for ambassador to the United Nations will also draw scrutiny in foreign capitals.

Susan Rice, a foreign policy advisor to Obama who was assistant secretary of state for African Affairs in the second Clinton administration, is expected to be named as envoy to the U.N.

Since Obama’s election, advocates of closer U.S. cooperation with the world body have been urging him to appoint an ambassador who will reflect a determination to renew American global leadership by re-engaging with the U.N.

Rice, a 44-year-old African-American – no relation to outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she has been an advocate for tougher action to end the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan’s Darfur region and a critic of Bush administration’s response to the crisis.

If the U.S. was serious about stopping the genocide there, she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2007, it would take a series of steps to back up its earlier pledge of harsh consequences should the Sudanese government not accept peacekeepers and stop killing innocent civilians. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Genocide's harrowing cost

Hal Boedeker | Sentinel Columnist

Christiane Amanpour is a passionate teacher who picks difficult topics. She is so commanding that you want to enroll.

In CNN's Scream Bloody Murder, she takes up perhaps the hardest subject of all: genocide. In this two-hour documentary, which debuts at 9 p.m. Thursday, Amanpour examines how the world has frequently fallen short since the Holocaust.

This program looks at atrocities in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. She balances the horror by focusing on stirring figures who spoke out.

Father Francois Ponchaud told of the Khmer Rouge's mass executions in Cambodia. Peter Galbraith, then a staffer in the U.S. Senate, tried -- and failed -- to get Congress to punish Iraq after Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds.

Richard Holbrooke, then a private citizen, pushed the Clinton administration to halt the Bosnian Serbs. The United States acted three years later.

Romeo Dallaire, commander of United Nations peace-keeping troops in Rwanda, warned of disaster. He didn't receive help, and still seems shaken by the tragedy.

Mukesh Kapila, formerly the U.N.'s top official in Sudan, took the Darfur disaster to the media. Professor Eric Reeves has rallied the world via the Internet. Read more >>>>>

Darfur aid groups face harassment - UN officials

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Humanitarian aid groups are facing growing harassment in South Darfur where government officials have forced staff to hand over confidential emails and files, United Nations officials said on Sunday.

But the head of Sudan's state Humanitarian Aid Commission in the region denied the accusations, saying his office was doing all it could to assist development groups.

The U.N. officers, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters that Sudanese officials had ordered a crackdown on aid groups they suspected of supplying evidence to the International Criminal Court for a war crimes case against Sudan's president. Read more >>>>

Genocide in Darfur? Let the court decide

By Philip Heymann and Martha Minow

IS THERE a legal basis for the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan for genocide?

The crime of genocide has been widely accepted as the most heinous offense against human dignity. Although the term can sometimes be used loosely in political debates, it has a very precise and narrow legal definition. And rightly so.

According to the Genocide Convention of 1948, the crime of genocide is "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

These definitional requirements are more than mere legal formalities. If the crime of genocide is deemed to occur, the Convention triggers mandatory prosecution requirements. The particular opprobrium that is attached to genocide should be reserved for those who have unquestionably violated its terms. Meanwhile, mass atrocities that do not satisfy the precise definition of genocide can still be prosecuted as crimes against humanity or war crimes. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

Remember Darfur genocide? It hasn't stopped

Of all the world's dictators, Sudan's Gen. Omar Al-Bashir is the most unfailingly duplicitous and murderously arrogant. His government was one of the first to welcome our new president with the hope that the slogan of President-elect Barack Obama – "change" – "would (bring) some real change between Sudan and the United States."

Obama knows better. As the Paris-based Sudan Tribune website reports (Nov. 6): "During his campaign, Senator Obama pledged 'unstinting resolve' to end the crisis in Darfur, and stated 'there can be no doubt that the Sudanese government is chiefly responsible for the violence and is able to end it.'"

In what Bashir assumed Obama would consider a welcome move, Sudan's genocide president, on Nov. 12, announced "our immediate unconditional cease-fire" that would include the disarmament (which he has often pledged) of his most ruthless killers and rapists, the Janjaweed militia.

As is Bashir's custom, he followed the cease-fire by two days of multiple attacks by his army and Russian antonov gunships and bombers on rebel forces (Sudan Tribune, Nov. 15).

The blame for the continuing atrocities against Darfur's black African Muslims is not only Bashir's; but, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice belatedly said in a New York Times Sunday Magazine interview (Nov. 16), the United Nations Security Council has continually failed to impose strong enough sanctions on Bashir. Read more >>>>>

Obama, Darfur, and ICC justice

Northampton, Mass. - Of all the issues President-elect Barack Obama faces before he takes office, none is of greater moral urgency than changing the tenor of the US response to what he has repeatedly described as "genocide in Darfur."

That's because, before Inauguration Day, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is very likely to issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, charging him with crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.

These charges are amply justified by the evidence. Mr. Obama's clear and effective response is needed, because the Khartoum regime has threatened aggressive violence in a calculated campaign to fend off the arrest.

Indeed, its threats are as shocking as they are underreported.

In August, the UN head of mission in Sudan declared to the Security Council: "The government has conveyed to me that the issuance of an arrest warrant against President Bashir could have serious consequences for UN staff and infrastructure in Sudan." Translation: Seek to arrest our president and we'll unleash further hell on the aid personnel who protect Darfur's vulnerable civilian populations.

Also in August, Bashir declared, "We are ready to go through war with the great power" to forestall ICC actions. Such threats against UN personnel and operations are unprecedented – and they must be fully registered by the Security Council, both for Darfur and for future peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

As if to make clear just how high the stakes have become, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet recently stressed that a warrant for Bashir could "derail the [north/south] Comprehensive Peace Agreement," which in January 2005 ended more than 20 years of catastrophic civil war.

Sudan's unambiguous threat – which also poses grave regional dangers – means the international community has no excuse not to act forcefully now. And yet, to date, Khartoum's threats stand unrebuked. The UN Secretariat has acquiesced: Despite Secretary-General Moon's tepid and abstract support for the ICC, he refuses to challenge Khartoum directly over its recent dangerous pronouncements. Read more >>>>

Sudanese officers to testify at ICC

Dozens of Sudanese soldiers, some of them high-ranking officers, are in The Hague to testify before the International Criminal Court. Radio Netherlands Worldwide learned of the soldiers' role in the trial from a well-informed source today.

The court is trying Sudan's government and rebel leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, including the bombing of civilians. Relatives of the witnesses have also been taken to The Hague to protect them against possible retaliation by the Sudanese government. ICC officials declined to comment on the matter, saying this would violate the court's commitment to protect witnesses and victims.

President
In April 2007, the ICC issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese nationals, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and local militia leader Ali Kushib. In July 2008, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented evidence against President Omar al-Bashir to support charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. A preliminary hearing is currently considering whether to issue an arrest warrant for Mr al-Bashir. Read more >>>>>>>>>

The Hypocrisy in the Arab and Muslim World Regarding the Darfur Conflict

By Savo Heleta ,

When Muslims suffer around the world in the hands of Americans, Russians, Serbs, or Israelis, the Arab and Muslim countries are very active in condemning the attacks and violence. Their governments complain and raise funds, diplomats protest, the media report, and the citizens demonstrate against "crusaders and infidels."

But when Muslims suffer in the hands of an Arab regime, then there is barely any condemnation of the violence and crimes in the Arab and Muslim world.

Since 2003, Sudan's western province of Darfur is an epicenter of a conflict between the mainly "African" rebels and the Arab-controlled Sudanese government and their proxy militias. It is estimated that about 200,000 people have died in the conflict from fighting, disease, and starvation. The UN and aid agencies estimate that over two million Darfurians, out of a population of about six million, are living in refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring countries.

The Sudan's ruling elite portrays itself as an "Arab" regime both at home and abroad. Some would say that this explains the lack of concern for the Darfur conflict in the Arab world. But things change when we consider the fact that both sides in the Darfur conflict are Muslim and that the Darfurians, both Arabs and Africans, are Sudan's most devout Muslims.

Even though Muslims are the victims in Darfur, the fact that they are the victims of an Arab regime prevents Arab and Muslim countries from acknowledging the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, let alone speaking against the horrendous crimes committed against innocent civilians in this Sudanese province. Read more >>>>>>