KHARTOUM — Darfur rebels accused the government of bombing South Darfur on Thursday, the latest attack in an aerial campaign that has driven thousands of people from their homes over the past month.
"There is aerial bombardment on a daily basis -- bombing by MiG 29 and by Antonov (in South Darfur)," Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) commander Abel Aziz el-Nur Ashr Ashr said.
Mr. Ashr said 20,000 people in the area south west of Adila town near the eastern border of Darfur had fled their homes to the bush without access to clean water during the fighting which has been ongoing for the past month.
Mr. Ashr said bombers attacked again in South Darfur early on Thursday. The army was not immediately available to comment. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
ICC berates Sudan on war criminals
New York, US - The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), says Sudan is not co-operating to facilitate the arrests of two war crimes suspects.
The two Sudanese, a top government official and a rebel leader, were alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.
The ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who spoke to PANA at the UN, described Sudan's attitude as “totally unacceptable” and called on Khartoum to cooperate “immediately” with the court to bring the suspects to book.
Moreno-Ocampo said one of the two suspects, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, is currently Sudan's Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs.
“He was coordinating actions to remove people from their own villages and push them into IDP (internally Displaced Person) camps, and now he basically controls them,” he said.
“Harun is still in charge, effectively, of the same people. He is like the fox being in charge of the chickens,” the prosecutor noted. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The two Sudanese, a top government official and a rebel leader, were alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.
The ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who spoke to PANA at the UN, described Sudan's attitude as “totally unacceptable” and called on Khartoum to cooperate “immediately” with the court to bring the suspects to book.
Moreno-Ocampo said one of the two suspects, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, is currently Sudan's Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs.
“He was coordinating actions to remove people from their own villages and push them into IDP (internally Displaced Person) camps, and now he basically controls them,” he said.
“Harun is still in charge, effectively, of the same people. He is like the fox being in charge of the chickens,” the prosecutor noted. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
China aids Darfur genocide
“China continues to provide equipment to Sudan despite the fact Sudan is using these supplies to commit genocide,” said one. “The Olympic Games and China cannot co-exist,” said another.
USA Today reported that, “U.S. actress Mia Farrow leads torch relay against African genocide.” China’s support of the Khartoum regime is blatant. Aside from supplying money and arms China has shielded Khartoum from international sanctions over its actions in Darfur.
Among the global activists trying to stop the Darfur genocide who gathered recently at Montreal’s Darfur Conference was the Hon. David Kilgour.
He is rallying world-wide support to pressure China to stop aiding and abetting the criminal Khartoum regime that is committing these atrocities. He gave a powerful indictment of China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide. Read more >>>>>>>>
USA Today reported that, “U.S. actress Mia Farrow leads torch relay against African genocide.” China’s support of the Khartoum regime is blatant. Aside from supplying money and arms China has shielded Khartoum from international sanctions over its actions in Darfur.
Among the global activists trying to stop the Darfur genocide who gathered recently at Montreal’s Darfur Conference was the Hon. David Kilgour.
He is rallying world-wide support to pressure China to stop aiding and abetting the criminal Khartoum regime that is committing these atrocities. He gave a powerful indictment of China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide. Read more >>>>>>>>
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Olympics, China & Darfur
LATEST: Actress and activist MIA FARROW has put pressure on the Chinese government to help the inhabitants of the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. China has a massive oil interest in the African nation, and Farrow claims the country is effectively funding attacks on the people of Darfur.
The 62-year-old spoke out after starting an torch relay through countries that have suffered genocide. Her plea comes less than a year before the Chinese capital Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games. Farrow said, "China is hosting the Olympic Games and their slogan for the games is 'One world, One dream' but there is one nightmare - that China is not allowed to sweep under the rug - and that nightmare is Darfur." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>
The 62-year-old spoke out after starting an torch relay through countries that have suffered genocide. Her plea comes less than a year before the Chinese capital Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games. Farrow said, "China is hosting the Olympic Games and their slogan for the games is 'One world, One dream' but there is one nightmare - that China is not allowed to sweep under the rug - and that nightmare is Darfur." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Monday, August 27, 2007
By Mona Ghuneim
A delegation of U.S. advocates for Darfur says Friday that conditions in refugee camps in Sudan and Chad are appalling and that the population in Darfur continues to suffer a genocide by attrition in those camps. From VOA's New York Bureau, Mona Ghuneim reports.
The advocates recently returned from Chad where they saw first-hand what they called the deplorable condition of refugees suffering from sickness, malnutrition, trauma and inadequate supplies. They say the genocide is continuing in slow motion. Read more >>>>>>
I am a witness to Darfur's suffering
My first visit to Darfur was in 2004. It changed the way I needed to live my life. I have just returned from my seventh trip to the region. I don't think I have the words to adequately represent what I have seen and heard there.
Incomprehensibly, it has now been more than four years since the killing began. Some experts believe half a million human beings have died thus far. Others bicker about the exact death toll - as if it makes a shred of difference to how we must respond.
Only the perpetrators dispute that hundreds of thousands of innocent men women and children have been killed, in ways that cannot be imagined or described. It is all the more appalling that we cannot know - that no one is yet able to count the dead. And the dying continues.
We can, however, know with certainty that more than four million people are dependent on food aid because their homes, villages, and the fields that sustained them, are ashes now. We also know that two and a half million human beings are struggling to exist amid deplorable conditions in squalid camps across Darfur and eastern Chad. I am a witness to their suffering. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Incomprehensibly, it has now been more than four years since the killing began. Some experts believe half a million human beings have died thus far. Others bicker about the exact death toll - as if it makes a shred of difference to how we must respond.
Only the perpetrators dispute that hundreds of thousands of innocent men women and children have been killed, in ways that cannot be imagined or described. It is all the more appalling that we cannot know - that no one is yet able to count the dead. And the dying continues.
We can, however, know with certainty that more than four million people are dependent on food aid because their homes, villages, and the fields that sustained them, are ashes now. We also know that two and a half million human beings are struggling to exist amid deplorable conditions in squalid camps across Darfur and eastern Chad. I am a witness to their suffering. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Sudan: New photographs show further breach of UN arms embargo on Darfur
Amnesty International today released new photographs showing that the Sudanese government is continuing to deploy offensive military equipment in Darfur despite the UN arms embargo and peace agreements.
"The Sudanese government is still deploying weapons into Darfur in breathtaking defiance of the UN arms embargo and Darfur peace agreements. Once again Amnesty International calls on the UN Security Council to act decisively to ensure the embargo is effectively enforced, including by the placement of UN observers at all ports of entry in Sudan and Darfur," said Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s Arms Control Research Manager.
The photographs, sent to Amnesty International and the International Peace Information Service in Antwerp by eyewitnesses in Darfur, reinforce evidence provided in Amnesty International's May 2007 report “Sudan: Arms continuing to fuel serious human rights violations in Darfur”. Taken in July at El Geneina airport in Darfur, the new photographs show:
1) Containers being offloaded by Sudanese army soldiers from an Antonov aircraft onto military trucks at the military apron of El Geneina airport. The Russian-supplied Antonov 12 freighter aircraft with registration number ST-ASA is listed as operated by Azza Transport, itself under investigation by the UN Panel of Experts on the Sudan arms embargo for arms transfers into Darfur (photograph 1).
2) A Russian-supplied Mi-17 military helicopter (registration number 534) belonging to the Sudanese Air Force at El Geneina (photograph 2). Russia signed a deal to supply at least 15 such helicopters for delivery in 2005 and 2006.
3) A Russian-supplied Mi-24 attack helicopter with registration number 928 redeployed to El Geneina airport from Nyala, Darfur (photograph 3). Russia supplied 12 such attack helicopters to Sudan in 2005. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Darfur Betrayed Again: The UN/AU "Hybrid" Force Steadily Weakens
Less than a month after passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1769, the force authorized is devolving into the “African Union-Plus” of a year ago
By: Eric Reeves
Bending to the will of Khartoum’s brutal National Islamic Front (National Congress Party) regime, African Union leaders are engaged in a process of eviscerating whatever potential may have existed for the force authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 1769 (July 31, 2007). As it did in defying UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (August 31, 2006), Khartoum has apparently ensured that any force deploying to Darfur will be little more than an enlarged version of the present African Union mission in Darfur, known as AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan).
We are seeing, in short, an updated version of the “African Union-Plus,” first proposed following the rapid collapse of international support for Resolution 1706. Leading the way in abandoning any commitment to the UN resolution was Jan Pronk, then-Secretary General Kofi Annan’s incompetent special representative for Sudan. Out of Pronk’s insistence that the only option was augmenting the AU, the notion of an “African Union-Plus” was born, leading by a tortuous diplomatic path to the misconceived and ominously unprecedented AU/UN “hybrid” force, first promulgated at a “High Level Consultation on the Situation in Darfur” (Addis Ababa, November 2006). Read more >>>
By: Eric Reeves
Bending to the will of Khartoum’s brutal National Islamic Front (National Congress Party) regime, African Union leaders are engaged in a process of eviscerating whatever potential may have existed for the force authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 1769 (July 31, 2007). As it did in defying UN Security Council Resolution 1706 (August 31, 2006), Khartoum has apparently ensured that any force deploying to Darfur will be little more than an enlarged version of the present African Union mission in Darfur, known as AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan).
We are seeing, in short, an updated version of the “African Union-Plus,” first proposed following the rapid collapse of international support for Resolution 1706. Leading the way in abandoning any commitment to the UN resolution was Jan Pronk, then-Secretary General Kofi Annan’s incompetent special representative for Sudan. Out of Pronk’s insistence that the only option was augmenting the AU, the notion of an “African Union-Plus” was born, leading by a tortuous diplomatic path to the misconceived and ominously unprecedented AU/UN “hybrid” force, first promulgated at a “High Level Consultation on the Situation in Darfur” (Addis Ababa, November 2006). Read more >>>
Chancellor Merkel to Press China for Help in Darfur
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will discuss ways to improve the human rights situation in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan when she meets Chinese leaders on the first leg of a trip to Asia starting on Sunday.
In her weekly podcast, Merkel said that China has close ties to Africa and "we will obviously talk about what we can do now to combat the appalling human rights violations in Sudan's Darfur region."
Merkel arrives in China on Monday and will meet President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao as well as cultural and civil rights groups. She heads to Japan on Wednesday where she will talk to leaders there about climate change and economic issues. Read more >>>>>
Thursday, August 23, 2007
How many deaths in Darfur?
How many people have died as a result of Khartoum's genocidal counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur? What is overall mortality since February 2003? These questions have been much in the news recently, particularly in the wake of a decision by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that an advertisement by the Save Darfur Coalition and Aegis Trust had inappropriately represented as fact a death toll of 400,000, when this was a matter on which opinions diverged. Notably, the ASA did not find, as erroneously asserted by Sam Dealey in the New York Times, that the advertisement "violated codes of objectivity and truthfulness". Nor is the ASA likely to be the best source for understanding the complexities attending the competing claims of various mortality estimates, ranging from Khartoum's figure of 9,000 to the figure of well over 450,000 generated by this writer. Read more >>>>>>>>>
Rapes detailed in UN report on Darfur
By Eliane Engeler,
GENEVA -- A UN report released yesterday describes gruesome new details about the rapes of dozens of Darfur women last year, saying they were sexually assaulted in front of each other, beaten with sticks, and forced to cook and serve food to their attackers.
Some of the victims became pregnant as a result of rapes, allegedly carried out by the Sudanese soldiers and allied militiamen, the report by the UN's top human rights office said. It accused the Sudanese government of failing to investigate the rapes. "The abuses may also constitute war crimes," said the report by the office of Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights.
The report alleged Sudanese forces and militiamen subjected about 50 women to multiple rapes and other violence in an attack on the eastern Darfur village of Deribat in late December. They also abducted many children, it said.
Darfur has been the scene of a four-year conflict between government-backed militias known as the janjaweed and rebel forces. More than 200,000 people have died and at least 2.5 million have been driven from their homes, according to UN estimates. Read more >>>>>>>.
GENEVA -- A UN report released yesterday describes gruesome new details about the rapes of dozens of Darfur women last year, saying they were sexually assaulted in front of each other, beaten with sticks, and forced to cook and serve food to their attackers.
Some of the victims became pregnant as a result of rapes, allegedly carried out by the Sudanese soldiers and allied militiamen, the report by the UN's top human rights office said. It accused the Sudanese government of failing to investigate the rapes. "The abuses may also constitute war crimes," said the report by the office of Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights.
The report alleged Sudanese forces and militiamen subjected about 50 women to multiple rapes and other violence in an attack on the eastern Darfur village of Deribat in late December. They also abducted many children, it said.
Darfur has been the scene of a four-year conflict between government-backed militias known as the janjaweed and rebel forces. More than 200,000 people have died and at least 2.5 million have been driven from their homes, according to UN estimates. Read more >>>>>>>.
Darfur rebel faction threatens to pull out of peace talks over refugee camp raid
KHARTOUM, Sudan: One of the main rebel factions battling the Sudanese government in the war torn western Darfur region threatened Thursday to reconsider its participation in peace talks following a raid by government forces on a refugee camp.
Police entered the Kalma refugee camp in South Darfur province on Tuesday following an attack two days earlier on a nearby security post, the official Sudanese News Agency reported. Authorities arrested at least nine people and seized drugs and weapons, it added.
The Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army faction, led by Ahmed Abdel Shafi, said in a statement that 1,000 Sudanese troops were involved in the raid, which he claimed resulted in 40 arrests and five deaths. Read more >>>>
Police entered the Kalma refugee camp in South Darfur province on Tuesday following an attack two days earlier on a nearby security post, the official Sudanese News Agency reported. Authorities arrested at least nine people and seized drugs and weapons, it added.
The Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army faction, led by Ahmed Abdel Shafi, said in a statement that 1,000 Sudanese troops were involved in the raid, which he claimed resulted in 40 arrests and five deaths. Read more >>>>
Sunday, August 19, 2007
DARFUR: "WE ARE NOT SATISFIED!"
As we reflect on the horrors of Darfur we must say today that “We are still not satisfied!” For how can any of us – if any conscience be left in us at all – be satisfied with our ungracious self-absorption and inelegant consumerism when people are still being exterminated because of the color of their skin? How can we be satisfied when millions find rest and shelter only in the misery of refugee camps?
How can we be satisfied when some sixty years after the Nuremberg Principles and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights the devastated of Darfur find themselves disenfranchised from humanity and bereft of the dignity owed each and every living soul? To paraphrase King, the authors of these magnificent documents wrote promissory notes to all human beings. And those notes are coming back NSF. Our responsibility, in this age of instant communication and instant destruction, is to make sure those promises are kept. To make sure that the banks of justice do not default. Read more >>>>>>>
How can we be satisfied when some sixty years after the Nuremberg Principles and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights the devastated of Darfur find themselves disenfranchised from humanity and bereft of the dignity owed each and every living soul? To paraphrase King, the authors of these magnificent documents wrote promissory notes to all human beings. And those notes are coming back NSF. Our responsibility, in this age of instant communication and instant destruction, is to make sure those promises are kept. To make sure that the banks of justice do not default. Read more >>>>>>>
Darfur: Shadow of genocide at the bowl
By: Nat Hentoff,
Next Jan. 1, millions worldwide will be watching the televised 94th Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, and the 199th Rose Bowl Parade with its celebratory floats. One of those floats, saluting the 2008 Chinese Olympics, has already stirred worldwide protests because of China's many human rights violations against its own people as well as China's large-scale financial partnership with Sudan, perpetrator of the continuing genocide in Darfur.
In the July 19 story "Roses Are Red," in the Pasadena Weekly, Joe Piasecki reported that both local and international human rights organizations are urging the Tournament of Roses Association and the Pasadena City Council to speak out about how the Olympics in China will be a chilling caricature of what Tournament President C.L. Keedy — justifying the inclusion of the float in the parade — said:
"The Olympics, which brings nations together, is the epitome of a global celebration — providing a worldwide spirit of cooperation, supporting athletes in peaceful competition." But there are no celebrations among the many victims of China's chronic cruelty. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Next Jan. 1, millions worldwide will be watching the televised 94th Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, and the 199th Rose Bowl Parade with its celebratory floats. One of those floats, saluting the 2008 Chinese Olympics, has already stirred worldwide protests because of China's many human rights violations against its own people as well as China's large-scale financial partnership with Sudan, perpetrator of the continuing genocide in Darfur.
In the July 19 story "Roses Are Red," in the Pasadena Weekly, Joe Piasecki reported that both local and international human rights organizations are urging the Tournament of Roses Association and the Pasadena City Council to speak out about how the Olympics in China will be a chilling caricature of what Tournament President C.L. Keedy — justifying the inclusion of the float in the parade — said:
"The Olympics, which brings nations together, is the epitome of a global celebration — providing a worldwide spirit of cooperation, supporting athletes in peaceful competition." But there are no celebrations among the many victims of China's chronic cruelty. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sudanese government allows Arab refugees to settle in the villages of the displaced Darfurs
Arab refugees from neighbouring Chad work the land near Tulus, Darfur, the land that had belonged to the displaced Sudanese.
Three years after it was burned to the ground, the village of Tulus in Darfur is springing back to life.
Corn and sesame sprout from fertile fields. Children play around newly built huts. Smoke from cooking fires again rises from the land.
The problem is, those rebuilding Tulus are not the original inhabitants, who were chased away by pro-government Sudanese militias in 2004 and are afraid to return. Instead, their place has been taken by Arabs from Chad, who recently crossed the border to flee violence in their own country.
"It's comfortable here,'' said Sheik Algooni Mohammed Zeean, 42, leader of 150 Chadian Arabs who in March settled on a grassy plain not far from the ruins of the village's abandoned homes and school. Gesturing toward the fields bearing their first harvest in Sudan, he smiled. "I feel like this is my home now.''
Over the last six months, nearly 30,000 Chadian Arabs have crossed into Sudan, many of them settling on land owned by Darfur's pastoral tribes that were driven into displacement camps, aid groups say.
This migration quickly has become the latest obstacle to peace in western Sudan, drawing the attention of international observers and protests from those displaced from Darfur, who accuse the Sudanese government of orchestrating an "Arabization'' scheme by repopulating burned-out villages with foreigners.
"This is a government plot to give our land to Chadian Arabs,'' said Mohammed Abakar Mohammed Adam, 27, a farmer from the village of Bechabecha, which was abandoned after armed nomadic tribes known as "janjaweed,'' believed to be backed by the government, attacked in 2003. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>
Three years after it was burned to the ground, the village of Tulus in Darfur is springing back to life.
Corn and sesame sprout from fertile fields. Children play around newly built huts. Smoke from cooking fires again rises from the land.
The problem is, those rebuilding Tulus are not the original inhabitants, who were chased away by pro-government Sudanese militias in 2004 and are afraid to return. Instead, their place has been taken by Arabs from Chad, who recently crossed the border to flee violence in their own country.
"It's comfortable here,'' said Sheik Algooni Mohammed Zeean, 42, leader of 150 Chadian Arabs who in March settled on a grassy plain not far from the ruins of the village's abandoned homes and school. Gesturing toward the fields bearing their first harvest in Sudan, he smiled. "I feel like this is my home now.''
Over the last six months, nearly 30,000 Chadian Arabs have crossed into Sudan, many of them settling on land owned by Darfur's pastoral tribes that were driven into displacement camps, aid groups say.
This migration quickly has become the latest obstacle to peace in western Sudan, drawing the attention of international observers and protests from those displaced from Darfur, who accuse the Sudanese government of orchestrating an "Arabization'' scheme by repopulating burned-out villages with foreigners.
"This is a government plot to give our land to Chadian Arabs,'' said Mohammed Abakar Mohammed Adam, 27, a farmer from the village of Bechabecha, which was abandoned after armed nomadic tribes known as "janjaweed,'' believed to be backed by the government, attacked in 2003. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>
By Ty Burr, Globe Staff | August 17, 2007
"The Devil Came on Horseback" is a documentary about the human-rights crisis in Darfur. It's also about our response to the human-rights crisis in Darfur -- not just the West as a whole, but you and me and the guy down the hall. You don't want to think about another faraway ethnic cleansing? Fine; here are pictures. You still don't want to think about it? All right -- why?
If that sounds like a self-righteous guilt trip, the movie's anything but. Rather, filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern have built an engrossing, thought-provoking moral position paper on the back of one Brian Steidle, an ex-Marine who found himself working as a cease-fire monitor in Sudan in early 2004.
Steidle got the job via the Internet and quickly realized how deeply he was in over his head. The cease-fire between the Muslim government forces in the north of the country and the black animist revolutionaries in the south held everywhere but in the primarily Muslim western province of Darfur, where government-backed militias known as "janjaweed" -- "the devil on a horse" -- massacred entire villages, man, woman, and child. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Darfur Needs Most Efficient, Trained Troops Immediately
The nationalities of troops should not impede the urgent establishment of the most effective peacekeeping force possible for Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today in letters to the chairman of the African Union Commission and to the United Nations under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations.
The new African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force must have military and civilian components, including police, that are experienced, well-trained and well-equipped if it is to deliver on its promise to protect civilians in Darfur.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the announcement from the African Union that African countries have pledged troops for the force, but warned that the difficulties the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) has faced indicate that it may not be possible to source from Africa the full range of skills, expertise and experience required for either the military or the civilian contingent, and particularly for the police. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The new African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force must have military and civilian components, including police, that are experienced, well-trained and well-equipped if it is to deliver on its promise to protect civilians in Darfur.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the announcement from the African Union that African countries have pledged troops for the force, but warned that the difficulties the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) has faced indicate that it may not be possible to source from Africa the full range of skills, expertise and experience required for either the military or the civilian contingent, and particularly for the police. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
China a key to Darfur peace-activists
KIGALI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - China must stop supplying weapons to Sudan and curb ties with the country to help halt killings in the war-torn region of Darfur, activists said on Wednesday.
Olympic Dream for Darfur, a U.S.-based advocacy campaign, appealed to the Chinese government as hosts of the Olympics next year to use its influence in Sudan to boost security.
"Genocide can only stop if there's willingness (in the) international community to stop it, and for Darfur that power lies in China," said Jill Savitt, director of the Olympic Dream for Darfur.
The activists accused China of continuing to carry out oil deals with Sudan and supplying weapons to the Khartoum government, which end up in the hands of Darfur militias.
China, the biggest foreign investor in Sudan, has said its arms sales to the country are limited and abide strictly by international rules. Read more >>>>
Olympic Dream for Darfur, a U.S.-based advocacy campaign, appealed to the Chinese government as hosts of the Olympics next year to use its influence in Sudan to boost security.
"Genocide can only stop if there's willingness (in the) international community to stop it, and for Darfur that power lies in China," said Jill Savitt, director of the Olympic Dream for Darfur.
The activists accused China of continuing to carry out oil deals with Sudan and supplying weapons to the Khartoum government, which end up in the hands of Darfur militias.
China, the biggest foreign investor in Sudan, has said its arms sales to the country are limited and abide strictly by international rules. Read more >>>>
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
International court works to bring Darfur rapists to trial
When Amnesty International observers visited Darfur in 2004, they were appalled by the sheer number of rape victims they encountered.
Many were gang raped in front of their families as the conquering Janjaweed militia burned down their homes.
Hundreds of rape cases, including against girls as young as 7 or 9, were documented by human rights workers at the height of the ethnic cleansing in Darfur in 2004.
There are those who would argue that to allow the victims of such organised mass rape to give birth is arguably tantamount to complicity in genocide. Because the most horrible conclusion of rape as a weapon of war is that it can change the ethnic makeup of a country. In the case of Darfur, it could mean the steady Arabisation of the next generation.
In 2005, about 100 countries took a landmark decision by agreeing that rape should be included among the crimes against humanity that could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court as they established the tribunal. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>
Many were gang raped in front of their families as the conquering Janjaweed militia burned down their homes.
Hundreds of rape cases, including against girls as young as 7 or 9, were documented by human rights workers at the height of the ethnic cleansing in Darfur in 2004.
There are those who would argue that to allow the victims of such organised mass rape to give birth is arguably tantamount to complicity in genocide. Because the most horrible conclusion of rape as a weapon of war is that it can change the ethnic makeup of a country. In the case of Darfur, it could mean the steady Arabisation of the next generation.
In 2005, about 100 countries took a landmark decision by agreeing that rape should be included among the crimes against humanity that could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court as they established the tribunal. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>
Sunday, August 12, 2007
'The devil came on horseback'
"I was blown away by what I saw [in Darfur], because nobody kenw about it. Not even us, in the same country 300km away."
-- Brian Steidle, campaigner
Three years ago, fresh out of serving with the US marines in Kosovo and elsewhere, Steidle saw a job opening for a US monitor attached to the African Union peacekeeping mission in the Sudan. "I had no idea," he says. "I was looking for some adventure. My goal was to make money, to have a good time making it and to retire early."
Without knowing it, he was heading into a genocide in the making and towards becoming an unlikely, but highly effective, campaigner. The result is that alongside the big players such as Washington and Beijing, whose political calculations lie behind the new Security Council agreement to send an international force to Sudan's conflict zone, it is a small player in the person of Steidle - with his everyman demeanor and eyewitness evidence - who crucially set the stage by helping to make Sudan's government-sponsored slaughter a cause du jour in the US. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>
-- Brian Steidle, campaigner
Three years ago, fresh out of serving with the US marines in Kosovo and elsewhere, Steidle saw a job opening for a US monitor attached to the African Union peacekeeping mission in the Sudan. "I had no idea," he says. "I was looking for some adventure. My goal was to make money, to have a good time making it and to retire early."
Without knowing it, he was heading into a genocide in the making and towards becoming an unlikely, but highly effective, campaigner. The result is that alongside the big players such as Washington and Beijing, whose political calculations lie behind the new Security Council agreement to send an international force to Sudan's conflict zone, it is a small player in the person of Steidle - with his everyman demeanor and eyewitness evidence - who crucially set the stage by helping to make Sudan's government-sponsored slaughter a cause du jour in the US. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>
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