ICC prosecutor to unveil new case next week against Sudan

THE HAGUE (AFP) — Urging decisive action against Sudanese warcrimes suspects, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Friday he would announce details of a new case next week against senior players in the Darfur conflict.

"I will inform the ... (United Nations) Security Council on June 5 when I will present my second case on Darfur," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in The Hague, the tribunal's permanent seat.

He is due to brief the Security Council in New York on the situation in Sudan's eastern Darfur region next Thursday, the same week that a council delegation is due to visit Khartoum.

The new case would start "in the near future", said Moreno-Ocampo, declining to reveal how many people would be targeted, or whom.

He did say they would be "at a higher level" than Sudanese secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun, who has yet to be detained despite the ICC issuing a warrant for his arrest a year ago.

"Haroun is still in the middle of this operation ... It is obvious that he is not arrested, he is a minister, so he is not alone," Moreno-Ocampo said, adding he was collecting evidence "to prove criminal responsibility at a higher level than Haroun." Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Sudan holding 89 Darfur child 'rebels' in good health: UN

KHARTOUM (AFP) - The UN Children's Fund visited on Saturday 89 children recently arrested by Sudan for allegedly taking part in a Darfur rebel assault on Khartoum, reporting they appeared in good health.
Sudan's powerful security services are holding the children about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of the capital in two spacious buildings opening onto a courtyard not far from a Chinese-built oil refinery, witnesses said.

UNICEF officials were allowed to visit the children -- aged 10 to 17 -- two weeks after Sudan announced they were holding around 80 children press-ganged into Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

"UNICEF has welcomed being given access to 89 children detained in connection with the attack by forces of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on Omdurman on May 10," the UN agency said in a statement.

UNICEF condemned JEM -- militarily the strongest rebel group battling the Sudanese government in the western region of Darfur -- for using children in its brazen attack on Khartoum's twin city in which more than 220 people died.

"During a meeting with the children on Saturday, UNICEF was able to confirm that they appear to be in good health and that they are being detained separately from adults in line with international standards," the agency said.

"These children should be considered primarily as victims, and every effort must be made to enable their reintegration back into their communities in line with international conventions," UNICEF representative Ted Chaiban said. Read more >>>>

Presidential hopefuls urge end to Darfur violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare show of bipartisan unity, the three presidential candidates lent their names to a statement and newspaper ad Wednesday accusing the Sudanese government of genocide in the Darfur region and urging an end to the violence.

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton joined with Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain in signing the ad in The New York Times headlined "GENOCIDE."

"We stand united and demand that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end," says the ad. It was paid for by the SaveDarfur Coalition, which describes itself on its Web site as an alliance of over 180 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations.

The coalition has posted videos on its Web site of the candidates discussing Darfur and a joint statement from the candidates condemning the Sudanese government as chiefly responsible for the violence and for failing to adhere to a peace agreement.

"We wish to make clear to the Sudanese government that on this moral issue of tremendous importance, there is no divide between us," the statement said in part. "Even as we campaign for the presidency, we will use our standing as senators to press for the steps needed to ensure that the United States honors, in practice and in deed, its commitment to the cause of peace and protection of Darfurs innocent citizenry ... It would be a huge mistake for the Khartoum regime to think that it will benefit by running out the clock on the Bush administration. Read more >>>>>>

Justice for Darfur

The 'Justice for Darfur' campaign was launced a month ago, one year after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Sudan’s former State Minister of the Interior Ahmad Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb (Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman) on 51 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from persecution, rapes and murder of civilians in four West Darfur villages.

The Sudanese government has refused to hand over the men; Haroun has even been promoted to be responsible for humanitarian affairs, and Kushayb, who was being held in jail on other charges at the time the ICC warrants were issued has been released due to "lack of evidence." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur: Rights Groups Decry Khartoum Crackdown

Several human rights organizations have accused Sudan authorities of arbitrary arrests, extra-judicial executions, and ill-treatment of detainees following the 10 May rebel attack on Sudan's capital.

In separate statements released since the attack, human rights watchdogs accused the Sudanese government of ethnic profiling during the arrests that followed the withdrawal of rebel forces. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Senate to advise Board on divesting in Darfur

By Paul Mayne

While the university has no financial ties to companies operating in war-ravaged Darfur, Senate is advising the Board of Governors to publicly announce Western’s commitment to remain so.
While Senate has no authority over the financial administration of the university, they can make recommendations to the Board.

STAND Western (Student’s Taking Action Now: Darfur) says Western needs to make its voice heard regarding the ongoing problems in the Sudan, where United Nations officials estimate over 600,000 people have lost their lives and some two million more have been driven from their homes over the last number of years.

“The atrocities happening in Darfur are intolerable and can’t be justified by anyone,” says student Senator Matthijis van Gaalen, also a member of STAND. “We can’t look beyond our boundaries and say this doesn’t affect us. If we do, what are we saying?”

Support for van Gaalen’s motion was received from a number of Senators, including Faculty of Education professor Rebecca Coulter, who says Western needs to stand up and be counted. Read more >>>>>>>>>

Steven Spielberg Meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Discuss the Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in the Darfur Region

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Steven Spielberg flew to Paris Wednesday to meet privately with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the continuing crisis in Darfur. This follows by one month his meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the same issue.

Since his withdrawal as one of the overseas artistic advisors to the Beijing Olympic games, Spielberg has continued to do what he can to call attention to the suffering of the people in the region and to push world leaders to do more to end the violence there. Spielberg said President Sarkozy shares his concern and has shown real leadership on the issue.

Spielberg was also honored during his visit with French President Sarkozy who surprised him by naming Spielberg an officer in the French Legion of Honour for his work in documenting the Holocaust and his efforts to bring attention to the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Read more >>>

Keep Darfur In Mind

Although I share the Chinese people's mourning of 34,000-plus earthquake victims [Page 1, May 20, "China Pauses, Mourns Earthquake's 34,000 Victims"], I can't help but think that the death of more than 10 times that number in Darfur should get the same moment of solemnity and recognition in China.

China has been a major player in Sudan, with its investment in oil production growing annually. Yet China has done little, if anything, to intercede in the worsening genocide.

Conversely, China continues to provide diplomatic cover for the Sudanese government as efforts to send peacekeepers into Darfur are blocked, yet Chinese weapons find their way through Khartoum into the hands of the government-backed Janjaweed, who continue to rape and pillage. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Africa Action to Host Darfur Rally at U.S. Mission to the United Nations

May 22 Event in New York Will Demand Bold Leadership from the Bush Administration During the June U.S. Presidency of the UN Security Council.


WHAT: A rally at the U.S. Mission at the United Nations with Darfur advocacy leaders to deliver thousands of handprints and messages from all over the country demanding decisive U.S. action to end genocide in Darfur and promote peace for Sudan


WHO: Speakers will include:
· Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director, Africa Action · Yahya Mohammad Osman, Vice President, Darfur People’s Association of New York · Rev. Father Mesrob Lakissian, Pastor, St. Illuminator’s Armenian Apostolic Cathedral. For more details, click here >>>>>

Sudan dictator says will not honor ceasefire in Darfur

(KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir announced today that his government is no longer bound by ceasefire with the Darfur rebel groups.

“We will deal swiftly with anyone who bears arms outside the armed forces or the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signatories. Any ceasefire will be according to our own terms” the Sudanese president said today.

Sudan official news agency (SUNA) said Al-Bashir was addressing officers of Sudan’s National Security and Intelligence Service who recited to him the “oath of death and sacrifice”. Read more >>>>>>>>>

Expert De Waal Continues Misleading the World on Darfur

By Abdullahi Osman El-Tom, Ph.D.

19-05-08: I am dismayed by de Waal’s venomous article on JEM’s invasion of Omdurman code-named “Operation Long Arm”. In this article, de Waal declares that Khartoum security agents have” no justification for arresting affiliates of the SLA”. The conclusion is clear for those who are sympathetic to JEM, but may have played no role in the invasion of the capital.
In as much as the article exposes de Waal’s enmity against JEM, it equally reveals the shallowness of his expertise. In his revelation, our guru expert alleges Khalil has transformed the insignificant JEM into a personal tribal fiefdom, that Darfurians who accompanied him had no liking for JEM, that Khalil has launched his attack in order to provoke Khartoum for further reprisal on innocent Darfurians and that Khalil is a jihadist who still retains his political Islam; whatever that means; end of thesis.
For readers who do not know de Waal, he is now the top expert on Darfur appearing in every relevant international venue. During the Abuja Peace Talks, I met his co-author and sidekick Julie Flint in a London to Abuja plane. She told me with great relief that “the Americans had just hired de Waal as their advisor to the AU and that that would put an end to their confusion about how to address Darfur crisis”. Well, as it turned out, nothing could be further from the truth. The Americans had in fact got, so to speak, “a pig in a poke”. Their choice led to Abuja Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) fiasco and the catastrophic failure of Robert Zoellick, the then Envoy of US President George Bush to Darfur. Read more >>>>>

Summary of Accounts from Khartoum and Darfur Following May 10 Attack

This document summarizes accounts received as of Monday, May 18, 2008. Darfuris living in the United States and across the world are reporting grim accounts of a systematic program of reprisals and retaliations conducted by the government of Sudan against Darfuris living in Khartoum. In the aftermath of the May 10 attacks by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on the capital, Darfuris living in the capital and the suburb of Omdurman are sharing further details about a series of human rights violations. The government of Sudan’s extrajudicial operations appear to be aimed at the Darfuri community at large in Khartoum and the surrounding areas and do not target only individuals affiliated with the JEM attack. Given the government’s poor human rights record and pattern of indiscriminate use of force against civilian populations during the ongoing genocide in Darfur, sources and analysts fear that the reports of these operations could be only the tip of the iceberg.
The harassment and detention of lawyers and journalists in Khartoum also raises serious concerns about the government’s attempt to conceal its operations.
Some of these reports have been confirmed by journalists and human rights agencies, while details of other abuses have been compiled by leaders in the diaspora in daily contact with sources on the ground. The human rights violations to date include accounts of widespread detentions and disappearances, summary executions, crackdowns on Darfuri journalists and lawyers, and the looting of Darfuri homes and businesses. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Global Compact Responds to Open Letter on the Situation in Sudan

(New York, 15 May 2008) - On 12 May, the Global Compact Office received a letter from a coalition of civil society organization on the situation in Sudan. Below is the response from the Global Compact Office to this letter. Read the full letter >>>>>

Darfur: ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics Warrant UN Sanctions

Government Attacks Show Civilians Need Greater International Protection

(New York, May 19, 2008) – The United Nations Security Council should impose targeted sanctions on Sudanese officials responsible for attacks against civilians in West Darfur in February 2008, said Human Rights Watch in a new report released today. Following an attack by Darfur rebels on Khartoum on May 10, 2008, Human Rights Watch also expressed concern about possible government reprisals against civilians in West Darfur.

The 35-page report, “‘They Shot at Us as We Fled’: Government Attacks on Civilians in West Darfur in February 2008,” documents how attacks on several towns in West Darfur’s “northern corridor” were a vicious reprise of Khartoum’s “scorched earth” counterinsurgency tactics. The report, based on interviews with more than 60 witnesses and victims of the attacks in West Darfur, shows how Sudanese armed forces and government-backed “Janjaweed” militia killed and injured hundreds of civilians and destroyed and looted property. The attacks occurred on February 8, 18, 19 and 22 in the towns of Abu Suruj, Sirba, Silea, and in the villages in and around Jebel Mun, a mountainous rebel-held area in northern West Darfur. Read more >>>>>

A Gift for Khartoum

Eric Reeves, a professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College, who also runs sudanreeves.org, reports here on the latest tragic development in Darfur.

On May 10, one of Darfur's key rebel factions, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), struck military targets within Omdurman, the twin city of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Although rumored for days, the long-distance rebel attack seemed to catch the ruling National Islamic Front (NIF) regime by surprise. This was an extraordinary military event, one without precedent under the regime, and its leaders have been badly rattled--perhaps the primary ambition of an assault that had no chance for sustainable military success.

But satisfying as the attack may have been for JEM, it is likely to prove extremely bad news for the people of Darfur. There have already been multiple reports from human rights groups and the Sudanese diaspora that Darfuris are being beaten, arrested, and in some cases, summarily executed. Most have been Zaghawa, the Darfur tribal group dominant in JEM and its leadership.

Currently, JEM has the strongest military among the Darfuri rebel factions, and it's the most willing to act alone--but it's also the least representative of the people of Darfur as a whole. Its leader, Khalil Ibrahim, has had deep political connections with Hassan al-Turabi, who did much to chart the Islamist agenda that has governed Sudan for the past 18 years. JEM's military has been assisted by the regime of embattled President Idriss Déby of Chad, also a Zaghawa, who is fighting a dangerous proxy war with Khartoum. And, finally, JEM's political concerns are perceived by most Darfuris as having an excessively national, as opposed to regional character--a consequence, according to many, of Khalil's personal ambitions. Read more >>>>>>

You Can't Pressure Sudan Without China

According to John McCain, Darfur's genocide will be over in five years, if only we replace the United Nations with a "League of Democracies," an international body shorn of pesky non-allies like China and Russia. In a somewhat speculative speech today, McCain laid out the accomplishments that he envisions his administration will have accomplished by 2013.

After efforts to pressure the Government in Sudan over Darfur failed again in the U.N. Security Council, the United States, acting in concert with a newly formed League of Democracies, applied stiff diplomatic and economic pressure that caused the government of Sudan to agree to a multinational peacekeeping force, with NATO countries providing logistical and air support, to stop the genocide that had made a mockery of the world's repeated declaration that we would "never again" tolerant such inhumanity. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Ellison, Carson urge US to take action in Darfur

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' two Muslim members urged the U.S. government on Wednesday to lead efforts to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced.

Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana joined other black Democratic lawmakers making that call at a "Muslim Voices for Darfur" news conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Sudan is a predominantly Muslim African nation.

Ellison, a freshman lawmaker, asked Sudan's government to stop the violence.

"I further call on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to exert all available influence on the international community and on the parties to the conflict," he said, "and I especially urge Secretary Rice to engage allies among majority-Muslim nations and the African Union."

Ellison was elected as the nation's first Muslim member of Congress in 2006. Carson became the second after winning a special election this year to fill the remainder of his late grandmother's term.

"We talk about America being one of the greatest nations on earth," Carson said. "If we are to have that title ... we need to step out on the world front and be a leader on this issue." Read more >>>>>>>>>

Sudan: JEM assult highlights peace strategy risks - 12 May 2008

EVENT: Rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement on May 10 launched an assault on Omdurman, a western suburb of Khartoum.

SIGNIFICANCE: Omdurman, situated across the Nile from Khartoum proper, is part of the capital's greater metropolitan area. This is the first time a Darfur rebel group has staged an attack on the capital. Government forces defeated the rebels, but their attack highlights a number of concerns for the government and the wider political situation in Sudan.

ANALYSIS: The full details and repercussions of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attack on Omdurman on Saturday are still emerging. However, the key details and implications are already apparent:

1. Attack. The attack on Omdurman was never going to succeed in toppling the government by force. However, it succeeded to the extent that it presented an audacious and symbolic challenge to the government's control of the capital:

- Objectives. JEM did not expect to capture the capital, but aimed to send a warning to the government and a wider audience, and to test the strength and loyalty of the army and security forces in the capital. JEM has previously staged small attacks outside Darfur, on targets in Western and Northern Kordofan, and it has always held a stronger interest in political change in Khartoum than has the mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). Read more >>>>

The brutality of the Khartoum regime's military actions in the Darfur

Who are the victims of this international cowardice? Who suffers when the world refuses to demand justice of those who would deliberately kill children? Let's at least grant the dignity of names to the victims of this most recent barbarism:

•Fatima Suleiman Adam Omar, 3rd grade, 10 years old

•Fatima Ahmad Bashir, 2nd grade, 8 years old

•Mubarak Mohammed Ahmad, 3rd grade, 10 years old

•Yusuf Adam Hamid, kindergarten, 5 years old

•Munira Suleiman Adam, 2nd grade, 7 years old

•Adam Ahmad Yusuf, 4th grade, 11 years old

How would Americans respond if terrorists acting on behalf of another country deliberately killed, with complete military impunity, six young children in one of our nation's schools? Outrage would bring the country to a halt. It would change the very nature of the presidential campaign. News coverage would be unending. Washington's response against the offending nation would be swift and destructive. Read more >>>>>>>

Darfur call to action for UK politicians

MPs and peers must do more to pressure the government on action against suspected Sudanese war criminals, chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo believes.

Addressing MPs and peers in parliament yesterday, the international criminal court (ICC) prosecutor pressed the importance of parliamentarians around the world helping get beyond the "lack of enforcement" seen in too many countries.

Fifteen months have passed since the ICC named Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister, Ahmed Haroun, and Ali Kosheib, Janjaweed leader, as chief suspects of war crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Khartoum has refused to surrender the pair and Mr Moreno-Ocampo blames the "very weak" stance by the international community for a "missed opportunity" on the issue.

The chief prosecutor warned that "in 40 years the whole world will be like Darfur" if the rule of international law is not upheld.

And he called on MPs and peers to pressure the government on the issue, telling them "I think you can make a real difference here".

He told politics.co.uk the best way to achieve this was through "showing interest" and "talking about the issue". Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>