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 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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 >>>

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 >>>>>

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 >>>>>>>.

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 >>>>

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 >>>>>>>

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 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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 >>>>>>>>>>>>

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 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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 >>>>

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 >>>>>>>>>>>

'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 >>>>>>>>>>>

War crimes suspect has free rein in Sudan

BY MAGGIE FARLEY,

EL FASHER, Sudan - For a man accused of masterminding massacres, Ahmad Harun seems quite comfortable in the place he allegedly helped destroy.

He strolls around the grassy compound belonging to the local governor in Sudan's deeply troubled Darfur region, embracing tribal leaders, soldiers and officials who have come to hear the president.

Harun, a tall 42-year-old with high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes, was in charge of the region's security during the height of the violent attacks on farm villages that caused millions to flee their homes in 2003 and 2004. He allegedly recruited, funded and armed local militias to root out rebels who had attacked the Sudanese army, sweeping away their home villages, families and the intricate fabric of Darfur's identity along the way. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Childrens’ drawings ‘evidence’ of Darfur war crimes

500 drawings by children who escaped the violence in Darfur could threaten to prosecute the Sudanese government troops for war crimes.

The collection of images will be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has started proceedings against a Sudanese government minister and a militia commander accused of committing war crimes in Darfur.

The testimony of the children, some as young as eight, emerged by chance when a peace campaigner Anna Schmidt, a researcher for Waging Peace, handed the children paper, pencils and crayons to keep them occupied while she interviewed their mothers, who are among 250,000 to have fled to the relative safety in neighbouring Chad.

Most of the children, who escaped by fleeing across the border to Chad, could not read or write and instead drew their experiences.

The government of Sudan has repeatedly denied launching military attacks in Darfur.

But the drawings apparently depict Sudanese tanks, planes and helicopters in action launching attacks on civilians who are depicted defending themselves with bows and arrows. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Violence continues to drive Darfur farmers into crowded camps

By Paul Jeffrey
Catholic News Service

ZALINGEI, Sudan (CNS) -- For years, Fatma Omar resisted leaving her farm near the village of Omra, despite repeated raids by Arab militias. At times she and her family would flee to hide in the desert for several days until it was safe to return home.

Then in mid-July the attackers came again, this time, she said, killing her husband, raping her and burning their thatched home.

With her four children, the eldest 13 years old, she walked for 15 days through the countryside of Darfur, Sudan's westernmost province, reaching the Hassa Hissa camp in Zalingei July 27. As she waited for U.N. camp managers to provide her a card for food rations, she borrowed a tarp and stretched it across the weathered walls of an abandoned hut. Then she sat down in the dust in front of her new home and stared across the landscape in the direction of her old life.

"Now I've got nothing," she said, her hand aimlessly drawing circles in the sand. Read more >>>>>>>

When dealing with Darfur atrocities, money talks

By Rep. Steny Hoyer

After the genocide in Rwanda, many of us swore that never again would we stand by idly and permit genocide to take place on our watch. Sunday, July 22, marked the third anniversary of Congress' vote, under the leadership of Rep. Don Payne, D-N.J., to declare that the atrocities taking place in Darfur, Sudan, constituted genocide.

Nearly 450,000 people have died, and more than 2.5 million have been displaced, yet the Omar al-Bashir government continues to stall the implementation of a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force. During our trip to Darfur in April, we saw firsthand that the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate.

If we are to make good on our commitment not to stand by in the face of atrocities, we have a moral obligation to use every tool at our disposal, and that means using both diplomacy and divestment.

The Bush administration has been firm in its dealings with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, and Congress has taken important steps to strengthen the administration's diplomatic hand. In April, the House passed a resolution 425-1 calling on the League of Arab States to recognize the genocide taking place in Darfur and take active steps to bring it to an end.

In June, the House voted 410-0 for a resolution calling on China, Sudan's largest trading partner, "to use its unique influence and economic leverage" to help stop the genocide in Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur war crimes suspect has free rein

Ahmad Harun, accused of recruiting militias who ravaged villages, is the minister of state for humanitarian affairs.


EL FASHER, SUDAN — For a man accused of masterminding massacres, Ahmad Harun seems quite comfortable in the place he allegedly helped destroy.

He strolls around the grassy compound belonging to the local governor in Sudan's deeply troubled Darfur region, embracing Arab tribal leaders, soldiers and officials who have come to hear the president.

Harun, a tall 42-year-old with high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes, was in charge of the region's security during the height of the violent attacks on farm villages that caused millions to flee their homes in 2003 and 2004. He allegedly recruited, funded and armed local militias to root out rebels who had attacked the Sudanese army, sweeping away their villages, families and the intricate fabric of Darfur's identity along the way. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pronk: Darfur-missie zinloos

Jan Pronk, oud-VN-gezant in Soedan, oordeelt hard over de nieuwste resolutie voor Darfur. „Het gaat heel lang duren eer die missie compleet is.”

Een paar jaar probeerde oud-minster Jan Pronk als speciaal gezant van de Verenigde Naties in Soedan het tij te keren. Vergeefs: in het zuiden staat de wederopbouw nog in de kinderschoenen, in westelijk Darfur duurt de crisis onverminderd voort.

Pronk wijt de crisis in Darfur aan de orthodox-islamitische regering in Khartoem. „Die heeft geen enkele resolutie van de VN-Veiligheidsraad uitgevoerd. Alles, álles hebben zij aan hun laars gelapt.” Anderzijds is hij bijzonder teleurgesteld over de Veiligheidsraad: „Die maakt zichzelf steeds zwakker. Je moet een land niet binnenvallen, maar er kan zoveel meer. Denk aan sancties.” Read more >>>>>>

Darfur rebel factions reach common position for peace talks with Sudan

ARUSHA, Tanzania: Darfur rebel factions reached a common negotiating position for peace talks with the Sudanese government, which they want to hold within three months, United Nations and African Union officials said Monday.

The rebel factions met at a resort in Arusha in northern Tanzania to try to bury past differences over the leadership and direction of Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan.

Jan Eliasson of Sweden, the UN envoy to Darfur, said the groups had reached "a common platform" for negotiations, encompassing power and wealth sharing, security, land and humanitarian issues.

"We have an impressive show of unity and purpose to get ready with final negotiations in the very near future," Eliasson said at the closing session of the four-day meeting. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur rebel factions begin unity talks in Arusha

Darfur rebel factions begin unity talks in Arusha
Sat 4 Aug 2007, 7:22 GMT

[-] Text [+] By C. Bryson Hull

ARUSHA, Tanzania (Reuters) - Darfur rebel factions began African Union-United Nations sponsored negotiations on Friday aimed at resolving their differences ahead of peace talks with the Sudanese government.

The talks to end the four-year conflict in western Sudan have taken on a new importance since the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday approved the deployment of 26,000 peacekeeping troops and police to stem the bloodshed in Darfur.

Darfur rebels split into about a dozen groups are meeting to work out a single negotiating position for peace talks with the government, and a date and venue for the negotiations.

Members of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) arrived in the Tanzanian resort town of Arusha on Friday, as did some negotiators with factions of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). Read more >>>>

Darfur: The evidence of war crimes

500 drawings by children who escaped the violence are to be submitted to the International Criminal Court as proof of war crimes by Sudanese forces
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Published: 02 August 2007
The drawing is one of 500 to be submitted to the International Criminal Court Dramatic new evidence of the attacks on the people of Darfur by Sudanese government troops has emerged in 500 drawings by children who escaped the violence by fleeing across the border to Chad.

In a ground-breaking move, the remarkable collection of images will now be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has started proceedings against a Sudanese government minister and a militia commander accused of committing war crimes in Darfur.

The testimony of the children, some as young as eight, emerged by chance when a peace campaigner handed the children paper, pencils and crayons to keep them occupied while she interviewed their mothers. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

U.N. approves Darfur peacekeepers

The U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of peacekeepers to quell the violence in the Darfur region of Sudan.

In a resolution adopted Tuesday, the council approved the deployment of 26,000 military and police personnel in what will be the largest peacekeeping operation in the world. The resolution included reference to Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which permits the council to authorize the use of force to achieve its mandate.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it a "historic and unprecedented resolution." Read more >>>>>>

UN Security Council approves 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur

By: ANGELA DOLAND

PARIS (AP) - France, Denmark and Indonesia offered Wednesday to contribute to a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur, while Sudan praised the UN resolution, which was watered down to drop the threat of sanctions.

Acceptance of the new 26,000-strong force marked a major turnaround for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's government, which had resisted for months a push to send UN peacekeepers to the western Darfur region, where over 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been chased from their homes in four years of fighting. Read more >>>>>

Failing to protect the people of Darfur

Pope Benedict recently described the situation in Darfur as "a catastrophic, and sadly to say underestimated, humanitarian situation." But despite the high profile the atrocities of Sudan's most recent crisis have generated, the international community has thus far failed in its collective 'responsibility to protect' the people of Darfur, writes Justin Kilcullen.

Catalogue of human suffering
As Darfur enters its fifth year of conflict, the catalogue of human suffering endured by the people of that region continues to grow. Throughout the conflict, an estimated 200,000 have perished and over 2.5 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and land, into overpopulated and insecure camps.

Rape has been used to terrorise the population of Darfur, with countless numbers of women and girls subjected to repeated and vicious attacks by armed militia. These attacks take place with almost complete impunity. A recent report found that the Government of Sudan is more likely to take action against those who report and document rape than against those who commit it. Read more >>>>>

Sudan: France Calls for Speedy Deployment of Darfur Force

Dagnachew Teklu
Addis Ababa

France called on Thursday for the speedy deployment of the 19,000 strong AU-UN joint forces in the troubled region-Darfur.

The call was made here by visiting French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner who arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday to confer on the matter and other issues with African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare.


"We have to speed up the process to deploy the agreed peacekeeping force to Darfur.The process is not going enough as it should be," Kouchner told a press conference at the French Embassy in Addis Ababa.

The AU and the UN last month agreed to deploy around 19,000 peacekeeping forces to Darfur, replacing the current 7,000 AU mission there.

France pushed hard for the UN Security Council to quickly authorize thousands of troops and police for Darfur and told Khartoum to act fast on the crisis or face more sanctions. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

Sudan: Close Links Cast Shadow On Olympics

By:Antoaneta Bezlova


Elaborate celebrations are being planned for the Aug. 8 one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, but Chinese leaders fear both the party and the games could be spoiled by an escalating international campaign to link the violence in Sudan's Darfur region to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China is fiercely proud of its Olympics, seen by many here as the country's coming-out party to the world. Its brightest talent has been pooled to work on the preparations, ensuring they showcase the rise and prowess of a nation both ancient and young.


But recent months have seen mounting international criticism of China's supportive stance toward Sudan, resulting in publicity campaigns to discredit and even boycott the games. Detractors charge that Beijing's dealings with the oil-rich state have shielded Sudan's leaders, who are accused of funding Arab militias to attack and terrorise the non-Arab population in Darfur.

Experts estimate that more than 250,000 people have died and 2.5 million displaced since violence between the non-Arab ethnic groups and the Janjaweed militia broke in 2003. U.S. actor Mia Farrow and other U.S. entertainment figures have pointed fingers at China as Sudan's largest foreign investor and energy partner for refusing to censure the violence and have said the 2008 games could become known as the "Genocide Olympics". Read more >>>>>>>>>>

US Ambassador Expects UN Darfur Resolution This Week

By Stephanie Ho

Washington's envoy to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, says he expects the world body to agree this week on a resolution to send a combined U.N.-African Union force to the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur. VOA's Stephanie Ho has more on the story.


Zalmay Khalilzad (file photo)
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, says the crisis in Darfur, a large province in western Sudan, is a high priority for the Bush administration. "One of the highest. And I went to Sudan myself, with the members of the Security Council to demonstrate how important this was for us," he said.

For four years, pro-government Arab janjaweed militias have been battling ethnic African rebels in Darfur. The janjaweed are accused of terrorizing villagers and committing atrocities including murder and rape. More than 200-thousand people have died in the conflict. More than two million others have been driven from their homes.

The Security Council has been working on a draft resolution to authorize an international peacekeeping force for Darfur that would bolster seven thousand African Union monitors who are already there but have been unable to stem the violence. The U.N. and the African Union would supply a total of 26-thousand troops, a plan the government of Sudan has said it will accept. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Darfur Resolution Currently Before the UN Security Council

A chronology of international responses to the Darfur genocide over the past year provides a deeply dispiriting time-line, and suggests how unlikely it is that security for civilians and humanitarians will improve any time soon. Despite current debate in the UN Security Council over a resolution that would authorize, under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, deployment of the so-called UN/African Union “hybrid force,” there are few reasons to believe that Khartoum will actually allow this force to deploy in effective form, or in any remotely appropriate time-frame. The backdrop for current debate continues to be massive human suffering, destruction, displacement, and insecurity on the ground in Darfur (an overview the most recent reports appears below). Despite upticks in international sound and fury, there is too much evidence that they signify nothing.

The critical voice at this juncture, dismayingly, belongs to China---a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, and longtime enabling partner of the Khartoum regime. Last August, in a highly significant and revealing moment, Beijing ordered its UN ambassador to abstain on the crucial vote for UN Security Council Resolution 1706; and even this abstention (as opposed to a veto) was secured from China only by including language in the Resolution that “invited the consent” of Khartoum’s génocidaires for the UN-authorized force. The “invitation” was resolutely refused and no movement was made toward deploying the 22,500 civilian police and troops authorized by Security Council Resolution 1706 under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which confers enforcement authority. The mandate of the force was to have been civilian protection, protection of humanitarian personnel and operations, and to staunch the flow of genocidal violence from Darfur into eastern Chad and Central African Republic, countries now experiencing a tremendous increase in ethnic violence and displacement. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Hollywood Heavyweight Steven Spielberg May Quit Olympics

By Sonya Bryskine

The guru of Hollywood directors, Steven Spielberg, may terminate his position of artistic advisor in the 2008 Olympics Games over Beijing's continuing financing of the Darfur genocide.

A spokesman for Spielberg says the director intended to continue applying pressure on the Chinese regime to change its policies, and is ruling nothing out—including withdrawal from his unpaid position as artistic adviser.

"Steven will make a determination in the next few weeks regarding his work with the Chinese. Our main interest is ending the genocide. No one is clear on the best way to do this," Mr Spielberg's spokesman Andy Spahn told abcnews.com in an article on its Web site. Read more >>>>>

SPLM Secretary General accuses Khartoum of genocide in Darfur

(KHARTOUM) — A senior official with Sudan’s former southern rebels has accused Khartoum of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the troubled region of Darfur, local press reported on Saturday.
Pagan Amun of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which joined a national unity government after a 2005 peace deal, was speaking on the second anniversary of the death of SPLM leader John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash in Uganda two years ago.
"The government has committed crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and armed tribes against each other in Darfur," Amun said in comments reported in several papers, including the Al-Sahafa independent daily.

His remarks come a day after the UN’s Human Rights Committee (HRC) officially condemned "ethnic cleansing" in Darfur and sharply rebuked Sudan’s government for failing to prosecute militias involved in the killings. Read more >>>>>>>

Joint UK and France Statement on Darfur

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News
Network on 27 July 2007
The UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the French Minister of Foreign
and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, reconfirm their continued and full
support for the African Union and United Nations led political process
for Darfur.

"We join other members of the international community in calling on all
invited participants to attend the meeting in Arusha called by the AU and UN
Special Envoys on 3 -5 August. Non-attendance would signal an unwillingness
to resolve the suffering in Darfur and would impede the political process.

"Both our governments are working hard in New York to achieve rapid endorsement
of the AU-UN hybrid peacekeeping force to ensure its early deployment.
We appeal to the Government of Sudan and rebels to show their commitment
to the political process by ceasing all hostilities and committing to a
full ceasefire. We call on all parties to honour the commitments they made
in Tripoli. Read more >>>>>

Arabs pile into Darfur to take land 'cleansed' by janjaweed

By Steve Bloomfield, Africa Correspondent

Arabs from Chad and Niger are crossing into Darfur in "unprecedented" numbers, prompting claims that the Sudanese government is trying systematically to repopulate the war- ravaged region.

An internal UN report, obtained by The Independent, shows that up to 30,000 Arabs have crossed the border in the past two months. Most arrived with all their belongings and large flocks. They were greeted by Sudanese Arabs who took them to empty villages cleared by government and janjaweed forces.

One UN official said the process "appeared to have been well planned". The official continued: "This movement is very large. We have not seen such numbers come into west Darfur before."

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, sent a team to the border with Chad at the end of May to interview the new arrivals. Fighting in eastern Chad has been steadily increasing and it was thought that many could be refugees. But only a very small number have required support from UNHCR.

"Most have been relocated by Sudanese Arabs to former villages of IDPs (internally displaced people) and more or less invited to stay there," said the UN official.

The arrivals have been issued with official Sudanese identity cards and awarded citizenship, and analysts say that by encouraging Arabs from Chad, Niger and other parts of Sudan to move to Darfur the Sudanese government is making it "virtually impossible" for displaced people to return home.

James Smith, chief executive of the Aegis Trust, said the revelations proved that the Sudanese government was "cynically trying to change the demographics of the whole region", adding: "If the ethnic cleansing has been consolidated because the land has been repopulated it will become irreversible. The peace process will fall to pieces."

Repopulation has also been happening in south Darfur where Arabs from elsewhere in Sudan have been allowed to move into villages that were once home to local tribes. Aid agency workers said the Arabs were presented as "returning IDPs".

Before the conflict started in 2003, Darfur was home to seven million people, mainly from three African tribes, Fur, Marsalit and Zargahwa. Darfur literally translates as "Land of the Fur". But some 2.5 million have now been forced to flee their homes after attacks by Sudanese troops and planes, and Arab militia on horseback known as janjaweed.

Most are now in camps around Darfur's main towns, relying on handouts from international aid agencies. About 250,000 have become refugees in Chad. A further 1.5 million have been affected by the conflict, meaning at least four million people are now reliant on the 80 or so international aid agencies in the region. More than 200,000 people are believed to have been killed so far during the four-and-a-half-year conflict.

And if Khartoum is moving Arabs from abroad to replace them, diplomats fear that Darfur rebels may try to remove them forcibly. "It could be quite explosive," said one western diplomat. "It is a very serious situation." Read more >>>>

Violence overwhelms relief workers in Darfur

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, July 10 (Reuters) - Violence has escalated in Sudan's Darfur region since January, throwing another 160,000 people out of their homes and forcing 4.2 million people, about two-thirds of the population, to go on relief aid, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.

Some 2.1 million people have been uprooted from their villages in addition to the more than 200,000 who have fled the country, mainly to neighboring Chad, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, said.

Particularly worrying are attacks against relief workers, which have increased 150 percent over the past year, OCHA said.

In June, one out of every six convoys leaving provincial capitals in Darfur was hijacked or ambushed by "armed groups," a term usually applied to bandits or anti-government rebels. Since January, some 64 vehicles have been hijacked, with 132 staff temporarily detained, often at gunpoint.

"This kind of lawlessness by armed groups of different political affiliations has forced relief organizations to suspend programming and relocate out of dangerous environments on 15 occasions, temporarily depriving over 1 million beneficiaries of life-saving assistance," OCHA said. Read more >>>>

War drives more people in Darfur out of homes

New York - The continued ethnic fighting in Sudan's Darfur region has thrust more than 160,000 people out of their homes and villages so far this year, swelling the rank of those internally displaced to more than 2.1 million, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in New York said a total of 4.2 million Darfurians or nearly two-thirds of the region's population now depend on relief assistance, including the displaced people.

'Every day, more people need our help, yet humanitarian colleagues are under increasing threat from all sides,' said John Holmes, head of the humanitarian office. 'Obviously, we will not give up - the needs are too great.' Read more >>>>>>

No improvement in Darfur security, say EU officials

European parliamentarians said on Wednesday that Sudan's troubled Darfur region had become no safer since a peace treaty was signed a year ago.

Widespread insecurity in the remote Western region was preventing any development there, the 10-member delegation from the European Parliament's development committee said following a three-day visit there.

They blamed fragmentation of rebel groups and the failure to disarm militias, some of which were being incorporated into the army, for the continued conflict.

"We have observed that today the security has not improved since the peace agreement one year ago," delegation head Josep Borrell Fontelles told reporters, referring to a peace deal signed in 2006 by only one of three negotiating rebel groups. Read more >>>>>>

"...credible and considerable progress in helping resolve this Darfur situation"---Assessment by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, July 2, 2007

Eric Reeves

The UN Secretary-General has apparently assumed as his primary responsibilities in responding to the Darfur crisis a contrivance of meaningless optimism, a whitewashing of deteriorating security conditions in the greater humanitarian theater, and a purveying of absurd faith in the genocidal regime in Khartoum. Ban Ki-moon now counsels a “patience” that does nothing so much as encourage the génocidaires of the National Islamic Front to believe that they may “run out the clock” in their ethnically-targeted human destruction in Darfur, and as much of eastern Chad as necessary. At the same time, Ban---and his economic advisor Jeffrey Sachs---now indulge a preposterous account of the origins of the Darfur crisis, one that elides all political history and substitutes instead meteorological explanation (see http://www.sudanreeves.org/Article174.html). The ambitions of self-exculpation are disgracefully in evidence.

Any reasonable overview of humanitarian indicators and human security in Darfur and eastern Chad reveals a crisis of incomprehensible, but still growing dimensions. It is not a “situation,” as Ban Ki-moon would have it: it is a catastrophe. Indeed, eastern Chad appears to be in the throes of violence as great as the most violent phase of the Darfur genocide (2003-2004). But Darfur itself, and its relentlessly growing population of conflict-affected persons, makes a mockery of Ban Ki-moon’s fatuous optimism about “credible and considerable progress” in halting massive human suffering and destruction. At the same time, there is no progress in negotiating a cease-fire, in advancing an inclusive peace process---or in deploying meaningful security forces to Darfur. Read more >>>>

Help stop genocide in Darfur

I am a student at Central Valley High School. My class recently watched "Hotel Rwanda." The movie portrayed violence between the Tutsis and Hutus. During this violence, thousands of people were killed, but the country was able to end it in 1994.

However, genocide is occurring right now in Darfur! It began in February 2003. Four hundred thousand civilians have been murdered and 2½ million people have been displaced. Darfur is not getting enough media attention. Here in the United States, not many people are aware of this violence and genocide.

Are we going to stand by and let this violence continue? Thousands and thousands of people were killed during the Holocaust until countries banded together to stand up to the tyranny. Why has the violence been able to continue? People, come on, let's get together to do something about it! The story >>>>>>>>

Great need for water in Darfur

DanChurchAid continues to work in Darfur despite the worsening security situation. 72,000 people are being provided with access to clean water, latrines, and skills in good hygiene practices.

The situation in Sudan's Western Darfur province is worsening by the day. The UN states from January to April, 107,000 people have been displaced.

DanChurchAid has been working in Darfur since 2004 through Action by Churches together, ACT, and Caritas. So far the Darfur Emergency Response Operation has been able to continue.

"We have developed good local networks through our Sudanese partners so we have a feeling of what is going on. We do not solemnly depend on information from the UN," says Anne Masterson, outgoing director. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

ICRC steps up presence in Darfur ahead of summer rains

- The international Red Cross said on Friday it is stepping up its humanitarian operations in the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur ahead of expected heavy rains later in the month.

Some 40,000 people have fled the city of Tawila in the north of Darfur following repeated clashes between rebels and government-backed forces, and are now based in three camps for displaced persons, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement.

"Owing to the prevailing insecurity, most of the humanitarian organisations that had been providing much-needed basic assistance to people living in the camps have left the area," it said.

"The ICRC has therefore taken it upon itself to meet short-term medical and sanitation needs in the camps and to monitor respect for the lives and property of displaced persons," it added. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur, oil and the China card

Author: Joe Sims

Darfur has almost become a household word, and with good reason. The first human-made catastrophe of the 21st century, its death count combined with the huge humanitarian crisis staggers the imagination. Whether it’s the 400,000 claimed by some or the 70,000 suggested by the UN in March, the human toll combined with rapes, burned villages and destroyed lives has torn a gaping hole in the fabric of humanity.

A few years ago none other than George Bush, joined by Colin Powell, dared call it genocide, a term the UN along with the African leadership has declined, preferring “crimes against humanity” instead. However in light of the widespread “ethnic cleansing” and systematic violence directed at the African population by Arabic-speaking vigilantes tied to the Bashir government, the difference seems only semantic.

In its outrage, the world community has offered various remedies: intervention, sanctions against the Bashir regime, and UN peacekeeping forces. In the U.S., community and religious organizations have formed powerful coalitions most recently targeting China, a large purchaser of oil and seller of arms to the Sudanese government. Some have launched a divestment campaign aimed at U.S. finance companies that own stock in China’s oil industry. Others have called for actions directed at China’s hosting of the 2008 Olympics, suggesting boycotts and protests at the games themselves. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

EU officials say no improvement in Darfur security

Reuters) - European parliamentarians said on Wednesday that Sudan's troubled Darfur region had become no safer since a peace treaty was signed a year ago.

Widespread insecurity in the remote Western region was preventing any development there, the 10-member delegation from the European parliament's development committee said following a three-day visit there.

They blamed fragmentation of rebel groups and the failure to disarm militias, some of which were being incorporated into the army, for the continued conflict.

"We have observed that today the security has not improved since the peace agreement one year ago," delegation head Josep Borrell Fontelles told reporters, referring to a peace deal signed in 2006 by only one of three negotiating rebel groups.

"There is a general widespread insecurity due to the fragmentation of the rebel groups ... due to the fact that the Janjaweed (militia) are still armed and some of them included in regular Sudanese armed forces," he added. Read more >>>>>>>>

Darfur crisis: UN/African Union hybrid force needed fast, say MEPs

To stem the mayhem in Darfur (Sudan), a hybrid force of United Nations and African Union peacekeeping troops is needed fast, MEPs on a fact-finding mission there said on Tuesday. "We cannot wait another year for security", said delegation chief Josep Borrell, and "humanitarian operations cannot go on for ever", added EP humanitarian aid rapporteur Thierry Cornillet.


The Darfur crisis calls for the "rapid and effective deployment of the hybrid force, with an adequate mandate, as recently agreed by the Sudanese government" said Mr Borrell (PES, ES), who chairs the EP Development Committee.

The EP delegation has been visiting the refugee camps of Kindring II (West Darfur) and Koloma (Chad) over the past two days. Read more >>>>

Janjaweed Using Rape as 'Integral' Weapon in Darfur, Aid Group Says

By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service

A new report on the crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan has identified rape as a systematic weapon of ethnic cleansing being used by government-backed Janjaweed militiamen, and said Sudanese laws discriminate against female victims, who face harassment and intimidation at local police stations if they try to report the crime.

The report, "Laws Without Justice: An Assessment of Sudanese Laws Affecting Survivors of Rape," by the humanitarian group Refugees International, said rape was "an integral part of the pattern of violence that the government of Sudan is inflicting upon the targeted ethnic groups in Darfur."

"The raping of Darfuri women is not sporadic or random, but is inexorably linked to the systematic destruction of their communities," the report said. Victims are taunted with racial slurs such as "I will give you a light-skinned baby to take this land from you," according to one woman interviewed in the Touloum refugee camp in Chad, recalling the words of a Janjaweed militiaman who raped her. Read more >>>>>>>

The challenge of protecting civilians in Darfur: Sweden's response

Source: Government of Sweden

Seminar with ICRC on the humanitarian challenges in Darfur 02 July 2007
Gunilla Carlsson, Minister for International Development Cooperation

Dear friends,

Thank you for meeting us here today, to address the situation of the civilian population in Darfur. This is one of the main challenges facing the international community and among the priority concerns of my work as Minister for International Development Cooperation.

We are here because hundreds of thousands of people have been abused, threatened, wounded, raped and killed. Because millions of women, children and men have been forced to leave their villages and homes. We are here because at least 2 million people live in temporary camps for the displaced. Millions of individuals, who should be free to carry on with their daily lives, have become dependent on the decisions of others. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur needs more than peacekeepers

Recent news articles have spoken of the Sudanese government allowing peacekeeping units into Darfur. Although it is my deepest desire that this is true, I need to be mindful of the fact that they have promised to allow this in the past and have failed to follow through.

The Sudanese government has pillaged and plundered its own people long enough. Families have been destroyed, and men, women, and children have lost not only their homes but also their lives for absolutely no reason. It is not through sickness or drought, there is no war with another nation. It is with the people themselves. One Sudanese group attacking the other and for what? Nothing. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

DARFUR: U.N. STEPS UP EFFORTS TO DEPLOY 'HEAVY SUPPORT PACKAGE'

- A senior United Nations peacekeeping official said today that the world body is stepping up its preparations for the heavy support package to the war-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan, while efforts are under way to establish a hybrid UN-African Union force."We have a lot of work ahead of us," Hédi Annabi, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, said to reporters after briefing the Security Council. The current focus is on expediting the deployment of the heavy support package, which is the second leg of the three-phase programme to support and enhance the under-resourced AU Mission in Darfur (AMIS), he said.

“Most, if not all” the offers necessary have been received, he noted, and the next step will be for potential contributors to visit Darfur to assess the situation to determine equipment needs. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Keep attention on crisis in Darfur

Please continue to help the public express concern for the crisis in Darfur. With your publication continuing to bring these issues to light you can help contribute to its end.

Though news reports of Sudan’s latest agreement to allow a United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force into Darfur seem like a positive development, there is considerable reason to be skeptical.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has failed to live up to his past commitments to the international community, including a similar agreement in 2006.

Any regime that would bomb its own villages and kill as many as 400,000 of its own people does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Sudan’s air force continues to bomb villages, and the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia units have not relented in their horrific attacks. Read more >>>>>

U.N. concerned as violence escalates in Darfur

By Simon Apiku
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Murder, rape and abductions are on the rise in West Darfur state, the United Nations said on Wednesday, noting with concern that increased violence in the lawless Sudanese region had driven more people into camps.

U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri detailed reports of tribal killings, and militia and aerial attacks on villages.

"Of particular concern is the recent upsurge in car-jacking, killings, abductions and rape in the area of Zalingei ( West Darfur State)," she told reporters in Khartoum.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven into miserable camps during more than four years of violence in the region bordering Chad. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Diplomat Urged Stronger Action on Darfur

By The Associated Press

As a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Ronald Capps got a close-up view of the destruction taking place in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region and worried that Washington wasn't doing enough to stop what it had itself described as ``genocide.''

A week before several of Darfur's rebel groups and the Sudanese government signed a tenuous peace deal in May 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria, Capps wrote a cable to the State Department urging more forceful U.S. action, including leading an international military force to replace African Union peacekeepers to halt the bloodshed.

Capps would not discuss the April 28, 2006, cable when asked Wednesday, but The Associated Press independently verified the accuracy of excerpts that first appeared on a Web site devoted to the crisis in Darfur.

Excerpts follow:
---
``Stopping the violence in Darfur will require a military force with first-world leadership, first-world assets, and first-world experience. US and coalition experience in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq is relevant here. Putting together such a coalition and getting it into place to do its work will require that the United States government and our military take a lead role, at least initially. Our NATO and other first-world military partners will not be keen to step forward without our participation, and many of the traditional UN troop contributing countries lack the military capability to successfully complete the mission.'' Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur Genocide Graphically Depicted in Documentary

Darfur Genocide Graphically Depicted in Documentary
Film shows continuing deterioration of security situation

By Lea Terhune


Washington – As world leaders work for a resolution of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, a new film chronicling the depredations of the jingaweit Arab militia gives graphic evidence of atrocities committed there. The Devil Came on Horseback played to a sold-out house at the American Film Institute’s Silverdocs Festival, with most of the audience staying for a panel discussion afterward.

The documentary, by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, focuses on the experiences of retired U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, who served as an unarmed military observer for the African Union in Darfur. There he monitored a conflict that began in 2003 when rebel groups attacked Sudanese government facilities, claiming neglect and oppression of African ethnic groups.

By the time he arrived in 2004, the conflict had escalated into “a full-scale government-sponsored military operation that, with the support of Arab militias known as the jingaweit was aimed at annihilating the African tribes in the region,” according to Steidle, who narrates the film. Sudan denies supporting the jingaweit.

To date, more than 200,000 people are thought to have died in the Darfur conflict, and 2 million to 3 million have been displaced from their homes, according to the United Nations. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sudan: Peacekeeping for Protection and Peace in Darfur - Requirements for the Success of the UN/AU Hybrid Mission

By:Gayle Smith


Headlines this month are heralding the news that the Sudanese government has agreed –- again -– to the deployment of a U.N./A.U. hybrid peacekeeping mission for Darfur. However, the Khartoum regime's agreement is proving to be riddled with conditions and footnotes, and within days of agreeing to the mission, President Omer al-Bashir has publicly recanted his acceptance before audiences in Khartoum.

Sadly, this is nothing new. The Khartoum regime's record of implementing agreements is poor at best, and the international community has done little to challenge Khartoum's inaction.


This time, Khartoum's wavering agreement can be translated into good news for the people of Darfur -- if and only if the international community moves swiftly to: protect civilians in Darfur and the neighboring countries affected by the crisis; promote a serious peace process; and punish the perpetrators and those that would obstruct civilian protection or the peace. This strategy briefing will focus primarily on immediate protection requirements. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sanctions still on the table over Darfur

PARIS (Jun 26, 2007)

The world must be ready to impose sanctions on Sudan if it reneges on its pledge to let more peacekeeping forces into ravaged Darfur, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.

The Sudanese government has agreed to a larger force aimed at stopping four years of killing. But Rice sounded a note of caution amid bland or optimistic assessments by other countries.

"Sudan has a history of agreeing to things and then trying to condition or change them or to backtrack and say, 'Well no, we didn't really agree to that,"' Rice said at a conference on Darfur organized by the new conservative-led French government. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur tests new French resolve

By Jonah Fisher

After appearing to care little about Darfur for the last four years - five weeks of the Sarkozy presidency have thrust France into the centre of efforts to resolve the conflict.
"Silence kills," Nicholas Sarkozy told a day long conference in Paris. "We want to mobilise the international community to say that's enough."

More than two million people have been displaced from their homes since the conflict began - and it's thought that at least 200,000 people have been killed. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

World powers pledge to step up Darfur efforts

France, the United States, China and some 15 other nations agreed on Monday to redouble efforts to end bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region by supporting a new peace force and negotiations on a settlement.

"The international community simply cannot continue to sit by," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the end of the one-day conference in the French capital aimed at shoring up peace moves in Darfur.
"We really must redouble our efforts," she said.
The conference came after Sudan earlier this month bowed to months of pressure and agreed to a new peace force under the United Nations and the African Union.

Rice warned that the major powers would be vigilant to ensure that President Omar el-Beshir makes good on the pledge to allow the deployment of the 20,000-strong hybrid force.

"Those who have been around this crisis for a while are going to work very hard to safeguard against backtracking. We have had circumstances in which we have had agreements before and those agreements have not gone forward," she said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also signalled that the patience of the international community over Darfur was wearing thin.

"The international community has been waiting for too long and the people of Darfur suffering for too long," said the UN chief. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

France hosts meeting to provide Darfur help

France is hosting a meeting of senior officials from more than a dozen countries aimed at providing funds and other support for international efforts to stabilize Sudan's violent Darfur region.


Sudan agreed earlier this month to a combined United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police, but many diplomats doubt it will keep its word.

The aim of the force is to stop the violence in Darfur, where international experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been expelled from their homes in more than four years of strife. Sudan says 9000 people have died.

Delegations from the world's top aid donors, members of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and powerful Sudan ally China are due to discuss the situation in the western province before moving on to 'international support for the reconstruction of Darfur', according to the meeting's agenda.

"It is not a peacemaking meeting. It is, on the contrary, a meeting to support the international efforts that have been deployed," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters at a news conference on Sunday. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

World failing Darfur, says Rice

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the world has failed the people of Darfur, ahead of a Paris summit on the troubled Sudanese region.
"I will be very frank. I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities here," Ms Rice said.

Some 200,000 people have died and 2.4m fled the violence in Darfur since 2003.

The US, France, China and Egypt will attend the meeting, but not Sudan nor representatives from rebel factions.

Much of the violence has been linked to clashes between government-sponsored Janjaweed militias and Darfur's rebel groups.

'Accept it'

Having described the killing in Darfur as genocide, the Bush administration wants to be seen taking a lead in solving the crisis in Monday's summit, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sudan must stop trying to limit Darfur force: Rice

By Arshad Mohammed


PARIS - Sudan must stop trying to "scale back" a hybrid international force for Darfur, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she flew to Paris for talks on the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region.

The aim of the force is to stop the violence in Darfur, where international experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been expelled from their homes in more than four years of strife. Sudan says 9,000 people have died.

Sudan on June 12 agreed to a combined United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police but many diplomats doubt Khartoum will keep its word. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Oil is driving the disaster in Darfur

By W F Deedes


How concerned we were about apartheid in South Africa: how determined to compel its practitioners to change their ways. We eventually defeated them by means of sanctions, which were only partially successful, and disinvestments. Would we have done it if South Africa had owned rich oil resources?

I raise the question because what has been happening in Darfur, and still goes on, is crueller than apartheid. Yet the government of Sudan, which carries heavy responsibility for the ethnic cleansing, for the deaths and displacement of thousands and for unimaginable human misery, can shrug its shoulders at the world's protests over its support for the Janjaweed militia that inflicts much of the bloodshed.

Like civil war in Sudan itself, the persecution in Darfur has become more complex as time goes by; but behind both lies the implacable determination of Khartoum to bring the whole country to its own way of thinking. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Working jointly to save Darfur

By Desmond Tutu and Jody Williams, The Christian Science Monitor


Earlier this month, we participated in a discussion on Darfur in the European Parliament, having been invited to offer suggestions of concrete actions that the European Council and European Union could take to alleviate the misery endured by the people of Darfur.

We very much appreciated the passionate concern expressed in the room and believe that that passion can and must result in stronger action to end the conflict.

We hope the discussion and thoughtful suggestions by many there will influence the EU to take decisive action to protect Darfurians and bring the government in Khartoum back to the negotiating table.

Along with many parliamentarians, we are dismayed that despite much rhetorical concern in many world capitals, little has been done to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.

Hundreds of thousands are dead, hundreds of thousands are in refugee camps in Chad and millions are displaced inside Darfur. Rape, endured by countless thousands of women, continues to be used as a weapon of war. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Oxfam pulls out of largest Darfur refugee camp, citing attacks on aid workers

Submitted by Bill Weinberg

International aid agency Oxfam has announced it is pulling out of Gereida, the largest camp in Darfur, where more than 130,000 have sought refuge. The agency cited inaction by local authorities from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), which controls the region, in addressing security convers and violence against aid workers. Oxfam urged the international community to do more to pressure all parties to the Darfur conflict to end attacks on civilians and aid workers.

Caroline Nursey, Oxfam's Sudan program manager, said in a statement: "The humanitarian need in Gereida remains enormous, and we have been extremely keen to return. It is with great regret that our security concerns have not been addressed, leaving us with no choice but to relocate our programs elsewhere. Since the attack, we have repeatedly stressed our desire to return to the town. But the local authorities have not lived up to their responsibility to ensure our staff can work safely. Despite our repeated requests, none of the perpetrators have been held to account, none of the assets stolen in the attack have been returned, and we have not received credible assurances that similar attacks would not take place if we did return." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The UN's bloody failure

The failures of the UN secretariat in responding to the Darfur catastrophe are among the many signs that the international body remains incapable of responding to crises that entail confronting sovereign nations engaged in genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

To be sure there was much unctuous talk by the former secretary general, Kofi Annan, about the "responsibility to protect" civilians endangered in precisely the ways that have long been so evident in Darfur and eastern Chad. But in the end, Annan left office with a savage genocide by attrition continuing, with no end in sight, almost four years after large scale conflict began in February 2003.

Humanitarians are still being harassed, impeded and assaulted; the number of conflict-affected civilians has grown to 4.7 million, according to the latest UN figures; and hundreds of thousands have died, with the potential for cataclysmic human destruction looming ever closer. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

UN rights council extends Darfur mission by six months

(AFP) - The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday decided to extend the work of its experts present in the strife-torn Sudanese western region of Darfur for a further six months.

The decision was adopted by consensus and under its terms the experts will submit an update to the council in September, and a final report to the following session.

In a report to the council last week, the seven experts highlighted "the seriousness of ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur as well as the lack of accountability of perpetrators of such crimes."

They urged the council to adopt more than 30 detailed "recommendations" or targets that Sudan should meet -- including clear orders to stop attacks on civilians, disarming militia and full cooperation with the International Criminal Court -- in the short term (three months) and the mid term. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Funding genocide

Divesting in South Africa helped end apartheid. Now it can work on the Sudanese government to end its backing of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.


Could you be indirectly financing ethnic cleansing in Darfur? It's a sobering thought. It's also a distinct possibility.

Many companies are investing on our behalf in Sudan's booming oil sector, which yielded revenues of US$4.5bn for the Sudanese government in 2006, up from a mere US$61m in 1999.

Those revenues have helped Khartoum triple military expenditure and fund proxy Arab militias in Darfur, where, since 2003, 2.5 million Africans have been driven from their homes and up to 400,000 murdered in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing. Sudan's minister for humanitarian affairs, Ahmed Harun, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his role in recruiting, arming and paying the militias.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently told European leaders - and ......Read more >>>>>

ANALYSIS-Sudan a failed state? Depends where you live

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, June 19 (Reuters) - With eight-lane highways adorned by huge television screens advertising Sudanese companies, Khartoum does not appear to fit the image of capital of the world's most failed state.

But an index published by U.S.-based Foreign Policy magazine on Monday placed Sudan at the top of just such a list, ahead of even Iraq and Somalia.

Arriving in Khartoum's pristine, refurbished airport terminal, visitors are greeted by a huge glass Toyota showroom with the newest model vehicles.

Testament to Sudan's new oil wealth, pumping more than 500,000 barrels per day, high-speed wireless is available, mobile networks compete for new customers. And cafes serving French pastries have sprung up throughout Khartoum, one of the safest capitals in Africa.

But analysts attribute that to the strength of the security apparatus in Khartoum, the base of the government, and the city's wealth to its concentration of international business.

Outside Khartoum is a different story. There, the Foreign Policy index begins to make more sense. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur's deadly cost

Daniel Flitton

THE conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region is ruinous and bloody. An estimated 200,000 people are dead. Two million more are said to be scattered from their homes. Allegations of "genocide" again haunt the international community. The human urge for the outside world to respond to this crisis is pressing.

But stop for a moment to ask a difficult question: what should the response be?

Send in troops is the apparent answer. Darfur is a violent place. Gun-wielding thugs are robbing food convoys, burning villages, raping women. Surely soldiers are best equipped to deal with fighting, not vulnerable aid workers. Extra troops, working alongside the several thousand African peacekeepers already in place, should help to quell the violence.

This call for military intervention has been taken up by human rights activists and Hollywood celebrities alike. The word "Darfur" may describe a geographic region, but it has also become a rallying cry against general Western indifference to Africa's suffering.

Sending in more troops was exactly the solution worked out last weekend. After

months of hard negotiations — while the torment in Darfur kept on — the Government in Sudan grudgingly accepted a joint United Nations-African Union plan to deploy 23,000 peacekeepers. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ICC Suspect Dealing With Darfur Crisis

Humanitarian affairs minister alleged to have supplied and armed tens of thousands of Janjaweed militiamen.

By Katy Glassborow in The Hague (AR No. 117, 15-June-07)

At a United Nations Security Council, UNSC, briefing last week Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC, expressed concern that the minister in charge of Darfur’s humanitarian crisis is indicted at the court for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Ahmad Harun - who now deals with Darfur's four million civilians reliant on aid, as well as two million forced from their homes into camps - was formerly Sudan's minister of state for the interior.

An ICC arrest warrant was issued against him in April 2007 for allegedly coordinating murders, rapes, torture, forced displacement and unlawful imprisonment of innocent civilians in Darfur.

"Presiding over this dire situation is the same individual sought by the court, now minister of state for humanitarian affairs, Ahmad Harun," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the UNSC on June 7. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Khartoum rejects Paris’ offer on crisis talks

Upon being invited on June 11 by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to a meeting in Paris later this month on the crisis in embattled Darfur, Sudan’s Khartoum was quick to reject the offer, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported. The conference, announced as the French Initiative by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this month, is scheduled for the end of this month and is expected to include foreign ministers from Egypt, China - currently Sudan's primary ally - and the United States, one of the fiercest critics of Sudan's regime.
The members are set to discuss a political solution to the conflict.
"We were talking about the situation here in Sudan and mainly in Darfur ... and Sarkozy's initiative to organise a meeting on June 25 in Paris to talk about the situation," Kouchner was quoted as telling reporters on June 11 after meeting with Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol. Akol, speaking afterwards, said there are "a number of reasons" that he will not attend the conference, saying the timing was not right. He did not elaborate. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bush: 'Enough is enough' in Darfur

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 7: U.S. President George Bush said Thursday that he's frustrated the international community hasn't done more to stop the violence in Darfur.

"Enough is enough in Darfur," Bush said following a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the side of the Group of Eight summit in Germany.

"I'm frustrated, but the international organizations can't move quickly enough. I don't know how long it's going to take for people to hear the call to save lives," Bush said. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

U.N. council members to press for Darfur arrests

By Evelyn Leopold

(Reuters) - U.N. Security Council members intend to press Sudan to arrest two suspects accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court, Belgium's U.N. ambassador said on Thursday..

The ICC issued arrest warrants in February for Ahmad Harun, a former state minister of interior, and Ali Kushayb, a militia leader, charged with mass executions, rapes and forcible evictions of thousands of people.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who addressed the Security Council, said global pressure was needed to make Khartoum turn over the two men. The Security Council asked the ICC in 2005 to investigate atrocities in Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

The crisis in Darfur won't go away, and Eric Reeves can't stay quiet

By Joseph P. Kahn, Globe Staff

NORTHAMPTON -- "Steven Spielberg lives in a different time frame than we do," says Eric Reeves , referring to Reeves's allies in the so-called Genocide Olympics campaign. "We live on Darfur time."

It is a warm spring afternoon in this college town where Reeves lives and teaches -- his Shakespeare course at Smith College ended only a few days before -- and the contrast between setting and subject could not be starker. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

France to host Darfur meeting on June 25

By Crispian Balmer

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from key countries will discuss Sudan's violent Darfur region in France later this month in a fresh initiative to resolve the crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Group of Eight meeting in Germany, Sarkozy said major power leaders wanted to move quickly to end the conflict that has created a humanitarian crisis.

"Everyone agreed that we have to act because it is an absolute scandal," he told reporters. "Everyone agreed on the need for a political solution and to push the Sudanese leaders to accept that." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tell me lies (The EU and Darfur)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Dn79WsMP8

Atrocities suffered by the people of Darfur

The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary, reported by a former U.S. Marine captain, on the atrocities suffered by the people of Darfur, in Sudan.

More >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

U.N. says many Darfur camps full as thousands flee

(Reuters) - Many camps for those who have fled violence in Darfur are full as thousands more civilians are driven from their homes in the western Sudanese region, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

U.N. spokesman George Somerwill also told reporters that 67 vehicles belonging to the world's largest aid operation in Darfur had been hijacked or attacked so far this year and voiced concern at the increasingly violent nature of those attacks.

"Nearly 140,000 people have been identified as newly displaced since the beginning of the year, with at least 10,000 on the move in May," he told a news conference in Khartoum. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Agencies Appeal for Support Amid Child Malnutrition Crisis in Darfur, Chad

LONDON – Some of the United Kingdom’s leading aid agencies have warned of the "alarmingly high" levels of malnutrition in children living in parts of Darfur and Chad, which are plagued by chronic food shortages. Read more >>>>>>>>>

Nobel winners urge EU to impose sanctions on Sudan

(BRUSSELS)
- Two Nobel peace prize winners urged the European Union Tuesday to impose sanctions on Sudan for blocking UN moves to send a peacekeeping force to the strife-torn province of Darfur.

"The EU should be very active in trying to isolate Sudan economically, politically," said Jody Williams of the International Campaign To Ban Landmines, which won the prize in 1997.

Speaking to members of the European Parliament, she urged the EU to act without waiting for a decision by the United Nations Security Council on tougher sanctions.

"I don't think the EU should wait for an illusive consensus in the Security Council," she said. "Take your own steps, don't wait for the rest of the world."

China, Sudan's leading oil customer and a top arms supplier, has been accused of failing to use its clout as a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council to force Khartoum to end the bloodletting in Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

South Africa's Tutu urges tough action against Khartoum over Darfur

World leaders must follow the United States move to impose fresh sanctions against Sudan for its refusal to allow a major United Nations-led peacekeeping force into war-torn Darfur, South African Nobel laureate and archbishop Desmond Tutu said Tuesday.Adressing leading European lawmakers, Tutu said he endorsed "wholeheartedly the imposition of targeted sanctions on Khartoum. "

The international community must set the Sudanese government a tough deadline to accept UN peacekeepers, disarm militia forces and allow humanitarian aid to Darfur, the former Anglican archbishop and anti-apartheid struggle veteran said.

He also said that China, the biggest buyer of Sudanese oil, must be pressed to raise its voice against the Sudanese government.

Echoing Tutu's views, key members of the European Parliament called for a boycott of the 2008 summer Olympics Games in China if Beijing did not stop economic and political support for Khartoum. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Khartoum deserves no respect

By:Joel Brinkley

As the carnage in the Darfur region of Sudan grinds on for a fifth year, President Bush is imposing new diplomatic penalties on the government in Khartoum on top of similar, ineffective sanctions that have been in place for 10 years. Normally, from this president, diplomatic restraint would be welcome -- but not this time.

Since early 2003, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has played Western leaders for fools. He has worked this into a high art. When, now and then, the international pressure builds to a critical point, Bashir throws out a bone. That's what happened when Ban Ki-Moon, the new U.N. secretary-general, came to Khartoum in April.

Bashir told Ban that he would permit the United Nations to dispatch 3,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops to Darfur -- a fraction of the number the United Nations had demanded. Immediately Ban put out a press release touting his triumph. But then, the next day, a U.N. diplomat leaked a report that said the Sudanese government was continuing to arm the militias in Darfur that are responsible for the slaughter. And so it has gone since the Darfur conflict began. In February 2003, Darfur rebels attacked government facilities, accusing the leaders in Khartoum of ignoring their region. The government struck back with a fury, enlisting local militias to massacre civilians and destroy entire villages. Since then, more than 200,000 people have died, and another 2.5 million have been driven from their homes. Read more >>>>

Denying Genocide in Darfur -- and Americans Their Coca-Cola

By Dana Milbank

The Iraq war gave us Baghdad Bob, the Iraqi information minister who, while American troops patrolled nearby streets, held a defiant news conference to proclaim that there were no U.S. forces in the city.

Baghdad Bob, whose real name is Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, earned a place among the ranks of colorful propagandists such as Hanoi Hannah and Tokyo Rose. Now, the genocidal Sudanese government has an entry in this category. Let's call him Khartoum Karl.

Karl -- a.k.a. John Ukec Lueth Ukec, the Sudanese ambassador to Washington -- held a news conference at the National Press Club yesterday to respond to President Bush's new sanctions against his regime. In his hour-long presentation, he described a situation in his land that bore no relation to reality.

Genocide in the Darfur region? "The United States is the only country saying that what is happening in Darfur is a genocide," Ukec shouted, gesticulating wildly and perspiring from his bald crown. "I think this is a pretext."

Ah. So what about the more than 400,000 dead? "See how many people are dying in Darfur: None," he said.

And the 2 million displaced? "I am not a statistician." Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

US sanctions re Darfur genocide

-PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH, as the Americans have done since Colin Powell first did so, has again characterised the situation in Darfur for what it is: genocide. And Mr. Bush is right to step up United States sanctions against Sudan.

Now, it is time for others to stop the dithering and to join Washington in turning the screws on Khartoum. That means, more specifically, the Chinese.

For four years the government of President Omar al-Bashir has sponsored mainly Arab militias in their murderous fight against the mostly black population of Darfur as part of Khartoum's effort to quell what started as a relatively small and ineffective rebellion. In the process, more than 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced, forced to flee their homes.

Not only has Sudan shown no commitment to end the genocide, it has also consistently frustrated attempts to deploy a 22,000-member United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force to bolster the handful of AU peacekeepers already in Darfur. This force is necessary to guarantee the safety of the people of Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

The Darfur Genocide: A Witness Account And How You Can Help

New film 'Devil Came on Horseback' documents atrocities photographer Brian Steidle saw.

For six months, photographer photographer Brian Steidle — a former Marine — bore witness to one of the world's worst tragedies — the ongoing genocide conducted by the Sudanese government against its own people, a slaughter of the young and the old and the innocent, a mass execution of some half-million people in the Darfur region. He watched. He learned. He took pictures.

The subject of a new film on his experience, "The Devil Came on Horseback," Brian returned to the United States with a message of sadness, yes, but also one of hope.

He recently sat down with MTV News to give us a brief history of the conflict, discuss some of the atrocities he witnessed and explain how we can help to make a difference.

On the basics:

"Darfur is a western region within the country of Sudan, Sudan being the largest country in Africa, south of Egypt.

"Right now in Darfur there's an ongoing genocide. Within the country there are 450,000 to 500,000 people who have been killed; 2.5 to 3 million have been displaced from their homes out of a population of around 7 million." Read the full story >>>>>

Dispute on who is boss delays new Darfur force

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, June 1 (Reuters) - A dispute over who is to command the proposed 23,000-strong international peacekeeping force for Darfur is holding up any deployment in the violence-torn Sudanese region, U.N. officials said on Friday.

Despite pressure for Sudan to accept the United Nations-African Union "hybrid" operation, a key African Union body, the Peace and Security Committee, has not approved the 40 pages of plans sent to it by the United Nations.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon played down the differences but some Security Council diplomats and U.N. officials said they were serious but solvable.

"It was unfortunate that the African Union has come back with some changes after the Security Council has adopted and issued a presidential statement," Ban told reporters. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>