“Darfur's downward spiral”

“Violence continues to escalate in Sudan: Can we avert a catastrophe?”
by Eric Reeves

Darfur continues its inexorable slide toward cataclysmic human destruction. Despite the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed in Abuja, Nigeria on May 5, violence continues to escalate. Indeed, much of the violence is a direct result of shortcomings in the Abuja agreement, particularly the failure to provide meaningful international guarantees and guarantors.

The most terrifying consequence of this violence is the threat posed to the world's largest humanitarian operation. Jan Egeland, head of UN aid operations, put the matter bluntly on August 10: "It's going from real bad to catastrophic in Darfur." Aid workers were attacked and killed in unprecedented numbers in July, and all signs are that this pattern will continue. Read more >>>

Secretary-General voices concern about worsening situation in Sudan

11 August 2006 – Warning of deteriorating security conditions in Darfur and the grave challenges facing relief efforts there, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the Security Council to work urgently to address the situation in the war-torn region.

In a letter dated 10 August to the Council President, Ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng of Ghana, the Secretary-General noted that there had been an upsurge in violence in Darfur in recent weeks. Read more >>>

U.N.: Darfur is Becoming 'Catastrophic'

GENEVA - The United Nations' top humanitarian official warned Thursday that the situation in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region was becoming dramatically more dangerous, as rapes and attacks by militias and rebel factions continue despite a 3-month-old peace deal.
The U.N. said a day earlier that the May 5 peace deal, signed between Sudan's government and Darfur's main rebel group, was "doomed to failure" unless the government provided more support.

"It's going from real bad to catastrophic in Darfur," Jan Egeland told reporters at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva. Read more >>>

Open letter Calls for Protection of Darfur Women

The NGO Minority Rights Group International is sending an open letter to human rights leaders calling for better protection for women in Darfur. Gender officer Katrina Naomi says, “Rape is being used as a tool of war and militias are being allowed to act with impunity.”

From London, she spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about the reasons for the open letter. “The situation in Darfur has been in a bad way for quite a while now. And we feel that in some ways the attention of the world is moving elsewhere. But the number of rapes that are happening on minority women in Darfur, unfortunately, that isn’t lessening, and we felt it was important to try and keep a spotlight on the way that militias are able to rape women with impunity, it seems, in Darfur.” Read more >>>

"SAVE DARFUR NOW: Voices to Stop Genocide" rally

"SAVE DARFUR NOW: Voices to Stop Genocide" rally will take to the streets of New York City on the afternoon of Sunday, September 17. For more info >>>

U.N.: Darfur Peace Deal 'Doomed'

AP) A peace deal signed three months ago between Sudan's government and the main rebel group in Darfur has failed to halt violence in the region, the United Nations said Wednesday, citing an increase in rape and continued attacks by militias and rebel factions.

The global body said the May 5 peace deal, signed in Nigeria, was "doomed to failure" without more support from the Sudanese government, "with the population of Darfur continuing to suffer grave violations of human rights as violence among competing armed groups in Darfur persists." Read more >>>

Violence threatens Darfur relief

More aid workers have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region in the last two weeks than in the past two years, the United Nations and aid agencies say.
The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says access to people in need in Darfur is at its lowest level since the conflict began.

Aid agencies say the situation has got worse since the May peace accord. Read more >>>

Attacks threaten world's largest aid operation in Darfur

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, Aug 8 (Reuters) - July was the most dangerous month for humanitarian workers in Sudan's Darfur region and afforded the worst access to those in need since the conflict began 3-1/2 years ago, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

Violence in refugee camps sheltering 2.5 million people in Darfur has rocketed since an unpopular peace deal was signed in May and threatens to jeopardise the world's largest aid operation, the joint statement by four major aid agencies said. Read more >>>

Increased Insecurity Hampers MSF Medical Assistance In Darfur

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) demands that the provision of medical care be allowed and respected in the conflict areas of Darfur, Sudan. Many MSF activities are currently suspended in Darfur, leaving thousands of patients untreated everyday.

MSF has been attacked in the past weeks in several locations in all regions of Darfur. Among the latest incidents: on July 14, armed men robbed the MSF compound and stole a car in Serif Umra; on July 16, an MSF ambulance was shot at on the road between el Geneina and Morney and the driver beaten; on July 18, another MSF vehicle was stolen from a medical facility in Shangil Tobaya; on July 20, a team was whipped and robbed on the road between Golo and Niertiti. Read more >>>

Sudan: The International Criminal Court (ICC) in Darfur

In Darfur, the western region of Sudan, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million have been displaced in what has become known as the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.

The crisis began in Africa's largest country in early 2003, when two rebel forces took up arms against the government, to provide protection to civilians in land disputes in the region.

In response, the Sudanese government has allegedly funded the nomadic militias, known as Janjawid, who have destroyed villages, and killed, raped and abducted people. Read more >>>

Darfur: the Edge of the Abyss

By By NAT HENTOFF

Every morning, checking the news from Darfur, I see the utter helplessness and hopelessness of the people in that ravaged part of Sudan. While the world is otherwise occupied: "Darfur Violence Worsens After Peace Deal." "(Darfur) Is Most Dangerous Place in the World for Children." "Escalating Tribal Tensions (among rebels) Fuel New Darfur Attacks."

My own feeling of uselessness after writing so many columns about the mass murders and rapes by the Sudan government's enablers of genocide, the Janjaweed, brings me back to my childhood -- listening on the radio continually to CBS's William Shirer from Hitler's Berlin. Read more >>>

GENOCIDE IN DARFUR: Hanging By a Thread

by Eric Reeves

For the past seven years, Eric Reeves has worked full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst. He publishes regularly on the topic and has testified several times before Congress. He is a professor at Smith College and runs the endlessly informative sudanreeves.org.

Despite the blandly disingenuous words of UN officials such as Jan Pronk, and the shameful silence of African Union officials, the catastrophe in Darfur continues to deepen---relentlessly, dangerously, uncontrollably. Malnutrition and mortality are rising rapidly, and growing water shortages will result in the increased use of unsanitary ground water during the current rainy season. Water-borne diseases are already increasingly prevalent and will continue to spread through September. The current outbreak of cholera is poised to explode in any number of camps that have diminished humanitarian resources, fewer sanitary latrines and in many cases are still absorbing large numbers of newly displaced persons as violence continues apace in many locations. Read more >>>

Darfur refugee describes the horror

‘Genocide a way of life in Sudan’
By Richard Nangle

WORCESTER— A refugee from the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan told of the horrors of living in and escaping from his country last night before a group of about 30 people at Temple Emanuel who were urged by Temple leaders to be active in the effort to force the U.S. government to take the lead to stop the killing.

Abu Asal, who has lived in the United States for just more than a year, said he was disappointed with the lack of attention being given to the carnage in his native land. He said genocide has been a way of life in Sudan for decades as democratic governments have been overthrown by the military. Read more >>>

Darfur rebels kill, rape to enforce deal

(Reuters) - Darfur rebels who signed a peace deal with the government killed and raped civilians to try to force them to support the unpopular accord, human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The African Union-brokered deal was signed in May by only one of three rebel factions -- the Minni Arcua Minnawi group. Tens of thousands of Darfuris have protested against the deal, saying it does not meet their demands.

"Some 72 people were killed, 103 injured and 39 women raped in targeted attacks against civilians in the Korma region," said Amnesty in a statement. More >>>>>>>>

Darfur rebels kill, rape to enforce deal

(Reuters) - Darfur rebels who signed a peace deal with the government killed and raped civilians to try to force them to support the unpopular accord, human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The African Union-brokered deal was signed in May by only one of three rebel factions -- the Minni Arcua Minnawi group. Tens of thousands of Darfuris have protested against the deal, saying it does not meet their demands.

"Some 72 people were killed, 103 injured and 39 women raped in targeted attacks against civilians in the Korma region," said Amnesty in a statement. More >>>>>>>>

Annan outlines Darfur peace plans

UN chief Kofi Annan has urged the Security Council to reinforce Darfur's African Union (AU) peacekeepers, while pressuring Sudan to accept a UN force.
Mr Annan gave three options for the UN, with Sudan's approval, to bring peace.

One scheme would involve 18,600 African and Asian troops, making it the world's largest UN peace force. Read more >>>

The ongoing war in Darfur

The situation in Darfur, Sudan, is a grave one. Since 2003, it is approximated that 3.5 million people are hungry, 2.5 million are displaced due to violence, and approximately 400,000 people are deceased. However, not many people know the real problems spurring the genocide.

There are several aspects contributing to the situation in Darfur. One aspect is a war between government-aligned forces and rebels. The second aspect entails indiscriminate attacks of the government-sponsored "Janjaweed" militia on civilians. The third aspect of the genocide is a struggle within the Darfur communities themselves. Read more >>>

Darfur rebels kill, rape to enforce deal: Amnesty

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels who signed a peace deal with the government killed and raped civilians to try to force them to support the unpopular accord, human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The African Union-brokered deal was signed in May by only one of three rebel factions -- the Minni Arcua Minnawi group. Tens of thousands of Darfuris have protested against the deal, saying it does not meet their demands.

"Some 72 people were killed, 103 injured and 39 women raped in targeted attacks against civilians in the Korma region," said Amnesty in a statement.

The attacks were at the beginning of July in Korma, about 70 km (45 miles) north west of el-Fasher, Darfur's main town. Around 8,000 people fled their homes, emptying Korma.

"The attackers were members of the Minni Minnawi faction of the armed political group the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), reportedly supported by the Sudan armed forces and the Janjaweed," London-based Amnesty said. Read more >>>

SUDAN: Escalating violence displaces 25,000 in North Darfur

NAIROBI, 1 August (IRIN) - Violent clashes between Sudanese government forces, allied militias and rebel groups have displaced 25,000 civilians in North Darfur State, United Nations officials said on Tuesday.

"Over the past three weeks, we estimate that more than 25,000 people have been displaced in North Darfur, 18,000 of whom have newly arrived in various IDP [internally displaced persons] camps," Turid Laegreid, head of the sub-office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for North Darfur, told IRIN. Read more >>>

Sudan: Attacks On Rebels in North Darfur Must Stop, UN And African Envoys Say

Senior United Nations and African Union (AU) envoys to Sudan today jointly condemned a recent militia-backed attack by Government forces against a rebel group in the northern part of the country's strife-torn Darfur region and called for an immediate end to the hostilities.

The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission in Sudan, Baba Gana Kingibe, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, Jan Pronk, expressed "utmost concern" about the 29 July attack against the group, which is one that has not signed the Darfur Peace Agreement. Read more >>>