Darfur Crisis, a decade after! Where do we stand?

Darfur Crisis, a decade after! Where do we stand?

Darfur Union in The Netherlands will hold, on October 4th, 2014 at 13.00

hours a conference on Darfur under the title Darfur Crisis, a decade after!
Where do we stand?

Dr. Sharif Harir, a former teacher at Bergen University, civil society
organizations, individuals committed to peace and stability in Darfur and
representatives of Darfur movements will be attending the conference.

Place and address:
Potgieterstraat, 1053 XX, Amsterdam
By public Transport:

Tram 13, 14 and 17 from Amsterdam Centre Station

Darfur Union cordially invites you to attend the conference. Your presence
and input will contribute to the success of the conference.

For more info, please contact the following numbers:

+31 643663089

+31 642330058

+31 686300855

 

el-Bashir: We killed the peopleof Darfur for trival reason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TJ2xJtwBr0&feature=player_detailpage

Colorado Groups Rally to Stop Genocide in Sudan

Friday, 30 May 2014 – Denver, the American center of the modern day abolition movement, is at the forefront of freeing thousands of people who are still living in slavery in Sudan. Over a dozen Colorado groups active in both Sudans, including the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action, rally at a press conference and petition drive to pressure President Obama to free thousands of slaves and stop the genocide in Sudan. The event is in response to Sudanese communities requesting global support to end crimes against humanity, genocide, and slavery perpetrated by the Sudanese Islamist regime against indigenous Black Sudanese Africans.

Approximately 35,000 indigenous Black South Sudanese are still enslaved in both Sudans. Christian and Muslim peoples are subjected to an ongoing genocide by their government in Sudan's Darfur, Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile regions. Bishop Acen Phillips remarks, “I don’t think anyone here left Sudan because they wanted to. Many refugees deeply miss their families.”

Emmy award winning journalist Tamara Banks emcees the event, and other speakers include refugees speaking about their stories of survival escaping genocide, and for justice and freedom in their former countries. Other speakers include Colorado citizens who are refugees from the genocides in Sudan (including Darfur), a Coloradan teen who is responsible for freeing hundreds of slaves, and representatives from 20 Colorado groups active in both Sudans.

The rally is fostering hope in both countries. Refugee speakers express appreciation to the support of Denver communities, saying they want their families at home to feel hopeful instead of abandoned or forgotten. George Tuto from the Nuba mountains, Omhagain Dayeen and Ahmed Ali (from Darfur), and Oja Gafour from the Nuba Mountains all spoke about escaping genocide.

The event organizer, Pastor Heidi McGinness, Director of Outreach for Christian Solidarity International (CSI), says, “We need to stop genocide and slavery; they are crimes against International Law and humanity.” CSI has been active in Sudan and South Sudan since 1995, delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of war and genocide, and assisting the South Sudanese Underground Railroad in bringing their family members out of slavery. Andrew Romanoff, former Speaker of the Colorado House, speaks about the successful petition launch to end slavery and the two genocides in Sudan. His legislative work has led to divestment of public pension funds that have done business with Sudan, a major victory in cutting one link to the genocide. Full story >>>>>>>https://www.freespeech.org/text/colorado-groups-rally-stop-genocide-sudan

Pretending Darfur Isn’t: the world continues to avert its eyes from accelerating human suffering and destruction

Eric Reeves, 31 May 2014

The international community is by now quite experienced in pretending that the massive humanitarian crisis in Darfur doesn’t really exist, or exists in some acceptable and remediable form, destined to improve with time. The world has been encouraged in this dangerously expedient ignorance by the likes of Ibrahim Gambari and Rodolphe Adada (both former special representatives of the UN and AU to UNAMID); U.S. special envoy Scott Gration; former UN humanitarian coordinator Georg Charpentier, and UNAMID spokesman Chris Cycmanick. All have suggested, some dismayingly recently, that things aren’t really so bad in Darfur. Charpentier and Cycmanick supported the claims by UNAMID as recently as 2011 that the fighting was minimal. Adada claimed at the end of his tenure in 2009 that there was merely “low intensity” fighting and some carjackings; Gambari claimed at the end of his tenure in September 2012 that he had “achieved all he set out to do” as special representative, and minimized fighting, mortality, displacement, and human suffering. Scott Gration was taken to task by an inter-agency humanitarian group for suggesting (July 2009) that conditions were ripe for returns by Darfuri IDPs.

The history of misrepresentation is long and ugly. Current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (then Senator and unofficial presidential representative) declared in April 2009 that Khartoum’s expulsion of half the humanitarian capacity in Darfur—thirteen of the world’s finest humanitarian organizations—would be replaced in “a few weeks.” Cynically, he declared that he had Khartoum’s promise on the matter, as if the regime’s promises have somehow meant something in the past. This was an anticipation of the Obama administration’s subsequent “de-coupling” of Darfur from U.S. Sudan policy, and the appointment of a diplomatic lightweight as special envoy for the region (Dane Smith).
Some within the UN system have begun to speak out, and the truths at last spoken are terrifying in their implications:

“Entire generation may be lost in Darfur”: UNICEF Representative in Sudan (Radio Dabanga, KHARTOUM, 12 May 2014) – The UN children’s rights and relief organisation, UNICEF, has warned that an entire generation in Darfur may be lost as a result of more than ten years of violence in the region. “Life in the camps might produce a new generation without ambition,” the UNICEF Representative in Sudan, Geert Cappelaere, said in a press statement issued on Saturday. “In particular as about 60 percent of the displaced in Darfur are minors.”

 

It requires a willful blindness not to see what is occurring in Darfur, unless one is willing to dismiss entirely the reports that come from the ground—by way of Radio Dabanga, Sudan Tribune, and Radio Tamazuj, and the UN itself on notable occasions. But even the dismissing of these repeatedly confirmed and highly detailed accounts does not explain the silence that has followed the most dire warning from a range of humanitarian organizations still working in Darfur. It is a silence, or near silence, that accompanies even such extraordinary announcements as these about the work in Darfur and Sudan of the International Committee of the Red Cross:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has expressed regret for Sudan’s suspension of its activities, saying it has led to negative humanitarian implications. ICRC also announced it is laying off 195 employees of its local staff while imploring on Khartoum to reverse its decision and allow it resume its work to help the affected population. Last February, the Sudanese government ordered the ICRC to halt its activities in the country saying that the aid organisation needs to comply with the humanitarian work guidelines and the voluntary work law in order to continue operating in the country.

 

 The fullstory  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Darfur: A Bibliography of Violence and International Indifference

By Eric Reeves

The accelerating avalanche of violence that continues to sweep across Darfur has finally compelled acknowledgement by the international community, which inevitably refers to this as a “recent” development. This is despicably disingenuous. UNAMID, the UN, and all international actors have long had available voluminous evidence of extreme violence in Darfur that goes back years. To be sure, we know from the superb account by Colum Lynch in Foreign Policy (April 7, 2014) that UNAMID and the UN did a great deal by way of obscuring, hiding, or failing to report the evidence of this violence that they had in hand. This is shameful beyond reckoning, and Part One of Lynch’s searing account of UNAMID (“They Just Stood Watching“) concludes with a quote that sums up the cynicism of UNAMID, in particular its special representatives for the UN and African Unity—Rodolphe Adada, Ibrahim Gambari, and currently Mohamed Ibn Chambas:

[Former UNAMID spokesperson Aicha] Elbasri says that she raised concerns about UNAMID’s refusal to acknowledge the government role with one of the peacekeepers’ local commanders, Maj. Gen. Wynjones Matthew Kisamba. She still remains shaken by his answer. The UNAMID forces, she recalls Kisamba saying, had to occasionally massage the truth. “You know, sometimes we have to behave like diplomats,” he told her. “We can’t say all what we see in Darfur.”

As culpable as such an attitude may be, responsibility also lies with news organizations that did not press UN and UNAMID officials nearly hard enough about the realities with which they were being presented. There is no other way to account for the grotesque caption to a photograph in a piece by the New York Times (“A Taste of Hope Sends Refugees Back to Darfur,” dateline: Nyuru, West Darfur; March 2, 2012): it reads in part, “peace has settled on the region.” The correspondent, according to all my Darfuri sources—some of them from this region of Darfur—was quite simply taken in by Khartoum’s and the UN/AU’s version of a “Potemkin Village” (see my account based on Darfuri sources and reports from Radio Dabanga at http://wp.me/p45rOG-Mb). Notably, this is the last dateline by a major news organization from an area significantly away from the urban areas and displaced persons camps—over two years ago.
There are notable exceptions: see below my discussion of the Reuters dispatch reporting on the massacre of non-Arab/African civilians at Tabarat (North Darfur) in September 2010. But since that time, reports of such honesty and detail have rarely been produced by journalists “covering” Darfur. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>

Activists strive to bring attention back to Darfur crisis

Editor's note: The following is Part 1 of a two-part series on decade-long humanitarian efforts in Sudan, a country plagued by war and other crises. The next part will focus on efforts in South Sudan.
Mukesh Kapila is as blunt as he is passionate.
Speaking to a group of Sudanese living in New York City, he urged them not to give up on pressuring the Sudanese government to end, after a decade, what he and others have called its genocidal policies in the province of Darfur.
"A lot of good ideas have come from diaspora and you can do a lot of good," Kapila said. "But are you doing enough? Are you doing enough?"
He added, his voice rising, "You, the Sudanese people, have a responsibility to your brothers and sisters in Darfur. It can't be Oxfam [the humanitarian group] or the U.N. They can only do small things."Kapila, speaking to a few dozen Sudanese at an event sponsored by the Darfur People's Association of New York, knows from personal experience these questions can become vexing.
An India-born U.K. citizen and a former diplomat whose stints include assignments with the United Nations in Sudan, Kapila has penned a memoir of his experiences in Darfur that he acknowledges is a "strident cri de coeur" and a "deeply personal account" of the early years of the unfolding Darfur crisis, which began in 2003.
The hallmark of his book, Against a Tide of Evil: How One Man Became the Whistleblower to the First Mass Murder of the Twenty-First Century, is his argument that the world was indifferent to the plight of Darfur, despite early -- and passionate -- warnings from Kapila (working for the U.N. at the time) and others about what was afoot there. The book does not spare the U.N. or other international groups from scathing criticism.
In a sort of preview of the book for his audience, meeting last October in Brooklyn, Kapila, who now teaches at the University of Manchester in England, stressed that, a decade after the events began, the Darfur crisis is far from over, despite attempts by the Sudanese government to minimize what has happened.
Niemat Ahmadi, president and founder of the Washington-based Darfur Women Action Group, was in the audience. She said later she could not agree more with Kapila.
"The situation in Darfur is really, really dire, and it's worsening every day," she said, citing recent reports of mass shootings, killings and systematic violence against women.
A statement on the website of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington said its government is committed to a peace settlement in Darfur. It also states the Sudanese government's belief that the Darfur crisis has been "manipulated and overblown by the media."
That, of course, doesn't surprise Kapila and others. "[Sudanese President Omar] al-Bashir wants to present the whole thing has gone away ... after so many years of advocacy," Kapila said. He was referring not only to action by the Sudanese diaspora but the remarkable advocacy coalitions -- many of them driven by partnerships between Christians, Jews and Muslims -- that, for a time, raised the profile of a little-known and marginalized region in western Sudan.
These energized activists launched a movement that put the issue of genocide front and center for the world to consider, along the way garnering support from celebrities like George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.
That may have been the movement's greatest success -- as well as drawing attention to a situation that ultimately resulted in the 2008 indictment of al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the first time a sitting head of state was so charged.
But activists in the United States acknowledge that their work is far from over. "Justice is always costly and peace is always fragile, but both are worth working for," said activist Peggy Harris, a deacon in the Episcopal church who also assists in the resettlement of Sudanese refugees by working with Catholic Charities in Des Moines, Iowa.
Sharon Silber, active in the New York Coalition for Darfur and all Sudan, formerly the New York City Coalition for Darfur, agreed. "We're not going to abandon the issue even though it is frustrating work," she said, acknowledging that a decade-long commitment of activism has not always been easy to sustain. Yet, she said, it does continue for her and others, with regular demonstrations and vigils outside the Sudanese Consulate in New York and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
Harris and Silber acknowledge the difficulties they and other activists face, given the intractable nature of the conflict, which in the last year has been overshadowed by events in the border state areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile and, more recently, by a political crisis in South Sudan. Southern Sudanese fought against the government of Sudan in a two-decade conflict that killed millions. South Sudan, as the new nation is called, was granted independence in 2011.
Activists are also fighting donor fatigue and the not-unexpected cycle of their fellows coming and going. "It's like a dance -- you move in and you move out," Harris said of fellow activists, acknowledging that "it's been tough" at times. Yet, core groups of people in their respective cities of New York and Des Moines keep the issue alive, Silber and Harris say. "We keep getting pushed to the back row. But activists keep climbing on the chairs to get attention," Harris said.
A key reason? The ongoing nature of the crisis, with reports of continued armed attacks and violence against civilians by the so-called Janjaweed militias, as well as increasing hunger and malnutrition throughout Darfur.
The recent violence, the activists argue, is the latest in a decade-plus conflict that has uprooted millions and has caused deaths that are estimated in the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands, from both direct violence and from illness or malnutrition. The displaced say they are victims of government-led efforts to drive them from their farms and villages, a charge the Sudanese government denies.
"Just because the international community is not focused on Darfur doesn't mean there is peace in Darfur," said Ahmed Adam, a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York and a co-chair of its Two Sudans Project. He is also a former spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement, known as JEM, one of the armed opposition groups that have been engaged with now-stalled peace negotiations with the Sudanese government.
In a statement summarizing recent events, the International Crisis Group, an independent advocacy and study organization committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflicts, said in January that violence in the region "spiked in 2013, as the mostly Arab militias initially armed by the government to contain the rebellion increasingly escaped [Sudanese capital] Khartoum's control and fought each other."
Recent fighting, the group said, "displaced nearly half a million additional civilians -- in all 3.2 million Darfurians need humanitarian help."
Carolyn Fanelli, Sudan country representative for Catholic Relief Services, confirmed the continuing depths of the problems. She told NCR the humanitarian situation worsened in 2013, largely due to new displacements of people in several parts of the region.
"Humanitarian actors, including CRS, have responded in the areas where we can reach, and we all hope and pray for an improving situation in 2014," she said. At the same time, Fanelli said, the operating environment in Darfur "is becoming increasingly complex."
She added: "The nature of the conflict in Darfur is changing -- in particular, there is now more intertribal conflict -- and this makes it a much more unpredictable landscape for humanitarian actors."
Another factor in the situation: the international landscape. "There have been so many new emergencies in the world since the Darfur crisis first grabbed headlines in 2003 and 2004 -- Haiti, Japan, Syria, the Philippines," Fanelli said. "It is very easy to forget about Darfur or to throw up our hands in frustration that humanitarian assistance is still needed more than 10 years after the conflict began."
That is a humanitarian perspective. From the related but different focus on human rights, the view can be even more frustrating. To a person, activists interviewed said they have been profoundly disappointed by what they see as Darfur's de-emphasis by both President Barack Obama and Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The activists' disappointment is keen. Power is a onetime Harvard professor and journalist who reported from Darfur. Her book "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide was a widely respected study that became a guiding text for activists involved in Darfur-related work.
"That book was a huge influence on activists and [Power] became a role model for them," said Ahmadi, who acknowledged that the roles of author and government leader differ.
But, she said, government leaders are judged by what they do -- and while Syria, for example, has consumed much attention, Darfur has apparently slid from sight on the U.S. agenda, with the Obama administration placing too much emphasis on engagement with the Sudanese government, Ahmadi argues. "When you're in government, you have the power to do certain things," she said. From the perspective of activists, she said, the Obama administration "has not done enough."
"We need to be tightening sanctions," added Silber, who thinks "the Obama administration has been played" by the Sudanese government, long spoken of, even by its critics, as a wily and adroit player of international politics.
As for Obama, the onetime U.S. senator from Illinois called genocide "a stain on our souls." But the lack of visibility on Darfur by his administration, activists argue, is prompting them to call for a more robust "civilian protection-oriented policy" on Darfur and Sudan. That is a cornerstone of a campaign the group Act for Sudan is calling "Obama's Stained Legacy."
The campaign argues that Obama's policy on Darfur "has failed to prevent the tragic loss of countless lives and the mass displacement and starvation of countless more innocent people." Unless Obama acts now "to protect innocent civilians from their genocidal government," the activist group said, "he will ultimately be remembered for his stained legacy on genocide."
Activists say it is up to them to keep the pressure on -- and that can be daunting work. "It's very frustrating," Adam said at a Columbia University coffee shop in late January. "We're not in a post-genocide, post-conflict situation."
He paused, looking out toward the campus. "Sometimes I understand the fatigue. But I tell people to refocus. 'It's not over,' I tell them. 'It's not over.' "
[Chris Herlinger has reported on Darfur for NCR and is the co-author of the book Where Mercy Fails: Darfur's Struggle to Survive. He is also the senior writer for the humanitarian agency Church World Service.]

http://ncronline.org/news/global/activists-strive-bring-attention-back-darfur-crisis

On Darfur, it’s shhh, don’t mention Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir who is accused of crimes against humanity

By Tess Finch-Lees

Remember Darfur? It’s a region the size of France in the western side of Sudan. In the past decade, an estimated 500,000 civilians have been slaughtered and four million forced into refugee camps.

Despite Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, being accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, the UN continues to treat this despot with deference. Its strategy of appeasement has been proven to prolong the agony of Darfuri and Southerners alike, but there has been no change of tack at the UN.
Those of us who have been involved in Sudan for a number of years will know that the ongoing violence in the South (it never stopped, the media just got bored) is the legacy of the botched comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) in 2005. After 20 years and an estimated two million killed, President Bashir was forced to concede the South’s right to self-rule. The cost of so-called peace in the South, though, was silence on the oil rich region of Darfur.
This theory was confirmed by an Amnesty International representative. When I asked why Darfur seemed to be absent from the agenda, I was told that the UN had issued warnings to NGOs to be silent on Darfur. Why? So as not to upset Mr Bashir, therein risking the derailment of the CPA. To which I replied: “How can a human rights organisation agree to turn a blind eye to genocide in one part of the country in order to secure a Band-Aid peace agreement in another?” I never did get a reply.
The truth is that the CPA was ill conceived and bereft of detail (in terms of land ownership involving coveted oil, infrastructure and constitution). Alas, as everyone (except UN diplomats) knows, the devil is in the detail and the devil has been wreaking havoc in the region ever since.
Last month Aicha Elbasri, a former spokeswoman for the UN African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid), told the Dutch newspaper Trouw of her dismay at the “lies” Unamid tells about itself. She expressed frustration at willingness of Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, to perpetuate what she described as an inherent misrepresentation of the reality on the ground.
According to the renowned US academic Eric Reeves, there were 100 eyewitness accounts of aerial attacks on civilians in Darfur. The Unamid report documented two. Despite rape and sexual violence being systematically used as a weapon of war in Darfur, the epidemic is airbrushed out of Mr Ban’s report. Carjacking and kidnapping are diligently recorded but rape is shamefully ignored.
In 2005 I attended a cross-party International Development Committee hearing on Darfur. Listening to Mukesh Kapila, a previous UN humanitarian co-ordinator in the region, give evidence, I was moved to tears. Despite his position of power, Dr Kapila’s absolute impotence resonated with me when he said: “To me, the greatest regret to my dying day will be that we failed in Darfur.” He added that UN member states, including Britain, had exerted pressure on him to downplay the severity of the Darfur crisis, which he believed amounted to genocide. When he refused to be silent, he was forced out of his job.
In order to understand the current crisis in the South, we must consider Sudan as a whole, as opposed to isolated regions and “complex ethnic tensions”. The elephant in the room that the UN (which some Sudanese officials believe to be controlled by the US) refuses to address is Mr Bashir. President Obama’s political sensitivity at being seen as anti-Muslim in the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan takes precedence, it seems, over any moral obligation to the victims of genocide. Read the full story >>>>>>>>

UK calls on Sudan to cooperate with ICC

Statement delivered by UK Representative on ICC Darfur to UN Security Council

Thank you, Mr President.
I thank Ms Bensouda for her report and for the briefing today. Sadly, we have not seen an improvement in the situation in Darfur since she last addressed the Council in June.
The situation in Darfur remains a serious concern. Over the last six months we have continued to see heavy inter-communal fighting, sporadic clashes between Government and rebel forces and we have received reports of continued aerial strikes by the Government of Sudan. It has been reported that over 460,000 individuals have been newly displaced between January and November this year.
Mr President,
Humanitarian aid workers and peacekeepers continue to be attacked throughout Darfur. In particular we take this opportunity today to condemn the attack on UNAMID on 24 November which resulted in the death of one Rwandan peacekeeper bringing the total killed in the last year to 13. Many others were injured in that attack and we wish them a speedy and full recovery. Such attacks against UNAMID are unacceptable. We hope that the ongoing review of the mission will address the challenges facing UNAMID. And we call on all parties to ensure the mission is granted full and unfettered access across Darfur.
We thank the Prosecutor for her updates on the trial of Abdallah Banda, and on the termination of proceedings against Saleh Jerbo following reports of his death.
Mr President,
It remains deeply concerning, however, that the Government of Sudan continues to frustrate the pursuit of justice for the people of Darfur by shielding all of the others currently indicted by the ICC. The Government of Sudan has a clear and indisputable obligation to cooperate with the ICC, pursuant to Security Council resolution 1593. It has consistently and repeatedly failed to do so. We call once again on the Government of Sudan to meet its obligations and to cooperate with the ICC, including with respect to enforcement of the five separate arrest warrants issued by the Court.
Once again, in this reporting period we have seen some ICC States Parties regrettably fail to comply with their obligations under the Rome Statute by not implementing the arrest warrants when visited by someone indicted by the Court. The United Kingdom urges all ICC States Parties to meet their obligations under the Rome Statute with respect to the travel of fugitives from the Court.
The references in the report to crimes of sexual violence in Darfur are disturbing. We are grateful to the Office of the Prosecutor for its ongoing work in this regard. The United Kingdom believes that there is more that can – and must – be done to combat sexual violence and address the culture of impunity that has been allowed to develop for these crimes. This culture must be replaced with a culture of accountability. We encourage all states to cooperate with the Court to ensure that the alleged perpetrators of these and other serious crimes of concern against the people of Darfur are held accountable for their actions.
In a Presidential Statement in February this year, the Council reiterated its previous call on the importance of State cooperation with Courts and Tribunals and expressed its commitment to an effective follow up of Council decisions in that regard. It is now high time that the Council did so by looking urgently at what it can do to assist the Court so it can complete the task we gave it when we referred the situation in Darfur to the Court over 8 years ago.
Thank you, Mr President

Security Council hears criticism over ‘inaction and paralysis’ in Darfur crisis

11 December 2013 – It is “an understatement” to say the victims of Sudan’s Darfur conflict have lost all hope, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said today, reiterating her “frustration and despair” at the United Nations Security Council's “inaction and paralysis”, and urged it to take firm action to bring those indicted for war crimes to justice.
In its resolution 1593 (2005), the Council asked the Hague-based Court to investigate war crimes in Darfur, and in 2009, ICC judges issued arrest warrants against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and other top officials for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur.“The time has come for this Council and States Parties to seriously devise strategies for arresting those alleged to be responsible for these crimes,” Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the 15-member body during her office’s latest briefing on the conflict between the Government and various armed groups which led to the deaths hundreds of thousands of people and displaced two million more since it first erupted in early 2003.“This is the only way to stop the seemingly endless suffering of the Darfur victims,” she said, calling it a “serious indictment on this Council and on States Parties” that Mr. Bashir and others have been able to show “blatant disregard” for the Council’s resolutions and travel to various countries without fear of arrest.“The situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate and the plight of Darfur victims continues to go from bad to worse,” she stressed noting that this year alone 460,000 people have been newly displaced, with the numbers of people killed, abducted and displaced growing each year. “This Council's silence even when notified of clear failures and/or violations by UN Member States of their obligations to comply with this Council's resolutions only serves to add insult to the plight of Darfur's victims.”Giving an overview of alleged crimes which continue to be committed and “cry out for full investigations,” Ms. Bensouda cited allegations of Defence Ministry attacks targeting civilians as well as attacks by rebel movements; criminal acts against displaced persons and abductions of, and attacks on humanitarian aid workers and peacekeepers. She also noted aerial bombardments and “the pervasive and corrosive effect of organized sexual and gender-based violence” on women and girls, which remains seriously under-reported.Ms. Bensouda said Resolution 1593 represented hope for Darfur's victims: “hope that there would be an end for their suffering; hope that there would be accountability for crimes and that justice would not only be done but would be seen to be done; and above all, hope that lasting peace and security would return to Darfur.“That hope was strengthened even further when this Council mandated my Office to report on progress every six months to enable the Council to remain actively seized of their plight. Sadly, with each report provided by my Office to the Council, the hopes of the victims of Darfur have faded. With this eighteenth report, it would be an understatement to say that all hope is lost.”She noted that the 10-year conflict has cost UN and humanitarian aid organizations more than $10.5 billion and led to the deaths of 47 aid workers, with many more injured and abducted, and with attacks on peacekeepers appearing to become the norm, with a record number of 57 killings. “In spite of the frustrations, challenges and obstacles, my Office's determination to carry out the mandate given to it by Resolution 1593 has not and will not waver,” she stressed.But, she added, “Without stronger action by this Council and States Parties, the situation in the Sudan is unlikely to improve.”

Debt Relief for Sudan from The Netherlands: What Next?

 

Eric Reeves
The Enough Project, 5 December 2013
http://enoughproject.org/blogs/debt-relief-sudan-netherlands-what-next
[Arabic translation at: http://wp.me/p45rOG-19T]
Yesterday the Dutch government decided to offer debt relief to Sudan, an extraordinarily misguided action, the more so since Sudan was the only country favored by such relief. The decision is bad for many reasons, but most conspicuously because of the encouragement it gives the present regime in Khartoum to believe that other nations and institutions will offer similar relief; indeed, according to some observers this was the thinking on the part of some in the Dutch parliament. The amount to be forgiven is relatively small— €150 million or about $US200 million—given the massive debt that has accrued largely under the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party (NIF/NCP) regime: some $45 billion, according to the IMF. Debt was only a fraction of this before the military coup that brought the NIF/NCP to power in 1989. And despite gross mismanagement of the economy, the regime now believes there is hope it will be given a lifeline by which to survive current civil unrest in the country.

Let’s be clear: There is simply no country in the world less deserving of debt relief than Sudan—not one. Coincidentally, two days earlier, Transparency International released the results of its Global Corruption Perceptions Index for 2013. Sudan ranked at 174 out of 177 countries surveyed, with only Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia faring worse in the Index. Moreover, Sudan’s score actually declined this past year; there is absolutely no sign of improvement.
This is important because many of the reasons for Sudan’s external indebtedness derive from corruption, which takes various forms: the vast system of cronyism that provides political support to the regime; the illegal appropriation and sale of valuable farmland to foreign companies; the impunity afforded to the security services in extortion and asset-stripping of humanitarian organizations and “non-Arab” Sudanese; and the monumental graft that has defined the regime for more than two decades—all of these have compelled unneeded or misdirected borrowing. Indeed, The Guardian (UK) reported in December 2010:

Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has siphoned as much as $9bn out of his impoverished country, and much of it may be stashed in London banks, according to secret U.S. diplomatic cables that recount conversations with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. (December 17, 2010) Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>

KOSOK: The interwoven peaceful dance

 

Civilians in Sudan’s Darfur region face wholesale destruction

Posted by: Eric Reeves on Saturday, July 27, 2013

After years of obscurity and little reliable international reporting, the vast human catastrophe in Sudan’s Darfur region is once again in the news. It was regularly making headlines before 2008, when genocide in Darfur was already five years old and had claimed hundreds of thousands of civilian lives from the main African tribal groups, but a lack of sustained mainstream attention has meant that violence has surged effectively under the radar.
Few could have predicted that this remote and obscure region in western Sudan would galvanize American civil society. Then again, how could the loss of attention have been so rapid? ….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/civilians-in-sudans-darfur-region-face-wholesale-destruction/2013/07/26/04953b82-ed63-11e2-9008-61e94a7ea20d_story.html

[Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and has written extensively on Sudan.]

Cultural diversity in Darfur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79V0cGceAnM

Shining light on Bashir's crimes in an unconventional way

By Julia Boccagno

 

Engaging in a creative protest to shine a light on the actions of the government of Chad, members of the Darfuri diaspora and activists with the BashirWatch project gathered at the Embassy of Chad with a giant video projection that was played on the Embassy walls.

 

Watch the video here: https://https://vimeo.com/64260662

The action was designed to place pressure on the Chadian government to prohibit Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from entering the country for the fourth time since the International Criminal Court charged him with committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

As a member party of the International Criminal Court, Chad has a legal obligation to cooperate and arrest President Omar al-Bashir—the man responsible for systematically murdering over 300,000 innocent civilians in Darfur.

The projection put “in plain sight” massive images and video stories of Sudanese survivors onto the Embassy of Chad. Supporters across the world joined our efforts by sending in tweets, which were also projected onto the building.

Many Sudanese citizens attended the protest and were not only excited to call out the Chadian government, but to do so in an unconventional and innovative way. A Sudanese activist exclaimed, “I have been to many demonstrations in front of the Sudanese Embassy with regard to arresting al-Bashir and his indictment from the ICC, but this is quite special and creative because, this time, it’s shifted not to the Sudanese embassy, but to the Chadian Embassy. And that is because Chad plays a very crucial role in protecting al-Bashir and inviting him to their land.”

Others were equally as enthusiastic to redefine traditional protesting methods through new technology. Jimmy Mulla, President of Voices of Sudan, noted, “Once we try to bring in technology in terms of expressing our concerns, I think that reaches a much larger audience.”

Under duress, Chad postponed the event that Bashir was invited to attend for a second time. And until Bashir is arrested, we’ll continue to keep him under close watch.

 

A coalition of five human rights organizations, including United to End Genocide, work together as BashirWatch to support the ICC’s warrant for Bashir, bring him into custody, and transfer him to the International Criminal Court for trial. Join our global rapid response network to protest governments who allow Bashir to visit: bashirwatch.org

The writer can be reached at jboccagno@endgenocide.org

 

Rich diversity of African Music

http://www.diversitypress.org/?p=2728

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysxkQ3ba7L8


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Renewed Darfur fighting concerns U.N.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Fighting in Sudan's trouble region of Darfur is taking a toll in the state of security for civilians, a U.N. peacekeeping leader said.
Aichatou Mindaoudou, acting special envoy to the African Union-U.N. Hybrid Operation in Darfur, said she was concerned about fighting between rival groups in Darfur. Nearly 1,000 families have been displaced as a result of the fighting.
A statement from the mission said the envoy was concerned about the safety of civilians in the area.
"Mindaoudou also stressed that all parties involved in the conflict should respect their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law," a mission statement read.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is the subject of a 2009 arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Darfur. An estimated 300,000 people have died there as a result of fighting between rebel forces and the government-supported Janjaweeed militia. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Statement to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Darfur, the Sudan, pursuant to UNSCR 1593 (2005)

Statement to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Darfur, the Sudan, pursuant to UNSCR 1593 (2005)

Mr President,

I am briefing you as the second Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to address the situation of Darfur, in the Sudan, which this Council referred to my Office through Resolution 1593 in 2005. This is my Office’s sixteenth briefing to the Security Council on the subject of Darfur.

　

2. The situation in Darfur continues to be of serious concern to me and to my Office. In my report, I have indicated specific incidents of concern and which seem to represent an ongoing pattern of crimes committed pursuant to the Government-avowed goal of stopping the rebellion in Darfur. I must reiterate that these alleged ongoing crimes, similar to those already considered by the Judges of the International Criminal Court on five separate applications, may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. My Office will consider whether further investigations and additional applications for arrest warrants are necessary to address ongoing crimes, including those undertaken with the aim of thwarting delivery of humanitarian aid, attacks on UNAMID peacekeepers as well as bombardments and other direct attacks on civilian populations. The words of the Government of Sudan representatives, promising further peace initiatives, are undermined by actions on the ground that show an ongoing commitment to crimes against civilians as a solution to the Government’s problems in Darfur.

3. This Council should be even more concerned about the situation in Darfur, given that crimes continue to be committed, including by those already indicted by the Court. This Council referred the situation in Darfur because of its firm belief that the justice process is an essential component of any strategy aimed at truly stopping ongoing crimes and achieving peace in Darfur. We have always believed the referral to be a joint endeavour by this Council and the Court to contribute to lasting peace in Darfur through investigation and prosecution of those who bear the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes. Indeed, in this and other contexts, this Council has reaffirmed the vital importance of promoting justice and the rule of law, including respect for human rights, as an indispensable element for lasting peace. My Office and the Court as a whole have done their part in executing the mandate given by this Council in accordance with the Rome Statute. The question that remains to be answered is how many more civilians must be killed, injured and displaced for this Council to be spurred into doing its part?

4. There are no words to properly express the frustration of Darfur’s victims, which we share, about lack of any meaningful progress towards arresting those indicted by the Court. The failure of the Government of the Sudan to implement the five arrest warrants seems symbolic of its ongoing commitment to a military solution in Darfur, which has translated into a strategy aimed at attacking civilian populations over the last ten years, with tragic results. Victims of Darfur crimes can hardly wait for the day that fragmentation and indecision will be replaced by decisive, concrete and tangible actions they expect from this Council.

5. Investigating the Darfur situation was an enormous challenge for the Office and a huge sacrifice for the witnesses and victims whose lives remain at risk as a result of their interaction with the Court. The question they ask is: were their sacrifices in vain?

Mr President,

6. In its Resolution 2063, this Council expressed concerns about ongoing impunity and the lack of any progress on national proceedings to date, after nearly eight years of reported efforts on the part of the Government of Sudan authorities. It should be clear to this Council that the Government of Sudan is neither prepared to hand over the suspects nor to prosecute them for their crimes.

7. Despite the challenges we faced, including non-cooperation by the Government of Sudan, the Office conducted independent and impartial investigations and submitted its evidence to the Judges. Contrary to the often-repeated allegations of bias and politicization of the Office’s investigative activities, the Judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber independently evaluated the evidence to determine whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that particular individuals bore individual criminal responsibility for these crimes. Having considered all the evidence, the Judges concluded that Government of Sudan forces committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur, following a strategy adopted at the highest echelons of the State apparatus. The findings on genocide, moreover, were entered following a ruling by the five member bench of the Appeals Chamber. The Pre-Trial Chamber identified the individuals that must face justice and issued arrest warrants for a Militia/Janjaweed leader, Ali Kushayb, who reported to the then Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmed Harun, who in turn reported to the then Minister of the Interior Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, who reported to President Al Bashir. Their responsibility is not a mere consequence of their official roles. In all of these cases there are witnesses that describe in detail their active participation in the strategy to commit crimes as well as in the execution of that strategy.

Mr President,

8. The Judges of the ICC have formally communicated six times to the Council without any response. This includes a 25 May 2010 decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber, informing this Council about the lack of cooperation by the Republic of Sudan, in particular in the Harun and Kushayb case; two 27 August 2010 decisions of the Pre-Trial Chamber informing this Council and the Rome Statute Assembly of States Parties about President Al Bashir’s visit to Chad and of his presence in the territory of the Republic of Kenya; the 12 May 2011 decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber informing this Council and the Rome Statute Assembly of States Parties about his visit to Djibouti; the 12 December 2011 decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber pursuant to Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute on the failure of the Republic of Malawi to comply with the cooperation requests issued by the Court with respect to the arrest and surrender of President Al Bashir; and the 13 December 2011 decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber pursuant to Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute on the failure by the Republic of Chad to comply with the cooperation requests issued by the Court with respect to the arrest and surrender of President Al Bashir.

Mr President,

9. My Office and I personally remain committed to working with regional organizations endeavouring to contribute to a comprehensive solution, including the League of Arab States and the African Union. The recommendations of the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur will be one among other points for discussion that I intend to raise in my interactions with former President Mbeki and the African Union Commission Chairperson, Madame Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The recommendations of the African Union High-Level Panel on justice, if implemented, would go a long way toward addressing the challenge of the deliberate imposition and tolerance of impunity not only in Darfur, but in the Sudan as a whole. My Office undertakes this interaction with the African Union on its justice recommendations pursuant to its policy of positive complementarity.

Mr President,

10. Investigating the Darfur situation remains an enormous challenge for the Office. Despite these challenges, we managed to conduct full investigations that have led to five arrest warrants (two against the same individual) and three summonses to appear. Good progress has been made towards the start of the trial for two of the three individuals accused of war crimes in the rebel attack on the African Union peacekeeping base at Haskanita, North Darfur. I expect that trial to begin in 2013, although the defence has asked for its postponement until 2014. The investigation and preparation for this trial have involved unique challenges, including the translation of all materials for the defence into Zaghawa, a tribal language with no written form. This work demonstrates the commitment of the Office and the Court to a fair trial.

11. I look forward to the opportunity to present to the Judges the substantial and voluminous evidence gathered in the other four cases, following the arrest and surrender of the four individuals sought by the Court. This is an essential step towards delivering justice for Darfur’s victims. I believe it will also shed light on the obstacles facing other international processes, such as those endeavouring to bring relief to the victims through delivery of humanitarian aid or the conduct of a peace process that aims to be principled and substantive. The justice process is an essential component of any strategy aimed at truly stopping ongoing crimes, by publicly exposing to the highest independent judicial standards the reasons why and how these crimes have been committed; who has been responsible for them; and how they must be stopped.

Mr President,

12. I have been encouraged of late by my participation in discussions with Rome Statute States Parties and others aimed at galvanizing action to ensure greater cooperation in the Darfur and other Council referred situations, including through implementation of outstanding arrest warrants. I am committed to working with both States Parties and Non-States Parties, inside and outside of the Security Council, to push these processes forward.

　

Thank you.

www.icc-cpi.int

Sudan must end violent repression of student protests

Sudan must end its violent repression of demonstrations, Amnesty International said in the wake of a week of unrest that saw many protesters arrested or injured.

Nationwide protests were sparked by the death of four Darfuri students in Jazeera state following a peaceful student sit-in at their university on 3 December. The four had been arrested by National Security Service (NSS) officers and were later found dead in a canal near the university. 

Police continued to use excessive force this week in Khartoum during protests denouncing the death of the students and calling for the government to be replaced. Protesters were beaten and dispersed with tear gas, while scores were arrested.

"Sudanese security services have clearly used excessive force since the first peaceful murmurings of dissent at last week's student sit-in," said Amnesty International's Audrey Gaughran.

"The authorities must stop the repression of those participating in peaceful demonstrations, and respect the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression."

The four students found dead were among 53 arrested by National Security Service (NSS) officers on 3 December during a peaceful sit-in at Al Jazeera University.

The circumstances of their deaths are still unclear; however, they are believed to be linked with the students’ involvement in the protests.

The four bodies reportedly bore signs of beatings, suggesting torture or ill-treatment. Witnesses told Amnesty International the bodies bore signs of bleeding on their heads, and one on the shoulder.

The Sudanese Minister of Justice has pledged to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate the death of the four students. However, in the past the Government of Sudan has failed to conduct impartial investigations into serious human rights violations.

"The authorities must ensure that any investigation into the recent student deaths is impartial and transparent," said Audrey Gaughran. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Witnesses: 10 Sudan students arrested after clashes involving troubled Darfur region

By Associated Press,

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudanese police arrested at least 10 university students on Wednesday following days of unrest in the capital, witnesses said.
The students were arrested early Wednesday morning at Omdurman Islamic University in Khartoum, witnesses told The Associated Press. This followed clashes the day before between students from war-wracked Darfur and pro-Islamist students. A fire broke out in a dormitory building.

The incident is the latest in weeks of turmoil rocking Sudan since the government implemented austerity measures, setting off protests and government crackdowns.
Amnesty International said Wednesday that the Sudanese government “must end its violent repression of demonstrations.” The group said in a statement that many protesters have been arrested or injured.
“The response to the recent protests is deeply troubling,” said Audrey Gaughran of Amnesty International. With reports that some protesters are planning to return to the streets, “it is vital that the Sudanese authorities’ repressive methods are curtailed before more people are harmed,” she said.
The arrests came after four days of protests in the capital over the deaths of four students from a university in central Sudan this month. The students, from Darfur, were protesting over their university’s refusal to let them register for classes without paying full tuition. A peace deal the government signed in 2006 exempted students from Darfur from paying tuition fees. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Growing Violence in Darfur Deserves Honest Reporting, Not More Flatulent UN Nonsense

Growing Violence in Darfur Deserves Honest Reporting, Not More Flatulent UN Nonsense”
UN and UNAMID leadership, including Acting JSR for UNAMID Aichatou Mindaoudou, the UN High Commission for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of Displaced Persons—all seem content to paper over Darfur’s rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and security crisis with unctuous words and feckless declarations. In place of meaningful responses to this desperate situation, they offer anodyne pronouncements, glib “proposals” without substance or detail, and silence on key issues of human security—preeminently rape, widespread murder, violence in the camps and towns, and the ongoing appropriation of arable land by Arab militia groups, often by violent means. In the absence of reporting by international news organizations, and given the denial of all access for human rights investigators—now for many years—Darfuris have made Radio Dabanga their voice. That voice, reporting largely on the basis of eyewitness accounts, deserves all possible amplification.
Eric Reeves
30 November 2012
http://www.sudanreeves.org/?p=3627
Events have finally compelled the UN and the UN/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to acknowledge that violence is escalating in Darfur, a sharp reversal of the self-congratulatory statements by the likes of former heads of UNAMID Rodolphe Adada and Ibrahim Gambari.  For example, Gambari recently celebrated his retirement as UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) by declaring that he was “gratified to note that barely 31 months on, all the objectives I set out to meet have largely been met.” But of course this is despicably dishonest and self-serving, given the dramatic increase in the level of violence, vast human displacement, and the deterioration of humanitarian access and resources that accelerated under Gambari’s tenure.  UNAMID—with an unforgiveable belatedness—now acknowledges some of these realities, although with a deeply disingenuous timeline.  UNAMID leaders and spokespersons would have us believe that this sharp upswing in violence is quite recent; in fact, it has been accelerating dramatically since late 2010.
I and others have chronicled the massive evidence of increasing violence in Darfur since late fall 2010, when Minni Minawi defected from the regime in Khartoum.  Minawi was the only rebel signatory to the disastrous Darfur Peace Agreement (Abuja, Nigeria, May 2006) and belatedly rues his decision.  For not only was he completely marginalized within the regime, his defection from the figurehead position he occupied has made his Zaghawa people the target of ethnic violence that is almost completely unreported by UNAMID or any other source.  Fortunately—at least for the sake of any historical account—Claudio Gramizzi and Jérôme Tubiana have provided a remarkably full overview of this violence in a report from the Small Arms Survey (Geneva): “Forgotten Darfur: Old Tactics and New Players,” (July 2012).  Their report is based on field research conducted from October 2011 through June 2012, and supplemented by extensive interviews, a full desk review of available reports, and a wide range of communication with regional and international actors.  The opening paragraphs in their Executive Summary gives a sense of what UNAMID chooses not to see:
“Since 2010 Darfur has all but vanished from the international agenda. The Sudanese government has claimed that major armed conflict is essentially over, that armed violence of all kinds has declined significantly, and that such violence is now dominated by criminality rather than by military confrontation [ ]. This view has been bolstered by statements from the leadership of the joint United Nations–African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur and by those invested in the under-subscribed 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, who have hailed declining violence and wider regional transformations as conducive to a final resolution of the conflict [citation of statements by Ibrahim Gambari]. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>