UN extends Darfur peace mission

The United Nations Security Council has voted to extend the UN mission in Sudan for one week as the council tries to work out an agreement on a peacekeeping operation and how to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has asked the council to authorise a 10,000-strong peace force to help stabilise Africa's largest nation after the government and rebels ended a 21-year civil war in January.

But the 15-nation council has been at odds for weeks over questions relating to the separate conflict in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region, where an independent commission found crimes against humanity were likely committed.

The United States has been unable to drum up wide support for targeted sanctions against those responsible for those crimes -- or for its opposition to referring the matter to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

"I think that the council is united in its belief that the peacekeeping operation needs to be deployed immediately, and that we can't wait any longer," US envoy Stuart Holliday said after a council meeting.

He acknowledged there was no consensus on the array of US proposals but said he expected the council to vote next week.

Earlier this week the UN's emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, said that the death toll in Darfur was perhaps three to five times higher than the estimate of 70,000 dead that emerged late last year.

After rebels in Darfur rose up against Sudan's Arab-led government, Khartoum turned to proxy militias to help put down the rebellion -- and those militias have been blamed for a scorched-earth campaign of murder, rape and pillaging.

By In Solidarity 11 March 05

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Sudan talks end in deadlock

Darfur rebels and the Sudanese Government have ended peace talks in Nigeria in a deadlock on how to address what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Over 1 million people have fled their homes in the arid western region, which is roughly the size of France, since the conflict started 18 months ago.

"There is a big distance between what we think about improving the humanitarian situation in the camps and what the Government thinks," said Ahmed Mohammed Tugod, negotiator for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel group.

Rebels and the Sudanese delegation presented their separate analyses of the humanitarian situation to African Union (AU) mediators in the Nigerian capital Abuja, a day before a UN August 30 deadline asking Sudan to address the crisis or face sanctions.

The African Union will offer a draft presentation to try to harmonise the rebels' and Government's positions.
The talks aim to find a political solution to the conflict, which has its origins in land disputes between mostly African farmers and Arab herdsmen.

Both Darfur rebel groups had staged a 24-hour boycott of the talks accusing the Government of killing 75 civilians in Darfur since Thursday and saying Khartoum was deliberately fuelling the humanitarian crisis. The rebels accuse pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia of mass killings and rapes. An AU cease-fire committee has begun investigations into their allegations.

By In Solidarity 30 August 04

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Top UN official concerned about 'lack of progress' in Darfur

The top UN official in Sudan has expressed concern about a "lack of progress on the ground" in reining in marauding Arab militias in Sudan's western Darfur region, the United Nations said.

The remarks by Jan Pronk were released in New York about two weeks before a Security Council deadline for Sudan to demonstrate that it is serious about improving the security situation in Darfur or face unspecified sanctions.

Mr Pronk is UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's special representative for Sudan.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters in the capital Khartoum that the Government had designated safe areas in Darfur, including the capitals of each of Darfur's three states - Nyala, el-Fasher and Geneina - and the surrounding areas. The towns of Sani, Deleiva and Abu, along with the area of Ajouraha in South Darfur state and the area of Mornei in West Darfur state were also designated safe areas, which the Government has pledged to secure by the end of August.

"We have identified these areas and implementation will begin tomorrow," said Mr Ismail, adding that monitors deployed by the African Union would be asked to head to those areas.

The UN statement said Mr Pronk "welcomed the steps being taken by the Government and indicated the crucial phase will be the one when it could be demonstrated that these actions have borne fruit on the ground, when substantial, verifiable and substantial improvement of the security situation in the selected areas will be achieved". "He (Mr Pronk) expressed concern about the lack of progress registered so far on the ground and at the fact that the Janjaweed militia was still active around the IDP camps and continued to be a threat," the statement said, referring to camps for the so-called internally displaced persons driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur.

Rights groups and the rebels accuse Khartoum of arming Arab militias known as the Janjaweed -- a term derived from the Arabic for "devils on horseback" -- to loot and burn African farming villages as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The Sudanese Government denies the charge and says the Janjaweed are outlaws.

The United Nations calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and says 50,000 people have been killed and at least 1 million more driven from their homes since two rebel groups took up arms against the Government in February 2003.

In the UN statement, Mr Pronk also complained that UN staff and relief workers had been barred from Kalma camp, east of the South Darfur state capital Nyala, since camp residents beat and stabbed to death on Friday a man they accused of being a Janjaweed fighter. Mr Pronk was "very concerned" that aid workers had been denied access to the camp, whose residents, including malnourished children, required daily assistance, the statement said. Mr Pronk had raised the issue with the Sudanese authorities and "hopes that full access to the camp will be granted as soon as possible", the statement said.

In Solidarity 16 August 04

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Sudan launches fresh helicopter attacks in Darfur: UN

Sudan has carried out fresh helicopter attacks in Darfur, worsening an already desperate humanitarian situation, while Arab militia targeted refugees trying to escape the conflict, the United Nations said.

"Fresh violence today (Tuesday) included helicopter gunship bombings by the Sudanese government and Janjaweed attacks in South Darfur. The violence has already led to more displacement," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement from Geneva.

"Janjaweed attacks on internally displaced persons in and around IDP settlements continue to be reported in all three Darfur states," it added.

Civilians have previously said Sudan used helicopters and other military aircraft to attack villages in Darfur, but there have been fewer reports of such attacks since rebels and the Government signed a cease-fire in April.

Under a joint plan agreed with the United Nations last week, Sudan said it would establish safe areas for the displaced and cease military operations by its troops and rebels there.

Despite recent pledges to cooperate to end the humanitarian crisis the UN has called the worst in the world, the UN said the Sudanese Government has hampered access to hungry Darfuris by restricting relief flights and causing "major delays" in deployment of aid workers.

The world body also said Sudanese authorities were pressuring traumatised refugees to return to unsafe villages.

"We have interviewed people in hospital who tell us they have gone back to the villages, believing the government commitment, and have been shot by Janjaweed raiders," said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Peter Kessler in Geneva.

"We can't tell if people are being led into a trap - we would hope not," he added.

By In Solidarity 11 August 04

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African Union may send 2,000 militants to Darfur

The African Union (AU) may boost the number of troops, [militants], deployed to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to 2,000, subject to the move gaining approval at a meeting of its members, a spokesman said.

"The AU plans to increase troop, [militant], strength of its protection force for Darfur from 300 to 2,000, with Nigeria and Rwanda offering to send 1,000 troops each," AU spokesman Adam Thiam said.

He said the proposal needed the approval of the AU's 15-member security body, the Peace and Security Council, which would also look at broadening the original mandate of the AU force to include a peacekeeping role as well as protecting truce monitors in Darfur.

It was not immediately clear when the Council, whose, [alleged], principal aim is to "promote peace, security and stability in Africa", would meet, but Mr Thiam said troop deployment was expected to begin this week.

The United Nations says the world's worst humanitarian crisis is unfolding in western Sudan, where fighting between rebels and Janjaweed militia has killed at least 30,000 people and uprooted 1 million, who have sought refuge in barren camps.

The Netherlands said on Tuesday it would fund a mission to fly 360 AU troops to Darfur.

The UN Security Council has given Khartoum 30 days to disarm and prosecute the Janjaweed, drawn from the nomadic Arab population, or face sanctions.

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Sudan rejects UN resolution deadline

Sudan has condemned a 30 day deadline set by the United Nations Security Council for action on Darfur, but has said it would implement a 90 day program as agreed earlier with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

In a resolution passed on Friday, the Security Council demanded the Sudanese Government take action within 30 days to disarm Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, blamed for creating a humanitarian crisis in the western region. If Sudan fails to satisfy the council, the United Nations said it intends to consider economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Sudan has given a mixed response to the resolution and the cabinet met on Sunday to take a formal position.

"The council of ministers condemned the time period and views it to be illogical and difficult to implement, especially since the agreement we reached with the United Nations gave a 90 day implementation period," Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters after the meeting. "Sudan will commit to implement the agreement that it signed on July 3 with Kofi Annan and will commit to the joint implementation mechanism which was set up to monitor this agreement," the minister added.

The agreement with Mr Annan included a Sudanese Government commitment to disarm the Janjaweed militias and accept human rights monitors in Darfur, where conflict has displaced more than 1 million people.

Mr Ismail said UN and Sudanese officials would meet on Monday. An assistant administrator with the United States Agency for International Development, Roger Winter, said in addition to the 30,000 people who have been killed in the Darfur violence, as many as 50,000 more may have died from hunger and disease.

"That number will start to jet up a good bit over the next few months and then it will start to tail off because a lot of the most vulnerable people ... will have died by then," he said last week in Washington after returning from Sudan.

Sudan says it has already started to crack down on the militias, who have been attacking African villages, looting, raping, burning houses and driving the people off the land.

Villagers have taken refuge in camps in Darfur or across the border in Chad.

By In Solidarity 2 August 04

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African Union considers Sudan peacekeeping mission

Intervention considered: The African Union says the Sudanese Government has failed to stop the bloodshed.

The African Union has announced it is preparing plans to send a peacekeeping force to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. The union has strongly criticised the Sudanese Government for failing to stop the bloodshed, which has killed more than 30,000 people.

Union delegates meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Adaba, have decided to prepare plans for the mission.

However, no final decision has been made. The African Union is calling on the Sudanese Government stop Arab militias known as the Janjaweed from terrorising civilians.

More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes during the unrest. Aid organisations are struggling to deal with the situation in Darfur, which the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

By Sally Sara 29 July 04

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Sudan warns against foreign intervention

Sudan has warned it will use force against any attempt at outside military intervention in the crisis-torn Darfur region, while rebels called for the quick arrival of foreign troops.

Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the ruling National Congress (NC) party, was quoted by the official newspaper Al Anbaa as warning that force would be met by force.

"Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force. Any power that intervenes in Darfur will be a loser, he said."

But a Darfur rebel movement called for a rapid deployment of international troops to deal with the situation in the western Sudanese region, described by the United Nations as the world's worst current humanitarian crisis.

The US Congress has unanimously passed a resolution last week describing the atrocities committed in Darfur as genocide and called on the White House to lead international efforts to intervene.

A top British general said 5,000 troops could be made ready to go if needed.

The UN says up to 50,000 people have died since a revolt against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum broke out among black African ethnic minorities in February 2003.

"The National Congress firmly rejects any foreign threats targeting Sudan and its people and is opposed to any foreign intervention in Sudan," Mr Omar was quoted as saying, adding that Sudan is capable of solving its problems by itself.

The official called for general mobilisation among the Sudanese people and political parties and organisations to "stand up against this unfair campaign which targets not only the National Congress and the government but all of the Sudanese people and their values."

Khartoum has brushed off criticism that it is not doing enough to help alleviate the situation in Darfur and pledged to improve the access of international aid agencies.

But Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) said: "We are asking the United States, the United Nations secretary-general, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees."

Contacted by telephone, the spokesman said intervention would "avert a humanitarian disaster of great proportions".

Mr Nur charged that the pro-Government Arab Janjaweed militias were "preventing the arrival of food aid to displaced people and continue to violate the ceasefire, and they regularly rape defenceless women."

More than a million people have been driven from their villages in the conflict pitting government forces and Janjaweed against the SLA and another local rebel group, the Movement for Justice and Equality.

Washington, the United Nations and the EU have demanded that Khartoum immediately disarm the Janjaweed and make them respect a ceasefire signed April 8 after talks in the Chadian capital Ndjamena.

The European Union warned at the weekend that Sudan would face international sanctions if there was not quick progress in ending the bloodshed.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail on Sunday questioned the need for foreign troops in war-torn Darfur, saying his Government was doing all it could to disarm Arab militias.

"Why should we have to rush and to talk about military intervention as long as the situation is getting better?" Mr Ismail told BBC television. My Government is doing what can be done in order to disarm the militia."

Meanwhile the United Nations in neighbouring Chad said two Sudanese refugees from Darfur were shot dead in clashes with local security forces amid rising tensions with aid workers. A spokesman for the refugee agency UNHCR said that weapons caches had been found at the Abeche camp and 19 people had been arrested.

The fatal clashes on Thursday came 10 days after UN and other aid workers were forced to leave the camp of Forchana accommodating nearly 12,000 people in the east of Chad when refugees started throwing stones at them.

By In Solidarity 26 July 04

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US threatens Sudan with UN sanctions

Arab militias, called Janjaweed

The United States has circulated a United Nations resolution threatening sanctions against the Sudan government if Khartoum did not prosecute Arab militia leaders in the western Darfur region.

In the measure, which does not define the sanctions, the Bush administration also advocated an immediate embargo on weapons given to Arab militias, called Janjaweed, as well as any other armed group terrorising Darfur civilians.

The revised draft UN Security Council resolution was submitted on the day US Secretary of State Colin Powell planned a visit to New York to work on a joint strategy on Darfur with secretary general Kofi Annan.

Each visited Sudan and Darfur this month. The 15-month conflict has killed at least 30,000 people, forced villagers into concentration-camp type compounds and left 2 million people without enough food and medicine in Sudan's western region.

The new resolution tightens language on a weapons ban and on what Khartoum must do to avoid sanctions, such as "bring to justice Janjaweed leaders and their associates" within 30 days. "The resolution demands that Sudan apprehend Janjaweed leaders and bring them to justice," said US representative Stuart Holliday. In 30 days, if there is no compliance, the council will look to take action, including the imposition of sanctions. We would like the government to work with us to honour their commitments, he said.

The resolution also says any UN planning for peacekeepers in southern Sudan, where a decades old civil war is coming to an end, should consider including Darfur as well.

Washington faces an uphill battle in the 15-member council, where several members, including Russia, China, Pakistan and others, opposed even a threat of sanctions against Khartoum. Diplomats said the United States might have to soften the draft or call a vote next week and dare nations to oppose the measure. The arms embargo is difficult to enforce, with the Khartoum government having been accused of using its aircraft and helicopters to aid the Janjaweed, who are blamed for murder, widespread rape, pillaging and driving African villagers from their homes. "The initial reporting that I have received is very disturbing as to the actions of the Janjaweed and how the Janjaweed were supported by the Government of Sudan," Mr Powell said.

Sudan, in an agreement with Mr Annan two weeks ago, pledged to protect displaced civilians, disarm the Janjaweed and other armed groups, suspend visa and travel restrictions on relief workers, allow African Union human rights monitors and punish those responsible for atrocities.

The conflict began in February 2003, when African rebel groups protested government policies, saying the Darfur region had been ignored by Arab government in Khartoum. The United Nations, the United States and the African Union, which has sent a team to Darfur, are monitoring whether Sudan complies with its pledges.

By In Solidarity 23 July 04

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UN sanctions for Sudan 'unlikely'

United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says Sudan has made little progress in curbing marauding militias in the Darfur region but diplomats said sanctions against Khartoum were unlikely.

Mr Annan spoke as his special representative in Khartoum, Dutchman Jan Pronk, briefed the 15-member Security Council on reports that Arab militia, called Janjaweed, were continuing to terrorise African villagers in Sudan's west.

The 15-month conflict has killed up to 30,000 people, forced villagers into concentration-camp type compounds and left two million people without enough food and medicine.

"There have been encouraging steps on the humanitarian front," Mr Annan said at a news conference.

"But there has been little progress on human rights and I regret to say there are continuing reports of attacks by the Janjaweed militia."

Sudan, in an agreement with Mr Annan two weeks ago, pledged to protect displaced civilians, disarm the Janjaweed and other armed groups, suspend visa and travel restrictions on relief workers, and allow African Union human rights monitors and punish those responsible for atrocities.

Mr Pronk, who has helped organise a monitoring system for Darfur, was blunt, saying there was "no progress whatsoever as far as the security of the people themselves is concerned".

Mr Annan said he could not predict how long Sudan would have before the UN Security Council took concrete action.

"It's going to be a judgment call rather than an artificial deadline but the urgency is there and the Sudanese Government doesn't have forever," he said.

No military intervention

One problem is strong lobbying by the Arab League and others against any kind of sanctions or military intervention.

The United States has had difficulty getting a resolution adopted that would threaten a travel and arms ban within a month if Sudan did not comply.

British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, who along with Germany and France, wants an immediate arms embargo on Sudan, said the council was not yet considering sanctions.

Diplomats said Russia, China, Pakistan and others were opposed to even a weapons embargo.

Even if any country, like the United States, were willing to send troops to protect civilians and disburse food and medicine, like it did in Somalia in late 1992, the war in Iraq would make approval doubtful.

"We are still dealing with Iraq. We are not out of Iraq yet," Mr Annan said.

"Any discussion of intervention in Sudan would be looked at very carefully by governments and I am not sure how quickly and how enthusiastically one would get support for that initiative. We have to be very clear on that," Mr Annan said.

So far Sudan has sent 3,000 police to Darfur, allowed in monitors and eased most restrictions on aid groups.

Khartoum is known to have used its planes and helicopters to help the Janjaweed and rights groups fear it is integrating the militia into the police.

Mr Annan said Sudan had been warned not to do that.

"It is a 'no-no' for them to induct Janjaweed into the police force."

By In Solidarity 22 July 04

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African Union tries to revive failed Darfur talks

The African Union (AU) says it has made fresh contact with the government of Sudan and Darfur rebels in an effort to revive peace talks that broke down over the weekend.

Talks collapsed after rebels set six preconditions for dialogue, including the disarming of Janjaweed Arab militias and prosecution of those suspected of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur. The rebels walked out after the government rejected the demands.

"We will try and meet with them separately in an effort to revive the talks," the African Union's (AU) Darfur envoy Hamid Algabid told a news conference late on Monday night. We are now in contact with both the rebels and the government of Sudan. We have planned to meet both of them separately, probably by the end of this week."

The government is facing increasing international pressure over the bloodshed, which the United Nations says has displaced more than one million people and killed as many as 30,000. The rebels, and international human rights groups, accuse Khartoum of arming the Janjaweed to loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing, and report mass killings and rapes.

The government denies the charges. Mr Algabid steered last week's failed effort to end the 18-month-old conflict and humanitarian crisis in the west of Africa's biggest country. He did not say where the further meetings would take place, but AU sources said they could be in Geneva. Mr Algabid said mediators would meet the two sides separately.

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups attended the talks mediated by the AU at its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital last week, but did not meet Sudan government delegates face-to-face. The government team said it would talk about the rebel demands but rejected them as preconditions for talks. The JEM and SLA launched a revolt in February 2003 in the west of the oil-producing country after long conflict between African villagers and Arab nomads.

Villagers fleeing the conflict are threatened with hunger and disease in squalid camps inside Sudan and over the border in Chad. Pressure has grown on the Sudanese government from the West and the United Nations to help avert even greater disaster. "The international community has reacted late in Darfur but at least they do talk about it now," Amnesty International researcher Benedicte Goderiaux said in an interview in Beirut on Tuesday. Of course the humanitarian situation is dire so the priority is to feed people before they die of famine. But human rights issues and violence against women... we want to try to keep these issues high up on the agenda. "The UShttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif are making strong declarations. But what's being proposed is a travel ban against the Janjaweed, an arms embargo on the Janjaweed. There should be an arms embargo on the Sudan government," she said.

According to a ruling by a Sudanese court, 10 Arab militiamen have been sentenced to amputation and six years in jail in the first conviction of Janjaweed fighters for looting and killing. UN secretary-general Kofi Annan will determine if Sudan has lived up to its promises upon the return of Jan Pronk, his envoy for Darfur, who briefs the Security Council on Wednesday.

New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch on Monday showed reporters translations of Sudanese government documents apparently showing clear support for the Janjaweed. "We can no longer trust Khartoum to police itself when Khartoum is part of a large problem," Mr Roth told a news conference. "It's like the fox guarding the chicken coop."

By In Solidarity 20 July 04

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Sudan decrees end to relief restrictions

The Sudanese Government, under international pressure to help displaced people in the western region of Darfur, has ordered an end to restrictions on the movement of relief organisations and imports of relief supplies.

Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, who has special responsibility for Darfur, issued decrees on relief work just days after visits by United States Secretary of State, [war criminal], Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Easier access for aid to Darfur was one of the main demands Mr Powell and Mr Annan made, along with more effort by the Government to disarm Arab militias known as Janjaweed, who have been driving non-Arab villagers off their land in Darfur.

More than a million people have fled their homes in Darfur because of the conflict, most of them for fear of the Janjaweed.

About 200,000 have crossed the border into Chad.

"In order to guarantee the freedom of movement of all those working in aid organisations, the decree directs all the apparatus of the state to facilitate the entry visa procedure and lift all procedural, financial and any other restrictions upon them," an official statement said.

A second decree exempted all humanitarian goods from customs duty and import restrictions.

Ben Parker, spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, welcomed the decrees.

"It's good to hear of practical implementation of what we agreed and signed on Saturday. We hope this marks the beginning of bigger and more effective relief operations throughout Darfur," he said.

Mr Powell said last week the UN Security Council might have to pass a resolution on Darfur if Khartoum did not act fast.

Mr Hussein, a general who is President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's special representative in Darfur, also decreed that police and army forces should mobilise throughout Darfur and police should set up stations in all camps for displaced people.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said the Khartoum Government had already started disarming the Janjaweed militias. Rebels in the remote region said the operation was a cover for preparations for a new wave of ethnic cleansing.

They said a large Government force was being mobilised in the regional capital.

By Humanitarian Aid 7 July 04

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Sudan urged to take urgent action to protect refugees

The UN is urging the Sudanese Government to take urgent action to protect more than 1 million refugees.

United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan is urging the Sudanese Government to take urgent action to protect more than 1 million displaced people in the country's Darfur region.

Mr Annan has visited some of the worst affected areas of Darfur in western Sudan and says the refugees will not be forced to return home without guarantees of protection.

He met with government officials and some of the estimated 1.2 million people who have been displaced by unrest in the region.

Mr Annan says the situation in Darfur is one of the biggest logistical nightmares the UN has ever faced.

Residents have been forced to flee their homes because of ongoing attacks by Arab militia groups.

The Sudanese Government has denied it is supporting the militias.

Mr Annan is urging the Government to restore order so that families can return to their villages.

Meanwhile, some 10,000 people in Darfur could die of cholera and dysentery in July alone unless a massive aid operation can be set up to helicopter in food and medicines, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

A cholera epidemic could break out within weeks now that heavy rains have begun, striking 200,000 to 300,000 of the displaced people in the troubled Darfur region, a top WHO official told a news briefing.

"We anticipate that if things go ahead as at the moment, 10,000 people will die in the next month," David Nabarro, head of WHO's unit for health action in crises, told a news briefing in Geneva after a trip to Darfur.

"However, if we can get a strong, effective relief operation in place then we can bring that death rate down to less than 3,000 people in the next month," he said.

Dr Nabarro said this could be done by preparing for diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, malaria and other infectious diseases.

By Sally Sara 2 July 04

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