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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