In the heart of Darfur, mass grave and horrifying memories feed fears of new surge in war

MUKJAR, Sudan: Uncovered by a restless wind, skulls and bones poke above the thin dirt in this corner of Darfur, lying surrounded by half-buried, rotting clothes.

A short, bearded man named Ibrahim, 42, scratches through the sand. He is a quiet and serious, close to tears. There are other, bigger grave sites elsewhere, he says, but the bones he is looking at are those of 25 people who he is sure are his friends and fellow villagers.

Some of them were dragged from the prison where he was held and were axed to death, he says.

Ibrahim is showing the burial ground to an Associated Press reporter and photographer, the first Western journalists to visit this remote town in more than a year. The western Sudan is about to enter a new phase in its four-year-old conflict — one that villagers fear may encourage more killing.

Sudan's government recently agreed to let in 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers, a fraction of the 22,000 mandated by the Security Council last August. The deployment could still take months and villagers here fear the government will want to get rid of all witnesses to atrocities before peacekeepers move in.

"We need them to come as fast as possible, because we're all in danger," said Ibrahim. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The tragedy of Darfur - double standards being applied

Why is it that - in contrast to the attention given to the Middle East conflicts - Arab media and politicians are largely ignoring events in Darfur? Moataz El Fegiery and Ridwan Ziyada look for answers

For many people in the Arab world the "humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding in Darfur just doesn't exist - and the simple reason for that is that the Arab media has ignored it. So it's little wonder that there has been no unease or disapproval voiced at the ignorance exhibited by the Arabs on the subject of crimes against humanity in this region of Sudan.

What makes things worse is a suspicion that what we are faced with here is the kind of unscrupulousness that borders on a denial of history; one need only recall the role of some Arabs in the African slave trade.

Let's assume for the moment that Arab governments' displaying a less than clear cut commitment to the human rights issue in Darfur is only to be expected - in fact it is just about the last thing an Arab government is going to place on its list of foreign policy priorities - but what about Arab journalists, intellectuals, political activists and artists? How is their behaviour, particularly those whose job it is raise public awareness of such things on behalf of the United Nations, to be explained?

Turning a blind eye on the Darfur crisis

How can they justify their silence on events in Darfur? No explanation, no honestly expressed shock at what is happening in Darfur has been forthcoming. The only rent in this curtain of silence being the statement of 17 October 2006, when at least some few Arab intellectuals were prepared to express their disapproval of "the silence of the Arab world in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur." Read more >>>

Sudan govt bombs areas in Darfur despite truce

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese government planes bombed Darfur rebel areas on Tuesday despite a declared truce, rebels said.

"The Antonovs bombed our areas of Amrai and Anka," Darfur rebel commander Jar el-Neby told Reuters from North Darfur, near the affected areas.

He said it was not immediately clear whether any civilians were killed but said dozens of cattle died in the bombardment.

An army spokesman denied the bombing. "No Sudanese planes have moved in Darfur or in Chad in the past two days," he said.

Chadian officials on Monday said Sudanese military aircraft had violated Chad's air space.

Experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in four years of rape, pillage and murder in Darfur, which Washington calls genocide. Read more >>>