Beyond Darfur

By ANDREW S. NATSIOS

Few international issues have caught the attention of the American people as much as have the atrocities in Darfur. The Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias, an Arab supremacist movement, have been carrying out a horrifying campaign of ethnic cleansing against African tribes.
Some 2,700 villages have been destroyed, and as a result of the violence and the related starvation and disease, some 250,000 Sudanese have died, most in 2003 and 2004, and another two million have fled to refugee camps. The Bush administration has called these atrocities a genocide. U.S. human rights organizations, U.S. religious institutions, and a burgeoning U.S. student movement have organized a national campaign to ensure that policymakers in Washington do not overlook the crisis. Both the Democratic and the Republican candidates for president have put Darfur on their foreign policy agendas. Read more >>>>>>>>>>

'Whole state' behind Darfur crime

The "whole state apparatus" of Sudan is implicated in crimes against humanity in Darfur, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo's report into the crisis in western Sudan, due on Thursday, coincides with a visit to the region by the UN Security Council.

Sudan's ambassador to the UN said the comments were "fictitious and vicious" and harmful to the prospects of peace.

The UN ambassadors are in the country to try to end the conflict.

In the report on the situation in Sudan, to be delivered to the UN Security Council, Mr Moreno-Ocampo repeats his earlier call for the council to demand that Sudan hand over two men who face charges of crimes against humanity. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>

'Nog steeds geweld tegen burgers Darfur '

DEN HAAG - Het geweld tegen burgers in de Sudanese regio Darfur gaat door. „Vrouwen worden verkracht, scholen worden gebombardeerd”, aldus hoofdaanklager Luis Moreno Ocampo van het Internationaal Strafhof (ICC) in een maandag uitgegeven verklaring. „De mensen in Darfur worden aangevallen in hun dorpen en hun kampen.”

De VN-Veiligheidsraad vroeg de Argentijn in 2005 onderzoek te doen naar oorlogsmisdaden in Darfur, nadat berichten waren binnengekomen over zo'n 200.000 doden door etnisch geweld. Vooral de zwarte burgerbevolking van Darfur moest het ontgelden bij gewapende aanvallen van Arabische Janjaweed-milities, die volgens veel waarnemers door de regering in Khartum worden gesteund.

In april 2007 vaardigde het ICC een arrestatiebevel uit tegen Ahmed Haroun en tegen Ali Kushayb, een leider van de beruchte Janjaweed. Haroun is nog steeds minister in de regering van Sudan. Lees meer >>>>>>>>>>>>

Pronk roept op tot opstand in Darfur

Jan Pronk ziet voorlopig geen uitweg in het conflict in Darfur. Dit verkondigde de oud VN-gezant tijdens een debat dat het Centrum voor Holocaust- en Genocidestudies donderdag 29 mei organiseerde in de Noorderkerk.

Tijdens het debat stond de vraag centraal of er sprake is van genocide in het gebied, maar volgens Pronk is die vraag van ondergeschikt belang in de discussie: ‘De VN hebben de plicht om een kwetsbare burgerbevolking te beschermen tegen een gewelddadig regime dus is de vraag van genocide eigenlijk niet zo relevant.’


Begin 2005 stelde een door de VN ingestelde onderzoekscommissie vast dat er géén sprake was van genocide door de Soedanese regering, maar dat wat er wel gaande was, minstens zo erg was. De combinatie van deze constatering met rapportages van de Arabische Liga die wél duiden op het uitroeien van een bevolkingsgroep was in juli 2007 reden voor de VN om een internationale troepenmacht te installeren in Darfur, maar die installatie wil niet erg vlotten volgens Pronk: ‘Er zouden 26.000 man worden geleverd, het zijn er nu nog geen 9000. Bovendien saboteert de regering in Khartoem de vredesmacht op alle mogelijke manieren.’ lees meer >>>>>>

Jongeren voor Darfur

Armed Men Ambush Peacekeepers Serving With UN Force in Darfur

A Nigerian battalion serving with the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has been ambushed by dozens of men armed with machine guns, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the mission reported today.

About 50 to 60 armed men on horseback, dressed in military camouflage, ambushed the battalion yesterday afternoon along the new airport road near El Geneina in West Darfur state. They stole rifles, ammunition, telephones and cash.

The ambush occurred as the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) warned that continuing attacks on the staff and assets of aid agencies working in Darfur are threatening humanitarian access and worsening the already perilous conditions faced by many locals.

The hijacking of the North Darfur State Water Corporation's drilling rig by an armed group in March, for example, has meant that as many as 180,000 people may not have access to clean water this year. Read more >>>>>>

Darfur: ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics Warrant UN Sanctions

Darfur: ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics Warrant UN Sanctions
Government Attacks Show Civilians Need Greater International Protection

WASHINGTON, DC - May 19 - The United Nations Security Council should impose targeted sanctions on Sudanese officials responsible for attacks against civilians in West Darfur in February 2008, said Human Rights Watch in a new report released today. Following an attack by Darfur rebels on Khartoum on May 10, 2008, Human Rights Watch also expressed concern about possible government reprisals against civilians in West Darfur.

The 35-page report, “‘They Shot at Us as We Fled’: Government Attacks on Civilians in West Darfur in February 2008,” documents how attacks on several towns in West Darfur’s “northern corridor” were a vicious reprise of Khartoum’s “scorched earth” counterinsurgency tactics. The report, based on interviews with more than 60 witnesses and victims of the attacks in West Darfur, shows how Sudanese armed forces and government-backed “Janjaweed” militia killed and injured hundreds of civilians and destroyed and looted property. The attacks occurred on February 8, 18, 19 and 22 in the towns of Abu Suruj, Sirba, Silea, and in the villages in and around Jebel Mun, a mountainous rebel-held area in northern West Darfur.

“The destruction of town after town in West Darfur shows that Khartoum has no qualms about committing the same atrocities that we saw earlier in the Darfur conflict,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “With no rebels to attack, army forces and ‘Janjaweed’ brutally targeted civilians and their property.”

Human Rights Watch said that Khartoum’s continuing violations of international law highlight the urgent need for the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) to be fully deployed, equipped and trained to effectively protect civilians where they are most at risk. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>