Progress for Peace in Darfur

February 17, 2009

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), western Darfur’s most influential rebel group, and the Khartoum government have signed a joint declaration of good intention. Representatives of the two groups have been meeting in Qatar this past week. Sponsors of the meetings include Qatar, the United Nations, African Union and Arab League.
The sponsors say, whereas the agreement is hopeful, the talks are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace. Other rebel factions are refusing to talk to Khartoum and say the peace drive will fall without them.
Fragile as it is, the agreement is a positive first step.
Source: Aljazeera.net/english.

 

A Case Against President Al-Bashir

July 14, 2008

At last, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir may finally face judgment for his crimes. Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, prosecutor at the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, has asked the court for an arrest warrant. It comes three years after the U.N. Security Council requested him to investigate the atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The evidence covering the five years since 2003 has brought 10 charges against President Al-Bashir: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. It is the first time a sitting head of state has been accused of such crimes. Moreno-Ocampo accuses Al-Bashir of both conceiving and implementing a plan to destroy three tribes in Darfur (the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa peoples) who rebelled against the Islamic government for its pattern of bias and marginalization against them. Khartoum then organized a local Arab militia, called the Janjaweed, and carried out a brutal counterinsurgency against civilians that has killed more than 300,000 people and left two and a half million homeless. “His motives were largely political. His alibi was a ‘counterinsurgency’. His intent was genocide,” the Prosecutor said.

Al-Bashir’s government uses rape as a weapon of war against his own people. One victim told of how when the forces surround the camp, “we run. Some of us succeed in getting away, and some are caught and taken to be raped—gang raped. Maybe around 20 men rape one woman. These things happen all the time. . . They rape girls in front of their mothers and fathers.”

The Prosecutor further pointed out the cruel nature of the crimes: “Al-Bashir organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors. He did not need bullets. He used other weapons—rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent.”

One of Sudan’s two vice-presidents denies the allegations, calling them “null and void.” President Al-Bashir points out that Sudan is not a party to the International Court and says it will ignore the announcement.

Although it will take months for any action against Al-Bashir to take place, at least the indictment calls the world’s attention to the genocide he is carrying out in plain view.

NOTORIOUS JANJAWEED ARRESTED

Khartoum, October 24, 2008

The International Court is active again in Sudan. It has just arrested (Oct. 13) a notorious janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhamad Ali Abd-al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb).  He is charged with crimes against humanity in 2007 for planning the attacks in the Darfur region that led to the rape and murder of civilians and the destruction of entire villages.

Whereas previously the Sudanese government ignored orders to extradite Kushayb, its sudden willingness to cooperate suggests that his arrest may have been merely an attempt to ease International pressure on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir who was recently accused of war crimes and genocide in Darfur.

 

Darfur Refugees trapped

February 21, 2008
Between 2,000 and 10,000 refugees, fleeing from Darur, are trapped at the border with Chad. The situation remains unclear because humanitarian workers have had to evacuate the zone. Local rebel commander Abbas Mohamed said a dozen civilians were killed and 20 arrested Tuesday during the latest government attack in the Jebel Moon area in West Darfur. Mohamed accused the government troops and their janjaweed militarian allies of stopping the refugeess and trapping them at the border. The fighting continues.

 

Chad Wants Refugees Out

Chad Wants Refugees Out
(edit this)
February 13, 2008
Nouradin Koumakoye, Prime Minister of Chad, warned Sudan’s government that if the refugees from that country are not transferred elsewhere, he would expel them. He claims that the presence of Darfurian refugees is fomenting violence. He insists they are a destabilizing force, which led to the Chadian rebels recent attack on the capital city. Over the weekend 12,000 more refugees fled to Chad following an attack on their villages in Darfur.

Commander in Chad of the EU force, Brig. Gen. Jean-Phillippe Ganascia, said that had the EU peacekeepers been in place, they would not have intervened in Chad’s internal conflict. He hoped the initial units would arrive by the end of February and the entire force within three months.

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Some Background

Only recently have Americans heard much about the country of Sudan in far away Africa. We get a few images on nightly news about the horrible conditions in the refugee camps where Darfurians have fled from their burned villages and where they are continually attacked raped and starved.

But during the civil war in that country (1983-2005) the coverage was near nil. In 1990 during the First Gulf War, Sudan was totally blocked out. Their government did not back the U.S.

During that first civil war, atrocities beyond belief were happening while most of the rest of the world went merrily shopping and keeping up with their favorite sports teams. Over 2 million died and thousands more were displaced.

In a nutshell, the Black, Christian and Animist South rebelled against the Arabic, Muslim government’s oppression in the North out of the capitol in Khartoum. They sought to restrict religious freedom, enforce Islamic sharia laws, deny education, refuse to share the wealth, and even attempt to move the North/South dividing line to place the newly discovered oil fields into the North.

To help move southern Sudanese off this oil rich land, the government enlisted the help of the Darfurians (Baggara tribes) who were black like the Southerners, but Muslim like the Arabic Northerners. They armed them with guns, tanks and horses. “You don’t want to be ruled over by infidels, do you?” they were told.