Row deepens over Sudan atrocities.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Row deepens over Sudan atrocities.
12
Fri, 04-23-2004 - 9:57am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652521.stm


A controversial debate at the United Nations Human Rights Commission is due to resume over abuses in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.


There has been an outcry over a leaked UN report which describes the actions of government-backed militias against non-Arabs as "crimes against humanity".

The report's release was delayed amid efforts to water down a resolution.

A UN mission is due to travel to Darfur later on Friday to investigate allegations of atrocities there.


The UN says more than 10,000 people have been killed and over one million displaced over the past year as a result of conflict in Darfur.

Rift

Two separate resolutions are being considered by the 53-member Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.







Map of Sudan



A draft resolution by the European Union refers to "the grave violation of human rights", including "the widespread recourse to rape and other forms of sexual violence, including against children, as a means of warfare."

The proposal urges an end to the violence and the appointment of a special UN expert to monitor the situation.

But a more softly-worded statement on Sudan has been proposed on Thursday by the chairperson, which drew condemnation from United States and human rights groups.

"Ten years from today the only thing that will be remembered about the 60th Commission on Human Rights is whether we stand up on the ethnic cleansing going on in Sudan," US delegation head Richard Williamson told AFP news agency.


Report

Human rights campaigners expressed outrage on Thursday that the leaked United Nations report was being withheld from the UN debate.

The report, seen by the BBC, details claims of rape, looting and killing by militias with government help.

The report says the atrocities in Darfur "may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity".

It was compiled by a UN team of experts who visited Chad to speak to refugees from the conflict.

The report has been delayed until they complete their investigation, but human rights groups are accusing Sudan of a ploy to prevent evidence of atrocities coming under discussion.

Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch told BBC News Online: "The Sudanese government is playing games with the international community, trying to delay the day of reckoning and prevent any systematic monitoring of its atrocities in Darfur."

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes says the fact that the commission will not see the UN report is another blow to its credibility, after claims that it has bowed to political pressure from member states.

The UN secretary general himself has talked of his sense of forboding over the situation in Darfur, drawing parallels with the situation before the Rwandan genocide.


Talks

Meanwhile, talks aimed at ending the fighting are reported to have made little progress.

One of the rebel groups involved in the negotiations, the Justice and Equality Movement, has accused the Sudanese government of trying to disrupt the talks by continuing attacks on civilians in Darfur.

The other rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Movement, says the government and its allies have killed 160 civilians since a ceasefire was declared two weeks ago.

A BBC correspondent at the talks in neighbouring Chad says that as the negotiations falter, the humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating further, and those fleeing the fighting are continuing to cross the border to Chad.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sat, 04-24-2004 - 12:15pm
UN criticism of Sudan 'watered down'

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=514689


Sudan escaped condemnation by the United Nations over allegations of ethnic cleansing yesterday after European nations agreed to water down their criticism of the Khartoum government.


The US delegation was so outraged by the outcome, in the final hour of the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission, that it demanded an emergency session to hold Sudan to account. "We must stand up and be strong, condemning unconscionable acts," said Richard Williamson, the US ambassador, after the commission voted 50-1, with two abstentions, to express concern about the situation in the Darfur region of western Sudan.


But, after hours of negotiations between European and African states, the statement that was adopted stopped short of a formal condemnation of Sudan. "The commission has failed to meet its responsibilities today," Mr Williamson said, after casting the single vote against the motion.


According to a UN report leaked to The Independent, which was not considered by the commission because of delaying tactics by Khartoum, Sudanese forces have been conducting a scorched earth policy against civilians in what may amount to "crimes against humanity".


More than one million people have been displaced inside Sudan, and another 110,000 have crossed into eastern Chad to avoid the crackdown against farming tribesmen by Arab militias backed by the Muslim central government, the United Nations says.


The UN team based its report on interviews with refugees who have fled to neighbouring Chad after being refused entry by the Khartoum government. In a cynical move condemned by human rights organisations, the Sudanese allowed the team into the country this week. They were unable therefore to report back to the Human Rights Commission before the end of the session yesterday.


Mr Williamson challenged the top UN human rights body to meet again in emergency session once the UN investigators report back. European diplomats expressed unhappiness with the final document but said that it was the only option to win support of African nations. They normally vote as a bloc and had been expected to defend Sudan from being singled out for condemnation. "The Europeans folded. They messed in up in the negotiations with the Sudanese government," said Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch.


Human Rights Watch yesterday issued new charges against the Sudanese government, alleging that the pro-government militias executed 136 men in a coordinated operation last month. "The Janjaweed are no longer simply militias supported by the Sudanese government," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "These militias work in unison with government troops, with total impunity for their massive crimes."


President Omar el-Bashir has denied the militias are backed by his government but his regime has not responded to the latest charges. Sudan had been hoping for an improvement in its relations with Western countries after negotiations with rebels in southern Sudan to end a long-running civil war appeared to be bearing fruit.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 07-06-2004 - 10:41am
Annan warns of Sudan catastrophe.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 07-06-2004 - 11:03am

This whole situation in Sudan has been going on for so long...I just hope that some agreement can be reached.



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 07-06-2004 - 11:53am
I'm thoroughly disgusted with the slow response to the aweful plight of these black muslims. This is about race not about religion.

 


Photobucket&nbs

Avatar for car_al
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Wed, 07-07-2004 - 9:07am
Nicholas Kristof has been writing about this in the NYT. I found the first paragraph from his June 26th column to be sadly true.

C

Dithering as Others Die

June 26, 2004

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

ALONG THE SUDAN-CHAD BORDER - The ongoing genocide in Darfur is finally, fortunately, making us uncomfortable. At this rate, with only 250,000 more deaths it will achieve the gravitas of the Laci Peterson case.

Hats off to Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, who are both traveling in the next few days to Darfur. But the world has dithered for months already. Unless those trips signal a new resolve, many of the Darfur children I've been writing about over the last few months will have survived the Janjaweed militia only to die now of hunger or diarrhea.

I've had e-mail from readers who are horrified by the slaughter, but who also feel that Africa is always a mess and that there's not much we can do. So let me address the cynics.

Look, I'm sure it's terrible in Darfur. But lots of places are horrific, and we can't help everyone. Why obsess about Sudan?

The U.N. describes Darfur as the No. 1 humanitarian crisis in the world today. The U.S. Agency for International Development estimates that at best 320,000 more people will still die of hunger and disease this year - or

significantly more if we continue to do nothing.

Moreover, apart from our obligation to act under the Genocide Convention, acquiescence only encourages more genocide - hence the question attributed to Hitler, "Who today remembers the Armenian extermination?"

Haven't we invaded enough Muslim countries?

The U.S. is not going to invade Sudan. That's not a plausible option.

But we can pass a tough U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing troops, as well as more support for African peacekeepers. If Germany, France and Spain don't want to send troops to Iraq, then let them deploy in Darfur. And we must publicly condemn the genocide.

What good is a speech in the U.N.? Why would Sudan listen?

Governments tend to be embarrassed about exterminating minorities. In Sudan, a bit of publicity about Darfur coupled with a written statement from President Bush led Sudan to agree to a cease-fire in April and to improve access for aid agencies. More publicity prompted it to promise to disband the Janjaweed raiders.

Sudan lies and wriggles out of its promises, but its genocide is still calibrated to the international reaction. Likewise, it is still denying visas and blocking supplies for emergency relief, but pressure has led it to improve

access.

So, Mr. Bush, if a single written statement will do so much good, why won't you let the word "Darfur" pass your lips? Why the passivity in the face of evil? You could save tens of thousands of lives by making a forceful speech about Darfur. Conversely, your refusal to do so is costing tens

of thousands of lives.

If the Sudanese were notorious pirates of American videotapes, if they were sheltering Mullah Omar, you'd be all over them. So why not stand up just as forcefully to genocide?

Mr. Bush seems proud of his "moral clarity," his willingness to recognize evil and bluntly describe it as such. Well, Darfur reeks of evil, and we are allowing it to continue.

What can ordinary Americans do?

Yell! Mr. Bush and John Kerry have been passive about Darfur because voters are. If citizens contact the White House or their elected representatives and demand action, our leaders will be happy to follow.

Readers can also contribute to one of the many aid agencies saving lives in Darfur. (I've listed some at www.nytimes.com/kristofresponds, Posting 489.)

Be realistic. We don't have our national interest at stake in Darfur.

But we do. Sudan's chaos is destabilizing surrounding countries, especially Chad, which is an increasing source of oil for us. Moreover, when states collapse into chaos, they become staging grounds for terrorism and for diseases like ebola and polio (both have broken out recently in Sudan).

In any case, America is a nation that has values as well as interests. We betrayed those values when we ignored past genocides, and we are betraying them again now.

In my last three columns, I wrote about Magboula Muhammad Khattar, a 24-year-old woman struggling to keep her children alive since her parents and husband were killed by the Janjaweed. Each time I visited the tree she lives under, she shared with me the only things she had to offer: a smile and a bowl of brackish water.

Is a cold shoulder all we have to offer in return?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/opinion/26KRIS.html?ex=1089278912&ei=1&en=2b238dd991

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 07-07-2004 - 10:41am

You can see the first I posted about this was in April. I watch BBC news & they've been reporting on the situation in Darfur for sometime now. BBC was conducting secret interviews in the camps with the victims of rape & severe cruelty. They had no water/food in the camps, so at night women were sneaking out to acquire some & if caught were gang raped & often left naked & close to death.


Why has it taken the UN so long to act? Drives me crazy!


"only 250,000 more deaths it will achieve the gravitas of the Laci Peterson case."


The press in this country are very much to blame. With all this

 


Photobucket&nbs

Avatar for car_al
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 07-08-2004 - 5:08am
Danforth Moves Swiftly on Sudan

Wednesday, July 7, 2004 Posted: 7:44 PM EDT (2344 GMT)

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- On his first day as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth demanded the Sudanese government act to improve the situation in the strife-torn Darfur region.

Danforth warned that "the government of Sudan is clearly on a short leash."

Fighting between Arab and African tribes in the western Sudan region has killed at least 70 people and displaced thousands more this week, a member of parliament for the area said Wednesday. ( Full story )

Danforth said the United States would watch closely to see if the Sudanese would follow through on recent agreements with the United Nations on Darfur.

The former U.S. envoy to Sudan hinted U.N. sanctions could be imposed if the Sudanese government does not act to stop attacks on civilians in that region.

The U.N. Security Council is currently considering a U.S. proposed resolution that would impose travel and arms sanctions on the Janjaweed militia.

The current draft also gives the council 30 days to decide to expand sanctions to the Sudanese government or other groups if there is no action.

Danforth called the situation a "matter of urgency" and said the United States would be watching for action by the Sudanese government "this week."

Danforth added, "we're wondering if the government of Sudan is just using more words, more promises with a view that delay means more death."

Negotiations on the draft resolution are to resume Thursday afternoon, but no date has been set for a resolution vote.

Sudan has long been wracked by a civil war, and the conflict in Darfur exploded last year when rebels attacked government property, accusing the government of neglecting mostly black Darfur in favor of the country's Arab population.

The government responded by setting up Arab militias, the Janjaweed, to put down the rebellion. The Sudanese government and the militias are fighting two rebel groups, the United Nations says.

The Janjaweed militias, however, are accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign to kill or expel black Africans from the vast and remote section of the country.

Danforth spoke after a closed-door council meeting in which U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told members that pressure should be maintained on the government of Sudan to end the crisis in the Darfur region, and encouraged council members to move forward on a resolution.

Annan, briefing via videophone from Nairobi, also said there was urgent need for funding for humanitarian aid as well as helicopters and other non-food items.

The U.N. says $350 million is needed to get humanitarian supplies to the more than 1.2-million displaced people scattered in camps throughout Darfur and 150,000 refugees in Chad.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland said Wednesday that the U.N. has received only about a third of what it needs. "This is not a Christmas wish," but urgently needed money for basic aid, he said. Lack of resources was becoming a more serious constraint than restrictions on access from the Sudanese government, he said.

Annan told the council that, in his talks with Sudanese refugees in Sudan and Chad, he heard similar stories on why they fled and added that "every one of them expressed extreme distrust of both government troops and Arab militias, particularly the Janjaweed."

Annan said, "They told me of ground attacks by the army and the militias. They told me how these operations were followed by horrendous clean-up attacks by the Janjaweed, replete with killing, plundering, burning and widespread rape."

There are concerns that the crisis in Darfur has created tensions between Sudan and its neighbor Chad. Annan told the council that President Idris Deby of Chad was "deeply concerned" that the fighting in the Darfur region could spill over into his country.

"He was particularly concerned by the incursions of the Janjaweed into Chadian territory to attack fleeing refugees and the Chadian communities there," Annan said.

Annan visited refugee camps in Sudan and Chad between June 29 and July 3 and got promises from Sudanese officials to provide security for refugees and speed relief to Darfur.

According to the agreement, the Sudanese government will send in additional troops to Darfur "immediately," will disarm the Janjaweed militia and will deploy a "strong, credible and respected police force" to protect refugees from attack from militias.

The government also agreed to suspend for a 90-day "emergency" period all visa and travel restrictions on international humanitarian workers.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/07/07/sudan.danforth/index.html

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 07-19-2004 - 8:20am
Rape 'a weapon' in Sudan war.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 07-26-2004 - 8:48am
Sudan's cruel and slow starvation.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 07-26-2004 - 8:55am
UK aid flight arrives in Sudan.


 


Photobucket&nbs

Pages