Darfur update

From TIME...

If the prognosticators are correct, the International Criminal Court will issue its first arrest warrant for a sitting head of state on Wednesday afternoon. That's when the court will announce whether Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir ought to be brought to trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role in orchestrating the Darfur conflict. Regardless of what one makes of the idea of international justice, the arrest warrant, if it comes, will be a historic move that many human rights experts believe will further erode that sense of impunity shared by dictators the world over.

As a result, it is perhaps no surprise that Sudanese officials have become more bellicose about the prospect of an arrest warrant.

Lots of Darfur updates

I'm still in a certain mindset...as soon as I saw this story I went to post it on my blog...only to start typing "wak" in the URL box. Though they could use *my* sense of news judgment.

TRIPOLI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the current African Union president, on Tuesday accused "foreign forces" including Israel of being behind the Darfur conflict.

Huh?

Judges from the International Criminal Court are due to announce on March 4 whether they will issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. U.N. diplomats have told Reuters the warrant will be issued.

But Gaddafi, addressing a meeting on ways to expand cooperation between the United Nations and African Union, urged the Court to stop its proceedings against Bashir:

"Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv (Israel), for example, is behind the Darfur crisis?"

Gaddafi suggested, without presenting any evidence, that the Israeli military was among those stoking the conflict:

"It is not a secret. We have found evidence proving clearly that foreign forces are behind the Darfur problem and are fanning its fire," Gaddafi said, according to the Libyan state news agency Jana.

"We discovered that some of the main leaders of the Darfur rebels have opened offices in Tel Aviv and hold meetings with the military there to add fuel to the conflict fire."

Not sure what to make of this. I understand why the US hasn't gotten involved much, and why China hasn't intervened, but I have no idea what Israel has to gain from this genocide. Somebody enlighten me, because I'm skeptical of Gaddafi.
Good to see that the President and Vice President are showing concern. From BostonHerald.com...

The country’s economy is in shambles, but President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden found the time the other night to meet privately with George Clooney to discuss Darfur.

Gotta put Clooney here to make up for the bikini post.
Also good to see that negotiations to end the fighting are still going on.

CAIRO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will pay a visit to Egypt on Sunday for consultations with Egyptian leaders on means of ending the prolonged Darfur crisis, a diplomatic source said Saturday.
During the visit, al-Bashir is expected to have talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday on various issues that include both the Darfur crisis and bilateral relations, said the source who declined to give his name.

Darfur update

DOHA (AFP) — Sudan and the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement are close to signing a "trust building and good intentions" draft document, the JEM spokesman said in Qatar on Saturday.

WHAT?!? Turns out the government and rebels have been negotiating over the last week. Read the rest.

Darfur update

From Al Jazeera English...

Khalil Ibrahim, leader of Sudan's rebel movement in Darfur, has said that his group wants a "credible peace agreement" with the government to end the conflict there.

Sounds fair enough. Too bad the government doesn't seem to want to cooperate.

Darfur update

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Darfur rebels and Sudan government officials exchanged blame for undermining three-day-old peace talks, which were overshadowed Thursday by fighting over a Darfur town and the prospect of an imminent international arrest warrant against Sudan's president for alleged war crimes.

The talks hosted by Qatar are the first such one-on-one meeting between the Sudanese government and Darfur's strongest group of ethnic African rebels, the Justice and Equality Movement. It was also the first round of peace talks between any rebels and the government since the last negotiations foundered in 2007.

Other Darfur rebel groups are not attending the talks, which began Tuesday with the aim of sealing a cease-fire and setting a framework for negotiations on a peace deal. Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been forced from their homes in Darfur's war, which began after rebel groups complaining of discrimination and neglect took up arms against the Arab-led government in 2003.

But the talks were shaken Thursday by reports that the Hague-based International Criminal Court will soon issue a warrant against President Omar al-Bashir, whom court prosecutors accuse of war crimes for allegedly masterminding genocide against Darfur's ethnic Africans.

So much for peace. Six more years! Six more years!

Darfur update

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels accused Sudanese government forces on Wednesday of advancing towards their positions and undermining peace talks that began in Qatar a day earlier.

*slaps forehead* Way to miss the point of peace talks.

Darfur update

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Sudanese army recaptured a town in the western region of Darfur three weeks after rebel forces overran pro-government forces in the area, the state-run Sudan News Agency reported, citing a military spokesman.

Aerial bombardments and ground fire around the town of Muhajiriya, which is 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the South Darfur state capital, Nyala, had threatened as many as 30,000 civilians in the area, the United Nations said. The UN-backed peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as Unamid, yesterday said an aircraft dropped three bombs close to its camp in the town.

One government soldier died and nine were wounded in the recapture of Muhajiriya, Sudanese army spokesman Brigadier Osman Mohamed Al-Aghbash said in a statement yesterday, according to SUNA.

I have tons of respect for Ban Ki-Moon.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Feb. 2 urged Sudan’s government and rebels to halt fighting in the area.

Darfur update

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The United States is "gravely concerned" about Sudanese bombing raids on a Darfur town where government forces and rebels have clashed recently, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

U.N. officials have said that at least 30 people had died and thousands forced to flee in more than two weeks of fighting between Sudanese government troops, rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement and other fighters in and around the south Darfur settlement of Muhajiriya.

"The United States is gravely concerned by reports of intense aerial bombardment," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Darfur and other issues.

Is it just me or is the US getting a little more involved in Darfur?

Darfur update

KHARTOUM, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Sudanese planes bombed close to a rebel-held town in Darfur on Monday after the government asked peacekeepers to leave ahead of a planned assault, the international force said.

Thousands of civilians took shelter around a base run by the joint U.N./African Union force in the south Darfur town of Muhajiriya, a spokesman for the peacekeepers said.

UNAMID said Khartoum asked peacekeepers to withdraw on Sunday because the army was preparing to take the town back from Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels, who seized it last month.

"But we are not going to leave while there are thousands of displaced people around our camp," UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni said. "The Sudanese government should be aware that their actions are endangering civilians and UNAMID."

"Permission to keep the peace?"
"Permission not granted."
"Damn. This peacekeeping operation really isn't as strong as it ought to be."

AU official seeks negotiated Darfur peace

From Angop...

Addis Ababa - The African Union (AU) will press for a negotiated peace settlement in the troubled Darfur region in western Sudan, rather than back the warrants of arrest slapped on the Sudanese President Hassan el-Bashir and others accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the AU Commission (AUC) Deputy Chairperson, Mr Erastus Mwencha, said in an exclusive interview with PANA here Friday.

Sounds like a good idea on paper.

Darfur update

Now Chad's getting involved...

KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudan on Thursday accused Chad of sending troops across their border to deliver supplies to a rebel group in the war-torn Darfur region.

Darfur update

Minni Minnawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Army's largest faction.
9,000 in just these two weeks?!?

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- More than 9,000 people have been displaced in Sudan’s Darfur region as a result of aerial bombing and fighting in the past two weeks, the United Nations said.

Sudanese government aircraft have been bombing rebel positions near the northern state capital of El-Fasher and the southern town of Muhajiriya for the past few days, the UN-led peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Unamid, said in statements. Ground battles between government forces and rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement have also taken place in both locations, it said.

“The security situation in Darfur remains tense,” Unamid said in an e-mailed statement today. “The Unamid camps in Gereda and Muhajiriya, South Darfur, continue to face an increase in the number of civilians seeking refuge as a result of recent clashes.”

The UN says that as many as 300,000 people have died in the region in the past six years, mainly through disease and malnutrition, while violence has forced 3 million more to flee their homes. The government puts the death toll at about 10,000.

In the town of Muhajiriya, 3,000 people have gathered around the peacekeeping base seeking shelter and protection, Unamid said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. About 2,000 people fled their homes and have arrived in El-Fasher and in other places along the border between North and South Darfur states, according to Zeljko Nikolich of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Another 4,000 are on their way, he said by phone from El-Fasher yesterday. Nikolich said OCHA received the figures in reports that could not be verified.

Gained Territory

JEM claims to have made gains in the Darfur area since a battle in Muhajiriya on Jan. 15, after a battle which dislodged a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Minnawi.

Darfur update

Ahmed Tugod, JEM's chief negotiator.
The Darfur situation's been escalating for a while, and both sides are making gains...

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region said they have taken control of two southern towns while the United Nations reported that the government resumed aerial bombardments in the north.
The Justice and Equality Movement, the most powerful rebel faction in Darfur, said today its fighters captured the towns of Sheiria and Khazan Djedid after clashes with government forces 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Muhajiriya, which the rebels occupied this month.

Darfur update

From BBC NEWS...

The Sudanese military has launched an air and ground assault on insurgents' positions in South Darfur, according to a rebel group.

Here's the really disgusting part of this article...

The UN says up to 300,000 people in Darfur have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced since the uprising against Sudan's Arab-dominated government started in February 2003.

Khartoum says just 10,000 have died. It says the scale of the suffering has been exaggerated for political reasons.

Darfur update

KHARTOUM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Sudanese government planes bombed a key town in south Darfur on Saturday, a week after its seizure by Darfuri JEM rebels, peacekeepers and insurgents said.

The full article has lots of info about the Darfur War's current status, lots of numbers and such. But yeah, this sucks.

Darfur update

From the AFP...

GENEVA (AFP) — Sudanese forces broke international law when they opened fire on a group of displaced people in Darfur last August, killing 33 of them, including women and children, a UN investigation concluded Friday.

"Government security forces committed violations of international human rights law against the civilian population of Kalma IDP camp," the joint investigation by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN-African peacekeeping mission in Darfur said.

"It was established that the security forces used lethal force in an unnecessary, disproportionate and therefore unlawful manner," it added.

Still no word on if the ICC will arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes against humanity.