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!

Arsonists start deadly fires in Australia

KINGLAKE, Australia (CNN) -- New fires blamed on arsonists hit Australia Wednesday as the toll from deadly blazes was likely to rise on the macabre discovery that charred remains initially identified as single bodies were in fact couples fused together by the heat.

I am an arsonist, I am an anarchist? Too soon?

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.

"Slumdog", "Benjamin" win big

Slumdog Millionaire continued its winning ways at this year's BAFTA Awards, snagging seven honors including Best Picture and Director.

The underdog-turned-Oscar favorite also won awards for adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, sound and music, easily trouncing its competition, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which went into the awards ceremony with the same number of nominations as Slumdog (11), but took home only three awards, for production design, make-up/hair and visual effects.

Congratulations to the makers of "That Movie I Didn't See" and "That Other Movie I Didn't See". I care.

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."