W. Mass. Darfur Coalition-WMDC

SDO and GINet: United to End Genocide

2011-09-21T12:53:00.005-05:00

We received this good news from Save darfur and Genocide Intervention Net today
mohamed elgadi
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Dear Friends,

As you know, Save Darfur Coalition and Genocide Intervention merged several months ago to create a more powerful organization dedicated to preventing and ending genocide and mass atrocities worldwide. Today, we have a new name to reflect our expanded mission: we are now United to End Genocide.
We’ve created a short video to help tell our story – please take a look!

The Save Darfur Coalition and Genocide Intervention Network were at the forefront of the historic movement to demand an end to genocide in Darfur. For the first time, elected leaders took action to stop genocide — because millions of people took a stand and spoke out in one voice, demanding action.
We have become United to End Genocide because the power of our shared voice and action is needed now more than ever. Too many people in Darfur – and now in Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile State – are still suffering at the hands of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president and architect of the Darfur genocide. And too many people everywhere — in Libya and Syria, in the Cote d’Ivoire and Burma — need to know that the United States and other nations will act to stop atrocities and prevent genocide.

In the next decade, our challenge is to create a permanent voice – a sustainable movement – of grassroots leaders and activists, students and genocide survivors, faith leaders and policy experts that can change the way our country and others prioritize and act on our responsibility to protect anyone, anywhere, who is threatened by genocide or mass atrocities.

This is an exciting moment in our evolution. Thank you for your ongoing interest and support of our mission to end genocide and to protect civilians anywhere mass atrocities take place.

Best regards,

Tom Andrews
President, United to End Genocide
http://www.endgenocide.org/

P.S. I hope to see many of you October 22-23 at our Summit in Washington, D.C.

Obama on the fight in Abyei

2011-06-22T21:46:00.003-05:00

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 22, 2011

Statement from the President on Sudan

On Monday, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to reduce tensions in Abyei and allow UN peacekeepers from Ethiopia into the region. I commend the parties for taking this step forward toward peace, and I urge them now to build on that progress and agree to an immediate cease fire in Southern Kordofan. Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, both parties committed to resolve their differences peacefully, and both parties have a responsibility to end the current violence and allow immediate humanitarian access to desperate people who have been driven from their homes and are now cut off from outside help.

The situation in Southern Kordofan is dire, with deeply disturbing reports of attacks based on ethnicity. The United States condemns all acts of violence, in particular the Sudanese Armed Forces aerial bombardment of civilians and harassment and intimidation of UN peacekeepers. With a ceasefire in Southern Kordofan, alongside the agreement to deploy peacekeepers to Abyei, we can get the peace process back on track. But without these actions, the roadmap for better relations with the Government of Sudan cannot be carried forward, which will only deepen Sudan’s isolation in the international community. Without a cease-fire and political negotiations, the people of Southern Kordofan cannot enjoy the right to have their political grievances addressed. The negotiations now under way in Addis Ababa demand the urgent commitment from both sides to peace and to the agreement for immediate help to those civilians caught up in this conflict.

New Book on Darfur

2011-04-17T16:20:00.004-05:00

Source: Cornell Press

DARFUR AND THE CRISIS OF GOVERNANCE IN SUDAN A Critical Reader

Salah M. Hassan (Editor); Carina E. Ray (Editor); Andreas Eshete (Foreword)

Published in collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund Library $39.95s paper 2009, 524 pages, 6.75 x 8.625, 38 color illustrations, 2 maps

The ongoing conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has received unprecedented attention from the international media and human rights organizations, and it has captured the attention of millions of people around the world. Those seeking to learn about the conflict, as well as those who have reported on it, often rely on information produced by the various organizations that are addressing the humanitarian crises spawned by the conflict. In turn, most coverage of the Darfur crisis provides only a cursory understanding of the historical, economic, political, sociological, and environmental factors that contribute to the conflict. Moreover, the perspectives of the people of Darfur and the Sudan have not been adequately heard. As a result, Sudanese civil society's active engagement in resolving the country's problems goes unrecognized. Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan remedies this situation by bringing together a diverse group of contributors from Sudan and beyond—scholars, activists, NGO and aid workers, members of government and the Darfurian rebel movements, and artists—who share a deep knowledge of the situation in Darfur and Sudan. Together, they provide the most comprehensive, balanced, and nuanced account yet published of the conflict's roots and the contemporary realities that shape the experiences of those living in the region. The cross-disciplinary dialogue fostered by Salah M. Hassan and Carina E. Ray yields a comprehensive understanding of the causes, manifestations, and implications of the ongoing conflict. Many of the contributors emphasize that despite the international attention Darfur has received, it is those within Darfur and Sudan—both in preexisting organizations and in newly formed alliances—who have taken the lead in seeking local solutions. This book features a portfolio of affecting full-color photographs of daily life in Darfur by the acclaimed photographer Issam A. Abdelhafiez and, significantly, an extensive appendix of official local and international documents about the conflict—laws, decrees, resolutions, reports, and governmental statements—that have shaped both the crisis and its global perception. Collected here for the first time, these documents are invaluable as primary sources for researchers, students, activists, NGOs, and anyone else trying to understand the complexities of the crisis. Contributors: Issam A. Abdel Hafiez; Musa Adam Abdul-Jalil; Abaker Mohamed Abuelbashar; Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf; Eric Kofi Acree; Ali B. Ali Dinar; Munzoul A.M. Assal; Alex de Waal; Atta El-Battahani; Kamal El-Gizouli; Abdel Monim Elgak; Abdullahi Osman El-Tom; Grant Farred; Adrienne Fricke; Fahima A. Hashim; Salah M. Hassan; Amira Khair; Mansour Khalid; Mahmood Mamdani; Carina E. Ray; Karin Willemse; Benaiah Yongo-Bure; Al-Tayib Zain Al-Abdin

Women Activists Detained in Sudan

2011-03-08T20:21:00.003-05:00

"Today, during International Women’s Day, we must remember that women in Sudan are being persecuted for pursuing human rights. More than 60 women were peacefully protesting in Omdurman today, March 8th, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The expected turnout was anticipated to be higher, but the arrests began when the women started demonstrating which deterred a larger gathering. More than 40 women were detained. Half of the women have been released but the rest are awaiting discharge. The protests were against women's discrimination and the repression of activists in Sudan as well as in response to the rape of Safia Ishag on February 13th."

This is an excerpt from the Press Release issued today by Smith STAND to highlight the crisis in Sudan.

The police brutality was reported by Reuters here:
"Within 10 minutes officers bundled 30 of the women into the back of a truck. When the women continued to protest inside the vehicle, officers entered and beat some of them with batons, said the witness."

Finally: UN to Protect Civilians

2011-02-20T00:23:00.002-05:00

UN-African peacekeepers to set up quick reaction force to protect civilians

16 February 2011 – The United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has significantly stepped up its patrols in the strife-torn region of Sudan where there was a recent resurgence of violence and is setting up a quick reaction force to help protect civilians.
“I am deeply concerned about these renewed clashes and have since made strong appeals to the parties to cease further hostilities in the interest of ongoing peace efforts and the safety of the people of Darfur,” UN-AU Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari told a news conference in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Renewed fighting in January has driven some 43,000 people from their homes, according to UNAMID, the more than 20,000-strong uniformed force set up in 2008 to help end a war between the Government, backed by its militia allies, and various rebel groups, which has killed at least 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million others since it erupted in 2003.

“UNAMID patrols have increased from 90 to 130 military and police patrols daily with additional surge capacity when required,” Mr. Gambari said, noting that between 1 January and 10 February over 6,000 patrols were conducted, mostly to deter armed violence against civilians.

UNAMID is also expanding and upgrading Teams Sites to extend its protection cover to larger parts of Darfur. “Because we cannot be everywhere every time, I have instructed the Joint Operations Centre in UNAMID to set up a quick reaction force in order to assist civilians who are under imminent threat.”

Doha Conference resumes

2011-02-20T00:11:00.003-05:00

Feb 18, 2011, 08:58

مستقبل السلام في دارفور علي طاولة المفاوضات في الدوحة

تفاؤل في الوساطة ..ومهلة من الحكومة .. والحركات تواصل اتهاماتها.

القاهرة " أفريقيا اليوم " صباح موسى sabahmousa@hotmail.com

استأنفت مفاوضات الدوحة بين الحكومة السودانية وحاملي السلاح بدارفور أعمالها بعودة الوفد الحكومي إلى العاصمة القطرية أمس، وسط ترقب بشأن مستقبل السلام في دارفور بعد إنفصال جنوب السودان وبعد عودة وفد الخرطوم الشهر الماضي من المفاوضات، لأنها رأت أنها لايمكن أن تستمر في تفاوض لا ينتهي من وجهة نظرها، كما يترقب الجميع في السودان وخارجه رؤية الحكومة السودانية للحل بالإقليم بعد التغييرات الدولية والإقليمية الحالية.

أما الوساطة في المفاوضات ممثلة في الوسيط المشترك " جبريل باسولي"، والوسيط القطري " عبد الله آل محمود" فلديهم تفاؤل كبير بإمكانية إنضمام زعيم حركة العدل والمساواة " د. خليل إبراهيم"، وزعيم حركة تحرير السودان " عبد الواحد نور"، ويؤكدون أن الحكومة في هذه المرحلة سوف تتجاوب لشروط الحركات ومنها إمكانية التفاوض على جعل دارفور إقليم واحد، ومنصب نائب رئيس، الأمر الذي نفته الحكومة تماما على لسان " د. غازي صلاح الدين" مستشار البشير ومسئول ملف دارفور.

الحكومة من جانبها ترى أنها ضيعت وقتا طويلا في التفاوض مع الحركات دون جدوى، فكل لحظة ، تظهر هناك حركة جديدة بمطالب جديدة، ولايمكنها – الحكومة - أن تتفاوض طول العمر، ولذلك حددت سقفا زمنيا للمفاوضات وهو آخر الشهر الجاري، وأكدت أنه إذا لم يتحقق سلام في هذا التاريخ سوف تنهي العملية، وسوف تستكمل مابدأته في إستراتيجيتها في الحل من الداخل، والتي تقوم فيها الحكومة بإعادة النازحين إلى قراهم، وإجراء مصالحات كبيرة بين القبائل، وتهدف الحكومة من هذه الإستراتيجية إلي بسط الأمن والحياة والتصالح لأبناء دارفور الحقيقين في نظرها، والذين يعيشون بالفعل على أرض الإقليم، وتقول الحكومة أنه كانت هناك إنتخابات وتم إنتخاب مرشحين من داخل دارفور، وهم الأحق في السلطة، لأنهم جاءوا بتصويت من الناس، كما ترى الحكومة أن الحركات التى ترى نفسها كبيرة لم تعد كبيرة، فخليل إبراهيم في ليبيا لم يستطيع الحركة بعد طرده من تشاد، وبعد فض العلاقة الحميمة بينه، وبين إدريس ديبي، كما أن عبد الواحد نور لا يمثل إلا نفسه في باريس، ويقول مصدر مسئول في الحكومة السودانية لـ " أفريقيا اليوم" www.africaalyom.com

مللنا من هذا العبث وتضييع الوقت والجهد، ولدينا ماهو أهم وهو الحل من الداخل والذي يوافق عليه المجتمع الداخلي والإقليمي والدولي، ولذلك لن نلفت بالنا لهذا الإهدار من الوقت، فمن أراد اللحاق بالسلام فمازالت هناك فرصة بالدوحة، فعلى الجميع أن ينضم، فالمطالب معروفة ومحددة، ونوقشت وتم بحثها كثيرا، ولن نضيع وقتا آخر في مناقشات تمت مرارا.

وألمحت حركة العدل والمساواة إلي إمكانية انضمام " د. خليل إبراهيم" إلى المفاوضات بالدوحة في خلال أيام، وقال رئيس مكتب الحركة في القاهرة " محمد حسين شرف" لـ " أفريقيا اليوم" : من الممكن أن ينضم زعيم الحركة إلى وفدنا بالدوحة، وهذا سوف يعطي فرصة أكبر في جدية الحل من جانبنا.

من جانبه أكد الأمين السياسي لحركة العدل والمساواة" جبريل آدم بلال"أن الوضع السياسي الراهن في السودان يتطلب رؤية أكبر نحو الحلول الشاملة في البلاد وليس لإقليم واحد دون الأقاليم الأخرى.

وقال " آدم" لـ " أفريقيا اليوم" إننا في حركة العدل والمساواة نرى إنه لابد من حل مشكلة السودان في دارفور ومشكلة السودان في كردفان نسبة للحرب الدائرة في الإقليمين، وحرصاً على ضرورة إسكات صوت السلاح، مضيفا وحتى تكون الحرب في دارفور وكردفان آخر الحروب في السودان لابد أن نجعل من حل المشكلة إطاراً عاماً لباقي أقاليم السودان، وأن نجعل منهما أيضاً مدخلاً لحلحلة باقي مشاكل البلاد ، موضحا أن الحركة في هذا الصدد سوف تعمل جنباً إلى جنب القوى السياسية السودانية، وأنها سوف تسعى لتطوير مساحات العمل المشترك وكيفية وجود الآليات المشتركة التي تمكن من تحقيق الأهداف المنشودة، ولابد من الإلتفاف حول القضايا المصيرية المشتركة، مشيرا أن الوساطة في المفاوضات قدمت جهوداً مقدرة لحل المشكل السوداني في دارفور، وأن قطر وأميرها قاموا بدور عظيم في الحل.

وقال ولكن لسوء الطالع فإن الحكومة السودانية دائماً ما تضع العثرات والمتاريس في وجه هذه الجهود المخلصة، والمشكلة الحقيقية أن الوساطة تبذل جهوداً وتتعامل بصدق خالص مع طرف حكومي غير جاد للتعاطي الحقيقي مع الحلول، فالحكومة مازالت تنتهج سياسة كسب الوقت، وهي تريد أن تعرف مجريات الإستفتاء، وما ينتهي إليه وكذلك تنتظر الحكومة مجريات الرياح الدولية بعد الإستفتاء وإلى أين تتجه، ومن ثم يقررون فيما إذا كانوا سيقررون المضي في العملية أم لا, مؤكدا أن حركته لن تقبل أي وثيقة جاهزة للتوقيع، وقال أن هذه أحلام الحكومة وسوف نبخرها لهم إن لم تكن قد تبخرت، ولابد من تفاوض ومشاورات أولا قبل الوصول إلى أي شئ، مضيفا أن الحقيقة التي يجب أن تعيها الحكومة إنه في كل زمان مطالبه، وطالما لم نتمكن من التوصل إلى السلام حتى الآن وفقاً للمطالب السابقة، فإن المرحلة القادمة بعد الإستفتاء سوف لن نحصر أنفسنا في المطالب التي ظللنا نرددها في السابق، وهذا يعني بوضوح أن سقوفاتنا سوف ترتقي لمستوى التحولات التي قد تحدث في البلاد، وسوف نفصح عنها عند اللزوم.

وقال " موسى حسن بكري" رئيس مكتب حركة تحرير السودان ( عبد الواحد نور) في القاهرة والشرق الأوسط أن الوساطة ممثلة في الوسيط المشترك " جبريل باسولي"، ووزير الدولة بالخارجية القطري " عبد الله آل محمود" تسلموا من حركة تحرير السودان مطالب تتمثل في استحقاقات حقيقية، وطلب منهم أولا توفير هذه الإستحقاقات قبل الدخول في المفاوضات، ومنها بسط السلام أولا على الأرض، ووقف القتال داخل المعسكرات، وعودة النازحين، مضيفا أن الوساطة لم تعطينا أي رد إلى الآن، مؤكدا أنه لم يوجد سلام حقيقي بالدوحة، لأن الحكومة مستمرة في السلام من الداخل، وقال أن لابد أن يكون هناك مفاوضات حقيقية حتى ينخرط الجميع فيها، ولكن الحكومة تكرس الحل في الإستراتيجية التي طرحتها للحل من الداخل، مشددا على أنه إذا ماتم بسط الأمن على الأرض أولا لايمكن أن تنضم تحرير السودان إلى المفاوضات، لافتا إلى أن تحقيق أي سلام قبل تحقيق الأمن لن يكون سلاما مستداما. وقال : على المؤتمر الوطني أن يتخذ خطوات جادة وصحيحة، ويطلق يده لسلام حقيقي، وإذا رفض ذلك سوف يتحقق هذا السلام بأسلوب خشن، وعليه أن يراعي مصلحة السودان، بعيدا عن النظرة الحزبية الضيقة، مضيفا أن مايحدث في الدوحة الآن هو مفاوضات من طرف واحد، ولايمكن أن تؤدي إلى حل في وجود حركات أخرى كبيرة وكثيرة مازالت موجودة على الأرض.
كما أكد أحمد خريف رئيس حركة العدل والمساواة ( القيادة الثورية) أن السلام الشامل والعادل هو خيار حركته الإستراتيجي، وأنها جاهزة للجلوس للتفاوض لأجل ذلك متى تلقت الدعوة من الوساطة المشتركة، وقال " خريف" لـ " أفريقيا اليوم" أن حركته تعمل وفق تنسيق مشترك مع وصيفاتها من الحركات الدارفورية في مجموعة خارطة الطريق، وأنها تتطلع لإكمال بقية خطوات التنسيق بغية دخولهم جميعا للعملية التفاوضية برؤية مشتركة ووفد تفاوضي موحد.

ويرى " خريف" أن مستقبل السلام في دارفور يتوقف على مدى جدية الحكومة السودانية تجاه دفع إستحقات الحل الشامل والعادل لقضية الإقليم وفق البنود الثابتة المعروفة التي تتضمن حق أهل دارفور في الإقليم الواحد، ومنصب نائب للرئيس على مستوى هرم الدولة، وإعادة اللاجئين والنازحين إلي قراهم ومناطقهم الأصلية بعد إعمارها، ودفع تعويضات مجزية لهم ، مضيفا أما إذا عجزت الحكومة عن ذلك ومضت تراوغ لكسب مزيداً من الوقت معتقدة أنها بذلك يمكن أن تفتت حركات المقاومة، وفرض السلام في الإقليم وفق استراتيجيها الجديدة ،فإن ذلك يمكن أن يدفع حركات المقاومة في دارفور للمطالبة بحق تقرير المصير كما حدث في الجنوب، وكذلك هذا المطلب يمكن أن يتحول لمناطق أخري من السودان كالنيل الازر ق وجبال النوبة .

وأعلن شباب القبائل العربية بدارفور إنضمامهم إلى المقاومة المسلحة بالإقليم ، وقال بيان أصدره ما يسمي (مركزية تجمع شباب القبائل العربية بدارفور) : لقد كانت رؤية القبائل العربية بدارفور منذ إندلاع الشرارة الأولى للحركات المسلحة رؤية ثاقبة، وكانت القبائل العربية تنظر للمطالب التى ظهرت من خلال الخطاب السياسى للحركات بدارفور بعد أحداث مطار الفاشر ومن خلال مفاوضات أبوجا من زاوية نحن مع الحق وضد التخريب والتخوين، ومن منطلق لا ضرر ولا ضرار، وأضاف البيان أن الحقيقة التى كان يتوارى خلفها بعض من قيادات الحركات المسلحة بدارفور، هى أن الخطاب السياسى الأول عند بداية التأسيس كان لتحرير دارفور من العرب، وكان هذا خطاباً تجريمياً عاماً لكل القبائل العربية، ويقوم على التحريض الإثني ، وبث سموم الحروب القبلية التى كانت بين قبائل دارفور . لذلك جاءت النتيجة الأولية للصراع بمفهوم الفعل ورد الفعل حينما تم الإعتداء على بعض تجمعات القبائل العربية ، في مواقع كثيره بدارفور .
وأكد تجمع شباب القبائل العربية في دارفور في بيانه موقفه المفصلي من قضية دارفور التي أخذت بعداً دولياً بعد البعد الاقليمي والمحلى، وقال البيان لابد من طرح رؤية القبائل العربية وفق إستراتيجيات من شأنها أن تساهم فى وضع الحد النهائى لإحلال السلام والأمن والإستقرار والوئام الإجتماعى فى دارفور والسودان بعيداً عن لعبة الكرسي السياسي السوداني، وأن هذا لايتأتى إلا اذا تمكنا من لعب دور واضح وكبير فى طرف المقاومة المسلحة ضد سياسات النظام القائم فى السودان على سياسة (فرق تسد ) .

وأشار البيان إلي انه فى الوقت االذى تشارك فيه حركات وفصائل المقاومة فى مفاوضات الدوحة لم يمثل فيها العنصر العربى فى دارفور، وأن وجود تمثيل على مستوى الفرد لايشكل آلية فاعلة أو منتجة فى تقديم رؤية أو منهج يؤسس للحل الشامل العادل لأزمة دارفور ، وأوضح البيان أن القبائل العربية جميعها هى من أهم الشرائح الإجتماعية فى مجتمع دارفور، وأنها ستلعب دوراً هاماً فى إقرار السلام والأمن والإستقرار والتنمية والوئام الإجتماعى, مؤكدا أن أكثر الناس تهميشا فى دارفور هم العرب، وذكر البيان أن الحكومة والمجتمع الدولي قد إعترفوا من قبل بأن هنالك طرف أساسى ومؤثر فى العملية السلمية لهذه الأزمة ألا وهو القبائل العربية بدارفور، ولايزال يشكل الحلقة المفقودة فى طاولة المنابر التفاوضية
وأكد تجمع شباب القبائل الدارفورية في بيانه أنه لايمكن أن ترفرف رايات السلام فى دارفور في ظل تهميش شريحة إجتماعية ذات ثقل كبير فى تعزيز السلام والأمن والاستقرار بدارفور. وأن هنالك مجموعة من الحركات المسلحة التى تمثل هذه الشريحة الإجتماعية الكبيرة لايمكن تجاوزها فى هذه المرحلة المفصلية .
وأضاف البيان لقد ظللنا نراقب عن كثب كل الإجراءات والتى من شأنها توفير المناخ السليم للعملية التفاوضية الجارية فى الدوحة، ونؤكد أن تجاوزنا فى هذه المرحلة هو تكرار لأخطاء أبوجا . وأن القضايا ذات الإهتمام المشترك لايمكن تسويتها بمعزل عن الأطراف الحقيقية، وزاد البيان أنه لاتزال هنالك أمام الجميع فرصة للإتاحة لكل الراغبين فى المشاركة فى تعزيز العملية السلمية بالحضور إلى الدوحة .

Darfuri Human Rights arrested in Khartoum

2010-11-11T19:08:00.003-05:00

Source: Sudaneseonline

Darfuri Human Rights Defenders Arrested in Khartoum

(1 November 2010) Between 4 and 4:30 PM on 30 October, six Darfuri human rights defenders disappeared in Khartoum. It was confirmed on 31 October that all six individuals had been arrested, though no charges have been pressed. Some of the members of the group had just attended a youth forum on social development hosted by Girifna, a pro-democracy student movement.

The first disappearance occurred in Suq al Arabia in downtown Khartoum, when National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) agents arrested Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-Gasim, a prominent human rights defender from Tulus, South Darfur. Mr. Al-Gasim is based in Khartoum and is the Legal Aid and Training Coordinator of the Darfur Bar Association. He was not seen by his family and never returned home, and his mobile has been switched off since Saturday evening. On 31 October, his family received confirmation that he had been arrested, though no charges had been pressed and they were not allowed access to him. He is being held separately from the rest of the group.

Another round of disappearances occurred almost immediately after, suggesting a coordinated effort by the NISS. The arrested individuals are:

· Dirar Adam Dirar, a finance and administration officer with the HAND network. HAND is a coalition of nine grassroots Darfuri organisations that publishes weekly human rights monitoring reports from Darfur.

· Abdelrahman Adam Abdelrahman, the Deputy Director of HAND’s network.

· Manal Mohamed Ahmed, activist

· Aisha Sardo Sharif, activist

· Aziza Ali Edris, activist

The three female activists arrested, Manal Mohamed Ahmed, Aisha Sardo Sharif, and Aziza Ali Edris are not affiliated with HAND. It was announced on the 31 October that they would likely soon be released. As of 1 November, the entire group remained in the NISS’ custody.

A group of lawyers in Khartoum have organised a submission for clarification on the arrest of Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-Gasim and any charges brought against him. Information available to the African Centre indicates that the group was arrested for no reason other than their association with other human rights defenders and members of civil society. The freedom of expression and association are protected under Article 39 (1) of the Interim National Constitution (INC) of 2005, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. That there is little information on the detainees’ whereabouts, treatment, and of any charges pressed against them is of great concern, as is the fact that they are being held by the NISS. The African Centre calls on the Government of Sudan and Ministry of Justice to respect their international commitments and the INC, and either release the group immediately or charge them with an internationally recognised offence and allow them access to a lawyer and their families.

That the arrests of the Darfuri human rights defenders occurred in two separate places and after members of the group attended a youth forum shows the NISS’, and by extension the Government of Sudan’s, unflinching resolve to suppress independent voices. The disappearances appear to have occurred in coordination, raising serious concerns that other waves of disappearances may take place. That the group simply disappeared and it was announced the following day that they had been arrested shows a lack of respect for procedural safeguards and due process designed to protect detainees.

When viewed in relation to the upcoming voter registration and referendum in the South, and the end of the interim period throughout the country, the arrests are particularly jarring and show the determination of the Sudanese government to suppress civil society during this critical time, and the extent to which the freedom of expression, and in turn, a national dialogue about the future of the country, will not be tolerated.
Other sources: Human Rights Watch

Upfront Africa-Voice Of America: Upfront with Alsarah

2010-10-22T07:55:00.001-05:00

Upfront Africa-Voice Of America: Upfront with Alsarah

Sudanese singer Alsarah wears many hats-- songwriter,ethnomusicologist,activist and all round world citizen. She started her musical training at the age of 12 in Khartoum.She says that her sound is influenced by her life in Sudan,Yemen and the US where she moved as a teenager in the 90's.
Alsarah speaks passionately about the situation in Sudan ahead of a historical referendum that could separate the north from the south. "We are going to lose of big part of our people and culture" She says. Currently resident in Manhattan,Alsarah performs to audiences from around the world. Her performances are eclectic, electrifying, eccentric--a combination of genres--hip hop,African soul and gnawa dropping coy manifestos and clever metaphors about socio-political issues like elections,human rights etc. A few weeks ago she joined activists at the UN headquarters to bring attention to Sudan. I reached her in New York -- a melting pot of cultures--where her unique sense of self has shaped her world view and in essence her music.

Judge Goldstone slams ‘unfair’ comments on ICC

2010-09-28T06:40:00.002-05:00

Source

September 28 2010 at 12:29am
By Kenichi Serino
AP

Judge Richard Goldstone

Johannesburg - The criticism that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is against African countries is unfair, Judge Richard Goldstone said on Monday.

“It is unfair to say the court is being used against African countries,” Goldstone said at a lecture at the University of Johannesburg.

He acknowledged that this was a perception because of Africans appearing before the court.

The ICC has opened up five investigations into the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya and Darfur in Sudan.

Goldstone said, however, this would change in the near future as individuals in Latin America were coming under investigation.

He added that the ICC only began its activities after officials in those countries declined to open their own investigations.

In the case of Kenya, the country's parliament refused to begin an investigation into post-election violence in 2007.

“It's a court of last resort, not a court of first resort,” said Goldstone.

He also commented on Kenya's hosting of Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir at a ceremony celebrating its new constitution.

Al-Bashir has been indicted by the ICC for crimes in Darfur.

As a signatory to the ICC treaty, Kenya was obligated to arrest but refused to do so.

This is in contrast, said Goldstone, to South Africa where Al-Bashir was warned not to enter the country for President Jacob Zuma's inauguration or risk arrest.

Goldstone said that while no action could be taken against country's such as Kenya, they did risk becoming “pariah states”.

“There is no action against countries that do not fulfill their obligations under the treaty except to become pariah states,” he said. - Sapa

Concerns over violence continue...

2010-08-14T16:26:00.006-05:00

A diverse group of activists from Amherst, Holyoke, and Albany @ the Information table on 8/7/10

For a long time our Darfur Coalition in Western Mass continued to bring to attention the plight of civilians in the camps where violence targeted them from two sides: the government militia and as a result to fight among rebel groups.

Women in Darfur are raising their voices and calling to end violence.

The following petition was circulated by Sisterhood for Peace network

To: Leaders of Darfurian Movements

We are Darfurian women who are in displaced persons camps, villages, rural areas, towns, and valleys of Darfur and scattered as refugees around the world, as well as women from all over Sudan who advocate for peace and for a solution to the Darfur conflict. We appeal to you to unite in order to end the suffering of the people of Darfur, especially women and girls whose rights have been violated, and who continue to face violence, rape, and early pregnancy.

We are tired of the war and violence, and want our sons and daughters to grow up in a country where they can enjoy their full rights and where peace and security prevail.

We, the women of Darfur, have united to heal the wounds. We have built our power. It is time for the Darfurian movements to unite. We want you to remember that everyday a young woman is raped, and another leaves school. We have already lost a generation and do not want to lose other generations. We cannot wait any longer.

Let us make sure that the International Day for Peace (21 September 2010), is the day when we take the first step toward unity and toward achieving peace in Darfur and Sudan.

Darfurian Women Demand Peace (DWDP)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week, Aug 7th, WMDC joined again the local chapter of Amnesty International in Downtown Amherst and set up a table for information on the crisis in darfur.

The event drew many activists who discussed strategies to stop the violence in darfur.

Among activists who stopped by to sign petitions was Ms. Tamador Sheikheldin, writer, poetess, and theater director from Sudan who has been living in the area for a while since she had to flee her country in the early 1990. "I will tell people in Sudan about the great solidarity work here in the valley with the people in Darfur" She said in appreciation for the tireless efforts of human rights activists she witnessed whenever she came to the Amherst Farmers Market.

"I really admire the work of WMDC in bringing the voice of women to the world. We need to stop violence against women and children in the camps" said Ms. Mahasin Alnaggar, and activist from Albany who expressed interest to start similar group in her upstate New York town.

NY Times: Increase of Violence in Darfur

2010-08-06T23:15:00.003-05:00

"Violence Said to Be Rising in Sudan's Darfur Region"

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: August 4, 2010

UNITED NATIONS — Violence in the turbulent Darfur region of Sudan has spiked over the past several months, Alain Le Roy, the head of United Nations peacekeeping operations, said Wednesday. He attributed the increase to a combination of factors, including fitful peace talks, renewed tribal rivalries and overall tension in Africa’s largest nation as its south prepares for an independence referendum.

Calling the situation a “bleak picture,” Mr. Le Roy told a news conference that security had deteriorated significantly as optimism for a cease-fire in 2009 faded.

Recent United Nations statistics indicated that killings this year already rivaled the 832 violent deaths recorded for all of 2009. May alone, with 400 deaths, was the bloodiest month since peacekeeping forces were deployed in December 2007.

It is difficult to boil down the complicated tapestry of actors in the region, especially as rebel movements have splintered and increasingly well-armed criminals have flourished in the seven years the war has dragged on. Some recent bloodshed was even pegged to a Ponzi scheme that bilked thousands of their savings.

First, in May, the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, Darfur’s most powerful rebel group, broke off peace talks that had been taking place in Doha, Qatar, after the Sudanese government rejected its demand that it be the sole negotiator for the rebels at the table. Since then, the group has been trying to reassert itself militarily, and was forced into some confrontations after neighboring Chad improved ties with Khartoum and closed off the group’s usual escape routes over the border.

Second, the conflict was first set off by clashes between nomadic Arab tribes and more sedentary Africans over water supplies. With some two million people, mostly Africans, displaced from their lands, the Arab tribes are now fighting among themselves for the spoils, and water resources are even scarcer.

Third, southern Sudan, which has fought the north for 50 years in a war that has killed about two million people, is expected to vote for independence in a Jan. 9 referendum. The government in the north wants to pacify Darfur before the referendum — both because Darfur will take on added weight in the smaller country that Sudan will probably become and to discourage any Darfuri notions about breaking away.

“They want to reassert their political and military control,” said Fabienne Hara of the International Crisis Group. “They are very scared that Darfur will not be under their control by January 2011.”

The United Nations peacekeepers remain locked in constant confrontation with the government. For example, an Egyptian peacekeeper bled to death in May after the government refused to allow a helicopter flight for his evacuation, United Nations officials said. The Sudanese government regularly professes its full cooperation.

Much of the international attention on Sudan is focused on ensuring that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 between the north and the south does not collapse as it reaches its most critical moment. Just five months away from the independence vote, the commission to supervise the balloting lacks a leader, and knotty questions, including who will be eligible to vote, remain unanswered.

Larger issues like dividing oil resources between the north and south also remain to be negotiated.

Some analysts fault the Obama administration for lacking a clear-cut policy on Sudan, divided between the softer line of Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, President Obama’s Sudan envoy, and the more confrontational approach often voiced by Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations.

They deny a rift, but one senior State Department official said that Washington was still struggling to define a policy. “There is no sense of urgency that this is a crucial moment and we have to craft it,” said the official, speaking anonymously because of a lack of authorization to speak publicly on the matter.

Eat Purslane and support Girifna!

2010-07-17T00:59:00.003-05:00

We are tabling again at the Farmers market with Amnesty International local chapter.. this time we are motivating people to support Girifina Movement for human rights by giving away the healthy Purslane with an easy-to-follow recipe of how it's cooked in Sudan

Sudanese Purslane with Lentil Stew

Purslane is very nutritious vegetable. It's a good ource of antioxidants and has more heart-healthful omega-3 fatty acids than any other vegetable that's been studied.

Serving 4-6 persons:

1 cup red lentils
½ cup of vegetable/canola oil
2-medium chopped onions
3 peeled cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 ½ pounds of Purslane (leaves and tender stems), washed and chopped coarsely.
1-2 tablespoon Tomato paste
½ teaspoon Ground pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt to taste

Method:

 Wash and drain lentils (you may soak it over night)
 In a large pot, combine the lentils with 3 cups of water, cover partially and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 45 minutes.
 Add Purslane and cook over medium heat for 20-30 min.
 In a medium non-stick saucepan, heat the oil, stir in the onion and garlic, cover and cook until softened but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste, ground pepper, cumin, salt, 1/2 cup of water and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook, stirring for about 10-15 minutes.
 Add the sauce mixture from the saucepan into the large pot and let simmer under low heat for 20 min

Purslane stew is served with rice or pita bread and hot sauce with lime juice on the side (I like it with peanut butter hot sauce)!

Tabling @ Amherst Farmers Market...

2010-07-03T16:06:00.005-05:00

photo taken @ the Amherst Farmers Market

Today, we had our first Tabling activity this summer @ the Amherst Farmers market...

It was a great successful event... many people stopped by to engage in discussion and get updated on the situation in Darfur and Sudan...
A small leaflet on Girifna Movement was handed out to people on the streets... Thanks to Smith STAND for their active work...

I got a call from Radio Girifna and they were interested to post some of the WMDC activities on their website... They also requested some interviews with activists from groups that supported and highlighted their work (e.g. WMDC, STAND, Amherst Human Rights Commission)

Congrats to the teamwork.... Our next table event will be on 7/17 in joint work with Amnesty International Chapter of Amherst (Group-128)

Girifna Movement starts Online Radio

2010-05-13T19:50:00.003-05:00

Girifna movement started their own online Radio to reach more audience... They used the few pennies saved from their lunch and those few bucks sent by generous activists in Diaspora.
They added new media outlet to reach to the people...

البث التجريبى لإذاعة (قرفنا) صوت المهمشين الغلابة

http://grf.listen2myradio.com/

Salute from WMDC to Girifna technical team

لماذا حرمتنا من تحقيق الحلم الجميل ؟

2010-05-02T15:44:00.002-05:00

The writer graciously gave permision to re-post this distinguished article on the post-election Sudan.

لقد وردني ردود في عنوني الاكتروني حول مقال كتبته بتاريخ 17\2\2010م في موقع صحيفة سودانايل وسودانيس اونلين ولم اتمكن من الرد نسبة لوجودي في منطقة خارج التغطية ولقد مدحت في تلك المقالة قيادات الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان باختيارها الموفق لسيد عرمان للمنافسة علي كرسة الرئاسة حيث ذكرت بان ترشيح الحركة لياسر عرمان يعتبر الامل الوحيد المتبقي لوحدة السودان علي رغم ان المؤتمر الوطني قد بذل جهد مقدرة وقطع شوط كبير لفصل الجنوب مما اعطي القوميين الجنوبين حجج الانفصال الا ان هذه الردود كانت متباينة حتي تفاجاءت مع جماهيرالهامش بقرار نفس قيادات الحركة الشعبية بسحب امل الهامش وامل وحدة السودان من السباق الرئاسي مغتيلا بذلك امل الوحدة مما فتح ابوب لتخمينات وتكهنات بوجود صفقة سرية بين الحركة الشعبية ومؤتمر الوطني وذلك اذا وضعنا في الاعتبار الحاح الؤتمر الوطني لقيادات الحركة الشعبية بسحب ياسر عرمان من السباق مقابل تنفيذ ما تبقي من بنود الاتفاقية والتي فشلت او بالمعني الاصح رفضت المؤتمر الوطني تنفيذه خلال 5 سنوات .

الا ان الحركة الشعبية رفضت تلك العرض مما ادي الي تجميد او تعجيل تنفيذ ما تبقي من بنود الاتفاقية السلام الي ما بعد الانتخابات اهمها ترسيم الحدود بين الشمال والجنوب 1956م وحدود منطقة ابيي علي ضوء قرار محكمة لاهاي وتكوين مفوضية الاسفتاء .... الخ .علي حسب تصريح السيد علي عثمان محمد طه النائب الثاني لرئيس الجمهورية ورئيس اللجنة السياسية المشتركة من جانب المؤتمر الوطني .

واذا افترضنا بوجود صفقة سرية بين القومين الجنوبين بالمعني الاصح والمؤتمر الوطني واهم بنود هذه الاتفاق هو سحب مرشح الحركة مقابل انفصال سلس كما ذهب اليه المحلليين السياسين الا ان ذلك لا يعقل الا اذا افترضنا في المفاوض الجنوبي الغباء وضعف الذاكرة وقصر النظر وعدم القراءة السليمة للوضع السياسي وفقا للمعطيات الراهن وعدم استيعابه لدروس وعبر عبر التاريخ . حيث ان التاريخ القريب تشير الي عدم جدية جدية النخبة الشمالية ونقضها للعهود والمواثيق والبركة في ابيل في توثيق ذلك اذن ما هو ضمانات التزام المؤتمر الوطني بتنفيذ ما اتفق عليه حيث كان الاجدي للحركة الشعبية قبول العرض عندما عرض عليها بشرط ترسيم الحدود بين الجنوب والشمال وحدود ابيي وتشكيل مفوضية الاستفتاء قبل سحب المرشح لذا كنت استبعد قصة ان هناك اتفاق او صفقة سرية .

اما اذا افترضنا بان سحب مرشح الحركة الشعبية ياسر عرمان تم بناء لطلبه لمكتب السياسي للحركة لاسباب ذكره في المؤتمر الصحفي تتلخص في

1\ استمرار حالة الطواري في الدارفور نسبة لعدم وصول الطرفين الي اتفاق سياسي 2\ نسبة لتزوير الكبير التي تم في مرحلة التعداد والتسجيل لذلك وحقنا لدماء انسحب من السباق الرئاسي الا ان هذا الاسباب مع احترامي الكبير للرفيق ياسر عرمان الا انني لا اجد ان هذا الاسباب مقنع لشعوب الهامش حتي الان وقد ترجموا ذلك في تصويتهم الكبير له مما ادهش المراقبين وارجف اعداء السودان الجديد سواء كان من الجنوب او الشمال حيث بلغ نسبة التصويت في الجنوب نسبة 95% وذلك لاسباب الاتي

اولا الرفيق ياسر يعلم طبيعة التفاوض اذ لا يعقل تحديد سقف زمني معين للوصول للاتفاق وذلك اذا وضعنا في الاعتبار تعقيد طبيعة الصراع في الدارفور وانقسام تلك الحركات الي مجموعات تصعب توحيد رؤيتهم ومطالبهم وهو عكس ما كان عليها الحركة الشعبية .

اما بخصوص ان المؤتمر الوطني قد قام بعملية التزوير منذ التعداد السكاني مرورا بالتسجيل لسجل الانتخابي قد اتفق معه بخصوص تزوير عملية التعداد مما اثر في ترسيم الدوائر الجغرافية حيث تحصل الجزيرة وجنوب دارفور والخرطوم علي نصف المقاعد لمجلس الوطني مما يعطي المؤتمر الوطني الاغلبية المطلقة في المجلس الوطني الا ان ذلك لا ينطبق علي السباق علي الرئاسة الجمهورية حيث نجد بان فرص مرشح الحركة الشعبية كانت اكثر من غيره من المرشيحين وذلك بعملية حسابية بسيطة حيث بان في الجنوب 4 مليون مسجل في السجل الانتخابي حيث ان الجنوب من المناطق المقفولة حصريا علي الحركة الشعبية بالاضافة الي النيل الازرق وجبال النوبة وجزء من الولايات الغربية ( الدارفورية ) والولايات الشرقية ( البجة) مع الهامش في اقصي الشمال بالاضافة الي الخرطوم

( مناطق الحزام الاسود ) ولمعلومية الذين لم يسنح لهم الفرصة من زيارة كبري مدن السودان بان يوجد حزام اسود في اي مدينة من مدن السودان .

الا ان ما حيرني ولم استوعبه حتي الان هو قول الرفيق بان انسحايه كان لحقن الدماء وماذا عن دماء اكثر من مليونين شهيد من شهداء الثورة ؟ الم يسفق دماءهم من اجل تحقيق مشروع السودان الجديد ؟ السودان الذي يسعي الجميع بمختليف اثنياتهم واديانهم وثقافاتهم السودان الموحد علي اسس جديدة . لماذا حرمت (او حرمتم) شعوب الهامش من اجل تحقيق سودان الحلم عبر ثورة انتخابية محمية بالشعب ؟( وليس بالسلاح ) ونموزج ولاية النيل الازرق شاهد علي ذلك ونهي الرفيق مالك عقار ( التمساح ما بخوفه بالموية ) بمناسبة فوزه المستحق ( والثورة ليسة مستمر ) لماذا .... ولماذا...... ولماذا ..... ؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟

بقلم \ قرنق دينق بول \ جنوب السودان

garangdeng73@yahoo.com

Argentine: Justice Delivered 35 years Later

2010-04-25T08:27:00.005-05:00

Source: The New York Times
25 Years for Leader of Argentine Dictatorship
By CHARLES NEWBERY and ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: April 20, 2010

BUENOS AIRES — A special tribunal on Tuesday sentenced Argentina’s last military president to 25 years in prison and handed down stiff sentences to six other former military and police officials for their part in running a concentration camp during this country’s bloody dictatorship.
......
The tribunal convicted General Bignone and the six other former officials of involvement in illegal raids, kidnapping and torture involving 56 people from 1976 to 1978 at the Campo de Mayo detention centers at a military base on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
------------------------------

This sentence brings hope to millions of family members and friends of Sudanese victims of

torture and survivors of the notorious Ghost Houses, i.e. the torture centers run by the genocidal regime of President Omer al-Bashir in Sudan.

This is a good news in particular to WMDC co-founder, Fanny Rothschild, a long time advocate for justice in Argentine.

South Africa criticizes Sudan’s rush to elections at an "inopportune" time

2010-04-19T21:11:00.001-05:00

April 18, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The South African government this week expressed dissatisfaction with what it described as a rush on the part of Sudan to hold elections at an "inopportune" time.

Read more: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article34807

Girifna: The New Street Resistance Movement in Sudan

2010-03-26T05:52:00.006-05:00

One of Girifna Movement leaders addressing people in a Bus terminal in Khartoum.

Later he was arrested and tortured.

Source: Sudaneseonline.com

Julie Flint writes about Girifna Movement

2010-03-24T07:20:00.003-05:00

source: Guradian newspaper

Sudan's drumbeat of dissatisfactionAs April's election approaches, we should pay more attention to growing Sudanese concern over moves to silence dissent

Julie Flint guardian.co.uk, Monday 22 March 2010 12.00 GMT Article history

On 15 March, the day before the Guardian published a report headlined An African success story in Sudan, government security agents seized an 18-year-old student active in the Girifna movement in Khartoum. The student, Abdalla Mahdi, was beaten with sticks, hoses and electric wires, subjected to a mock execution, threatened with death by a lethal virus, and interrogated about Girifna's activities and funders.

Girifna, Arabic for "we are fed up", was started late last year by young Sudanese demanding that next month's elections, the country's first multi-party ballot since 1986, be free and fair. They are using Facebook to try to collect a million signatures opposing a national security law, which many Sudanese believe is being used to limit political and civic rights and silence voices of dissent during the election campaign. And not just Sudanese. Human Rights Watch said this weekend that the Khartoum government (and the autonomous southern government in Juba) "are violating rights and restricting freedoms critical to a fair poll, including freedoms of expression and of assembly".

The Carter Centre said that because of laws that contravene Sudan's constitutional protections, the elections remain "at risk on multiple fronts including the ability of the candidates to campaign freely". Dmitry Titov, an assistant secretary-general in the UN peacekeeping department, singled out the national security law. He told the security council last month that the law "allows government security services to detain persons without cause" and demanded that it be revised or suspended before voting begins on 11 April.

President Omar al Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) has refused to suspend the law, claiming the need to keep al-Qaida suspects in detention, but has said it will not use it against legitimate political activity. This claim rings hollow to Sudanese with 21 years' experience of the security services that are the cornerstone of the NCP's power – especially after the death of Mohamed Musa, a Darfurian student activist who was apprehended in February at the gates of Khartoum University and killed. Friends who saw his body, alerted by an anonymous telephone caller, said it was beaten and burned. Police refused to give his family a copy of the morgue report.

Abdalla Mahdi told a press conference in Khartoum last week that the men who beat him, in a room decorated with pictures of Salah Gosh, former director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), showed him a photograph of Mohamed Musa and told him it was they who killed him.

Sudanese wanting genuine democratic transformation – not merely holding elections this year and a referendum on southern self-determination next year, as required by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the north-south war – would, I think, disagree with the Guardian's suggestion that the election campaign is "proceeding smoothly". Perhaps we should be paying more attention to Sudanese voices? Like the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, which says "Sudanese authorities have systematically targeted any activities, symposia, public rallies or lectures related to the elections". Or the writer who argues that the "ultimate goal" of laws like the security law is to silence those who dare to dissent. Or Mohamed Suliman, director of the Institute for African Alternatives, who told a meeting in the House of Commons recently that "Khartoum knows it can get away with murder, as long as it does not touch the referendum"..

With less than three weeks remaining before voting begins, the drumbeat of dissatisfaction is increasing steadily, especially in the north. Seventeen parties today submitted a memorandum to the presidency demanding a postponement of the elections until November to allow for major reforms in a number of laws relating primarily to national security and media.

The parties are increasingly unhappy at what they see as disproportionate media coverage of President Bashir's re-election campaign. They say the census and election registration processes were deeply flawed and that in some areas, particularly Darfur, the failure to register the displaced casts doubt on the legitimacy of any election held under the present register. In the last 10 days, the parties' anger has also focused on the National Elections Commission, which decided without consulting them to print the ballots for the presidential vote in the government's currency printing press in Khartoum – a recipe for fraud, they say.

Girifna's website this weekend led with "A song for the elections". It says:

O youth with limitless potential
Protect April from destruction
Come on, vote, participate
Come on vote, participate...

How subversive is that?

Iowa Initiative Conference rejected Al-Bashir candidancy

2010-03-24T07:12:00.004-05:00

English version of this article to come soon..
ملتقى (ايوا) يختتم جلساته بتجديد رفضه لمشاركة البشير فى العملية الانتخابية

وصفه بالمطلوب جنائياً

طالب الحكومة برفع حالة الطوراىء فى دارفور
source: Sudaneseonline.com

أجراس الحرية: واشنطن: عبد الفتاح عرمان

اختتم ملتقى (ايوا) لدعم التحول الديمقراطي مداولاته بالجامعة الامريكية بواشنطن بتجديد رفضه لمشاركة الرئيس البشير فى العملية الإنتخابية.

وشدد المؤتمرون على اهمية دعم قوى تحالف جوبا ومنظمات المجتمع المدني الناشطة فى الداخل والخارج.

وعبر قادة المؤتمر عن قلقهم البالغ لعملية التزوير التى صاحبت التعداد السكاني والتجاوزات اثناء فترة التسجيل للإنتخابات والثغرات الهائلة التي أفرزتها. وأكد المؤتمرون على إعاقة القوانين المقيدة للحريات لعمل الأحزاب قبل واثناء فترة الحملات الإنتخابية، والتى ياتي على رأسها قانون الأمن الوطني وبقية القوانين الأخرى التي تعيق عملية التحول الديمقراطي –حسب البيان الختامي-.

وطالب المؤتمرون الحكومة بتنفيذ إتفاقية السلام الشامل، والعمل على تحقيق الوحدة الجاذبة.

كما شدد المؤتمر على اهمية رفع حالة الطوارىء فى ولايات دارفور الثلاث. واعلنوا عن ترحيبهم بجهود المجتمع الدولي والمدني لنزع فتيل الأزمة في دارفور.

وأمن المؤتمر على الإعتراف بعدالة قضية دارفور.

واعرب المؤتمرون عن تضامنهم مع الأطباء السودانيين لنيل مطالبهم العدالة.

وشهد المؤتمر تكريم العميد معاش، محمد أحمد الريح الذي تعرض للتعذيب الوحشي من قبل نظام الإنقاذ –حسب ما جاء فى البيان-.

WMDC to participate in Iowa Forum

2010-03-16T20:58:00.003-05:00

مؤتمر ثانٍ لقادة ملتقي (أيوا) لدعم التحول الديمقراطي بواشنطن

يخاطبه قادة تحالف أحزاب مؤتمر جوبا

أجراس الحرية: واشنطن: عبد الفتاح عرمان

تحتضن العاصمة الأمريكية واشنطن فى الفترة من العشرين الى الحادى والعشرين من الشهر الجارى مؤتمراً لقادة مؤتمر (ايوا) لدعم التحول الديمقراطي تحت شعار (التحول الديمقراطي مسؤولية الجميع).

ويشارك فى المؤتمرممثلي الاحزاب السياسية المنضوية تحت تحالف أحزاب مؤتمر جوبا ومنظمات المجتمع المدني والاعلاميين وبعض مراكز البحث الأمريكية، وكذلك بعض الشخصيات من مواقع صنع القرار الامريكي و المهتمة بالشان السوداني بالاضافة الى الأكاديميين السودانيين. ومن المتوقع أن يخاطب قادة تحالف أحزاب مؤتمر جوبا المؤتمر اثناء فترة إنعقاده بالجامعة الأمريكية بواشنطن.

تجدر الإشارة، الى أن المؤتمر يتطرق الى عدة محاور من ضمنها عملية الانتخابات والمعوقات التى تواجهها وامكانية تحقيقها للتحول الديمقراطي المنشود، ومدى تاثير الانتخابات بشكلها الحالي على الاستفتاء، وسيناريوهات الوحدة والانفصال لجنوب السودان، وموقف عملية السلام فى دارفور ووضعها فى خريطة الانتخابات المقبلة

http://www.sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/sdb/2bb.cgi?seq=msg&board=260&msg=1267402009

UN Welcomes Doha Agreement on Darfur

2010-02-28T18:00:00.003-05:00

image source: www.sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

Article Date: 17:40 2010/02/24

New York, February 24 (QNA) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the agreement to resolve the conflict in Darfur signed in Doha late on Tuesday. The Secretary-General said the accord represents an important step towards an inclusive and comprehensive peace agreement for Darfur, which will address the underlying causes of the conflict and the concerns of all Darfurian communities. In a statement issued by his spokesman, the Secretary-General says he looks forward to the full implementation of the provisions of the agreement. He encourages all parties to engage in the inclusive Doha peace process with flexibility and a political vision as well as to agree on a definitive political settlement of the Darfur crisis. The Secretary-General says the United Nations and the African Union -UN Joint Chief Mediator will continue to assist the parties in their efforts to achieve this important objective.
------------------------------------------------

The Agreement twelve articles can be found in the following link
http://www.sudaneseonline.com/cgi-bin/sdb/2bb.cgi?seq=msg&board=260&msg=1267138437

المادة (1)

اعلان وقف اطلاق النار والشروع في في المفاوضات فورا من اجل الاتفاق علي تطبيقه
المادة (2)

اصدار عفو عام بحق اعضاء حركة العدل والمساواة السودانية ,المدنيين والعسكريين واطلاق سراح سجناء الحرب والمحكوميين من كلا الجانبين بعد التوقيع النهائي علي هذا الاتفاق
المادة(3)

مشاركة حركة العدل والمساواةفي السلطة علي كافة مستويات الحكم وفقا لكيفية الاتفاق عليها بين الجانبين
المادة (4)

تتحول حركة العدل والمساواة السودانية الي حزب سياسي فور التوقيع علي اتفاق السلام الشامل والنهائي
المادة(5)

ادماج قوات حركة العدل والمساواة السودانية في القوات المسلحة وقوات الامن والشرطة الموحدة ,وفقا لما يتفق عليةالطرفان ويسبق هذا الاجراء تجميع وتدريب هذه القوات في مواقع وفقا لآلية وكيفية يتفق عليها الجانبان
المادة (6)

تتحمل حكومة السودان كافة النفقات اللازمة لقوات حركة العدل والمساواة السودانية اثناء فترة التجميع والتدريب
المادة (7)

يعاد الي الخدمة كل اعضاء حركة العدل والمساواةالسودانية العسكريين الفصولين والمدنيين عن الخدمة ويتم الحاقهم برصفائهم بالكيفية التي يتفق عليها الطرفان.
المادة (8)

تلتزم حكومة السودان بتعويض النازحين واللاجئين,وكافة المتضررين بسبب النزاع في دارفور تعويضا عادلا ,كما تلتزم حكومة السودان بضمان حق العودة الطوعية للنازحين واللاجئين الي مناطقهم الاصلية ,وانشاء مؤسسات خدمية وبنية تحتية لضمان حياة كريمة لهم.
المادة(9)

يخضع موضوع اعادة التنظيم الاداري في دارفور لمفاوضات بين الجانبين للوصول الي الاتفاق النهائي
المادة(10)
يخضع موضوع تقاسم السلطة والثروة للمفاوضات بين الطرفين للوصول الي الاتفاق النهائي ,وكذا قضايا الارض والحواكير , واي قضايا اخري لتحقيق السلام يراها الطرفان ضرورية لاكمال موضوعات اتفاق السلام الشامل
المادة (11)

ينبني تطبيق هذا الاتفاق بين الطرفين علي حسن النوايا وعلي اساس تضامن وشراكة سياسية وفق مبادئ وقضايا وطنية توحدبين الطرفين
المادة 12

يتم اعداد الاتفاق النهائي والبرتكولات الاضافيه المنفذه له والتفاوض عليها وتوقيعها في الدوحة قبل الخامس عشر من مارس 2010

Good News: 57 Detainees on Death Row Freed..

2010-02-24T17:44:00.003-05:00

The Questions now: What about the other 48 detainees? were they already been executed?

Sudan has freed 57 prisoners from a key Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), officials say.

President Omar al-Bashir announced the releases during a speech in Darfur's capital El Fasher, and declared: "The war is over."

The releases are part of a ceasefire deal signed on Tuesday by Mr Bashir and Jem leaders - formerly bitter enemies.

The deal raises hopes of an end to years of conflict in Darfur, however some rebel factions have not signed up.

Jem's leader, Khalil Ibrahim, hailed the deal as "a very important step".
read more

Darfuri Student Laid to Rest Amid Tear Gas and Bullets

2010-02-22T16:24:00.003-05:00

source: http://genocide.change.org/blog?author_id=13

by Michelle

Published February 17, 2010 @ 09:50AM PT

A funeral in Khartoum turned into a political lightning rod yesterday, as friends and family mourning the death of Darfuri student activist Mohamed Musa Abdella Bahraldien -- at the hands, according to witnesses, of government security forces -- were joined by over a thousand supporters, presidential candidates, and riot police alike. The burial of the 23-year-old was interrupted by the liberal use of tear gas and rubber bullets by the police.

The suspicious death comes at a time of rising tensions, coinciding with the start of campaigning for presidential elections in April, and is for many emblematic of the ruling National Congress Party's (NCP) blatant disregard for basic human rights. Ongoing restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly throughout Sudan threaten the legitimacy of the elections before they even happen, and the status of Darfur -- where emergency laws in place for the last 13 years are even more restrictive and fighting between rebels and government forces has intensified in recent weeks -- is particularly troublesome. The government's commitment to a ceasefire, much less peace, seems to last about as long as it takes a bomb to fall from an Antonov to the ground, and the rebels aren't much help, either.

But as opposition candidate Yasir Arman said yesterday, "This crime wasn't committed in a far village in the rural areas of Darfur. It was in the heart of the capital, a few kilometers from the [president's] palace." He may have made a campaign opportunity out of a funeral, but his comment is precisely on mark.

Welcome David Morse to Amherst..

2010-02-17T18:32:00.005-05:00

Human rights activist and journalist David Morse is passing through Amherst this week and will be attending the WMDC monthly meeting tonight....

David has been active in the issue of Sudan and Darfur in particular for the past decade.

Welcome David....

image source: www.inthesetimes.com

The Hampshire Daily Gazette interview with WMDC

2010-02-04T17:48:00.004-05:00

Advocates keep focus on Darfur: Election, partition may reignite trouble

By KRISTIN PALPINI
Staff Writer

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Bloodshed in Darfur declined in 2009, but for Valley experts and advocates, this is no reason to relax their vigilance.

With a refugee population in the millions, skirmishes still breaking out in western Sudan, two pivotal elections on the horizon, and oil reserves at stake, the situation in Darfur - officially characterized by the U.S. as genocide in 2006 - is far from resolved.

Local Darfur advocates are attempting to bring focus back to the region in the hopes of quashing violence before it flares up again.

There is fear that the April presidential election and an historic 2011 vote that could give oil-rich southern Sudan autonomy could provoke more violence. More than half of the government's revenues are derived from oil fields, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. These oil resources may no longer be available to the government, whose power is concentrated in the north, should the south secede.

"Unfortunately, this is not coming to a close," said Mohamed Elgadi, an activist and former Sudanese political prisoner now living in Amherst. Elgadi is co-founder of the Western Massachusetts Darfur Coalition and the Darfur Alert Coalition in Philadelphia. Elgadi came to America with his wife about 15 years ago.

"It's a very good positive that there is less violence," Elgadi said, "but unfortunately the status quo continues and people cannot go back to their villages."

Darfur slipped from the headlines in 2009 as violence between the allegedly government-backed Arab Muslim north and the militia-supported black Christian south over scarce resources declined.

Yet, violence continues to plague the region.

From January 2008 through July 2009, close to 2,500 people were killed, according to the most recent data from the African Union Panel on Darfur.

Since violence erupted in 2003, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been killed and another 2.5 million have fled their villages, opting for life as refugees, according to Amnesty International. Exact figures on injuries, fatalities and people displaced are difficult to verify because Darfur is a restricted area.

"Violence continues and the threat of violence, which is just as important, continues," said Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor who has been analyzing the situation in Darfur for more than a decade.

Reeves has testified several times before Congress, has lectured widely in academic settings, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan.

"It doesn't match the ferocious clashes of 2003 and 2004, but that does not mean that significant violence is not occurring," Reeves said.

April may be a tipping point for violence as Sudan holds its first multiparty presidential election in 24 years. President Omar al-Bashir, who has governed the country since orchestrating a military coup in 1999, could be re-elected. Bashir has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of murder, torture, rape and forced expulsions in the seven-year-old conflict in the western region of Darfur. An appeals panel this week declared that the ICC had enough evidence to charge al-Bashir with genocide, which it declined to do in March.

In 2011, the Sudanese will vote on a referendum that could give the southern Sudan region autonomy.

Reeves said the south's secession is heavily favored, but the government may be unwilling to allow the area autonomy regardless of the vote.

"There will be violence, either pre-emptive or because the results were not upheld by Khartoum," Reeves predicted.

Williamsburg resident Keith Harmon Snow, however, believes the referendum is less about autonomy for the south and more about control of its resources, namely oil. If the south secedes, both the north and the south would have to agree to a new border that could cut the oil-poor north off from a significant revenue stream.

Snow has worked on the Horn of Africa as a consultant on genocide and humanitarian aid for the United Nations, as well as a genocide investigator for Genocide Watch and Survivors Rights International.

"The south has its autonomy already for the most part," said Snow, noting the area has its own government and flag. "The idea that an election will determine the autonomy of the south is another stage in the conquest of Sudan by western powers."

Snow contends the violence and social upheaval in Darfur is a concoction of many different international players who wish to control or overthrow the Sudanese government in an effort to harvest the country's oil and other natural resources.

United Nations peacekeeping troops, which arrived in Sudan in 2007 along with troops from the African Union, serve private corporate interests over humanitarian ones, Snow said. He also does not believe the situation in Darfur is genocide. The number of people killed has been inflated, in some reports up to 450,000, he said, to manipulate well-meaning interests to apply political pressure.

Local action

In anticipation of the elections, Valley sympathizers are working to prevent violence through a campaign of awareness and political pressure.

"We don't know what will happen, the whole country is in chaos," Elgadi said. "No one knows if Sudan will be the same country after all this, but we will know for sure next year."

Reeves, for example, is writing an editorial asking President Obama to make it clear that America will support the outcome of the Sudanese elections. Political pressure of this degree could quash post-election wrangling, he said.

"He has to make the declaration in public that we will support the results of this referendum, no ifs, ands or buts," Reeves said. "If we don't send a clear signal to Khartoum, Bashir will believe it acceptable to resume war or deny the legitimacy of the election."

Reeves said he hopes the article would have the same impact as a piece he wrote for the Washington Post in February 2004, declaring the situation in Darfur genocide and calling for humanitarian aid. The article galvanized public opinion and catapulted Reeves into the center of the Darfur debate.

The Western Massachusetts Darfur Coalition is attempting to follow in Reeves' tracks. The group continues to rally public support by raising awareness of the beleaguered region. Elgadi said the coalition is also reaching out to the two main Sudanese rebel factions, the Justice Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, calling for them to act responsibly.

Elgadi said these methods are effective. Without grassroots advocacy programs like Western Massachusetts Darfur Coalition, genocide in Darfur would have continued unabated.

"The violence is less thanks to the international grass roots movement, a whole positive thing happened," Elgadi said. "It proves that the pressure on the government of Sudan made some kind of effect."

Updating the media on Darfur...

2010-01-13T12:56:00.002-05:00

Thanks to your tireless work to make the Darfur issue always present in the media to bring the world attention to this unacceptable crisis...

Last week, the Gazette interviewed 2 of our members on the situation in Darfur and how our WMDC is helping to organize locally around this issue. The Washnigton-based TV network, Al-Hurra, interviewed (in Arabic) mohamed elgadi on the role of international grassroots movement in bringing up the voice of Darfurians in the Camps. This interview was on the Eye on Democracy show that aired twice a week in the Middle East and North Africa.

more info on this to come later

The New US Policy for Sudan

2009-10-31T15:09:00.001-05:00

السياسة الأمريكية الجديدة تجاه السودان
توازن أمريكي أم توازن سوداني؟

إعداد إبراهيم علي إبراهيم المحامي
واشنطن،

بالنظر إلى إستراتيجية إدارة الرئيس أوباما الجديدة تجاه السودان، يتضح أنها تركز على ضرورة تحقيق ثلاثة أهداف رئيسية وهي: وقف الإبادة التي تحدث في إقليم دارفور، وتنفيذ اتفاقية السلام الشامل بين الشمال والجنوب، وضمان ألا يصبح السودان ملاذاً آمناً للإرهابيين الدوليين.

وُصفت هذه السياسة بأنها شاملة ومتزنة تجمع بين الخشونة والمرونة، حيث وعدت السودان ببعض الحوافز التي لم يعلن عنها للمساعدة على إحراز تقدم في كافة القضايا الرئيسية، وفي الوقت نفسه تهدد بعقوبات أكثر صرامة إذا فشل في العمل على تحقيق سلام طويل الأمد. وقد أوضح أوباما أن السودان لن يتلقى أي حوافز خارجية إلا بعد أن يٌحرز تقدماً في كافة القضايا الرئيسية، كما أعلن إنه ينوي تجديد العقوبات القائمة ضد السودان.

بقراءة تحليلية يتضح أن الهدف الأساسي للسياسة الأمريكية الجديدة بشأن السودان هو إعادة تسليط الأضواء على الصراع بين الشمال والجنوب وتركيز الاهتمام بتنفيذ ما تبقى من اتفاقية السلام الشامل (نيفاشا). وهذا نتاج طبيعي للقلق الذي كان ولا زال يساور المسئولين الأمريكيين من أن أتفاق السلام الذي أنهى الحرب الأهلية بين الشمال والجنوب عام 2005 يتعرض للإهمال، وبحاجة إلى إصلاح ومتابعة ومراقبة دقيقة لضمان تنفيذه إلى آخر بند وهو الانتخابات والاستفتاء، وان تركيز الأضواء على مشاكل السودان الأخرى خاصة دارفور قد يضر بهذا الانجاز الأمريكي، ويعرض البلاد مرة أخرى للحرب والفوضى.

هذه الأولوية التي حظي بها اتفاق السلام تؤكد أن إستراتيجية الإدارة الأمريكية تعمل على معالجة كل موضوع في وقته والانتهاء منه check list ، قبل الانتقال للآخر، وهذا يثير المخاوف التي ذكرتها سابقاً من أن هذه الإستراتيجية قد تؤدي إلى "تجميد" قضية دارفور لبعض الوقت لحين الانتهاء من حق تقرير المصير والاستفتاء.

كذلك يلاحظ أن الإستراتيجية الجديدة أعطت أولوية قصوى لموضوع الاستفتاء، حيث قالت أن الهدف يتلخص في قيام دولة موحدة سلمية، أو ينفصل السودان إلى دولتين تعيشان في سلام جنباً إلى جنب. والتزمت الولايات المتحدة بتقديم العون الفني والسياسي، وحثت الأطراف على الاتفاق على قانون الاستفتاء، وقبول نتيجته، والاتفاق على ترتيبات ما بعده لاقتسام الثروة بعد الانفصال إذا تم. كما طلبت من السودان إجراء إصلاحات قانونية لخلق مناخ ملائم للانتخابات النزيهة والاستفتاء.

فيما يتعلق بمجهودات السلام بدارفور دعت السياسة الجديدة لإيجاد حل متفاوض عليه للنزاع في دارفور، وذلك عبر الحوارات التي سيقوم بها المبعوث الخاص مع الحركات المسلحة والحكومة ودول الجوار. وأكدت على أن الولايات المتحدة ستدعم اتفاقية سلام تعالج جذور المشكلة بالبناء على مجهودات دولة قطر لمفاوضات السلام، وتقديم الدعم المباشر للوسيط المشترك لدارفور، وتشجيع المشاركة الواسعة، بواسطة كل ممثلي المجتمع المدني المتنوع والمتعدد في عملية السلام. كما أكدت على أنها ستعمل على تجديد التزام الأطراف بإعلان المبادئ الموقع سنة 2005 الذي يلزم جميع الأطراف والحركات الكبرى للبحث عن حل سلمي للنزاع في دارفور والالتزام باتفاقية وقف إطلاق النار لسنة 2004، وستبحث مع الشركاء على اتفاق لوقف العدائيات.

ومن النقاط المثيرة للاهتمام في طريقة المعالجة الأمريكية لقضية دارفور، هي دعوتها لإعادة تأسيس وتوسيع وتقوية التحالف الدولي الذي ساعد في الوصول إلى اتفاقية السلام الشامل(نيفاشا) للعمل على تحويل الاهتمام الدولي بدارفور إلى التزامات جماعية، للمساعدة في تحقيق السلام وتطوير الأمن والعدالة والتنمية.

وهذا في حد ذاته سيشكل نقلة نوعية جديدة في طريقة التفاوض وربما آلياته، حيث ترشح منظمة الايقاد والشركاء الدوليين للعب دور جديد في مفاوضات دارفور، مما يفرض على الجميع- الوساطة بقطر، والحكومة السودانية، والحركات المسلحة- إعادة وتوثيق الاتصال بشركاء الإيقاد ومجموعة الترويكا الدولية (أمريكا بريطانيا النرويج) وغيرهم من الشركاء الدوليين الذين ساهموا في صياغة نيفاشا وانجازها لتنسيق المواقف. كذلك يشكل هذا تحدياً واضحاً للتحالفات القائمة حالياً التي تدعم قضية دارفور داخل الولايات المتحدة، حيث يطلب منها صراحة أن تكون داعمة لعملية السلام وان تكون مساهمة فيها. وإذا صدق تنفيذ البند أعلاه، فهناك احتمال لأتباع نفس الأسلوب الذي اتبع في التفاوض بين الأطراف، وربما أتباع نفس الوصفة والتسوية الدستورية التي تمت في نيفاشا.

يتضح من هذا إن التوازن الذي قصدت أن تظهر به السياسة الجديدة، ليس توازناً في طريقة تناولها للقضايا السودانية وترتيبها من حيث الأهمية، وإنما توازناً لأطراف الصراع داخل الإدارة الأمريكية نفسها. فأخذت السياسة الجديدة أجزاء من إستراتيجية الجنرال غريشن مثل دعوته لتطبيع العلاقات مع الخرطوم؛ و دعوته إلى الاهتمام باتفاق السلام بين الشمال والجنوب، والتقارب مع الحكومة بدلاً من فرض العزلة عليها. ومن جهة أخرى عملت على إرضاء المتشددين في الإدارة ( هيلاري كلينتون وسوزان رايس) وفي الكونجرس (مجموعة كوكس السودان- فرانك وولف، دونالد بين، والسيناتور فاينغولد) ونشطاء تحالف إنقاذ دارفور وحلفائهم (جيري فولر وجون برندر غاست) حيث نصت على وجود "حرب إبادة" واحتوت على عقوبات لم يفصح عنها حتى الآن.

وأكدت السياسة الجديدة على أن الجنرال غريشن هو الشخص المسئول عن تنفيذها، وسيكون له الصوت الأعلى في متابعتها، رغم الاعتراضات التي ظهرت ضده مؤخرا. وهذا يؤكد أن النزاع بينه وبين وزارة الخارجية قد حسم لصالحه، وان مكتبه رغم وجوده في الوزارة إلا انه يتمتع باستقلال تام في إدارته واتخاذ القرارات الإستراتيجية الخاصة بتنفيذ هذه السياسة، مما يضع أهمية كبرى للتعامل معه من قبل كافة الأطراف، حتى تلك التي لا تحبه.

أعادت السياسة الجديدة إلى الأضواء مرة أخرى موضوع التعاون مع السودان في موضوع محاربة الإرهاب والاستخبارات المتعلقة به، وشددت على أنه موضوع ذو قيمة لها، ولكنها حذرت الخرطوم من استخدامه للمساومة. ولا يزال مكتب المخابرات السودانية مفتوحاً في فرجينيا ويشكل ارتباطاً بين أجهزة المخابرات بين الدولتين ويرأسه العقيد محمد سليمان. و يجب ألا ننسى أن الإدارة الأمريكية تبني وتشيد اكبر سفارة لها الآن في إفريقيا، كل هذا يرجح من احتمال رغبة الإدارة الأمريكية في الإسراع بالتعاون مع السودان إلى مراحل متقدمة إذا قدمت حكومة السودان تنازلات واضحة في المجالات التي ذكرتها الإستراتيجية.

Darfur Alert Org on the Obama New Policy for Sudan

2009-10-21T10:31:00.005-05:00

photo source: www.genocide.change.org

Read here more on the new Obama Admin for Darfur:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/10/darfur-groups-wary-about-president-obamas-new-sudan-policy.html#

Darfur Leaders Network
wwww.darfurleadersnetwork.org
Press Release

Contact: Ibrahim Hamid

New Sudan Policy Welcome, Stronger Implementation Plan Needed
October 19, 2009

Darfur Leaders Network (DLN) commends Obama administration for unveiling the long awaited policy review on Sudan and for developing a clear statement of U.S. policy in support of a sustainable peace in Sudan. DLN welcomes the renewal of sanctions on the Government of Sudan (GoS) for its actions in Darfur, the emphasis on accountability for genocide and its assertion’s that counter-terrorism cooperation should not trump other U.S. policy priorities and cannot be used as “..a bargaining chip to evade (GoS) responsibilities in Darfur. DLN also applauds the administration commitment to support the UNAMID and the strategy of multilateral path and durable solution to the conflict in Darfur and the inclusion of all segments of Darfuri society to address the root causes of the conflict – including political representation and development – as well as compensation for survivors and reconciliation. DLN as a representative of Darfuri Diaspora in the U.S. welcomes any constructive engagement in implementing the strategy of durable solutions to Darfur conflict.

However, DLN remains cautious as the new policy falls short of dealing with the larger question of humanitarian, security and justice issues. The policy lacks clear implementation guidelines to address the government of Sudan’s new offensive in Darfur, and the problems of humanitarian access to meet the needs of displaced people and their safe return. Over the past six years more than three million people remain displaced from their homes and living in camps suffering difficult conditions. To date no single Sudanese official or janjaweed leader was brought to justice for orchestrating what the administration itself called genocide and no efforts have been made to disarm the janjaweed militias.

Darfurians believe that sustainable peace in Darfur is not just drafting a sound policy but it requires meaningful implementations. The Administration’s special envoy diplomatic efforts to date have led Darfurians to question whether the new policy, as unveiled today, will be fully implemented and real retroactive pressure will be imposed on GoS to meet its existing contractual commitments.

South Africa will Arrest Albashir!

2009-09-29T15:58:00.003-05:00

source: www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32593

South Africa president warns Sudan’s Bashir of arrest

September 27, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — The president of South Africa Jacob Zuma affirmed his country’s position over the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last March.
Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the South African president said that "as a signatory of this particular agreement [the ICC Statute] we said that once he has been arrested [in South Africa by judiciary], we could not stop the arrest of Bashir. That is the position we made”.

Asked by Amanpour whether he sticks to his earlier statements that if Bashir “was to ever set foot inside your [South Africa] country you would order him arrested”, Zuma replied “that is correct”.

New Article on US Policy in Darfur

2009-09-07T18:41:00.002-05:00

source: http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/were-darfur-promises-real
Were Darfur Promises for Real?
Posted by Enough Team on Sep 02, 2009

This post by award-winning author Dave Eggers and Enough Co-founder John Prendergast originally appeared on CNN.com.
We have been part of an extraordinary social phenomenon over the past four years surrounding Darfur: the development of a genuine anti-genocide people's movement. It's succeeded in cultivating a number of true champions in the political sphere, led by three former senators: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Now that Obama, Biden and Clinton are in office, and another fierce anti-genocide advocate, Susan Rice, is in as ambassador to the United Nations, we felt there finally would be a consequence for the perpetrators of the genocide, the regime officials in Khartoum, Sudan.
But rather than the kind of tough actions the these top officials had all advocated in their previous jobs and on the campaign trail, President Obama's Sudan envoy instead began to articulate a friendly, incentives-first message that even Sudan's president, an indicted war criminal, publicly welcomed. Our chins hit the floor in disbelief, because our chins had nowhere else to go.
The administration is preparing to announce the results of its Sudan policy review soon, but the policy direction has already been set, and it is of urgent concern. There is no clear decision for the U.S. to take the lead in revitalizing a peace process for Darfur, or to create real costs for non-implementation of the existing North-South peace deal.

But this isn't just a debate about policy towards one country. President Obama, like President Bush before him, has called Darfur an ongoing genocide. So the policy that will be unveiled soon on Sudan will have global ramifications, because it will be the president's first chance to articulate his policy on responding to genocide.

To read the rest of the post, click here.

Obama Admin: New Policy for Darfur?

2009-08-05T19:38:00.002-05:00

From Los Angelos Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-sudan4-2009aug04,0,4655493.story
U.S. reshaping Darfur policy
The Obama administration is working on a new approach that may soften some sanctions against the Sudan government, which is implicated in the killing and displacement of tens of thousands.
By Peter Wallsten and Edmund Sanders
August 4, 2009

Reporting from Washington and Nairobi, Kenya -- After years of worldwide outrage over suffering in Darfur, the Obama administration will soon launch a new policy that could soften some longtime U.S. sanctions against the Sudanese government implicated in the large-scale killings and displacement of African tribespeople.White House officials say that specific conditions would have to be met before sanctions would be lifted, and that Sudan could face even tougher sanctions if its leaders act in bad faith. But President Obama's handpicked envoy to Sudan, J. Scott Gration, said in an interview Monday that the Khartoum government, which expelled humanitarian groups this year after an international court accused Sudan's president of war crimes in Darfur, has shown a willingness to work toward stabilizing Darfur in order to allow aid to be delivered.
"We see that there is a spirit of cooperation and an attitude of wanting to help," Gration said.The American envoy acknowledged that lifting sanctions could help bolster the Sudanese government, but he said the new policy would be prudent and cautious."There's ways that we can roll back these sanctions in a way that allows us to lift the restrictions we need, such that the government continues to be sanctioned and military equipment continues to be sanctioned," he said.

The new approach has sparked fierce debate among Obama's advisors and is causing consternation among some of his strongest supporters, who had expected the president to toughen U.S. policy toward a government that he had sharply criticized as untrustworthy during last year's presidential campaign.Broad restrictions were enacted by the Clinton administration 12 years ago against the Islamist-led regime in response to Khartoum's alleged harboring of terrorists such as Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and to the oppression of Christians and other minorities as part of Sudan's civil war.U.S. foreign aid and almost all commercial ties are severely restricted.Even floating the idea of lifting some sanctions -- something the Bush administration also contemplated -- is politically controversial.Darfur has for years unified an unusual and vocal coalition of Hollywood stars, human rights activists, African Americans and evangelicals. As candidates last year, Obama, Vice President and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton all vowed to maintain a hard line with Khartoum.Obama's United Nations ambassador, Susan Rice, who as an advisor to the Clinton administration helped draft the sanctions, has argued for a tougher stance, declaring that genocide continues in Darfur.Supporters of the more cooperative approach, such as Gration, argue that deaths have declined in Darfur and that U.S. sanctions are hurting efforts to build roads and other projects in southern Sudan that need to be in place by 2011. That is the year the region is expected to vote to secede from the country in a referendum that is a key component of a 2005 U.S.-brokered peace treaty that ended Sudan's 21-year civil war.Gration cited as evidence of Khartoum's new cooperation the government's willingness to ease its stance against several international humanitarian organizations that had been forced to leave the country and accused of spying after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir in March.

Nearly a dozen aid groups were kicked out, but now several others have been granted entry -- though critics note that the initial banning has hampered delivery of aid.The new White House policy is not likely to be announced for several weeks, but in interviews and congressional testimony, administration officials have begun to sketch it out.They say the new policy would not contradict the president's campaign promises -- and would result in tougher restrictions if Khartoum failed to adhere to promises.A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity while discussing internal policy deliberations, said any possible incentives would be presented as part of a package to entice the Sudanese regime to bring peace to Darfur and abide by the terms of the 2005 peace accord.

The International Criminal Court estimates that about 35,000 people have been killed by government troops and allied militias in the six-year war in Darfur against rebellious tribes. At least 100,000 more have died from disease and starvation, the ICC says.The Obama policy will outline "what sort of steps we'd be prepared to take that would be attractive to the government of Sudan in response to changed conditions on the ground," the White House official said.The official said the new approach would be contingent upon concrete action by the Khartoum regime to stabilize security nationwide and end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

Important PR from Darfur Leaders Network

2009-07-18T10:25:00.002-05:00

The June 26-28 meeting in Philadelphia issues an important document (in Arabic) that clearly laid out the vision of Darfur Leaders Network-DLN:

إعلان فيلادلفيا حول قضية دارفور

تحت شعار نحو حل شامل ودائم للقضية، وعبر إجتماعات مكثفة إستمرت ليومين متتالين عقدت شبكة قيادات دارفورمؤتمرها السنوى العام بمدينة فيلادلفيا يومي السبت والأحد 27-28 من يونيو المنصرم بمشاركة ممثلين لمعظم المنظمات و الروابط الدارفورية من مختلف الولايات و بحضور شخصيات اكاديمية و اعلامية بارزة وتم تقديم عدد من الاوراق حول الوضع الراهن فى دارفور- الوضع الانسانى للنازحين واللاجئين - إنجازات وإخفاقات شبكة قيادات دارفور- التحديات التى تواجه منظمات المجتمع المدنى الدارفورى بالخارج- هيكلة شبكة قيادات دارفور- رؤى الحل الشامل والدائم، والاعلام والعمل التعبوى. إضافة إلى ذلك فقد إنتخب المؤتمرون بالإجماع الاستاذ إبراهيم حامد رئيسا للشبكة، كما تم إختيار ثمانية من الأعضاء لتشكيل المكتب التنفيذي الجديد.
جدير بالذكر أن الأوراق المقدمة حظيت بنقاش هادئ و بناء، تخللته روح ديمقراطية قامت على إحترام الرأي والرأي الآخر، وذلك ما سهل الوصول إلى توصيات قيمة، وعملية ستهتدي بها الشبكة في راهن ومستقبل نشاطها المكرس لجمع الصف الدارفوري في الداخل والخارج، وخدمة قضية الإقليم والوصول بها إلى الأهداف المنشودة.
فضلا عن ذلك فقد أمّن المؤتمرون أن شبكة قيادات دارفور بالولايات المتحدة ستظل مظلة مستقلة و جامعة لكل المنظمات و الروابط و الفعاليات الدارفورية الراغبة في دعم القضية دون تمييز أو إقصاء لأحد من أبناء الاقليم، و تدعوا كل التنظيمات الدارفورية العاملة فى القضية الدارفورية للإنضمام و المشاركة وأكد المؤتمرون على إعطاء الجانب الاعلامي للشبكة إهتمام أكبر ليتواكب و عظم الحدث , و ذلك بفتح قنوات المعلومة و الخبر من ارض الاحداث بدارفور للعالم الخارجي, وأيضآ تزويد المواطن الدارفوري بصورة خاصة و المواطن السوداني بصورة عامة عن مايدور بدارفور من إنتهاكات و قتل و تشريد . وأن المؤتمرين يدركون بعمق ووعي أن قيام الحكومة و المركز بضرب المكون الإجتماعي لدارفور، وتقسيمه إلى إثنيات ليس سوى فخ حاولت به صناعه فتنة و تمرير مطامعها الإستعلائية، وتحقيق أهدافها العنصرية بعيدا عن المطالب و الحقوق السياسية.
وأشاروا المؤتمرون إلى أنهم سيسعون لجمع الشمل الدارفوري عبر خطط، وبرامج، وحوارات، ومبادرات، ومساع حميدة يبذلها كل المنتمين للشبكة من أجل ترتيب البيت الدارفوري من الداخل بمساعدة كل أبناء دارفور فى المهجر، وتهيئة كل الأسباب التي تعين على إسترداد حقوق الإقليم.
لقد جاء إجتماع قيادات منظمات المجتمع المدني الدارفورية في الولايات المتحدة في وقت وصل فيه النظام القائم إلى مستوى متقدم من تعزيز سياساته الديكتاتورية، وأجندته الحربية التي طالت كل هوامش السودان، والمهمشين في مركزه، وبرغم كل الإتفاقيات التي وقعها النظام مع بعض فصائل شعبنا إلا أنه بمنهجه المراوغ أفرغها من مضامينها حتى صار المواطنون لا يجنون سلما نشدته بنود هذه الإتفاقيات، ولا يعايشون وضعا أمنيا، أو إقتصاديا، أو إجتماعيا، أو تربويا، من خلاله يمكن البناء لمستقبل سوداني موفور بالتقدم، والتسامح، والتنمية، والأمن، والعدالة، والمساواة، والوحدة، والسلام.
إن الظروف القاسية التي تواجه الشعب السوداني عامة، وأهلنا في دارفور خاصة يجب أن تكون حافزا ومحرضا لتضامن كل قوى المجتمع المدني من أجل الثورة ضد سلطة الإنقاذ الغاشمة. ونحن إذ نؤكد على ضرورة هذا التضامن من أجل إنجاز التغيير الثوري للأوضاع التي يرزح من تحتها شعبنا نأمل من كل قطاعات المجتمع المدني في الداخل و الخارج ، والحركات المسلحة، والمواطنين في دارفور بمختلف انتماءتهم القبلية والسياسية أن يعملوا على ضرورة توحيد صفوفهم من أجل الوصول بقضية دارفور إلى شاطئ الأمان، وأن يتواضعوا على مواصلة النضال، ونبذ كل اسباب الفرقة والتمزق.
إن مبررات الإختلاف الأيديولجى و القبلى و السياسي و الطموحات الشخصية للبعض كأساس للخلاف بين الحركات المسلحة و عدم التوحد فى جبهة واحدة أو على الاهداف و المبادى لإنقاذ اهلنا المغلوب على امرهم فى دارفور لهو أمر خطير لا يمكن السكوت عليه. ونحن نأسف للتشرذم الذى أصاب حال حاملى السلاح وعليه من هنا ننادى بان تكون لهذه الحركات مؤسسات منتخبة وفعالة تمارس الديمقراطية و الشفافية ولها القدرة على اتخاذ قرارات تؤدى الى التوحد و التواصل مع المشردين و النازحين و انسان درفور بشكل عام حتى تعبر عن طموحاتها و مطالبها و مقاومة الاغراءات الحكومية لبيع القضية وان مؤسسية الحركات و منظمات المجتمع المدنى تبقى ضرورة أساسية لتقوية الموقف التفاوضى لتحقيق مطالب إنسان دارفورالذى إنتظرطويلا وحتى تكون جاهزة لبناء نفسها سياسيا و إجتماعيا و قادرة على البناء و التعمير فى فترة ما بعد السلام. إن المؤتمرين تواصوا على ضرورة بحث كل السبل المؤدية للوقوف بجانب المستضعفين من أبناء شعبنا في دارفور، والذين تضرروا من سياسات النظام الإنقاذي المستبد من أجل إستدامة سيطرته الديكتاتورية على كل مؤسسات شعبنا وتعويق النضال الساعي لتحقيق أسس السلام والتقدم و القاصدة إلى ضرب أسفين الإخاء وسط مجتمع دارفور المتسامح الكريم، وفت عضده بما يكفل ذلك تغييب صوته، وضياع حقوقه، وتلاشي وجودهم الضارب في القدم. و أمن المؤتمرون على أهمية تنفيذ القرار الدولى 1593 و الخاص بمحاكمة مجرمى الإبادة الجماعية كسبيل وحيد للاستقرار و السلام فى دارفور و السودان عامة.
ولكون المؤتمرون يمثلون كل القواعد الاثنية و الفعاليات السياسية و االإجتماعية في دارفور، فقد أجمعوا على أن الصراع الدائر في دارفور إنما هو صراع سياسي فى المقام الاول بين مناضلين يسعون لأخذ حقوقهم وإنتهازيين في المركز يريدون فرض سياساتهم قسرا على ربوع الوطن، ولعله هو الصراع الذي أوجدته المظالم التاريخية التي إقترفتها الحكومات المركزية منذ الإستقلال، وشددت أواره ثقافة حكومية راكزة على الإنكار لهذه المظالم،و الغاء الاخر دون وضع اعتبار لتعدد الثقافات الذى يتميز به السودان . ونقض العهود والأعراف، وتجريم الرافضين للإخضاع والهيمنة والتدجين، والإستهتار بما قد تفرزه هذه المظالم من تهديد لوحدة القطر.
مثلما أجمع المؤتمرون على أن كل محاولات النظام لإعلاء شأن النعرة القبلية في دارفور، وأجزاء أخرى من القطر، وتحريض بعض قبائل دارفور المتساكنة مع نظرائها تاريخيا في وئام وسلام سوف لن تثني كل الناشطين من أبناء دارفور في الوقوف خلف قضيتهم العادلة والمتمثلة في المشاركة فى السلطة والثروة تحت نظام ديمقراطي يكفل الحرية والمساواة وإحترام حقوق المواطنة والإعتراف بالمظالم التاريخية التي إرتكبتها الدولة تجاه مواطنيها.
وتوصل المؤتمرون إلى أن تحقيق السلام قوميا، وإقليميا سيظل الهدف الأسمى للسودانيين قاطبة، وأهل دارفور خاصة، وأن السبيل إليه يقتضي أولا التعاهد على مناخ سياسي سلمي يتم من خلاله الإستجابة إلى كل مطالب المناضلين من أجل إجتثاث جذور الشمولية، وثقافة المكر والخداع، والتخلي عن ضروب الإستعلاء المركزي، وإعتراف الحكومة بما إنتهكته من حروب إبادة وتشريد لأهل دارفور، والتواثق على عدالة قضية دارفور ما يستتبع ذلك مفاوضات جادة بين الحكومة من جهة والحركات المسلحة الدارفورية و منظمات المجتمع المدنى من جهة اخرى تفضي إلى تحقيق كل المطالب العادلة.
وإننا إذ نصدر هذا الإعلان نأمل أن تتحقق توصيات مؤتمر شبكة قيادات دارفور الذي عقد بمدينة فيلادلفيا يومي السبت والأحد 27-28 يونيو المنصرم، وأن يعم الخير والسلام كل ربوع بلادنا الحبيبة، وأن تتحقق كل أماني أهلنا المقيمين في مدن وقرى دارفور، وأولئك الذين نزحوا عن أراضيهم ويقيمون في معسكرات النزوح داخل وخارج السودان.
شبكة قيادات دارفور – الولايات المتحدة الامريكية
أمين الإعلام
إسماعيل عمر إبراهيم

Natsios: A Controversial Article

2009-06-24T01:00:00.004-05:00

Obama, Adrift On Sudan
By Andrew S. Natsios

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202385.html

Thirty Sudanese political leaders will meet in Washington today with 170 observers from 32 countries and international organizations, as well as four African former prime ministers, to confront the issues that are slowly pushing Sudan over a cliff. The United States ought to be in a commanding position to mediate in these negotiations, as it did in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 22 years of civil war between Sudan's North and South. But disputes within the Obama administration are inhibiting U.S. efforts to stop Sudan's slide toward civil war at a time when unified American leadership is essential.

First, let's consider the situation. Some policymakers continue to call Darfur an ongoing "genocide," but in fact, the conflict has descended into anarchy. "Darfur today is a conflict of all against all," Rodolphe Adada, the joint African Union-United Nations special representative, told the U.N. Security Council in April. Between Jan. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, he found some 2,000 fatalities from violence, one third of them civilian. The death of some 700 innocent civilians over a 15-month period, while morally repugnant, is not genocide. It is a low-level insurgency. More civilians died in southern Sudan during the past six months than in Darfur over the past 15 months. Despite such facts and extensive U.N. Security Office reports showing that genocide is not an accurate description, President Obama continues to use that weighted term.
Advocacy groups motivate their financial supporters and volunteers by associating today's low-level insurgency with the Sudanese government's massive atrocities of 2003 and 2004. This amounts to leading supporters through a time warp. Evidence shows that the deaths are less than half the 500,000 that is often cited, and that 96 percent of deaths took place during the first two years of the conflict. John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough campaign to end crimes against humanity, said recently, "Most of these figures are wild estimates. They are simply crazily wild estimates." Well, such wild estimates are compromising American diplomacy.

The Obama administration should consider reducing sanctions on Sudan only in exchange for concrete Northern government concessions on critical issues. The North, of course, has a mixed history in carrying out its commitments, but its cooperation is key to securing peace. Yet U.S. use of the term "genocide" is reducing our diplomatic options. In the face of genocide, the United States could hardly act as a neutral mediator. No politician wants to explain why he or she remained complacent in the face of slaughter.
What Sudan needs is a set of political deals to stitch the country back together before the state collapses. Advocacy groups that claim continuing genocide are under assault by respected scholars of Africa, such as Mahmood Mamdani and Alex de Waal, and they are retreating from their insistence during the Bush administration on military intervention in Darfur. But while many now claim to support a negotiated political settlement, they simultaneously undermine efforts to talk.
In addition, the overuse use of a term such as genocide risks anesthetizing the American public and media; if the Sudanese government does one day unleash new atrocities on southern Sudan, no one will be listening.

The administration is focused more on a dated view of Darfur than on the risks of future atrocities that are likely to come from a new war between the North and South. Two events required under the 2005 peace agreement -- national multiparty elections to be held in February 2010 and a referendum the following year on the secession of southern Sudan -- will determine whether Sudan constructively addresses its internal political problems or descends into Somalia-like anarchy or Rwanda-scale atrocities. The risk of war rises exponentially without resolution of these issues: the status of oil-rich Abyei, preparation for the referendum on southern secession, and, after the referendum, the disposition of revenue from oil production (most of which is in southern Sudan, while the pipelines go through the North) between the North and South.

Using the term "genocide" feeds the International Criminal Court's indictment of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir -- which has made meeting with him politically explosive. Some advocates insist that no American diplomat talk with him. How do you mediate a peace agreement if you can't speak to one side's leader? At this crucial moment, the long-suffering Sudanese people need unified American leadership behind a pragmatic policy of engagement. Instead, they have campaign rhetoric and diplomatic paralysis. We, and they, are headed toward disaster if we do not change course.

The writer, a professor of diplomacy in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, was special envoy to Sudan from 2006 to 2007 and served as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2001 to 2005.

More Execution sentences

2009-06-14T00:07:00.002-05:00

The regime's courts in Sudan issued another 12 death Sentences against Darfurian rebels. Th total number of those sentenced to death reached 103 as of June 9, 2009!

www.sudanile.com/arabic/

الحكم باعدام 12 من متمردي دارفور لمشاركتهم في الهجوم على امدرمان

الثلاثاء, 09 يونيو 2009 21:57
قضت محكمة سودانية يوم الثلاثاء باعدام 12 عضوا بحركة العدل والمساواة المتمردة بدارفور لمشاركتهم في هجوم على الخرطوم عام 2008 أسفر عن مقتل اكثر من 200 شخص. وبهذا الحكم الذي يعتقد أنه الاخير في سلسلة من القضايا التي أحيلت للمحكمة اثر هذا الهجوم يصبح عدد متمردي دارفور الذين صدرت ضدهم أحكام بالاعدام فيما يتصل بالتقدم على العاصمة السودانية 103. ولم يتم تنفيذ حكم الاعدام في اي منهم

More Executions in Sudan

2009-05-24T16:14:00.003-05:00

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/21/2576562.htm?section=world
Posted Thu May 21, 2009 12:14am AEST
A Sudanese court has sentenced another nine Darfur rebels to death over a 2008 attack on Khartoum, raising to 91 the number of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighters ordered hanged for the raid.
Judge Awkesha Mohammed Awkesha found the JEM fighters guilty of terrorism, murder and destroying public property during the unprecedented attack on the capital's twin city of Omdurman in May 2008.
Two other men were acquitted and another was given a five-year sentence for having given the other accused somewhere to hide.
Special tribunals set up in the wake of the attack have been judging the alleged rebels in batches over the last few weeks, usually sentencing around 10 to death at a time.

More than 222 people were killed when rebels thrust more than 1,000 kilometres across the sandy expanse from conflict-torn Darfur in western Sudan to Omdurman, just across the Nile from the presidential palace.
Last year, the United Nations expressed concern over the trials in Sudanese courts especially created for the case and urged Khartoum to abolish capital punishment.
Defence lawyers have argued that the special courts are unconstitutional and have not guaranteed their clients' legal rights.
Defence lawyer Dawood Abdel Rahman said he would appeal Wednesday's sentences "but I don't expect any change because these courts were formed in a special way and are unconstitutional."
- AFP

http://www.sudaneseonline.com/ar2/publish/_1/Sudan_News_A1712.shtml
الخرطوم (رويترز) - قضت محكمة سودانية يوم الاربعاء بالاعدام على تسعة لمشاركتهم في هجوم لمتمردي دارفور على العاصمة الخرطوم
.وبهذا يرتفع عدد من صدر عليهم حكم بالاعدام شنقا في قضية هجوم متمردي حركة العدل والمساواة على الخرطوم الى 91 .
وبعد النطق بالحكم في محكمة شمال الخرطوم هب ستة من المتهمين وهتفوا "ثورة حتى النصر" بينما صرخت نساء داخل القاعة من الصدمة.وقطعت قوات حركة العدل والمساواة مئات الاميال من الاراضي الصحراوية لتهاجم الخرطوم في مايو ايار 2008 وأوقفت فقط على بعد مسافة قصيرة من قصر الرئاسة ومقر قيادة الجيش.وشجبت الحركة العقوبة وهي الاحدث في سلسلة من احكام الاعدام في المحاكمة الخاصة بالهجوم التي بدأت في يوليو تموز.كما قضت المحكمة بالسجن خمس سنوات على احد المتهمين بايواء عضو في حركة العدل والمساواة بينما برأت ساحة رجلين اخرين.ووصف أحمد حسين ادم المتحدث باسم الحركة ومقره بريطانيا الحكم بانه عمل استفزازي وقال انه يمكن أن يقوض المفاوضات المتعثرة بالفعل مع الحكومة السودانية والتي تجري في الدوحة.وقال أحمد لرويترز عبر الهاتف "يوم بعد يوم وأسبوع بعد أسبوع يقدمون أعضاءنا الى المحكمة ويحكمون عليهم بالاعدام."انهم يحاولون مواصلة الضغوط علينا حتى لا نهاجمهم مرة أخرى. لكن هذا لن يمنحهم الامان."وأضاف ان الحكم ينتهك القانون الدولي واتفاقا لحسن النوايا وقعه الجانبان في قطر في فبراير شباط.وتابع "ينص الاتفاق على معاملة اعضائنا كأسرى حرب. ولا يجب اصدار احكام بحق الاسرى أو محاكمتهم."واردف ان الحركة ستثير المسألة مع وسطاء من الاتحاد الافريقي والامم المتحدة يشرفون على محادثات الدوحة.واجتمع قادة من حركة العدل والمساواة مع مسؤولين كبار في الحكومة السودانية في قطر مرتين هذا العام في محادثات من المفترض أن تمهد الطريق امام مفاوضات سلام كاملة.وتقول الخرطوم ان ما يزيد عن 200 شخص معظمهم مدنيون قتلوا في الهجوم الذي شنته الحركة على أم درمان التي يفصلها نهر النيل عن وسط الخرطوم.© Copyright by SudaneseOnline.com

70 Darfurians sentenced to Death in Khartoum!

2009-04-24T20:41:00.003-05:00

http://www.javno.com/en-world/darfur-rebels-sentenced-to-death-for-attack_252892
Published: April 22, 2009 15:49h

A Sudanese court on Wednesday sentenced 11 members of the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement to death for a 2008 attack on the Sudanese capital.
Five other defendants were acquitted and will be freed, the court said.

More than 70 rebels have now been sentenced to death for the bold attack in which more than 200 people were killed, including JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim's half brother Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr. None of those sentenced has yet been executed.

The rebels drove hundreds of miles across desert and scrubland to reach the capital and were only a few kilometres from the presidential palace when government troops halted them.
"We sentence them to the death penalty by hanging," judge Issam Ismail said on Wednesday after the individual verdicts were read out, to shouts of protest from the condemned men.
The men were found guilty of 12 charges, including treason, violence against the state and illegal possession of weapons.
Their lawyer launched an appeal against the verdict and questioned the legality of the specially created terrorism courts.

http://www.sudaneseonline.com/ar2161/publish/_1/Sudan_News_A226.shtml

السودان: الحكم بإعدام 11 من «العدل والمساواة» بتهمة الهجوم على مدينة أم درمان

الخرطوم: إسماعيل آدم حكمت محكمة مختصة بقضايا الإرهاب في الخرطوم، أمس، بالإعدام شنقاً حتى الموت على 11 من منسوبي حركة العدل والمساواة المسلحة في دارفور، بعد أن أدانتهم بالتورط في الهجوم الذي شنته قوات الحركة على مدينة «أم درمان» في مايو (أيار) العام الماضي، أدى إلى مقتل أكثر من 200 شخص، وإصابة المئات، إلى جانب خسائر مادية في مختلف أحياء وأسواق «أم درمان». كما أحالت المحكمة أحد المتهمين إلى محكمة الأحداث لصغر عمره (17 عاماً)، وبرأت 4 متهمين، وأرجات محاكمة أحد المتهمين إلى حين

التعافي من مرض ألّم به قبل جلسة النطق بالحكم

also, more at Sudan Tribune: http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30964

ABC Channel 40 interview

2009-03-04T21:10:00.004-05:00

Local Man Reacts to Charges Against Sudanese President
March 4, 2009 06:08 PM EST
By Marci Izard

AMHERST, Mass. (Abc40)-- On Wednesday, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The news has comes as a relief to Amherst resident Mohamed Elgadi.

Elgadi arrested in Khartoum, Sudan in 1992 for his human rights work. Government officials held -and tortured him- for four months.
"It's a long time but it's still painful. They did everything from electric shocks...beating ... everything, including rape," he says.
Elgadi was finally released under the condition that he work as a Government informant. He consented - then fled.

He and his family have lived in the United States for over fifteen years but they still are active in the fight for justice in Sudan. He says the atrocities in Darfur have put an international spotlight on the violence, which he says, is going on across the country.

Three powerful women

2009-03-01T12:33:00.003-05:00

from the website of our sister org Darfur Alert Coalition

These three women hold in their hands the future of Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, and of Darfur. They are the pretrial judges of the International Criminal Court -- Akua Kuenyehia of Ghana (left), Sylvia Steiner of Brazil (center) and Anita Usacka of Latvia -- who are ruling whether to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their historic ruling will be announced to the world Wednesday, March 4, and the reaction will be immediate and worldwide

ICC Judges issued the Arrest Warrant

2009-02-11T23:06:00.002-05:00

from the New york Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/africa/12hague.html?_r=2

2/11/2009

THE HAGUE — Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, brushing aside diplomatic requests to allow more time for peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country, according to court lawyers and diplomats.

It is the first time the court has sought the detention of a sitting head of state since opening its doors in 2002, and could further complicate the tense, international debate over how to solve the crisis in Darfur.
Ever since international prosecutors began seeking an arrest warrant last year, opponents have pressed the United Nations Security Council to use its power to suspend the proceedings. But a majority of council members have argued that the case should go forward, saying Mr. Bashir has not done enough to stop the bloodshed in Darfur to deserve a reprieve.
Many African and Arab nations counter that issuing a warrant for Mr. Bashir’s arrest could backfire, diminishing Sudan’s willingness to compromise for the sake of peace. Others, including some United Nations officials, worry that a warrant could inspire reprisal attacks against civilians, aid groups or the thousands of international peacekeepers deployed there.

Obama's visit to Darfur reguees (video)

2009-01-07T20:09:00.003-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTTNz9mt8Ow
Finally we put our hand on this important and powerful video of the visit of then Senator Obama to one of the Darfur refugees camps in 2006. Thanks to Salah Bandar who re-posted it on Sudaneseonline yesterday.

"I came here to learn from you and listen to what needed to happen... I will report back on what I heard here from you... I'm gonna be working hard when I go back to the United State... you are not going to be forgotten"

Listen to this 9-min video

W. Mass. Darfur Coalition-WMDC: Interview with co-founder of WMDC

2008-12-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

W. Mass. Darfur Coalition-WMDC: Interview with co-founder of WMDC

Interview with co-founder of WMDC

2008-12-24T09:47:00.005-05:00

Amherst Bulletin interviewed the co-founder of W. Mass Darfur Coalition, and the co-chair of Amherst Human Rights Commission
photo from UMASS archives (CIE website)
Magda Ahmed of Amherst is co-chair of the town's Human Rights Commission, which holds a free potluck brunch Dec. 13. "Human rights should be part of the elementary school curriculum. Young students need to learn to respect and tolerate differences of other people, that's the bottom line," Ahmed said in an interview.

A backstop for human rights
By Phyllis Lehrer Staff Writer, Amherst Bulletin
Published on December 12, 2008

http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/121000/

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. That's the first of 30 articles in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Humans Rights, adopted Dec. 10 1948. In Amherst, a group works to help residents safeguard those rights, in areas such as education, property, justice, employment and family.

"Residents new to the area may not be aware they have particular rights that are protected. Rights can be trampled on. Our history demands and compels us to protect those rights," said Reynolds Winslow, co-chair, with Magda Ahmed, of Amherst's Human Rights Commission.
Eunice Torres, the town's human rights/human resource director, said the mission is to ensure that no power goes unchecked and that all citizens are afforded equal protection under the law.
Each year, the commission celebrates the anniversary of the UN declaration's adoption. This year, the community is invited to a free potluck brunch Dec. 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Town Hall. The event includes speakers and entertainment.

The Human Rights Commission was born out of the Civil Rights Review Commission established in 1970 by Town Meeting. In 1997, Town meeting authorized a full-time human rights director and Shen Titus was hired.
Torres explained the roles in an email message. "The office of the Human Rights Director, in conjunction with the Human Rights Commission and town government, seeks to promote economic and social justice for all citizens through means of mediation, education and enforcement of local state, federal and International human rights laws," she wrote. "Ultimately, its aim is to move toward compliance with the standards set by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document increasingly referred to as customary international law, which we must all abide."
The director, in collaboration with the commission, pursues investigations into alleged civil and human rights violations, with both public and private sectors of Amherst.

Recent work
Winslow and Ahmed described some of the commission's recent activities, such as investigating complaints at the Amherst Survival Center, which led to positive changes at the center. The commission worked with Asian students at the University of Massachusetts who were being assessed a fee unfairly. The issue was brought to the Select Board and the university rescinded the fee.
The commission held an information session on the PATRIOT Act, celebrated the legality of same-sex marriage and participated in a Darfur event with the Northampton Human Rights Commission. The panel also offers the Junior Heroes Award for students and is part of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast.
The two said the commission's goal is to act, not wait for people to come to them with problems, and to increase educational outreach. They agreed that it is one of the most diverse committees in the community. Members include Frank Gatti, secretary; and Lois Raj, Kathleen Anderson, Samia Eshallagli and Cecilia Darby. There are two vacancies.
Both leaders have experience with rights issues. Winslow, who joined eight years ago, said work on the commission was a natural fit with his civil rights work, including being a charter member of the Amherst NAACP chapter and the Sojourner Truth Committee in Florence. He is a founding member of the Amherst Education Foundation. He is retired from UMass, where he was director of the minority engineering program and a development officer.
Ahmed, who is a regional coordinator for the state Department of Health's Bureau of Clinical Disease Control, has served on the commission for five years. She is active with Amnesty International because it took on her husband's case when he was the victim of torture.
Ahmed, who came to Amherst in 1994, holds an undergraduate degree in agricultural economics from Cairo University and a master's in development. She spent 12 years with the Ministry of Agriculture in her native Sudan. She earned a doctorate from the UMass in 2004.
"Human rights should be part of the elementary school curriculum. Young students need to learn to respect and tolerate differences of other people, that's the bottom line," she said, "to be able to tolerate people not like you, who don't have the same beliefs or ideas to be more humane. If you start when young when you are an adult, it's part of who you are."
"We have to respect the rights of each other, otherwise we will not be who we are as American citizens," Winslow said. "With respect we can know each other. We can help each other if we know each other, that's why I keep active."

Conversation on Darfur

2008-12-22T15:28:00.004-05:00

So far, the Conversation TV program on Darfur was aired 3 times on Amherst Public TV (Channel 12). It will be shown again twice on the last Sat of Dec per the schedule below. The educational show was planned and presented by the W. Mass. Darfur Coalition to bring more attention to the crisis in Darfur. It highlighted the new development of the ICC and the expected arrest warant to be issued by the court for President Omer Bashir.

http://www.actvamherst.com/phpicalendar/

Show Detail: Conversations
ShowID 4085
Event Date: 11/5/2008
Length: 0:30:06
Category: Series Comments
Episode: Darfur
Keywords: talk show, series
Schedule Information:
12/27/2008 at 8:00 AM & 12/27/2008 at 4:00 PM

WMDC co-delivered the People's Arrest Warrant of Al-Bashir

2008-11-19T20:40:00.004-05:00

watch the 4-min interview

The Tents of Hope event in Washington DC turned to be a big success according to media coverage. According to Sudan Tribune the camapaign was part of a series of events in which activists gathered in Washington "about 450 students from around the country traveled to the capitol for leadership training in grassroots mobilization for genocide prevention".

Around 400 cities in 48 states and 8 countries participated in the weekend event on last Nov 7-9, 2008.
Mohamed Elgadi, represented of WMDC at the Vigil and also was part of the group that delivered the People's Arrest Warrant of President Omer Al-Bashir however, the Sudanese Embassy declined to receive it.
Mohame was interviewed by Voice of America TV news program Focus along with other Darfur activists.

Tents of Hope: PR in Arabic

2008-11-02T15:37:00.004-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mohamed Elgadi MohamedElgadi@yahoo.com 215-870-7809
Tragi Mustafa TragiMustafa@yahoo.com 905-317-4149
Tents of Hope Announces Vigil for Darfur at Sudanese Embassy:
"Deliver a People’s Arrest Warrant for Omar Al-Bashir"

منظمة "خيام الأمل" تعلن عن الإعتصام من أجل

دارفور أمام السفارة السودانية

" رسالتنا أمر قبض شعبى على عمر البشير"

واشنطون دى سى - ينظم السودانيون ومنظمة "خيام الأمل" إعتصامآ أمام مبنى السفارة السودانية فى واشنطون من الساعة 2 الى الساعة 7 بعد الظهر وذلك يوم الجمعة الموافق 7 نوفمبر 2008 . يجمع هذا الاعتصام السودانيين والامريكان على هدف واضح: تحقيق العدالة والسلام فى دارفور وذلك باصدار أمر قبض شعبى ضد الرئيس عمر البشير قبل أن يقتل من جديد. هذا الاعتصام جزء من " لقاء الخيام" التاريخى والذى ينعقد من أجل دارفور فى أيام 7 - 9 نوفمبر 2008 www.TentsofHope.org

سيلتقى السودانيون والامريكان فى هذا الاعتصام كى يقولوا بالصوت العالى ( كفاية) هجمات على مواطنى دارفور فى قراهم ومدنهم ومعسكراتهم ، وسيطلب اللقاء انهاء جهود السلام الدولية البائسة و التى لم تفعل شيئآ يذكر لوقف هذه الهجمات. " أنا مذهولة من سلبية المسلمين فى أمريكا وعلى نطاق العالم تجاه الابادة الجارية فى دارفور حيث يقوم مسلمون بضرب وتعذيب واغتصاب وقتل واذلال مسلمين آخرين" ، صرحت بذلك شابانا ستيشنوالا ، مديرة مشروع Nur التابع للمؤتمر الاسلامى الأمريكى.

لقد آن الأوان لتأييد القبض على البشير بواسطة المحكمة الجنائية الدولية لمحاكمته على جرائم نظامه فى دارفور التى تسببت فى مقتل اكثر من 300 ألف شخص، كما تشهد المجازر الأخيرة فى معسكرات كالما وزمزم وبيرى للنازحين، إضافة الى حوالى 3 مليون مواطن فقدوا بيوتهم ولا يزالون يعيشون فى معسكرات منذ عام 2003. يجب ألا يمنح البشير أى مهلة يزعم دبلوماسيوه فى الأمم المتحدة أنه يحتاج إليها لتحقيق السلام فى دارفور. يجب أن يحاسب البشير على جرائمه كافة، مثلما قالت مواطنة دارفورية لأحد عمال الإغاثة فى معسكر لاجئين فى تشاد: " تأجيل محاكمة البشير لن يكون فرصة لإحلال السلام، ولكنه سيكون فرصة للبشير لمزيد من القتل ". وكانت مذبحة معسكر كالما للنازحين فى جنوب دارفور دليلآ مأساويآ على نبوءتها. " لقد حان الوقت كى يعاقب الرئيس البشير على كافة جرائمه"، يقول محمد القاضى ، أحد الناجين من التعذيب فى بيوت الاشباح فى الخرطوم. " لن أنسى ، ما حييت، تصريح البشير فى التلفزيون للعالم أجمع - أن الحديث عن التعذيب فى السودان كذب - وكنت أنا فى تلك اللحظة ضمن 171 معتقلآ يتعرضون للتعذيب فى واحد من بيوت اشباحه العديدة فى الخرطوم."

لقد جمعت منظمة ( اوقفوا الابادة الجماعية الآن) تعليقات وأقوال عديد من اللاجئين الدارفوريين التى تسجل مأساتهم وتعبر عن صوتهم الشجاع فى الوقت نفسه. وقد ظهر هذا الصوت واضحآ وقويآ فى هذه الرسالة الخطية القصيرة من أحد اللاجئين: " على المجتمع الدولى أن يدعم العدالة والمحكمة الجنائية الدولية فى موضوع البشير." وعندما سئل لاجئ آخر عما إذا كانت حياته ستتعرض للخطر إن صدر أمر بالقاء القبض على الرئيس البشير، أجاب قائلآ: " العدالة فوق الجميع. لن يتحقق السلام دون عدالة." كما تساءل صبى دارفورى لاجئ بفصاحة: " لماذا يمنح البشير 12 شهرآ لاحلال السلام، فى حين أننا لم ننعم بالسلام منذ 5 سنوات؟"." ليس لدينا وقت لتضييعه. لدينا كل الادلة والبراهين المطلوبة لمحاكمة البشير على الفظائع التى لا يزال يرتكبها. " قال داوود صالح رئيس منظمة ( تحالف دبنقا). وأضاف قائلآ " يتعرض عمال الإغاثة السودانيون للسجن والتعذيب والقتل بسبب تقديمهم العون للمواطنين الذين أجبروا على النزوح من جنوب السودان وجبال النوبة والنيل الأزرق ودارفور. تعرضت حياتى أنا شخصيآ للتهديد، وأجبرت على الهروب عام 1990. نظام البشير يقتل الابرياء العزّل. إننا نتطلع لليوم الذى يلقى فيه القبض على هذا المجرم وأعوانه."

Tents of Hope gather in DC

2008-10-17T06:08:00.002-05:00

Our Darfur Coalition is part of the Planning Committee for the end of this great national educational project, which will be a gathering of more than 100 tents from over 100 different cities across the United States.
The tents will be gathered @ the mall in Washington, DC on 7-9 Nov 2008.

for more info, see the website http://www.tentsofhope.org/

No Peace in Darfur without Accountability

2008-10-12T20:20:00.002-05:00

By: Salih Mahmoud*

Excerpts from an article published on the website of Coalition of the ICC, and titled:
Do not deprive Darfurians of their right of justice

"Recently, while still president, Mbeki travelled to Sudan and issued a statement arguing that the proposed arrest warrant would undermine lasting peace in Sudan. If only we can tempt Bashir to co-operate with the UN for the first time, the argument runs, who cares about responsibility for the hundreds of thousands who already lost their lives in this conflict, and millions more driven from their homes?

The answer is that Darfurians will care. And so should anybody who cares about Darfur. Darfurians do not have peace (there is no peace process in Darfur) and they do not have security, they cannot now be asked to give away justice as well. Contrary to Mbeki’s statement, most of the displaced see justice as a precondition for return and for lasting peace. Indeed, there will be no peace and no security in Darfur without accountability.

Theoretically, the deal which governments now seem so eager to agree on would be valid for a mere 12 months. But the chances that the immunity would then be renewed are dangerously high.That would be an insult to the people of Darfur, and to victims of human rights abuses worldwide.

If there is no accountability for Darfur, that will set a dangerous precedent at the council, which tyrants of the future far beyond Darfur and Sudan will be eager to repeat. The preventive and the punitive power of the court will be immeasurably damaged. Darfurians wish to live in peace.

After what we have lived through, how could we not? But to do so we need the support of the international community, much as South Africans did to overcome apartheid. Unfortunately, the international community has failed to give necessary material and political support to peacekeeping troops on the ground or to peace negotiators."

Read the full article here: http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=newsdetail&news=3086
* Salih Mahmoud came to Amherst in 2006 as part of the Speaking Tour organized by darfur Alert Coalition of Philadelphia

أوكامبو: كنت حريصاً على عدم اتهام البشير قبل الحصول على أدلة وقرائن تدينه

2008-10-06T20:21:00.002-05:00

from the website of United Revolutionary Forces Front-URFF جبهة القوى الثوريه المتحده

استبعد رئيس الادعاء العام في المحكمة الجنائية الدولية لويس مورينو أوكامبو صدور قرار من المحكمة بشأن توقيف الرئيس السوداني عمر حسن البشيرخلال الشهر الجاري، متوقعا حصول ذلك خلال الشهور الثلاثة المقبلة، نظراً إلى أن هذه القضية هي الأكبر أمام المحكمة، إذ يحتوي ملفها على 120 صفحة من الادعاءات. وأعرب عن قناعته بأن لديه الأدلة الكافية لربح القضية ضد المتهمين السودانيين. وقال أوكامبو (ارجنتيني يبلغ من العمر55 عاماً) في مقابلة مع «الحياة» أنه قطع شوطا كبيرا في اعداد ملف الادعاء على جماعات من المتمردين، مؤكدا أنه يقف إلى جانب تحقيق العدالة ولا يميز بين فئة وأخرى ترتكب الجرائم. وأشار الى أنه مفوض من مجلس الأمن للتحقيق في جرائم دافور، وأن مهمته التحقيق والعمل القضائي، ولن يثنيه عن ذلك أي ظرف ديبلوماسي أو سياسي ومهما تعرض للانتقادات، مضيفاً أنه يريد أن يرسم خطاً واضحاً، وهو أن كل سياسي يرتكب جرائم ضد الإنسانية سيحاكم أمام القضاء. وأبدى اعجابه بالثقافة العربية واحترامه للشعب السوداني وحكومته، معتبراً أن تعاون الجامعة العربية والاتحاد الافريقي عنصر مهمة في وقف المجازر في دارفور. في مكتبه في مبنى المحكمة الجنائية الدولية، حاورت «الحياة»

أوكامبو، وهنا نص الحوار

http://www.sudaneseurff.com/news_view_400.html

Aritcle: Justice v. politics

2008-09-16T11:50:00.002-05:00

from the International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/16/opinion/edarbour.php

By Louise Arbour
Published: September 16, 2008

When I announced the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic on May 27, 1999, at the height of the armed conflict between Serbia and NATO troops in Kosovo, many were dismayed.
The conventional wisdom at the time was that the indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, where I was chief prosecutor, would make the situation in Kosovo worse. Some said it would likely prove fatal to the prospect of any compromise by Milosevic - that I had killed the chance for peace.
Predictably, Milosevic was contemptuous of the indictment and vowed that he would never face trial in The Hague. The Russian envoy to the Balkans said I had "pulled the rug out from under the negotiating process."
Yet only a week later, Milosevic accepted the terms of a peace agreement and the war ended that month. Eighteen months later, a popular uprising swept Milosevic from office and he arrived in The Hague soon thereafter to face justice.
If the United Nations Security Council had had the authority to stop my indictment, things might have ended differently. And that's precisely the issue now at the center of a storm of controversy at the Security Council. How it is resolved will have serious implications for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and for the cause of international justice

Not long after the ICC prosecutor announced he was seeking an arrest warrant against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for orchestrating a genocidal campaign in Darfur, diplomats and political observers predicted the worst. President Bashir denounced the prosecutor's request and rejected the authority of the ICC altogether.
Within days the African Union and Organization of Islamic Conference called on the Security Council to defer the case against Bashir, claiming it thwarted prospects for peace.
They also feared retaliation against peacekeepers and humanitarian workers in Sudan. Nearly half of the Security Council has expressed support for a deferral.

The ICC statute does empower the Security Council to defer the ICC process. But such power was intended to be used extremely rarely, and then only to promote justice, not to prevent it from running its course.
The ICC was founded on the principle that accountability for the world's most serious crimes is a prerequisite for long-term peace and security. It is presumably with that in mind that the Security Council referred to Darfur case to the ICC in the first place in 2005.
The assumption should be, as the Milosevic precedent has illustrated, that judicial and political processes can be allowed to advance simultaneously and independently of each other. The goal should be to preserve the integrity of both the judicial and the political track, and, most important, to avoid the politicization of the court. Justice is a partner to peace, not an impediment to it.
To use a deferral for mere political convenience - or worse, to appease the threats of tyrants - would undermine the fledgling court. There is little hope for the promotion of the rule of law internationally if the most powerful international body makes it subservient to the rule of political expediency.
The past decade has seen tremendous advances in showing abusive leaders that their crimes will have consequences. Since the mid-1990s, for the first time in history, former heads of state have actually been brought to trial for human rights crimes.

To put ICC proceedings on hold in Darfur would send a dangerous signal to would-be war criminals that justice is negotiable and the Security Council can be held hostage to their threats.

The ICC has the ability to bring charges in real time, while conflicts are ongoing. This is not the first time, nor is it the last time, that we will face the question of whether justice interferes with peace. Indeed, these issues will arise more and more frequently. And it will often be very tempting to suspend justice in exchange for promises to end a conflict.
But if the Security Council decides in the coming weeks to interfere with court proceedings, it will vindicate those who believe politics can trump justice. That will undermine the progress the world has made so far in bringing the most powerful human rights abusers to justice for their crimes.

Louise Arbour is the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Interview with Candidates on Darfur

2008-09-03T11:30:00.004-05:00

from the website of Ask the Candidate

http://www.askthecandidates.org/candidate/barack-obama

Stop the Genocide in Darfur: Barack Obama has been a leading voice urging the Bush Administration to take stronger steps to end the genocide in Sudan. He worked with Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) to pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. Obama has traveled to the United Nations to meet with Sudanese officials and visited refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border to raise international awareness of the ongoing humanitarian disaster there. He also worked with Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) to secure $20 million for the African Union peacekeeping mission. Obama believes the United States needs to lead the world in ending this genocide, including by imposing much tougher sanctions that target Sudan's oil revenue, implementing and helping to enforce a no-fly zone, and engaging in more intense, effective diplomacy to develop a political roadmap to peace. The international community must, over the Sudanese regime?s protests, deploy a large, capable UN-led and UN-funded force with a robust enforcement mandate to stop the killings.

John McCain
Summary of the candidate's response:
McCain talked about how American and peace loving people are tired of saying Never Again. Unfortunately, action is being blocked by China, so we need to sit down with other peace loving countries to end the genocide. Specifically, his answer focused on providing logistical support and funding for the peacekeeping force in Darfur.
The moderator then asked a followup question - "Would a McCain presidency over the last 7 years have done more about Darfur than the Bush presidency has." McCain responded 'yes'. He says that he would have made it a bigger priority for his presidency. He would have shamed China for its failure to help, and he would have made louder appeals to other countries to act.

"Impunity is a threat to peace"

2008-08-10T00:03:00.002-05:00

From the website of Human Rights Watch

Standing Firm against Impunity
By Sara Darehshori
Published in El Mundo
August 1, 2008

Many people in Bosnia and beyond thought they would never see Radovan Karadzic standing before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It seemed almost beyond the dreams of the rape victims that I interviewed in Bosnia in 1993, or those held in concentration camps But even then, in the midst of the conflict and in very difficult circumstances, local civilians had painstakingly gathered detailed testimonies from survivors in the hope that one day, there would be justice for these crimes. Even after the Yugoslav tribunal was established and had issued indictments against Karadzic for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, it seemed unlikely that he would ever be arrested. And yet this week he faced a panel of judges for his role in the massacre of men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, as well ascrimes in various cities across Bosnia, including the shelling of Sarajevo during the city’s siege.
....
....

In the case of Sudan, the Security Council already determined that the impunity for ongoing crimes in Darfur was itself a threat to peace and security when it referred the situation to the ICC. Nothing has happened to change that assessment: ttacks by government forces and aligned janjaweed continue. Moreover, the Darfur peace talks have been stalled for nine months for reasons unrelated to the ICC or to the possibility of a warrant against Bashir. No one has been held to account in Sudan’s national courts in relation to the attacks in Darfur. Thus, it is unclear what can be gained by deferring international judicial processes now.
read the full article: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/08/01/bosher19537.htm

Press Release from Sudanese group in Philadelpia (Arabic)

2008-07-18T15:55:00.003-05:00

بيان هام

التجمع الوطنى للسودانيين بفيلادلفيا

وقف جنون طغاة الانقاذ وفك اسر الشعب السودانى واجب الساعة الوقوف ضد قرار المحكمة الدولية جريمة اخرى تضاف الى جرائم

الانقاذ فى دارفور نرحب بقرار المحكمة الدوليةكما هو متوقع بعد صدور مذكرة المدعى العام للمحكمة الجنائية بتوجيه تهم محددة للمتهم عمر حسن احمد البشير بإرتكاب جرائم الابادة الجماعية, والجرائم ضد الإنسانية، وجرائم الحرب فى دارفور، لجأ نظام الانقاذ الدكتاتورى الى محاولة فاشلة لتضليل الرأى العام السودانى والعالمى بالادعاء الممجوج بأن هناك ابعاداً سياسية للقضية التى اثارها المدعى العام . فمحاولة النظام هذه تهدف الي صرف الانظار عن الاستحقاقات القانونية المترتبة علي الاتهامات البينة التي وردت في صحيفة الادعاء ، و هي تتعلق في صميمها بارتكاب المتهم عمر البشير لجرائم خطيرة تحاول كل اجهزة النظام العلنية منها و السرية و كل مؤسساته ان تجد مخرجاً له لاجل الافلات منها. و هي محاولات بائسة تستخدم فيها نفس ادوات التجييش و المراوغة التي وظفت من قبل في تنفيذ نفس الجرائم و التستر عليها. . أشار المدعى العام أن البشير قد دبر ونّفذ خطة لتدمير جزء كبير من المجموعات القاطنة بدارفور، لأسباب إثنية ولفترة زمنية تجاوزت الخمس سنوات، حيث شرد الملايين من المدنيين من أراضيهم التي شغلوها لقرون خلت، ودمر جميع وسائل عيشهم، و مكّن لمستوطنين جدد ان يغتصبوا ارضهم و يسكنوها. واوضح المدعي العام انه و من بين الأدّلة اليوم أن البشير، بد ًلا من مساعدة أهل دارفور، قد عبأ جهاز الدولة بأكمله، بما في ذلك القوات المسّلحة، وجهاز الاستخبارات، والدوائر الديبلوماسية والإعلامية، والجهاز القضائي من أجل إجبار2.450.000 من الأشخاص لترك مساكنهم و اراضيهم ليعيشوا في مخيمات للمشردين، و تحت ظروف مدروسة لتدميرهم مادياً و معنوياً بل و استهدافهم لدرجة ترقى الي محوهم من علي وجه الارض. ما قال به المدعي العام قد ظلت تردده كل منظمات حقوق الانسان و تنظيمات المجتمع المدني السودانية لعقدين من الزمن قبل المنظمات العالمية. ولم يفاجأ النشطاء السودانيين بهذا القرار و انما عملوا لاجل ان يصبح حقيقة لاجل رد المظالم و تقديم مجرمي نظام الانقاذ الي العدالة. ونحن نؤكد ان هذه الجرائم هى الحلقة الاكثر دموية وبشاعة فى سلسلة جرائم الانقاذ ضد الشعب السودانى بكل مكوناته والتى بدات منذ اليوم الاول للانقلاب المشؤوم الذى دبرته ونفذته الجبهة القومية الاسلامية عام 1989 م بقيادة المتهم عمر حسن احمد البشير الذى بالإضافة الى اشرافه المباشر على تنفيذ هذه الجرائم قد جعل ارتكاب المزيد منها ممكنًا برفضه المجهودات الوطنية للوصول الى الحقيقة وبتصفيته للقضاء السودانى والحاقه بمؤسسات نظامه ليصبح القضاء بذلك مؤسسةً تتستر على الجرائم بدل من ان تكشفها و تعاقب مرتكبيها. ان البشير متهم فى جرائم جنائية جوهراً ويجب ان يخضع للمساءلة القانونية امام محكمة الجنايات الدولية وان معاناة الشعب السودانى وذاكرته وارادته الغلابة ضمن توجهات المجتمع الدولى لن تتراجع امام جنون الطغاة , لذلك نحن فى التجمع الوطنى للسودانيين بفيلادلفيا نـعـلـن ..

1 ـ مساندتنا ودعمنا لقرار المدعى العام لمحكمة الجنايات الدولية بتقديم البشير ومعاونيه الى المحاكمة.

2 ـ ان نظام الانقاذ فاقد الشرعية أساساومغتصب للسلطة السياسية ويجب ازالة سيطرته على حكم البلاد بعد صدور مذكرة المدعى العام فى حق راس النظام.

3 ـ مطالبتنا للحركة الشعبية وعلى راسها النائب الاول السيد سلفاكير بالتنحى عن رئاسة لجنة ادارة الازمة التى كونها المتهم البشير حتى لايكون مطية لنظام الانقاذ للالتفاف على قرارات المجتمع الدولى.

4 دعوتنا للتنظيمات السياسية ان تلعب دورها القيادى وتلهم الشعب إتخاذ الموقف الصحيح وتجنيب الوطن المزيد من الجراح ,وان تكف عن الانقياد و الاندفاع وراء الادعاءات المسمومة التي تبثها الماكينة الاعلامية لنظام الانقاذ.

والنصر لشعبناالتجمع الوطنى للسودانيين بفيلادلفيا16 يوليو 2008م

WMDC to help ICC to indict President al-Bashir

2008-07-18T14:42:00.003-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
contact person: Mohamed I. Elgadi
Tel. 215-870-7809

Amherst MA--The Western Mass. Darfur Coalition-WMDC-vigorously welcomes the announcement of the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor of charges to indict President Omar al-Bashir for his war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The Sudanese victims and survivors of President al-Bashir’s regime who live in the Pioneer Valley expressed comfort at the Monday, July 14th announcement. “At least the international community is showing some strong signs to serve the delayed justice for my people,” said Abu Asal, member of WMDC and one of the torture survivors from Darfur. The fate of his sister, a teacher, is unknown since she was ‘disappeared’ last year while walking to her school in the suburbs of Nyala, S. Darfur.

The crimes of President al-Bashir's regime in Darfur did not start in 2003. (The ICC indictment was limited to this date.) For more than 19 years, his regime continued to wage war against its own people with little or no action from the international community. For the first time in the recent history of states, the regime adopted torture as an official policy to punish peaceful opposition. Torture Centers, known as Ghost Houses, spread all over the country. The mass killing and targeting of specific ethnic groups began in the early 1990s when al-Bashir assigned the region of Darfur to one of his close military aides, Tayeb Sikha. However, over the past five years the destruction of the Darfur people reached its high point as correctly noted by the ICC prosecutor in his report.

In November 2006 WMDC actively participated in having President al-Bashir put on trial by the world peoples. The International Citizens’ Tribunal for Sudan (ICTS), chaired by Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, found al-Bashir guilty of 15 different charges. Ten of these counts were included in the indictment case of the ICC prosecutor. In addition, WMDC was behind the large educational Darfur campaign that led to the adoption of Darfur Resolutions in many cities and towns in MA.

“We will continue to cooperate with the office of the ICC Prosecutor until justice is served in this new indictment”, said Mohamed Elgadi, member of WMDC, who was also one of the witnesses at the ICTS court. “We will be providing an important potential court witness in the ICC, and we are not revealing the name for her/his own safety. ”

WMDC calls on our local legislators and the human rights community to welcome and support the announcement of the General Prosecutor of the ICC

The Western Massachusetts Darfur Coalition is an advocacy human rights-focused membership group of activists in the Pioneer Valley (MA). It works to educate the public about the crisis in the Darfur region (Sudan) and mobilize our community to take action to stop the genocide. For more information on this PR and the work of WMDC, please contact Mohamed Elgadi @ 215-870-7809 or by email: mohamedelgadi@yahoo.com or visit our weblog: www.DarfurWM.blogspot.com

# # #

President al-Bashir indicted at the ICC..

2008-07-14T21:38:00.002-05:00

Big victory for the victims of Darfur and all other regions of Suda...!

http://washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/14/sudan-president-al-bashir-charged-with-g-32311640/

NEW YORK -- The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Monday morning asked for an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Lt. Gen. Omar al-Bashir, declaring the atrocities against civilians in Darfur to be genocide.
ICC prosecutor Luis Ocampo-Moreno on Monday released a detailed charge sheet accusing Mr. al-Bashir of 10 counts of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
The indictment was unsealed just three weeks before the Summer Olympics are to open in Beijing, an embarrassment to Khartoum's most loyal protector and biggest trade partner.
Humanitarian officials immediately expressed concern about retaliation by the government, which is accused of murdering or causing to die by famine, disease and rape hundreds of thousands of civilians, and driving millions from their homes.
Mr. al-Bashir has for five years "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups," of Darfur on account of their ethnicity, according to the complaint against him. Their lands were later resettled by other people, a violation of international law.
On Mr. al-Bashir's orders, the prosecutor said, the combined forces of the Sudanese military and the Janjaweed militia have attacked and destroyed villages, pursuing survivors into the desert. The government has obstructed international relief assistance and menaced camps, often gang-raping women in front of their own families.
"I don't have the luxury to look away," said Mr. Moreno-Ocampo yesterday in The Hague. "I have evidence.
The indictment is the most ambitious yet from the 6-year-old tribunal, which has also announced prosecutions against warlords in Uganda, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, Mr. al-Bashir and others who have previously been incited by the ICC are unlikely to show up in the dock anytime soon: The court has no police officers, and peacekeepers are unlikely to storm the presidential palace.
Sudan has not recognized the statute of the ICC, and its government has repeatedly rejected its legitimacy. Mr. al-Bashir is now effectively grounded within his own country, as travelling through or to a country that supports the ICC could lead to a forcible transfer to The Hague.
This is the third time in a short history of war crimes prosecutions that a sitting world leader has been accused of committing or permitting war crimes: former Liberian President Charles Taylor is said to be meddling in political and financial affairs from his luxurious compound in western Nigeria; former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosovich died in detention in 2006.
Few in the diplomatic or humanitarian communities rushed to Mr. al-Barshir's defense in the days before the indictment was officially announced; however, many expressed concern that Khartoum would shut down humanitarian NGOs still operating in Darfur, or retaliate against either of two U.N. peacekeeping missions inside Sudan.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Mr. al-Bashir on Sunday afternoon and "stressed that the U.N. Secretary-General does not have any influence on the ICC Prosecutor," according to an update on the U.N. Web site. Mr. Ban also expressed concern about the security of the two U.N.-authorized peacekeeping missions in Sudan -- one along the border with the breakaway South, the other a slowly deploying and still vulnerable effort in Darfur.

The Arab Coalition for Darfurالتحالف العربي من أجل دارفور

2008-06-21T13:51:00.003-05:00

This was sent by aDarfur's activist in LA, CA

Break the Silence – end the suffering in Darfur
Arab Coalition on Darfur comes to Kampala and calls for action by
ministers attending the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
18 June 2008

The Islamic world must decide to end its wall of silence,

before it is too late.

The Islamic world’s response to the daily killings and suffering of millions of Muslims in Darfur has been largely silent – from both civil society as well as from institutions and the majority of governments. The recently formed Arab Coalition on Darfur with membership from over 12 countries has organised meeting and activities in the margins of this week’s meeting of OIC foreign ministers in Kampala to challenge that silence. It calls on OIC delegates to send a clear message that Muslims worldwide cannot accept the violence in Darfur any longer........

Arabic Version:

http://www.hrinfo.org/egypt/aphra/2008/pr0521.shtml

إعملوا على:
كسر حاجز الصمت
إنهاء المعاناة في دارفور
التحالف العربي من أجل دارفور يدعو وزراء الدول الإسلامية المجتمعين في كمبالا إلي التحرك من أجل دارفور
18 / 6 / 2008

منذ وقت طويل اتسم رد فعل العالم الإسلامي حكومات وشعوبا ومؤسسات غير حكومية على عمليات القتل اليومية ومعاناة ملايين المسلمين في دارفور. وفي هذا الاطار ينظم التحالف العربي من أجل دارفور، وهو تحالف اقليمي غير حكومي تشكل حديثا بعضوية منظمات مجتمع مدني من 12 دولة عربية، اجتماعات وأنشطة علي هامش مؤتمر وزراء الخارجية لدول منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي هذا الأسبوع في كمبالا لتحدي هذا الصمت. وليدعو ايضاً الدول الاسلامية المشاركة في المؤتمرلاصدار رسالة واضحة مفادها أن مسلمي العالم لا يمكنهم قبول العنف الدائر في دارفور بعد اليوم.

ولقد قُدٍّم الصراع على أنه من صنيعة الأمبريالية العالمية والصهاينة. ونحن هنا شكلنا هذا التحالف للتضامن مع إخواننا في دارفور ولتوضيح الأسباب الحقيقية للنزاع ومدي تدهور الوضع الإنساني لأزمة دارفور، والتي لم يصنعها الغرب او الامبرالية . "إن معاناة المسلمين في دارفور لا يمكن الا أن تكون حقيقية مثل تلك التي تحدث في فلسطين والعراق" كما قال السيد حجاج نايل نيابة عن التحالف العربي من اجل درافور .

ومن الجدير بالذكر ان معاناة اهالي دارفور مستمرة ويومية على مدى خمس سنوات حتي الان . ففي نهاية شهر مايو 2008، احرق المتمردون (والذين أصبحوا الآن جزء من الحكومة) 13 من القرويين أحياء عندما هاجموا قرية ماريو كاتول. وفي وقت مبكر من شهر مايو، تم قصف قرية شقيق كارو مما أدى إلى مصرع ستة أطفال. كما فر أكثر من 150000 شخص من بيوتهم خلال عام 2008. وتشير الاحصائيات الي ان هناك مليونين من اللاجئين في المعسكرات بينما تعوق الهجمات اليومية عمال الاغاثة عن تقديم المساعدات المتمثلة في الغذاء والماء والادوية الي المحتاجين وفي نفس الوقت ادت هذه الهجمات الي قيام برنامج الغذاء العالمي بتقليص حصته التي يستفيد منها 4 ملايين شخص الي النصف. ولقد قتل تسعة من عمال الإغاثة السودانيين في دارفور هذا العام، بينما تم اختطاف ثلاثين آخرين، واعتبروا في عداد المفقودين.

أصبحت الحياة لا تحتمل بالنسبة لمئات الالاف من النساء والاطفال في إقليم دارفور ومن بينهم خديجة والبالغة من العمر ثلاثون عاما وأم لاربعة أولاد . فالمشهد اليومي وكما تقول خديجة "هو اطلاق الرصاص بالقرب من المنازل والمساجد والاسواق وساحات اللعب في اجواء من الرعب والهلع للأطفال والنساء والمدنيين الأبرياء . يطلق رجال المليشيات الرصاص من كل حدب وصوب بلا تمييز بين ماهو عسكري وبين ما هو مدني في وضع انساني شديد الخطورة علي الجميع"

هذا الوضع يمكن تجنبه. إذ يمكن لمنظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي والعالم العربي والإسلامي أخذ الخطوات اللازمة للمساعدة في إنهاء هذه المعاناة.

"وبالبرغم من اهمية المناقشات داخل المؤتمر الاسلامي واصدار البيانات الدورية حول دارفور، الا انها لم تعد كافية لأن الأوضاع علي الارض ظلت كما هي ولم يطرأ عليها أي تحسن ولازال هناك كثير من النازحين يقبعون في معسكرات اللجوء لأكثر خمس سنوات متصلة. لابد من التصدي لهذه الأوضاع وتغييرها " كما قال الباقر العفيف عن التحالف العربي من أجل دارفور.

إن مزيد من الصمت عن ما يحدث في دارفور قد يكون له تبعات كارثية علي بلدان اخرى من دول منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي، بما في ذلك اوغندا التي تستضيف هذا المؤتمر. فالوضع المتردي في دارفور يهدد بشكل متزايد المنطقة برمتها وجيران السودان، وكذلك يهدد اتفاقية السلام الشامل في السودان الموقع عليها عام 2005.

برغم جهود منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامى في مارس 2008 والتي أثمرت اتفاقية داكار بين السودان وتشاد إلا أن هذه الجهود فشلت في تحقيق السلام بين البلدين، لذلك نهيب بالقمة الإسلامية والمنعقدة الآن في كمبالا ان تحرز مزيدا من التقدم لحل هذه الازمة الانسانية.

بينما نرحب بالمساعدات المالية والتي يجب توجيهها لملاقاة الحاجة الإنسانية الهائلة، فإن المال وحده لا يحل الأزمة.

يدعو التحالف العربي من أجل دارفور منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي إلى الآتي:

الضغط على كافة فرقاء النزاع للإتفاق على وقف أعمال العنف – والتأكد من المحافظة على مثل هذا الاتفاق.
الدعم العاجل لقوات اليوناميد، وتقويتها، والعمل من أجل إنهاء التأخيرات والقيود التي تصدر من المجتمع الدولي ومن داخل السودان.
دعم كل من الحكومة السودانية والحكومة التشادية للعمل على إنهاء الخلافات والصراعات المتبادلة وعدم السماح لمزيد من العنف بين البلدين بعد اليوم.
إن خديجة مثل بقية أهالي دارفور تأمل بمستقبل أكثر إشراقا. وهي تأمل من أجل حياة ومستقبل أولادها ولازالت تحلم بأن الوضع في دارفور يمكن تبديله وتغيره، ومن عودة السلام والامان لتتمكن من العيش دون خوف. وكأخوة في الإسلام نحتاج أن نبقي على هذا الأمل حيا. إن التحالف العربي من أجل دارفور والذي تم إعلانه اليوم في كمبالا يعمل وسيعمل علي ان تظل امال واحلام خديجة، وأهل دارفور، قيد التنفيذ.

على العالم الإسلامي أخذ القرار بإنهاء وكسر جدار الصمت قبل فوات الآوان.

لمزيد من المعلومات الرجاء الاتصال ب

1- حجاج نايل للتعليق باللغة العربية
تليفون : 0020775841698

2- الباقر العفيف للتعليق باللغة الانجليزية

تليفون:ـ 00249919705748

اميل التحالف:
mailto:arab.coa.darfur@gmail.com

Darfur rebels attack Khartoum

2008-05-11T05:57:00.003-05:00

Sudan says it has cut off diplomatic relations with Chad, blaming it for helping rebels from Darfur to launch an attack on Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
Both Chad and Jem rebels deny working together to launch the assault on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, which the rebels say they have taken control of.
The government said the rebel advance, the closest they have come to Khartoum, had been defeated.
An overnight curfew imposed on Khartoum has been lifted, but not in Omdurman.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir made the announcement that his country was breaking off diplomatic ties with Chad on state television.
"These forces [behind the Omdurman attack] are all basically Chadian forces supported and prepared by Chad and they moved from Chad under the leadership of [rebel chief] Khalil Ibrahim," President Bashir said in his televised statement.
He added his country reserved the right to retaliate against Chad.
Sudan has offered a reward of $125,000 (£64,000) for Mr Ibrahim's capture and information that leads to his arrest, Sudan TV reported.

read more @ BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7394422.stm

STAPLES RALLY, and Letter to the Editor of NYTimes

2008-04-23T18:55:00.005-05:00

TAKE A STAND TO STOP GENOCIDE

Come rally STAPLES to be a

RESPONSIBLE

corporate sponsor of the 2008 BEIJING Olympics!

April 27, 2008

1:00pm to 3:00pm

Boston Commons

featuring a performance

by ADAM EZRA

_____________________

"Memo to Bush on Darfur"

Columnist Nicolas Kristof wrote recently in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/opinion/10kristof.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin titled "Memo to Bush on Darfur" in which he suggested a 8-point plan to act on Darfur, and invited his readers to comment. Mohamed Elgadi, WMDC member, sent the following response:

Your call to link the Darfur issue to the whole Sudan makes a lot of sense and speaks directly to the call of the Sudanese opposition since 1989 when the National Islamic Front seized power in Sudan. The regime of President Omer al-Bashir succeeded to sustain power because he always put a wedge among different ethnic and political groups in Sudan.

However, in your Column you made couple of controversial points that face a lot of opposition from different human rights and political groups in Sudan and in the United States.

1) You called for bringing President Omer Elbashir in Anti-Genocide conference in Kigali is considered by many of us, especially the Sudanese, as an insult to the victims in Rwanda, Sudan and everywhere. A genocide mastermind like al-Bashir would not make anything to stop the killing orchestrated by his own regime.

2) The militarization of the region as outlined in your memo (#6-8) with a major role of the US would be another disastrous step by the Bush Administration. The major Sudanese opposition forces strongly warned against such arrogant step when some voices called few years ago to use the US military base in Djibouti in a swift strike. Actually this would help the regime in Khartoum more than any thing. They are waiting for such thing to happen to mobilize and rally the Sudanese people against the US ‘invasion’ of another Muslim country.
Any military action, if needed, should be under the leadership of the UN and better if the US did not participate at all with manpower.

Before we start thinking about military action we should use other methods that, as a Sudanese- American I know would work well. We should work with our allies to stop granting travel visa to any of President’s Bashir ruling party or his allies in Sudan (including their direct family members). Keeping those perpetrators ‘imprisoned’ in Sudan and freezing their assets would bring them quickly on their feet. Ask us, the Sudanese refugees, about these thieves who love to spend our stolen money in London, Paris, New York, and Toronto.

We should also stop sending confusing messages to the world by receiving many of the regime’s crime lords as high dignitaries in the State Dept or the CIA. Terrorism should be fought with ethics.

mohamed i. elgadi
Amherst, MA
W. Mass. Darfur Coalition
www.DarfurWM.blogspot.com

Next Meeting Tues May 20th

2008-04-23T18:53:00.002-05:00

Next Western Mass Darfur Coalition Meeting
will be on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 7:30 pm

at the home of Magda and Mohamed

135 East Hadley Road, Amherst MA

For this meeting, send your items for the Agenda to Fanny

wmassdarfurcoalition@comcast.net

Deadline for items to be typed into the Agenda:

must be received by May 13

(and new items can always be added at the start of the meeting)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Minutes of WMDC meeting of April 15, 2008

Present: Magda, Mohamed, Stephanie, Irwin, Martha

1. Situation: Darfur, South Sudan, Chad, United Nations, US Congress and US Administration.

Mohamed and Magda reported that people are being moved into the Darfur villages from which Darfurians have fled, that many are from other countries (such as Burkina Faso, Mali), as an "occupation" of the villages. Is making the situation extremely tense and a big question, how will Darfur people be able to return?

Also, in Sudan, focus is now on the census, which has been postponed for the time being. Who will be counted? (Census should be about every 10 years -- last one in the North was about 10 years ago, but in the South has been no census since the 1950s!)

South Sudan appears to be on brink of civil war again.

Nothing is happening about the UN peacekeepers (UNAMID) deployment to Sudan. The regime continues to veto forces from non-African countries and from countries it does not like. Helicopters still not available, and support services for them not ready in any case. The UN appears to have no way to enforce the UN resolutions. The US -- Congress and Administration -- are not exerting pressure, on Sudan or on China, which could easily influence Sudan, and China continues to transfer arms to Sudan.

All quite bleak.

2. March 28th meeting with Rep. Olver. (Irwin supplied a written report. Send email to spiegelman22@yahoo.com if you want a copy.)

Rep. Olver said he will look into the $334 mil shortfall in the Congressional appropriation for UNAMID. (He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.)

A House letter (Feb. 12, 2008) was signed by 118 members to request that the Chinese government influence Sudan to accept UNAMID.

Amherst Regional H.S. STAND and UMass STAND outlined their projects, such as raising funds for solar cookers for Darfur refugees (ARHS) and pressuring Staples to withdraw as a sponsor of the Olympics (UMass).

Mohamed suggested that the US lead an international effort to withhold travel visas and banking privileges from those high in the Sudan regime. Rep. Olver was interested in this strategy and WMDC (via Mohamed) will discuss further with him, and present a plan.

WMDC brought up the effectiveness of a boycott of China, not only of the Olympics but also of goods and services. Such actions were used re: South Africa, also Burma.

3. Stephanie reported on the Staples activities by UMass STAND. (Stephanie provided a written report. Send email to spiegelman22@yahoo.com if you want a copy.) Noted that all of us should write letters to the corporate headquarters, urging Staples to withdraw as a sponsor of the Olympics. Address to

Ronald L. Sargent, Chairman and CEO, Staples Inc., 500 Staples Drive,

Framingham MA 01702. If you wish, you can FAX: 508-253-8989

RALLY on Monday, April 27, 11 am - 3 pm, on Boston Common, at the gazebo. Will have four speakers on: Stick to your promises US; Enforce UNAMID; All-Sudan Solution; Lobby China (to pressure Sudan).

Also reported on recent Washington DC Rally by STAND, near the White House, with civil disobedience, such as "die-in" -- got coverage on CNN.

4. Meeting in Norwell MA (eastern MA, near Cape Cod). Mohamed spoke at Unitarian-Universalist Society there, and a collection was taken for WMDC which brought in some needed funds. There isn't a local Darfur group there, but maybe after this meeting, one may start up.

5. San Francisco Rally: to focus on the Olympic torch and the "genocide" Olympics. At request of SaveDarfur, Mohamed arranged for a number of WMDC participants to be there. More than 200 protestors were present, more of them focusing on Tibet than on Darfur, but a good all-day rally and many criticizing China for failing to influence Sudan.

6. Forming a relationship with the Tibet group. Mohamed will explore, could be some joint actions relating to Tibet and Darfur, and China's responsibility to do the right thing on both counts.

7. Sisterhood for Peace: mainly based in Boston but active elsewhere too. Magda is a member of this group. She reported that the Sisterhood gave a letter to Kofi Annan about Darfur situation, asking him to make a public statement. For information about Sisterhood for Peace, see website, www.darfurweb.info

8. Genocide Intervention Network. We think that WMDC may wish to make more use of the GIN information and resources, and perhaps work with GIN on some actions, www.genocideintervention.net

9. Center for International Education (CIE) forum. Mohamed heads up this panel. Not known yet which day WMDC will be scheduled, but WMDC will prefer Sat., June 14. At our next meeting, on May 20, we will have a detailed report on the plan and discuss any arrangements that are needed. The Darfur Children's Drawings are a necessary element of the forum and some help will be needed to get it ready.

Do you know that WMDC has a website (or blog) ? Go to

www.darfurwm.blogspot.com

If anyone who attended has additions or corrections to the Minutes, please let me know.

-- from Martha Spiegelman, April 22, 2008

spiegelman22@yahoo.com

WMDC in San Francisco for Darfur Rally

2008-04-11T12:18:00.003-05:00

It was a great Rally that is making a huge impact and highlighted locally, nationally and internationally.....

Our message to put more pressure on the Sudanese regime was strongly shared during the rally and with media (ABC and Newsweek)...

Our solidarity with the Tibetan people was made in a different ways including a Press Release to be published soon between WMDC and the Tibetan Youth Congress in Portland, OR.

Letter to Editor of Daily Hampshire Gazette

2008-04-07T22:56:00.001-05:00

I hope this letter gets published in Daily Hampshire Gazette:

A way to affect genocide

Every person I have ever met is against genocide. But when faced with one going on in our own time — be it either the Rwandan genocide in 1994 or the current assault on survival in Darfur, Sudan — many people are saddened by their inability to act meaningfully to stop hundreds of thousands of people being killed or displaced from their homes.

In the next few days, however, we have the chance to do something. Two of the members of our W. Mass. Darfur Coalition, Magda Ahmed and Mohamed Elgadi, have just headed for San Francisco to participate in the Beijing Olympics Torch Relay Protest, part of a big call to China to stop supplying arms to the government of Sudan. And you at home can take another step to help ensure your personal investments are not funding a genocide. Thanks to a recent ruling by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fidelity shareholders now have the unique opportunity to cast a vote for genocide-free investing.

A shareholder proposal submitted by Investors Against Genocide, a Boson-based non-profit organization, asks Fidelity to institute oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide. Not surprisingly, Fidelity is advising its shareholders to vote against this proposal.

This shareholder proposal won 28% and 27% of the votes for the two Fidelity mutual funds that voted on March 19. This strong initial result is a very positive indication of the depth of shareholder concern regarding making mutual funds genocide-free.

At upcoming Fidelity shareholder meetings scheduled for April 16 and May 14, 19 Fidelity mutual funds will have a proxy ballot question on genocide-free investing. Fidelity shareholders can vote their shares by returning their proxy or attending the shareholder meeting. If they have already discarded their proxy materials, or have already voted and wish to change their vote, they can do so right up until the meeting at the Fidelity website.

For details about this important vote and more information on genocide-free investing, please visit www.investorsagainstgenocide.org – and also check out local Darfur actions at our blog at darfurwm.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your help,

W. Mass. Darfur Coalition/wmassdarfurcoalition@comcast.net

Mohamed and Magda head for San Francisco for Dream for Darfur Olympic Torch Protest

2008-04-07T22:16:00.003-05:00

Mohamed Elgadi and Magda Ahmed are heading for San Francisco as I write. Read more about the protest for Darfur below -- written by Dave Eggers, author most recently of the novel “What Is the What.”

THERE’S only one stop in North America on the Olympic torch’s 95,000-mile trip from Athens to Beijing, and that’s here. On April 9, standing side by side with sports fans along the parade route, there will be thousands of protesters who hope to bring attention to China’s complicity in the genocide in Darfur.

When the presidential campaigns swung, ever so briefly, through California, those advocating for Darfur tried to get the issue into the debates and on television. But nothing seemed to work. The last time a questioner raised the issue in a significant forum was during one of the YouTube debates last year.

During a speech in November, Hillary Rodham Clinton said of Darfur: “Every day we fail to act is a betrayal of our common values.” In a YouTube video last year, Barack Obama said: “We can’t say ‘never again,’ and then allow it to happen again.” In a similar video, John McCain said the United States “has the obligation to lead, to act.” But since then, the campaigns have been quiet on the subject of the 21st century’s first genocide.

It’s easy in California, far from the active primaries and farther from Sudan and China, to feel powerless. That’s why the organizers of the protest feel they have a rare opportunity to put the crisis back on the national stage. In 418,000 copies of the April 4 edition of The San Francisco Chronicle, subscribers will get a placard that on one side explains the connections between China and the genocide in Sudan, and on the other side says, “China: Extinguish the Flames of Genocide in Darfur.” How’s that for an early morning jolt?

The placard and the protest are the work of a group called the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition. Its thousand or so members have been agitating for more than a year to remind Americans that the violence in Sudan is increasing and that the time to act is now.

There are, of course, plenty of other issues that require discussion in this campaign, and Sudan can’t be part of every stump speech. Then again, maybe it should be. Numerous reports, in Darfur and in southern Sudan, indicate that violence is at a two-year high and that the country might be on the verge of a new and perhaps all-encompassing conflict.

My friend Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee from Sudan, just got back from southern Sudan last week where he was beginning construction on an educational complex in his hometown. He reports that along the southern border, there have been weekly clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, a rebel group that fought a long and protracted war with the government in the 1980s and ’90s.

Hundreds have been killed, and a good portion of the residents of the south fear there will again be war. If this happens, it could make the conflict in Darfur look like a skirmish.

“All the candidates have plans for what they’ll do in Sudan if they’re elected,” said Martina Knee of the Bay Area coalition’s executive committee. “But that’s too late, too long from now. They have to use their bully pulpit now.”

Will the demonstrators lining the parade route bring the topic back into the campaign and into the public consciousness? Is it audacious to hope?

Written by Dave Eggers, the author, most recently, of the novel “What Is the What.”

Next Meeting Tues April 15th

2008-04-07T22:05:00.002-05:00

Western Mass Darfur Coalition - Next Meeting

on Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 7:30 pm

at home of Magda and Mohamed

135 East Hadley Road, Amherst MA

IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE MAILINGS FROM W. MASS. DARFUR COALITION, WRITE TO: wmassdarfurcoalition@comcast.net

For the next meeting, send your agenda items to Martha Spiegelman,

spiegelman22@yahoo.com

Agenda items should be sent no later than Saturday, April 12.

The email notice with the agenda will be sent by email on Sunday, April 13.

Please write your agenda items as you want them to appear on the email notice, which will be sent out on Sunday, April 13.

Small preview for the April 15, 2008 meeting

--report on Center for Education forum at Umass in which we will participate;

--UMass STAND project re: put pressure on Staples to boycott Olympics

--Amherst Regional H.S. STAND spring actions

--report on meeting on March 28 with Rep. John Olver

We hope to see you at our next meeting on April 15, 2008!

Our Darfur Coalition @ the Fogg Lecture Series

2008-03-31T13:49:00.003-05:00

The Fogg Lecture Series
March 30, 2008

In the afternoon of March 30th at 1:00 pm, the First Parish Fogg Committee will sponsor a free Fogg Lecture featuring Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Elgadi, a Sudanese refugee.

Dr. Mohamed Elgadi is a survivor of torture in Sudan and is living in the United States under political asylum. Since coming to the US, he has worked to raise awareness about atrocities committed by the Sudanese government and the genocide in Darfur. Dr. Elgadi earned his M.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of Khartoum and his Ph.D. in Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

A committed activist on the American national stage and in international circles, he is the co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Darfur Alert Coalition, a Sudanese-American group of grassroots activists working on issues related to Darfur. He is the co-founder and honorary chair of Group Against Torture in Sudan (GATS), an advocacy group working among Sudanese refugees. He also serves on the advisory committee of Judgement on Genocide: International Citizens Tribunal for Sudan, a project that has created a forum for discussion of the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Sudanese government led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (http://www.judgmentongenocide.com/).

A reception will follow the lecture.

More program information....613K pdf

W. Mass Darfur groups meet with Congressman Olver

2008-03-29T12:00:00.002-05:00

For more than one hour Darfur activists from Western Massachusetts met yesterday with Congressman John Olver.
More to come on this important meeting

Next Darfur Coalition Meeting Tuesday, March 18th

2008-02-26T09:34:00.003-05:00

Please come to our next meeting on Tuesday March 18^th at 7:30 pm at Magda and Mohamed's at 135 E. Hadley Rd. in Amherst. For more info, email wmassdarfurcoalition@comcast.net or call 413-687-8036. The W. Mass. Darfur Coalition meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

Please take several minutes and take action to spur leaders in the US, China, and Europe to end atrocities in Darfur:

1.Call on the EU to ban the use of Euros for Sudanese oil transactions at www.noeurosforgenocide.org.

2.Call on the UN Security Council at www.wantedforwarcrimes.org to release Sudanese government officials to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

3.Put pressure on the Government of China to stop providing arms and funding to Sudan (www.safedarfur.org).

Thanks so much and we'd love to see you at our next meeting in March.

STAND: Northeast Regional Conference

2008-01-25T16:39:00.000-05:00

You are formally invited to attend
the Northeast Regional Conference

Dear Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur ,

Every year, STAND hosts 6 Regional Conferences across America to give student anti-genocide activists a concentrated time to train and network to build a stronger movement. This year, we are looking to empower and connect students and community members working to fight genocide, in the hope that this will be one more step in getting our movement to work more closely at every level.

Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur has been identified as a strong and student-friendly partner in the fight against genocide, and we are pleased to invite a representative from your organization to attend our Northeast Regional Conference. This representative would attend our conference as a STAND Community Ambassador . This means s/he would attend in two roles: first, representing your community group (its membership, actions, and missions) to the students at the Conference; second, bringing the connections, trainings, and knowledge gained from the conference back to your group.

The conference will be taking place from February 29-March 2 at Brandeis University in Waltham , Massachusetts . The conference will consist of two days of phenomenal speakers and educational opportunities, activist workshops and trainings, and networking sessions. Specifically for our Community Ambassadors, there will be discussions on the future of the movement, workshops on how to best collaborate with students, and networking sessions to allow you to link up with student chapters and their leaders in your area.

If your group is interested in attending, please RSVP to communities@standnow.org stating that your group wants to attend by January 18. You will then be sent an online registration and information packet that your group's representative must fill out in order to register with me.

Please find more information at http://www.standnow.org/conferences/northeast; a more defined schedule will be e-mailed out at a later date. If you have any further questions on logistics, specifics, content, etc. please feel free to e-mail Sabina Carlson, STAND's National Community Outreach Coordinator, at scarlson@standnow.org .

Sincerely,
Sabina Carlson
Community Outreach Coordinator:
STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition
Brandeis University STAND
Northeast Regional Conference Hosts

Layla Amjadi,
Regional Conference Coordinator:
The student division of the Genocide Intervention Network http://www.standnow.org/

scarlson@standnow.org

(609) 933-5945...

don't stand by... STAND up!

Appeal to China -- please send to President of China

2008-01-20T17:06:00.000-05:00

AN APPEAL TO CHINA TO PRESSURE SUDAN TO END THE GENOCIDE

AND ALLOW THE UN/AU PEACEKEEPING FORCE INTO DARFUR

Please send to: His Excellency Hu Jintao, President, People's Republic of China

c/o His Excellency Zhon Wen Zhong, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

2300 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008

Since 2003, the Sudanese government has fought the guerilla insurgencies in Darfur by targeting innocent civilians. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million displaced into inadequate refugee camps. The US Congress, on July 23, 2004, declared that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur are genocide.

Despite a world-wide outcry against the Darfur Genocide, the killing continues. In August, 2006, United Nations Security Council resolution 1706 called for a robust UN peacekeeping force, but the Sudanese government had prevented its deployment in Darfur. On July 31, 2007, the UN Security Council Resolution 1769 passed unanimously, calling for a hybrid UN/AU (Organization of African Unity) force of 26,000 to be deployed by the end of the year. [The force is called UNAMID, UNAfricanMissionInDarfur.] The world community must exert maximum pressure on the Sudanese regime, and also on China to ensure that the peacekeepers do their job.

China, through its development of Sudanese oil resources and provision of loans, is the mainstay of the Sudanese economy and it continues to supply arms and has defended Sudan in the UN Security Council. Experts agree that if China applies maximum pressure, the Sudanese regime will be forced to allow in the UN/AU peacekeepers. Our task is to convince China to exert that pressure on Sudan.

A May 7, 2007 letter from 108 members of the US House of Representatives to Hu Jintao, President of China, says, in part:

……the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are going to be an important event for the image

of the PRC [People's Republic of China]…It would be a disaster for China if the games were marred

by protests from concerned individuals and groups who will undoubtedly link your government to

the continued atrocities in Darfur….Already there are calls to boycott what is increasingly being

described as the "2008 Genocide Olympics.".…we urge you to protect your country's image from being irredeemably tarnished, through association with a genocidal regime, for the purposes of economic gains.

Informed citizens around the globe are convinced that China has the power to force Sudan to stop the genocide and to permit UNAMID [the UN/AU peacekeepers] into Darfur. If China fails to act, millions are likely not only to protest and boycott the "Genocide Olympics" (the 2008 Summer Olympics will be hosted by China), but may well, in their extreme frustration, turn to boycotting other Chinese products and services.

Name______________________________________________________Date_________________________

Address_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Sudan Divestment Bill passed

2007-12-20T22:59:00.000-05:00

from http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1008
December 18th, 2007
by Jesse Lee

The House has passed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 by a vote of 411-0, which passed the Senate by unanimous consent earlier this week. The bill protects states’ and investment firms’ rights to divest from companies with connections to the government of Sudan. SADA also prohibits federal contracts with such companies. A similar piece of legislation, the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Authorization Act, passed the House earlier this year; this final bill will be sent to the President. The White House has opposed the measure.

Dec. 5: Darfur Fast

2007-11-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

Our Coalition, Western Mass. Darfur Coalition is joining STAND Chapters in the area in sponsoring this new fundraise for Darfur.

The following paragraph from Stephanie Aines of UMass STAND outlines the fundraise plan. The best way to make donations is to write your check to Genocide Intervention Network-DarfurFast, and mail to the address listed below.

PLEASE, on the memo line of the check, write, from Amherst MA . It is a way to recognize the UMass STAND action.

STAND www.standnow.org/ and Genocide Intervention Network www.genocideintervention.net/ are sponsoring DARFUR FAST on DEC. 5TH
Our Civilian Protection Program offers safer cooking options by providing alternative-fuel stoves, guarded firewood patrols, and incoming-generating projects for women so that they can afford to buy firewood instead of having to gather it.

This holiday season, students are bringing Darfur home to their families and communities. Through the DarfurFast campaign, participants fast from one item for a day and donate the money. We are joining in solidarity with the people of Darfur. 100% of your donation to the DarfurFast campaign will go towards the Civilian Protection Program.

Donations are entirely tax deductible.
TO MAKE DONATION ONLINE, GO TO:
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1432/t/4226/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2916
If you prefer to make a donation by check, it should be made payable to "Genocide Intervention Network - DarfurFast" and mailed to the following address:
Genocide Intervention Network1333 H Street NW, First Floor SuiteWashington, DC 20005

Amherst Regional High School STAND group is also doing the DarfurFast action on Dec. 5. If you wish to participate via this group, here is the information from the student activist Cecilia Darby.
Checks can be made to ARHS STAND and sent to this mailing address

Cecilia Darby
P.O. Box No. 581
Shutesbury MA 01072

Newsweek: Dueling Over Darfur

2007-11-09T11:47:00.000-05:00

Alex de Waal & John Pendergast

Newsweek Web Exclusive

A human rights activist and an Africa scholar disagree vehemently on the best way to help Sudan.

An exclusive online forum

Updated: 11:51 AM ET Nov 8, 2007

Have advocacy movements like the Save Darfur Coalition helped or hindered the search for a political solution in Sudan's troubled province? Should the killings there really be classified as genocide, or has the meaning of the term been devalued by activists trying to draw public attention to the conflict?

After NEWSWEEK raised some of these questions in a report called "Packaging a Tragedy," two leading Darfur experts, Alex de Waal and John Prendergast, discussed these issues in an online forum for NEWSWEEK. De Waal is program director at the Social Science Research Council, a fellow of the Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University, and a director of Justice Africa. He has written and edited several books on Darfur, including "Famine That Kills: Darfur, Sudan, 1984-1985" and, most recently, " War in Darfur and the Search for Peace . " Prendergast is a co-chair with the Enough Project and serves on the board of the Save Darfur Coalition. He served as an adviser to the White House and the State Department during the Clinton administration and later as a senior adviser to the nonpartisan International Crisis Group. He co-authored the book "Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond," with actor Don Cheadle, and has written seven other books on Africa.

ALEX DE WAAL: The point of activism is to make a difference. And the Darfur campaigns have made a difference to U.S. policycertainly in rhetoric, and significantly in substance. For a start, humanitarian agencies working in Darfur have little difficulty in getting the funds they demand from the U.S. government, and no presidential candidate can outline a position on foreign policy that doesn't have some reference to what he or she proposes to do in Darfur. Without the campaigners there would have been no genocide determination and no referral to the International Criminal Court, and it's unlikely that there would have been an effort to change the African Union force to United Nations peacekeepers. It's certainly true that a lot of what has passed for U.S. Darfur policy in the last three years has been hot airbeginning with Colin Powell's Sept. 9, 2004, determination that genocide had been committed in Darfur (and may be continuing), immediately followed by his assertion that U.S. government policy would not change. But hot air can make a difference too, when we are dealing with a government in Khartoum that has been on the receiving end of U.S. cruise missiles and that fears that the U.S. government will take sides against it in a future war for the secession of southern Sudan. When you are dealing with the U.S., you need to pay attention to what its leaders say. Hot air also makes a difference to inexperienced but heady young rebel leaders who think that if they play their cards right they might just get a NATO military intervention, à la Kosovo, which delivers them from the hands of Khartoum into some form of self-government. Thirteen years ago, in the aftermath of the Rwanda genocide and a lopsided relief response that aided the refugees in (what was then called) Zaire, a group that included much of the genocidal interahamwe militia, and neglected the people threatened by genocide itself, humanitarian agencies went through a painful period of soul-searching. Their first response to their critics (of whom I was one) was something like, "We are not politicians, we are only here to helpand how dare you blame the ambulance crew for car crashes!" But relief workers in the field had long been troubled by the way in which their good intentions were subverted by the realities of horrible wars, in which the material resources provided by aid agencies could turn into an asset that actually worsened conflict and abuse. The principle "do no harm" was adopted to guide humanitarian engagement. The same "do no harm" principle applies to advocacy, too, and I think that what is happening in Sudan today will soon turn into soul-searching by activist organizations. How could they have inadvertently done harm (or failed to do good)? And what should they learn from this experience? Let me pose three questions, as possibilities we shouldn't evade: 1) Could the focus on Darfur mean that the challenges of consolidating the North-South peace have been neglected? Could it mean that the threat of major violence in Kordofan, the region that borders Darfur, has been overlooked? 2) Could the Darfur campaign have driven the Bush administration to adopt hardline rhetoric that made Khartoum less cooperative, while at the same time encouraging the rebels to believe that they could win a military intervention if they held out long enough? Could it in fact have impeded the search for a compromise between government and rebels? 3) Has the stress on genocidewhich has continued even after the end of large-scale hostilities in early 2005misrepresented the situation? Has this meant that we have missed more appropriate actions? Does putting Darfur into the same category as the Holocaust and Rwanda mean that we are obliged to do the same for a whole array of ethnic wars and counterinsurgencies across the world?

JOHN PRENDERGAST: Well, at least we agree on your first line: the point of activism is to make a difference. However, we diverge in the starkest of terms on most of your other main points. Let me begin with three general counterpoints: First, your criticism of the advocacy community seems bizarrely misplaced, when it is the policymakers in Washington, Brussels, London, and Beijing who have been primarily responsible for the failure to confront the crime of genocide and the inability to craft relevant solutions to the complicated crisis in Darfur. Activists seek to raise the alarm bell and to shape the policy priorities of their government. We were not running the failed peace process you were a part of in 2006 that led to an escalation of violence, for example. We just want to see solutions. And we recognize that the actor that is primarily responsible for the mayhem in Darfur is the Sudanese regime and its brutal counterinsurgency campaign that has ruthlessly targeted civilian populations and attempted to divide and destroy the rebel movements and the communities that support them. Second, hardline rhetoric is problematic only insofar as it hasn't been backed by credible action. That is not the fault of activists. It represents the failure of will on the part of policymakers in Washington particularly who placed other priorities (reserving assets for Iraq, maintaining access to counterterrorism information from the Khartoum regime, and not wanting to upset China, the principal investor in Sudan's oil sector) over undertaking actions necessary to confront genocidal intent. The Khartoum regime figured out the U.S. Government (USG) was willing to bark but not bite, and knew they could literally get away with mass murder, in the face of the empty Washington rhetoric. Third, I don't think you fully recognize how much activists have indeed made a difference, particularly in the last six months. A divestment movement is growing throughout the U.S. that has led 20 states, numerous universities, and some mutual funds to sell their shares of stock in companies doing business in ways that support genocide. Activist campaigns targeting China's hosting of the "Genocide Olympics" in 2008 have led Beijing to become much more constructive behind the scenes of late. Activists have pressed relentlessly for the deployment of a U.N.-led force to protect civilians in Darfur, and we are almost there. The Bush administration finally decided to take its first bite after all the barking, and imposed further sanctions on the regime a few months ago, signaling that confronting genocide has now taken its rightful place as equal to the other policy imperatives governing relations with Sudan. The list goes on. Frankly, if you removed the advocacy movement from the equation, absolutely nothing would have been done on Sudan. So it's not that activists diverted energies from what otherwise would have been a good approach; rather, we created attention and momentum around a set of issues that would have been ignored, at no cost, otherwise. Now I would like to turn to some of the specific points in your submission, which I have reviewed with my ENOUGH Project colleagues Colin Thomas-Jensen and Julia Spiegel. (You see, we need a battery of people to tally up the differences of view we have with you!!) · Your "Hot Air" paragraph has a number of holes. The USG has often been as vocal in its criticism of the rebels as it has of the government (and often disproportionately harsh on the rebels), so it is very suspect to say that U.S. rhetoric emboldened rebel groups to think that a NATO intervention was imminent. Look also at USG sanctions. The USG has imposed sanctions on the rebels as well as NCP [Sudan's ruling National Congress Party] officials. The hot air is blowing in all directions. "Hot air" without follow-through is what actually emboldens rebels and the NCP alike. As has been the case with the Bush administration' s rhetorical advocacy of a no-fly zone, for example, harsh rhetoric without any serious military planning to back it up hands the NCP a propaganda victory. The regime has called the U.S. bluff time and time again, and clearly no one plans to do anything about it. And even with the sanctions, the USG didn't target the key guys responsible for ongoing atrocities, and Washington didn't work aggressively to make them multilateral. That again sends a message to the regime that we're all talk and no walk. · It is worth noting that when renegade rebel–turned–governme nt militia commander Minni Minnawi traveled to the U.S. to visit Bush last year, he met with a number of activist groupsincluding uswho were harshly critical of the abuses committed by his forces. Activist organizations have not portrayed the rebels as freedom fighters, but rather maintained a justified focus on the primary cause of the crisis: the actions of the regime and the impunity it still enjoys. · Activists had little to do with the genocide declaration in 2004. There was not even what you could call "a campaign" at that time. Actually, the USG sent a team of researchers to Chad, interviewed 1,100 refugees, and based on the patterns of violence they discovered made a determination. Then, the disconnect between word and deedgenocide and "doing all we can"helped to create the movement. · You write: "When you are dealing with the U.S., you need to pay attention to what its leaders say." Perhaps, but I would argue that a regime as experienced and wily as the one in Khartoum pays a lot more attention to what the USG does, not what it says. You should know this… · You write that the Khartoum regime "fears that the U.S. government will take sides against it in a future war for the secession of southern Sudan". Really? If that were the case, then wouldn't the USG be making much more of an effort to pressure the regime to implement the southern Sudan peace agreement? Or pumping arms into the south? Again, the regime is looking at actions, not words. · In the Rwanda/Zaire paragraph, you are comparing activists calling upon their elected leaders to stop crimes against humanity to relief agencies who were knowingly feeding genocidaires in eastern Congo. That is a grotesque oversimplification provocative and largely meaningless. You're comparing apples and oranges to make a cute rhetorical point, and it doesn't work. The comparison is at best disingenuous: you cannot say giving aid that gets diverted to genocidaires is analogous to pressuring the USG to take more concerted action in Darfur. Perhaps you're alluding to what you see as activists' oversimplification of the crisis and a focus on Darfur, but I think you would be hard-pressed to explain how that makes activists responsible for bad USG policy or demonstrates that they have done "harm." · You are failing to look at your own actions with a critical eye, as a central participant in crafting the fatally flawed Darfur peace deal in 2006 that led to an intensification of conflict in Darfur. Activists were pushing for a comprehensive peace deal that would address root causes in Darfur, not a half-baked agreement between the regime and the most abusive rebel commander in Darfur who has now become a government militia thanks to your "peace deal." · You write: "Could the focus on Darfur mean that the challenges of consolidating the North-South peace have been neglected?" Again, that suggests that the USG policy is solely dictated by activists, surely not something anyone could argue with a straight face about the Bush administration. Activists have certainly deemphasized the North-South deal, but that doesn't excuse the Bush administration from walking away from one of its only foreign policy successes of the past seven years. And would it have been OK to let Khartoum pursue a policy of mass murder in Darfur just to get the North-South deal implemented? Stove-piped USG policy is the problem, not activism. Why do you consistently let the USG off the hook and blame activists for bad policy? The USG should have had a comprehensive policy to deal with both the North-South deal and Darfur, but instead it has been unable to reconcile the two. Had there been no Darfur movement, it's highly likely that both crises would have been ignored. And right now advocacy groups across the country are taking the lead role in making it clear that the problems in Sudan need to be dealt with holistically, since USG policy still hasn't addressed it that way. · You write: "Could the Darfur campaign have driven the Bush administration to adopt hard-line rhetoric that made Khartoum less cooperative, while at the same time encouraging the rebels to believe that they could win a military intervention if they held out long enough? Could it in fact have impeded the search for a compromise between government and rebels?" What compromise? When has the government of Sudan shown any willingness to compromise when they were not under intense international pressure? At the 2006 peace talks you were part of, the USG put more pressure on the rebels than it did on Khartoum, and ended up with a stillborn agreement. Is this the fault of rebel-coddling activists? · You write: "Has the stress on genocidewhich has continued even after the end of large-scale hostilities in early 2005misrepresented the situation? Has this meant that we have missed more appropriate actions? Does putting Darfur into the same category as the Holocaust and Rwanda mean that we are obliged to do the same for a whole array of ethnic wars and counterinsurgencies across the world?" The answer is no, no and no. Genocidal intent was there in 2003-2004 in Sudan and it is still there today. Without activists pushing on the U.S. to back up the genocide rhetoric with some action, the Khartoum regime would have pursued a scorched-earth policy until many more hundreds of thousandand perhaps millionswere dead. This is not an "ethnic war," and it is remarkable that you would parrot exactly what the government of Sudan is saying. Also, are Rwanda and the Holocaust the litmus test for genocide? I hadn't realized… You should reread the Genocide Convention. The sincere reading of that document by the preponderance of activists, including this one, leads to a conclusion that the regime in Khartoum is pursuing policies calculated to create conditions that would bring about the destruction, in whole or part, of specific groups of people on the basis of their ethnicity. The names of the groups are the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit. We should know their stories just as we now know the stories of the Tutsis of Rwanda, or the Jews in Germany. And if there will ever be any meaningful response to these crimes, it will be because of activists saying that as voters we will not tolerate our government standing by in the face of genocide.

ALEX DE WAAL: Whoa! I wrote my thoughts in anticipating a constructive debate on how activism could learn the lessons of the successes and failures of the last few years. My three clusters of questions were precisely thatquestions, to open debate. You took them as chargesin fact, as personal accusations. Not so! I was hoping for a substantive discussion on how activism by citizens and leadership on moral issues by political figurescongresspeop le, aspiring presidential candidates, other public intellectuals helps shape foreign policy, and how this new wave of international public activism on Africa and human rights can be made more effective. John, your ad hominem attacks are shameful. They display wanton ignorance about the peace process in Abuja and the role I played in it. Have you not read my accounts of what went on there? (Published in the London Review of Books and more recently in "War in Darfur and the Search for Peace.") Are you not aware that I strongly advocated for power-sharing provisions that would have provided parity for the movements and the NCP in Darfur rather than the imbalance that was proposed? Are you ignorant of the fact that after the deal was signed on May 5, with Minni Minawia man whom I advocated the U.S. should NOT backI stayed behind on my own initiative to try to get [rebel leader] Abdel Wahid to continue negotiating with the government and came closer to an agreement than all the assembled diplomats and heads of state on May 4-5? I joined the peace process late, as an adviser. The Sudan government objected to me and I was smuggled in as a personal advisor to the chief mediator, Salim Salim. I didn't dictate that process. My advice was sometimes followed, more often not. I declined the invitation to join the last mediation in Sirte [Libya] because the advice I have been giving was not followed at all. I and others involved have scrutinized and criticized every aspect of the process. Knowing how agonizingly close we came to an agreement in Abuja, and looking at the small things that might have made the difference, I search my memory and conscience every day to examine what I might have done differently. You, however, served in government. You were a senior official on African policy in an administration that fired cruise missiles that destroyed a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum and which endorsed regime change by rebels in both Sudan and Zaire. In the latter case, that regime change happened and ushered in the humanitarian disaster that is the Democratic Republic of Congo today. Do you ever ask yourself what you might have done differently to avert that disaster? Most of your response is an exercise in pyromania of straw men. But although careless with both facts and logic, it deserves a response. Let me start with the first sentence of your second paragraph, in which you unhesitatingly use the word 'genocide,' and your final point about the genocide convention. There is almost six decades of scholarly work on the definition of genocide and almost twenty years of debate among Sudanese activists about whether or not to use the term in Sudan (see my recent article in the Spring 2007 Harvard Human Rights Journal). It's not as straightforward as you imply. If we applied the letter of the convention, any attempt to inflict harm on members of a racial, religious or ethnic group, with the intent to destroy them in whole or in part, would be genocide. That would mean that at least half a dozen episodes in the Sudanese civil war would be genocide, as well as episodes in Ethiopia in the 1980s, Uganda in 1983, Somalia in 1988 and 1992-3 and again in the last few months, numerous episodes in the DRC and various others would all be genocide. It would include most ethnic wars and counterinsurgencies (in passing, your attempt to smear me with endorsing Khartoum's explanations for the Darfur war is a cheap shotI did not write that Darfur's war was an ethnic war and you know it). Many scholars prefer to use a narrower interpretation of the genocide convention to apply to projects of racial or ethnic annihilation which Darfur is not. Racist insults by militiamen simply aren't proof of genocidal intent. And in your final sentence you cannot resist the temptation of comparing Darfur's victims to the Rwandese Tutsis and European Jewsrather than (for example) the displaced fleeing the fighting in Mogadishu. There's another problem with your argument. The period of intense conflict in Darfur was from about April 2003 to January 2005. The great majority of massacres were committed between July 2003 and April 2004. Mortality from hunger and disease peaked at the end of 2004 and fell away rapidly after that. By this time a major humanitarian operation had been mounted, the AU had dispatched troops, peace negotiations were all under way, and Darfur had been referred to the International Criminal Court. That's not a bad response, from governments, much of it underway before the grass-roots activist campaign got properly into gear. (See your point 3.) Don't claim the credit for everythinggovernmen ts aren't always as cynical or apathetic as you imply. After that, the nature of the war has changed. There haven't been big government offensivesfor one reason, when they try, the rebels usually shoot them up pretty comprehensively. The main reason for ongoing displacement has been generalized insecurity, much of it banditry and extortion rackets, some of it fighting between militias, as the government-armed tribal militias turn on one another. The rebels have launched quite a lot of the offensives themselves. If you are looking for genocidal intent in the period since early 2005, it's pretty hard to find. It looks to most people on the ground like a thoroughly nasty combination of a rather ineffective counterinsurgency and intertribal fighting (the government's description is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy). The government isn't responsible for most of the divisions among the rebelsthey have done a pretty good job of that themselves. Darfur is a pretty sorry mess today. No one should be patting themselves on the back for that. The Darfur Peace Agreement failed. The activist campaign hasn't succeeded either. Did you stop any offensives in the last two years? I rather think that the SLA fighters in north Darfur did that. And be careful about proclaiming that protection is on its way. Expectations are sky high for what U.N. troops will do. When they disappoint, I'm sure you will be the first to criticize. But when you get what you call for, your basis for condemnation begins to get thin. The campaign on China has definitely made a difference. I'm not against activismquite the contrary. I began my human rights activism in Sudan in 1988 and among other things helped start the land-mines campaign, co-wrote the first big report on Rwanda in 1994, opened up the Nuba Mountains to human rights investigation and humanitarian access in 1995, and campaigned for Sudanese civil society organizations to be involved in the peace process from the late 1990s on. (But I would note that China's first serious change in tack happened a year ago, before the Genocide Olympics campaign.) Each time I have tried an honest assessment of what went right and what didn't. It's precisely because activism can make a difference that we need to be honest with ourselves when we assess what has succeeded, what hasn't, and what has had unanticipated side effects. You need to be a lot more careful in describing what activists and their fellow travelers in Congress and among the Washington political aspirants actually said and wrote, and when. During the months when the Abuja peace process was alive and progressing, there was a deafening silence from the activists about it. During those months the overwhelming emphasis was on U.N. troops. I might call it tunnel vision. In the critical days after the signing of Abuja, when I was one of two mediators to stay behind to narrow the gap between Abdel Wahid al Nur and the government, the chorus of condemnation of Abuja was, to say the least, unhelpful. Your point 7 is shockingly misleading and shows a deep ignorance of what happened in Abuja. Afterward, it's true, you and others neatly reversed direction and began to call for a revamped peace process and began to criticize the rebels. Advocacy, like politics, is all about timing. Sorry, John, you were too late. But my serious point here is about how advocacy does influence both rhetoric and policy (and rhetoric can become policy) and how it changes the structure of incentives of peace processes. Making a peace deal involves making compromises with the enemy. The guarantee of faithful implementation is built into the structure of the deal itselfwhen you do A, we'll do B. Usually the stronger side is asked to act firste.g., to withdraw its troops or start disarmamentbefore the weaker one does. A monitoring team or peacekeeping force is there to help keep it on track. This was the structure for the North-South peace deal, for example. Direct security guarantees, in the form of foreign troops who enforce the deal, are pretty rareKosovo is the example that comes to mind. The Darfur Peace Agreement was designed with these types of internal security guaranteesstaged reciprocal actions by the parties, with the government acting firstbuilt in. They were tough on the government, and when the final text was presented, all the rebel leaders congratulated the mediators on this chapter and accepted it. It was the government that raised objections. But the activist campaign had raised the promise of a military intervention with direct guarantees, and that was the message that got through. In the final session, Abdel Wahid demanded guarantees like Bosniahe wanted an intervention before he signed. [U.S.] Deputy Secretary Robert Zoellick wouldn't give him that guarantee. I'm not blaming the activists for the failure of the talks. Most of the blame goes to the intransigent miscalculations of Khartoum's chief negotiator, Majzoub al Khalifa, and much of the balance to the rebels and their poor leadership. The mediators made some bad mistakes too. But the question I want to pose, for our own learning and for future activism, is the following: do we run the danger of encouraging rebels to aim too high in their demands, and risk them rejecting workable deals in favor of unrealizable dreams? That's a serious question that demands a serious debate. You completely mistake the point of my comparison with the aid agencies after the Rwanda genocide. The tragedy of that humanitarian response was that one good intentionfeeding the hungryconflicted with another ethical imperative: preventing and punishing genocide. I for one never accused aid agencies of being deliberately complicit in feeding genocidaires. What I did was to point out the unanticipated and often unacknowledged side effects of what they did, and asked that they examine the context of their actions and their outcomes. That is what I am asking you to do now. As any senior policymaker will tell you, much time and energy on issues like Sudan is driven by the clamor of activists. This relates to point 8. There's no doubt that the activist and congressional focus on Darfur droveand distortedU.S. policy priorities. Again, pay attention to my argument. I wouldn't blame aid agencies for the Rwanda genocide and I don't blame activists for the failures of U.S. policy on Sudan. But insofar as you make a difference, however small, you must attend to what that difference might be. There's much more I could writeyour scattergun approach leaves almost every sentence up for challenge.

JOHN PRENDERGAST: Thankfully, in this duel to the rhetorical death we were only given two bullets. I used up most of my nine lives in the last 25 years living and traveling in war zones, so I wouldn't want to spend any more of them on answering these extraordinary claims. Activists need to know there are solutions out there, and that these solutions can be driven by activists. Some of your writings (and no, I haven't read all of them) tend to blame activists for things getting worse on the ground in Darfur, and for the failure of the Darfur Peace Agreemeent of 2006. At least that is what most activists perceive your intentions to be. And I understand that. It is hard to get published these days on Sudan, so an argument like that is very attractive to editors. The fact that it is not true is irrelevant, it appears. Here's the Africa I know from my 25 years' working on the issues there: Afrca is a continent of extraordinary transformation. It is not a place of gloom and doom, of fatalism and hopelessness. Having seen the extraordinary turnarounds in Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, southern Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi and elsewhere, I am an unabashed Afro-optimist. I believe Sudan is at one of its low points, just as these other countries were at various times over the last 25 years. And I believe with a little help, particularly driven by activists, Darfur can turn itself around as well. Any social movement here in the U.S. has to go through growing pains and massive learning curves. There is in formation a growing antigenocide movement in the U.S. today, one that understandably contains many people who are just learning about international relations and what is really going on in places like Sudan, half a world away. Most of them, regrettably, have not yet read your London Review of Books article. So they are learning. I stopped writing for academic journals a few years ago to concentrate on building the capacity of these activists, because I learned when I was working for President Clinton that without a permanent constituency supporting actions against genocide and other mass atrocities, even those people in policymaking positions who wanted to do something were hard-pressed to do so. Though in a perfect world politics wouldn't have to drive policy, in the real world we inhabit political will is the holy grail, and the only way to increase it is through building a movement in an inclusive, bipartisan, encouraging way. Your conclusion that activists didn't drive the U.S. position on the deployment of the African Union force or the U.S. stepping aside to allow the referral of the case of Darfur to the International Criminal Court demonstrates a lack of understanding of how policy gets made here in the U.S. by American constituencies. Here most of the major incremental steps that have been taken by the U.S.either unilaterally or multilaterally have come because of this growing movement of activists that hail from all kinds of backgrounds. You seem obsessed with the idea that activists have only been pressing for the deployment of force. Some of the [Save Darfur] ads from 2005 and 2006 certainly focused on that issue, but advocacy in the U.S. has been much more comprehensive than you give it credit for, even though we have not fully succeeded in changing U.S. policy. We have focused on what we call the Three P's of Crisis Response: Peace-making, Protection and Punishment. We believe those three elements are part and parcel of every successful external effort to support an end to conflicts or crises in Africa in recent history. We think that a more effective peace process, a rapid deployment of the UN/AU force with a focus on protecting civilians, and clear penalties for obstructing the first two (peace and protection) would do much to helping to bring an end to the crisis in Darfur. And we believe an equal effort must be made to implement the North-South peace deal, as the fates of Darfur and the South are deeply intertwined. Not every activist understands this, but we all can contribute to educating them to make a difference, a real difference. And you are right, activists are not the most even-handed commentators when it comes to responding to Darfur. However, you interpret that as having taken sides with the rebels. Not so. Activists realize that the responsibility for the vast preponderance of atrocities committed since early 2003 lies at the feet of the ruling party in Khartoum, the NCP. Please understand the difference when you are constructing your critiques of the activists and their efforts. Whatever your intent, those activists that have read anything you have written of late are trying to understand why you are saying that activists are more part of the problem than of the solution. Certainly there is room for improvement in our advocacy efforts. For example, you perpetuate the erroneous notion that activists are advocating for military action against Sudan. That just doesn't square with the reality. Many of the key activist groups have gone through a period of reflection and have issued public statements about the potential for negative consequences outweighing positive results in use-of-force scenarios, such as no-fly zones or targeted airstrikes. There is certainly disagreement out there. But it is simply erroneous for you to assert that activists promote the use of force and that hardens rebel positions. The rebels are a lot smarter than you are giving them credit for. They have their own views and agendas and use others to justify those views. Again, blaming activists or even pointing out their ignorance may sell (a few) magazines, but it isn't an accurate reflection of real cause and effect. A final rejoinder on this contentious issue of genocide. Good people can disagree about the use of this term. For example, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and the International Crisis Group (despite my best efforts when I worked there) all were not prepared to call what was happening in Darfur genocide. It comes down for themand many legal scholarsto the question of intent. The Convention says the perpetrator of genocide must INTEND to destroy, in whole or in part, specific groups of people. I happen to believe that the government of Sudan indeed had the intent to in part destroy the Fur, Zaghawa and Massalit ethnic groups to punish them for supporting the Darfur insurgency, to cut the umbilical cord between rebels and their supporters, and to send a message to all would-be rebels throughout Sudan that this would be your fate if you rebelled. Others disagree, saying it was a by-product of a disproportionate counterinsurgency strategy. On this I believe we agree. Now where you and I diverge is on the last couple years. The war changed, yes, precisely as you say it has. But it changed BECAUSE of the ruling party's genocidal counterinsurgency strategy, which aimed to divide and destroy Darfur, and throw it into the very chaos it suffers from today. You describe it as an "ineffective counterinsurgency strategy." I couldn't disagree more strongly. This has been a textbook counterinsurgency operation, which has turned the Darfur conflict in on itself, leaving the clear lines of regime culpability much more murky, and leaving analysts like you to carry the government's argument that it is anarchy, not genocide. Mission accomplished. Darfur is witnessing the echoes of genocide. I believe one of the best chances we have of reversing the crisis is if well-infomed, united activists in the U.S. and abroad work diligently for governments around the world to step up their efforts to promote peace, protect the people, and punish the perpetrators. In fact, working in partnership with Darfurians, I believe it is the only chance Darfur has.

URL: http://www.newsweek .com/id/69004 © 2007 Newsweek.com

Voices for Darfur: Big Success...!

2007-10-25T19:39:00.000-05:00

"Certainly the Voices of Darfur event was a great success, a standing-room-only crowd and probably raised a lot of money." Said Martha Spiegelman, of WMDC on the big fundraise event of last Sun in Northampton.

Martha and Irwin (see photo) were highly present at the event and they distributed 130 "Letter to China" of the W. Mass Darfur Coalition.

Also, the Sudanese American singers/performers, Alsara & Fatima, presented an excellent show in cleberation of peace and cultural diversity of Sudan.

Voices for Darfur

2007-10-18T20:10:00.000-05:00

Congregation B’nai Israel,
Darfur Action Group
Amnesty International Group 76, Northampton MA

Alsarah www.alsarah.com

Voices for Darfur

Sunday, October 21

For more information, please contact Sara Weinberger at spw128@comcast.net. Send donations earmarked “Sudan Aid Fund” payable to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, P.O. Box 15769, Springfield, MA 01115-5769.

GIVE VOICE TO THE VOICELESS

at a benefit concert to bring food, water, and medical care to the victims of the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

Admission is free.

But prepare to give generously as we open our hearts and raise our voices for the people of Darfur.

Featuring:
Evelyn Harris Amandla ·
5-Alone http://www.5alone.com/
Mak’hela Jewish Chorus of W. Mass http://www.makhela.org/
High Definition
Alsarah www.alsarah.com & Fatima
The NY Photographer Richard Levine www.richardlevine.net

Photographer Richard Levine’s acclaimed photos of Darfur will be shown at theevent. His work will be exhibited at the Jones Library from October 21 toNovember 17.

Sponsored by Congregation B’nai Israel Darfur Action Group. Underwritten by agrant from the B’nai Tzedek Youth Foundation.Co-

sponsors include: Smith College, Al-Baqi Islamic Center · Amnesty International Group 76 & Group 128 · Beit Ahavah Reform Jewish Congregation ·Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts · Community Relations Committee ofthe Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, Edwards Church · First Churches· Jewish Community of Amherst · Just Faith Group of Northampton Area CatholicChurches · Mayor Mary Clare Higgins · National Association of Social Workers,Massachusetts Chapter · Northampton Human Rights Commission · Physicians forSocial Responsibilty, Pioneer Valley Chapter · Representative Peter Kocot ·Senator Stan Rosenberg · St. John’s Episcopal Church · Western Mass Darfur Coalition

Sunday, October 21, 20073:00–5:00 pm
Weinstein Auditorium Wright Hall,
Smith College

AU peacekeepers killed and abducted!

2007-10-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

from Save Darfur Site:

http://www.savedarfur.org/content?splash=yes

Peacekeepers Look for Missing in Darfur
African peacekeepers searched for more than 20 members of their force still missing and feared wandering the wilderness of Darfur on Monday after rebels overran their base in an unprecedented attack that stunned the international force.
Read More

On the other hand, the Arabic site, Sudaneseonline.com reported that the attack was orchestrated by two split factions of the Justice & Equality, which its leader is on the suspects list wanted by the International Criminal Court, and the Sudan Liberation Army (Abu bakr Kado faction):

http://www.sudaneseonline.com/ar/article_14448.shtml
الأمم المتحدة تندد بهجوم دارفور والخرطوم تتهم المتمردينOct 1, 2007, 06:41سودانيزاونلاين.كوم Sudaneseonline.com

الأمم المتحدة تندد بهجوم دارفور والخرطوم تتهم المتمردين
الجزيرة نت :
دان الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة بان كي مون بشدة الهجوم الذي أسفر عن مقتل عشرة من جنود الاتحاد الأفريقي في حسكنيتا جنوب دارفور، ودعا لمعاقبة منفذي الهجوم الذي وصفه بغير المقبول. وطالب بان في بيان أصدره مكتبه الإعلامي الأطراف المتحاربة في دارفور بالتعهد بالتوصل إلى تسوية سلمية للنزاع.
كما أدان أمين الشؤون الأفريقية الليبي علي التريكي الهجوم، وطالب بمعاقبة منفذيه. وأكد التريكي في تصريح للجزيرة أن هذا الهجوم سيزيد المجتمع الدولي والاتحاد الأفريقي تصميما على المضي قدما في عقد محادثات السلام بين الحكومة السودانية والأطراف المتمردة بطرابلس في السابع من الشهر القادم.
من جهته أكد المتحدث باسم الاتحاد الأفريقي نور الدين المازني أن التحقيقات ما زالت جارية لمعرفة الجهة التي تقف وراء الهجوم، مشيرا إلى أن نتائج هذه التحقيقات ستعرض أمام الرأي العام فور انتهائها. وقد امتنع المازني في تصريحات للجزيرة من الخرطوم عن تحديد المسؤول عن منفذي الهجوم، إلا أنه توعد بفرض عقوبات على المسؤولين عنه.
وشدد المتحدث على أن هذا الحادث لن يؤثر على مؤتمر طرابلس، مضيفا أن الحصيلة النهائية للهجوم هي عشرة قتلى وثمانية جرحى و40 مفقودا بعد العثور على 17 منهم.
تبادل اتهاماتيأتي ذلك في وقت تبادل فيه الجيش السوداني ومتمردي دارفور الاتهامات بشأن المسؤولية عن الهجوم.
ونقلت وكالة الأنباء السودانية عن المتحدث باسم الجيش الجنرال عثمان محمد الأغبش قوله إنه يأسف لهذا الهجوم، مؤكدا أن "بعض القوى المتمردة" قد شنته.
كما وجه قائد حركة العدل والمساواة عبد العزيز النور عشر اتهامات مماثلة، وقال إن الهجوم نفذته قوات متمردة منشقة أرادت أن يكون لها مقعد في محادثات طرابلس.
وحمل النور المسؤولية للمعزول بحر أدريس أبو قردة نائب رئيس الحركة والقائد العسكري السابق عبد الله باندا بالتعاون مع بعض أعضاء جيش تحرير السودان-جناح الوحدة.
وسارع قائد جيش تحرير السودان-جناح الوحدة أبو بكر كادو بنفي هذه الاتهامات، ولكنه قال إن قواته كانت تقاتل القوات الحكومية في حسكنيتا طوال أول أمس السبت حتى غروب الشمس وربما تصادف وجود قوات الاتحاد الأفريقي وسط القصف.
كما نفى الناطق الرسمي باسم حركة تحرير السودان-جناح الوحدة محجوب حسين مسؤولية الحركة عن هذا الهجوم، واتهم في تصريح للجزيرة الحكومة والمليشيات التابعة لها بالوقوف وراءه

BUSH: UN should live up to its promise in Darfur

2007-09-27T10:37:00.000-05:00

This morning, 9/25, President George W. Bush gave remarks at the United Nations General Assembly. He discussed a number of different issues worldwide, including the genocide in Darfur .

“In Sudan , innocent civilians are suffering repression -- and in the Darfur region, many are losing their lives to genocide. America has responded with tough sanctions against those responsible for the violence. We've provided more than $2 billion in humanitarian and peacekeeping aid. The United Nations must answer this challenge to conscience, and live up to its promise to promptly deploy peacekeeping forces to Darfur.”

This afternoon, the President participated in a meeting with the United Nations Security Council on Africa where he again stressed the importance of ending this genocide in Darfur .

“We call on the government in Khartoum to facilitate the deployment of a robust U.N. peacekeeping force to save life. We call on all parties to cease arm sales to the combatants. We expect people gathered around this table to send a focused message that innocent life matters. We expect President Bashir to observe a cease-fire during next month's peace talks, and we want the rebels to do the same.”

Links to the Presidents remarks to both the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council Meeting on Africa can be found below.

Remarks to the UN General Assembly
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070925-4.html

Remarks to the UN Security Council Meeting on Africa
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070925-8.html

Upcoming Events for October '07

2007-09-25T19:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Darfur Supporters,

Please note that our next meeting is on Tuesday, October 16th at 7 pm at 135 E. Hadley Rd in Amherst -- so mark your calendars for this and the events below.

Please note the new UMass STAND group along with Mt. Holyoke and other college groups are sponsoring a RALLY as part of the state-wide Dream for Darfur Torch Relay on Sunday, October 7th on the Amherst Town Common from 1 to 4 pm. They have invited legislators to speak so please come and let these legislators know that Darfur must be on their agenda.

Also note that “Voices for Darfur” concert will be held Oct. 21st from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Weinstein Auditorium at Smith College’s Wright Hall. Mohamed and Magda's daughter Sarah will be performing (she's an accomplished singer up from NYC with her singing partner Fatima) along with Evelyn Harris, internationally renowned singer formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock; the Amandla Community Chorus, known for performing international songs of justice and celebration; 5-Alone, the award-winning PVPA jazz a cappella group; Mak’hela, the celebrated Jewish Chorus of Western Mass; and High Definition, the Northampton-based vocal ensemble.

An Appeal to China from W. Massachusetts

2007-09-24T18:53:00.000-05:00

AN APPEAL TO CHINA TO PRESSURE SUDAN TO END THE GENOCIDE AND ALLOW THE UN/AU PEACEKEEPING FORCE INTO DARFUR

Addressed to:
His Excellency Hu Jintao,
President, People's Republic of China
c/o His Excellency Zhon Wen Zhong,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008

Since 2003, the Sudanese government has fought the guerilla insurgencies in Darfur by targeting innocent civilians. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and 2.5 million displaced into inadequate refugee camps. The US Congress, on July 23, 2004, declared that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur are genocide.

Despite a world-wide outcry against the Darfur Genocide, the killing continues. In August, 2006, UN Security Council resolution 1706 called for a robust UN peacekeeping force, but the Sudanese government had prevented its deployment in Darfur. On July 31, 2007, the UN Security Council Resolution 1769 passed unanimously, calling for a hybrid UN/AU (Organization of African Unity) force of 26,000 to be deployed by the end of the year. The world community must exert maximum pressure on the Sudanese regime, and also on China to ensure that the peacekeepers do their job.

China, through its development of Sudanese oil resources and provision of loans, is the mainstay of the Sudanese economy and it continues to supply arms and has defended Sudan in the UN Security Council. Experts agree that if China applies maximum pressure, the Sudanese regime will be forced to allow in the UN/AU peacekeepers. Our task is to convince China to exert that pressure on Sudan.

A May 7, 2007 letter from 108 members of the US House of Representatives to Hu Jintao, President of China says, in part:
[ ……the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are going to be an important event for the image of the PRC [People's Republic of China]…It would be a disaster for China if the games were marred by protests from concerned individuals and groups who will undoubtedly link your government to the continued atrocities in Darfur….Already there are calls to boycott what is increasingly being described as the "2008 Genocide Olympics."…we urge you to protect your country's image from being irredeemably tarnished, through association with a genocidal regime, for the purposes of economic gains.]

Informed citizens around the globe are convinced that China has the power to force Sudan to stop the genocide and to permit the UN/AU peacekeepers into Darfur.
If China fails to act, millions are likely not only protest and boycott the "Genocide Olympics" (the 2008 Summer Olympics will be held in China), but may well, in their extreme frustration, turn to boycotting other Chinese products and services.

Name and Date___________________________

Address___________________________________

Please sign this appeal, circulate it within your network for more signatures and send it to the President of China c/o the Chinese Embassy, Washington, DC (the full address is under the heading at the top of the page)

Issued by
Western Mass Darfur Coalition
http://www.darfurwm.blogspot.com/

Labor Donated

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN OLVER ON DARFUR

2007-09-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

Introduction
John Olver's office, through an administrative oversight, missed the opportunity to sign on to Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) May 07 letter to President Hu of China, demanding action on Darfur. This strongly worded letter had urged the Chinese government to take immediate action to save innocent lives and help bring an end to the conflict in Darfur. Withina few days Mr. Olver signed a separate but comparable letter to the Chinese President. The letter appears below.
Bernadette
for/WMDC

Letter to President Hu of China on Darfur
May 16, 2007
President Hu Jintao
C/o Ambassador Zhou WenzhongEmbassy of China
2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.Washington DC 20008

Dear President Hu,
I wish to add my name to the list of over one hundred Members of Congress who wrote you last week to register their grave concern regarding the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.I request that you use your significant influence with the government of Sudan to ensure that it allows free conduct of humanitarian operations in Darfur and brings an end to the atrocities against innocent civilians. As the party that negotiated the inclusion of a clause to UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1706 requiring the consent of the Sudanese government for the deployment of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) bears a special responsibility to ensure, through decisive diplomacy and action, that President al-Bashir does provide that consent to the full implementation of phases II and III of the Addis Ababa Agreement of November 16, 2006.
The conflict waged by Sudanese government forces and government-backed Janjawid militias has driven more than 230,000 Darfuri refugees into Chad, and displaced more than 120,000 Chadians. In addition, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed and an estimated 2 million displaced in Darfur itself. The conflict has had particularly devastating consequences for women and children, who make up the vast majority of victims. The attacks against, and murder of over a dozen relief workers in recent months has disrupted humanitarian operations —leaving hundreds of thousands without access to the most basic assistance. I welcome the news that Sudan has been removed from the list of countries that your government provides incentives for Chinese businesses to invest in, and the public and private efforts you have made to encourage the government in Khartoum to accept the deployment of peacekeepers into the Darfur region. However, the PRC can and must do more. Unfortunately, the PRC remains the largest foreign investor in Sudan, and recently provided the government of Sudan an interest-free loan, worth $17m to build a presidential palace. Unfortunately, the PRC has reportedly been engaged in arms sales with the government of Sudan, arms which are used by government forces and the Janjweed militia to maim and kill innocent Sudanese civilians. These actions send the wrong message to Khartoum, as does the recent cancellation of a $70m dollar debt that the Sudanese government owes to the PRC, and the China’s projects to rehabilitate Sudan’s railways and water ports.

I urge you to impress upon Khartoum the need to halt Sudan's military operations throughout Darfur, to withdraw Sudanese troops from the area, and to honor its commitment to accept the ‘heavy support package’ which includes a robust AU/UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, under a UN-appointed commander, police officers, civilian staff and humanitarian workers. These steps, at a minimum, are essential to enforce the ceasefire, protect civilians, ensure access to humanitarian assistance, and begin the path to reconstruction and reconciliation in Darfur. I further urge that should a resolution be put forward at the UNSC proposing sanctions on the government of Sudan for non-compliance with its agreements or non-cooperation with the UN peace-keeping force, you instruct your Ambassador, at the United Nations, to support the resolution by, at the very least, abstaining from voting.

President Hu, the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are going to be an important event for the image of the PRC. Millions of people will visit China, and over a billion people will tune into their radios and televisions to witness the expression of international peace and solidarity, through friendly competition in sports. It would be a disaster for China if the games were to be marred by protests, from concerned individuals and groups, whom will undoubtedly link your government to the continued atrocities in Darfur, if there is no significant improvement in the conditions. Already there are calls to boycott what is increasingly being described as the 2008 ‘Genocide Olympics.’ As Sudan’s single largest trading partner, and the main beneficiary of their significant crude oil exports and construction contracts, we urge you to protect your country’s image from being irredeemably tarnished, through association with a genocidal regime, for the purposes of economic gains. The primary objectives are to protect civilians in Darfur, end the violence, find a just resolution to the political conflict, and begin the long path to reconstruction and reconciliation, and we hope China shares these objectives. The international community is stepping up to its responsibilities, but unless China does its part to ensure that the government of Sudan accepts the best and most reasonable path to peace, history will judge your government as having bank-rolled a genocide.Thank you for your immediate attention to this important matter and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
John W. Olver
Member of Congress

Darfur Legislative Update

2007-09-14T10:49:00.000-05:00

From the FCNL site:

Darfur Legislative Update
September 11, 2007

Congress returned to work last week after a month-long recess. The full Senate passed the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill (FYO8) on September 6 (the House passed this bill earlier this year) and now the Foreign Ops bill needs to go to conference committee. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill contained hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Sudan . In addition to completing regular FY08 appropriations this fall, Congress is planning to pass an FY08 emergency supplemental that could include additional funds for Sudan.

In this message:
1) UNSC Res. 1769
2) Sudan Divestment Legislation
3) China ’s Special Representative on Darfur in Washington
4) Secretary-General Ban Ki- Moon in Sudan
5) Upcoming Events
6) Recent Reports

1) United Nations Security Council Res. 1769
On July 31, 2007 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1769 which authorized the establishment of a new joint African Union-UN hybrid peacekeeping mission (UNAMID). Many commentators celebrated this decision as a significant step toward protecting civilians and resolving the crisis in Darfur . AMIS, the current African Union (AU) mission force in Darfur , will be incorporated into UNAMID. Resolution 1769 authorized approximately 27,500 personnel, including military, observers and civilian police components. UNAMID is expected to cost between $2.4 and $2.6 billion a year. When fully deployed, UNAMID will be the largest peacekeeping operation in the world.

But many questions remain unanswered. The UN force will not be fully deployed for many months, leaving the beleaguered AU mission as the only protection force on the ground. The splintering of rebel groups since the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) has made the security situation increasingly precarious. The daily attacks on humanitarian workers and assets have placed the world’s largest humanitarian response in jeopardy – with potentially catastrophic consequences. As the deployment of UNAMID moves forward, a ceasefire and revitalized peace process, including renewed efforts to promote a civil society dialogue, are also urgently needed. Addressing the political, economic and social dimensions of the conflict are crucial to building sustainable peace in Darfur and throughout Sudan .

2) Sudan Divestment Legislation
The Darfur Accountability and Divestment Bill, H.R.180, which would bar federal contracts to companies that do business with the Sudanese government, passed the House on July 31, by a vote of 418-1. After passage, the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where it has been held up by several Senators. Contact the Global Intervention Network: http://www.genocideintervention.net/ or Save Darfur: http://www.savedarfur.org/content to learn how you can help.

Also, the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act of 2007 (S. 831), legislation introduced by Senator Durbin in March, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, but has not yet been considered.

3) China 's Special Representative on Darfur in Washington
China 's special envoy on Darfur was in Washington D.C. in early September to speak with President Bush and lawmakers to explain China 's role in Sudan . Many in the international community have called on China to use its economic influence in Sudan to urge the government to pursue peace in Darfur .

During the week, China 's envoy, Liu Guijin, defended his government's role in Sudan , saying that "western countries who condemn China 's oil interests in Sudan are guilty of hypocrisy." He further stated that the international community needs to be focused on a political dialogue among the parties, alongside support for the AU-UN hybrid force. Read more about Guijin’s visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_go_ot/us_china_darfur_1;_ylt=AhnDeA7bi_UL07q_Jc6mFmdsaMYA

4) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in Sudan
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon met with President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in early September and in a joint news conference on Sept. 6, 2007, announcing the start of renewed peace talks on Darfur to be held in Libya . The talks will begin on October 27, and will be led by the African Union and UN Special Envoys. The Secretary General urged all parties to commit to cease all hostilities immediately, achieve a political solution to the crisis, create an environment conducive to dialogue, and move forward with negotiations: http://www.un.org/News/ossg/hilites.htm

5) Upcoming Events
- On September 16, the fourth Global Day for Darfur will be held. Vigils will be held in more than 40 countries in support of implementing UNSC Res. 1769 and moving forward with the peace process in Sudan : http://www.globefordarfur.org/index.php?content=news_detail&include=yes&id=271

- On September 25, President Bush will attend a high level meeting on African Security, with a focus on Darfur , at the United Nations General Assembly.

- Save Darfur is launching its "Voices from Darfur" speaking tour, which will feature displaced persons from Darfur, throughout the United States this fall. The goal is to remind U.S. citizens that the situation in Darfur remains in a state of crisis: http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/voices_from_darfur/

6) Recent Reports

-The International Crisis Group has recently issued a report entitled, A Strategy for Comprehensive Peace in Sudan . According to the report, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which brokered a peace in the south in 2005 is dangerously close to collapsing due to neglect by the international community and government sabotage. The CPA is purported to be the way forward for a fair share of national resources, increased economic opportunities for Southern Sudan , and the democratization process. In the end, the report gives several recommendations to all the parties noting that peace in the South is inextricably linked to Darfur . A complete breakdown of the CPA could lead to a war of greater magnitude in Sudan . Access the full report online here: http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4961&l=1

- Echoes of Genocide in Darfur and Eastern Chad (http://www.enoughproject.org/). This report challenges the argument that Darfur and Eastern Chad are sliding into a “ Somalia – like” chaos. Although groups are splintering and the loyalties of some actors are less clear, the chains of command are still intact and Khartoum is still the main purveyor of violence. Finally, the authors argue, accurate analysis is needed by experts and the advocacy community to ensure that UNAMID’s mission is guided by the facts on the ground.

'An Atrocity That Needs No Exaggeration'

2007-08-18T10:36:00.001-05:00

[Bold and highlight text not in the original article]

By SAM DEALEY
Published: August 12, 2007
8/12
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/opinion/12dealey.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

JUST last month, the House of Representatives passed the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act and the United Nations Security Council decided to deploy up to 26,000 peacekeepers to Sudan. Both actions were due in no small way to the work of the Save Darfur Coalition. Through aggressive advertising campaigns, this group has done more than any other to focus world attention on the conflict in the Sudanese region.But with a ruling Wednesday from Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority, Save Darfur now finds itself in the spotlight. Siding with a business group allied with the Sudanese government in Khartoum, the authority ruled that the high death tolls Save Darfur cites in its advertisements breached standards of truthfulness.

The ruling is more than just a minor public relations victory for Khartoum; it exposes a glaring problem in Save Darfur’s strategy. While the coalition has done an admirable job of raising awareness, it has also hampered aid-delivery groups, discredited American policy makers and diplomats and harmed efforts to respond to future humanitarian crises. The trouble began last fall when, in ads placed throughout the United States and Britain, Save Darfur denounced the Sudanese government’s scorched-earth campaign against insurgents. “After three years, 400,000 innocent men, women and children have been killed,” the ads said. That claim provoked a complaint to the British ad authority from the European Sudanese Public Affairs Council. After investigating, the authority found that Save Darfur’s ad campaign violated codes of objectivity, and it ordered the group to amend its ads to present the high death toll as opinion, not fact. Serious estimates of the number of dead in Darfur are far lower than 400,000.

Last November, the American Government Accountability Office convened a panel of 12 experts to assess the credibility of six prominent mortality estimates for Darfur. Three of these came from the American State Department, the World Health Organization and the W.H.O.-affiliated Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. The other three were independent efforts by activists including one by John Hagan, a sociologist at Northwestern University, for the defunct Coalition for International Justice. Dr. Hagan’s was the highest estimate and the one on which Save Darfur based its claim. In category after category, the experts overwhelmingly found Dr. Hagan’s estimate of 400,000 deficient. Nine of the experts said that his source data was unsound and that he failed to disclose his study’s limitations. Ten found his assumptions “unreasonable,” and 11 called his extrapolations “inappropriate.” In all, 11 experts held “low” or “very low” confidence in the study.

So how many are dead in Darfur? As the G.A.O. study notes, reliable numbers are hard to come by. But the estimate that garnered the highest confidence was the one from the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. From September 2003 until June 2005, the center estimated, there were 158,000 deaths in Darfur. Of those, 131,000 were deemed “excess” more than normally would occur. Neither the center nor any other responsible outlet has released a tabulation of the death toll after June 2005, but observations by the United Nations and relief groups register a sharp drop if for no other reason than much of Darfur’s population now resides in the relative safety of aid camps.

In 2005, the mortality rate fell below the level that’s considered to be an emergency. But now that the government has resumed bombings and the rebel groups are fighting among themselves as well as against the government, violence has increased. In the last half of 2006, civilian deaths averaged 200 per month. Combining these estimates suggests Darfur’s death toll now hovers at 200,000 just half of what Save Darfur claimed a year ago in its ad and still claims on its Web site.

Of course, whether 200,000 or 400,000 have died, the need to resolve the conflict in Darfur is the same. But Save Darfur’s inflated estimate used even after Dr. Hagan revised his estimate sharply downward only frustrates peace efforts.

During debate on the House floor last month, for example, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee claimed that “an estimated 400,000 people have been killed by the government of Sudan and its janjaweed allies.” Ms. Jackson-Lee is hardly alone in making that allegation, and catering to the Sudanese government’s sensitivities may not seem important. But the repeated error only hardens Khartoum against constructive dialogue. If diplomacy, not war, is the ultimate goal for resolving the conflict in Darfur, the United States must maintain its credibility as an honest broker.Inaccurate data can also lead to prescriptive blunders. During the worst period of violence, for example, the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster estimated that nearly 70 percent of Darfur’s excess deaths were due not to violence but to disease and malnutrition. This suggests that policy makers should look for ways to bolster and protect relief groups by continuing to demand that the Sudanese government not hamper the delivery of aid, to be sure, but also by putting vigorous public pressure, so far lacking, on the dozen rebel groups that routinely raid convoys.

Exaggerated death tolls also make it difficult for relief organizations to deliver their services. Khartoum considers the inflated numbers to be evidence that all groups that deliver aid to Darfur are actually adjuncts of the activist groups that the regime considers its enemies, and thus finds justification for delaying visas, refusing to allow shipments of supplies and otherwise putting obstacles in the way of aid delivery.Lastly, mortality one-upmanship by advocacy groups threatens to inure the public to both current and future catastrophes.
If 400,000 becomes the de facto benchmark for action, other bloody conflicts around the globe in Sri Lanka, Colombia, Somalia seem to pale in comparison. Ultimately, the inflated claims fuel a death race in which aid and action are based not on facts but on which advocacy group yells the loudest.

Two-hundred thousand dead in Darfur is egregious enough. No matter how noble their intentions, there’s no need for activists to kill more Darfuris than the conflict itself already has.
____________________________________________________________

No Certainty Until the Genocide Ends
Posted on Tuesday, 08/14/07 - 5:05 pm
Steve Gutow, Board Chair, Save Darfur Coalition
On August 12, the New York Times published “An Atrocity That Needs No Exaggeration“ an opinion article by Sam Dealey regarding the magnitude of atrocities in Darfur. The article misses a critical point in the debate over how many people have actually died. The real point is that, unfortunately, mortality estimates cannot be verified or updated because the Government of Sudan actively denies the international community – including diplomats, humanitarian workers, and epidemiology experts – real access to the Darfur region.

History reminds us that the full scope and scale of genocide is unknown until it has ended. Past perpetrators, most notably the Nazis, actively concealed their campaigns of mass murder from public scrutiny and accountability. When the scale of this genocide did become known, a shocked world cried out, “Never again.” The same was true in Cambodia and Rwanda. And that is what is happening now in Darfur.

The Save Darfur Coalition believes that as many as 400,000 Darfuris have been killed in this conflict because there is sound analysis to support that – analysis that is impossible to confirm only because of Sudan’s willful obstruction. Ultimately, no level of genocide is acceptable. The international community must continue to press the Sudanese government and President Omar al-Bashir to provide access to both international peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and experts who can more accurately document the scale of this tragedy, as well as provide protection and assistance to Darfur’s civilian population.

Benefit show for Darfur and Southern Sudan

2007-07-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

Benefit show for Darfur and Southern Sudan featuring Valley bands Deathamphetamine, Thrillpillow, Terrorist, Friends of Yours, and The Young Flyers, and guest speaker Mohamed Elgadi of the Western MA Darfur Coalition, who will be screening the film Judgment on Genocide and heading a discussion after. Co-sponsored by Voices and the Western MA Darfur Coalition. $10 suggested donation.

Date: Friday, July 27, 2007
Time: 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Mercy House
Street: 365 North Pleasant St
City/Town: Amherst, MA

View Map

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2405673041

Darfur: Violence continued...

2007-07-25T18:28:00.000-05:00

25,000 More Darfuris Flee Homes: U.N.
Violence and insecurity in Darfur has forced 25,000 more people from their homes and is straining the capacity of camps swollen with refugees fleeing conflict in western Sudan, the U.N. said in a report on Tuesday. “Aerial bombings by the military continued to be reported in North Darfur up to late June while clashes between the military and rebel factions continued to be reported ... in various locations,” the United Nations said in a statement. The report said in May and June a further 25,000 people fled their homes, bringing the number of camp residents in Darfur to 2.2 million.
Read More http://www.savedarfur.org/newsroom/clips/25_000_more_darfuris_flee_homes_un/