UN Security Council unanimously appeals to Sudan to re-admit expelled aid groups The statement was signed by all 15 members and was read by the Libya's UN Ambassador who is this month's president of the Security Council. <http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSN26505155> An excellent and interesting piece by Steve Paterno re Alex DeWaal's perplexing positions http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article30660
Omar al-Bashir accused of "exterminating" refugees by expelling international aid agencies. The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has accused Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir of "exterminating" refugees by expelling international aid agencies.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that by blocking aid the president was attacking the civilians in the giant camps that dot Darfur.
He called for President Bashir to be arrested as soon as he leaves Sudan. The president is due to attend this month's Arab League summit in Qatar. Speaking to the BBC's Network Africa, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that by expelling the international aid agencies the president was "confirming that he is exterminating his people".
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that he would work for the arrest of President Bashir as soon as he leaves Sudan.
Judges at the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges earlier this month. Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that entering international airspace would be enough, since UN Security Council resolution 1583 urges all UN members to co-operate with the court.
Qatar, which invited President Bashir to the Arab League summit, has not signed the statute that brought the ICC into being.
Some Sudanese leaders, concerned about the president's safety, have urged him not to visit the annual Arab summit, due to start on 29 March. Earlier this week the Sudanese former president Siwar Al-Dahab urged President Bashir to exercise "patience and wisdom" and not risk travelling to Qatar "for his safety and the safety of Sudanese people".
The United Nations and the Sudanese authorities concluded a joint assessment mission to Darfur to investigate how best to deal with the camps after President Bashir's expulsion of the 13 international aid agencies.
My Huffington blog http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-farrow/mbeki-a-disgrace-yet-agai_b_177179.html Mbeki a disgrace-again With his crackpot denial that HIV causes AIDS, his appointment of a health minister who recommended beets and garlic as treatment for South Africa's more than 5 million HIV infected citizens, his corrupt government, his incomprehensible support of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his refusal to use South Africa's leverage to halt the horrors in Zimbabwe, former South African President Thabo Mbeki's legacy is a disgraceful one.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mbeki now heads an African Union panel set up in January 2009. It is composed of current and former African officials and it is tasked with helping to bring peace to war ravaged Darfur. It is also charged with investigating the atrocities committed in Darfur and advising the African Union on how to deal with the perpetrators. They will issue a report of their findings in July. Today Mbeki announced that the panel will not consider any of the evidence compiled by the International Criminal Court.
On March 4 the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture and the forced displacement of millions in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Check out this dead-on cartoon on Darfur http://www.markfiore.com/political/cops-darfur
3 Aid Workers Abducted in Darfur
Three international humanitarians working with Doctor Without Borders were taken from their compound in Serif Umra—about 150 miles west of El Fasher. An Italian doctor, a Canadian nurse and a French coordinator were able to make one phone call telling colleagues of their abduction. Nothing has been heard from them since. The abductions took place a week after the expulsion of 13 aid organizations including the French and Dutch branches of MSF (Doctors without Borders) but the expulsion did not apply to the Belgian, Swiss and Spanish branches. The three were working with the Belgian unit.
The situation in Darfur is dire. The expulsion has left more than a million displaced people without clean water, food, supplies of any kind or medical assistance. As this kidnapping underlines, the remaining aid workers are not safe.
Darfur_through the eyes of an aid worker, now expelled
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090311/wl_mcclatchy/3186306
Joint Statement on the Humanitarian Situation in Darfur
07 Mar 2009
Source: UNHCR
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
Statement on the Humanitarian Situation in Darfur
6 March 2009
The Government of Sudan's order suspending 16 non-governmental organisations(NGOs) will have devastating implications for the citizens of Darfur. Aid operations in North Sudan, the largest humanitarian emergency in the world costing over $2 billion annually, will be irrevocably damaged.
The UN Agencies operating in Sudan [UNICEF, UNHCR, UNJLC, WFP, WHO] and OCHA, are deeply concerned by this situation. The suspended NGOs account for more than half of the capacity for the aid operation in Darfur. If the life-saving assistance these agencies were providing is not restored shortly, it will have immediate, lasting and profound impacts on the well-being of millions of Sudanese citizens. It is not possible, in any reasonable time frame, to replace the capacity and expertise these agencies have provided over an extended period of time.
The decision to expel these sixteen organizations, our main implementing partners, effectively removes some 6,500 staff, or 40% of the humanitarian workforce, from being able to carry out critical humanitarian activities in Darfur. These organizations provide a lifeline to 4.7 million people in Darfur alone, and millions more in other areas of Northern Sudan. While some 85 international NGOs operate in Darfur, without these organisations much of the aid operation literally comes to a halt.
We are also alarmed that the Government has confiscated assets from these organizations, which are critical to the humanitarian operation, including computers, vehicles, and communications equipment.
While the UN agencies reaffirm their commitment to do everything possible to cover the most pressing and critical gaps caused by this suspension during the coming days, neither this commitment nor remaining capacity on the ground is sufficient to meet the humanitarian needs in the long run. As such, we appeal to the Government of Sudan to urgently reconsider this decision and to restore our ability to assist their most vulnerable citizens.
This statement has been endorsed by the following UN Agencies:
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) World Food Programme (WFP) World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Watch John Prendergast- yesterdays CNN interview on the ICC indictment
http://www.criticalmention.com/components/url_gen/play_flash.php?autoplay=1&clip_info=837862298|0|59^837863126|0|59^837864036|0|59^837864982|0|59^
My Huffington post blog
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-farrow/al-bashirs-revenge_b_172284.html
the most vulnerable will die first
Today’s expulsion of aid workers means that millions of lives are at risk.
Sudanese soldier ordered to rape children
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/04/sudan.expel/#cnnSTCVideo
What do the refugees say about justice?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puv36vgY_lw
IRC one of the finest aid organizations:
Today, the Government of Sudan ordered the closure of our humanitarian aid programs in Darfur as well as North and East Sudan. This decision puts at risk the lives of 1.75 million men, women and children who depend on the IRC's lifesaving programs.
Other aid organizations received similar orders to suspend their services.
Help us call on the international community to urge the Government of Sudan to reconsider this deplorable decision and ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid to vulnerable men, women and children in Sudan. Please make your voice heard now. <http://ga3.org/ct/o1XI1OS1qEQo/>
Khartoum Expelling Humanitarians from Darfur
The Government of Sudan has ordered the expulsion of six to ten humanitarian groups from Darfur, including Oxfam, Solidarities, MSF Holland, CARE, MSF France, ACF and Mercy Corps. Armed soldiers are going door to door seizing assets.
Some are suggesting that Kalma camp will be stripped bare...90,000 people.
attack-helicopter-bombs-pregnant-woman
Omer Al-Bashir is accused of crimes against humanity; murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape
2 counts of war crimes: intentional directing attacks against civilians and pillaging. The ICC reserves the right to accuse Al-Bashir of genocide when the full evidence is presented to the Court
Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and
of Genocide
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Refugee children artists of these drawings
Childs drawing of mother-shot-while-cooking-breakfast
Omer al-Bashir is accused of crimes against humanity; murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape
war crimes: intentional directing attacks against civilians and pillaging.
---
JANJAWEED-
Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide (For full text click here)
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Darfuri refugee child-drawing
Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
refugee child-drawing
Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Darfuri refugee childs-drawing
Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide (For full text click here)
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Statement by Nobel Women Peace Laureates
In the context of continued violence, hunger and repression in the Darfur region of Sudan, we six
women Nobel Peace Laureates are encouraged by recent progress in the work of the International
Criminal Court in Sudan.
We remain deeply concerned by ongoing attacks against humanitarian aid workers in
government-controlled towns, continued use of rape as a tactic of war, and obstructions to
international efforts to resolve the conflict. The situation in Darfur is still desperate, after almost
six years of armed conflict.
We are convinced that justice will be a pillar of peace in the Sudan, as it will be globally. The
creation of the International Criminal Court is a critical and significant development in
international law that took more than five decades to establish. With its global reach, it has the
potential to prevent, or drastically reduce, the deaths and devastation caused by violent conflict
and abuses of power.
The people of Darfur deserve—and have clearly vocalized a desire for—justice and
accountability. We urge the friends of Sudan in the international community to let the Court do its
work.
Betty William, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai
What now?
The call for the arrest of Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan is an historic action that marks the first time the tribunal has acted against a sitting head of state. The charges stem from a July 2008 request by ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and include crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Court noted: "He is suspected of being criminally responsible as an indirect perpetrator for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing, and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging their property."
In announcing the arrest warrant, an ICC spokesman noted that the fact that Mr. Bashir is a sitting president "does not exclude his criminal responsibility nor does it grant him immunity against prosecution before the International Criminal Court."
John Prendergast founder of the Enough Project issued the following statement in response:
"The International Criminal Court arrest warrant for President Omer al-Bashir provides an unprecedented opening, making Sudan's prospects for peace riper than they have been in memory, How the Obama administration handles this immediate foreign policy challenge will have a major impact on the outcome. It is crucial for the new president's team to clarify to Arab states, China and others that the U.S. policy objective is a just and durable peace for Sudan."
The issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudan's sitting head of state for crimes against humanity offers the Obama administration a chance to catalyze multilateral efforts to bring about a solution to Sudan's decades-long cycle of warfare. One of the crucial missing ingredients to conflict resolution efforts has been some form of accountability for the horrific crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated by the warring parties in Sudan, primarily the Khartoum regime.
President Obama should now take a number of key steps, including:
*Working with the U.N. Security Council to support targeted sanctions against those most responsible for violence in Sudan and imposing a comprehensive arms embargo against the Government of Sudan;
*Making UNAMID( the UN/AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur) effective with a robust force on the ground in Darfur with a competent lead nation and a clear command-and-control structure;
*Working closely with interested parties with leverage in Sudan and the region, especially China, the United Kingdom, France, and key African countries, to coordinate efforts on peace efforts, the protection of civilians, and accountability;
*Countering continued violations by Sudan on the UN ban on offensive military flights in Darfur; and
*Appointing a senior Special Envoy to not only address the situation in Darfur, but Sudan's multiple conflicts and their regional dimensions.
Justice for Darfur
The request to surrender and arrest Al-Bashir. All countries are obligated to arrest Al Bashir even if they have not signed the Rome Statute.
ICC issues arrest warrant for Sudanese President
Omar Al-Bashir is accused of
5 counts of crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape
2 counts of war crimes: intentional directing attacks against civilians and pillaging.
Not included in the warrant is the crime of genocide-if aDditional info is gathered by the prosection the crime of genocide may be included.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-farrow/international-criminal-co_b_171139.html
Your own Utube search
it’s worth going on youtube and seeing whatever you choose... <http://www.youtube.com>
Brian Steidle-eye witness account
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCeKK8F3gRY&feature=related
Genocide in Darfur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnl8tTa8oQo&feature=related
Amira's story-as told to me at Oure cassoni refugee camp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2QUgHAiS5M&feature=related
Invisible Children-the LRA
Worth the 30 minutes: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/april2009/index-en.html
rising tensions on the Chad/Darfur border
UNAMID chief, Sudan official discuss military build-up on Chad border
Monday 2 March 2009.
March 1, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The Joint Special Representative of the African-Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Rodolphe Adada, met today in Khartoum with Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Mutrif Siddiq, to discuss "rising tensions on the Chadian-Sudanese border."
Sudan-backed rebels and militias have launched attacks on Chad in each of the last three dry seasons, including assaults on the Chadian capital in 2006 and 2008. Currently up to 5,000 rebels are gathering on the Sudan side of the border, an Irish commandant with the Chad-based EUFOR peacekeeping mission disclosed last week. The Irish officer expected the invasion could follow the International Criminal Court announcement this week of an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir. Meanwhile, the commander of a Chad-based Darfur rebel group, Khalil Ibrahim, said in an interview from outside N’Djamena, the Chadian capital that his JEM forces would aim to topple Al-Bashir in the wake of the ICC indictment, though a spokesperson downplayed the statement.
Given this context, Siddiq and Adada discussed the current situation in West Darfur, particularly the rising tensions on the Chadian-Sudanese border. "Dr. Siddiq promised to address these issues and to try and find adequate solutions in consultation with UNAMID. He also reiterated the commitment of the Government of Sudan (GoS) to ensure the safety and security of UNAMID personnel and facilities," They also discussed the flight of thousands of civilians from fighting in South Darfur last month. These displaced people have been arriving to the Zam Zam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near El Fasher, in North Darfur.
Arms flows through El Geneina are a major supply source for Chadian rebels, according to a report released last November by a UN panel of arms control experts. Sudan has sent up to three daily flights of arms and other equipment to El Geneina, the experts claimed, saying that the town was a liaison point for leaders of the Chadian armed groups and the Sudanese intelligence service (NISS). The report stated, "ground troops receive their allotted military supplies directly from NISS storehouses along with training in and around El Geneina."
Today, Jean Ping the chairman of the African Union Commission said concerned by the tension in the border between the two countries. He said he "continues to follow the evolution of the situation in Chad and on the border between that country and Sudan."
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