Darfur Daily News: June 24, 2005

June 24, 2005

The NATO troops will work ..

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=29941

Stars and Stripes

The NATO troops will work primarily to airlift 5,000 African peacekeepers to the remote region in western Sudan, where one of the world's worst humanitarian crises has been ongoing for more than two years. NATO troops also will train African troops in running a large-scale peacekeeping operation, running a multinational military headquarters and managing intelligence. The number of NATO troops to be sent on the mission had not yet been decided.




Sudan planes bomb troubled east, rebels say

http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:42bc2a1c:e96da4abdbbfc7?type=topNews&localeKey=en_ZA&storyID=8887091

Reuters

Sudanese warplanes bombed targets in the east of the country for a second day on Friday, wounding several civilians in a region hit by recent fighting between army and rebel forces, rebel groups said. "They started yesterday ...They are using the same (method) as they used in Darfur," said Salah Barqueen, spokesman of the Eastern Front rebel group, referring to the region where a separate war has cost tens of thousands of lives since 2003.




Fight Darfur indifference

http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/pitts24e_20050624.htm

Detroit Free Press Editorial

"The 'I'm just one' routine simply doesn't cut it. Martin Luther King Jr. was just one. Lech Walesa was just one. That guy who blocked a tank in Tiananmen Square was just one. The death toll in Sudan stands at 400,000 and rising. The United States has provided humanitarian aid, but has declined to press Sudan -- a putative ally in the War on Terror -- to stop the massacre. Earlier this year, the Senate passed a resolution -- the Darfur Accountability Act -- requiring sanctions against Sudan. The White House killed it. American news media have covered this with a fraction of the energy they accorded the Michael Jackson trial. What can you do? Here are a few suggestions."




Judiciary challenges ICC over Darfur cases

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/fbca5a95ec704107559766839f03d573.htm

ReliefWeb

A court set up by the Sudanese judiciary to try suspected criminals in the western region of Darfur has raised questions regarding its legal status vis-Ã -vis the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is conducting separate investigations in Darfur. On 14 June, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Jan Pronk, said the establishment of the special court was "positive, but it cannot be a substitute for the International Criminal Court." The Ministry of Justice criticised Pronk's remarks, saying the Sudanese criminal court would be a substitute to the ICC. Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir has stated previously that his government would not hand over any of its citizens for trial outside the country. He said Sudan's own judiciary was qualified and ready to try those accused of any violations in Darfur. "You can have it both ways," Pronk observed, and referred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha and the national court in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, which operate alongside each other.




Gap between rhetoric and financial support for Darfur

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/5b36f54ce535e58bc67d95334d3138e3.htm

Reuters AlertNet

"Although there are signs of increased stability in some areas, the situation in Darfur continues to be marred by unpredictability, violence and threats to the security of the affected populations," said UNHCR's Director of International Protection Erika Feller, summing up her findings from a recent visit to Darfur. Of particular concern, she said, is the situation of women who venture out of camps and villages to fetch water and firewood. Despite ongoing efforts to prevent sexual violence, rape incidents continue to occur. "Much lip service has been paid to all concerned to the importance of protection objectives, but a lot more needs to be done," she said. "There is a gap here between the rhetoric and the financial support protection activities tend to attract."

June 23, 2005

Deputy Secretary Zoellick testifies before House Foreign Relations Committee

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EGUA-6DNMQ3?OpenDocument

ReliefWeb

Senior members of the House of Representatives called in Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to express their concern over the continuing ethnic violence in Sudan's western region of Darfur. At the hearing, the lawmakers agreed with Zoellick, who had visited Sudan and Darfur only three weeks before, that the violence -- mainly against civilians -- is "an extraordinary tragedy" that threatens to unravel a recent accord the U.S. government helped facilitate, which has the potential for bringing a lasting peace to Sudan's 20-year civil war.




Darfur returnees still fear attack

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MCD352396.htm

Reuters AlertNet

Darfur refugees who returned to a village cited by Khartoum as a model of security say they are virtual prisoners, fearing renewed attack by Arab militias if they venture out.




U.S. presses Sudan to halt Darfur violence

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6DNDQR?OpenDocument

ReliefWeb

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick met Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail Thursday, urging Khartoum to curb violence in Darfur. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets the Sudanese official Friday. State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said the meeting lasted 90 minutes and focused on Darfur. There, he said, the Deputy Secretary stressed the need for all parties to end violence, to facilitate humanitarian aid, and to remove any obstacles to the expansion of the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

June 22, 2005

Chad says Darfur rebel JEM is scheming

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10310

June 22, 2005 AFP - A Chadian delegation to peace talks where the African Union wants to end a devastating conflict in Sudan's neighbouring Darfur province on Wednesday accused rebels there of scheming to scapegoat Chad. One top envoy from Ndjamena, Ahmad Allam Mi, said the team "deplores a misinformation campaign accusing Chad of being behind obstacles to the smooth running" of the AU's long bid to end a war between the Khartoum government and two rebel groups in Darfur that has killed or displaced millions.




Darfur rebel SLM threatens to suspend Sudan peace talks

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10311

AFP

A main rebel group in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan threatened Wednesday to suspend African Union-mediated peace negotiations in the Nigeria capital Abuja. The Sudan Liberation Movement accused the government of attacking its forces in eastern Darfur and charged that it was preparing another offensive against SLM positions in the region.




Sudanese refugees face malnutrition in Ethiopia

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10290

June 21, 2005 PANA - Critical malnutrition levels have been found in Bonga and Fugnido camps in western Ethiopia's Gambella Region where an estimated 50,000 Sudanese refugees are living. According to a nutritional survey by the World Food Programme, UNHCR and Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs there was a Global Acute Malnutrition of over 20 percent and Severe Acute Malnutrition of 7 percent in one part of Fugnido camp.




Annapolis man documents atrocities in Sudan's Darfur

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10276

Sudan Tribune

With his photographs , former Marine Brian Steidle has helped to bring worldwide attention to the atrocities. He has told his story to Congress, international courts and anyone else who will listen. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-VA, credited Mr. Steidle's effort. "How can you remain silent when you watch genocide take place?"




Sudan SPLM chief expresses sympathy with eastern rebellion

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10309

June 22, 2005 AFP - The chief of southern Sudan's ex-rebel movement has expressed sympathy with armed dissidents who launched their first offensive against government troops in eastern Sudan's Red Sea state at the weekend.




Rebels capture Sudanese troops

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4118194.stm

June 22, 2005 Rebels in north-eastern Sudan say they have captured 20 government troops following clashes near the country's main port on the Red Sea. A statement signed by an alliance of two groups, including one from Darfur, said they had also seized a significant numbers of weapons.



U.N. Relief Official Condemns Use of Rape in African Wars

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/international/africa/22nations.html?

June 22, 2005 New York Times - The United Nations' top relief official said Tuesday that organized, premeditated sexual attack had become a preferred weapon of war in conflicted parts of Africa, with rapists going unpunished and victims of rape shunned by their communities.




G8 Arms Sales Fueling Poverty

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062200295.html

June 22, 2005 Washington Post - Arms exports from Group of Eight nations such as Britain and the United States to poor, conflict-ridden countries are fueling poverty and human rights abuses there, Amnesty International and Oxfam said Wednesday.