BBC (August 4): Sudan masses defiant over Darfur

From the BBC Online
Dated Wednesday August 4 11:15 GMT (4:15 am PDT)

Sudan masses defiant over Darfur

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Sudanese capital Khartoum in protest against any foreign intervention in war-ravaged Darfur.
The government-backed protesters said they were ready to die in a jihad if any foreign troops entered the country.
"Darfur will be a foreign graveyard," said one placard spotted by BBC correspondent Paul Wood.
The African Union says it has boosted the armed force it plans to send to Darfur from 300 to 2,000 troops.

Read more.

Press release from Human Rights Watch
Dateline New York, Tuesday July 20

Sudan: New Darfur Documents
Ties Between Government and Janjaweed Militias Confirmed

Sudan government documents incontrovertibly show that government officials directed recruitment, arming and other support to the ethnic militias known as the Janjaweed, Human Rights Watch said today. The government of Sudan has consistently denied recruiting and arming the Janjaweed militias, including during the recent visits of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Human Rights Watch said it had obtained confidential documents from the civilian administration in Darfur that implicate high-ranking government officials in a policy of militia support.
"It’s absurd to distinguish between the Sudanese government forces and the militias—they are one," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division. "These documents show that militia activity has not just been condoned, it’s been specifically supported by Sudan government officials."
Human Rights Watch said that Sudanese government forces and government-backed militias are responsible for crimes against humanity, war crimes and "ethnic cleansing" involving aerial and ground attacks on civilians of the same ethnicity as members of two rebel groups in Darfur. Thousands of civilians have been killed, hundreds of women and girls have been raped and more than one million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and farms in Darfur.

Read more.

We note that the protests in the BBC report (dated today) are "government-backed".

the UN is gonna take some meaningful action on these crimes against humanity right quick, you just wait and see...it's just that right now Annan is being overwhelmed with one of the greatest atocities against human kind since the holocaust, something about Palestinians stranded in Cairo...:eyes:

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Sudanese Foreign Minister Musstafa Osman Ismail said Israel was escalating the situation in the western area of Darfur, stressing that his country had information to confirm latest media reports that insurgents there were supported by Israel.

Ismail, in a statement to reporters upon arrival in Cairo Sunday to attend an extraordinary meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers to find a solution to the Darfur crisis, said, "I’m sure the next few days would reveal that there is lot of contacts between Israel and the rebels."

Moreover, he said that Israel had recently sought seriously to involve itself in the Darfur issue either through its extensive presence in Eritrea or activities of its missions in the hot regions that emerged lately.

http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=282588〈=e&dir=news

now, back to reality...


Sudan Seeks Arab Help in Avoiding Sanctions...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudan sought Arab help Sunday to head off possible sanctions threatened by the United Nations if Khartoum fails to rein in marauding militiamen accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing in its western Darfur region.



Sudan has about three weeks left to show the U.N. Security Council it is serious about disarming the Janjaweed militia. Darfur rebels say Khartoum is backing Janjaweed attacks to drive non-Arab villagers from their homes.

...

But New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the Arab League to put pressure on Sudan's government, not to protect it.


"Allowing the Sudanese government to hide its crimes behind Arab solidarity would be an insult to more than 1 million Muslim victims in Darfur," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the group's Africa division.


"The Arab League should stand behind the victims in Darfur and take concrete steps to ensure that civilians are protected from further crimes," he said in a statement.

...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20040808/wl_nm/sudan_dc



Rebels hunt villagers returning to 'safety'...


Scores of terrorised Sudanese refugees who believed Government promises that the local Janjaweed Arab fighters had been reined in have been attacked just days after they returned home.

Mounted on camels and waving Kalashnikovs, marauding militiamen rode into the fields near Fasha, 30 kilometres north of the provincial capital Nyala, on Thursday and hunted down black African peasant farmers planting sorghum.

The murderous raid, one of many in recent days across the desolate terrain of Darfur, made a mockery of Khartoum's claims that it is bowing to international pressure to restore security to western Sudan.

Opening fire indiscriminately, the Janjaweed killed at least three local men and some of their own animals. At the scene of the slaughter on Saturday, the stench from the rotting camel carcasses was carried across the fields by the breeze.

Nearby, on a plain of rocky red soil, were the freshly dug graves of the human victims.

...

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/08/1091903443862.html?oneclick=true

This is nothing more than an attempt by the Sudanese government to deflect blame for the conflict.

It makes about as much sense.

as with all of its enemies-on-paper, Zionist governments have meddled in the past and present with the Sudan; I doubt the conflict in Dar-Fur has much, if anything, to do with them, though.

Sudanese FM Isma'il would find better results looking towards the monumental, if unemployed, idealogue of his government and Sheikh Ussamah's ex-patron, Hassan at-Turabi. As far as potential political intrigues behind the scenes, there lies the most influence. The question itself is a diversion, however, from the basic economic influences that more properly take the lion's share of credit for the matter. (I would rate this far above race, contrary to the claims of so-called 'experts' trying to dominate the discussion; 4 tribes of Arabic-speaking black-skinned Muslim tribes struggling over land and limited basic resources, with the losing side looking for friends abroad--one cannot find a period of history where the general storyline is not in appearance. This is not to detract from any suffering involved, but rather an eye given towards the motivations of the motivated players.)

with a dose of desertification and overpopulation and
multiple political meddlers poking sticks into it out of
interest in natural resources and other political agendas.
A recipe for disaster if I ever heard one.

You put it quite well, as usual.

The other bits thrown on top I see as added on by those who wish to control and exploit the matter, and not as causes of it.

It seems clear the refugees need help, but there are no prospective
helpers that seem trustworthy. The African Union force maybe. These
little, bitter struggles over resources are the most intractable
messes.

To be sure, the "Sudan masses" here are a manufactured political
drama, soon we will have talking heads from the Sudanese gov't
on the telly explaining why Khartoum only has the best in mind for
the Darfur indigenes and how the Janjaweed are really just peaceful
protestors, and so on ...

The typical apathy of the US and much of the rest of the world disqualifies much serious aid, though of course if Iraq is any example, US "benevolent liberation" may harm more than help the situation.

It's certainly true that these "masses" are basically government creations, little more than a propaganda effort (I wonder what the black "Sudan masses" of Darfur think of it), but if a foreign power tries to intervene too much here, US-style, some of these threats may well materialize.

But hey, what are we without our dreams but hollow empty shells?
Sometimes you get lucky.

It does no good to use this issue as a red herring in order to bash the UN or certain other persecuted people who are usually discussed in a forum subordinate to this one.

The UN has more than its share of failings, but it's still the best equipped organization around which to rally some kind of action. I don't know much about the African Union or of what it might be capable.

The world's choice is to either improve the UN or find some working alternative to it.

The UN, whatever it's flaws, at least attempts to
provide a semblance of ethical structure in world affairs.
Trying to improve it or transform in into something better
is a no-lose proposition.

Press release form Human Rights Watch
Dateline London, Saturday August 7

Arab League: Condemn Atrocities in Darfur
Arab States Should Take Steps to Ensure Protection of Civilians in Western Sudan

At its emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Darfur, the Arab League should firmly condemn the gross human rights violations by Sudanese government forces and the government-backed Janjaweed militias in this western region of Sudan, Human Rights Watch said today. The pan-Arab group should also make public the report of its May fact-finding mission to the region.
At the request of the Sudanese government, foreign ministers of the Arab League—a regional grouping of 22 countries including Sudan—will meet in Cairo to discuss and state a common Arab position on the Darfur conflict.
"Allowing the Sudanese government to hide its crimes behind Arab solidarity would be an insult to more than one million Muslim victims in Darfur," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director for Human Rights Watch’s Africa division. "The Arab League should stand behind the victims in Darfur and take concrete steps to ensure that civilians are protected from further crimes."
In May, the pan-Arab group sent a commission of inquiry to Darfur. The investigation reportedly concluded that “massive violations of human rights committed by pro-government militias” in Darfur. However, after the Sudanese government vigorously protested the report’s findings at the Arab League summit in Tunis in late May, the Arab League report has not been made public.

Read more.

If you want the crisis to end, the quickest way would be mercenaries.
The red cross and oxfam are not going to cut it. And it is unlikely that you'll see western government troops dealing with it.